Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Beautiful resort, terrible check-in

Grounds are lovely + we'll manicured, pools + beach are amazing, food is excellent, Ala cartes are superior. It's a shame that the 1st day + a half was spent trying to get into our room! We got to the resort at 11 AM, given a room number + tags for our luggage + room # to book our Ala cartes. When we came back to reception @ 3PM as we were instructed they told us they gave our room away + assigned us another room but had to wait another 2 hrs to get into that room' where the door lock was broken [... read more] + the room safe would not lock! We called + were told we would be moved the next AM To another room but had to stay that night in a room with a broken door lock + we had to carry our valuables with us. In the morning we went back to reception to a long line up + very disorganized staff who told us we had another room but had to wait again til after 3PM to get the key. At 3 PM we were told the room was not cleaned + to wait 20 min. We were told this @ 3 PM + 20 min after that + 20 min again + again + still no room!! My ice pack for my insulin had melted + we asked another couple if they could put my insulin in their room frig as we had no room yet + guest services had no idea what to do! At 5:15 we got upset as it had been over 28 hrs since we checked in + still no room! We were given our room key + the bellboy took us + our luggage up to the room only to find the room still had not been cleaned. By now I was in tears + demanded I wait outside the room til the maid cleaned it. When we finally got into the room it had 2 double beds; not King which is what we had paid for!! Double beds. My spouse is 6' 3"!! We were fed up + wanted to just settle In a room so we stayed in the room with 2 double beds!! A horrible check- in experience + a horrible way to start our vacation. We had been at this resort 4 yrs ago + it was good back then but this was a nightmare so we will not ever return to a Barcelo resort. The check in process needs a total overhaul + we have advised our friends of our horrible experience.

Occidental Caribe: Great vacation with friends

My friends and I just came back from Occidental Caribe, and it was a fantastic time! Service was okay, the pool staff was amazing! Most of the other employees didn't really know much English (which is to be expected in a Spanish speaking country). Food was okay not the best though. Beach is amazing! We would definitely go back!

Occidental Cozumel: very good resort

Beautiful resort with amazing landscaping, accommodation was super, my cleaning lady was the best (#1235). Beautiful sandy beach but a lot of litter in spite of garbage bins and ashtrays everywhere ( maybe guests' attitude should change as well). In the morning beach was tidied up but litter was still there. Service - a little slow, front desk always busy, but 2 men who were usually there were trying their best,very friendly and helpful but couldn't keep up with workload. Do not purchase Inter [... read more]net service - it's expensive and doesn't work properly ( some days it worked for 10 minutes only!) Activities - so much to choose from but if some of them didn't start from hotel grounds you have to pay transportation - taxi ( not cheap).Looks like they have "flat fee" wherever you go.Overall I had wonderful time. Nothing is perfect,you cannot please everybody.Restaurants - I used only buffet,it was OK but I would prefer better selection of fish and seafood in general. My recommendation - to hire more people a and to have ice machine in villas. .

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Overall good trip has potential to be great!

Both my wife and I were at the Barceló Grand complex between April 24 to May 1 2017. We flew in with Air Transat from Toronto to Mexico. Unfortunately there was an emergency on the plane in which we had to land in the US for a delay. Once we finally arrived in Mexico we did take a long bus ride to the Barceló complex in which we were greeted by the front desk. As you could imagine we were both exusted and tired from our unforeseen journey. On the plus side one of the staffers did greet us [... read more] with a nice cool beverage at the lobby. We were scheduled to stay in the Barceló Maya Beach resort area but we were told there were no rooms available and had to be moved to the Barceló Colonial area. We had to take a small golf cart shuttle to the Colonial lobby only to find out that the key to our new room was not given to us from the previous lobby enterance in the Maya Beach area. At this point we were getting quite frustrated with all the shuffling around that we just wanted to get to our room and call it a night. Once we did get our key for our room, the bell hop man reassured us that it is a short walk and did not take our luggage to our room. It was anything but a short walk to our room but luckily we did not pack heavily to our trip! Upon entering the room, we did receive what we requested; a higher room with a king size bed (2 double beds combined). The room had a fridge stocked with all the major brands of drinks including beer and snacks. The room was also situated in the middle of the large complex which was nice. After a few days of settling in at the nice and large resort we hit another large bump in the road. One of the days, there was a loud banging being done just above our room. I did not think much of it and we continued with our day as normal and left the room. Upon coming back to our room, we immediately felt the A/C not running. This was not acceptable as to the heat was already in the high 20C’s to early 30C’s. I was reassured that compensation would be given to me for the troublesome night. I did get 2 passes to the Barceló Waterpark which my wife enjoyed and 2 small bottles of alcoholic beverages. However we were thinking I would at least get a relaxing massage that both my wife and I endured from the previous night. Positives - A+ Entertainment throughout the week – Very talented individuals that put on a great show every night. - Lots of things to see and do such as: Maya Mall, a 24HR Sports bar with Mini Golf and Bowling Alley, A Dolphin aquarium, large number of pools throughout the Barceló Grand Resort. - Very clean resort with friendly staff that greet you as you pass by, including 2 gentleman I would like to acknowledge that tried to smooth out our stay. One named Memo which is at the front desk in the Tennis area. The other gentleman named Tomas in the Colonial reception area. Both were wonderful to speak to and were very genuine and friendly. - Italian a la carte restaurant was great and highly recommended. - Large 2 decker bus that takes you throughout all 5 parts of the Barceo complex. This bus is free to ride and is a great way of seeing the large Barceló complex. Negatives - As both my wife are vegetarians, the only thing that peeved us was there were a lot of cross contamination at the stations. It would be nice if certain utensils were not being used for meat dishes. - More fish options or a fish station would have been a big plus. Other than our snags that I am sure a lot of travelers face when they do travel, the Barceló Grand Resort is a great option to visit in the Rivera Maya in Mexico.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Very enjoyable time.

The resort was very clean and nice to look at. The staff was great and very friendly and helpful. The food for the most part was great although the Mexican restaurant (in Mexico) was very underwhelming. I would highly recommend the Oriental restaurant and Buffet. The group we went with had a great time overall and all stated we would go back. Negatives were that one day the pool with the bar was extremely cloudy to the point where I couldn't see my feet at the bottom of the pool. Also there  [... read more]was a strong smell of sewage at some parts of the resort including one of the pools. I would still recommend this resort to my friends as these are minor issues that are probably being resolved.

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Loyal Barcelo fan

This was somewhere between my 10-15th time at the Barceló in the Mayan. I've stayed at the Colonial or Tropicale each time. The grounds are beautiful, very well kept and the staff work really hard. The pool is the best I've seen and I travel a lot. Very clean, large and well kept. The food is very good at the buffet and a la carts but my favourite is the Japanese at the Mall - amazing! I only have a few things that annoy me. One is that wifi is free only between certain hours, usually during b [... read more]each time and only in the lobby. Who wants to walk back to lobby to send an email. I've traveled around the world, stayed in a little rom in a remote Greek village and it had free wifi. I don't think guests should pay extra in this day and age. Also, the rooms are too humid, our clothes and sheets felt wet. This wont prevent me from going back as we do our annual vacation there 17-25 people. Oh I am annoyed that as a loyal customer for over 15 years their computers only go back to 2012 so they can't see our loyalty oh and the front desk never picks up their phone

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Awesome experience - highly recommended for couples/families

Great: Resort was incredibly clean. Staff incredibly friendly. Facilities well-kept and beautiful all around. Everything was at our finger-tips and people tried hard to accommodate any requests or concerns. My hubby found there to be far too much walking (other resorts this size have golf carts you can jump on and off of to get around more easily). This resort has busses that run along the back from one to the next... but they're not very convenient. I would definitely prefer a smaller resort  [... read more]in the future. The food was fantastic and there was always lots of selection. The Japanese Chef should be absolutely commended for his performance and I was surprised at how much I loved the food there (not having liked Asian food in the past). I don't think I'd change a thing about our trip if I could really... best beach I've stayed at along the Mayan Riviera (having stayed at four other resorts previously). Not-so-great: The excursion-coordinator failed to mention to us about all of the hidden/added costs when we booked one of our excursions. We elected to go snorkeling at Xhel-Ha and were told about all of the wonderful things we could do there... but there was no mention that after paying a huge amount to get into the park, all of the activities over and above snorkeling would be extra. We'd only brought $$ for photos and souvenirs and having no credit card with us, we missed out on several things we would have liked to have done. The front desk is absolutely terrible. The employees who work there speak very broken English compared to others we encountered, making every interaction with them frustrating and slow. At the airport and amongst other resorts, this resort has a reputation for terrible service at their front desk. I had to wait nearly an hour to get some American money changed into Pesos and check-in and check-out were very painful experiences.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: If you like LARGE.....

This resort is among five others, under the Barcelo name. Each has their own uniqueness. The Maya Beach has arguably the best beach of them all, with warm water, lovely white sand & lots of beach chairs. The pools are clean, with no shortage of towels and have a different mood & age group at each. There are many premium liquors on hand, you just need to ask. The rooms were moderately up to date, but clean & well appointed. There were no issues with water pressure or lack of hot water. Cleaning s [... read more]taff always did what was wanted... just a few tips goes along way. Our king bed had great support & the pillows were fine as well. Having been to the Dominican several times, I was hopeful that the food would be a step or two above. But I was disappointed with quality. While I didn't starve, it was a pain having to eat relatively the same items each day. Although the three ala cartes we attended were a welcome change & the food was hot and well prepared.....namely the Italian, Mexican & the Japanese were a treat. Being limited to only three reservations should most certainly be extended. If there was one strong complaint, it would be the check-in process. Each and every traveler only wants their room in a timely fashion, after which in our case, consisted of being on the go for eight hours, before reaching the resort. And to then have to stand in line until finally getting our keys, which was well over an hour.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: beautiful hotel

beautiful resort people were very lovely rooms were really nice as well always clean would highly recommend this to young couples to families,extra activites werent the best but i would recommend the horse back riding

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Great resort! Amazing beach!

This resort is beautiful! The food was really good, the beach is one of the best beaches I've seen, the staff is very friendly. I workout so I thought the gym was excellent! The downside was it does get quiet in the evenings at this resort unless you go to the one resort night club which had a lot of people and good music, if you don't feel like clubbing though there is not much entertainment at night ,I wish the theatre shows were better, they were a bit boring. Also I did not like how there wa [... read more]s no free wifi.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Wonderful place to stay!!

Had a great time there in April 2017, was our 2nd time at this resort and the service was excellent and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. The pool and beach are very nice with plenty of lounging chairs. Lots of restaurants and buffets with many food choices. Will be back again.

Occidental Caribe: Nice resort

The resort was very nice. The only complaint was the food in the main buffet was not very good. The other restaurants were excellent. One other thing was the golf. We were told the green fees were $75.00 U.S. which was fine. We were not told however it was going to cost $50.00 to get to the course. Also we weren`t advised if the cost to play included a cart.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Would go back

I went there April 2-8 and I had the best time! The food was alright, the entertainment was good & people and service was great. The only down fall (which I was expecting) the internet didn't work at all the whole week I was there.. I paid for a card for an hour and the whole internet was shut down. For me it really didn't bother me as much as I would have thought. I had the best week of my life & im planning to go back soon! It's been a month and I already miss it!

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Occidental at Xcaret

We stayed at the resort for 7 days. A few disturbing things happened. 1. A 3rd floor balcony fell off onto the ground. (no one was injured thank goodness) 2. While in the main dinning room buffet a pot light fell from the ceiling crashing to the floor. (again no one was injured) 3. At one of the pools a very foul odor (sewage) would appear. On a good note the staff was very kind. Our room was great and very clean. Food was good and I enjoyed having 3 buffets one in each area so  [... read more]we didn't have to walk from one end of the resort to another as the resort is large. The wildlife and vegetation were amazing. Having 3 areas to sit back and relax 2 pools and the ocean was very good. Not much poolside service people had to go to a bar for refreshments(not a big deal for me) We were told the Hotel was in the midst of being a Barcelo. Not sure if it meets up to that standard yet. For anyone who likes adventure the Xcaret is good and a 5 min. walk. I thought for the money it was a little much as we aren't the adventurous type. I was told it would take 2 - 3 days to get through it. We took 5 hours and went back for the show in the evening. It was $98.00us each.

Occidental Costa Cancun: Great week!

Wonderful rooms, great staff and being upgraded to first club upon check-in was amazing! Food wasn't great, the queso and guacamole was watery thin, the desserts bland and spices were either through the roof or non-existent. Oriental restaurant was by far the best. Mario and Walter with Go Natural Excursions were amazing and we felt safe. Consuela at the lobby bar was a super hero when a wallet was left behind on top of being an awesome waitress. I would have no problem staying at Occidental Xca [... read more]ret again, but next time I would eat out more often.

Occidental Tucancun: "Truly home Away From Home"

Barcelo Tucancun Beach also called Occidental Hotel This hotel has very good service from the time you get at the main lobby to the time you leave.The staff were amazing and very helpful. This is should a clean and welcoming hotel. The location is perfect and the food is spot on with plenty of variation. The grounds, beach is beauitful and pools are very well looked after.Rooms are very cleaned and truly a fun hotel. The hotel has alot of activities all day night food. I would recommend this  [... read more]hotel to anyone. They did alot of changes The front Desk Receptionis now much larger with a open - concept with multiple windows, a glass wall blur the boundary between indoor and outdoors letting natural light flood. The Main Bar is much larger and brighter and adds enjoyment and relaxtion. It is in tune with the wants and needs and desires of today. The Gym has great equipment,which I truly enjoyed.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Great Resort

Hotel was very nice, Rooms were clean, well maintained, great shower. Some noise from other patrons late at night. Grounds are well maintained. Our room in the 4000 level was centrally located close to the pool, beach, buffets. The beach in front of the Maya Beach Resort was great, well maintained, lots of chairs. Great selection at the buffets, but no fresh mango. A la carte restaurants, Japanese was the best. Front desk service, check-in and check-out was adequate but could definitely b [... read more]e more efficient. You would think that large resorts like this, with many vacationers coming and going, would have this figured out.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Excellent Trip

This hotel was great, lots of room and many trails to walk on. The staff was amazing right from the start the grounds are beautifull especially when the monkeys were out and the food was just delicious. Would and probably will return to this hotel.

Barcelo Maya Palace: Barcelo maya palace

The hotel property is beautiful. Extremely well maintained and very picturesque. The food was good- we particularly enjoyed the Rodizio and Brasserie. The beach was nice, though strong winds washed up a lot of seaweed during the week we were there. Not much the hotel could do to contain it. The sand was also more coarse than in he D.R or Cuba. Overall, we would recommend this resort.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Great Layout & Options

Really enjoyed our week (end of April 17) at this resort. Was our 2nd trip, had visited back in 2011, when the new section had just reopened & felt they've had an opportunity to improve the service & restaurant reservation system, all went a lot smoother. The food was a highlight for us - definitely good value. I don't usually like Buffets, but the selection, amount of cook stations & variety was great. Didn't feel crowded, with other guest, very pleasant experience. a La Carts were good, a [... read more] little more time consuming, but were a nice change a pace, since both BF & Lunch were buffets. Best part of this hotel is the layout - I really enjoy a resort that is situated along the beach - you can see the ocean from both buffets & the front part of the pool. Views were stunning. Entertainment crew were great, creative and enthusiastic. Nice to have the extra options, at the Palace (family side), but most important, great to go back to the relaxation an Adults only can provide. Lots of chairs - had to place towels around the pool, to ensure you had a shady spot, but there were empty chairs, most of the day. Staff were very friendly - language is an issue, but try to learn the phrases that are important to you, they appreciate it. Only complaints - would like to be able to get "good brewed coffee & cream", house wine was pretty bad - just a little upgrade here would be great - would have enjoyed local brews in our bar fridge, over Coors light (since you can't get them at home).