Selection Riviera Cancun: Lies, lies, lies not a 5 star….if you want the worst customer service experience with a rep go to this hotel!!
This hotel is not a 5 star or a 4 star and that saddens me because I feel like the photos are all lies. We just went November 24-27th for a getaway. First off the photos look beautiful but when you get there, there’s broken swimming pool tiles, broken pathways, the smell is gross I mean it’s just gross. We were so excited to arrive but our first night I called asking for an extra blanket it took 3 calls and almost 2 hours later. One of the swimming bars ran out of ice 2 hours after it opened[... read more] making warm drinks at the bar. The beach if you want to call it that is not swimmable at all there’s no beach it’s all seaweed and the water is so dark and cloudy we didn’t want to swim in something we couldn’t see. Definitely not what the pictures showed us!!! They give you a card for beach towels and tell you if you lose the towels you will have to pay $30 usd per towel. Our neighbour watched a worker pick ours up on our chair while we were swimming and leave with them I had to call 2 times explaining and thank god our neighbours seen the worker do that or we would have had to pay $60usd. When towels arrived they were bath towels and I had to re explain fighting for the right ones. Now the best part you get this little note and they say they want to give you a gift for being there they offer massages or private dinners or a two for one on the catamaran. They say in exchange you come for a 90 minute presentation about what they offer and see if you want to before a member. We were only there for 2 more days so they allowed us to go on the catamaran first and the next day come for the presentation. We arrived the following day and I was very upfront with them explaining we were here for the presentation, one of us may have to leave at some point we have a 22 month old with us and cannot predict a baby but she may be ok we don’t know. I explained we were here to listen but we have zero interest in becoming a member we have a wedding coming up and that takes priority. Berniece the rep immediately was like you’re wasting our time and I don’t think this is a good fit you agreed to be here and we want to sell you on the experience. We said “ that was fine we will do the tour but in the end it’s not going to happen for us†she basically walked off talking about us to 2 other colleagues came back and said “ ya we aren’t going to do this you can go the rep who gave you the coupon is going to pay for this this is a waste of time and you work at Toyota so this isn’t a good fit†throwing a fit because we didn’t want a timeshare deal like we came to get away not be hounded we agreed to be there and they didn’t like that we had our foot down. First off clearly she doesn’t know what someone makes at Toyota and I work for the Canadian Government so in a heartbeat we could have bought a membership that was so rude of her to say that without any knowledge of our income!! So if you are looking for poor management who throw tantrums when you don’t want to become a member then by all means go to this hotel! It left a huge sour taste in our mouth and we will never return there ever and word of mouth is powerful and we will tell everyone to stay away after how BERNIECE treated us!!!
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DanB_331 -
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Krystal Grand Nuevo Vallarta: Great Stay at Krystal Grand Nuevo Vallarta!
We booked a Jr Suite Swim Out Dble Queen Bedroom and it was great! We had We had the Altitude Privilege access and that was great too! We checked in at a separate office / suite / lounge where we could sit down and enjoy some refreshment. We had great service from Josefina at the welcome suite! We could reserve all our diners for the whole week through the Altitude private access service! This is totally worth it. Our room was spacious and had all the amenities of a good resort. The swim out exp[... read more]erience is good too, it's more relaxed and calm so you can wind down for a busy day at the pool and beach! All the restaurants are good! The service was great the whole week: Alejandro at the breakfast buffet, Manuel at the main pool and Cesar for the entertainment! All in all, me and my family had a great time at Krystal Grand Nuevo Vallarta! Thank you to Sandra Taylor at TripCentral for an outstanding service! I will definitely call Sandra again! :-)
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Catalonia Yucatan: A wonderful vacation
Hi everyone,
Just got back last night. Here is my review of the resort:
We stayed for 7 days on the Yucatan side, no privilege upgrade, just the basic package. With this said, I think this hotel is excellent value for money.
The room was older and outdated, but it had a new smart TV and it was very clean. I wish we had brought a Fire stick or Roku to stream shows, because all the channels were in Spanish and I couldn't find the English subtitles. Not the end of the world. The beds were comfor[... read more]table but the pillows were a bit strange and lumpy. That being said, we found the room very comfortable and big points for the HVAC (air conditioner) being very fresh and working well. I am normally very sensitive to any kind of mold in air con units and this one was really clean. Our room was cleaned daily and water was always restocked.
We mostly frequented the buffets (El Mercado, La Brisa) and booked the Mexican restaurant one night. The Mexican restaurant was great. I had a salad, which was incredible, and the chicken mole enchiladas (very good though a tad sweet). Overall, both my 7 year old and I really liked the food at the buffet. I enjoyed the fresh fruit, fresh salads, Mexican foods and spicy salsas. I put them on everything. Special shout out to the omelet lady, who has omelet-making down to a fine art! We also frequented the creperie (delicious) and the hotdog stand (usually hotdogs aren't my thing but the all-dressed was good!). The decor in the buffets and restaurants is updated and pretty chic!
Temper your expectations around the beach. Its not a typical long stretch of white sand with turquoise water. The beach small and rocky in parts, so bring water shoes. Also bring your snorkel and mask because the water is very calm thanks to the berm separating it from the open water, and there are lots of fish to see! We didn't spend a ton of time at the beach because my son doesn't like the salt water. For having small kids, I think this beach is actually really ideal because there aren't huge waves or rips to worry about (plus the fish are cool). It was nearly impossible to get a beach chair due to people "reserving" them for the day then not bothering to use them for hours on end. Very frustrating and inconsiderate. This happened at the pool too. Guest services tried to address the issue with little success.
We spent a lot of time at the main pool on the Yucatan side. We liked it because it was relatively quiet and there were 2 round shallow sections within the pool for kids to play in. It was nice being in a smaller resort because kids could meet and play together while parents chatted. It was so easy to run back to my room to use the washroom or to grab a forgotten item. There were a lot of umbrellas for shade as well (if you managed to snag a chair)! Wifi worked very well throughout the resort.
The grounds of the hotel were beautifully landscaped, with palm trees, coconuts, flowering bushes and lots of animals (birds, iguanas, and "Mayan hamsters"). I also noticed that the staff made a good effort to keep the grounds very clean, including the pool. My favourite part of the day was getting up at 6:30, grabbing a coffee from the pool bar, and watching the sun rise over the ocean. Spectacular!
The service at the resort was fantastic. From the bellhops who greeted us, to the easy check-in, to the maid service, bartenders and servers - everyone really went out of their way to give good service. I really appreciated how friendly and professional the staff were. I hope this is a sign that management is treating them well. I think that it's important to tip generously and would encourage others to do the same as the staff work very hard.
We didn't check out the kids club but saw them on the beach doing activities, which looked nice. We didn't catch much of the entertainment, but we did go to the sports bar to play air hockey and pool (both were free). We watched the Moana show, which was AMAZING! My only comment is that some of the kids programming (including the Moana show), started at 9:30 pm which was way past our bedtime (and why we didn't see much of the entertainment).
Another cool thing about this resort is that it's easy to leave and go walk around Puerto Aventuras. Its nice seeing people walking around and kids riding their bikes. It felt safe. The marina area is quite lovely, with some shops and waterfront restaurants. You can swim with dolphins and manatees, or just watch them from the promenade or restaurants while you eat. We also took a private tour and saw the Tulum ruins, swam in a cenote and swam with sea turtles in Akumal. This part of Mexico has so much to offer, so make sure you get out and explore! I think it would be easy to rent a car and tour yourself around if you're comfortable driving on highways.
What else can I say? We had a wonderful vacation.
This is not a luxury resort, but I'd say it's a solid 4 star, with loads of character, good vibes and great service to round it out. Thank you to everyone who helped make our stay a very positive and memorable one. I feel relaxed and happy after our wonderful trip!
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Royalton Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa: Great Resort ! Family friendly
Had a great family trip & enjoyed the food. Service was also great & no beggars on beach was nice for a change. Overall clean & a variety of activities for kids also. Would definitely recommend it for family or couples. The jacuzzi on the roof of our room was nice upgrade & ocean view.
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Geoff -
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Decameron Los Cocos Guayabitos Ramada: A little disappointing.
I suspect the hotel is still recovering from the Covid downturn.
The booking system for the 'a la cart' restaurant is on line but the hotel Wi-Fi is so spotty that even though we tried for 8 days there were no seats available. We were told to start trying at 1.00 a.m. when the app. opened for the day ahead.
Lineup for the buffet supper (no alternative) started at 6.00 p.m. on the weekends and took 45 minutes to get to the front of the queue. When we were finally seated, the service and the foo[... read more]d were good. We chose to eat in the town when the resort was busy.
Lineup to get a beer at the bar could take 15 mins. at times. The service was good but the bar is not big enough.
Ocean was warm and calm but the beach is very crowded and covered in garbage at the weekends.
Pools were clean and warm.
Rooms were kept clean and tidy.
Biggest irritation was the lack of quiet space. The entertainment volume, both on the beach and in the theatre, was painful at times. Many guests left the shows because of the volume.
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Trevor Duckworth -
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Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: Average Resort
Overall I believe this to be an average resort. I'll simple list the pros and cons my son and I compiled with our stay.
Pros: Garden Room, nice room, housekeepers very timely and friendly, Good size shower, double sink vanity.
Small bar fridge in room always stocked with beer, water and pop daily.
Food was good, restaurants I'd say a bit above avg, all had salad bars with them. Buffet was good for selection.
Staff friendly
Cons: Desperately need more dec[... read more]k chairs, lots of room for more but always a shortage. Probably nothing new, but people not being considerate
regarding removing towel when leaving for long period of time.
Need a change machine to allow for making smaller bills for tips for staff, we were constantly asking waiters and bartenders for change, as
the front desk rarely had any money.
Wifi was non existent in most of the hotel room or balcony(small pockets), a WiFi booster at each building would be a cheap but effective
way of improving it!
Booked an excursion for the day. BE AWARE THIS HOTEL DOES NOT ALLOW COMPETITORS TO ENTER THEIR PREMISES TO PICK
YOU UP! IT WAS A 1.5KM HIKE TO AND FROM THE HIGHWAY TO GET PICKED UP FOR OUR DAY EXCURSION. PICKED UP
OTHER PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY AT THEIR HOTEL LOBBY, ONLY THIS HOTEL PREVENTS IT. THANKS FOR THE BILSTERS ON
MY FEET!!
Other notes: Check-in was long, warning they grab your bags when you check in and leave them at the front, no high security so i wouldn't trust them to watch them closely. You need your passports to check in as well, so bring them with you if you do decide to leave your bags at the front. A suggestion for this hotel and others is to have a 5min video on loop in different languages on the resort, ie where everything is located, shuttle services, pickup points and timing etc. Our shower had a leak at the top of the shower which was not spotted until after our first shower which sprayed our entire bathroom, no lie! Plus there were no towels in our hotel on our arrival, so my son ran back to the lobby to get some, 10 min walk.
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Benn -
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Haven Riviera Cancun: Superb resort
Had a wonderful very relaxing week, excellent resort, very friendly happy staff. I will definitely recommend this outstanding resort. Wonderful facilities, A la carte was superb, We enjoyed the coffee shop, room service, pools, DJ, Moon cabaret, shows and Beautiful over all .
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Private -
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Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Wonderful holiday!
Beautiful resort. Food was phenomenal. Service was great. Junior suite rooms were a bit tired but clean. Very quiet resort. Great place to relax. The trolley ride was easy to take back and forth to the beach and other resorts.
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Riu Flamingos: I'll Be Back!! Excellent Service! Amazing Value!!!
Hotel is clean, welcoming, ran efficiently and the grounds are very well maintained. Staff is courteous, friendly and very approachable. Pools are very clean; and the beach is wonderful with plenty of lounge chairs for everyone. We never had to wait to be seated for a meal at the buffet or the unique restaurants on site. Plenty of extraordinary food choices for all. My only request would be to have the night entertainment expanded ie: Elvis Presley or Cher or Tina Turner especially if you are s[... read more]taying for 7 days.
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Haven Riviera Cancun: Super amazing resort
What can I say about the resort,
simply amazing.
Staff was very helpful, friendly and polite, overall staff was fabulous.
Food, hotel, staff, rooms, coffee shop, again simply amazing.
We had a wonderful time.
I'll definitely go back and 💯 Recommend to our family and friends.
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Haven Riviera Cancun: Haven Riveria Cancun - Rate would be 8.0 out of 10.
Pool was Ok, but DJ noise was sometimes TOO LOUD. Rooms were nice, food for the most part was very good in all of the restaurants. The resort is 25 minutes from Cancun airport. Resort is only about 5 years old and the grounds are well maintained. Entertainment was good.
We had the serenity package which included a butler, who was able to provide and get reservations for us in all of the restaurants. We did find in unusual that the breakfast buffet did not include fresh juices, there were[... read more] all boxed juices? We only used the buffet five times during a 12 day stay and I found that the buffet for the most part was ok.
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Rick -
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Emporio Cancun: Great resort! Quiet, but no alcohol or food after 11pm!
great resort if you like the beach (albeit it wavy) and really quiet (no night life), only downfall is that the resort pretty much shuts down @ 11pm, you cannot get alcohol or food past 11 (unless you want to pay for it), also, not a lot of on site entertainment for an all inclusive resort? They need to fill you bar fridge with alcohol at a minimum, like most all inclusive resorts in Cancun.
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Bulldog -
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Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: May not be for everyone but we love it!
I have nothing to complain about! The hotel, the room, the pools, the staff, the grounds, the transportation between the resorts and the food were all great. Some people may not like being away from the beach but it only takes 10 minutes by tram. Knowing that before you choose this resort may be important to some but we love it!
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Private -
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Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: A huge disappointment
This resort pretends to be a 5 star hotel. You pay extra for exclusive access to everything. It would be a fair 3 1/2 star. The rooms are very small and sparsely appointed. No dressers or shelves for clothes (2 small ones for two people?), as a result we had to live out of our suitcase which was then situated on the only sitting place, the "loveseat". Food was fine, but again not 5 star quality, the same applied to the drinks. Everything occurred in the 'lobby', as aside from the pool and sn[... read more]ack bars (during the day), there wasn't anywhere to else to go.(Snack bar was available 24 hours). "Showtime" in the open area adjoining the lobby. Lobby was very noisy due to the only evening bar and entertainment being there, and thus while checking in we couldn't even hear was the desk clerk was telling us. We visited, ate and drank at the Coba, Akumal and Tulum...........and the same can be said of their restaurants (which we could eat in) and bars. A huge disappointment. Have been to many better venues.
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Riu Yucatan: Good resort!
As expected, the RIU's consistency and service remains above par. The RIU Yucatan had many options to either join activities or relax on your own. The Chill Out pool and bar Ibiza were great to hang out at for quiet spot, thanks to Roger and Jyan who are amazing bartenders. If you were looking to join the activities, the main pool was the spot to be. Loved the bar options and food. Peppe's grill was amazing each day, especially the BBQ chicken. Only downside was if you wanted to sit at the bea[... read more]ch, you needed to grab a beach chair by 8am or there were few available and very little shade. The rooms were good, bathroom fixtures were a little tied but all functional. A great week away for Sun and fun!
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Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Amazing Resort but in need of overdue upgrades!
We have enjoyed vacationing at this wonderful resort almost every year and sometimes twice a year since 2006!
After an absence of 2 years because of Covid, I just returned to Coba once again for a week's vacatiion last week and found that this resort is now certainly in need of serious upgrades including the rooms and bathrooms, and all throughout the pool areas.
Also, this time when we arrived at the resort after having communication with Bahia Principe Resorts saying that we would be [... read more]welcomed as 18 time return guests at this Coba, instead, we were treated as first time quest only and offered only 3 a-la-cart visits to the many restaurants. We were told that we were no longer able to have full access to all the other three resorts which we have had for years and were not offered bathrobes or slippers of a choc treat on our pillow at night as we had been. They told us we could have access to all three other Bahia Principe Resorts if we e paid an extra $90 American money each! The last two week stay we had at Coba was in Fegruary 2020 and at that time, we were treated with the usual respect of 18 year return quests and were given all of the above plus we could have at least 10 a-la-carts for that 2 week stay.
After about close to an hour discussion with various front desk staff...without being rude...... we insisted on speakng to the Manager and finally we were given the proper bracelets which allowed us to have our usual friendly treatment and our time there. My husband and I were planning on booking again in February after Christmas but at this point, I don't think I want to go through that booking in problem again. Other that I'd recommend Coba to many friends as I have in the past.
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Bahia Principe Explore Tulum: Disappointed with airline service
We booked our trip based on flight times
1st West jet changed our Mexico departure times to later (we did have option to cancel)
2nd on our drive to airport we received notification flight to Mexico would be delayed (we were already in transit to airport)
The delay ended up being about 7 hours, we finally arrived at resort at 2am (wasted full day in transit for what should have been a 4 hour flight)
3rd flight was delayed on return home flight
Would not recommend WestJet
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Barcelo Maya Palace: Amazing Resort!
My room was cleaned well, bed made, linens changed during my week’s stay, towels always fresh. The services were impeccable, the artwork beautiful, the buffet variety of foods and cuisines mouth watering. The restaurant, Caribe was my favorite! The beach and pool area kept clean and beautiful view of the clear blue waters. I hope to return again soon.
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Ocean Riviera Paradise: Amazing Experience- 2nd time visit
This is our second time at this resort and we really enjoyed our stay. We were travelling with two kids under 10 and they had a blast. The activities for the kids were plentiful during the daytime and in the evening. The resort staff were friendly and always willing to help. Food was good. The grounds are well maintained and the pools and grounds are constantly being updated and cleaned. Overall a beautiful resort with plenty to do. The downsides are the beach, although it was clean the entry in[... read more]to the ocean is super rocky and you need water shoes to go in. Also, the water levels of the ocean have grown so the beach is much smaller and lined with sand bags. The rooms themselves are good but definitely need a little TLC.
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Barcelo Maya Palace: Au paradis
A beautiful site, a great beach and good food . Great people. Process to reserve A la carte restos has to improve. The beach is like paradise. Reservation processes for catamaran and restaurants is very inefficient