Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Nice resort but has room for improvement

We enjoyed our vacation but the resort is not as good as it was last time we visited pre-covid. Rooms seem like they could use an overhaul. One of our party had a light that was broken. Our toilet needed a minor adjustment. Door locks were finicky and the balcony door didn't lock at all. We found that food has gone down in quality. Still good but it was amazing last time. Just decreases in premium items an inconsistent availability of items. Same issue with drinks. No access to top shelf brands [... read more] unless you pay royal member pricing. Last time we were able to get it by request. Last time we were able to get Victoria beer but this time only Modelo or Corona light. We had to buy Victoria off resort and bring it in. Drinks were different at each bar. You can't order an amaretto sour at one bar and get the same at another. Bartenders were not trained the same. We had two under 18 (15 + 16) with us and we were charged adult prices yet they were banned from adult pools even though they were better behaved than majority of drunk adults. If you are charging adult prices the adult pools should be regulated based on behaviour not strictly age. It's not like indecent behaviour is permitted in the adult pools.its purpose is to provide a pool where you aren't getting splashed or hit with balls etc. policing based on behaviour would be more fair. There is very little for teens under 18 to do in the evenings. Since adult prices are charged there should be an effort to provide entertainment for this age group. Even the arcade was pay based and highly over priced. Why not open the disco earlier for all ages and then move to 18+ after 11pm since it currently doesn't open till then. Open the sports bar to all ages or provide access to games such has pool somewhere they can use. The walking at this resort is extreme. Shuttles use to be scheduled here but this time it seems they were only available when a sales pitch came with it. Boats use to be available to the park also but now only available for the higher level resort. These things were disappointing, but overall we had a great time. Enjoyed the park, the pools and the ocean. Staff are friendly and mostly helpful. No one went hungry and there was plenty of food items that were great. Pacos was the best, most consistent restaurant.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Resort is huge!

If you don't or can't walk miles and miles all day long do not go to occidental xcarat. The resort is so big that it takes to much time to get to one place to another. I also paid for a package that included a bottle of tequila and a fruit basket which I did not receive even though we asked almost everyday, we found that we had to do a lot of administrative work with Nexus. The light was out in the bathroom which we also asked to have replaced and no one came we had one light in the shower for [... read more] the whole washroom. The drinks are sub par. No top shelf and only two types of beer Corona and Mondela so if you don't like those then don't go to this resort. We had to get someone to get us good beer from off resort. The food was good, paco tacos was amazing! There are so many animals hanging about including iguanas of all sizes, deer, monkeys, snakes and scorpions! Unexpected scorpion! The bartender immediately took care of it for our safety. Decent place to go, it was clean but not the 5 star I was told about.

Occidental Cozumel: Amazing

Beautiful grounds , beach and pools amazing, rooms clean great water pressure in shower, staff were exceptional !staff listened and helped out when we needed to change up our rooms, no lines or very short lines in the dining room ( buffet)

Barcelo Solymar: Old and run down

The hotel is in need of some major renovations, our room had paint peeling off the ceiling, dressers that wouldn't open, rust or black mold around the tub,maid service that didn't change towels or sheets all week,(had to request towels when we got there and no beach towels while others had them ) elevators out of service, Not impressed.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Great beach

The grounds are beautifully kept .The beach is great and you never have a problem finding a beach chair. The food is good and alacarts are awesome. My only major problem is even though I don’t spend much time in my room other than to sleep the rooms are terrible and need major updating and renovations. My room had wet paint dripping all over. Bathroom Door handles were broken. Patio door had no latch and no lock. Very rough interior.

Occidental Caribe: Don't waste your money.

This resort is barely mediocre. I was disheartened on so many levels: the food, the service, the entertainment, the rooms. I was surprised by my experience, as it had been advertised as a 4.5 star resort. Our room never had towels. We had a broken toilet. Instead of feeling relaxed and regenerated, I left this resort feeling sick and tired (literally).

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Very good and wide open

We've been there already in November /December of last year and now in April 2024 again. Very close to the beautiful beach and constantly renovations. The staff was great and given the overall situation of shortages in Cuba, the food was plenty.

Occidental Caribe: Okay resort

Beach area was fantastic! Food at buffet was okay. Premium package breakfast and lunch was excellent. Did not get everything promised within the premium package. Music was extremely loud all day long.

Occidental Caribe: Okay resort

Beach area was fantastic! Food at buffet was okay. Premium package breakfast and lunch was excellent. Did not get everything promised within the premium package. Music was extremely loud all day long.

Occidental Caribe: 3 Star Resort

The beach is 5 star. Rooms are 2 star. Staff vary depending who you get- our housekeeper was 5/5 she was fantastic, however some of the bartenders should not have been in customer service. We lucked out with a good room however our friends had non stop issues for 3 days without any resolution. The beach is the best part of this resort however I wouldn’t go back.

Occidental Caribe: Extremely disappointed

I am extremely disappointed with my experience at the resort. Your company advertised it as a 4.5-star resort, but it barely meets a 3.5-star standard. We encountered plumbing issues, there were no towels in the room, and the food quality was subpar, with an abundance of low-quality options like hot dogs. This experience has made me hesitant to book future trips through TripCentral, as I feel misled by the representation of the resort on your website.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Awesome Trip and stay

My family and I had a great time at the resort. The rooms are great and the food is edible, we were told to bring salt and pepper and hot sauce to spice things up. We don't have any complaints about Occidental Arenas Blanca. People are awesome the beach is to die for. Varadero is safe outside the resort. We did some great tours to Havana and Matanzas Yumuri tour, the guides were awesome. Do some snorkelling, It'sAwesome. Buy some Cuban rum and cigars. We will definitely go back to Cuba

Occidental Caribe: Group trip

As a group we found this hotel may be suited more for the party environment yet there were a lot of kids. We found the over all noise level loud especially eating at the buffet and evening entertainment. We are a group in our 40 s . The daytime staff are friendlier than the evening staff and booking a la carts is next to impossible. We found our booking was done on wrong dates and came across others with the same issue. Rooms had to be moved due to broken facilities and it took 3 days to accommo [... read more]date this. We sent booking numbers to have 3 rooms booked close together and we ended up at completely different ends of the resort. At times it felt the staff was making things more difficult than needed to be.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: 3 Star Hotel

Great staff except for dinner staff at Brisa, issues fixed same day, quality of buffets are good but Chez Gourmet had the best service/ food.The location was not relaxing either. Power boats zoomed by with screaming drunks and loud music playing on the boats. Right out front of the beach was holding tanks for dolphins and to the right another was a bar for people to drink so it was not very relaxing. Beach had pockets of grass and seaweed, it was shallow out to the buoys which was nice. No sha [... read more]de on beach except for palm trees, should have umbrellas.

Barcelo Tambor: Well kept, kind staff, good food and lovely scenery!

My 4 teenage kids and I loved this resort. It was clean and very will kept. Loved the pools and the staff were always kind, even of they didn't speak English, we always managed. Overall a great experience! Pura Vida!!!

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Not beach friendly

Seaweed issues on the beach daily. Staff did its best to clean up. Rooms are dated and not enough towels provided. Not enough shade on the beach. Trees to not provide adequate shade. Cabanas should be installed like other resorts on the beach. Eye sore views of the dolphin cage and the party structure was a turn off. Food was good. Buffet was at times better than the À la cart restaurants. Upgrades are definitely needed to give a better customer experience

Barcelo Maya Palace: Barcelo Palace - My home away from home!

I had the most amazing experience with my Mexico trip!!! From the minute I pre planned not knowing where to go, I reached out to Karol Chareza through Trip Central, and he helped me find the perfect destination. The Barcelo Palace hit every check mark and MORE!!!!!!! I flew out to Mexico April 8, 2024 and landed in Cancun with Air Transat, very smooth process. We arrived at the resort and it is paradise. I was amazed to find out my resort has sea turtles that swim out front all the time. Wh [... read more]at an incredible experience in the ocean!!!! I also was able to take advantage of the Hydro Water Therapy as I was premium - wow.. what an experience! The drinks, the food, the staff all are amazing!! Not only will I return to Mexcio.. but I will return to the Palace for sure!!!!!!!!!!!! I made the best memories over the ten days I was there.

Barcelo Maya Caribe: Beautiful resort

This resort is amazing, second visit and it only gets better. Service was exceptional and staff was always willing to provide anything you needed. Rooms were very clean. The food at this resort is fabulous and the the restaurants provided superior meals and the presentation was so beautiful. Loved my vacation and will definitely return!

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Great value - beautiful resort

I've been to the Barcelo Colonial 22x. Most of the time we are a family group of 8 to 27 people. This time it was just two of us. We try to book the Colonial, but we've stayed at the Tropical as well. Its the same, just the next building. We booked this time through WestJet Vacations. FLIGHT Our flight with Westjet, there had no tv screens so unless you had a tablet, it was super boring so I napped. Water, pop and coffee with 1 cookie or pretzel bag was offered for free. They did have a sma [... read more]ll menu to order items at a cost. It was a smaller plane with 3x3 seats. The staff are great and friendly. MEXICAN CUSTOMS Not efficient at all, took us over an hour to get to our luggage. We were of the first people off the plane and our line was still full while the other 4 lines emptied. An average employee would notice and shuffle people in other lines to even it out. Nope. On return the airport was a sh*tshow. Even though we checked in online and had boarding passes and used the kiosk to get the luggage tag, we waited 90min to drop off luggage! Then paid $60 CDN for 2 hamburger combos at Johnny Rocket (not worth $20 never mind $60). SHUTTLE This was provided by Nexus Tours. We downloaded their app, registered and got a QR code in the app. Once there, we found the employee in orange shirt and fedora and he guided us to small van. Ride was nice, air conditioned. Good driver. All smooth. Keep in mind its 1hr and 15-30min ride. On the return, here is where problems started. Nexus tours called our room multiple times. I picked up 3x and told them I’m not going to desk (I have no desire to waste time listening to sale pitches about tours and wasting my beach time) I’ve been to Mexico 30x I don’t need to do tours. I told the rep you have an app and I got QR code on the way here so I’ll do the same and check in online and get the QR code. No need to come to desk. Alex hung up on me. 48 hours before flight the QR code didn’t update with shuttle pickup time so I walked to desk near lobby and asked about pickup. I was threatened there may not be room on bus because I choose to ignore them and not go to desk. Why would I when its all digital? He was rude and made me worried I would have to pay for a taxi. I told them its already included in packing price and I’m getting on that bus come hell or high water. It was my birthday and I cried for an hour worried about return transport to airport. I emailed my travel agent at TripCentral (Liz Simunic) who saved the day by contacting Nexus tours to get me on the shuttle. She acted promptly and helped alleviate my anxieties. I will never book Westjet if they continue to use Nexus Tours as vendor. It was horrific experience. CHECK IN Was smooth for us as we are Premium members. Yvonne was great. Our dinner reservations were all done and off to eat at buffet quickly as it was closing at 10pm. ROOM Each named section has 2 buildings, 3 stories with an elevator in the middle. Imagine a hallway open to the sky and rooms on your left and rooms on your right. Its bright because its open and there are plants and beautify 10ft tall angel statues along the hallway. Our room this time was a disaster. We were in Guanajuato building and our bed was broken. It was 10:30pm and we were tired but I didn't want to waste the next morning dealing with it. A worker came to fix it (no english) and it was not fixed I sank off and fell to ground. The manager (Marianna) came and apologized and offered to move us. There was no other room on 2nd floor with 2 double beds facing away from loud theatre until the next day. I didn’t want to move next day as it would waste ½ day. So, by the time we go to new room in the next Jalisco building and settled it was midnight. We got to the new room and the mattress sank to the point I slid off the bed. Manager could see as she escorted us to new room. She promised to have the mattress replaced the next day. I told her also to have someone unplug sink, the toilet lever didn’t work and the wood door of the entertainment unit you needed to open to access mini fridge wouldn’t close and was loose and was ajar. I said it was a liability issue as I could walk into it, especially in the dark at night on the way to washroom. The next day there were 12 employees in our room at the same time, switching mattress, fixing plumbing and loose door. All was good after that. Keep in mind the rooms are dated. But they are clean, the AC worked great and the fan even better to circulate the air. The rooms are VERY humid so leave a spare kg in your luggage as your clothes will be damp and heavier on your return home. Don’t bother bringing anything from home and lugging heavy damp rid stuff. Not worth it. Just know your clothes will be a bit damp. The room has a king or 2 double beds, a desk with chair and mirror (use this to blow-dry hair as bathroom is HOT), a sofa, round glass table (not needed just takes up space), a large wood tv stand combo with mini fridge inside and also drawers to put your clothes. Once of us used that to put clothes in. Try to keep wood door in front of mini fridge open when you are not there to let air from back of fridge circulate. The fridge is not cold, not warm but not cold enough. The TV has only a few English channels, so we bring our Firestick to watch Netflix. The bathroom is large, big shower. I wish they had a handheld shower as the rain one from above doesn’t help get soap out of hard to reach, areas. They provide shampoo, condition and body gel. All terrible so I always bring my own. The sink and shower seem to always be a bit clogged. They have a magnifying mirror, great for makeup or picking zits lol. Its large enough for 2 people to get ready. But its HOT! There is no exhaust fan. Too hot to blow dry hair in there so I use the desk in the room. They do provide a descent blow dryer but I bring my own. Oh, no point to spend time flat ironing your hair in 5min it will be a chia pet. They also provide shower cap, sewing kit, comb, toothbrush and paste, shoe shine. Oh, I always bring an air refreshener for the bathroom and one for the room. Each morning, I leave a note in Spanish thanking housekeeping for keeping room clean, I ask for how many towels I want and leave my tip on it. Also leave a note for the person who replenishes the mini fridge with the same request and tip taped inside or outside the fridge door. There are not enough plugs in the room. By the bed, by the desk and in bathroom. The mattresses and bedsheets are AMAZING! And I’m picky! There is a large closet and many hangers plus iron and ironing board, robe and slippers (you keep slippers not robe). Where the safe is there are 4-5 shelves so 2nd occupant can use that for clothes. Safe easy to use and in my 22x I’ve never had anything stolen, in safe or anywhere loose. The patio doors never seem to lock by being on upper floors we weren’t concerned. Large balcony with 2 chairs and table plus retractable clothes hanger to dry clothes. Privacy and great view of tropical bushes. There is a tall mirror by the bathroom to check yourself out before leaving the room. Lobby is the best of the 4 same level buildings. The largest and airiest just perfect to hang out or play cards. GROUNDS Immaculate, they work hard to have it perfect. Biggest, longest, cleanest pools, bridges, covered outside walkways between buildings so you never get wet and protects you from sun. Easy to navigate. Large resort and lots of walking but I have mobility issues and never felt tired. VERY, VERY, SAFE. Even walking alone, at night, I never felt unsafe. Beautiful plants and flowers everywhere, just gorgeous. Pools (not to swim in, just décor) between restaurants etc. fountains. Resort on flat land. The gym is nicer than some in Canada and the Hydrotherapy area has Hammam, sauna, cold plunge, hot plunge, many lay down loungers, men and women’s lockers with toilets and showers. There is cucumber water, chlorophyll water, towels, 4 showers with essence waters, ice machine to use to cool off your body. There is an outside pool with fountains and a jacuzzi. Gorgeous! Thy hydrotherapy is for Premium members or pay $30 USD a day for use. There are iguanas and turtles (by the Palace rooms) please do not feed them at all. They will get sick. Just outside the Colonial building is the kid’s waterpark our nieces used from 2 years old til 12 years old. And a kids club that my nieces went to from 5yrs old to hmmm 10 years old? They loved it and wouldn’t want to hang out with us. EMPLOYEES All excellent and helpful and quiet and respectful. The servers speak English, but the rest mostly no English. Please don’t mistaken them not engaging in conversation as being cold. Its mostly confidence due to language barrier. They were all amazing. Our breakfast/lunch server Oscar will hunt us down to seat us and every morning had our drinks ready for us. In Marenostrum fish restaurant, Roman and Moises took very good care of me and brought me a birthday dessert and sang to me. In Sante Fe Steakhouse, Jorge is always our server and remembers us year and after. He is amazing, went above and beyond with extra dessert and shrimps. Adela at Tokyo remembers us too and took care of us both nights we went for Teppanyaki show and had all the servers sing to me for my birthday with a special cake. BUFFETS My boyfriend prefers them. I prefer a la carte. There is SO MUCH CHOICE that anyone who complains is just wrong and picky. Its not a Michelin star restaurant, its cooking for thousands of people. The buffet is huge with pasta and omelette stations, dessert stations, fruit, breads, meat, cold cuts, salad, Mexican food, carbs – nothing missing. A LA CARTES I prefer them, feels special. Tokyo – book Teppanyaki show, you get soup or salad, an appetizer like sushi roll or tempura, them main dish of a meat or fish with friend rice and veggies and dessert. I order surf and turf. Unfortunately, both dinners our chef didn’t speak English very well thus didn’t engage us in the show and make it fun. We’ve had better times other years but the food was good. Sante Fe Steakhouse – the best. It has an antipasto bar, you can choose from menu for multiple course. The best is tenderloin (baked potato and corn side), and dessert. Very good steak! Marenostrum – quick service (too quick), I always order ceviche Marenostrum, instead of soup I ask for Shrimp cocktail (its actually a main but really? 6 shrimp a main?) and then grilled lobster tail with rice (looks big but lobster yields ½ palm of meat) and dessert. La Trattoria – my boyfriend hated the Papardelle Bolognese, the meat sauce here and at buffet is sweet and weird tasting. I had seafood pasta and it was delicious. A nice antipasto bar as well. Beach buffet – we hate it and prefer to go to buffet where breakfast is served. BEACH The last few years the seaweed got bad to the point I didn’t want to return this year and beach regressed with hardly any sand, a hard surface to walk between beach loungers and ocean. But first 3 days crystal clear water and day 4-7 very little seaweed and they filled the beach with lot of soft sand. It was beautiful! It was a windy week which meant waves but beach was full, no chairs by 9am and full all day and water filled with swimmers. Gorgeous. PUBLIC BATHROOMS The ones by outside buffet and pools was soooo hot no windows or AC. You could die in there lol. TOWELS The resort gives you a towel card per person, make sure you don’t lose it 25USD. Plus, we would exchange our towels and the guy never asked for the cards. ROOM KEY Ask for 2 extra because they demagnetise and you end up having to walk 10min back to lobby and 10min back to room every day. Keep them in folder and don’t put them near cell phone or credit cards. CONCLUSION Great value for price point. We will definitely go back, as we have the last 20 years!

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Great in every way!!!

Beautiful resort with immaculate grounds, friendly and helpful staff, excellent food - both buffet and all restaurants, great beach (appreciated the daily cleanup). I would recommend this to everyone.