Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Awesome! Great value!!

We were looking for an inexpensive second winter getaway, so we choose Grand Serenis as it was half the price of what we usually pay. We were not sure what to expect but as it turned out we were very pleased. The staff was great, the resort was huge and well looked after. The rooms were typical of any resort and had no issues. The alcohol was a bit watered down but that was fine as the pool and beach bar servers kept the drinks topped up. The buffet was what to be expected (average) but the ala  [... read more]carts were quite good except for the steak house. The steaks were very tough. The mixed grill at the steak house was much better than the T bone. Three ala carts were included with a 7-day stay, but we were told if we show up at the restaurant at the time of seating we may get in. This worked for us twice so we had 5 ala carts. The only thing that we didn't enjoy was the bus ride from the airport, it was quite long and we had to make several stops at other resorts. We touched down at the airport at 2:30 and did not get checked in until 6:45. This made for a long day. But, once there we enjoyed our 7-day stay!

Riu Palace Costa Mujeres: Relaxing expansive beautiful resort

Pros: great service, friendly staff, excellent food (exception: chicken enchiladas were bland), plentiful drinks and accommodating bartenders who welcomed our crazy cocktail suggestions! Despite lack of reservations always got a seat at the restaurant of our choice - favourites were Fusion and Japanese and the Buffet. Just keep aware of which days they are closed(!) The lamb at the Fusion restaurant was to die for - yummmmmm! The beach was incredible and palms were just right for shade a [... read more]nd separation - never had to fight for beach loungers. The ocean was warm, sea bottom very clean ! The surf was very calm the first few days and exciting roller-surf the last few! The sand is a cardio-challenge but you will adapt quickly! So many pools to choose from and we loved the gazebo awnings - sun when you wanted it, shade when you needed it. Pools with swim up bars were not crowded and kept very clean. Pool rules strictly enforced - especially kids kept out of adult only pools. Plenty of activity choices to suit anyone! Nightly shows were entertaining.Hint: use the app to keep track of what is going on. It is a very large spread out resort so you will do a lot of walking but it balances out all of the eating… :-) Well manicured property and very elegant decor and hardscapes. Plenty of places to hang out with others or be private with your SO. This resort is quiet and relaxing- you will need to do excursions or go next door to the disco for a noisier livelier crowd. There were some children staying there but most families stayed next door at the Dunamar. (The water park is shared between them). The rooms are lovely, and they were super clean. Room service and minibar service was good. Con: only one - the mattress in our room was mushy and the edges were all worn and collapsed/ nonexistent! Easy fix - just get better mattresses! COVID: the resort handled the protocols very well and I felt safe during our entire stay.

Riu Palace Costa Mujeres: Amazing resort

This was truly a five star ⭐️ hotel. The hotel was open and spacious, the rooms were nice, the beach was spectacular with powder sand and well placed palm trees. The water was clear and warm with no seaweed on beach. The food was excellent in all restaurants including the buffet. The staff was attentive and overall everything was clean and beautiful.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Good resort, wouldnt book with airtansat

The hotel was nice, especially the food offering! I loved all those litlle cosy places to grab snacks or drink (the crepe place, the smoothie bar, the ice cream parlor, the café! The bowling was a nice touch as well. I booked the privilège suite and it was very handy to be able to reach the buttler on my cell. The beach is rocky (broke 3 toes on a rock) but still nice without algae. The airtransat service on-site was not good. The information shared for covid testing at the hotel was not accur [... read more]ate and we ended up running to playa del carmen last minute to get tested. Also we have been told that they could not answer questions with regards to airport transportation and kept refering us to the app. The app was down so we had to wait a long time in the lobby to make sure we dont miss the boss. Except for that I would definitly go back!

Catalonia Royal Tulum: The people made the vacation

Catalonia Royal Tulum is a beautiful resort made even more special by the kind, caring and hard-working staff who always have a smile and a Hola! The beach is beautiful and provides a breathtaking walk of 4km, though the loungers are pretty much crammed together and you need to get one fairly early. The food was very good too. We liked that we could go to any a la carte we wanted to without a reservation (except Rauxa which we didn’t go to) since the buffet isn’t open for dinner other than  [... read more]on Saturday for the Mexican night. Adelita’s, the Mexican a la carte, was our favourite. Unfortunately for the most part we didn’t enjoy the drinks and never had a decent margarita or mojito, but the juice bar at the beach was wonderful and a very good idea. I wish more resorts had one. As for Covid, we had no concerns: masks were worn whenever people were inside or in close contact such as at the buffet. Hand sanitizer was provided and used everywhere, and getting our RAT Covid tests was easy and quick. We appreciated not wasting any of our precious sun time! And on that note we did decide to upgrade to BLoved so we could access the restaurant. After a few days of spending far too much time waiting for essentially the same food we could readily get at the buffet, we decided to forgo BLoved which was a very good decision. You could get pretty much anything you wanted without the upgrade. Really the only major con of this resort for us was the amount of smokers. As non-smokers we seemed to be the minority, often being surrounded by smokers no matter on the beach or at the evening show (where it was the worst). It is unfortunate that resorts don’t provide specific smoking areas as we have in ‘everyday’ existence. It sure would be appreciated. Overall though CRT is one of the best in the Mayan because it’s small but big in heart. Loved it there and will return.

Moon Palace Cancun: Wonderful experience!

This resort is large, well maintained and focused on catering to its guests. The food was high quality. We found many of the a la cart restaurants to be the best we have ever enjoyed. The staff were all kind and attentive. Rooms were clean and well appointed with CHI blow dryers, flat irons and hair products! We are planning a return visit! Every staff wore their masks at all time and there was a high attention to hand sanitizing and cleanliness in general. Antigen testing was quick and efficie [... read more]nt! 10 out of 10 for this resort!

Ocean Riviera Paradise: not as good, but still a great option!

we were at the original 2 years ago, at the time things were a tad better, only real current issue is lack of staff, other then that we still think its hard to beat for the money, ac vacations canceled our flight and we were moved, communication about what was going on was terrible. Thanks to Susan Snider from tripcentral she was great especially when we were having issues with canceled fligh

Riu Palace Costa Mujeres: Great hotel

The Riu Palace is a lovely hotel Believe only opened in the last 3 years .The rooms were large and the ocean view rooms were offering a great view . Swim up rooms looked interesting but likely not necessary. The public pools were great . Two swim up bars and other pools were very large. Lots of area for kids to play separate from the adults The beach and sand were beautiful love sailing although only one boat. Longs beach to walk and lounging chaise in amongst the palm trees were great The l [... read more]andscaping is amazing and excellently groomed All the staff were very friendly Only issue is the distance from Cancun expensive cab rides. They used fixed rates and charge by the person. 4 people to the middle of Cancun. $60 US . Could cost more coming back . Excursions were all typical of the Mayan region. Take a trip to Isla de Mujeres and rent golf carts for the day four people $100

Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya: Amazing resort

We have been at this resort ten times. Each visit was amazing. This visit “ during Covid “ was also amazing and we felt very safe during our stay. There were many changes because of Covid but they were for our protection. The worst part of our vacation was the airports.

Barcelo Maya Caribe: Upgraded to the Barcelo Maya Palace

When we arrived at the Barcelo Caribe we were told they were full and we were to go to the Barcelo Palace as an upgrade. We had a fabulous time. It was myself, my husband and our 2 young adult children. We loved the Palace but our kids spent more time at the Caribe which was livelier and more going on for their age. Room/staff: Fabulous - 2 double beds, 2 couches, patio to garden, wrist band key door openers, large bathroom 2 sinks, toilet and 2 showers with bathtub in each room. Great co [... read more]vered walkways to everywhere. Very clean well kept grounds and areas. Staff friendly and helpful. If you leave a tip in the room fridge you will get xtra snacks. Food: Much better at Palace than Caribe as we ate 2 lunches at the grills at Caribe/Tropical and our stomachs were upset after those. Stressful booking dinners at restaurants at night. Had to book the first day and only got choice of 3 restaurants at a time so had to go back 2 days in a row to book more. Unable to get restaurants the first 2 nights. Restaurants are the way to go for dinners. They were excellent even at the Tropicale. Breakfast buffets were wonderful with omelettes, crepes and papaya, bagels, lots of variety Lunches were a great variety at the Palace- hot and cold items Dinners at buffet were good but preferred the restaurants. Loved the Kyoto - Japanese that cooked in front of you with a show. French- Bassiere - lots of seafood, Caribe - seafood, Rodizio - Brazilian steak which was ok, Italian at Tropical was good- pasta Drinks all free at all bars. Bring own insulated large drink container Entertainment: Poor. Spectacular arena at the Tropicale was all in Spanish every night. At the Palace one night was Mexican dancers - costumes were great but same dancing for 1/2 hour. Magic show was good. The other nights were only karaoke. Shows started at 9:30 pm. Not much to do at night here. Kids had more to do at the Caribe in the evenings-dance parties, sports bar etc. Beaches: Fantastic. Bring water shoes as lots of rocks. Need a float or noodle for me for snorkelling. Bring snorkel. Walked from Palace to Adult Only every morning on sidewalk on beach - approx 6000 steps for both ways about 35 min to do both ways. Lovely walk in the morning at 830. Had to get up at 8 to get beach chairs on the beach at the Palace- put towels and clips on chairs. Palm trees for shade so had to move the chairs around every 30 min or so to get shade. Water was warm, first few days were rolling waves then last few days was calm no waves and clear water. At that time near the palace you could stand by the rocks and didn’t need to snorkel and we saw a sting ray, 2 turtle swimming next to us , and multiple coloured fish by just standing near the rocks by shore. Lots of water sports to do - windsurfing, wave rider $20US per hour, kayaking, catamaran- have to go early in AM to stand in line to book time in day to use. Other things you can pay for - jet ski, scuba, snorkelling trip. To Do: wave rider, skating, bowling, Mexican shopping mall - lots of stores to shop at inside and outside. Palace hotel also had lots of stores to wander in. Can take the free double decker bus around to all the Barcelo resorts. Swim with dolphins - 4 of them and the 15 min show is at 10:30 every morning. Cute show with jumps. Sport club screen to watch sports on, video- gaming screen . At pool areas had pilates, games starting at 2 pm dancing etc. Beach has beach volleyball. Kids water park at each resort and kids clubs at each resort with activities.

The Sens Riviera: Sunscape Akumal resort and spa

We highly recommend this resort. All Staff was absolutely amazing! A special shout out to Rodrigo the assistant Food and Beverage Manager. He went above and beyond all our expectations by far! We travel every year and this resort has been by far the best staff wise. It is a very clean resort and is very careful with covid. Food was excellent. We will definitely be going back to this resort without question.

Zel Cozumel: Great place to relax!

Resort had lots of helpful and friendly staff. Both Al a carte restaurants were good and buffet had lots to choose from. Beach was great but when the wind is high lots of seaweed makes the water murky but still swimmable. Beware of large rocks in water. If you walk a small distance on the beach passed the break walls the water is chrystal clear. The resort was very clean and the COVID protocol was in order. This hotel isn't huge but very spaced out and laid back. ATM's are not abundant so [... read more] bring Mexican Pesos and American$$. Also, the bank machines on Cozumel charge a fee as well as a percentage of $$ you withdraw. Beware!! Bring cash and use credit cards for activities. Did some excursions outside of hotel and rented a car for sightseeing. Island seemed very safe. Bring bug spray!! At dusk the mosquitoes are plentiful. All in all was a good get away. Antigen testing was easy for our departure. You just have to book with hotel and was $36 US. Our trip was Feb.22 to Mar 1/22

Ocean Coral and Turquesa: Lovely resort

The grounds were beautiful and well manicured.Staff was friendly always said hello.Our room was very comfortable and had a ocean view.The buffet food was always the same.No carving station that we are used too.Most 5 stars decarate the dining room different evernight.Pool chair's lacking

Royalton Hideaway Riviera Cancun: A few hiccoughs

The grounds were nice. The food was good. It was difficult to get dining reservations unless you opted to buy a bottle of wine and then you can get in whenever or wherever you wanted. Very difficult to get a chair by the pool as early as 6 AM because the towel holders hold all of the chairs and tell everyone that they’re taken unless you offer money. It’s definitely not a five star but it is a relatively nice four star. I would recommend this hotel but I would have to give out full disclosur [... read more]e and let the person decide. I had no interest in filling out

Iberostar Waves Paraiso del Mar: Love this place!

Beautiful grounds, great pool and friendly staff. The food was great as well, although slightly less variety at the buffets than during our previous visit. Masking compliance by staff was excellent, however I would have preferred they wear KN95s or medical grade rather than fabric ones. COVID19 testing organized by the resort was easy and quick. We had our PCR results in approximately 12 hrs.

Grand Park Royal Cozumel: a nice resort

The resort has lush plant life and a lot of pools and the ocean. The people were very friendly and helpful. The food was just okay, the a la carte restaurants were a little better except the Seafood restaurant which did not have seafood on its dinner menu. We had to wear a mask when inside restaurants or near food and in lobby, they were strict about that. The snorkelling was pretty good right at the resort and you aren't far from downtown. Before leaving, the hotel looked after our Rapid t [... read more]est for free, and the Dr. was very helpful. There were a lot of families there, and it is a big part of time sharing.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Recommending for a great time away .....full review so read away:)

We have just returned from Barcelo Maya Beach and are looking forward to our next visit. From Booking with Martine Reid to departure home our trip was a wonderful experience. We spent 15 days at the resort and a few none issue items that we just went with. 1.Arrival in Cancun- easy, no problems with the provided transport other than a longer than necessary wait for a couple who were duty free shopping and held up our bus, I prefer a direct drop off as the 2 hotels we had to stop at added [... read more] about an hour in total to the trip but again that is my preference, Barcelo is about 70 mins away from the airport and the bus had great AC, working toilet and great cold beers and canned Margs for purchase. 2.Checkin- It is at 3pm and onward.. we had requested 2 beds and they had 1 king so it took until 430 pm to get our room, we had some lunch, wandered about to get an idea of where things were and then got our room. Checkout-easy and no issues at all and the bus was direct with no stops to the airport.. 3.Room 1315- it is Tulum building and the room was great, clean, mini fridge well stocked, large towels, quiet and a top floor with the garden view. AC worked great a room key is used to activate it, lots of hot water in the shower and no issues at all. 4.Beach-looks exactly like all photos, kms of white sand beautiful warm ocean... if you want snorkeling head to the opposite end by the Plaza and it is rocky so water shoes are a suggestion. 5.Pools and Towels- huge pools and lots of space to float about, towels are bath sheet size so no need to bring from home and the Pool bar... a fun place to sit and watch or participate with the Activity Team but be prepared as it is loud from 12-4pm 6. Shade, sun and lounge chairs-tons to use on the whole resort so no need to get up early to towel mark a chair. 7. Restaurants/Bars - Main Buffet-hit or miss but there is always something to eat, (they are learning service so drinks are a bit slow to arrive but again its vacation so no need to rush about anyway) -Captain Morgan's for lunch- always fresh pasta, pizza, salads, burgers(as big as your hand) and a great spot for some shade during the day to sit and chill, the Managers, Marayil and Enrique were lovely to speak with and they brought us fresh Mango Margarita's to the pool and they were some of the best Marg's we had the whole time... -Room Service- not included in the All Inclusive pricing but definitely worth the few dollars for great sandwiches and a salad instead of going out for a night -A la Cartes- -Italian was a delish experience , we went a few times as it was fabulous, highly recommend it -Tokyo for Japanese, a great meal and show and again we went a couple of times, highly recommend it -Mexican- it was ok.. we both felt rushed, it was too dark and the food was not what we expected.. It was good but again not authentic feeling or tasting. -Strikers Sports Bar- Great place for some bar food, a fun atmosphere but expensive for Bowling (15 US a person) Arcades games fun for kids and a bit expensive but the Air Hockey was a fun hour! Drinks: The drinks were a hit and miss at all bars we tried as everyone makes it their way.. only a couple that were definitely off the mark but for the most part they were great..they made for some great laughter so again not a big deal as you just order another one if its not what you wanted or like but for the Supreme package you do not get access to anything other than house liquor so be prepared as I did not know this. Beer in room was Corona but on tap was Montejo I think and it was great and cold.. Bottled water at the bars and pool and it was always chilled Spa- Highly recommend it and the coupon at checkin was fabulous.. you pay this on arrival at the spa so credit card is needed and again its in US. Dolphin Show- free and fun to watch or you can pay to swim if you like. Nightly Shows- start at 930pm but good for an hour to unwind, open air and lots of seats and all age friendly. Venture Park: We did the go carts and Zipline and it was fun and scary for a first timer but its on site and no need to leave the resort.. it was 35 US each and a good way to spend and hour and a half. There are great shops on site and a Mexican Market for all your souvenirs including string hammocks and a great Tequila shop that is comparable to duty free and when a taxi to 5th Ave is 25-30 US each way it was easy to pick up what I needed without the Playa craziness as much fun as it is. We had a great vacation and our on site rep Johnny assisted with our PCR test booking and again no issues and his check in and check up on us was appreciated. n We didn't do tours off site this time but many folks did and the prices seemed to be the same as every time we have visited. Masks were mandatory for public spaces (going into restaurants, shops etc but not in the pool at the bar and all staff were masked the entire time... Covid protocols were in place and we felt quite safe and most people were respectful of each others space and if the staff can wear masks, we found no issue in having ours at all times. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions I can answer but again , we had a great experience and Martine's help from Trip Central from start to end was really appreciated.

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Better this time

Beach is awful, only rocks at the Sian Ka'an part. You have to go to the Tulum part of the resort at Kay beach, there you will find a 50-75 ft of beach which has a few rocks only. Food at buffet was good. A la carte Alus and Japanese excellent. 300 of 420 rooms rented to a film production co. at the moment, therefore pools are empty and you can get chairs at any time. Shows are good esp. cirus. Staff I find were extreamly nice, more than usual. House keeping also good. Lucio and my butler Kathia [... read more] went out of their way to make us happy. They were true professionals. Was here 2 wks in Dec. and this time it was way better.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Wonderful vacation at Barcelo Beach, Mayan Riviera

The Barcelo beach resort is an older resort but it is well cared for, beautiful lush grounds, several clean pools, lots of shaded areas to get out of the sun and beautiful beach with plenty of lawn chairs to relax under the palm trees. The a la cart restaurants were delicious, especially the Japanese one! The buffets had lots of variety, meat was always tender, but tended to be the same foods all week which I didn’t mind. Top notch entertainment at night! There are several Barcelo resorts th [... read more]at we could visit and use their facilities and bus pick up every 15 min to shuttle guests was a bonus. Very big resort! Lots of young ppl there but when they returned from late night outings tended to be a little noisy running through the corridors before getting to their rooms. Otherwise very quiet. All the ppl working at the resort were friendly and worked quietly. I especially liked Susie who led the daily water aerobics class. Even though pandemic is basically over, I still found staff always wore their masks, took guests temperature before entering restaurants. Excellent week! Highly recommend Barcelo!

Hotel Xcaret Mexico: Excellent experience-despite Covid

This was our second stay at this resort. We chose to come back because of the access to the Xcaret parks you get when staying at the hotel. The resort was doing many things to keep guests safe (despite many guests not participating) Things like mask wearing and hand washing were enforced, in particular at food locations and while using resort transportation but were more lax around the pools (despite the lifeguards all holding signs that said “masks mandatory”). It appeared that many guests [... read more] were taking advantage of Covid testing offered by the hotel, as evidenced by the line up at the medical center, but we opted for self administered RT-LAMP tests we brought from Switch Health. All in all we felt very safe and no one in our group contracted Covid as a result of this stay. The resort itself is beautiful and the parks are great fun. The food is good - we could always find something to eat. Favorites were the hamburgers from the poolside stand, the beachside restaurant Las Playas, a la carte dining at Xin-gao and Las Cuevas. Room service rarely disappointed as well. Unfortunately, the cost of this hotel is now out of what we feel comfortable spending in terms of returning, but if it is within your budget, this hotel does not disappoint.