Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: It all worked out in the end.

I’ll leave my hotel review for trip advisor and leave this space for Trip Central/Air Transat. Either the hotel, Transat or TC, tried to downgrade us to the Tropical section of the hotel. It took a lot of phone calls to all 3 entities, but I managed to get us back in to Maya Beach. Our rooms weren’t next to each other after the switchback, but that was a small comprise to get back to the section that we paid more for. It’s common in Trip Advisor reviews for people to get downgraded from Beach/Ca [... read more]ribe to Tropical/Colonial. This is my second time flying club class with Air Transat and it will be my last. Their seats have an odd, (and hard) curvature to them that are painful to sit for hours. And meal options are non-existant. Breakfast was a ham and cheese croissant or scrambled eggs. I tried to find a vegan option online and even called in advance to arrange a vegan meal but it’s just not possible. Air Canada will accommodate you. Coming home they offered a pasta dish stuffed with squash but no way to get it without cheese. Air Transat planes need a refurbish, and to update their meals. Considering the price of club class, it’s a bit of a joke.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Good hotel

Overall great experience until after 1100 pm Became Noisey in hallways due to unruley guests. Room next to us was loud until 4:30 a.m. made 4 complaints to front desk and security. They did little to resolve noise issues. With noisey room, no offer to move them or us was made, only told us to call security. Security did show up 2 times, but as soon as they left it continued. In all years of travelling, including 2 previous trip to this resort have never had to sleep with earplugs and  [... read more]still awakened. Very disappointing. It was our last trip there.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Fantastic Resort

Very nice resort. The food was delicious, rooms were clean and the staff were very friendly. The snorkeling was phenomenal, we seen stingrays, turtles and many other sea creatures. We will be going back for sure.

Barcelo Tambor: Nice resort

The resort was very clean, so were the rooms. The resort was very child friendly, food was pretty good. Service was pretty good in the restaurants and at the bars. The nighttime entertainment was alright.. 8pm til 9pm was a children's program. The info on day trips and help was ok.. unfortunately the resort is far away from the rainforest, volcanoes and a long ride from the airport. But it is overall a very nice place.

Barcelo Maya Palace: Barcelo Maya Palace

This resort was amazing and ticked off all our boxes. The food was amazing, wine was good, resort was very clean and staff were amazing and friendly. The beach was something to be seen. Our room was great and kept very clean, rain shower was nice. Looking forward to returning to this resort.

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Amazing

March 2024 we go back and it will be approximately our 18 or 20th time to the Barcelo. I all those trips we only had to refuse one room due to poor house keeping which is not the normal for this Resort. They immediately put us in a new room . Grounds great , restaurants booking the past few times we went poor as very little available even though is included in package, But restaurants themselves great if you get in to the ones you want . Pools great , staff excellent,beach very nice but care [... read more]ful some rocky areas, This is actually the only resort we recommend to friends.

Barcelo Maya Palace: A great place BUT

Firstly, I’d like to say, this place has great food, well manicured grounds, overall beautiful rooms, good beds, and good air-conditioning. The beach is a little rocky and compared to other beaches. I would give it a 7 out of 10. BUT my main complaint is the inability to get chairs or lounges to sit around the pool or the beach. The problem is there are signs that say “do not reserve seats” but no one enforces it. If you look across the pool you see lots of lounge chairs but NOBODY is sitting [... read more] in any of them. They were all occupied by a book, a shoe, a floaty, a towel etc. At the beach we saw chairs that were reserved and nobody showed up until after lunch. If they are going to have signs outlining a no reserving chair policy, someone has to be there in the morning to enforce it and stop people. My only other minor complaint was the drinks. The Margaritas and any of the mixed drinks were so sweet that you could barely drink them. The orange juice is not really orange juice, it’s Tang or some made up orange mixture. Make sure you ask or specify what alcohol brand or type you want in your drink or you get some generic type of alcohol instead

Barcelo Tambor: Costa rica

The outside and grounds were beautiful. Inside rooms need some housekeeping. The 4 hours on a bus after a 5 hour air was a bit much on terrible roads. Front staff are much to be desired. Stupid, ignorant an rude. First impression and first people you meet should be adult and professional. I would go back to Costa Rica, but not that resort.

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Beautiful and amazing resort

Beach is absolutely gorgeous. Grounds are immaculate. Buffet food is varied and very good. Lots of free amenities. Friendly and helpful staff. Easy check in and check out. For the first time ever, this a resort I would definitely go back to and would recommend to others.

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Pleasant stay at Barceló Maya Tropical

We are two couples who stayed at the Barcelo Maya Tropical for two weeks in February. We enjoyed the variety and quality of the food at both the buffet restaurants and the a la cartes, although it was difficult getting reservations at the latter for the first few days. However some of the drinks at the pool bar were poor quality. The rooms we had were spacious and clean and the grounds very well maintained. We made extensive use of the massive fitness facility. The beach is nice although somewha [... read more]t rocky in spots. The pools are huge and for the little ones, the water parks looked well designed. Even though the resort is very large we found it easy to navigate and get around to the restaurants located throughout the complex. We found the staff very friendly overall. We found it good value for money and would return.

Barcelo Tambor: Amazing Resort

Disappointed at the female front desk staff.No welcome, made no eye contact and never spoke to anyone. When they were asked where our room were located they just pointed. When we checked out it was the same, never spoke, no goodbye or how was your stay Hope to see you again, nothing The bar tenders were all eager to serve, smile on their faces. The housekeeping staff were friendly. There was a wide variety of food at the buffet and was good. The resort was clean, well groomed lawns. My favou [... read more]rite was each morning was watching the parrots, listening to the hollering monkeys The massages that I had were amazing by each lady, excellent top notch service Also, the gentleman that booked our excursion was amazing, friendly and knowledgeable.

Barcelo Tambor: I would NOT recommend

I've never written a review but thought it was important to share. The trip from the airport was a 4 hour drive through extreme winding roads. I spoke with other guests and everyone complained about the drive. We booked a half hour flight from close by airport back to international Airport to avoid this drive again. $150 per ticket. The resort was exceptionally nice. Pool are was very comfortable and clean. The downfall was the bars. Minimum bars and bartenders. 20 minute line up everytime you  [... read more]wanted a drink. Under staffed but bartenders worked non stop trying to keep up with demand. Food was not good at all. Same thing every day. Buffet was large but exact same food every day. The "speciality" restaurants were fair at best. I guess they thing anything will taste good when you've been eating the same food day after day. We found out our last day that they didn't offer bacon for breakfast except in the "premium" speciality room. After paying over 2000 dollars per ticket bacon for breakfast should not be for premium guests only. Ridiculous. Brought new bottle of sunscreen . We ran out so went to gift shop. They were asking 72 dollars for small bottle. We took a cab to store and bought 3 times larger bottle for 24 dollars. Evenings. It was absolutely ridiculous. The pool closes at 7:00pm. Table tennis and mini golf, closes and ANY resort activity closes at 4:00pm. They have a nightly show on stage with dancers. They were entertaining for the first night or two but it got old after that. So after dinner there was no swimming, no entertainment and minimum bar service. The place has soooo much potential but with the drive to get there, the weak food and the lack of things to do, I would not go back as it's not worth it. I've been to Barcelo in Rivera Myan in Mexico. I would go there in a heart beat rather than return to Barcelo Costa Rica. Very disappointing. February 15-22 2024

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Perfect, as always.

This is not my first trip to Barcelo AO and it won't be my last. The food was delicious, the grounds were immaculate, and the rooms were welcoming and comfortable. But the best thing about Barcelo is the staff. I have to say, they are so friendly and warm, kind and helpful. Each night we looked forward to having drinks at the lobby bar/terrace and always tried to sit in Yazmin or Norma's section. They are exceptional servers who work hard and make all guests feel like family. A special shout out [... read more] to Maru Navarro. This caring young lady always goes above and beyond for Barcelo guests, making their stay perfect, and smooth. We loved walking by the Premium lobby, just to wave or stop in to say hello and she always had a big, warm smile on her face. We love how she always goes the extra mile, to make the trip extraordinary, positive and memorable. I'd like to always give a shout out to David Quiroga and Araceli Castro, in the French restaurant (La Comedie) at the AO. Always a smile on their faces and they went out of their way to make sure our dining experience was top notch. Barcelo you have hired some great people, who work very hard to give guests a positive experience. Well done. See you next year.

Occidental Tamarindo: Wonderful people!

We did enjoy our stay, the staff were incredible. We could tell there is new management and slowly changes are happening to the resort. The kitchen exhaust fan was repaired so it was not so unbearably hot while eating at the buffet. The teppanyaki restaurant cooked a meal and that was my salt intake for the month. We did not try the Italian restaurant. We are hoping on their list of what to do is trim the trees. There were a few windy days which knocked down some large dead branches. Lucky n [... read more]o one was hit by them, but it was close. The staff was very kind and gracious. The Valentine’s Day meal was okay. The rating of 3.0 stars is what this place should be rated at.

Barcelo Maya Palace: Beautiful property!!

We had a fantastic stay at the Palace. Some of the best food we've ever had in Mexico, and the staff were supper friendly and accommodating. Jesus in the Caribe a la carte went above and beyond both nights we ate there. Our friend has severe food allergies and Jesus made sure he vetted the menu and made the kitchen aware. Nice pools and beach area, the kid's zone was amazing! Kinda jealous of their play area at the pool. :D The rooms are a little dated as far as decor but didn't spend much tim [... read more]e in it anyway, and the young lady who checked us in was a little rude, but other than that we'd totally stay there again. They do need to do something about the pool/beach chair issue though! Some chairs were reserved for hours with no one using them! We personally watched 4 chairs with no one in them for 7 hours!.

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Amazing Resort

It was our first time to Mexico, the resort was amazing. The foods was good and we really enjoyed our sit down meals, our chef Sandra made our experience at the Japanese restaurant in Colonial a memorable evening. The service at Sante Fae at the Tropical was great, our server Jorge always had a smile and made our evening. Charo our pool server at the Tropical always had a smile and there to take our drink orders when we needed something. Idahlia on the customer service desk in our area was s [... read more]o sweet and helped us with our reservations at the sit down meals. There was so lots to do at the resorts, snorkeling off the beach by the Maya Palace with the sea turtles, catamaran rides, dolphin shows and swimming with the dolphins. Mini market, Maya Mall and Disco.

Barcelo Tambor: Bad Service, no room smoke alarms, and people smoke in rooms

The resort and view is breathtaking. The rooms are just okay. We actually had no firm alarm or working safe. Despite asking for both! No water in fridge either. The service and food is horrible. The steakhouse served steak that didn’t taste like steak. So much so that my son asked if it was a “dog”. Yikes! No gluten free alternatives. No dairy alternatives. No pool side waiters. Someone threw up in the pool on Saturday- they just roped off that section of the pool! The grounds are very well main [... read more]tained, but that’s about it! Oh forgot to Mention our sheets had dirt on them! We arrived to dirty sheets and pillow covers! What’s more the travel agent,’Jenn, told us it was a 90 minute bus ride. It’s not 90. Try 5 hours. We lost the entire day and no dinner. Called ahead to the resort to get some sandwiches and salad in our room. While on that call the hotel informed us we only had 3 days booked and not 5! We absolutely panicked and emailed Jenn. Data and roaming charges incurred on both our phones. Get to the resort and “so sorry for the miscommunication but yea you have 5 nights”. got there after 10pm and no food. Finally at midnight we got sandwiches with bread, ham and processed cheese. Gross. I actually couldn’t eat any of it. The kids just wanted to sleep. This hotel needs to step up their game big time. Costa Rica is not Cuba but you wouldn’t know it from the food. What a waste of such a gem of a view. The package should come with a small charter flight from Liberia. Because 5 hours is NOT okay! You can go to Italy full flight in less time than it took us.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Amazing beach

Dining did not have variety and had poor selection of food. Some was leftover and was not even reheated to serve because it was cold. Service was super slow for coffee and drinks because they were served at table and staff would forget to come by and ask. No coffee for 2 days. Beach was 5 star and room was reasonably good and clean.

Occidental Caribe: not What we expected

The Room was small, smelled Musty, Had to get the safe fixed twice. the bed was comfortable but it was too small, we wanted to sleep together so the two double beds didn't work for us. The coffee pot did not work, I reported it but it was not resolved. I got food poisoning from the Japanese Resturant the Pool was great. The buffet was good most of the time. The staff were polite and very helpful. The drinks were very good. My Husband got eaten alive with Bug bites.

Barcelo Maya Caribe: Fantastic Family Vacation!

This was our first time to Mexico as well as one of the Barcelo Resorts. We are a family of 5 and always book 2 rooms. We've travelled a lot throughout the Caribbean and have stayed at many all-inclusives. This resort has something for everyone to enjoy. It's huge and you can use the services at the other sections too. Very easy to get around and the grounds are beautiful. The ROOMS we had were not brand new but they were well maintained and very clean. Beds were comfortable and fridges were re [... read more]stocked daily. We like to switch it up between the pool and the beach, we always found chairs but it's probably a good idea to get there early. The FOOD was very good. The buffets had lots of variety and the service there was pleasant and quick. The a la cartes were really good too, the Japanese was our favorite. We didn't have any trouble booking these but I recommend being flexible with your times, there are a lot of people to accommodate. We did one EXURSION, to see some of the Ruins followed by swimming in a cenote. We booked this through our West Jet Rep and it was well worth the price, including meals, transfers, gear and even though it said a half day, it was closer to a full day. Lots of fun and very interesting. SNORKELLING from the beach is awesome. Our favorite part was finding the turtles! It's such a cool experience to swim with them. You can do this every day if you like. They are beautiful. There's so much to do at this resort, all day and into the night. We had lots of fun and a fantastic week!