Breathless Riviera Cancun: Beautiful resort

Resort was beautiful. Pools and hot tubs great. Food at the a la carte Asian, steak house and tapas was delicious. Did not enjoy the food at the Italian or French restaurants. The music all day by the pools was not good or the French and Italian restaurants at night - was some kinda techno stuff. The entertainment was great, lots of good shows. Room was fabulous, huge shower and great decor.

Sandos Caracol Nature Resort and Water Park: Beachgoers beware.

As frequent travellers, we would not stay here again, nor recommend it. Sadly, this review is 90% negative. While we hate to sound so negative, we wished we knew this information before we booked this hotel. NO BEACH! NO COFFEE MACHINE. VERY WATERED DOWN DRINKS- NO CORONA. NO SMILES (nor eye contact) WITH MINIMUM SERVICE. NO RESERVATIONS FOR DINNER-but over 1 hour waits for any restaurant outside the average buffet. Only Japanese restaurant required reservations. Despite asking on our fir [... read more]st day, the JAPANESE restaurant was completely booked until 10pm on our departure evening. How can that be? Not great with children, nor when you head to the airport at 11pm. Despite ALL INCLUSIVE, some restaurants, such as the Italian charged EXTRA for wine. That`s not ALL INCLUSIVE!! Best features of this hotel were gazing at the wild and farm animals during short strolls. Wild monkeys would trek upon our balcony, delighting our youngsters. Peacocks would be grazing outside our door. Lots of roaming cats, which we hope have been sterilized and do not spread fleas. Lots of space in our hotel room, with 2 closets & room safe, walk-in shower with shampoo and bodywash, but NO coffee machine. Hair dryer has little heat and takes 1 hr to dry hair. We were not too sure what the `warm` water machine was for, as it did not produce cold water, nor were there any teas/coffees to make anything with it. There are no information booklets in the room (Yes, they aim to avoid waste, however a vinyl-bound directory would last for years) & the hotel channel showcased things that really don`t exist, such as tours in the mangrove, beach play. You needed to find someone who could speak English to explain to you that they had ONE tour in the week-but only for adults. We came to explore with our children. Kinda defeats the purpose. There was what looked, from the exterior, like a great playroom. Upon entry, there was only 1 girl and a ballpit. Some activities, such as pizza party were listed, but why would you wish to dump your child into such a boring environment. There was no party, nor festive atmosphere. We expect that a playroom has well-supervised children with many staff members to provide a safe environment. This did not appear to be the case. Definitely not a well-thought out children`s program. If there was an emergency, how could 1 person manage the situation safely? (Yes, I work with children, so these potential hazards are ingrained in my brain). Also, our room calls to the reception often went unanswered. There were no signs posted to tell newcomers what restaurant hours were. Also, staff at the restaurant desk could not speak English, nor answer questions about the restaurant services (such as which restaurants charge a supplement for wine!). Restaurants are advertised as NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED, however wait times could be over 1 hour long. With children, mosquitoes, and lots of rain with no place to actually wait for most restaurants. Twice, despite our being first in line, a Mexican family would walk up and be seated before us. At first, we thought that could not possibly be true, however when it happened again without justification, we felt very insulted. We would not treat others like that. A classy hotel should not do that either. There were some interesting holiday decorations up and about to appreciate, however the Santa that made his walk about (or race about) the pool was disheveled and did not interact at all with the children. We understand it's warm to wear a costume, but these children were expecting some quality time with Santa. They waited all year to see him, plus when they got to the top of the photo & gift line, Santa went on break. It was very sad to watch. The hotel grounds offered Mayan Ruins to explore, however an unkept pile of rocks down a walking path does not make a memorable trek. There were no staff members available to discuss what was there, although 1 walking tour was available during the week. More hours should have been available to accommodate clients on every day of the week. Travellers were wandering around looking for what was advertised and there really was nothing to see, except mosquitoes. One gentleman experienced a huge rash reaction to their offered mosquito repellent. He worked in the medical field and strongly recommended avoiding using the product, especially on our children. Hmm... We`ve been to all sorts of different hotels with different levels of accommodations. Even when there were not many amenities, a friendly service would more than accommodate our minimal expectations. However, service at this hotel was really UNDERWHELMING. Our bracelets fell off 3 times and we were told they were going to charge us 100$US for each for security reasons. Oh, no! Some firm words rectified that, however it almost happened! Guest Services has an area in the lobby with 3 staff members sitting at their desks. When approached for help, you are quickly told to go to the front desk, which results in a 1-hr wait-time to change a bracelet each day. No one smiled and welcomed us. No one smiled at the restaurants. Not a busboy. Not a waiter. No one. The shows were cramped and only 1 showing during supper hour. People would literally come and stand right in front of the young children and block their view. We cannot teach kindness and respect to all of the customers, however there were no staff members to control the crowds. An usher at the top of the stairs, as in most hotels and cruises, could politely escort customers to the best available viewing areas or control the crowd more efficiently. People were so pushy during a regular show that we truly thought if there was a sudden emergency, children would get trampled. Sad thought, but that`s the hotel`s responsibility to provide a safe environment all over. The only friendly staff were the photographers. Of course, at 20USD for one picture, you can imagine that this department brings in a lot of revenue for the hotel. They often walked around with mascots to take pictures or were available near the beach chairs to take pictures. Overall, the SunWing Tour operators were polite, but not very outgoing. Tours were super expensive, which is not the hotel`s fault. There were always additional costs for food, picture packages. For a family of 4, it was over 1000$ to have the basic dolphin tour with photos! Imagine, you are not allowed to bring your own cameras, so you want your kids to have a memory, but photo packages start at 250USD to 380USD. Shocking. Our tour operator told us that a normal day at Xcaret would see 2-3000 customers. During the Christmas week, they had between 12-13000!! Obviously, there were no safety quotas to follow and long lines to even get in. Yes, that calm snorkel through the caves that was advertised was literally a horror for our children who were being pushed under the water and against the cave walls by the shoulder to shoulder swimmers. It was a nightmare. Our 7-year old ended up clinging onto her father`s back. Forget using the automatic cameras that cost over 100USD, as the waves of people would just naturally force you out of the way. We skipped the other 2 routes because of this safety issue. We saw 1 lifeguard and no other staff members. Obviously, no safety quotas were respected. At 200USDpp (only 1 meal, no drinks), this was insane. Really disappointing, as this was the inspiration to book this trip. One family tried to cancel a tour, because their child had food poisoning and could not even leave the room. They were told to pay for a doctor to get a medical note or they could not refund NOR RESCHEDULE their tour. The poor mother was crying and there was no empathy whatsoever to accommodate this family. Most shocking was the absolute lack of any accessible beach. Sandbags provide little support to keep the algae off the beach. Their site explains that the beach is cleaned each day, which appeared highly unlikely. We did not see any improvements throughout the week. Only 1 person out of 4 braved putting their toes in the ocean. What did they see? More algae! We thought we could try to make the best of it at the waterslides. The children`s slides would close down from 12-pm and shut down for the night at 5pm, although still filled with kids. The bigger waterslides were only operational twice during our stay, with the motors not working. We always heard ...maybe tomorrow. When it was open, our daughter was not allowed to go, however smaller children continued to walk by and were allowed. Safety height measures are very flexible depending on who is working The children`s pool had dirty water. We could not see the bottom. This area was completely understaffed with only 1-2 lifeguards positioned at the top of the waterslides.

Breathless Riviera Cancun: Fun loving resort

We just got back from Breathless Resort and it simply does leave you Breathless. The resort is very clean, food is wonderful, the staff is amazing. The only drawback is the beach. It wasnt a nice beach but we still made the best of our trip. If you want to get away and have a blast in the foam patties, watch fantastic live entertainment at night then Breathless is your place to be. ENJOY! We did!

Breathless Riviera Cancun: Breathless Riviera Cancun

What a fabulous resort! - The food was excellent, the service was second to none and the staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. The Beach is kept tidy by the resort but unfortunately in that area the Beaches are just not that great. Personally I loved the 3 pools the resort had to offer so I didn't miss the beach at all.

Barcelo Maya Palace: Amazing Trip and Hotel!

Barcelo Maya Palace was a beautiful clean resort. We loved the beach and pool. The staff was great especially the entertainment team (Julio, Emanuel, Carlos..). The food was excellent and we would come back for more fun in the sun!

The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences Playa Del Carmen: Amazing vacation with my family

The resort is gorgeous. We travelled with our 10 month old daughter so we upgraded to the one bedroom suite. It was well worth it. It had a fully equipped kitchen. Even though the resort advertised that they provide gerber baby foods, we brought our own. We did ask at the restaurants if the have them and they said no. Maybe it was just provided if ordered by room service. We used the fridge for the baby food, and the microwave to warm up her food. Also the dishes provided came in handy as [... read more] well. After a day at the pool or the beach we were able to enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony or just relax by watching a bit of tv while our daughter slept in the bedroom. The resort provided us with everything that we needed for the baby. Such as: - baby bath, high chair, bottle warmer, bottle sterilizer and a crib. The staff was amazing. The restaurants and the food was really good. The only complain is that the pool water was very cold. Out of the 7 days we were there I was only able to take my baby in the water one time and it wasn't for too long. I was hoping the pool water at the kids club would be warmer but it wasn't. Overall, we had an excellent time and we really enjoyed our vacation.

Breathless Riviera Cancun: Breathless it was !!!!

Breathless resort at Mayan Riveria Cancun was outstanding. As soon as you exited the bus you were given a fresh Cold towel to cool you down. After you proceed to check-in a nice tropical drink was given to refresh your self. Our bags were left behind and we were asked to proceed to the lunch Buffett. Our room was ready at 3 pm. It was great it gave us time to eat then walk around the lush resort. The Ground, pools, were spectacular. It had great color vibes throughout the resort. The [... read more] bars had great bar tenders who put a great show. We never seen talented bar tenders who can entertain a big crowd. The Foam pool water was breathless. Never seen anything like this. One great place to party and have fun. The Food was delishes. Each restaurant was very good. Each place was Amazing. Asian, steak house (the strip) italian, French and mediterranean we loved them all. After dinner we would go to a cafe bar to eat great italian gelato with coffee. This bar also serves small portion size desserts . Believe me all you need is one bit and you think you are in heaven. Our room was very nice, our room was 5219 great location. We had partial ocean room. The maids did a fantastic job cleaning daily. The activity team was great keeping everyone involved with water aerobics, volley ball, Zumba and much more. The Beach was very rough during the week of Jan. We didn't enjoy the beach but the pool was Outstanding. Soo many large pools with great swim ups. Overall this is a 10/10 Josie

Breathless Riviera Cancun: The World "Breathless" says it all!!

This was an amazing resort, best in class and the name is so fitting, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, you have outdone yourself with this resort. Staff was unbelievable, a job well done to all that has been involved with this resort. Highly recommended!

Iberostar Selection Paraiso Maya Suites: Amazing resort is right

This resort is exceptional. The food, the hospitality, and everything else. Awesome. One of the best holidays I've ever had. Everything I needed was there. There was no need to lease the resort. I did go see some attractions that I booked through the resort. All in all. I'm going back next winter.

El Dorado Seaside Suites: We loved it

The building was beautiful and the staff were very friendly, the food was excellent and mostly a la cart, which is what we prefer. There is small things that we could comment on that could have been better but there will always be little things at every resort or hotel stay. We enjoyed El Dorado and we would go back.

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: We Keep Coming Back!!

We stayed at the Grand Bahia over the Christmas hoildays and loved all 11 days! This is truly a 5 star resort. I wasn't disappointed about anything except for the fact we eventually had to return home. Everything about this resort is exceptional - the food, the spacious rooms, birds and wildlife, the amount of pools, a reserved spot on the beach, so many activities, beautiful scenery, etc. The staff could not do enough for us. They're truly wonderful. And this why we keep coming back!!

Selection Riviera Cancun: Great time in the adults only section

The resort was great, I will start with the small negatives, not enough restaurants! The food in them was great but there was always a wait time and lineups. We ordered room service A LOT, which was amazing but I felt like I didn't get to take advantage of every place. Other small negative was the pool bar closes at 5 and EVERY restaurant closed for a lunch dinner switch break around 3-4 the one day we were starving and couldn't find anywhere to eat, one place should be open at all times. Other  [... read more]than that which really isn't a huge deal we had a great time. We were in block 2 which is adults only with an adult only pool right out front with amazing Bali Beds - which we got every time we wanted to hang by the pool. All other pools we avoided because this was a kid friendly hotel everywhere else. The hotel was spotless the maids were amazing and we watched the staff scrub the pool chairs every night. The staff was incredible, always going above and beyond, My Pleasure is their motto! My amazing travel agent Cassandra Royle (trip central) found us this place which we had never heard of and so happy with it. We want to try Azul Fives another part of their chain or the adults only El Dorado. The snorkeling off the coast was amazing, well worth the money! The Italian restaurant was reallllllyyy good, the room service was a real highlight and the Iceberg (draft beer with a margarita on top) was my boyfriends go to drink. Overall great time and would visit an Azul again!

Royalton Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa: Incredible holiday!

The resort is beautiful (very new) with lovely facilities. The rooms were clean and nicely laid out. The swim up rooms are fun for the kids. Food at the buffet was excellent ( thw kids loved the kids area in rhe buffet snd the gelato station was a hit at lunch and dinner) and the a la care restaurants were even better! Service from all staff was excellent and they were very attentive to our needs. If you have time to enjoy the spa it is worth while. The water spa prior to my treatment wa [... read more]s a highlight! Pools around the resort varied in temperature but most were reasonably heated. The sand on the beach was so soft which was a treat compared to some other Mexican resorts that had more of a rocky texture. For dinners at the a la carte restaurants, we had group of 15 so reservations were sometimes tricky but they did try to accomodate our size and time requests as best as they could. The only thing lacking was the kids club. The staff wasn't very engaging or welcoming with the kids and they close for lunch every day which is tough when we are only dropping them off at 10 or 11 am. Otherwise I would recommend this resort to families with kids if all ages.

The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences Playa Del Carmen: Gastronomically (and) Awesome Resort

Loved the great selection of à la carte gourmet restaurants. Very well kept rooms and grounds, excellent suite for our family and father, great service, nice entertainment, and despite a the waves being a little high the last few days, really enjoyed the impeccable beach. Will definitely return to this or another Karisma resort!

El Dorado Seaside Suites: Nice resort

Just came back from El Dorado. Friendly staff, excellent service. Grounds beautifully kept. This is the sister resort to the Sensimar so you can use their beach as well which is good because the El Dorado beach is narrow with coarse sand and rocky, I think because it takes a few years to clean it up. Food was not as good as I've had at other Mexican resorts. Dinners were better but bbq lunch was dry and terrible like it was cooked in the main kitchen and then reheated. Both hotels share a ma [... read more]in restaurant but ED does not have a breakfast restaurant so you have to walk the 10-12 minutes or wait for the tram. Walking is more reliable. Would prefer to have a closer breakfast restaurant since the race for the beach beds is fierce! But this is probably true of any resort. Design of El Dorado is such that everyone has an ocean view which everyone desires. Problem is, is that the v shape creates an echo chamber and you can hear the party as long as it goes on. If you bring your ear plugs it's fine. The spa employees are out on the beach every day several times a day hustling their expensive services. Pools were too cold to swim in.

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: Relaxing time

We went to Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda the first week of January, 2017. It was our first all-inclusive trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 10. So, our review is with limited comparison! The resort itself is pretty clean, the grounds are immaculate, and the staff are friendly. I would say our first impression was not the best, as the check-in process took a VERY long time. When we finally got to our room, we found that their were no beers in the 'stocked fridge', and a family of 4 room is onl [... read more]y given 2 towels. We left a note everyday (and tip) for extra towels and a stocked fridge to fix that problem. WIFI is only given to you for one device. We opted to pay for the extra 3 passwords for the week, but I'm not sure if it was really worth it, since the WIFI was sketchy at best. I highly recommend downloading a lot of Netflix shows on your devices before leaving for your vacation! The food was pretty good. Breakfast and lunch are always buffets, with several locations. Our kids could always find something that they like.... in particular, hamburgers, pizza and hotdogs. :) The dinners are your choice of a la carte or buffet. We chose the restaurant option, and enjoyed all meals. The main pool is nice and big. The kids loved wandering through it and playing with their new friends. There is also a smaller pool away from the beach, which is nice if you prefer a 'quiet area'. I have to admit, that we were disappointed with the 'kids club'. It didn't look great, so we never left our girls there, nor did they want to be there. Its nothing against the workers in that area, but the kids club was away from the pool and beach, which obviously, our kids wanted to be near. Thankfully our girls are at the age where they will quickly meet and make friends at the pool, so they enjoyed playing this way instead of in a 'club atmosphere'. The beach is very nice, however please note that there is seaweed that the staff constantly cleans up, and it is a rocky bottom. Our girls only went to the beach a couple times since they couldn't see the bottom, and was very rocky. The sand is very nice though. Overall, we spent most of our time poolside. I suggest 'picking your chairs' early... people place their towels on a set of chairs, and they are claimed for the day. We preferred the shade, so we started going down around breakfast time to 'claim' our 2 chairs before heading into the buffet. Most importantly, the bar is excellent. Lots of options, including our Canadian Club rye. :) I did see a lot of people bring their own travel mugs, which made sense, but we're rookies. Overall, we really enjoyed our week of relaxation. My only caution would be for families who really need a kids club. I'm not sure if I would use that aspect of the resort. We did see some rooms with their own 'swim out' area... never actually saw a person in that little 'runway pool'... I wouldn't really recommend paying extra for that feature. Everyone is by the main pool.

El Dorado Seaside Suites: Beautiful resort

The new part of the resort is beautiful. The rooms are spacious and very nice. The whole resort staff are friendly and will do anything to make your stay enjoyable. There is really no beach yet on the new side but a very nice, but small, beach on the Santimar side (older side). The food was amazing! We loved the Italian best. The activities and night shows were plentiful. We had amazing weather too.

Sandos Caracol Nature Resort and Water Park: Good family resort

Grounds, Public areas and pools were clean and rate excellent, Room needs more furniture(chairs and another night table in our room) but was clean, Food in International was best , Mediterranean, poor, Italian a mix

Dreams Sapphire Resort and Spa: Amazing resort

We were there for a wedding about 20 guests. The wedding was amazing. The hotel staffs were attentive to our needs. Amazing service from dining, bars, front desk etc. I would recommend to friends and family.

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Beyond expectations!

The variety of areas to sit during the day was beyond expectations. Beach, near the beach, near or at the pool, and the lazy river -our family (wife, daughters 12 & 15, & me ) all found our favourite spots than ranged from quiet to lots of action. I wanted to snorkel and was not disappointed, probably spending 2-3 hours/day in the water right off of the shore. There were fish in the shallows and when going out a bit deeper there were tons of fish. The room was excellent. Beautiful bathroom a [... read more]rea and lots of space in the main part of the room. The balcony was a nice extra and also served well to dry clothes! The food was amazing. The buffet had a theme most evenings which gave some variety, but the food that was there each and every night (and morning) was of such variety that one always found excellent choices. A couple of hidden gems are the beach BBQ and the beach buffet that was set up each day. The food from each was a great mid day change of menu. We had read a lot about booking the ala carts, but I would not set my focus as these being a highlight. They were on OK change up from the buffet. If you have kids, they will prefer the buffet! I would give the Brazilian a 2/10, Mediterranean 6/10, & Japanese 9/10. The resort grounds are quite amazing. They look so spread out (on a map and from the balcony) but you can walk anywhere in about 5-10 minutes. The bike tour each morning is something to do early in the stay so you can take advantage of some of the sites that they show you. After spending 7 days there, we could not find something that we were felt short changed on - it was a fantastic family vacation spot that we will do again.