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.

El Dorado Seaside Suites: Fantastic!

Fantastic resort. Employees couldn't do enough for you, always pleasant and smiling. Very hard working people. Grounds were beautiful and lush. Never any lineups for meals, only 2 restaurants required reservations. No wrist bands required. I would highly recommend this resort.

Dreams Sapphire Resort and Spa: Wonderful resort!!

Great staff,great grounds,great food and great selection to choose from and all kinds of drinks and if they don't know give them the recipes and they'll do their best to make it to your taste!!! I will have to go back for sure!!! I feel like they've just spoiled me for any where else that I might consider. They've set the bar very high!!! Oh most of all this place is clean every where even their section of beach more so than the rest of shore line!!!!!

Akumal Bay Beach and Spa Resort: yoga sets it above the others

The yoga instructors are excellent! The diverse offerings of yoga styles throughout the day assure that anyone's needs and capacity will be met. The tibetan bowl meditation, and some of the live musicians were a thrill. The massage therapist is very talented. All the staff are extremely friendly and professional. Too bad the resort owner get away with paying worker so poorly. The grounds and beach are cleaned every day. Lifeguards and security are vigilant, gardeners always working. Fine food ca [... read more]n be found, with superb service. The snorkeling off the beach is nice, but sadly the coral is mostly dead. Poor turtles, in ancient habitat taken over by humans! There is huge potential to shift from the beach binge client to the yoga, snorkel, sea kayak, and cultural or ecology day trip client. For the most part this is just another all-inclusive sun resort, with the usual shinanigagns.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Great Week

We have been to this resort 4 times. It is a huge resort and we enjoyed walking on a long beach. The food was good and all the workers very friendly. We were very disappointed with our room. We did request a top floor room with a view. My travel agent Sent in our request and I emailed as well...I would have thought a "repeat guests request" would have been honored..We had a first floor room right next to the entrance which was very noisy all night. And our view was to the back of a Tennis  [... read more]court and mini swamp. But we triedtried not to focus on that and enjoyed our week.

Ocean Coral Riviera Cancun: Lovely Resort

Fantastic vacation. The staff was so friendly and accommodating. We greatly enjoyed the efforts of the staff to ensure we had a great time. The food was top notch. The buffet was great, with many choices. The restaurants were amazing! Such unique flavours and dishes and so many unique choices. Also appreciated the grounds and rooms were very clean. The beach was nicely maintained to keep the seaweed manageable. There are 4 four pools with a different focus at each - kids pool, regular pool with  [... read more]music and activities, adult pool with music and bar, and the quiet pool.

Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya: Excellent vacation

We were there in early January with our friends. Four of us in total. Our friends have been to many properties in Mexico and they both agreed that this property had a lot going for it. The beach was excellent, clean warm water, powdery sand and enough chairs for all of the guests. The restaurants were have great services and food and since there was no reservations necessary, we were accommodated with out the restrictions of a reservation. I highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a pr [... read more]emium vacation experience.

Grand Sunset Princess: Average at best not worthy of 4 star rating.

I would say that having researched MANY hotels online before we booked, we chose this one because it seemed to be good value for what you get. We booked the platinum section, which was closest to the beach, and supposedly allowed us premium service and premium alcohol. It was more convenient, and I am glad we did that, though I was disappointed that while we got premium alcohol options, we were served instant coffee. The Grand Sunset Princess is is rated a 4 star resort, but in many ways, I w [... read more]ould classify it as 2 star or 3 star. I travel a lot, and have been to many 4 and 5 star resorts in the Maya Riviera. This is my least favorite so far. First and foremost the food in the restaurants is absolutely terrible. Let me rephrase that - if you are used to eating microwaved and frozen food at home, then you might not find the food that bad. But wow - it was the worst food I have ever had at an all-inclusive resort in any country. In all fairness, I read the poor food reviews before we booked, but some people (clearly devoid of taste buds) had mentioned that the food was actually good, so we decided that it couldn't be all that bad. We were three families that traveled together and collectively we tried almost all of the restaurants. In the end it was disappointment all the way around, and we all ended up eating at the buffet. The buffet wasn't bad (at least had lots of fresh veggie and fruit options, and the bread was great, as were the chips and salsa/guacamole) but it was a lot of the same lunch and dinner, and so it got tired after awhile. The kids Pirate buffet was the worst - food turned to rubber under heat lamps for who knows how long - burgers swimming in a congealed pot of liquid water/grease mixture. So disgusting. The resort itself, upon arriving was very clean and the grounds look beautiful. The beach in front of the resort was nice too - we walked a good distance along the beach in both ways and our beach was among the best for swimming and lounging. It did have a lot rocks that you have to watch out for while wading into the water. Water shoes for small kids is a good idea. The rooms are clean, though musty smelling, and the balcony areas often smelled swampy. You will be hard pressed to find a platinum room with ocean views because most of the rooms but up against the unmanicured jungle areas (protected), so basically you are staring into knarly jungle bush. If you are lucky and get an upper room, your chances of having a slice of ocean view is better. If you have small kids who wake up easily, I found it very annoying to have the maintenance staff yelling across the courtyard at 7:00am. It echoed and was much louder than I am sure they realized. This happened every morning. The drinks were mainly good, but inconsistent in how they were made/tasted from one bar to the next. I love mojitos, and one bar did them well, and a few of the others had so much bar lime that they were sickly sour/sweet. I just ordered from the bar that did them well. Consistency would be nice though. The pools were nice, but need some repair in the tiles. My son scratched up the back of his legs sliding off a tiled stool in the pool that had lost its tiles. Don't forget to pack sunscreen, bug spray, room snacks, as any incidentals that you forget are VERY expensive on resort (common sense). The gym was nice and machines were in good working order. The spa was average for ambiance, but the massage therapist was amazing. That's about it. All in all, I won't be going back and I wouldn't recommend it to friends. There are many better options in the Mayan Riviera.

Barcelo Maya Caribe: The good and the bad.....

The resort was very nice. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. The rooms were clean and spacious. The bathrooms had nice flushing toilets and showers good water pressure and temperature. We loved the proximity that our room was to the beach and the pools were really close to the beach. For the size of the resort the amenities were really well thought out and didn't require too much walking. The food was good also with the japenese and santa fe restraunts being our favorite. The only c [... read more]omplaint I have is the evening entertainment was very boring. The live shows lacked big time and all the other entertainment you had to pay for and it was not cheap like the bowling, golfing... so some evenings felt really long for our kids.

Grand Palladium Select White Sand: Organized, clean, and plenty of assistance on the resort and great food

The room was called: Mayan Suite Imperial Club. It was beautiful, clean, and very relaxing to watch the fish swim to our balcony every morning. I highly recommend this room for couples. There was lots of room, it was clean, close to the pool, beach, restaurants and lobby. The buffet was excellent; lot of choices for adults and children. The restaurants were clean and had very good choices. I recommend during peak seasons to book reservations for a la carte restaurants to ensure a table, which [... read more] I have done. This worked well over the Christmas and New Year holidays. The entertainment was speculator for the family shows and another one for the adults; it was great to have two shows. The beaches were clean and beautiful to swim in for everyone. The activities on the beaches were exciting: live bands, buffets, and much more. Please try the resort, it's been a worthwhile experience, since I have been to Mexico many times. The agent was very helpful and detailed in deciding the resort that suit our concerns: a variety of a la carte restaurants with great food and service and buffets and swimmable and clean beaches...she highly recommend this resort.

Selection Riviera Cancun: Great Vacation!

I just returned from the Azul Sensatori after spending 7 days there with my husband and 2 daughters. We stayed in the premium section on the third floor. We found our room to be clean and the housekeeping staff was wonderful. The mini bar was re-stocked every day. The staff is very friendly and they always say "Hola" when greeting you. The staff work tirelessly on the grounds to keep it clean. We spent most of our days by the pool. We were greeted everyday with a smile by Valentin [... read more]. He was there to answer any questions we had. We were sad that on our last day there, it was his day off so we couldn't thank him properly. Blanca Betina was our server most days and she is such a wonderful person and does such a fine job. Rain or shine, she greets with a smile and was happy to provide us with anything we needed. These two Sensatori employees stood out the most to us. :) For the most part the food was wonderful. Spoons is the buffet where we had most breakfasts and a couple of dinners. It's great for a family as everyone can find something they like at a buffet! We also ate at the Italian restaurant which was very good. We had a couple of dinners and one breakfast at the Caribbean restaurant. I'd like to mention Oscar from this restaurant as he went above and beyond for me when we had breakfast there. I wanted cinnamon and dried cranberries for my oatmeal which they didn't have so he took it upon himself to go to Spoons to get some for me. :) The Mexican restaurant had undergone some changes the week before we got there. We were able to dine there one night under a reservation. The food was good and the atmosphere was lively. My one complaint would be that the chairs are terribly uncomfortable. All in all, it was a great time. The premium side of the hotel is definitely less crowded and it's more quiet. The rooms are quite large. The only criticism I can make of the room is that the bathroom is perhaps not as private as one would hope. The bathroom is essentially in the open right after coming through the door from the outside corridor. It's not partitioned off. This isn't not really a problem if you are travelling as a couple or you have small children but if you are travelling with older children or other adults and sharing a room you may not like it. The door separating the toilet from the sinks is just a swinging frosted, glass door that you can't lock. This is the same as the shower door opposite it. So if you step out of the shower you are in the open basically. In my room in particular, there was a mirror placed on the wall in the bathroom and one day we had ordered room service which arrived after I got out of the shower and i moved to the side by the toilet and I realized that the placement of this mirror would mean that anyone at the door could see the reflections in the mirror which was facing the toilet area. I feel that for the price we paid for the premium room, I would have expected more than one pool butler serving everyone poolside. The number of people poolside did seem to fluctuate day to day but I only recall one pool butler working at any one time. It is also worth mentioning that there are people that quite obviously were on the premium side that shouldn't have been. People/families that would spend the day there and then pack up and go off to another building at the end of the day. I'm not sure what can be done to stop this but it's not really fair to those of us that have paid the extra fees associated with the premium building only to see that others that didn't pay are enjoying those amenities. The staff truly do make the hotel what it is! :) I hope this review helps someone in some way!

Bahia Principe Explore Akumal: Nice resort

Resort was nice. Room was dark and small... we requested anything but a ground floor unit and received a ground flooor unit - they were not willing to change this for us. The food was pretty good. Beach was nice to swim in calm waters on this side of the boom and water break. Expensive for what you got But a great holiday Rented a car which was great - a bit of trouble processing it early as they did not open on time as posted so delayed is about 1 hour. Second day the car would [... read more] not start ...so we had to wait again for them to assist.

Iberostar Waves Tucan: Great resort.

I was absolutely amazed about the beautiful nature of this resort. The resort was build around a jungle full of flamingos, monkeys, peacocks, turtles and iguanas. The rooms were beautiful and very we'll appointed. The food was great. Tried the Italian restaurant and the Japanese cooking table. Great show at the Japanese restaurant , the chef was very entertaining. I would recommend this hotel to families and couples The hotel is situated 10 minutes away by cab to playa de Carmen. Cab ride [... read more] is about $8. The only negative was the fact that there weren't any activities for older teens. A teen room with a pool table or some activities specifically targeted for 16-19 year old would have been great.

The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences Playa Del Carmen: Great resort

People and staff were excellent. Food was better than expected and the entertainment was very enjoyable every evening. The beach and activities were enjoyable for all ages. All in all it was a great holiday and I would definitely return to a Karisma resort

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Beyond expectations!!

This was our family's first tropical trip (age 12 & 15). My wife has travelled throughout the world (Australia, Peru, Italy, France, etc). There are so many positive parts of the resort. It provided each of us with an area that gave us what we wanted whether it be activity pools with lots of entertainment and noise, other pools where it was much quieter, a lazy river, multiple areas on the beach. I went for the snorkelling off shore and was not disappointed. The food service was top notc [... read more]h - buffet basics were fantastic and the specialty nights were a nice mixture. The BBQ buffett on the beach is the hidden gem. Service in the food areas and drink areas was amazing. I could not find one single issue to rate as 'medium'. Our room was on the 3rd floor. It was clean and gave us all we needed.

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: good resort

Good Place for the price point, food was better than expected. The water at the beach was not what I had expected. Soft Serve Ice cream and fanta make excellent Floats on a hot day. Pools were great. Only about 45 minutes from the airport and 15 to Playa Del Carmen for shopping. Stay away from the on resort stores which charge 12 dollars US for Doritos. Really good experience though.

Sandos Playacar Beach Resort: Great beach at lively resort

We stayed at Sandos Playacar for 7 days in January. The highlight of this resort is the fabulous beach. It is beautiful - lovely sand, shallow water and located next to a treed area on one side of the resort which creates a quiet, unpopulated area for walking and exploring. The rooms at this resort are ok, the beds are reasonably comfortable and the rooms were kept clean. We were told we would be on the 2nd floor, which was the case from the back but the room was a walk-out, so really on t [... read more]he first floor. We asked for a change as we always find first floor rooms noisier but the hotel was not able to accommodate us. It was noisy some nights with rowdy party-goers heading back to their rooms, although it didn't last too long as they eventually moved on. The pool was often crowded and didn't seem to be large enough for the size of the resort. My husband did a scuba lesson which started in the pool and after going underwater with a mask on he refused to go back in the pool again - said it was so dirty and that they needed a filtration system. Likely has something to do with the load on the pool being more than it could handle. There is a lot of activity going on during the day and the activity coordinators did a good job of getting people up and involved in whatever games or dance thing they were doing. It is a very fun and lively atmosphere and the music was always going. We did take advantage of the water sports - kayaks, snorkle gear, stand up paddle boards and simple sail boats. The guys at the water sports shack were great. I think some of the restaurants were being renovated when we were there and some of the locations were being switched around. The French and Mexican a la carte restaurants were our favourite. The Italian was pretty good but the Asian was only ok. We checked out the Brazilian and Steak house which seemed to be sharing a location that looked like a cafeteria with no view or ambience. We did not eat there. The buffet restaurant had been recently reopened after being renovated and offered a lot of options and the food was generally quite good although there was a tendancy to overcook the chicken and pork. Go for the seafood - that was always well done. Overall, we had a good time and it is a good choice of resort in this area with a reasonable price point.

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Big Resort

We stayed at Grand Palladium Kentenah Dec 31 - Jan 7. Our family consisted of children ranging in age from 19-30 years. The resort was very busy given the time of year. We found it to be larger than we would usually like but provided lots of activities for the young people in our group. The buffets offered a large range of food that satisfied everyone. The service at the bars and the a la carte restaurants was not great. We had a plumbing issue in of our three rooms but it was looked after quick [... read more]ly and efficiently.

Grand Palladium Kantenah: awesome experience

We loved everything not one bad thing too say! We would love too try the grand palladium in Jamacia 😊🍻 we loved the location and we also liked having access too the colonial as well! Gave us more options, beach was amazing