Occidental Costa Cancun: Not for everyone

It is a very nice very clean hotel with amazing staff, they are the best and very good to great food. The standard rooms are the smallest I have ever seen. The terrace room we upgraded to is more like a typical room you would expect to get. Very nice and updated. The building is set designed in a way that more than half the rooms have a poor to very poor view. It is not ocean front. The beach is very small, the size of a tennis court at the mouth of the lagoon, marina. No turquoise water or  [... read more]waves. More like a murky lake. The pool is very nice. We like the ocean so it wasn’t for us.

Allegro Cozumel: Second time just as good

Second time at allegro in 3 years. Not much has changed. Staff works really hard. Meals were ok. Dinner buffet needs work but breakfast and lunch we're good. The shows at night were awesome. Very entertaining

Allegro Cozumel: Great time at the Allegro Cozumel!

We really enjoyed our stay at the Allegro in Cozumel. The food was excellent at the buffet with lots of variety for breakfast and supper. The a la carte restaurants were amazing, especially the Mexican and Asian options. The beach was nice - white sand and blue water. We were able to do a bit of snorkeling right in front of the resort. However, if you really enjoy snorkeling, you will want to book a tour. We really appreciated the jacuzzi by the beach and would often sit in there to watch the su [... read more]nset over the water. The entertainment staff did a great job organizing various games and activities that we had fun participating in. We really enjoyed the night time shows, particularly the circus show and the break dancing. The karaoke night was also a lot of fun. Our room was nice and very clean. The only setback of the room was that because of the grass roofs, there is not very much noise separation and we could easily hear what was happening outside our room. Overall, we had a wonderful time at this resort and would definitely go back again and recommend to others.

Occidental Costa Cancun: Wonderful Staff and Service!

This hotel is perfect for someone who just wants to relax and take it easy in a one-stop, intimate setting. The resort is very contained, 3 a la carte restaurants surround a lovely pool area, and the buffet restaurant looks out over the ocean. The buffet was delicious (omelette bar every morning was my personal favourite) and the staff was extremely friendly, fast and gracious. The beach area is very small and confined, so if you're an ocean lover and prefer to frolick in the waves on your vacat [... read more]ions, this is not the place for you. If you love to sit in the sun poolside, this resort is perfect. The resort keeps you entertained too. They would host a bingo game every day at 1pm by the pool, and every night the hotel had a show - circus, magician, Jersey Boys - it was great. I would recommend this to any family or couple or friend group looking to relax. The atmosphere is a perfect mix between fun and relaxing. Final note - I had a massage while I was there and it was outstanding. Some hotel massages can be extremely average, and this one felt professional and upscale.

Occidental Costa Cancun: An amazing experience and resort! A++++

We loved the Occidental Costa Cancun for many reasons. The service was incredible (room, restaurants, front desk, bartenders - you name it!). We were impressed with how clean the resort was at all times. The food (buffet and al la carte restaurants) were all fantastic. A great location on the Cancun hotel strip - easy to catch a cab or a bus into the downtown core. All around, we loved our experience and we're very sad to head home. 10/10!!!

Occidental Papagayo: Sensational and exceptional. Fully deserving of all five stars.

In every respect. As a brand new facility, built on a gentle slope, the service is excellent and the food is exquisite. Only 165 rooms and although it was full when we were there never felt it. The buffet restaurant features theme cuisine nightly from Costa Rican to Mexican, Peruvian, Caribbean, French, international, and chefs surprise. Hardly want to break away to the specialty restaurants although the Italian restaurant is also excellent. Beaches in Costa Rica are all public. The hotel bea [... read more]ch is pleasant. Beach exploration is a passion on this bay and in this area. More spectacular beaches are 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes away. Transportation easily arranged. Unforgettable experience. Flawless.

Barcelo Maya Palace: excellent resort

this is a huge complex which now contains 6 hotels of which the Palace is the second newest. It is very well maintained and the food is good to very good. The buffet restaurants offer lots of choice for even the most selective or discerning palates. The specialty restaurants (Brazilian, French etc) are ok but not high end. The swimming pools are first class as are the facilities for the kids of all ages. We have been to this group of hotels many times. The Palace is much the same as the ot [... read more]hers but we now look forward to trying the latest Barcelo at this location - which only opened in December 2019.

Occidental Cozumel: Good value

We did a one week stay with 8 adults. Resort is good value for the cost. Rooms are spacious, well appointed. Food is average. Booking the a la carte restaurants was far more complicated and frustrating than it should have been. It should not take almost one hour of wheeling and dealing to book a sitting for what we were minimally entitled to and paid for. The staff was for the most part were some of the sweetest people I have ever met. I would go back to this resort again for this reason alone. [... read more] Beach access was convenient. Pool was adequate. No swim up bar for the adults. If you are looking for peace and quiet, beware. Rooms are not soundproof and main villa vestibule area echo all sound. If one is looking for some sun and on a budget consider this facility.

Occidental Papagayo: This was such a beautiful resort.

I loved the hotel. This was one of my best trips so far. Everything about it was excellent. The rooms were cleaned everyday, the staff were friendly. The grounds were kept up. I can't complain about anything. The food was very good especially the desserts. I would reccomend this resort.

Occidental Cozumel: Great resort

The resort was very clean. Rooms very nice. Food quite good. Only negative was that check in took quite a long time. Also the reservations for the a la carte restaurants was very frustrating. We were told the only time left was thursday at 9pm. Upon further review we eventually got a reservation in all 3 restaurants and every time there were a lot of empty tables. Overall this is a very nice resort.

Barcelo Aruba: Great holiday at the Barcelo Aruba

We stayed at the Barcelo Aruba in early January 2020. We had a pool/ocean view room with two double beds. We had our two children with us (13 and 12). PROS: very clean, excellent service, great location, hotel is a nice size - not too big, not too small, lovely beach, big pool, a la carte restaurants are very good (we ate at all of them and had no problem getting reservations which we made the day after we arrived, including the teppanaki at Kyoto - all the a la cartes were good but the Mex [... read more]ican and Japanese were really good), buffet was also good - always had fresh grill on the go for eggs, omelettes, fresh grilled meats and fish, and a pasta bar - you could always find something, nice lobby bar area, decent shopping and restaurants in walking distance to hotel, very safe (this goes for the entire island - you can walk the beach or in town in the evening and have no concerns). CONS: hotel rooms and their balconies are a little small, music at pool was sometimes really loud, small plastic glasses for drinks (take an insulated cup - you can get a bigger drink and it is better for the environment - kudos to Barcelo as they are at least using paper straws but the cups and the trash generated from those cups is insane - I think hotels should start providing an insulated, branded cup at check in for each guest to re-use during their stay), need more chairs at pool, hard to get palapa at beach, needs a casual takeout type of restaurant as even the beach grill is a sit down restaurant. What truly makes this resort a good choice is the staff. From the bar and restaurant staff to the front desk to the beach to housekeeping, we had wonderful experiences with all. Thank you to the Barcelo staff for a great holiday!

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Beautiful!

If you love nature and all it has to offer, this resort is for you. We spent hours and hours just walking on the trails at the resort and at the park. The rooms are beautiful, the pools are great, the adult section with the natural pool is awesome! Superb meals all around. Will definitely return.

Occidental Cozumel: Good value for money.

Pros: - Great beach - Big rooms - Buffet is above average for this type of hotel Cons: - The hotel walls are very thin. When our neighbour coughed, it woke us up - Service isn't great. Attitude from the poorly trained staff and you will have problems booking your la carte reservations, checking in and out and getting towels - Stay away from the seafood restaurant!! Very old seafood. - The nightly entertainment isn't any bargin (Karaoke night means the staff puts on 3 songs and shuts i [... read more]t off) - The after hours pizzeria is never open so make sure to fill up at dinner. Overall, we had a nice stay once we figured out what to stay away from. It is good value for $1100-$1200 but I wouldn't pay anymore. The beach is fantastic. We ended up eating in Cozumel (off resort) three nights and would recommend you do the same if you want a nice dinner. The service is awful both at front desk and at the buffets. We had to get our own utensils and beverages almost every night even though you are supposed to get these from the wait staff. Not a huge deal but was frustrating.

Barcelo Puerto Vallarta: Sweet resort

The resort was fabulous, food pretty decent and staff were super nice. Issue we did have however, we arrived 8AM from an over night flight with next to no sleep, and had no room to rest in as check in was not until 3pm.We had to figure out 6'ish hours by the pool, where we ended up sleeping. Uncomfortable start to the trip.

Barcelo Maya Grand Resort: Amazing resort.

I just got back from Barcelo Maya resort and we have no complaints at all. We originally booked into the Tropical where we had 1 regular Junior Suite and 1 premium level oceanfront junior suite. The older kids (18 and 15) were in the regular room and my wife and I in the premium room. No issues with the transfer from the airport. Got to hotel and they ended up upgrading us to the Caribe. At least it was more expensive to go there when I was looking to book which was over New Years Eve. We d [... read more]idn't mind. The process of checking in does take a little while but the workers there are pleasant if you are pleasant back. No need to get all worked up about having to wait a little. Your on vacation after all. Got to the room. It was really really nice. Very clean and no damage. We were very happy with it. The premium oceanfront looked over the pool and we loved the room. The regular room looked over the gardens and it was serene and peaceful. No complaints and we would for sure book again at the Caribe. Half way through the vacation we were informed that we had to move rooms due to a maintenance issue in the building. They put us into the Palace in an oceanfront premium junior suite. The whole move process took about 2 hours however it rained during that time so it wasn't so bad. It didn't rain the entire vacation except for that two hour window. Think most people would be put off and not happy with having to pack up and move rooms half way through but we saw it as an opportunity to see another part of the resort. Plus it was an upgrade. The palace is way more expensive than the tropical or caribe. The room at the palace was also very nice. Clean and right on the oceanfront next to the Palace. If I was comparing the Caribe Premium Oceanfront to the Palace Premium Oceanfront I would say the Caribe was not any less quality but it cost a lot less. I would also say the Caribe bed was more comfortable. However there ware some perks that you get with the palace that you don't get with the Caribe such as access to all the resorts and all the restaurants. One of our favourite things to do was to pool hop from one end of the resort to the other. You could, for the most part start in the pool at the Palace and walk all the way to the end of the Riveria in a pool almost the entire time. You have to get out of one pool and into another but the longest walk was maybe 50 meters. Some only about 10 feet. The other great thing was there was a pool bar in all the pools so you were never not with a drink in hand. Keep in mind that this is only possible if you are staying at the Riveria or Palace with the special bracelet. We did this almost every day and it was a lot of fun. Better than walking on the beach which was rocky and was not good to walk on at certain points. There are some great parts of the beach that are nice soft sand but the whole resort is not that. There is also a wonderful beachfront path the runs along the entire resort that many people walk on and jog on in the mornings. Very easy to get from one end of the resort to the other and still be at the ocean with the beautiful views. The difference between the Caribe, Beach and Tropical was minimal at best. In my mind they are all good and all are a little different in their own unique way. The Riveria is brand new and although we didn't go inside the resort the outside is modern and sleek. The pools are awesome infinity pools and the oceanfront room views are amazing. I'm planning on going back to the Riveria in April that's how cool it looked. As far as the other amenities go. The Fitness facility is amazing. Huge and centrally located. For a resort this was top notch. The sports bar was very good too. We watched college bowl games and NFL playoff games there and the staff were accommodating. The food there is typical bar food. Chicken wings, Nachos, Hamburgers and Hotdogs. Hit the spot when you were watching the big game. My only critique of the sports bar is that the pool tables should have some TV's near by them so you can watch the game while playing pool. They are isolated in the back behind a wall all on their own. Also there should be some kind of sign up list or waiting list for the pool tables. There are three of them and you can purchase 30 min or 60 min of time to play however when it gets busy at night the staff aren't monitoring how long people are out there for so they had no idea when the next one would come open. With a resort this size and this many people those three pool tables fill up quick at night and they need a better system to monitor the time of play. (and put TV's back there). All the restaurants were very good. No complaints at all about the food, lots of variety and was very delicious. The waiters were always pleasant and nice. We did not experience even one person that wasn't nice or didn't have a smile for you when you said hola to them. If you are nice to them they will 100% be nice back. We didn't do the Ventura sky fly park but it looked really cool and we will do it when we go back. Also the Dressel divers we want to try out when we go back. The snorkelling right off the beach was decent. Not a lot of coral and most of it is dead however we did see lots of fish and three sea turtles and a sting ray right from the beach which was cool. I've been to almost every carribean island and lots of resorts. Overall this was a very good, safe and clean resort. I would absolutely recommend this resort to people without hesitation both adults and families with kids. Note that it is a very large resort and the easiest way to get around is to walk, however, there is lots of walking. If you aren't that mobile or don't want walk a ton then you can take the free shuttle through the resort. We did it once and it was good however we liked to walk to burn off all the awesome food we ate so we walked mostly. The grounds were meticulously kept. Workers were painting, pruning, cutting and clearing the entire day. I was very very impressed on how well the resort was kept up.

Barcelo Maya Caribe: Nice vacation

It was the third time we went to Barcelo, Riviera Maya The rooms are clean, the AC is great, the staff is helpful and working hard. It is humid climate and the bugs are thriving . They use DTT to disinsect. DTT is toxic and not used in Canada but they use it in Mexico and Dominican Republic. This time they used a lot in our room and took a day to clear out the smell. In spite of this, there ere small bugs 🐜 in the bathroom. The smell of bathroom was coming into the room from time to time es [... read more]pecially during the night. Also, the food is not as good as used to be. There is a lot of food but the chefs are not great. Besides this, the beach is great, people are very nice and helpful. Overall, it is a good hotel. The best is the gym. One of the best I have seen. Also, the outdoor activities are great and keep you motivated. There is not a perfect resort, but is worth for money.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Barceló Mayan Riviera

The Hotel and grounds were very well kept. The only surprise we had was that the alcoholic beverages were not served until noon. We were told that it is a new law that was put in place by the Mexican government I would have liked to be informed of this before I booked. At 11:00 when the sun is out it would have been nice to have one of the specialty drinks. I had gone to the Bavero the previous year in the Dominican and was expecting the same experience.

Barcelo Maya Grand Resort: One of my favorite Places to stay!

If you are looking for an all inclusive resort that has it all look no further! The pools are gigantic and the beach is beautiful. I just returned from the resort after taking my 14 year old twins. This was their first trip away and were blown away with the experience. Their only complaint was that the cheesecake tasted like cheese and not sweet like we are used to. We enjoyed the Buffets and did not find the need to go to any a la carte restaurants. One thing to note is that the pool  [... read more]bars do not start serving alcohol until noon but the beach restaurants start serving at 11 am. I also recommend finding the towel place on your first day as people claim their beach and pool chairs early. I would have rated this 5 stars but I found that the level of service has dropped since the last time I was here. I found there to be less servers around the pool/beach and in the buffet. It is over an hour bus ride from the Cancun airport to the resort. Worth it once you are there but makes a long travel day. I will definitely be back!

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Awesome resort

Barcelo Maya Riviera Resort as soon as ate got there the the staff from the front entrance to the reception desk was very friendly helpful, and it was quick service, made us feel welcome. Handed us a drink with a smile.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Verry relaxing

Love this adult only hotel very relaxing , no night life just the way i wanted it if we wanted more night life we just had to walks minute to the Palace were theres lots more life snack bars casino kids are welcome the food is verry good and rooms were cleaned everyday new sheets ... staff dont understand much english so we downloaded the translate app wich was fine afterwards .. beach is beatiful ...