Occidental Cozumel: So relaxing!! Completely rejuvenated!!
What a beautiful resort. Instead of clearing jungle, they built around it. The resort was completely full and the only night you would have guessed was on New Years! The beach is beautiful and there is a lot of it! There is an adult pool which is a nice option. The other pool is down on the beach which provides a beautiful view!! No swim-up bar but that was the only thing I would add. Rooms are big and beautiful!! You never walk to far to get anywhere. Food was delicious both at the buffet and a[... read more]t the la cartes! It was a very stress free, relaxing week!! I would highly recommend this resort and we will be returning!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
TJ Stickman -
Verified Purchaser
Occidental Caribe: Great Getaway
My girlfriend and I enjoyed a 9 day vacation and it was great. Although the room was a bit dated it was everything we needed in our room, not that we spent much time there anyway.
The pools were great and the beach was perfect. There were so many chairs that you were never fighting to find a spot on the beach or by the pool at any time through the day and there were always activities going on.
The staff was always friendly and were very respectful. Shout out to the the best bartenders at t[... read more]he swim up bar (Jose, Michael, Guillermo and Ana), Maria at the Buffet and Bali Bali around the pool area. These staff members made the trip memorable.
The food at the buffet was fairly standard although the fruit was always fresh and tasted great. The a la cart restaurants were great (especially the French and Italian - they were fantastic) and the pizza at lunch was a great staple.
The only other thing was that, given the hotel was crazy busy over the holidays it wasnt as easy to find a table at the buffet and when you did it may still have dirty plates on it or no utensils but once servers saw you were going to sit down they made their best efforts to clean it up for you as quickly as possible.
All in all we had a great experience and would definately consider returning again.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Allegro Cozumel: Disappointed with customer service
This was our 5th time to the resort as a group of 8 and we were disappointed with the customer service, i.e. room request, dinner reservations not available. We have always been extremely pleased with the Allegro (the proof 5th time!), however the reception and guest relations employees were rude and not helpful at all. We have never complained in the past but this will definitely be our last visit.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Beautiful Resort
i would like to start off by saying that Jill and her Colleagues at trip central are completely amazing. the Barceló Bavaro is a superp resort and the entire staff are friendly and courteous. the resort is super clean, the food is delicious recommend upgrading to premium level. the only complaint I have is that my son got sick there due to an ear infection which I'm pretty sure he got for the kids water park, must be something in the water. only complaint. would definitely go back.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
John -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Caribe: Great resort !
Visited the Barcelo Maya Caribe resort on December 21st to January 4, 2020.
This resorts gives you access to 3 other resorts the Maya Beach, Colonial and Tropical. This resorts is huge, it has many a la carte restaurants, Japanese, Spanish, Seafood, Steak etc..The 24 hrs sports bar called Strikers is very nice, lots of large TVs and big screen and has 24 hrs snacks like hot dogs, hamburgers, fries , wings and cheese sticks. The buffet was also very good, lots of selection and drink were self se[... read more]rve like beer draft, coffee machines, mimosa. The room was basic but ok and nothing fancy. The only thing that is really bad is the check in which took 1 hour and I was the first in line. The grounds are well maintained, the pool are all great, there is even a lap pool which was nice and also a small Adults only which was very nice to get away from the kids. The beach was ok but you need water shoes there is some areas where there are less rocks. There is plenty to do like bowling, mini golf, surf rider, zip lining etc at an additional cost. You can get discount on the bowling from 10 am to 1 PM which is 2 for 1. The mini golf is free till 7 PM. There is free Wifi at the mall from 10 am to 5:30 PM. The service was ok.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Riviera: Exceptional Resort !
We loved the resort ! It was always clean! Everyone at the resort were very friendly and helpful! The food was amazing! Buffet had so much selection each day , you can’t get bored of the food. The restaurants were flavourful as well and the chefs were accommodating which was lovely . The beach was beautiful ! Some parts did need water shoes but overall it was perfect . The beach was clean and you never had to wait for a chair . Pools were amazing as well and again never had to wait for a chair[... read more] . I give this resort a 10/10 we both have nothing negative to say about any of it. The theatre always had something on and on certain days they also provided buffet and it was really good and a lot of variety ! We have already discussed going back ASAP because we were beyond happy with everything this resort had to offer ! It being adult only was a plus !!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Palace: Large kid friendly resort
The good:
Food is average for the price. Great selection but typical resort quality, not much taste. Plenty of beef, chicken, fish, shrimp etc..
Lot's of space, chairs, activities for kids. Beach is wide, sandy, and shallow and no seaweed problems during my stay.
The bad:
Service is slightly below average for Mexico. Most staff really just can't be bothered. Room was often not made up, missing towels, etc.. No "towel art". Calling for service was always "we'll send someone" who never sh[... read more]owed up. Reception often does not answer the phone. They have obviously been told that they should deal with problems by agreeing with anything the guest says and then promptly ignoring it.
Rooms are typical 3* beach resort. Clean but not impressive.
Because it is a good resort for kids there are a lot of them and the rooms have terrible sound proofing. There is a lot of screaming and running.
Entertainment at the Palace is poor, high school production quality, but there is better available at one of the other resorts.
You have to pay (a lot) for wifi unless you are "Premium Level".
Decent quality alcohol but wine is usual cheap resort stuff.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Heather -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Caribe: Fabulous vacation
We were a group of 11. 2 families. The grounds were stunning. Food was average and the rooms were clean and spacious but you can hear everything in the room next door.
The beach was spectacular, calm and warm. Fish swimming in the ocean at our feet. We were able to feed them standing in the ocean.
MANY activities for all ages.
I would definitely return to this resort
This was our second time staying at the Occidental and it did not disappoint. Our flights to Cozumel were delayed 3 hours, but the staff stayed around until 2am to get us checked in to our rooms and settled.
Beach was clean and maintained and so where the grounds. Everyone was friendly and said good morning.
The one disappointment was the service at the Alcart Restaurants. The food was not much better than at the Buffets and the service was terribly slow. We actually left before the dese[... read more]rt was served because of the long wait time.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Jtown -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Caribe: Beautiful Barcelo Maya
This was our first time to the Mayan Riviera and first time at Barcelo Maya Resort. We are a family of three, two adults and a 6 year old son. We stayed for 2 weeks in the Caribe section of the resort. Our room was set back from the beach/pools but was very conveniently located close to the Caribe buffet, the Maya Mall, the Caribe Lobby and the tennis/paddle ball courts. We were very happy with our location near the back of the Sayil building. The transfer from the airport to the resort is [... read more]a solid hour long drive.
We booked a superior/standard room and it was nice (not fancy but clean and nice). We were on the second floor of the building with a view of the Pirate Island Waterpark. There were two double beds in our room and a sofa bed. The bathroom was large and well equipped (dryer, shampoo etc). We had a nice balcony with clean furniture on it. The room itself was also very clean upon arrival. There was a mini fridge that was kept stocked with drinks (pop, beer, water and juice). There was also a large bottle of water with the coffee maker. The man who restocks the fridges will provide you with more water for the room if you ask him to.
The food was delicious. Buffets were always good - not hard to find something for everyone. For breakfast, we often walked over to the Tropical buffet for a change of scenery and liked the layout better than the Caribe buffet. I asked for a buffet schedule from Guest Services and that helped us to decide which buffet to eat at in the evening. We ate at a few of the A La Cartes. They were really good. We especially enjoyed Tokyo where the chef prepared the food right in front of you. It was a great show and the food was so good! The steakhouse was excellent as was the Italian place in the Maya Mall. We always ate lunch at one of the grills near the beach. The one at the Beach section was my favourite because of the beautiful views.
We did not see one evening show (they start at 9:30pm) as we were usually exhausted from the day's activities (particularly our 6 year old) and needed to rest. We usually went for a walk around the resort after dinner and enjoyed seeing the numerous weddings that were taking place.
We spent many of our mornings in the ocean near the Palace snorkelling with the sea turtles. They are beautiful and quite friendly - there's no need to feed them. I was happy to see some of the lifeguards on the beach asking people not to take bananas into the water to give them (like I tell my son, turtles are not meant to eat bananas - a turtle can't climb a tree to eat a banana). We snorkelled off the pier too a few times. There are a lot of fish there (but again, people are feeding them bread etc. and shouldn't). I don't recommend being in the water if people are throwing bread out - my son was in the middle of a large school of fish that were being fed by some guy and he was not comfortable.
If the ocean wasn't ideal for snorkelling, we would play paddle ball or tennis after breakfast. You must book a court ahead of time and get your equipment from the desk near the courts. They provide you with a towel and water if you want it. After lunch we would go to the pool and lounge in the shade. Between the Beach and Caribe pools there is a large shaded structure with ping pong tables and foosball tables. There is also a nice shaded basketball court and lap pool near the ocean in the Beach section. We booked a catamaran ride (free per stay), used the kayaks, the water tricycle and the stand up paddle boards. There's so much to do!!
The fitness centre is really quite impressive. It sits behind the Dive Shop in the Spa building between the Caribe and Colonial sections. There are a number of fitness classes they have scheduled throughout the day but it seems that they only run if there are an adequate number of participants. You can get a towel and water there as well. The spa looked nice but was quite expensive - we didn't go.
We visited Dec 2-16, 2019 and the resort was decorated beautifully for Christmas. The entire place is so clean and tidy. It is so big that it never felt busy or packed with people. It's easy to find shade by the pool or on the beach. Towels can be found in the activity buildings - no need for a towel card. The entire resort was impeccably clean and tidy during our stay. I really have nothing negative to say about the resort or the staff. We had a wonderful time! In fact, we recommended this resort to friends and they have booked for mid January.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Sonya -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Grand Resort: Barceló Maya Grand
The hotel was very nice. Sometimes a bit too big but that is a personal preference I guess. The rooms were clean although every day we had towel shortage a (take 4 to clean leave 3) again not major just annoying. The one part that was simply terrible were their nightly shows with some so bade they simply should not have been on stage.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Leonid65 -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Riviera: Stanning hotel
We stayed 10 nights and overall is impressed with ocean view room , food, service , beech and pools. Outstanding buffet food and staff service very friendly. French , Japanese Restaurants are very good.
What we don't like - loud hard rock music in lobby. it so loud you can not talk. Adult resort means different ages of people and not everyone loves this kind of music. The premium lounge had excellent front desk service provided by Valeria Caliz. We'll comeback soon as we like this paradis[... read more]e.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Caribe: Great experience
Good location, the resort has many things to do, good beach for both sun bath and snorkeling. Good selections of food and a la carte restaurants and bars.
Friendly staffs and of course a little tip can makes differences. This varies on people and the situations.
The beach does not have all white sands like Cancun strip but some rocks and coral related marine life. Doesn't stop from getting the sun on a chair of course. Check out the pictures if not sure.
*Highly recommended to have diving [... read more]shoes or some kind of water footware when going into the water as the bottom can be very Rocky or coraly unexpectedly. Seen many people with foot/leg injuries. This varies on which area of the beach you enter. Follow the crowd if not sure.
Snorkeling was awesome that tons of marine life from the shore to little further. Lots of fish, manta rays, and TURTLES were encountered not too far from the shore. Swimming with the turtles was amazing experience. Without feeding anything they may come and swim with you or around you if they find you interesting. Just stay away from the big crowd of people.
Big enough of a resort so going for walks was easy.
Getting to PDC or Tulum was pretty good since the resort was right in the middle.
If you have been and know where things are this resort will be great.
If this is your first time, this is not too bad of a location but may increase your travel time if you are planning frequent trips to Cancun or PDC or excursions. Or just stay in the resort for the chilled vacation.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
JayeR -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Maya Colonial: Awesome resort!
This was our 2nd visit to the Barcelo Maya Grand Resort, the last time being 11 years ago. We loved this resort just as much this time as the last. Check-in and Check-out was quick and easy and we found everyone working on the resort very friendly and helpful. The restaurants were really good and we were able to reserve at 5 during our stay. The buffet was really good, and lots of variety. We were there over Christmas and besides being beautifully decorated for the season, they went above and be[... read more]yond to make Christmas special. We loved the beach and pool and never had trouble finding lounge chairs. We enjoyed swimming in front of the Tropical with the tropical fish. We had a great holiday!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Marj & Doug -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Karmina: Excellent Resort
The grounds at Barcelo Karmina are very well kept and beautiful. We also enjoyed the many iguanas that were often in the trees or having a "swim" in the pool. It was nice to see the water in the pools was checked as well as leaves removed daily. Our favorite was the Adult Pool. We must mention
our pool waiter Daniel Hermandez, as his friendliness, and service was excellent.He definitely made our stay enjoyable.
The dining was good. Our favorite was the Capri Grill. The staff there were excepti[... read more]onal. We ate breakfast and lunch there.Omelets and eggs cooked to perfection by the very charming cook. The staff were all so friendly and helpful. The Christmas Eve outdoor buffet and celebration was beautifully done. Such a great selection of food .
The rooms are excellent. Lovely view of the grounds as well as the ocean. Sure nice to have two bathroom sinks. Plenty of closet and drawer space.
Would be nice if the staff in general spoke more English. Many try hard, but some speak or understand little.We booked mentioning it was a 70 th Birthday. Some recognition of this would have been nice.
This was our second vacation at Barcelo Karmina. Hope to return.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Darcygoet -
Verified Purchaser
Occidental Costa Cancun: Great Spot / Excellent Service / Thumbs Up!
We just returned from family vacation to Occidental Costa Cancun. No complaints! Excellent service during the week...we loved our week away at this resort. It is our third trip to Barcelo brand in Mexico...alway been great...we trust it.
We all feel we got our monies and suns worth during our stay. Rooms are a bit dated but super clean and beds were great. Our kids 19/16 had their own room but was a bit away so asking to put us side by side...accommodated without issue...again awesome!
Th[... read more]e lobby bar and seating great spot to relax before dinner or going for shower. The shows at night were fun to watch even my teens enjoyed dancing with Aladdin.
Brandon and the entertainment crew around the pool made it tones of fun, water volley, bingo and even a visit from the grinch! He is a mean one at times.
Louis at the buffet greeting us with a smile...buffet with themes each day, great food...even the micro buffet opens around 5am if you have a day trip.
The beach is smallish and limited sun (before noon) vs pool all day. Shallow and would great for little kids. We preferred the pool area with chess and ping pong and the teens in pools all day
Small downer I suppose is...pay for wifi...is that really it? I guess so but put those devices in safe and soak the sun and family time. These days go by fast!!!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Laura -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Tambor: Too much travel time/not all inclusive
I have to say that the views and the country were spectacular! Our family enjoyed the scuba diving and beach lunch. However since we were not provided an itinerary we had no idea how long the travel would actually be, it was long! The way there not so bad as we stayed in SAN Jose the first night. But the way back was terrible! We timed it and it took 20 hours from the time we left the hotel until we arrived home! We had to wait in the San Jose airport for iver 5 hours because we were paired with[... read more] a group from Montreal who’s flight left earlier, if we would have known this we would have never done this! Not to mention, this is not a 7 day all in trip, because we had to pay for our food on the first day, which was fine we had expected this, but the last day also, we stopped at a cafe that we had to pay for then we had no choice but to sit in an airport all day and eat there. In future if you are to offer this trip, there needs to be a better explanation of what will transpire! We were not the only family who felt this way! We spoke to 2 other families who felt the same and I am hopeful they will also provide their feedback. We had used air transit in the past and plan on doing more travelling in the future but We may look at other travel agencies as we were quit disappointed. Also we had to change rooms since the first room we were in had a broken door, no lock and no working phone. We asked for an extra blanket and towel and it took them 4 hours and 3 times asking before they finally provided it to us.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Jonny -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Solymar: Pretty disappointing
Came to this resort 10 years ago and it was amazing! Everyone was happy and it was a lot of fun! Maybe I’ve grown up a little however the people were not happy at all! Every bar was always busy and the drinks were not good! All the bartenders were mad if you asked for anything besides a beer! The gift shop charges 25$ just to use VISA so for some Pringle’s and a couple red bull it was almost $50 American, so like 65 Canadian! The food was not as bad as everyone was saying, however there was[... read more] frequent trips to the washroom after every meal! Would not recommend this resort to any avid travelers! First timers maybe! However the hotel location is great only a two beer walk into town to checkout all the little shops and the Beatles bar which was fun! All and all not horrible but not even close to being a great hotel! Shout out to the bartender JORGE!!! He made the trip worth while
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Palma Real: Absolutely terrible!!!
I have been to this hotel in the past appx 2 years ago, at that time, the hotel was an okay resort being a 3 star..Well OMG this resort is absolutely gone down to s**t!!!..Completely absolutely disgusting!..Mold everywhere, every ceiling was full of it and you could smell the musty smell all throughout, the pool was all broken tiles on the sides where if you tried to get out of it that way you would certainly cut yourself and soo very dirty!!!...sooo many times the keys would never work and you [... read more]had to walk a mile or more to get new keys for them not to work..The pot holes in the cement were so very dangerous when walking around..there was NEVER EVER ANY toilet paper like NEVER!!!..it was soo incredibly expensive now as the hotel no matter what day it is will always charge you 65 cents to 1 Cdn dolla, where the bank around the corner would be appx 73 cents..careful as bank also ripped us off each for 5.00 in their 1.00 coins!..yes the bank as well and then you can see the security outside the bank exchanging money with no paperwork!!!..yes I did witness all of this, as I said this is not my first time there and I know what's is what!..The food was absolutely disgusting!!..not even Franks Red Hot Sauce I brought with me could help!..There is no bottled water there at all even to buy at the hotel. .they give u 1 bottle that u have to ask for and days later finally get and then when u get it u have to refill at the bar every time where they go into a back room to refill..The Havana Club that is attached to this hotel used to be included is now a 10.00 cover charge plus the drinks are now 3.00 each..remember we already lost 30.00 on the 100.00 so every dollar you spend add another 30 cents..we went out for french fries as the hotel never had any burgers or hotdogs etc and they wanted $5.50 C.U.C!!..for the equivalent of a Wendys medium fries!..the Cuban airport on way back is a total rip off!!..Careful as they will not take C.u.c money, only USD n Cdn and they charge 10 % tax on USD and tax on CDN dollars!!!..Duty Free tried to charge me for 1 bottle of rum @ 9.90 along with a $5.00 tax!!!!..yes they wanted $14.90 for 1 bottle! ..I was shocked!..if u have Cuban $ left you might as well throw in Garbage cause it is useless once you pass security!..Cuba has now turned into a serious joke when it comes down to the money now!!..Don't waste it here and go to a much better resort where they have a disco and entertainment because this place has neither!!..nothing to do when it rains except sit in lobby or your stinky room, the entertainment was none existent, they had their shows which was extremely crappy and did not make sense at all!..The lobby bar that is supposed to be opened 24 gouts had now been closing at 11pm and they tell you to go yo the snack bar which is supposed to be opened at 11 pm..well that did not happened until at least midnight when they had a lineup or ppl stated to fet upset and then they yelled at you to hang on as they were preparing food..there was NO FOOD!!..they had cheese on a bun or ghilled cheese which was 1 piece of ham with a little piece of cheese!..it was absolutely terrible!!!..the beach is across the street which is not at all a far walk and the beach is absolutely breathtaking with white sand but they r doing construction there to build a new 1000 room resort, so the noise is unreal along with the dust and such so its a very dangerous path now to get to the beach part..their is little beach bar that is pretty plain but never any music or activities at all!.. the little shops they have also charge you wayyy more for their trinkets now as they have basically triple their prices and that is even when u bardered..the excursions are way overpriced and you don't even get to do what you paid for!..we were supposed to go snorkeling well that did not happen because they wanted to drop us off to this private beach so they could go do their own stuff..we paid 80.00 Cdn to ride an hour on a bus to go on a boat for 2 hours to sit on a beach for another 2 hours and eat the same shitty food and then to do that all over again on way back!..we saw absolutely nothing new at all!!!..The Beatles Bar was ok with their music but like I said they were charging 3.50 Cuban money for a beer!..same as here in Canada -$5.00!..like I said I have been there before so I do know what Cuba and this hotel and the food used to be like and it is now garbage!!!..Go someplace that will be worth the extra 100.00..I will never return to this place again!..Cuba yes but never to this shitty disgusting hotel!