Great beach, very clean hotel, friendly service

High rating on service, hotel staff, very clean.. excellent beach (probably one of the best with snorkelling and coral reef right there), nice rooms,.. what prevented 5 stars? steak at Brazil restaurant was served almost raw.. sent back and wasn't great. the wifi wasn't free and only one device at a time could be activated ($45US week), the air conditioner broke 3 different days. the arrival staff didn't give us any info on shows, activities, restaurants, big gym location, other amenities.. it' [... read more]s also 80 minutes from airport.. I stated at Royaton Hideaway in November and it was a superior hotel in every way. including drinks served on beach, hammocks on beach, lunch served at your table, not buffet, .. if you want the little extras, don't stay here.. if you are okay with these things, then it's a great plac..

Fabulous resort

Amazing room, property and food. Especially loved the French restaurant at the Palace. The staff were friendly and the food amazing. The beach was huge and the water warm. The evening shows were fun and they did a huge spread for Superbowl Sunday!

Good and bad

rooms, grounds, pools, staff, all top notch. A bit windy for most of the week so ocean swimming was poor (red flags) Plenty of fish to swim with, and a turtle or three. Not much in the way of "Mexican" food. And what was there, was rather bland. Buffet food was good, but rather repetitive after a week. I did not like being "nickle and dimed" Room service was "free" but you had to pay for delivery. Had to pay to use "Bali" beds. Room info book said you could have the mini bar refilled whenever yo [... read more]u wanted, but you had to pay for the service. 5star? resort with 2 hours of free wifi a day, three resorts away. First resort I have been to where Wifi was not free all day. (in lobby)

Great place for families!

This resort had an excellent beach, pools and waterslide park with plenty of loungers to choose from. Countless activities with the Pirates island and Dolphinaris within walking distance, plenty of places to eat and transport between resorts on the double decker buses was fun too! Clean, safe, awesome! We'll be back!

Our 4th stay at Barcelo Maya Palace

Since 2010 we stayed for the 4th time at this resort. Last year we chose Palladium White Sands, which we regretted afterwards. Although Palace got more pricey since are last stay in 2013 (for 3 persons almost $1000 more for a 10 days stay). Rooms are well kept, although they require a bit of touch-ups. Buffet food is good gut but very repetitive. Top shelve drinks. The a la carte restaurants are good: Brazilian, Caribbean and French, but still the same menu as 5 years ago. They opened a dolphina [... read more]rium in the resort, where they have a short 10 minutes show daily. Also you can buy a package to swim with the dolphins (from $99 to $150), a bit pricey but a great experience for kids. Four months ago they opened a mini mall in the resort, where they have several high end shops, gift shop, bowling alley, Japanese restaurant (good) and an Italian restaurant (OK). The beach is amazing, lots of corals close by, where you can snorkel and see lots of fish, turtles, etc. The Palace beach is like a lagoon, but if you walk down 100 meters to the Tropical/Colonial beach, you can enjoy the waves. The staff are friendly and helpful especially if you tip them, but they deserve it. We will be back for sure.

Wonderful vacation

Facilities were great, service was excellent, food was terrific. Beach is crystal clear and view of the fish was remarkable. Plenty of things to do while on site. Shopping exercise rooms etc. Would return again for sure.

Above Average Resort for All Tastes

What strikes one immediately when approaching the lobby of the Barcelo Palace is the sense of space and elegance. The vast lobby and grounds make it possible not to feel crowded even in the high season when we arrived to escape wintry Toronto like many other Canadians. The pools are enormous, clean and inviting and I especially like substantial but different pool areas exclusively for adults as well as for children. Although the rooms are quite a walking distance to the restaurants and the beach [... read more], the corridors and the gardens are very nicely kept and decorated with sculptures and fountains that they made the walks like a pleasant daily exercise before indulging yourselves in the restaurants. The a la carte restaurants are one of the best I have visited in all inclusive resorts. The Seafood and the French restaurants are really first class and their service equally so. The lobsters are so fresh and deliciously cooked. The disappointment both in service and quality of food is the Argentinian beef Restaurant Rodizio. Suddenly you are back down to earth in an slightly below average experience with rather negligent waiters and ordinary steaks in an uninteresting ambience. The buffet restaurants are very good in its varieties and freshness of food and all the restaurant and cafe staff maintained a high level of manners and friendliness even at the peak breakfast times. Now the down side : the customers' service and the internet. All the lobby front desk staff and customers' service are very hard pushed to serve all the visitors. There's just too few of them and they seem to be trying very hard but not given enough correct information by the management. The fact that there is no dedicated cashier desk make the queues and line ups long and laborious even when you only intended to ask the simplest of questions. One feels that the hotel and their staff do not have or want a lot to do with the staff from the Holiday firms. Hence, when I asked for help on arrival regarding my lost luggage by AirTransat and who to get in touch with, the hotel lobby staff could offer no help except a rueful smile of sympathy. The internet was bad. Bought a $45 wifi service that's supposed to work in your room and the central lobby area and it did not work at all in my room when I was really relying on it to get help to locate my lost luggage. (Remember it is a good 10 minutes walk to the lobby) . Subsequently, it is still very erratic service in the room. The bedroom themselves were very good and outside the quiet balcony we had, we could even spot a deer at night together with other some small interesting animals. All the chamber staff were excellent and friendly and the facilities clean and excellently kept. The beach is vast and gorgeous and never short of a chair to lie on. Soft sand and plenty of shallow water where you can see fishes and some even saw turtles. Also the location made it possible to have a big variety of local excursions for Mayan temples as well as cenotes and other sporty ventures. All in all , I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there and I am not easy to please !

Excellent stay

We stayed at the Palace Deluxe and it seemed to be superior to the other 4 hotels in the complex. Of course it was the most expensiveness well. The grounds appeared more spacious and more grand.The a la carte restaurants were excellent. We did not try the restaurants in the other hotels and so I cannot say that they were definitely better. All the service staff were very friendly and attentive. My only complaint was that the front desk staff did not seem as well trained as the service staff. On  [... read more]more than one occasion I received conflicting replies to my enquiries. When I enquired about booking for the future one staff told me that the room will cost a certain amount per day, regardless of the number of people, which was of course not true. All in all we enjoyed our stay and would not hesitate to recommend it to our friends.

Nice resort

Example: What did you think about  this hotel? The hotel was clean and well maintained. The sinage around the property - indicating the resturants and buldings - and shopping and other ammenities was lacking. Front staff did not clearly explain where all the resturants were that were available to us.

Beautiful resort and beautiful people

The resort is massive with a lot of stuff for the whole family. Front desk staff could have been a little more accommodating,b ready for a long check in process. The rooms are beautiful and well kept.

Amazing Place

Best service, the waiters are very nice, everything is clean, rooms are big, Food is perfect and you must go to all the A la carte restaurants, especial the French one. If I have the chance, I will definitely go again..

Amazing all inclusive

Surroundings and resort itself were all beautiful and very well maintained. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Food was excellent, both at the buffets and the a la cartes, waiting staff was excellent. Room was clean and very nicely decorated. My only complaint was that the mattress was hard and not very comfortable which I have read in other reviews. We spent most of our time at the beach and the adult pool, both were great. Beach chairs were plentiful any time of the day, however to get a sp [... read more]ot at the adult pool you had to get there fairly early. We visited at the end of March which was spring break, we found that there were a lot of teenagers who were sometimes very loud and obnoxious, hence the reason we enjoyed the adult pool so much. We traveled without our kids but I would definitely take my kids to this resort.

Great fun for everyone!

I loved everything about this hotel the room was beautiful nice bed great bathroom the ocean was beautiful feeding sea turtles the food was 5 star buffets were really good it was amazing time one of my best friends got married there was absolutely stunning