Akumal Bay Beach and Spa Resort: We are fussy about recommending this hotel

If you want a giant anonymous hotel; this is not for you. If you want an adults-only party hotel; you would be better elsewhere. If you like a medium-small hotel, where friendly guests and staff both come back year after year; we might recommend this hotel. If you like to walk into the water directly in front of the hotel, where you can snorkel in a protected bay surrounded by fish; we highly recommend this hotel. We follow our own advice, we have stayed here roughly 20 times. The la [... read more]rge buffet serves sufficiently tasty and varied food that we seldom try the specialty restaurants, although you should do that. A late afternoon snack of freshly prepared sushi is our particular treat. Live bands perform nightly in the main bar lounge, with a focus on the 70's thru 90's era. All rooms fully face the ocean, and the groundfloor patio rooms offer shade, close access to the small infinity pools, Bali beds, and garden/pool/beach bars.Twice a week, a marine biologist working on the activity staff delivers a fascinating "Turtle Talk" that should not be missed. The resort is 95 kilometers from the airport, so be prepared for a van ride of at least 90 minutes, usually slightly more as the van often makes stops along the way to let off guests at two or three other hotels along the way. As of early 2024, the hotel is undergoing a full renovation, in stages, expected to last an entire year. Consequently, a number of rooms are out of service, and the chance of a room upgrade to the top floor penthouse rooms is quite high. A sneak peak of the new rooms looked great, with a lot of wood character, and additional privacy in the bathroom area.

Hyatt Vivid Playa Del Carmen: Very nice resort

Over all I would give the resort a 4 plus , nice beach , clean rooms , good meals and very good service. Only issue we had was room service twice and meals were cold. Air Transat flight airbus 320 sucked knees against the seat in front, no snacks , bottle water if you wanted to pay otherwise a 2oz paper cup once during the flight.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Good hotel

Overall great experience until after 1100 pm Became Noisey in hallways due to unruley guests. Room next to us was loud until 4:30 a.m. made 4 complaints to front desk and security. They did little to resolve noise issues. With noisey room, no offer to move them or us was made, only told us to call security. Security did show up 2 times, but as soon as they left it continued. In all years of travelling, including 2 previous trip to this resort have never had to sleep with earplugs and  [... read more]still awakened. Very disappointing. It was our last trip there.

Riu Yucatan: Nice place

Beach is really nice and big great for swimming, unfortunately if you want a chair on beach get up early. I was going down at 6 am to get good location. Pool is nice swim up is small very crowded there is a quiet pool also. They have smoking areas that most people will use but there’s always so inconsiderate smokers. There not supposed to smoke on balcony. Room needs updating very small in closed toilet room, small shower and one sink but enough counter space. Food was very good at all restauran [... read more]ts no complaints there. Would we go back probably not but may check palace next door

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort: Fantastic Resort

Very nice resort. The food was delicious, rooms were clean and the staff were very friendly. The snorkeling was phenomenal, we seen stingrays, turtles and many other sea creatures. We will be going back for sure.

The Yucatan Resort Playa del Carmen: Clean Hotel and Amazing Food

The grounds and hotel itself was very nice. The rooms were very clean and the grounds were all maintained. The food was excellent. The food was well prepared and tasty. However, I wish there was more variety on a daily basis as it was the same menu for all three meals throughout the week. Keep in mind that this hotel is on the strip close to all the bars. It can get loud up until 3am. It didn’t help that our room was above a bar with karaoke. On the plus side, the hotel is steps away from th [... read more]e strip and the beach is a 5 minute walk.

Dreams Tulum Resort and Spa: Great Place to Stay

My wife and I loved this resort. The staff is very friendly. The food was great. The rooms were clean. The remote setting in the jungle near the water is great for those who love nature. The beach is very nice. Not enough palapas however for all the guests, and unless you like to bask directly in the sun, you have to make sure you get up first thing in the morning to reserve a place. I found sometime the social activities were a bit distracting, there should be a dedicated area for those who [... read more] like it quiet. But overall, I would recommend this place as a nice place to stay.

Royalton Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa: Amazing Resort

Check in was fast. We did pre-select our room and that’s the room we received. Service was top notch, pools were clean and buffet was clean and had a great selection of food. There was always something to eat. We did the Steak House and the Italian, again great food, no delays in service.

The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences Playa Del Carmen: Honest review

Just returned from a week at The Fives. We were 2 families travelling together(11 ppl) with kids aged 10,11,17,19,20,21,22. We both had 2 bedroom condos in villa 3 and 4. Our condo had a king in the second room. We needed 2 doubles but they couldn’t move us. Offered a cot and to make up the sofa bed. They did that in less than 45 mins. Wasn’t a big deal at all. Food: best food we have ever had at an AI. Thou portions are small you can order as much as you want in restaurants. We ate at :Mexican [... read more], Italian, sushi, Thai x2, Mediterranean, and the Friday night Mexican night in the plaza. I had bkft and lunch a few days at the French restaurant.All were outstanding, except perhaps the Mediterranean. We did not eat dinner at buffet - thou our friends did on a few nights. They got rid of reservations- except for the Italian. And it is first come. Sushi gives you a buzzer, all others you put your name on the list and come back at that set time. We ate at Thai 915 one night. We sat in the plaza, listened to the live music, had a few drinks and played cards. If you are a large group and want to eat together all the time, you will have great difficulty. This is not the resort for you. The footprints of each restaurant is quite small, as is the buffet. Restaurants open at 530. Some ppl get in line to eat right away. If you go for 6, you are probably eating at 7/730. Kids loved the soft serve ice cream and smoothies. Food at the beach is burgers, tacos, pizza and a sit down restaurant. Always a line at the bar by infinity pools, but move quickly. Bar by tacos/ pizza was usually empty. We mostly hung out at Lizzards/ high energy pool. Great vibe, entertainment staff were very engaging. Bar staff were particularly slow thou. Lots of options for sun or shade. Towel return and pool bars close before 5. Pool temp is refreshing. Grounds are beautiful, staff takes great care maintaining public areas. Always very clean. Do the nature walk. Rained solidly one day, umbrellas in room provided. Bar 1910 makes excellent drinks. Nightly entertainment in plaza - live music, karaoke, silent disco, casino. At times, tacos/ sushi in plaza too. A/C in rooms were way too powerful. We were cold. Had a late flight. Check out at noon, but they gave adults a pass to use showers in the spa. They also held our luggage. Beach area: sand was very soft and nice. There are barriers up to protect shoreline ( I think). As such, the actual area for swimming is very small. Perfect for little children. But if you like to go out and swim far, or jump the waves, this is NOT the resort for you. Great opportunities for snorkeling as there are loads of fish. All in all we had a great time.

Barcelo Maya Palace: Barcelo Maya Palace

This resort was amazing and ticked off all our boxes. The food was amazing, wine was good, resort was very clean and staff were amazing and friendly. The beach was something to be seen. Our room was great and kept very clean, rain shower was nice. Looking forward to returning to this resort.

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Amazing

March 2024 we go back and it will be approximately our 18 or 20th time to the Barcelo. I all those trips we only had to refuse one room due to poor house keeping which is not the normal for this Resort. They immediately put us in a new room . Grounds great , restaurants booking the past few times we went poor as very little available even though is included in package, But restaurants themselves great if you get in to the ones you want . Pools great , staff excellent,beach very nice but care [... read more]ful some rocky areas, This is actually the only resort we recommend to friends.

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Great Vacation Spot

Large complex but very easy to get around. Good food that has a lot of variety. Hard to get shade spots near the beach. Friendly and attentive staff. Only allowed one pool towel at a time. Beds are not as advertised though (queen not king, and twins not doubles).

The Fives Beach Hotel and Residences Playa Del Carmen: Memorable Family Fun

If you want a stellar beach, this might not be the place for you…but if you want +5 star everything else then The Fives is spot on! - The 2-room residence provided a ton of space for our family of six. We were steps from poolside without paying poolside prices! - Food was plentiful, tasty and freshly prepared. This is the first time I didn’t get sick from resort food! - yoga was led by a super knowledgeable, skilled instructor (shout out to Tracy from NRG2GO!) -resort was super clean, any st [... read more]aff we met were friendly and over the top helpful - our kids had a BLAST with the entertainment team! Johana, Fernanda, Erick, Brian, satkiel and Julian planned fun activities and kept the whole family smiling! They weren’t pushy or in our faces, and we had a perfect balance of fun and calm time by the pool. Thank you for a great week of family memories!

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: traveler beware

The pool at this Resort has been updated. There are no umbrellas for protection from the sun. It was sometimes difficult to find chairs to sit on. Everywhere we went there was a consistent sewer smell. Daniel, our waiter was excellent as well as our maid service. Watch out for the luggage staff. We were missing some items from our luggage when we got to our room. When we were leaving the hotel, luggage staff moved our luggage from a public location to a small closed door office. I confronte [... read more]d the staff and demanded they bring it back out immediately. I had some resistance but they did bring it back out. It was happening to other travellers but they were not paying attention. Rooms are dated and run down. Food at the steak house is terrible. My husband's steak was less than an inch thick and instead of a baked potato he was served cold black bean puree with a stale tortilla chip.

Ocean Coral and Turquesa: Beautiful rersort

1) The grounds of the resort are well maintained and the fine sandy beach is cleared of algae regularly 2) The rooms are spacious and comfortable. However, - The temperature control thermostat was erratic, fluctuating between 20c and 25c, although set at 23c - The shower water temperature is a problem: It took 5+ minutes before it reached a comfortable level but then it tuned from extremely cold to hot on its own. A safety issue! 3) Excellent choices of tasty food were available  [... read more]at the buffet, and most other restaurants. However , the Japanese restaurant was a bit disappointing, especially when we were charged $51 CAD for a small bottle of Saki (we were not told we had to pay for it before ordering ) 4) One shower at the large pool was out of service during our 10 days stay at the resort 5) Night entertainment was not as good compared to our first time stay at the resort some five years ago.

Iberostar Waves Paraiso del Mar: Beautiful resort!!!

We had a great time at Iberostar Del Mar in Mayan Riviera, Mexico Food was amazing, lots of wildlife there such as peacocks, flamingos, swans, many types of different birds and LOTS of coati just to name a few Great shows as well but we didn't pay for any (shouldn't they ALL be included) As repeat customers, we were greeted by name and welcomed.

Barcelo Maya Palace: A great place BUT

Firstly, I’d like to say, this place has great food, well manicured grounds, overall beautiful rooms, good beds, and good air-conditioning. The beach is a little rocky and compared to other beaches. I would give it a 7 out of 10. BUT my main complaint is the inability to get chairs or lounges to sit around the pool or the beach. The problem is there are signs that say “do not reserve seats” but no one enforces it. If you look across the pool you see lots of lounge chairs but NOBODY is sitting [... read more] in any of them. They were all occupied by a book, a shoe, a floaty, a towel etc. At the beach we saw chairs that were reserved and nobody showed up until after lunch. If they are going to have signs outlining a no reserving chair policy, someone has to be there in the morning to enforce it and stop people. My only other minor complaint was the drinks. The Margaritas and any of the mixed drinks were so sweet that you could barely drink them. The orange juice is not really orange juice, it’s Tang or some made up orange mixture. Make sure you ask or specify what alcohol brand or type you want in your drink or you get some generic type of alcohol instead

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: The Blue Bay Grand Esmaralda was an okay resort for it's price. Not a 4.5 Resort.

The food was good and the service was great. The pool's were really nice, but need more stairs to get into it. They also need new chairs, plus no umbrella's to give you a little shade. The area near our room smelled like a sewer pit, because of the swamps all over. Thanks Murray Schroeder

Secrets Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa: Very nice

The hotel is very well kept, clean etc. The staff was excellent and helpful Food and rooms at the resort was very good. Only downside was the beach was not the best…pools were very good . I would go to a secrets again, but would check out beach in the future.

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: Great resort!

I would definitely go back! The grounds are beautiful and well kept, the staff are friendly, the food is great, and the drinks are even better! I do usually love the beach but there was quite a bit of seaweed so we stayed by the pool most of the time but would make our way to the beach by late afternoon, after they had cleaned it up a bit. Our room was okay but I loved our view because we had the sunset. However, our shower was a bit leaky and required a bit of cleanup after each shower. The foo [... read more]d was amazing, everything that I ate was delicious. Overall, it is a great resort.