We absolutely love this place! We have stayed at Barcelo several times and every time I am surprised by how nice it is. We have stayed at Gran Bahia Principal and it was "ok" and we have also stayed at Xcaret, which was expensive. The Barcelo rooms are clean and nice, the staff is very friendly. This trip we used Barcelo's transportation from the airport and it was a little more money than private transportation but it went way smoother compared to past trips. We had a fun time comparing 20 year old photos from our first visit to Barcelo. It is just as beautiful now and we will continue to come back. read more

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This place is absolutely horrid,if you've ever complained about the holiday inn in the states,I'd take those over staying here. To be more exact,we stayed at the Barcelo maya caribe.it is so dated and falling apart.the grout in the shower/tub is falling apart.hvac unit sensors are bad so it'll just keep blowing cold air no matter what temp it is. The door lock only partially works with having to try multiple times just to get the door open. The good is like eating elementary food from the eighties in the states at the buffet no matter if it's breakfast lunch or dinner.a few of the staff seems to be glad that they're working and the other seems like they're forced into labor be it in the dining hall or room staff. We're here for a wedding and booked here due to all the in-laws are staying here.the staff are rude and have no patience even tho there's a huge language barrier.we normally book our own stay and do our research before you choose a place but due to the fact we're not the ones that chose this place. So the buffet is always open to all but if you wanted to eat at some of the other they have here,you have to reserve ahead of time and if it's booked out,your eating dinner at 9pm or later.my in-laws ate at one of the Italian place and they said the food is horrendous.overly salted and over cooked.i would never stay here ever again and I'm posting this so it would save you the headache and disappointment. My nieces book a room that showed a double bed and they got charged for a double and the room only had a single,and when they went to the front desk,they told them it was their fault.thereis no discription for the room just pictures so there's no way to know and like I said earlier,the staff is very short and very rude. When the cleaning lady came by and asked if I wanted the room clean,I told her I just needed towels and water.she handed me the towels and told me the waters in the mini bar and before I could tell her it's out,she just took off. I don't understand,maybe it's because it's all inclusive or what but they seem to be miserable and give really bad read more

Look the beach and pool were amazing, no doubt! But that's where it ends... You cannot get reservations at ANY restaurant. We tried immediately and were told no. We asked, as we just checked in, what happens to the rest of the people checking in, "They are out of luck." We asked again, and hostesses said to my wife "Hey lady we are busy, no room for you." WHAT?! So the buffet it was, and it was meh at best. We were able to get into a restaurant by waiting it out, and guess what?! Less than half full, they were pushing you to the buffet. The food at buffets was questionable and multiple people got sick, smoked salmon was jello, they marinated hard boiled eggs hot in pesto sauces. At the pool, no food, nor drink service, nothing but standing in an obnoxious line serving one at a time at the bar... brutal. We tipped one of the three servers to maybe get us drink service, never seen again. No room service, only for a fee?! How is that possible AT AN ALL INCLUSIVE! When we went to take a pastry from the buffet to the room, we were basically checked by a bouncer and made to throw it out, what?! We would get a spot at the pool, and the staff would move us for water aerobics...? Overall this was an outdated waste of money and vacation. Ive been to Mexico plenty, we took a chance on this one, and it was a terrible one. Stay away, such better options... read more

We're on the adult only side. I must say we have throughly enjoyed our first day here. We spent several hours sitting in the buffet area only because we were waiting for our rooms. The food was good and I don't like buffets. Then went to the beach which is so clean and blue. Definitely recommend. Rooms are well kept and clean. We have 3 swim up rooms not one complaint. Pictures on the site match the hotel on the adult side. We will venture off on the other sides and I wi update my review when I do. read more

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A Mixed Bag Great Beach, Disappointing Food We recently spent a week at the Barceló Maya Caribe and overall had a decent time, but there were definitely highs and lows throughout the stay. The resort is massive, divided into several sections (Caribe, Colonial, Tropical, Beach, and Palace), and although you can move between areas, it definitely helps to understand how sprawling it is. We stayed in a Premium Level room in the Caribe section, which came with some solid perks like private check-in, access to a Premium lounge, and a nicer room category. Our room was on the second floor and had a terrace with a hot tub outside and a second hot tub inside the large bathroom. The king-size bed was comfortable, and there was a decent living area with a couch (not a true sofa bed but could work for one person). There was also plenty of storage. We felt the Premium room was worth the extra cost just for the space and comfort. The beach and pool areas were the highlight of the stay. The water was clear and warm, with very little seaweed, and the pools were always clean except for our last day, when one pool looked a bit cloudy, possibly due to a filtration issue. But otherwise, the grounds and common areas were very well maintained. Now, for the biggest letdown: the food. Even in the Palace section, which is supposed to be more upscale, the food tasted like it came from a cafeteria. There was little to no authentic Mexican cuisine, which was disappointing given the location. This included both the buffet and the à la carte restaurants, which require reservations but didn't offer a much better experience. The hibachi restaurant was probably the best meal we had, but even that came with odd restrictions you couldn't order as much as you wanted, which was surprising for an all-inclusive. Most of the time, the food was repetitive and lacked variety, which made dining a bit of a chore by the end of the trip. Drinks were hit or miss, depending on the bartender. I stuck with Malibu mojitos, a drink they offer regularly, and while sometimes they were great, other times they lacked flavor or balance. There aren't many snack options throughout the day. There's a sports bar (Strikers) that's open late, but the food there was pretty bad. Behind it is an arcade and bowling alley, which was a nice touch and fun for the kids and teens in our group. We traveled with a large group and several kids, and I will say the resort shines in terms of kid-friendly amenities. From pools to water parks and activity areas, the children had a blast and that definitely helped the overall experience. The staff were mostly friendly and helpful, and the resort grounds were beautiful. But if you're like us and really look forward to amazing food when you travel, this resort may fall short of expectations. All in all, we made some great memories and enjoyed time with friends and family, but we wouldn't rush back. The beach and Premium room made up for some of the disappointments, but there's definitely room for improvement especially in the dining department. read more

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We loved our family vacation here! Very family friendly. We came with 8 adults, 2 small kids, 2 toddlers and an infant. The kids club options were nice, they posted activities every day basically every hour. Each night there were different themed shows or either kids or adults depending on the time. Pools were amazing, with nice swim up bar options. Such a large property. Staff was friendly. Food was overall good. But so many things to do. We loved the escape room a shopping options. 10/10 for families. read more

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We loved our spacious room at the Adults only side. The bed was giant! Bathroom was really nice and clean. We upgraded to have a tub on the balcony and it was beautiful view. A lot of people have issues with beach chairs, but I was out there every morning because I wake up early and there were alway plenty available! I went to the bathroom a few times and was worried someone would move my stuff, but they didn't (and there were still tons open). Beach was clean and well maintained. We booked a massage and it was inexpensive and great. I would say the spa wasn't amazing but that's because they book a bunch of people at the same time to enjoy it for about an hour before your massage. The group we got assigned to didn't understand spa etiquette and so it wasn't very relaxing. However, no complaints for the massage. The complaints I have are that people visiting don't clean up after themselves. Leaving cups and garbage around for staff to clean...please clean up and don't hoard chairs and you'll be fine! I also was confused why the bars and buffets closed so early. I believe it was 6 pm for most. So make sure you make food reservations at the restaurants or you won't get to eat! Another frustration was that our door kept having issues with the scanner so we kept getting locked out of our room. It would sometimes take an hour for them to fix the issue and we were late for our dinner reservation. Overall, it's beautiful and lots of things to do! Pretty inexpensive as well. read more

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Staying here as we speak, and I think I'd be hard-pressed to give the hotel itself anything more than a 1. The food is definitely sub-par, and the options are limited. I am surprised this place has not been shut down by the authorities. For folks who are allergic to shellfish, you probably should be careful - there's little to no care taken to make sure there's no cross-contamination at the buffet, where guests use ladles interchangeably for different dishes. This is a disaster waiting to happen for sure, with someone either being hospitalized or worse on this property. There's very few, if any vegetarian options. The rooms are probably the worst. Our room had a broken shower that required the faucet to be replaced. It had a TV that would not turn on, that we're still waiting on a replacement for. The phone system wouldn't work properly, and that too needed to be replaced. The room safe, similarly, was broken and replaced. When we first entered the room, the floors were 'sticky' and 'moist'. I've never seen a room this badly maintained. The wait at the front reception to get any service almost always is more than 10 mins. The restaurants are an epic disappointment as well. We had a reservation at the Santa Fe restaurant one evening at 730. Despite two crying kids one under 10 and the other one under 5, they wouldn't seat us until 755, and seated pretty much everyone else before us. Only when I showed visible anger and literally questioned the Maitre'D did they actually seat us. Probably should update the rating to 0. read more

We are longtime Barcelo guests and Barcelo Club members who purchased points years ago based on promises of priority service and complimentary upgrades. Instead, we experienced yet another stay marked by mismanagement, broken commitments, and declining quality. Despite a confirmed suite reservation at Barcelo Caribe, our room was changed without notice to a different hotel and downgraded to a worse room and view. This directly contradicts the Barcelo Club agreement, which states members will be upgraded when possible. We were not upgraded--we were clearly displaced, likely to accommodate another higher-paying reservation. This appears to be an overbooking issue that consistently disadvantages club members. We booked months in advance and made specific requests for queen beds due to traveling with adult children. Upon arrival, we were told only king beds were available, with no effort to resolve the issue. Barcelo Club staff are ineffective and unresponsive. Communication takes days or weeks, and despite being told they would check in during our stay, they never contacted us. There was no welcome and no support. When we asked to speak with the resort manager, we were told the manager was "out at lunch" and unavailable--with no follow-up. The overall resort quality has deteriorated significantly: unreliable Wi-Fi, worn mattresses, poor food, disengaged staff, and low-quality entertainment. After four consecutive years of disappointment, we are done. We would rather lose our remaining points than return. Families: do not rely on membership status or advance planning here. This resort does not honor its commitments. Choose somewhere else. read more

We stayed at the Tropical through Delta Vacations. This was our second time staying with Barceló, last time in the Palace. I am giving two stars to be generous for the staff and the hard work that they put in. They were incredibly kind and tried to help every time. But, I would give 0 stars to the rooms/buffet/"specialty restaurants". The tropical rooms are such a serious downgrade from the palace, you really get what you pay for with this. There was mold everywhere, bathrooms were disgusting, and the vents where the air was blowing had at least 10 years of dust gathered. The food at the buffet was very hit and miss, mostly miss. Ended up only eating chicken thighs with a roll and veggies most of the week. So gross and overheated most of the time. The "specialty restaurants" are a joke. Good luck getting a reservation if you're not a premium member. read more

Positives: The property itself is beautiful. The outdoor areas are well-maintained. There are fountains and water features everywhere. The beach is gorgeous. It's exactly what I imagined. We didn't have an issue finding lounge chairs. There's a Catholic Church that's worth mentioning. It's not something I look for when booking, but we saw it and went to mass. It was a nice experience. Also, the staff were friendly and helpful. Negatives: The food was lacking, but don't skip piñata night. That's the only good buffet day. You need reservations for all of the restaurants. The rooms were tired. This is the main reason I didn't enjoy my stay as much as I could have. Unfortunately, the rooms are what you'd find at a 3 star hotel. The curtains were dirty, the beds not comfortable, the pillows flat. The water pressure changed throughout the day. I wouldn't stay there again. It was a part of a package. In the future, I would like to stay somewhere more luxurious, especially for the price we paid. If that means not getting the all-inclusive, so be it. read more

Barceló Maya Beach - Church - Resorts Near Me - Riviera Maya, ROO

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Title: Deeply Disappointed - Unsafe Food and No Accountability My fiancé and I stayed at this resort from April 23 to May 6 while attending the Dr. Joe Dispenza seminar. We looked forward to relaxing for a few days afterward, but unfortunately, our experience was ruined by how the hotel handled a serious situation. On our second day, my fiancé bit into a rock hidden in his salad, breaking his tooth in half. We immediately went to the front desk to report it. The staff member called the manager, who seemed nervous and dismissive. She implied that my fiancé was lying and refused to take responsibility. I speak Spanish, so there was no misunderstanding about what had happened. After almost an hour of back-and-forth, the only help she offered was a couple of Advil pills and a form to sign. The next day, when the pain worsened, we insisted on seeing a doctor at the resort. The doctor was professional and confirmed that his tooth was severely damaged, prescribing medication for the remainder of our stay. Before we left, the general manager met with us, apologized, and promised to file a report with their insurance. He said we'd receive follow-up information. It's now been over five months, and despite multiple emails and WhatsApp messages, we've heard nothing back. My fiancé had to pay $1,000 out of pocket to repair his tooth--even with insurance. This resort showed no accountability, no empathy, and no sense of responsibility for what happened on their property. What started as a dream vacation turned into an extremely disappointing experience filled with disrespect, delays, and broken promises. read more

From arrival, we felt unwelcome. Staff could not find our reservation, and the front desk was cold and uninviting. Dinner reservations were made for us without input and could not be changed. Our experience with Fabiola Florez was especially disappointing. Her tone and demeanor felt dismissive and unprofessional, setting a negative tone for our stay. The food was the worst part of the resort. Buffets were cold, watery, and low quality with very few edible options. Food throughout the resort tasted the same and was consistently poor. Room service was also disappointing, including cold pasta with unmelted cheese and underwhelming desserts. Only Pepsi products were offered throughout the entire resort. Our first room felt dirty, outdated, and cramped. The sink would not drain. The drain had rust or dirt all in it. Very gross! Several electrical outlets were burned and did not work, with visible black scorch marks that appeared to be from some type of fire. There were no working outlets near the bed, making it difficult to charge devices. My husband, who has back issues, could not plug in his heating pad where needed. The hallways were dark and often wet. After the first night, we requested a room change and had to pack up ourselves after a full day at the beach, with no assistance or luggage cart. The process was frustrating, and the phone in our new room never worked despite reporting it multiple times. Communication was difficult, as many staff members do not speak English well, and the TV had little to no English programming or captions. We repeatedly asked about water activities, but no one could provide clear information on snorkeling, boat trips, or jet skis. Many activities advertised in photos (slides, go-karts, bowling) cost extra. We had to walk the beach to the pier to find out information on beach activities since the resort could give no information, and we were told water activities were canceled due to wind, yet we saw boats operating later that day. The ocean is very rocky, making the beach difficult to enjoy even with water shoes. Pool and beach service was slow, and poolside food was another cold, poor quality buffet. Overall, poor cleanliness, bad food, misleading amenities, communication issues, and unhelpful staff made this one of the worst resort experiences. We would not return or recommend this resort. Also, beware there are a lot of fake reviews on here! I wouldn't trust all these positive reviews on the food unless they aren't used to real food. read more

ALL Barcelo Maya is outdated and it shows. In your room bathroom, the sink doubles as a footwash due to absolute moronic designs (it floods the back and ALL of the counter, and then your feet). The toilets work 75% of the time, well the solid waste does ,but the liquid waste does nothing. They do not come to clean daily, despite being listed as a premium service we paid for and if they do and you need 1 minute to finish up, they won't come back. Restaurants are the biggest joke, and that is if you can find them, use Google maps, no signs anywhere. Have dietary restrictions? Be prepared to send your dishes back 5-6 times, per dish. My sister is gluten and dairy free due to allergies, and we would always be done eating before she started. The buffets are so understaffed that the only way to get a drink is to walk to the bar and hope you are seen (1 out of 10 or so times), i have personally poured water for myself more time than they have, and that was me being very patient (again, this is due to overworked understaffed restaurants). DO NOT FALL FOR THE PREMIUM OFFERING: it gets you NOTHING except access to 1 lounge that has NOTHING different than any other bar or lounge in the resort. But they sell the HELL out of it, and we will be fighting hard to get this back from our travel agent, as the full list of amenities provided are NOT available at all, yes not a single one. This is a joke of a resort, they are so worried about getting your money upfront, they just hope you'll be happy to get a room, and nothing else you paid for. I'm sure this might have been nice once, but for an all inclusive, way too many things that coat money. Avoid at all costs, this place has turned to trash as they focus on the adults only area of this place (where you have to bribe the bartenders or they take your cabana's.. all inclusive my ass), and the adults only resort down the way. Want to use your 1 hour snorkeling time with the turtles? Well, expect to lose the $20 deposit, as they put the snorkel gear on the opposite side of ALL the attached resorts, so you have to run over a mile from the gear yo the turtles, snorkel and run back within an hour. There is no grace period... We were 3 minutes late... read more

Pool and beach are the only things that are great. Upon walking in, this particular resort for barcelo has a rustic, cultural vibe which is great until I walked into our room. Very dirty, multiple things don't work like lamps and outlets. Walls have dirty stains on them. Room experience was horrible, we tried our best to only be at our room for rest. Food at the buffet is even worse. Restaurants are ok. My wife and I paid around $1000 for three nights. Will not be staying here again. The only Barcelo I'd recommend staying at is the adults only Barcelo Maya Riveria. Keep in mind that there are 6 Barcelo buildings, do not get confused. The Barcelo Maya Riveria is the main building. read more

First the positive the grounds are beautiful. Now the negative in ranking order: the customer service is ridiculous and not in a good way. Trying to get someone to help for anything is pulling teeth. They don't care! From being on the phone and not being able to be bothered to just one word answers. No good mornings nada. Next the food is the worst if any resort I've experienced. And forget about trying to book a reservation at a specialty restaurant unless you've done so a month before you arrive. The rooms are swampy the bathrooms in the rooms are horrible. No fans no door between the toilet and bathroom and the bathroom door is louvered so there is no privacy. Came with a large family spent 30k on this trip we will never come back here or recommend it. read more

Just spend the week at one of the Barcelo properties and our group of 12 had a great time. The rooms are definitely dated, but the exterior property was very well-maintained and clean. The buffet had just about everything you could possibly want to eat, but the quality wasn't particularly amazing. Our particular resort (Barcelo Maya Caribe) also had 3 restaurants you could dine in with reservations and we enjoyed the teppanyaki and Italian restaurants. I would recommend skipping the Spanish restaurant, as the food was pretty terrible. My risotto was literally just rice in broth, lol. The beach is easily accessible and we loved that there were kid-friendly pools and waterslides. Our two toddlers had an amazing time. We ventured over to Palace for dinner in the French restaurant one night and it was decorated beautifully, but again, the food was just alright. Huge resort comprised of multiple properties and there's a shuttle bus that operates frequently, so you can get around easily. Great place to stay with a group as long as you don't have super high expectations and plan to just spend most of your time at the pool/beach. read more

Pathetic rooms, extremely slow service, no vegetarian options in buffet. Toilet was leaking. Room was at best like a hostel. I had paid for a superior king size bed in the Maya tropical. Resort moved me to a cheap two bed room in Maya beach. No garden view as I had requested when I booked. I reached the hotel at 3 PM and my room situation is not sorted until 5 pm. Then they tell me ' we can move you to another part of the hotel because we are over booked' I had booked the hotel 6 months ago!!! Ridiculous service. We also ordered a vegetarian roll- it was pungent smelling, sea weed wrap was God knows from which Era on this Earth. Grilled cheese sandwich was disgusting. How can anyone go wrong in putting two slices of cheese in between two slices of bread and toasting it? This GC sandwich was inside out. See photo for reference. Stay away from this place! read more

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Beware!!! My family and I went here for spring break and were miserable. There were about 12 of us of all ages (including kids). When we checked in, they told us the rooms we reserved weren't available. It took an hour and a half of coordinating with them to finally get the rooms we booked. You should know, the pictures of the rooms you see online look absolutely nothing like the ones in real life. The size, beds, color, everything was different. The food is barely edible. You can eat all you want but I found myself skipping meals just to avoid eating their "food". I'm not a foodie either. I was just hoping for one good thing I could eat and I'd be satisfied but, there's nothing offered that's good. It's all cooked in bulk and very, very below average. There are no chairs available by the pool or on the beach. Well, there are if you wake up at 5am but be careful because if you get there at 5:02am, they're all taken. We saw families leave their towels and books on their chairs to claim them, even if they were gone for the majority of the day. Some families would even leave their stuff there for their entire stay. When we finally did manage to get a couple chairs, someone had taken our towels off. The resort is very large so expect a lot of walking. Not a huge deal breaker but when you just want sunscreen from the gift shop or to catch a shuttle at the lobby, it can be a bit of a pain. Theres a lot of people at this resort. This creates a very competitive environment. The buffet lines are long. The drink lines are long. The pools are full. It's not very relaxing. The last day we stayed there they even closed one of the pools because there was too much pee in it. Lastly, the cocktails. I've always thought the "watered down" drinks thing was a conspiracy but... nope. Not here. The hard alcohol they use is 20% abv. The beer on tap is flat. The beer they sell in the market is either 0% or 3.4%. So, if you're still considering going here, I recommend stopping somewhere along the way for your own stuff. Don't wait till you get there because taxis from the resort cost a fortune (hundreds of US dollars). I don't usually leave reviews but hopefully this helps someone out there. This was all my family and I's experience so I'm sure you could have a better time than we did. I doubt it though. Stay somewhere else, R read more

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Look elsewhere! However, maybe I have an idea in my head that this place should be similar to a resort? Maybe this is simply a hotel? I'm not sure, I've been to secrets resorts so I'm used to great customer service and good food. This has neither. This time around we came in a big family group with kids of different ages so we needed something family friendly. When I got here we checked in and were given our room with no further instructions or helpful tips on how to use the amenities in the hotel. Our key didn't work so we had to go back up to the front desk to have it activated. This place is huge! I would ask the staff questions and most didn't know or gave incorrect information that had us walking around everywhere. Mind you I'm fluent in Spanish but was told rudely asked by a waiter if I "even spoke Spanish" because I didn't know the meaning of one of the words he was using. I kindly asked him what it meant and that was the response I was given. The buffet style restaurant was not good. I suggest once you arrive you make dinner reservations at Mexico Lindo and Tokyo. Those are the best options. The rooms are dusty and full of spiderwebs. The pools are nice though! And well the beach speaks for itself. Overall, I think there are better places to stay. I'll be the one to book next time around, LOL! read more

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My wife and I never got a chance to go on a honeymoon when we got married. So we decided on our ten year anniversary that we would make up for lost time. We certainly did just that. Upon arrival we were greeted in a giant reception area and were helped in checking in and getting directed to guest services to secure our dinner reservations. Once done, we went up to our magnificent room. The bed was the biggest bed I've ever seen in a hotel or otherwise. It was obviously two full sized beds squeezed together but it was giant nonetheless. Every morning began with a wonderful breakfast at the buffet. Afterwards, we grabbed some towels and got some chairs saved both under a cabana/pergola and under a palm tree on the beach. The next few hours were spent sun bathing, swimming in the ocean and/or the pool, reading, and enjoying the sound of no children. Later in the day we would go back to the buffet for lunch and usually return back to the pool where we hung out for a few more hours. The whole time we had resort staff checking on us to see if we needed anything, no matter where we were. Being from Texas, I knew a little bit of Spanish which was helpful, but a lot of the staff knew enough English to communicate with us in regards to everything we needed. *This trip actually caused me to re-download Duolingo and get back on track with learning more Spanish.* Typically around 3-4pm we would head back up to our room which had been dressed by the housekeeping staff and take showers and cool off until it was time for dinner. We tried each one of the restaurants and they were all good. I had higher expectations for the food, to be honest, but it wasn't bad. I have to say that our favorite meal was at Le Comide where we were helped by Antonio Velazquez and David Queiroga. These guys were on it. All the staff was really nice, but these two guys, especially Antonio, made us really feel like we were family staying for a visit. After dinner we would head back up to our rooms and change outfits to catch the evening show down in the chill spot by the bar. They had some really great talent there and it was very enjoyable. I really have to say that we really enjoyed our stay and can't wait to go back! read more

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I really enjoyed our stay. The resort is beautiful and well kept the only issue was the seaweed issue but they did do a decent job of cleaning up. The food was ok better than other all inclusive hotels we have been to. Plenty to do at the resort, the spa, gym , the snorkeling right there and pools are great! All in all I would recommend this resort and I would stay again! read more

Customer service is the absolute worst! Three people in line to check in and it took 2 hours. We finally get to check in desk and they tried to force us to different hotel saying it was an upgrade. We declined and turns out they gave away our room. So moved us to hotel so called upgrade. They told us there would be no wait... same shit different building! Fuck this place and the dumb fucks who gave it a positive review! read more

Typical cheapo resort. Kind of a shole. Rooms have moist floors and everything is moldy. Food is very underwhelming unless you love cheap garbage. Drinks are very very watered down. Id give it a 3/10. Came for a wedding so its whatever but dont come here unless you have a lot of lube for your rear read more

The ease of an all inclusive... with lots of space and many activities and a friendly staff. Nothing went missing from our room- which is always a downer at the cheaper all inclusives... the adult only restaurants were good and the buffet was very satisfying. Love all the fresh tropical fruit. Will return. Only transport back to airport was dodgy... the van was rickety and driver seemed cranked on coffee. read more

This was our 2nd visit here with the first being 4 years ago. We stayed at Barcelo Caribe and this being post Covid certainly took its toll on the resort as you can tell the landscape has not been maintained as normal over the past year. They are working hard to get the grounds back in place. The pools and beach is as great as ever even though they still had buildings not being used and one large pool closed. I would guess less than 50% occupancy at this time. The restaurants are operating but not every day. You only have a few to choose from each day but we managed to do both Japanese restaurants, Seafood, Steakhouse and two Italian. They canceled our Spanish and Mexican nights. They just started live entertainment at the Colonial theater at 9:30 each night. Same people just different theme each night. All the pools and swim up bars are great. Some mask rules still in place. Inside shops or building you are to wear a mask though many don't. Outside, pools ,etc none needed. I would think these may end in the next month or two. Mexico is still lagging in vaccinations. Many things to do just exploring the 4 resorts. Yamaha Waverunner, we took catamaran rides, snorkeled the waters off the pier. All the staff and workers are so nice and friendly. Tip them well , many have been out of work too. Negatives: Restaurants scheduling and closures. Covid related. Room Towels are not soft for a resort. Soap sucks. Towel shack was at closed pool and had to go back and forth each day. Need a towel cart at the open pool. Seaweed season hit, but they cleaned up beach each night. read more

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I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this resort! We stayed at the Colonial and had a wonderful time! This resort is LARGE and offers so much! We didn't get to do more than 1/2 of what's offered. Everyone was amazing and we had an amazing vacation. We will go back and can't wait!!! We all loved the activities, pools, grounds and the peacefulness on the beach. The sand was soft and white and the water was a turquoise clear blue. We never had to fight for a pool/beach chair and could always find sun or shade depending on what we wanted. PROS: 1. Beautiful well kept grounds, pools, beach, rooms, everything! 2 The entertainment staff is wonderful and there is ALWAYS something going on day or night. 3. Food was abundant, fresh and constantly being made right in front of you. 4. Staff is very quick to fix issues. CONS: ( none of these are reasons to not go) 1. Check in takes FOREVER, but staff is doing their best and friendly. 2. The resort is HUGE so expect to walk a lot if you want to explore the resort. We walked approximately 4 miles every day just walking around the resort to pools, towel stands, beach, restaurant's, theatre/disco, snack bars. Etc. 3. We had to have one or both of our room key cards recoded daily. We were there 5 days and not one day went by without one or both of our key cards not working. The walk to the lobby is a far walk - frustrating! 4. We had a few issues in both our rooms we booked. One room had an issue with the main door lock and wouldn't lock/engage. Called guest services a few calls with no luck of anyone showing up and it finally took a manager to get involved where it was fixed immediately. This was a safety concern for me as my boys and all their things were in the room. Once the manager was involved she fixed all the issues in our room as well. I believe we were the first people in our room after hurricane Beryl and our fridge, safe, TV all had issues. They were all replaced quickly. read more

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Stayed in the Colonial selection in a Premium Beach Front Room. Room: 4 of 5 Spacious room with massive bathroom. Clean and comfortable. Biggest issues were that my key cards kept turning off (meaning I had to walk all the way back to the lobby for new ones) and the cushions on the couch were extremely dirty. Pools and Beach: 5 of 5 The highlight of the resort. Just gorgeous. Restaurants: 4 of 5 Had great dinners at the steakhouse, the hibachi, and their seafood restaurants. Great options for my son Buffets: 3 of 5 Main buffet is massive with tons of options. No complaints there. The beach buffets were a big drop in quality, and constantly had undercooked chicken. Overall a very enjoyable destination for a vacation. Family had fun, but there were some downsides. We like to explore other properties, but would return down the line. read more

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My bathroom was dirty the first day I got here. Phone in room did not work the entire time, even though I told them on the very first day. Wishing I could have at least enjoyed my final night here, but they thought it was fine to let people party on the beach VERY LOUDLY until early morning hours and would not do anything about it! it's also so far away from everything as well. And the beaches are not good. read more

Leticia of dolce vita was amazing!!! She kept me and my husband very satisfied with our dinner. Kept refilling our drinks and making sure we were comfortable all night long!!! Highly recommend the dinner but Leticia especially!!! read more

They didn't let us eat with our kids which wasn't stated until we got to the resturant. Food is horrible. Don't drink the water either. Waiters and the actual hotel is nice though. Not a good experience especially of what happened at brassiro. read more

It's been 8 years since we've been in this wonderful resort, Barcelo Maya Palace, the family wanted to come back for the all inclusive, good food and beautiful beaches. This time is our 3rd time. We've been vacationing in Cancun every year until the COVID, now we had all the shots and we don't have to test when going there. This resort is in Riviera Maya which about over an hour drive from the airport, the city has more trees unlike Cancun, just nice white sand beaches. Barcelo is one of the biggest resort in Riviera Maya, it has many hotels on the same beach according to tier. For the family, we always pay more to stay at the "Palace", I think the "Palace" for all other hotels should be the nicest one because it's more expensive. We chose the Barcelo Maya Palace because we can go to any other lower tier hotels and dine or use their facilities but not the other way around. 1. The Palace beach has rocks area that we can see all types of fishes so we don't have to go anywhere else for Snorkeling. 2. The Palace has original liquors that we like to drink like Grand Marnier or Disaronno Amaretto, although they don't have Cinzano, but Martini Rosso is good. We had all the nice drinks made deliciously at the bars. 3. The Palace has indoor theater sure beats the heat and the mosquitoes, the shows are good too, although we got to see other shows at other hotels outdoors. 4. The Palace has French, Brazilian restaurants that we like, but this year the food wasn't tasty as before, and there weren't any lobsters at the buffets and the seafood restaurants, it's a little disappointed. 5. At the Palace, we can booked specialty restaurants at other hotels, Tokyo, Italian, Mexican at the Caribe. Seafood and Japanese at the Colonial. The buffet at the Caribe some days has great seafood with big shrimps. The Palace buffet is still the best with fruits and seafood but no lobsters this year. 6. The kids went to mini Golf (free) and Bowling at the Caribe (pay), we went to the Casino and had some fun there although it's very small. The shopping around this place is huge with all the souvenirs you can think of. 7. We didn't get to go on Catamaran or Kayaking this year due to the kids not interested. The Palace has these for free which we used every time we came before. This year we booked the vacation through Applevacations. We did bring water shoes for stepping on to rocks, waterproof bag for our phones instead of using waterproof camera, all the chargers, mosquitoes repellent although not many this year. Barcelo WIFI this year is quite good, we did have good connection in building 89xx. About the best building to stay in is 8000-84000 which are close to the beach and restaurants, 8500-8900 a little further away but still good. 6000-7000 are far from everywhere. This year, the restaurants in the Palace weren't as good as before, no Lobsters this year. To us, vacation in Cancun, nice beaches and great foods. All the services were top notch, the people are always attentive and polite, we did tip them well. We even asked for seconds without any problems. At the Kyoto, we booked for 4 and our nieces and nephews came without any reservations, we let 7 kids to take our place and the manager could find places and squeezed them in, that was great service. By the way, we need long pants and shoes to be in these restaurants. We walked to the pool area, the pools here are connected and huge, the kids water park is wonderful, our kids used to love it 10 years ago, but now they play water volley ball and basket ball in the pool. Ping pong, pool table. They even sit in the bubble pools, they're quite nice. There are resort buses that take us from our hotel to many other hotels of the same resort, so it's quite convenient, but if we caught the wrong bus, it would take a long time to go back, we liked walking from one to the other, good exercise and not to far actually. read more

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Beautiful place but that's it. Service is beyond horrible and you feel like you are imposing on anyone you talk to. Too expensive to be made to feel like you can't ask for something. Drinks at pool take 20minutes plus. Tons of potential but lacking any hospitality read more

Room was nice, but we had a good 5+ minute walk to our room. It was so far away from everything. Pools were great, but we wished it had a hot tub. Beach was great! The water and view were beautiful! Food was terrible, except for the restaurants where reservations need to be made. Although, reservations are very limited, so you need to book as soon as you arrive. read more

A week in paradise. What a resort, service, food and grounds. The resort is gorgeous, the grounds are impeccably maintained and the workers could not do enough for you. Although tips are included it's nice to give a few extra $ to the maids and servers in restaurants, they appreciate it. The food was a solid 7.5/10, not everything was great but most was. The poll and beach were kept clean round the clock and servers were always available to get a drink. Biggest complaints, bed was way too soft, a/c in room was not strong and mold was abundant on the ceiling in our room. read more

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This place is horrible. I would pay to leave here if I could, but I'm stuck here for a conference. It took me over an hour & 1/2 just to check in, as with most people that came here. I'm a light sleeper so I always kindly ask for a room up & away from an elevator. The first room they put me in, the air conditioner was loud & not working. They finally switched me after maintanence trieds to fix at 11pm. Next room: directly across from an elevator. Asked if I could please not have a room near an elevator. They said it's too difficult for them to switch me so I could either stay here or go back to the one with no air conditioning. I'm at an event industry conference here & am a planner, which I obviously will never host an event here nor would I ever recommend someone to come. The new room is also right next to a nightclub where people are trying to sing karaoke very loud & it's after 10pm & I need to get up early for another long conference day. Many people I spoke with at the conference also do no have air conditioning. Someone said their phone didn't work, another said their coffee maker doesn't work. The toilet seat isn't connected to the toilet so I put it to the side so it wouldn't fall off when I went to the bathroom. I can't express enough how unbelievably tired and frustrated I am at this place and I am looking forward to NEVER coming back! read more

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Another amazing vacation at Barcelo maya riviera (adults)! Food and service and rooms are top notch. Enrique Reyes the manager does everything possible to make the experience amazing (also assistant Louis ). Btw the French restaurant is amazing! The premium experience is worth it and the snorkeling by the palace is amazing. Also thanks to manager Juliana of Barcelo Tropical! read more

A very relaxed vacation! The staff are very polite and hard workers. Beautiful grounds and clean. Lots of walking or a quick bus ride to check out connecting buildings/resorts. These resorts are gorgeous. Got to see 4 shows which were great performances! Food at Caribe buffet is good. Tried 4 of the specialty restaurants, the one we did not care for was the seafood one. Would recommend vacationing here but definitely not a five star. Good bang for your buck. read more

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This place is a disgusting rip off. Almost $450 US/night for one of the most infuriating and disgusting places I've ever stayed. We had to stay at the Barceló for a wedding. Problems started with the reservation--no one could figure out how to add a third night to our reservation. That should have been a warning sign. Check in was a nightmare, probably the worst of any hotel I've ever visited (and I've been to over 20 countries and lived in five, including Mexico). Over an hour in line, no AC, 35+ C heat with 100% humidity. And they didn't even give us a key--we had to return for that and leave our stuff out in the open where anyone could steal it! The first key we were given didn't work, and various keys we were given randomly stopped working all weekend. Thoughout our three nights, I had to make five trips to the front desk to fix broken keys, and they refused to give us a key for each of us. Oh, but they will charge you $30US if you loose a key! So much for all inclusive! The room itself was a complete biohazard, as shown in the attached pictures, and was literally falling apart. I had massive migraines two out of our three nights because of the mold, and the only reason I didn't have one the third night was because I stuffed myself full of pills before going to bed. The food is disgusting and the service worse, depending on the restaurant you visit. Our trips to the buffet at the Maya Colonial and Maya Tropical were among my top-five vomit-worthy dining experiences ever. And the staff at the Maya Tropical buffet screamed at us and wouldn't let us sit together. The servers were so lazy, I had to get in an argument with one just so he would give me a spoon! Some of the other restaurants had better service and slightly better food, but they were a ten-minute hike from our room. Even the supposed "premium" restaurant we visited was pretty crappy--think Olive Garden with slightly worse food, impatient wait staff and the most overpriced wine list in the history of humanity. As for the installations, they are a joke. There aren't enough kayaks to go around, so if you want to use one, you have to wait an hour or so in the sun for someone to bring one in. Snorkel gear requires another deposit in USD cash (I guess you're just screwed if you don't have dollars on you), and the pools themselves are overcrowded and dated. There aren't nearly enough hammocks, and the pool furniture is beat up and made of crappy plastic. Even the check out process was creepy. They give you a voucher for the guard at the exit, and I guess if you don't get this, you can't leave the resort. So if you have a disagreement about fees with them...I guess they hold you against your will? At least kidnapping is included in that "all inclusive" price. We will never be back. This place is a total scam, nothing close to a five star resort. Worse than most budget hotels I've stayed in. If you really want a luxury experience, stay at the Hyatt in Playa del Carmen... Now that place is worth every penny! read more

This is my third and LAST time staying at this place , so our first time was with my wife in 2019 stayed at the Caribe , no issues at all was able to get reservations at all the specialty restaurants and the staff was great, second time was in 2022 this time the tropical with 3 of my 4 kids again no issues and the service was exceptional, we did notice that the Palace was supposed to be a "higher" level resort so when we came in July of 2025 with all 4 of the kids we opted with the place, oh man what a mistake , there is no extra perk paying more $$$ just that you get to use a pool that's very similar to all the others, also we were unable to make ANY reservations for any of the specialty restaurants, we were told that they booked quick! Shouldn't staying at their premium level resort at least give you that perk where you get same sort of priority for reservations!!?! And the customer service is horrible!!I have gone on 14 NCL cruises and 10 of those have been in the Haven which is their premium level and the service is exceptional not subpar like bareclo, if you planning going to this place stay in the lower end resorts and save yourself some $$$ believe me you get nothing but horrible service for the extra $$$$ read more