Barcelo Maya Beach Resort Reviews

This was our secont time to Mexico in 2 years. We travelled with My Travel, and had an excellent journey both there and back. We travelled from Manchester Airport rather than Birmingham to avoid the re-fueling stop that we had to suffer on our last trip to Mexico, which adds hours on to what is already a very long journey.

It took longer than the brochure stated to get to the hotel, 1hr 45mins to be exact, which was disappointing. When we arrived there was only 2 very miserable reception staff to greet us.We were offered no refreshments on arrival, and although requested, we were unable to have a room that over looked the sea/pools, being told that there was alterations taking place on those rooms. We were then offered a smoking room that we declined, as none-smokers, then were given a 1st floor room overlooking the rooms that were having work done, needless to say we had to be moved. Once moved the room given was ok, but not brilliant. Paint was peeling off the walls in the bathroom and the bedside lamps were all stained brown.

The public areas were spotless, though the beach suffered badly with seaweed, that they tried to keep on top of.

Although I may have sounded negative, we did enjoy our stay, but would not rush back.

An extremely pleasant and well run hotel, consisting of 5 buildings each of 3 floors in large wooded grounds. We had chosen this hotel as we had previously stayed at a couple of Barcelo hotels in the Canaries and were impressed with their overall attitude, facilities, food, etc. We were not disappointed with this hotel, which our First Choice brochure had indicated was part 5 star and part 4 star. We stayed 4 star and had the use of all the facilities. Not certain what the additional benefits of the 5 star rating entailed but think this could only relate to the room size or if suites.

At the time of our holiday we believe the hotel complex was around two thirds occupied, that would be about 1,600 persons, though in view of the space available along its beach and the two swimming pools there was never any problem regarding sun bed availability, nor for that matter restaurant facilities. The beach was very good with a shallow bay that provided safe bathing. Other activities whether motorised or non motorised had their own designated areas.

This holiday is primarily a beach resort holiday and for those that like scuba diving or snorkelling. Other than two water theme parks at Xel-Ha and Xcaret, where you can swim with dolphins (extra charge over and above entrance fee), and the Mayan ruins at Tulum, there are few other local attractions. The visit to the large ruins at Chichen-Itza is a full day trip, circa 12 hours, about half the time being spent getting there and back. The Yucatan peninsula landscape is very boring; flat forest. All you tend to see as you drive along straight roads are trees. As our guide said ";the bus is the hill!!";

The nearest major town was Playa del Carmen, where there is a tourist area where you can shop for souvenirs. The best way of getting there was by using the local minibus service that runs the length of the coast from Playa del Carmen to Tulum. The minibuses run about every 5 minutes and stop outside the entrance to the hotel if they have empty seats. The single fare to Playa del Carmen (about 20 minutes away was US$1.50).

Conclusion:- Probably the best beach holiday we have been on. The only real drawback is the travelling time. The flight time out was 10 hours 20 mins, to which has to be added getting through Mexican immigration, which is a bit bureaucratic, and an hour plus coach ride from the airport to the hotel. We live a half hour from Gatwick. Having left home at 11.30am for a midday check-in time we calculated that we went to bed at 5am the following day, UK time.

Lastly :- First Choice Airlines. Both journeys to and from Mexico were ";on time"; and the seating in economy class was acceptable to myself and my wife, albeit neither of us are tall and leg room is not normally a problem. However my wife has special dietary requirements, being diabetic and gluten intolerant. Notwithstanding being told that her requirements could be met when booking the holiday, rechecking the position upon receipt of the tickets, and at the check-in, when it came to the in-flight meals we were told the only special meals that are now prepared are ";Strictly Vegetarian";. Whilst the cabin crew on the return journey did make a great effort to mix and match a meal to my wife's needs, anyone flying with First Choice suffering from these medical problems would be well advised to make certain they have their own back up meal/food for the journeys.

After trawling through lots of 'holiday truth' websites I was a little concerned over the holiday before I travelled due to the comments I found. However I knew I had made the right decision on the second day of my holiday. The hotel was absolutely fantastic compared to my initial expectation.

Transfer from the Airport was speedy and we arrived at the hotel about 45 mins after. Check-In was speedy and very informative.

After getting in my room (I was located in the 'Labna' block) I was quite surprised at the facilties in the room.
I have been to Mexico before and didnt expect to find Tea/Coffee making facilties. (Great for first thing in the morning!!!!). The rooms are spacious and the balcony I had overlooked the pool and the Ocean. The Mini-bar was well stocked and was stocked up every day (A maid comes to your room about 6 p.m. to ask you if you need any more towels/mini-bar drinks e.t.c.) The TV had a few channels but the channel that was on most was HBO!!!

The pool area is spacious and clean with plenty of loungers and tables. The beach also had plenty of loungers so no worry there. Dont bother taking Beach Towels either. These are provided by the hotel and saves room in your suitcase.

The food exceeded expectations too especially in the buffet and the A La Cartes were great too. My only disappointment was that on the Monday it was Seafood Night and there was only 1 alternative to Seafood on offer.

The entertainment area was great too. I tended to sit at the back near the doors as it gets very humid and so the breeze there was great!! The entertainment was great too and couldnt fault it at all.

There were a lot of American/Canadians there and they did get quite boisterous at times, but hey we all like to have a laugh on holiday.

Overall I could not fault the holiday at all and would definately revisit.

Just returned today!! and its cold

Hotel
Excellant, service very good and food varies from good to excellant
Found the steak house and spanish to be the best of the al a cartes, mexican was poor. Steak house was the best (you need mosie spray) but only open mon.weds and friday
rooms are large (best to keep air con on alltimes), they have mini bar (cokes, sprite, water and beer modulo??? and occasionally sol), had to phone reception twice as my mini bar wasn't filled)
downside if have kids as no seperation (privacy) from tv and sleeping area...kids monned about loudness of tv and lights.

Bathroom okay, but have louvre door so again no privacy.

maids seem to try hard first couple of days and leave towels shaped in swans , rabbits, etc but give up on the 2nd day if you don't tip them

Even thou we were told the hotel was full, never had a problem getting a lounger (unlike ibiza..). 2nd week was less full and they closed one of the buffets, quickness of service declined with this

Only saw rep once (had 2 diff reps ... first wasn't exactly honest....my belief is that its better to arrange your own trips)

ONLY DOWNSIDE was other guests from a certain continent, considering i'd spent a year working and living in NY and always found these to be a very friendly and courtious people i was very disappointed. The americans we encountered were very loud ( lets hold a conversation across the pool or even across the resort....don't they have mobiles or is it they can't hold their beer), but more dissappopinting was the way they treated the mexican staff. They also seemed to be better queue jumpers (whats a queue?) than the Italians that we encountered there....just remember to point it out to them when they do it (they go away mumbling, but won't repeat it when you ask them what they said)

For the one downpoint (certain other guests) i would def recommend this hotel, only prob is that i'll now be comparing other hols to this.

Entertainment
Found this to be poor but you make your own. Shows are okay if your like dancing, but it would be nice for an occasional change). Found the barstaff of the teatro to be more entertaining and so did my kids (they like playing the kids gba's)

snorkeling in the seq is ecellant, take sound bread and go off the pier....saw rays , fish id don't know the name of and a fish that looks like the deadly stone fish.

Trips

Chicken itza... you have to do
Dolphins - puerto adventuras...again have to do , but works out not cheap when you add in video and photos (tip you can get a taxi here and get one of your party to video)
Tulum...good, but doesn't compare to chicken itza. Made my lads day as we saw snakes (he walked within a foot of it). Sadly the the airtours trip wastes 30 mins at another rip off shopping place, would do it myself by taxi next time
xel-ha..excellant snorkelling took the all inc package but half a day was enough for the kids
coba- didn't go on this trip buta friends we met said this was very good
Captain hooks - again did'nt go on this but friends we met said the entertainment and food was excellant.. wish we had done
Playa del carmen - did this ourselves, a minibus for 7 cost us 60usd return. Place is full of overpriced tat. ensure thay know your not american and only pay 1/8 th of the price, you'' kick yourself when you go to a priced shop and find it at that price!
feed the sharks..didn't find this tilll our last day, but appar they do it in canacun...wish we had a done

excellent hotel that can be spoilt by other guests.

the hotel itself is in fact two hotels combined, each hotel has a lobby, a bar, a buffet restaurant, a grill restuarant, an al a carte restaurant, a swimming pool and a shop . you are entitled to go to any of the two hotels amenities at any time. This means that despite the hotel being fairly large at no time does it ever feel busy.

resort.
the hotel isnt in a resort as such, its on a long coastal road an hour out of cancun on the riviera maya. the road is simply dotted with hotels every few hundred meters. if you want to go out of the hotel the nearest town is playa, 20 mins away, there are taxis outside the hotel which cost 13 dollars or you can pick up a mini bus from the street for 2 dollars. thats if you dont mind sharing with locals. we did and we had no problems. playa itself is hardly worth the trip though, therefore its lucky that the hotel is so nice.

the hotel
its clear that the hotel is designed to cater for americans, the bed we had must have been 6 feet across, the rooms are all excellent sizes. there are 6 buildings in total, we were in building 3 on the first floor, we overlooked the activities pool, lovely view but could be noisy during siesta time.
the hotels swimming pools are worth the money on their own, both are bigger than an average hotels pool anyway, they have swim up bars. if you want to play volleybsll, games etc then the activities pool is perfect, for a quieter time head towards the left hand pool

beach
probably the best beach we saw in mexico. very long, pure white sand. little bit of seaweed in the water at the edge of the beach but once you get past this very clear sea. the beach is protected by a reef meaning although there is a little bit of surf the water seemed safe to swim. there are lifeguards on duty. hundreds of relaxers free to use. the hotel was full when we were there but we still managed to find a quiet spot all to ourselves. beach was better as it got a breeze.
food
you could easily eat all day, main buffets very good, food would often be cooked to order, omelettes, pasta, steaks, etc. very wide range, my wife is a fussy eater and she found plenty to eat. lunch is best in the rancho grande. grilled items such as burgers daily plus specials like grilled king prawn.
a la cartes ok but nothing special, however its nice to break up the routine. book them as soon as you can otherwise availablity goes.
trips
go to xha-hal. do the dolphin trip in cancun. dont do coba or chichen icha. too far to drive, too hot in the jungle, millions of mozzies.

the only downside to the holiday when we were there were the other clientele. 95% american and i am afriad to say that they were obnoxious, boisterous, arrogant, ignorant and many more things that would probably stop this review being published. we are not anti-american by any means, we have travelled extensively across america. we were shocked at the behaviour of the people we met. i guess that other countries would probably say the same about us if though.