Barcelo Maya Tropical

This hotel was well maintained and the rooms were very nice. The pools were great for wading and there was enough chairs for everyone. Towels were readily available. There was a towel card policy in effect. The beach was not as nice with many rocks. The buffet had a good selection and the food was good although keep in mind that the maximum number allowed at a table is 6 (there are a handful of tables for 6) and they strictly enforce a no moving tables policy. If you can, stay in Colonial (It's really the same resort), because it is more centrally located and closer to most of the facilities such as the mall, sports bar and Dolphins. [Details]

NOT RECOMMENDED: terrible service, highly understaffed, 3 stars at best

TL;DR:
trust me - look for a different resort. This resort, while listed as 5 stars, is 3 stars at best. I have stayed at Cuban 3 star hotels that are better. A good portion of the staff are rude and miserable; their rules are ridiculously rigid, and they are so understaffed, it's practically a DIY resort.

REFERENCE:
This was my 8th time to mexico, having stayed at 3, 4, and 5 star resorts (as well as having been to Cuba 8 times in the past for reference). We stayed at the Barcelo Tropical this time, but experienced the same thing at the other resorts (caribe, beach, colonial as well).

The BAD (what the resort can and should fix):
* There are far too many miserable and rude staff which makes for a very unpleasant experience - I have many examples, but will note just a few here:
eg.1: The towel exchange desk (which is supposed to be open 8AM-8PM, but we never saw anyone there past 4PM) - I arrived after 8AM, a girl arrives - I say "hola" - no response - she ignores me and enters the towel room. I wait few minutes, she never re-appears. I open the door and say "hola" again - no response. I repeat it louder - no response. I practically yell it, and she finally turns around and rudely says "hola". I ask "quatro toallas por favor" - she turns away and continues doing what she was doing. I had to take the towels off the rack in the back room by myself.

eg. 2: Six of us were sitting in the lobby bar playing cards and having drinks. The bar closes at midnight. At 11:30 they start packing up all the bottles and when we requested drinks, they told us we could only have beer. At 12:00, they turned off the lights and practically ran from the bar. I asked if they could turn on the lights and was told "no, we are closed". I said "okay, we aren't asking for drinks, just lighting so we aren't sitting in pitch black darkness". Response: "no, we are closed". I said: "if you have such strict rules about turning off the lights, wouldn't it be appropriate to let customers know that you are closing and turning off the lights and to maybe consider moving elsewhere?" - response: "we are closed, talk to my manager". The manager arrives and I get the same treatment - completely ignored anything I said and only responded with "we are closed". The bartender's name was Miguel Leon for reference - he was miserable every day - tip him and he takes it and turns away - never said thank you once.

I can understand if they were conserving electricity, but you won't any lights turned off anywhere else, even the buffets after they are closed. We had the exact same experience at the Mall lobby bar - lights off and get out of here!

That said, not all staff were awful - maybe 20%. Some were truly amazing: the sportsbar manager, Jonathan Neri, was exceptional - he was always ensuring tables were cleaned, food replenished. And you could see he treated his staff well, they were all always smiling and helpful.

* Rigid rules: the staff are trained and incapable of using any judgement (similar to the lighting issues above):
eg. 1: my two kids go to the grill bar by the pool and sit at a table for four. The restaurant is almost empty - maybe 5 tables out of 50 are in use. The waitress comes by and tells them to move to a table for 2 because they can't sit at a table for 4. I show up 10 minutes later, grab a plate of food, pull up a chair to their table of 2, again, the restaurant is empty. The waitress comes by and tells me I cannot sit there as it is a table for 2?!?!?! If the restaurant was full I could understand this behaviour, but it was empty!

eg. 2: at the mall bar, four of us are sitting playing cards. My friend arrives 30 minutes later, pulls up a chair to join us and is told they cannot sit there - "only 4 people per table maximum". Again, the bar was completely empty. Seriously, use some judgement. It's not like we were being loud and roudy our causing trouble. We were quietly sitting and playing cards.

* This is a huge resort - the only thing open after midnight is the sportsbar, and it is located in the mall, which was quite a trek to get to each night.

* The resort is highly understaffed.
- Each bar often had only one bartender, sometimes two - but never the necessary third person to restock cups, ice, etc - which meant the bartenders were often disappearing to do so.
- There was only one person walking around the pool to take drink orders (and never anyone at the beach) - for a resort of this size, with hundreds of people around each pool, that meant you will almost never get a drink brought to you - we never did even once.

* There is no beach bar. If you want a drink and you're at the beach, you're walikng a few hundred metres each time.

* "All Inclusive": If this means food and drinks, sure. If you want anything else - you will pay: want to use the "water park" (two small slides and the flow-rider) - $20 USD/day (at moon palace resort for example, this is all included). There is bowling - $15 USD per person, per game! In Canada, bowling is about $20 CDN for six people to play! Mini-golf - pay (again, free at moon palace - a real 5 star resort). Zip line - closed permanently. catamaran - only two 3-person units for the entire complex. Unless you line-up at least one hour before the desk opens you will not get a reservation for that day - but "if you want to pay extra, we have a bigger catamaran, it's only $160USD for a trip...."

* Restaurant reservations: I attempted to book the moment we got there - all the restaurants were booked for the first 3 days (unless you want to eat at 10:30 at night, which doesn't work if you have young kids). That meant we had to eat the buffet for 3 days straight (see my comments on food below). How about leaving some reservations available for people just arriving? Moon palace for example doesn't even have a reservation system - you show up at any restaurant, they give you a buzzer and you'll be notified when your table is ready and you can spend your time doing something else. This is what a 5 star resort would do.

* Soap: washrooms were routinely out of soap or the dispensers were just simply not operational. I would say the men's washrooms had soap less than half of the time.

* Lack of chairs: Very difficult to find beach or pool chairs unless you get up at 8:00 AM and run out there with towels. I talked to a woman there that was had been to this resort more than 20 times (and she said the past few times have just gotten significantly worse). She said when they added the new adult only resort, rather than buying more chairs for that resort, they instead took some from each of the other resorts to fill the need. I guess that is their choice if they are cost-saving, but a 5 star resort wouldn't play these games.

* The beds: the beds in the tropical are old and well worn. There was at least 3 inches of sag just by looking at it, as soon as you lay down it drops right down. Pillows are very flat, but they do give you four per bed.

* Towel cards - if you lose it, $300 USD charge to replace. Really?! For a $10 towel? Be reasonable - nobody is going to steal overly used resort beach towels - why place such a threat? If you want to charge for lost towels, sure, but be reasonable.

* The stupidity: go to any of the gift shops at the hotel and experience a massive markup: bag of lays chips? $12 USD! They will go stale before they sell them. I can't understand this logic - sell them for $5, still a massive markup, and you will make money and move the product. Need sunscreen? $50 USD. Pool floaty? $30 USD. Why not just make your money on the original charge for the resort and make it a pleasant experience for people?

The UNFORTUNATE (what the resort cannot fix):
* The beach is very rocky - lots of large rocky areas, and about 10 feet into the water, lots of small sharp rocks, so be careful getting in and out of the ocean.

* The entire beach area, where the chairs are is about 60 feet wide - 10 feet closest to the ocean is proper beach. The other 50 feet closest to the hotel seems to be solid bedrock over which they have placed very little sand (maybe less than 1cm of sand, small rocks and shells). The hotel could definitely add a foot of sand on top. It is very hard on the feet, especially when you step on a sharp piece of shell - on a normal sandy beach the shell will sink into the sand. Here it cuts into your foot.

The FOOD:
* The buffet has a good selection, but doesn't vary much each day - I have had better buffets in Cuba. It wasn't bad here - there is always something to find, and the food is good, but it could definitely be better. The breakfast buffet was quite good and their best offering.

* The a la carte restaurants were mediocre. Again, moon palace is my 5 star benchmark here, and this wasn't even close.

* The ice cream machines were quite good :)

* didn't see any gluten free options identified anywhere in the buffet for those that need it.

* The restaurants were very good about asking about allergies and making sure that good was cooked separately (though someone my son met did have to go to the hospital for an anyphalactic reaction to nuts in something that wasn't supposed to have nuts, but I am not sure if this was at the buffet or a restaurant).

SUMMARY: This is a decent resort, but nowhere near a 5 star resort - 3 stars at best. Look elsewhere - as I said, Moon Palace was exceptional, Royalton was also very good. [Details]

Resort is very clean and safe. Everything you need is there! [Details]

We had a great week at Barcelo. The pools are great, beach is nice but not the best in riveria maya and the staff are all lovely. There are a couple things that would have made our trip perfect. First is if there was a coffee bar. You literally could not get coffee until after 7 am when the buffet opened and even then it was the smallest cup ever. The lobby didn't have coffee until after 9 am. It wasn't a huge deal but sure would have been nice to get a good coffee in the morning and stroll on the beach.
The second thing was the absence of soap in the washrooms. It was a recurring problem across various locations on the resort. [Details]

It was good overall [Details]

Lots to do at this hotel, including activities for children and teens. Pools are beautiful and proximity to the beach is super convenient. Overall, a wonderful resort. [Details]

From the moment we stepped off the shuttle from the airport, we were blown away by the beauty of the lobby and the hospitality of the resort staff. The bellboy took our luggage off the shuttle and checked our names and pointed us to the premium level lounge to check in, and to come back when were ready and they would take us to our room. The receptionist greeted and asked us to take a seat and if we would like a drink. The server took our drink order and was back in no time. There was alot of information to retain at check-in. They also took the liberty in making our ala carte reservations for us as the resort was at 70% capacity. I asked if dining was still available after check-in was completed(we arrived to the resort 8:30 pm, check-in complete at 9:00pm).The buffet was open until 10 pm so we made our way over there. It was delicious. We made it to our room and it was perfect, a king size bed, four seat Fulton, sliding doors to the bathroom on the right a rainfall shower seperate from the bathtub which also had a handheld shower. To left of the sliding door was the toilet with a sliding glass door. And the sink/vanity was in the middle. Our room was on the first floor, we had a view of the pool but not the ocean. The people above on the second and third level had an ocean and pool view. The pool was 20 feet from our room and the beach about 100 feet. Most of our time was spent at the crystal clear pool(s). The beach was always packed, you had to get there early to save your lounger. It was just easier for us to walk across and save our loungers by the pool. The rooms are cleaned and the mini fridge is stocked daily with beer, soda and water. Now, let's talk about the drinks and food. If you are premium level you get to have premium alcohol in your drinks, but you have to tell the bartenders other wise you get bar stock which in my opinion is just as good. Also be prepared for a strong drink as nothing is measured, it is free poured [Details]

We had such a wonderful time tonight during the storm!! Karina Cetz was a attent Be, well spoken and funny sever - thank you!!!! [Details]

One of the very good hotel to relax and spend time with family in Cancun. Just relax and enjoy life. [Details]

Nice resort, as long as you do not shower to often (no hot water). Buffet average at best. Long lines at time in buffet [Details]

The hotel is very grand with beautiful decor and fountains pools throughout. There are many lounging areas to sit and relax. The rooms are very clean,quiet with everything you would expect to need. We found the beds very comfortable and slept very well. The large variety of food was very tastey. We never left the buffet or A la Cartes hungry, always very full.If you leave hungry,you are probably very very spoiled. There is plenty to do during the day. We are early risers, so did not explore the night life. Most staff we could communicate with easily, and when unable to do so, the helpful staff would engage another person if necessary. We found the people to be very friendly. I felt safe at all times on the resort, and also felt very safe during our day excursions away from the resort to Tallum and Xel Ha. We would definitely come back to this resort again. [Details]

Great long white sand beach for walking, snorkeling, and sailing. Very tropical. Friendly staff, always cleaning and smiling. Undrinkable white wine, good red wine. No wifi and paid for internet rarely working. [Details]

I have been in this complex many times because of the huge impeccably maintained park-like grounds with rain forest sections, and the truly amazing pools.

All of the staff is hard working, friendly and doing a great job.

The sandy beaches and pool areas are well maintained and there are always enough lawn chairs/chaise-longues available.

Due to storms a lot of seaweed was brought ashore this time. They are removing it - but it is a big chore at times.

The shore water at the Tropical had a lot of stones. It was somewhat hard to wade through that without some pain in bare feet. One could easily trip.

I found the Internet access (from Business Centre) frustratingly slow. The food displayed there was covered, but the flies found their way in and were hovering over the plastic covers. The new full bottles of liquor were left at display unopened, despite several complaints about this. You need a knife to remove the wrappings, but there is no knife.

I did not watch any of the shows because they were at 9.30. But I am an early riser and like to go to bed soon. [Details]

Very pleased with resort. No major complaints. [Details]

We were "upgraded" to the Barcelo Maya Palace,which was not really an upgrade! This was my sixth time to the Mayan Riviera but the first to the Barcelo. I had my sister with me and she had never been. This was such a disappointment! First off we could not find our room the first night. Front desk told us our room was in the first building room 8417, as the rooms on the first floor in the building started in the 8100's we thought ours must be on the third floor. Wrong! We walked and we walked and were completeley frustrated. As it was late at night there wasn't anyone around to ask. We finally made it to our room which was in the third build with numbers starting in the 8300's. The second floor ended with 8348 and then all of sudden the third floor starts with the 8400's, so confusing! The signage is this hotel is terrible, and they give you a little map that is almost useless. All the restaurants were at the other end from our room so we had to walk for about twenty minutes to get a meal. There was not food service at any of the bars either. If you wanted something to eat there you had to order it from room service which came with a charge. There was no information given about what was happening at our resort or the three other attached resorts. We had stayed in a Barcelo and was looking forward to the same standard. Could not have been farther from that experience. [Details]

Resort is awesome! Even though it is very large resort it was always easy to get around...with beautiful grounds. Beach is amazing with lots of palm trees for shade. Huge pool area so never felt crowded. [Details]

So the hotel is beautiful and so are the grounds and the beach but a vacation is more then that...it is a whole overall experience. I felt like I was just a body in a room...of no importance at the Barceló - few spoke English so how can they even communicate with me? Last year I stayed at the Punta Cana Excellence and they made me feel like a friend..important. The food was yuk..recycled buffets and the restaurants wanted you to eat and out out out! literally. Reservations required for the restaurants which SUCKED because I was always a prisoner of my watch which is the last feeling you want on vacation. Never again....oh and you get 1 card for a towel per guest...don't get me started on that either. There are no pool side waiters and room service is extra..lots of thumbs down....shows where ridiculous...but the place was beautiful but completely lacked in all other areas. [Details]

Stayed at BM Tropical in July.
It was OK but I will never go back, there are other better places at the same price.
No bar waiters on the beach.
Looong lines at the two beach bars.
I waived a dollar in order to be served faster, every time.
Same food everyday, not great choices. A la Carte are ok.
The night shows not great.
I didn't like that the towels are changed every 3rd day.
Rocks in water.
Resorts are very crowded, most of the guests from Latin America, being offered preferential service.
Next time I will go to resorts that I have already known.
The services are below a 4 star resort.
Front Desk staff is very kind and helpful.
Anyway,Don't go to any Barcello other than Tropical or Palace. I visited the other resorts and it's not worth the money. [Details]

Dirty rooms, unpleasant staff, bad food and crowded. The beach was nice though. [Details]

The people were great, the hotel was great, the room was terrible.
Room at the *upgraded* Tropical was not even as good as the Beach that we stayed at 1.5 years ago. Could not connect my tablet to the old style TV let my son watch movies, TV selection was terrible. Phone did not work, they replaced it, and then it stopped working. No power plugs available to charge phones, etc. At least it was kept clean. It's a shame that this point brings down the great job the rest of the hotel does in making it a great vacation. [Details]

4.5 star

I love this resort [Details]

We absolutely love this place, have been there now 3 times. 2x's at tropical 1x at colonial. Mayan's best in our opinion [Details]

Overall fantastic vacation. Swam with three turtles and stingrays less than 20 ft offshore. Breakfast buffet and lunch at the grills have variety and very tasty; however, the dinner buffets lack variety and were bland for my family. Highly recommend the Japenese Seafood and Steakhouse restaurants. Mexican was ok but not much diffetent than the buffets. No lineups for anything even though 94% occupied. [Details]

Had an amazing time once again.
This resort is amazing, very clean and well maintained. The beach is beautiful with lots of loung chairs so you will always find one. There is a big selection of food, fruits and pastries to eat so you will not go hungry and the service is very good. I've been to many resorts but this one is my favorite. Can't wait to go back! [Details]

This was our 2nd time and it did not disappoint! Love that the pool and beach are so close! [Details]

My wife and I spent a week at the Barcelo Maya Tropical in January. The resort lived up to our expectations with some disappointing aspects. We had to change rooms due to water leaking from the room above through the light fixture in the shower. The rooms were mostly clean however, our glasses in the bathroom were not cleaned daily and smudges on the glass coffee table remained with us for the week. The room had two double beds which were very hard and uncomfortable if you are not used to this type of mattress. The food was enjoyable but lacked sufficient variety as the week went by especially lunches. We enjoyed dinners at the Italian, Japanese, and seafood restaurants however found the Santa Fe steakhouse very loud and frantic with babies crying and plates clanging. We paid to eat at the French restaurant at the next door Palace resort which was excellent. The staff were very attentive and helpful and the grounds and beach were very well maintained. Overall we got our money's worth and enjoyed our stay. [Details]

Resort was a great place for my family with kids age 5 and 7. kids loved the water park and kids' club. I loved the fact that the specialty had lobster. Beach was a bit rocky but if u find the rite spot then it wont bother u bring water shoes. Lots of waves but that was the fun part in the beach. If u go to playa del carmen town then dont eat at 'big lobster' bc they will rip u off by adding taxes to the bill. [Details]

Grounds are beautiful. Beach pretty but take your water shoes - sharp stones. Lots of activities. Food good. Houese wine poor. Bottled wine very expensive. Room not so great - though it was cool enough, it was very humid/damp, and moldy smelling - clothes in closet got wet! Bed is hard.
Service good. [Details]

Well kept grounds very clean nice beaches [Details]

The resorts amenities are well spoken for by others so I skip these other than saying it is a genuine 4.5 star in every way starting with bath robes, slippers and in-room safe that works like a charm.

We played table tennis everyday on one of 2 concrete ping pong tables outdoor under a stretched tarp. Surprisingly the tables are very playable. Avoid playing between 12:30pm and 3pm when the sun can still burn you on one side of the table.

Barcelo Palace has 2 good metal tables under a roof and 2 concrete ones like those in Tropical. We played on the good table one day even though there is a sign that says "Palace guests only" when you wander into Palace from Tropical.

The 5 2 tennis courts in Caribe/Colonial are very good. Avoid 6am to 7:30am time when the sun shine direct into your eyes in December. Someone told me she chose to play at the 2 courts at Colonial because the sun would be in your face at that time. Rackets and balls are free. They encourage you to book, but I don't see why you cannot just walk up and play at anytime of your choosing.

I had a hole-in-one on the 14th hole mini putt which Cathy also enjoyed because it is all in the shaded rain forest environment. After the hole-in-one I cannot resist telling her a golf joke. Why do some golfers wear 2 pairs of socks? Well just in case there is a hole in one!

We had twice surf and turf with lobster in Kyoto - very very good. Twice lobster dinners at marenostrom seafood place - very very good. Javier at marenostrom gave us extra treatment which I never experienced before. On our second trip, he gave us delicious jumbo shrimp cocktail after we finished with our appetizer, totally unsolicited and awesome. To top it all, after our desert, he served up apple pie ala mode remembering that Cathy had that the first time. I would have gave $5 tip if I had it with me, but $2 was what I had on me. Ask for Javier when at Marenostrom.

The swimming is rocky the first few feet in the water, after that you can find a sandy clean bottom for soaking it up and enjoy the waves lapping at you. Love to be able to see 30 fishes swimming with you at the shallow end. My highlight was swimming with hundred of fishes by the jetty. Saw stingray twice. One by the swimming area in 3 feet of water when it is trying to hide and flutter in the sand. Second time when I swam from jetting to coral island 100m away. In 8ft of water, it was swimming 3ft below me gracefully. One flip of its 2.5ft wings and it sailed off with its 3ft tail. Yeah, no need for snorkeling excursion unless you wish to see more colorful and variety of fishes. The fishes by the jetty are about 8 to 12in in length. Bring aquasock to counter the rocky bottom.

Good beach walking from far end of Palace to far far end of Barcelo beach rsort, total 2500 steps by Cathy's smartphone pedometer. You need to do it 4 times to meet Canada Health recommendation of 10000 steps a day (which I think is bull-shit, even many doctors are blindly quoting this ridiculous and unattainable daily requirement for healthy living, no way Health Canada, 2500 steps is what I recommend, everyday). [Details]