Catalonia Yucatan Beach - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3018 reviews

• 

  Poor.

  This is a very poor dated hotel rooms are terrible food is terrible i was sold this holiday as 5* by bluebay travel I've stayed in better 3 * in Africa. . Every night food is the same and very tasteless I was eating cakes most of my 2 weeks rooms Are shocking I moved 3 times and still not better had choice to move hotel at a cost of £500 lol.. staff were fine my maid in room was lovely she done a great job . Overall very poor entertainment started around 9 sometimes 9.30 to me was late . Always cues for pool bar sometimes only 1 person serving. Never again

  Jul 04, 2025
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  Seaweed not a problem!

  We had a great holiday at the Yucatan Beach. Yes, there was loads of seaweed, which was a freak amount. To the extent the beach was unusable. We've been to the Caribbean before and are aware of the seaweed issues. This didn't really detract from the hotel. The staff were all excellent and helpful. The facilities were first rate. The food was very tasty in the buffets and the restaurants. We were advised that the restaurants were hard to book. This wasn't true, but it may be worse in high season. We were in the comfort rooms, which were nice but had seen better days. The accommodation is definitely in need of a refurb, but if you've booked you shouldn't be disappointed as all in all we really enjoyed our stay. We will be back again and loved Mexico and Puerto Aventuras.

  Jul 04, 2025
• 

  Hotel Needs Improvements

  for context we are a couple in our mid 20s that usually stays in europe/canary islands for our holidays but chose this hotel as we wanted 14 nights and it was a great deal for £1200 each from Glasgow with TUI. writing this review with a week left still to go of our holiday! The Rooms - We booked the standard room with balcony/garden and ended up with a view of the pool which was nice. I'd say this room could be compared to any mid-range hotel in the likes of Turkey or Spain - it feels outdated but still has charm. Chipped paint here and there but everything is in working order and our housekeeper Maria keeps it spotless. We had 3 bottles of water in the fridge which was constantly restocked. The table on the balcony is clearly used as a footrest but that's hardly a fault of the hotel. My only complaint is the bathroom - no matter how we draw the curtain over the bath, the floor is soaked within 2 minutes and we have to mop it up with towels. The Food - El Mercado is the buffet for Yucatan Beach and I found it alright. It's a pretty small selection too. I'm not bothered by eating the same meal most nights so it was fine for me, but if you are a foodie you'll probably hate it. They don't do themed food nights either. They also do not cater for picky eaters with beige foods so if you or your kids are chicken nugget fans, look elsewhere! The Yucatan beach side has a crepe stand and a toastie/grilled sandwich stand which are included in the all inclusive and they're both amazing. So far we've only been able to book one of the restaurants which was the Italian place - the food wasn't terrible but you don't get restaurant service in my opinion. We had our order taken, and that was pretty much it. The waiter disappeared into the ether. We did notice that a lot of the other tables were being given bread without having to ask for it but we never got any. Thus far we haven't been able to book into the other restaurants - every other resort I've been to, you've been able to book these at reception, but at YB you need to do this through their website and it kind of sucks. The Alcohol - In my opinion, most of the cocktails are undrinkable, especially the frozen/blended ones. You shouldn't be able to taste the alcohol in a cocktail and that is why they're so good to drink - but not in this hotel! half a bottle of rum in your mojito. the blended drinks are also never blended for long enough so they just taste like ice. we've just been sticking to pepsi which sucks for us because we do really like to drink when we go on holiday! The Staff - We've had absolutely no issues with any of the staff, they've been lovely The Pool - The pool is what really lets this hotel down because they don't clean it properly. At any other hotel/resort you'd see people cleaning the pool either late at night or early in the morning with the little vacuums that sit on the bottom and filter everything. not here, and i can't figure out why. by 11am, the pool is full of sunscreen, oils, hair, dead bugs, you name it. this also says to me that the filters around the side of the pool are either extremely weak or they aren't on during the day. unfortunately when its 30+ degrees your choice is to either hide in your room or get in the pool! the edges of the pool also get really dirty, you'll see staff wiping bleach around it every morning. as a result, my white bikini turned a weird green colour after about 2 hours in the pool. my husbands blue & white shorts are also now blue and green. The Beach - At this time of year you can't swim in the water due to the seaweed, but you can still lie on the sunbeds. You do occasionally get a bad smell from it, but not as bad as other reviews make it out to be. There are usually people on the beach clearing it away too. The Wildlife - Loads of Sereque/Agouti running around the resort, and they're absolutely adorable. We also saw 2 or 3 racoons running around and lots of birds!! Overall our stay so far has been alright - none of the issues have ruined our honeymoon but when you pay so much money and fly over 10 hours you do expect just a little bit more in my opinion. As a side note - if you are booking any of the Xcaret/Xplore/XelHa/Chichen Itza excursions and are thinking of doing it through TUI, save yourself £35pp and book it yourself through the Xcaret website because its super easy and you'll be on the same bus as anyone who did use TUI to book!! If you want to go to Playa Del Carmen i'd also advise you just take the local buses too - complete safe and only 35 pesos per person each way!

  Jul 02, 2025
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  Worst week of hard earned money spent for nothing!

  We have visited Catalonia Riveria Maya multiple times and this was the absolute worst experience ever! Front desk was a nightmare for checking in, was promised a king size bed for our 20th anniversary only to remain stuck in a room with 2 beds! We were told they would contact us for a room change never heard from them! When we asked nothing was put on our file to request the room change. El Mercado buffet sub par at best. If you don’t tell the bartenders how to make your drink good luck because you’ll never get two the same. We’re were also promised a $1000 voucher for the problems encountered on the last vacation here, asked about it it’s non existent. Will NEVER RETURN TO THIS RESORT Or any sister resorts. Don’t waste your money on this resort it’s 2.5 stars at max and zero customer service!

  Jun 26, 2025
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  As a young couple on their first holiday together, and first long haul trip, this hotel did not disappoint.

  ROOM This is not a criticism to the hotel, but to TUI. Before departing, we had seen concerning reviews regarding the state of the rooms. TUI assured us that the rooms had recently been renovated. This was true... for some of the rooms. We were in one of the rooms yet to be revamped. Yes, the room was not 'modern', but it took the stance that it felt authentic. The bathroom especially needed some TLC, with the enamel in the bath flacking off, the shower not working very well and the paint on the walls chipping away. The air con unit did not visually seem the cleanest. HOWEVER, the room was cleaned daily, new towels always provided, bins emptied and in terms of general cleanliness the room could not be faulted. We view a hotel room as a place to sleep and shower, so in our opinion the room was perfectly adequate. One thing to note, in the room there was ONE available plug socket (made available by unplugging the TV) thankfully though we had packed an extension cable so this was not an issue for us. POOLS With being able to use the sister hotel's pools as well as the two 'Yucatan' pools, there was plenty to choose from. Just as anywhere else, there was a need to get up early and reserve sun beds if you wanted to sit by the pool. The pools and surrounding areas were spotless throughout our stay. BEACH Whilst sun beds needed to be secured by the pools, sun beds were almost always available down on the beach (only 20 seconds away from the pools). The beach was clean. We unfortunately hit 'seaweed season' so an ocean swim was not an option for us. We heard a few complaints about this, but this was simply nature at work, and there were a handful of staff out in the seaweed all day everyday tirelessly attempting to clear the seaweed. By the end of our trip, the ocean was accessible from the far side, and many people were making the most of this. BARS Before our departure, we had seen a few reviews regarding the lack of alcohol in drinks. From our experience, this was not an issue we encountered. The cocktail menu was plentiful, with each of the drinks being as equally alcoholic as refreshing. Bars opened at 10, with alcohol served from 11. Our only minor issue with the bars was the fact the beach bar closed at 8. The beach bar offered a relaxing outdoor drink on the white sand, which once closed left the inside sports bar and the sister hotel's lobby bar to have a drink at. Whilst both alternate bars were lovely, and service speedy, they were not as peaceful as the beach bar. ENTERTAINMENT We saw the Rock Show, Moana Performance and the Castle Show, all three of which were extremely impressive and professional. Hosted in an indoor, air conditioned theatre, the staging, lighting and sound effects were some of the best we have seen. Entertainment throughout the day was constant, ranging from beach volleyball to bracelet making. There was certainly something for everyone. Beyond the hotel's entrainment, the hotel is located close to many attractions including Xcaret (only 20/30mins away) and CocoBongos (40mins away). FOOD The food offered at the buffet at both breakfast and dinner was fresh and very tasty. It could be said that towards the end of the holiday, the buffet did become slightly repetitive. However, to avoid this, we would highly recommend booking in at the included a la carte restaurants - there is an Italian, Mexican and Burger restaurant. These are bookable online, and we would advise booking in ASAP as booking same/next day was almost impossible. Cancelling any reservations was also doable online so if your plans changed, it was simple to remove the booking. STAFF We found the staff as a whole friendly and welcoming, with all staff speaking very good English. Big shoutout to Luis at the pool bar - he was always smiling, speedy with the drinks and extremely pleasant to chat to. Our only slight issues were at breakfast - it was only on the last couple days of our stay we were offered coffee & water at breakfast. We also found that the daytime entertainment team did not tend to speak too frequently to the English families, which from conversations from other English holidaymakers it was not only us who gathered this perception. OVERALL We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and did not want to leave come the end of our holiday. We would certainly recommend this hotel to other travellers.

  Jun 24, 2025