Barcelo Maya Beach & Caribe - All-Inclusive

Beautiful beach! Hard beds. Mexico Lindo delicious! Huge place with lots to do. Could be a little more clear that bowling, mini golf etc is FREE until 7 p.m. Ask for towel cards at check-in if they don't give them to you.Could use more help at the check-in desk! $12 a day for wi-fi is ridiculous! Such a huge company with many hotels and they can't give you free wi-fi?! They offer free wi-fi from 10-5:30 in a certain area. When I went there it showed that I had wi-fi but nothing updated and I could not send texts, messages or e-mails. Others around me had the same problem. Wasted time. Use the guests services computers to send e-mails, and messages if you have facebook. Map of the property needs to be revised and the names of the buildings and restuarants labeled as to where they are. Again, beautiful beach!

I will say that I scoured the reviews before booking our trip (my boyfriend and I went to Barcelo and stayed at the Beach hotel for 5 days last week) and I was a little worried based on some of the negative feedback. However, I will say that the things I was mentally prepared for to be okay or just mediocre, were pretty spot on based on former reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised with other aspects of this resort/hotel and would definitely go back (and I am a super picky traveler!) Let's start with the good: - The grounds at this resort are unbelievable - super clean and gorgeous! - I found it easy to navigate and find my way between the hotels - our room was in the Beach hotel but we always found ourselves exploring in the Caribe and Colonial (the Caribe is closest to the Maya Mall). - Hotel room was immaculate! The rooms are outdated if you don't upgrade to the premium levels - which we heard wasn't worth the money - but I wiped down everything with a clorox wipe as soon as we got checked in and there wasn't a speck of dust on anything! Some reviews say the beds were uncomfortable but we slept like a baby. Beds felt clean and nice. - Service was great! Check-in takes a little while since there is so much to explain to people about finding their room, the other hotels since the resort is so large, and of course guests ask a lot of questions, so just have patience during checking in and checking out, but we waited no longer than 15-20 minutes. - Service from housekeeping is immaculate and they come multiple times a day for cleaning, restocking of towels, restocking of the mini bar that has soda, bottled waters, coronas, and light snacks like lays chips. - Service at all of the bars and restaurants were great! IMPORTANT: The buffet in the Beach and Caribe hotels are not great food wise, but the service is still wonderful. The 3rd day of our trip we wondered to the Colonial and Tropical buffets that were further away but had SUCH BETTER FOOD OMG!!!!!!!! Go to te taco stand lady during lunch!!! - Our favorite bar to check out was Strikers. This is open 24/7 and the bartenders there are so friendly and nice! - Pools and Beach - immaculate. The Beach hotel definitely has the best beach access and the most quiet pool (the pool in front of the Caribe is livelier with a DJ as opposed to the Beach hotel that still has a swim up bar but is mainly older adults and tame). - Safety: I felt completely secure and safe the entire time while at the resort, as well as off the resort during our excursion and our early dinner adventure to Playa Del Carmen where we just took a taxi from the hotel and had the same guy come pick us back up at the same spot 2 hours later. The mediocre part of this resort: - They definitely try to upsell you on excursions and activities. If you book your travel package through a company like Cheap Caribbean or your to and from airport transportation through Amstar or another company they make you meet with a person to schedule your ride back to the airport and try to upsell you activities during this meet and greet. I will say that we were sold on one and did the sunset sailing cruise which was beautiful, had the best staff, open bar with light snacks, and it was nice to get off of the resort for a night. - The food...the buffets at the beach and caribe are AWFUL. I would eat a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast or a frozen yogurt ice cream cone for lunch. We weren't satisfied with lunches until we found that the buffet in the Colonial and Tropical hotels were SO MUCH BETTER!!! - Even at the restaurants you can make reservations at, the food was medicore at best. Beware that you should make your dinner reservations as soon as you check into the hotel and that likely only later reservations will be available. Our first pick restaurant had nothing available during the 5 days we were there and we still ended up dining at 9pm or 930pm at our second and third choice of venue. - While the rooms are super clean (yet outdated) ours did smell damp. We got used to the smell after a few days but when re-entering the room after being at the pool all day you could kind of smell it again. I think this is just the smell of Mexico from being humid and should be expected. Overall: We would definitely go back and don't let any of the negative reviews on here scare you, just have realistic expectations for a 4-star all inclusive resort!

We stayed at the Barceki Beach and Caribe the last week in Jan 2020. On first arrival we were amazed with the sculptures and decor. Our room was lovely, and spotless, but we couldn't manage to control the air conditioner so we mostly left it off. While it was hot outdoors the rooms throughout the resort complex were pleasantly cool. Drinks at Barcelo are far better than other AI resorts we have been to and you can get sparkling wine which is better than the red or while - to my palate - because I like sweeter wines. Waiters, waitresses and all the workers are so friendly and nice. Many speak enough English to easily communicate with. The ala carte restaurants we went to (4 during a 7 day stay) were fabulous. Make reservations for those right away. We did have trouble locating some of the restaurants because they are in other buildings (on this massive property) than the one we were staying in. There is a facility bus that will take you to the various buildings and to activities. Buffet food in general, throughout the complex, is okay. The same food items seem to be put out every morning, and during the day at the buffets. However, you won't starve and there is plenty of fresh fruit. There is always something you will like to eat and unlimited access to snacks. We happened to be staying during Super Bowl and there was a festive party in most of the the bar areas with good looking burgers, fries, hot dogs etc. There is also a small Casino but you are charged a "Tax" to get a player card and on any winnings. It's small - only a few slots and one or two tables too. The only negative we had was that the WI FI is expensive to hook up to for the whole week and many people had trouble using it. We tried to use the free WI FI and couldn't manage to do so and it is located in the mall area with limited hours and in a location not near where we were most of the time We do plan to go back to this beautiful property and recommend that you read up on the resort first. There are 5 or 6 different "hotels" within the Barcelo complex and each offers different amenities. We love watching children swim and play but there is an adults only area for those who would prefer that setting. There are free shows every evening and some were quite good. The dolphin swim and show was great to see and just walking the property was peaceful and beautiful. We occasionally spotted strange animals and heard tons of birds and chirping. The beach is clean and free of food scraps so there were no shore birds dive bombing or bothering us. There are plenty of lounge chairs around so we always managed to find some. I would strongly recommend Barcelo Beach and Caribe Resort in Maya Riveria and hope to be there next year and plan to go ice skating!

Overall we were very happy with this place. There’re great food options, there’s alcohol included as well. I would gladly repeat this experience in the same exact place