TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Mexico rate it a 4 star, TUI rate it a 3+ star. To be fair its a 3 Star. I.ts a well used holiday resort, and shows it. Its one of the cheapest All INC on the coast line and you get what you pay for. The staff make it, but dont expect 5 star. Noisy it is and popular with young familys. Long transfer from airport. Not worth the upgrade to Blue badge as that is where the most noise and activitys are at day and night. Take mossie spray {must}. Its very popular with north American and Canadian youth. Most are respectable of senior , but if you want a quiet beach all inc holiday?????. Also,, expect a lot of young familys on long haul flights. Why do people expect a child can stay reserved for a 10 hour flight????

I really enjoyed my dining experience at Toscana Restaurant at Catalonia Riviera Resort. Our server Joel provided us with top tier service. The quality of the food and the presentation was excellent. When you go please ask for Joel. He will take great care of you. The sangria was great.

Food was average at the buffets, but at Toscana restaurant the food was delicious … our server Joel was the perfect gentleman and very friendly. His service was top tier, very knowledgeable of the wine and menu. He even took our pictures for us.

Resort was nicely laid out, staff very friendly. Our rooms were clean and spacious but dated. A few more drawers would have been nice. The supply of extras does not include lotions. We brought our soft soap, worked out well. This Resort consisted of the Yucatan side, the one we stayed at, and the Mayan side I am only reviewing the Yucatan. We had privileges at both except for areas for Exclusive Members. Nice perks, the coffee place which opened early, but take your own cup, they often run out; and if you are into expresso or cappuccino, machines are often not working. There is a taco stand and a hotdog/sausage food truck. The food at the buffet, and the specialty restaurants was good! The QR code is used extensively, a little trouble at first but figured it out. The main bars, the 2 swim up ones, the sports Bar and our favorite, the Beach Bar. There were a couple others which we did not frequent. A number of families with children and young teenagers. Thought the pools would have been larger. We had a great time but if you ask for a recommendation, it would be no, and the huge downfall, no sandy beach area, no beach at all to walk on, it's all rock and to get into the ocean is very difficult, no clear path through the rocks. Water shoes are a must for this Resort. The travel from the airport is 1 hour or more depending on traffic. Not a particularly enjoyable trip. However, a must do is a walk to the marina, shops, bars, restaurants and dolphins to watch. The dolphins were a little underwhelming, in specific pens, but still kind of neat to see. Although the Resort is in a gated community and you may be tempted to rent a golf cart to investigate, don't waste your money, Gorgeous homes with spectacular front doors, and yachts, and a drive past the golf course, but it wasn't worth it the $65 (US).

We visited this resort back in December and we thought that it was pretty decent for the price we paid at that time which surprised us because we were not expecting much especially after just going to a much more expensive resort a month before. We had booked the cheapest room the comfort level which gets you water in your room and thats all not even Kleenex Fortunately we were upgraded to the Mayan side and that got us beer and a nicer room We decided to go back in April because of the price which we considered pretty reasonable. This time we were not lucky and ended up on the Yucatan side but thats what we paid for so no big deal. The room was very dated especially the bathroom There was a tub with a shower in it which had a weird hump in the floor. I found it difficult to stand up in at times and a bit slippery. The single sink was mounted on a counter top and open underneath. My first impression was "Wow this looks terrible" but in the end the room was clean the a/c worked and the beds were comfortable. At the time of our visit the main buffet on the Mayan side was closed for renovations but we never had much trouble getting into the Yucatan buffet for breakfast however we did see big line ups if you got there later. The breakfast was typical all inclusive stuff The lunch was not that good so we just ate at the sausage cart most days Because we were not privilege or travel club we could only book the Italian or Mexican for dinner. I found the food at them to be good. There was also a gourmet burger restaurant that I thought was terrible. The burger was decent meat not a frozen patty but it was cooked to death and was about the size of a squashed golf ball. The bun was so dry that it broke into pieces and crumbled when I tried to bite into it. Now for the bad part. Several people actually lots of people became very ill while we were there with vomiting and diarrhea. My wife was very sick our last day and spent the night in the bathroom . Friends of ours that arrived a couple days after us were both sick as well. Talking to other guests many had similar experiences. We were getting picked up at 3 pm so I managed to get a late check out for $35 US because I explained that my wife was still not well. Our friends husband got sick a couple days before they had to leave but she was sick like my wife the last day. They refused to let her have a late check out even after she begged them. She ended up having to wait for the airport transfer in the lobby while using the public washroom to throw up. We dont know what caused all the sickness but there was way too much of it to be coincidence. It may have been some kind of virus but I suspect that it may have been poor food preparation. Whatever the reason they didnt handle it very well refusing to provide late check outs to guests that were ill. I also had a run in with a manager of some sort who saw me take a plate out of the buffet with some french fries and a banana for my wife. He asked where my table was because they have and outside eating area, I explained my wife had been ill and we were leaving so I wanted to try to get her to eat a bit. He insisted that I couldnt take it to the room and told me to get in touch with customer service and request room service which we would have to pay for. I understand that they have rules but I had sat by the pool all week watching people take plates out of the buffet. I told him I would return the plate but he was having none of it. It ended up with a loud argument and me trying to throw the fries in the garbage. Not very good on my part but also not good relations on their part especially when you explain the situation. I came back around ten minutes later only to see a family sitting outside eating plates of food from the buffet. The staff at the resort were very friendly and helpful Oscar at the beach bar was definitely a guest favorite and the rest of the bar tenders at the beach bar as well. Hopefully whatever was making people sick will be resolved soon. We really like the area and hopefully we can go back and have a better stay next time.