TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Stay away from the first floor/level, all rooms are incredibly humid, all in there is rusted, the bed sheets are all wet along with the pillows, all the room reeks like mold. I had to complain three times to get to the third floor and that was an improvement. They are aware of this situation and they just hope that nobody says anything and be ok with it, how do you expect someone to sleep in a wet bed? They also have an outdoor theatre which they use for open karaoke nights, it is like 100 feet away from the rooms, good luck having some sleep. This was my first time here and my last time, I will never come back. I'm writing this from the hotel, that's how mad I am. First day here and already made my mind. How's that for first impressions?

We stayed here the first week of June and loved every second of it. We were most impressed by how clean the entire resort was. The employees are cheerful and work very hard to make sure you enjoy your stay. The drinks are strong but this is a family place so we never saw anyone get stupid drunk. Also, the buffets were so good. I think I put on twenty pounds at least! (The Al a carte dinners were okay, but the buffets were the best in our opinion!) I Can’t understand the negative reviews… we loved it and will definitely return!

We recently stayed in this hotel with our two young children ,we travelled with first choice/TUI from the UK. WE didn’t know which hotel we would be put in as when you bookish Tui it’s for the ‘BARCELO GRAND RESORT’.Anyway we were put in the tropical which was fine as they all appear pretty much the same.We therefore could use the Colonial/Tropical/Maya Beach/Caribe (pools/bars/restaurants etc). We were not able to use the Palace or the adults only Riviera but we did use the Palace kids pool a couple times. HOTEL: Really nice,each a little different but it was hard to see where one ended and the other started ie the tropical and colonial are combined (buffet restaurants next to each other). Room for a family of 4 was 2 double beds ,we also had a cot but didn’t use it.bathroom with bath,nice balcony,we had a view of the gardens and the millions of lizards.Overall nice room,however got really really damp especially with the rain. Grounds well maintained very green and healthy,lots of local wildlife that we don’t have in the Uk.Nice and clean.Reception in the lobby always helpful.There was an over friendly monkey around the hotel who got a lot of attention also. The Barcelo resort is truly massive as there is 6 different hotels within it and it also has its own mall,there are red double decker buses transporting people from all the hotels/malls etc. you can walk it of course! Hotel shop is CHEAPER than at the plaza markets!although it’s just cheaper to get a taxi out of the resort to a local supermarket which is way way cheaper than anything in or around the hotel Loads of restaurants,but they need booking through the booking office.we did this on day one and therefore was pretty much in a different restaurant every night.We are glad we booked as we couldn’t get in anywhere once the hotel got busier a few days later.Restaurants varied in cuisine -Mexican/tepenyaki /Italian /Spanish and many more.We didn’t have a bad meal to be fair,the food was good.The buffet restaurants were also good,masses of choice and good fresh food Bars all over the place,drinks seemed to change a bit dependant on where we were.The pool was a firm fav on those super hot days Each hotel had its own Barcy Kids Club,we mainly used the Tropical/Colonial one and my son absolutely LOVED it! Thank you to the three ladies who kept him happy and entertained on holiday.Each session was 45 mins-1 hour. There is a rough timetable. Lots of pools-big pools,ace kids pools especially at tropical/colonial Beach-really lovely sea warm,nice waves. They do have a sea grass issue in mexico but they have men just working on clearing that all day (Total hero’s!).Some days no sea grass and totally clear beach. Great snorkelling off the pier -tons of fish we also saw some rays and I saw a Barracuda when in the sea out deep. Take your snorkel gear though!as I think there’s a charge otherwise. Water sports and excursions available,but we felt they were astronomical in price and a total rip off- $100 per person for a short boat ride and drop in the ocean to snorkel for 3 hours????? Comfy sun-beds in and out of shade where you can watch the kids play by the shore STAFF: Lots of staff,really hard working.Attentive,good room service Entertainment: Each night there was a show ,but it was a late start at 9pm.Pretty impressive entertainment and talented singers and dancers,we enjoyed many of them Clientele- There was a good mix-families,big big groups of older students/sorority groups.there was also a conference going on whilst we were there so we think most of the hotel was taken up by those delegates. In general the resort had everything you need for a great holiday,the transfer time from the airport was longer than expected about 1.5 hours. Two Negatives: * the cost of everything out there,especially any trips or excursions. Taxis are also a ridiculous cost,get on a bus if you can.We did the pirate ship night trip through Tui from Cancun port which I didn’t rate at all and thought was a complete rip off.The fact we had to pay extra for transport there plus a hefty “port fee” ( the boat pulled away from the port for all of 10 mins !).We also took a trip out to the croc zoo which the kids loved,but it was quite short for the long journey . * The hotel have a Dolphinarium between colonial and Maya beach,the pool is tiny.They are entertaining most of the day ,and so close to the ocean the poor things can probably smell it from their cage.We would walk past it most days,again another money making opportunity and at the expense of intelligent beautiful animals .

The beach and hote , food and drinks are nice but the staff are very rude and unfriendly - we were a big party of 12 but none of us would ever go back here because of the staff infact would never go back to mexico

Overall this was a good resort, had a great time. Only issue is that they do not enforce their no smoking rules. My brother has asthma and had to stay in his room for half of our trip because of the amount of cigarettes being used.