TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

To preface, I’m someone who grew up going to 5 star resorts on my parents’ dime. Now that I’m on my own, I’m typically searching for “best value” when planning vacations as I generally have a relatively low budget to work with. Ultimately, I think this resort had fantastic value for what we paid, which was relatively little compared to many other resorts in Cancun. If I were to have a similar budget to plan a vacation and wanted to come back to Mexico, I would definitely stay again. Here are some of our mistakes and tips i have to make the most of your trip: Transportation: the resort is FAR from the Cancun airport. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes without stops, but odds are you’ll be sharing a vehicle with other travelers staying at other resorts and making lots of stops which can lengthen the trip quite a bit. I highly recommend arranging transportation to and from the airport ahead of time. Accommodations: PAY FOR PRIVILEGE IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. JUST DO IT. You receive wristbands upon arrival with the color of your status, and my partner and I found we were treated incredibly well, including bartenders bringing drinks directly to our beach chairs and bringing us another drink unprompted. Additionally you get access to the better restaurants on the resort with this status and larger rooms with daily housekeeping. For the love of God, please tip these people. My partner and I were shocked by how little people tipped, which could be attributed to the fact that most of those staying at the resort are Mexican nationals and Europeans. Food: the buffet was just okay. I did not care for it as I found patrons destroyed dishes such that they looked unappetizing. The poor workers were constantly trying to clean things up but it’s hard to keep up with the demand. The restaurant that you can only utilize if you’re a privileged guest is called B’loved, and served an excellent breakfast and outstanding dinner, some of the best food on the resort. The hibachi was also pretty good (pretty representative of typical American hibachi) and the best restaurant is the Grill, which is a “steakhouse.” My advice—skip the Mexican restaurant. That was by far our worst meal and was in night one, which had me discouraged about our resort choice, a feeling that abated after trying some of the other food. Around lunch time, they had a window were you could order sweet and savory crepes as well as hot dogs which were decent and convenient if you didn’t want a full meal. We did not try the burger restaurant or the Italian restaurant. I saw some people mentioning getting sick during/after the trip which had me very worried, however neither my partner or I were sick and we were NOT cautious (ate ice, fresh fruits, used sink water for brushing teeth but the provided bottle water which is replenished daily for drinking). Drinks: the only beer they have is Modelo but this was not a problem for us. Our drinks were very sugary and watered down at first, but we discovered the bartenders at the beach bar were giving heavy pours so sat near there for the remainder of the trip. My favorite was the passion fruit margarita, they also have a selection of wines if you prefer a less sugary option Entertainment: incredible. The young men and women running activities were very outgoing and engaging. We attended the “broadway show” in the evening and were blown away by the talent of the dancers and were definitely entertained. They also have live music pretty much nightly and on Thursday nights they have a pool party with a salsa band by the pool which is very fun. Beach/pool: the pools were great and the swim up bar was very convenient. The beach is … okay. There’s a lot of seaweed that collects on the area of the beach by the beach bar, however there are men working tirelessly to shovel the seaweed into trucks to remove it. Some days were better than other but on our last day the water was unswimmable if you mind seaweed. Most people walked to the adjacent resort to swim in their beach which no one really seemed to have a problem with (that beach was beautiful with no rocks and seaweed whatsoever). Overall we really enjoyed our trip and I would come back. And just a reminder to tip the workers as the service was outstanding and everyone was very accommodating and hard working!

We stayed as a family for 10 days at the Catalonia Riviera Maya. The good things about this resort were the grounds, the spa and gym and the pools that were well maintained. We had a privilege suite that needed updating but the cleaner did her best to keep it clean. My son booked a privilege family suite, but it was identical to our room and not as expected. They moved three times in 10 days due to mould/odors; fridge not working; moisture dripping from ceiling, doors not closing. Bed was okay in our suite and was changed every day. The A/C kept the room cool for sleeping which was good as it was more than +30C every day and high humidity and not much cooler at night. My wife was disturbed by the ceiling fan that made loud ticking noises at times. Toilet and shower both functional and enough pressure but the electrical outlets didn’t always work and more than one I didn’t want to touch. There was always a bit of an odour entering the room that was a little unpleasant. The deck outside the room had a small bath that we didn’t use as it looked a little grungy and a table and chairs and a drying rack for clothes although anything wet never got dry. Water was provided in large glass 1 L bottles and stocked up daily. Fridge had soft drinks and beer. We found tea bags in the bar above the lobby. A nice selection of Bigelow teas. The resort was generally quiet after 11 pm and good until around 7 am. There was nightly entertainment and often a live band and there was also a large theatre for films and things like a fashion show or presentations. We enjoyed the gym that was never crowded and did the hydrotherapy a few times that was a good experience (steam room, sauna, cool tub, relax area and hydrotherapy). The buffet food was like other resorts: plenty of fruit and omelette/eggs to order and a range of meats and sides. Coffee was awful. Best place to get coffee was in the Creperie truck that had an expresso machine and open in mornings. The food in the restaurants was better quality but often a dish came that tasted pre-made and warmed. The BLoved restaurant had some decent menu choices and not bad quality but don’t expect haute cuisine in any of the restaurants. The wine that was provided was drinkable but only just. The restaurants all had a wine list with better quality wine but at a fairly high cost. Now to some of the things that irked us. The check in process was brutal. After a long day of travel, you do not want to spend 20 minutes standing in a hot and humid lobby. We were lucky as being the only persons checking in so it would have been much worse if we had arrived with a busload. The check out process wasn’t much better as there were a long line of people getting checked in. The bracelet that each of us got identified us as privileged guests and as the room key. This was a great feature as no need to carry a key or card. There was an app or web site to book the restaurants apart from the buffet or the BLoved restaurant. One of the buffet restaurants (Brisa) was closed for renovations that looked to be a lengthy project. The app had to be used at 8 am to reserve a spot in the restaurant of choice for that same day for the evening meal. It was very frustrating to use, and we ended up going to the concierge at 8 am to help us get a confirmed reservation and that didn’t always work. Other people also had similar concerns about the booking app. Service overall was inferior to what you expect in a north American restaurant/hotel. We once waited for 10 minutes for a glass of water and to get a menu with staff standing around doing nothing and almost deliberately ignoring you. Some of the staff were very helpful and courteous. Room service was non-existent. We got back one night around 10:30 pm and the room service order that was promised in 30 minutes took over an hour to come and the sandwich was pathetic (two slices of white bread with a thin slice of cheese and even thinner slice of undefined meat) and a fruit plate that looked like it had been prepared 24 hours earlier and left to brown out in the sunshine. The only edible thing was a small dish of yoghurt. Trying to get extra towels or water in the evening was also an arduous process. After phoning housekeeping 3 X over a 4-hour period I ended up finding some towels on a cleaners wagon. Don’t expect a good beach if you come to this resort. The beach in the main area was small and full of seaweed both on the beach itself and in the water close to the shore. There were people trying to clean it but making little progress. The privilege only beach was also small but more protected having a lagoon with a sandy bottom in a relatively small area with the rest having seaweed growing. You need water shoes as our grandchild cut his foot on a rock. There was no security to check if people had paid for a privileged room and everybody used this area. The resort was busy when we arrived as it was Mother Day weekend and all the beach chairs in the privileged area and elsewhere were “reserved “ by people placing a towel on the chair before 8 am (even though it says reserving chairs is prohibited). The most annoying thing was the number of people smoking/vaping on the beach, outside of restaurants and by the pool even though the resort is advertised as smoke free. The couple below us smoked on their patio and despite complaining and being told it is against the law in Mexico with the hotel to receive heavy fine, nothing was done. There is a children’s program for those kids 8 and under but there is really nothing for teens as they have no access to the gym or spa or other activities like volleyball. At times it was clear that staff just told you something in response to a question or request just to get rid of you. It happened with restaurant bookings and room service requests. There was no visible security around the beach area, and we watched locals come onto the property sometimes with dogs. We would never choose to go to a Catalonia resort again. It was a bit like staying at an older chain type hotel with 2 stars and not as promoted and poor value for the price that was paid.

This place rocks!!! All the pool entertainment crew and Carlos made our trip so much fun. Every restaurant was so good and had plenty of variety to pick from. The rooms were clean and the beds were comfortable. Make sure you check out the entertainment. It was top knotch. We will be going back!

We had an awesome time staying here. The room was great and well done. The staff were all very friendly and very hard working. The buffets offered a great variety of foods. The restaurants we tried all but the beloved and the best one was the mexican restaurant by far. The pools and beach were beautiful. The entertainment crew was great. The only issue that we found was lack of communication when it came to trying to snorkle or Kyaking. It seems they should incorporate a similar booking program like they have for booking restaurants to make that process easier. We all had an amazing time and would definitely go back!! We also enjoyed taking the golf cart to the market area.

I wanted to write a review here as I'm a return guest at The Catalonia Riviera Maya and you can see from my 1st review in 2018, I was in tears on departure day then, and this 3rd time, I was practically running out the exit in glee to leave. They really dropped the Ball with The incompetent Check in Procedure of Absolute Disregard in what They had offered in Promotions on The Official Website in my reservation confirmations. A complete crap show. Refusing to accept what they had offered me in a Confirmed Promotion because as they kept repeating " It's not what is showing in the system" Obviously something is wrong with their system, but they were rude and adamant saying You want the room, you have to pay $$$$. Why, when you have no issue taking my Sons confirmed Promotion on my Account, yet are refusing to accept mine, because you're showing a much higher rate and absurd in that I had the regular room where my Son had a Privilege suite and it was less money! They brought out the Supervisor and it was a complete disregard for customer service. I opened up my confirmation from their Official website and STILL would not honor it! Then no apologies whatsoever in the inconvenience this was causing, To see them running around like chickens to the back, then to the front desk, trying to figure ??? this out. When I had the confirmation they sent and gave me! Again repeated We have a room for you , you just don't want to pay what our system says. Unbelievable. This Took them 2 hours ! Coming on a red eye with no sleep, starving which isn't their fault but I was vocal about it and still as suggested later, they could have offered us a room which were available in Building A to have a shower and change while they took their time figuring this out. It was absurd and I never want anyone to ever experience this lack of Customer Care and a very screwed up system. The Catalonia offers you promotions , yet doesn't honor them. This whole debacle caused me to not want to return and also apologize to the 100;s I've referred to this Resort. It HAS NOT GOTTEN BETTER SINCE 2018 BUT MUCH WORSE. Paying more, but Gone are the Paddleboards, Bikes, Hobie rides, so many activities no longer available. The Fun Vibe is Gone and it's more a Senior Resort. Even the Beach Parties the Entertainment crew had to literally come and grab your arm to drag you out to dance. The Entertainment Crew is long gone that was there and they don't come out and get the crowd going for a pre show of costumes around the pool area. Where there was around 11 crew , theres maybe 3 now. I feel sorry for them, still trying their best but it's so lack luster it's hard to get people motivated. They don't offer the 1 hour water spa anymore, don't play Mexican music at Beach bar it's all English club music or none at all when we were there. I'd ask where is the music and all I got was hands up in air. I used to love the atmosphere and Mexican Music all over the resort, but now all you hear is the construction noise of all the renovations. When they know guests have reserved the Resort , they should inform you that what they offer is not available, such as this time we went the main favorite buffet was Closed to lengthy renovations which have no finish date. Thats huge as lineups at the Mercado and not very welcoming. People that can't decide what to eat, you have to wait for in one lineup. The La Brisa had a great system of being able to get food from either side. Not here. They had a year closure of the Sports bar and Disco because a belligerent drunk guest had to be restrained and died in process. Still no notice to anyone of that closure. It's open now, but a handful of people were in it. After Entertainment shows which are so lame compared to what they were , we walked out of as more of a Play then a show. Where did the authentic Mexican costumes and rope show go? No Latin shows that show their culture. I used to rave about their Entertainment crew used to be the best. When the shows were over, they quickly changed the atmosphere in the Lobby bar to a mini disco, and everyone was dancing and having fun with the Crew from show, Now the lighting is fluorescent , bright and attracts mosquitos, and no one is dancing. Most just mull their way past the entertainment crew. It's Sad to See. I'm taking the advice of guests that were there, and am going to a different resort. Also there are cigarette butts all over the grounds in the sand. A guy was smoking in the pool and nothing was done. Do I point this out to resort staff, yes. They really need to go back to the drawing board to some of the way it was, before it's a seniors resort. Another huge change is they no longer offer the comfort room choice on the Riviera side of resort, but only offer Premium as their standard room now, however because I am a return guest, I know of guests that have gone after this change and have paid the premium room price and end up in an old comfort room. If you've never been you wouldnt know. Read the room description. If it doesn't have a walk in shower it's an old Comfort Room that you should pay less for. They implemented these changes after last year. If you get a comfort room on the Yucatan side of resort the A La Carte restaurants are no longer offered or in the package. And when we were there last year, not this year, but all the food that was offered in the special restaurants were served in the La Brisa Buffet. Remember it's closed from April 2024 to whenever. So many changes and not for the better. The one good thing that remains is snorkeling right from resort around the rocky areas of the beach which is the tiniest beach ever. But the Fish you see are amazing. You pay to see at Yal Ku but they are at this resort. The Marina is wonderful and PA is a gated community so is very safe for solo travellers. I'm going to give it time to hopefully bounce back, but won't be going back anytime soon. A bit of a yawn fest. It was the Front Desk treatment in Check in that flipped the table on how I feel about this Resort now and took off my rose colored glasses and saw it for it's true colors. Very Disappointed.