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Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Barcelo Maya Beach Resort
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Trip Report – Part A- Barcelo
Myself , my wife Joanne, our two daughters Keira and Seana ages 9 and 7, along with two other couples traveled to The Barcelo Maya Beach Resort on November 6th. The Barcelo is about 13 miles north of Akumal and just north of Xpu Ha and The Robinson Club Tulum. The weather was pitiful. We had about five hours of sun the whole week but we couldn’t control it so we just enjoyed what we could.
We left Toronto with no problem and the flight was fine but “Migration” at the airport was awful. Three planes landed at the same time and there were three officers processing the paperwork. It took an hour and forty five minutes to get through. Just kept thinking “ I’m on vacation, I’m on vacation”. Make sure you fill out your tourist cards in advance.
We stopped at Iberostar, Riu Tequila, LTI Adventura and Oasis before arriving at Barcelo.
The hotel is beautiful, nicely landscaped grounds, rooms are comfortable, two huge pools and the beach is awesome. The north pool is the quiet pool with local music playing in the background. This is also where the beach is the best as you can walk out a fair distance before there are any weeds or rocks. The south end of the beach has some areas where there are weeds and rocks closer to shore. There is a reef at the end of a pier at the north end of the property – this is where the dive shop is and another beach. The dive shop has two reef snorkels a day at no charge ($50.00 refundable deposit for equipment). Some shallow areas so watch for sharp coral. Both my daughters loved this even though it was rough do to the weather. They also rent jet skis – no association with the hotel - $45.00 for half an hour.
The food at the hotel was okay. Two huge buffet restaurants in the main hotel areas, two buffet beach restaurants and a Mexican and Spanish a la carte restaurants. Book early for the a la carte and confirm your reservation – they lost ours at the Mexican location. We did get a little tired of the food by the end of the week but the hotel has only been open for a month and this was the first week of major occupancy. Freshly prepared pasta and thin crust pizzas were available at lunch and dinner. Omelets prepared to order for breakfast.
There are two lobby bars, two theatre bars, and two swim up/pool bars. They have premium liquor (J&B, Baileys, Jack Daniels) available at an extra charge – i.e. $20-30 pesos.
Entertainment went from great to okay. They have a house band and three singers who perform most nights and they brought in a couple of dance troupes. Shows started at 10.00PM.
The buildings are numbered 1000 – 5000. 1000 is at the southern most part of the hotel and is a good hike to the lobby area. The resort has two reception areas – Beach and Garden. No real difference between the two.
More to come later.
Randy
Trip Report – Part B – Barcelo
Things we did.
We visited Akumal to drop off clothes and gifts at the CEO. The staff was not in but a lady was in the building so she helped us out with our stuff and left it inside. My daughter had some braids put in her hair at the small shop next door to the CEO. We went for stroll on the beach and had some ice cream. Spent some time talking to a nice man and his son who were visiting from Cancun. The cab was $100.00 pesos each way.
One rainy morning – as most were- we went across the street to the Cenotes. Katuchen SP. Nice place but my wife was a little scared. Cujo the dog from hell met us as we walked in – he turned out to be the “friendly dog”, the mean one was tied up. The cenotes were nice but then the monkeys on a string once again scared my wife and youngest daughter. It appeared that they could reach you as the rope they were tethered to was close to the walk way. So we went back to the resort. It is about a 20 minute walk.
The highlight of our trip was our visit to Tulum. The cab was $450.00 pesos and the driver waited for us to take us back. We used The Map and bought tram tickets outside for the ride in $1.00 US each – no charge for the kids for this or entrance to the ruins. The ruins were $25.00 pesos each – they do not accept US . Walking through the entrance to the ruins is a sight that words can’t describe. The kids took a roll of film on their own. Outside we bought a few things from the little market. We had fun negotiating with the vendors. We actually found the prices back at the tram area better so we bought some more souvenirs. We also got to see the pole ceremony where the men spin from a huge pole suspended by rope as it plays out until they are on the ground.
Observations and Comments.
This was our sixth visit to Mexico and first with the kids. We had a great time. Would we go back to the Barcelo – no, simply because we have never gone back to the same place twice. It is comparable to other 5 star resorts in the Playacar area and once the mini put, pitch and put golf and spa are up and running it will be even better. We had minor complaints such as the room not being made up and the bar fridge not being stocked but we knew going in that the resort was new and there would be some growing pains – plus we were on vacation and did not let it bother us.
The cabs are expensive as are the tours from the hotel. (Keeping in mind that $1.00 Canadian gets us $.52 US) I would suggest renting a car for a day or two and do your exploring this way. The highway is in great shape and not too busy.
The hotel offers 9:1 exchange. Good way for them to make money. Don’t change money here. Do it in Playa Del Carmen or just use US where some places give 10:1.
You can get box lunches from the hotel with a days notice. Some people even did this for the bus ride back to the airport.
We brought an inflatable mattress with us that was a blast on the beach. We used it to surf on and the kids played on it for hours. We gave it to one of the bartenders that had kids when we left.
The kids club is in a central location and the young lady that attends to it – Nora – is great. Lots to do and there is a playground with a small rock climbing wall and other neat equipment.
Hope I haven’t bored anyone too much.
Submitted by: Randy -- promotion@am-corp.com
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