Hmm..where to start...I already said it was a WONDERFUL relaxing vacation. Does sum it up but there's much more. :) We stayed at the Catalonia from March 14th thru March 22nd. We had absolutely perfect weather the entire time we were there. We had a few days of gusty winds but nothing a little strategic turn of the beach chair couldn't help. Plus, the wind as well as the constant gentle breeze on all the other days made it the perfect temperature on the beach! The evening weather was just as nice (and that's coming from a person who's cold all the time..never happened!)
We checked into our room late Friday night. Check in was fast and simple and we were in our room probably within 10 minutes. The walkway leading to the beach (and our room) was beautifully lit and our first impression was "wow, this is BEAUTIFUL". You will walk this path often as it is the only way to get down to the beach, pool and a la carte restaurants and up to the lobby, lobby bar and buffet restaurant. There is soft music playing all along the path which is lined with lush tropical mangrove. We are "hunters' and enjoyed every step of the way noticing all kinds of wildlife and foliage/flowers all along the way...loved that! There is also an "ecological interpreter" who will take you on a tour of the grounds and tell you all about everything (we didn't do that). The grounds were impeccably manicured all the way down to cleaning every single leaf that hit that sidewalk. Ver y beautiful.
The room, while dated, was spacious and very clean. There was ample closet space, drawers, a large vanity area and the fridge was stocked with bottled water daily. We agree that the air conditioning could have been a "hair" colder and as another review stated, our ceiling fan also had an element of being possessed, it was not intolerable. The beds were a tad on the hard side for those who care...we didn't. It was fine. :)
The food was the best we've had at an all inclusive and we've been to many. We spent most of our time at the buffet and we commented on the fact that we NEVER said "we wish they had *insert desire here*.". ..because they had EVERYTHING you could want and it was GOOD! Our only comment might be that coffee "service" at breakfast could have been a little more attentive but we never went without. Again, a minor observance. And Alicia the morning egg cook was wonderful !!
The beach....wow. THE most beautiful beach we've ever been to in Mexico. The water was warm and clear where you could see down to your feet even with the water up to your chin ! You could see an occasional fish swim by! NO seaweed, NO trash just beautiful cool white sand for as far as you could see. The beach like the rest of the resort was so, so clean with the workers picking up every last cigarette butt in the sand with little nets. As others have stated, the beach "drink server" was limited but the beach bar was right there and easy to take a little walk and get whatever you wanted. Giraldo was the beach bar bar tender and ALWAYS enthusiastic and friendly :) There were constant activities for adults and children. The kids always seemed to be having a great time and at NO TIME were any of them loud or disruptive.
In the evenings there was always music, most days a piano player/singer and a little champaigne and hors dourve table in the lobby . People met there, chatted, relaxed before and after dinner and before and after the nightly show. Very pleasant and noticeable that there was ALWAYS something to do SOMEWHERE if you wanted to. Or...your could just lounge in your beach chair with your book and enjoy the sun, sights, and sounds.
Lastly, the staff were always helpful and attentive. We had occasion to deal with customer relations for a few questions and needs and we were helped promptly and with courtesy.
The worst part of our trip was getting in the cab to go home...very very sad....but a perfect ending to a perfect week with our bags brought up front for us in a timely manner and a breezy check out.
Yes, we would definitely go back!

I stayed at the Catalonia from March 7 to March 14, 2008. On March 8 we took the shuttle service to downtown Playa Del Carmen. I was a lovely day where we took in the shopping district and some local fare. We were instructed to return and meet the bus at 5:00pm local time. The bus never showed up. There were about 40 people there waiting to return to the hotel. Eventually we took taxis to return to the hotel only to find that the hotel knew about the broken down bus and let us wait there until we finally got anxious enough to take a taxi. The first family left the bus area around 6:30pm which was after another bus driver for the same hotel firm said the next bus was on the way just 2 Mexican Minutes.

The hotel did pay us back for the taxi rides (tried to give us pesos at 10:1 instead of 10.6:1 where we paid $20USD). Also, even though they knew the bus was not operating, they did not send anyone to tell the people waiting in Playa Del Carmen. It is about 15 mins to the city from the hotel by car but they waited until the guest got upset. They did not consider anyones time worth anything not even a game of pool for $3USD. They said if you have an issue call a lawyer and sue the bus company which they used for the service.

Overall, this left a really bad feeling for the remainder of the trip.

On the remainder, the hotel is somewhat under serviced. The telephone in our room did not work and the railing on the balcony was coming out of the mortar to where it was not safe to lean on. The curtains in our childrens room had tears in them. The walls and ceilings had cracks and breaks.

We also noticed the tendency of the staff to treat those from Italy and France with higher levels of service than those from Canada or the US. This is due to the wristbands that colour code every patron for a country of origin.

On the plus side the beach was phenominal; however the beach for the hotel adjoining this hotel was just as great as was the beach south of this hotel. This is no longer the only hotel with jungle on either side as in the pictures.

Finally, the food was good which is part of why I rated my experience as OK instead of terrible. I would not recommend anyone go here unless they really are masachists who enjoy arguing with the staff or management instead of vacationing.

Hola All!

My partner and I stayed at the CPM between March 9-16 (Canadian March Break). We had a fantastic time and both of us are experienced travellers.

Like most people have already stated, there is a large European population. But to be honest, I noticed about the same percentage of Europeans in many of my vacations to the DR. We had NO PROBLEM at all with any guests at this resort and found it rather refreshing to truly get away from the "drunken North American tourist!" There was never that crazy drunk guy before noon, or parties that went into the early hours of the morning waking everybody up. If you are looking for a party then look elsewhere.

Grounds: are beautiful! Request to be in block 6000 (closest to the beach), or 4000 or 2000 as they are not on the construction side (although we never heard any construction even when on the beach). You can not see the other buildings of the resort due to the lush and tropical mangroves that line the main pathway.

Beach: Fabulous! Unlike a previous review I would recommend walking to the right most days as it is about 1 hour before you have to turn around. Yes, there is garbage (not near the water) that is swept up, but that is not because people are throwing their garbage onto the beach. The sand was cool to walk in and the water was warm. There were great waves to play in most days with no undertow. One of the best parts is that you can find a lounger, sun or shade, at any time of day!

Food: the buffet was good with a fabulous layout that prevented lines and allowed you to only hit the stations (10 different ones) that you wanted. If you want to book an a la carte the person is at the front of the dinner buffet. Both a la cartes were very very good and you can book them as often as you want. You book the dinner for the following night.

Shuttle: There are 2 shuttles running daily to Playa Del Carmen. One leaves at 10 am and gets back at 5. The next leaves at 6 pm and gets back at 11. We went into PDC for the evening and had a great time!

Rooms: Okay, the rooms could use a bit of an update. But they have a great balcony, were cleaned daily and I slept well each night because the resort was so quiet. The air conditioning in our room could have been colder and the fan was possessed and in serious need of oil. Not sure what English channels the TV got as we never got aorund to turning it on. Our fridge had 2 bottles of cold water waiting for us daily.

Staff: The animation staff are italian and chat up the italians. However, nobody is excluded from the activities! I got involved in everything I wanted to and chose to lay in a lounger for the rest. People, if you want to go play...go play! They had tons of aqua aerobics and beach volleyball daily.

Bars: the bar service was excellent and had a wide variety of brand name alcoholic beverages. There are only 2 bars at this hotel (pool and lobby). I would suggest they put in a beach bar that serves only beer, pop and juice as many people order mixed/frozen drinks at the pool bar and the line gets backed up. The pool bar is very very close (right on) the beach. Ask for designer alcohol ie. Barcardi, Smirnoff, Beafeater etc... there is no need to drink gut rot if you don't want to. They are happy to oblige with the "good stuff".

We got this resort for a fraction of the cost of what most people paid for their March Break vacation. CPM is a relaxing hotel that is not surrounded by the noise of PDC or Cancun. I would highly recommend it to anybody who is looking to get away for a little piece of heaven.

Tours: We went to Xel-ha on our own (rented a jeep...safe and fabulous way to get around) and found it to be quite the tourist trap. We only wanted to snorkel, but you must pay $75 for an all inclusive pass. On top of that there were many extras to be purchased (dolphins, snuba, etc.) There were NO exotic fish because tourists have destroyed much of the coral by standing on it. Look elsewhere.

Tulum was awesome!!!

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Catalonia Playa Maroma from March 6 - 14. Prior to leaving we were on this website everyday, reading each review. We were commited to posting our experience, recognizing how heavily we relied and appreciated when other people posted. First of all, I do want to acknowlege the most consistant thing that we read......YES, THERE ARE ALOT OF EUROPEAN PEOPLE THAT VACATION HERE....here's the thing though....a language barrier is simply just that...a language barrier. As we walked from the lobby to the beach, we simply acknowleged peope with "hola" and were either met with a smile or a greeting in their language. We were envited to join in many activities, not once did we feel segregated or left out.

We arrived at the hotel around 7 am. We were prepared to wait for our room until 3 pm, but the hotel staff were able to accomodate us around 12 pm. During our wait, we walked around the resort, had a drink at the pool bar, had some lunch, and the wait didn't seem long at all. We were able to book many excursions with no problems at all. We booked the Coba Mayan Experience, we went Parasailing (this excursion was done through another resort, but all this is very easy to do through your tour representative) For our housekeeper, we left a 5 dollar tip the first day, and 2 dollars each day afterwards, and we couldn't have asked for better service. (Including fresh flowers in our bathroom)

The drinks and service were very good, and you could order as many as you wanted. There have been comments about wait staff on the beach. There did some to be service some days, but the walk to the beach bar is so close, that it wasn't a problem for us go get our own. The staff that was on beach were working so hard, picking up glasses, picking up garbage and cigarette butts, keeping it clean. We appreciated this much more then having drinks delivered to us.

As others have posted, the beach is beautiful, the food was awesome, different variety everyday.

If you have any questions or need any other information, please don't hesitate to email us and we'd be happy to answer as best we can!!