Three Sisters on a girls trip. We are in our mid to late thirties.
WE had a great time. The beach was amazingly beautiful as promised and the food was actually very very good. Even just the regular buffet. Lots of choices for even the pickiest of eaters. All the fresh fish was wonderful. We only ate at the a la carte Mexican Restuarant and it was wonderful. We ate at the main buffet the rest of the time and I must say it was my best all inclusive food experience in Mexico.
Even the coffee was wonderful. They had cappuccino/expresso machines at the main beverage bars. AWESOME!!
They really do cater to Europeans, hardly any Americans were there, which was fine by us. I even got to practice my spanish. Topless women abound as is the custom in Europe. Dont go here if this offends you. Crowd was mixed. Familes and groups, all ages. Not too many young partiers. No groups under 21, at least that I could tell.
Important for you to know. The new rooms are now considered an upgrade. They even have a sign when you check in. You pay $30 extra per day for the upgraded rooms. Which actaully seems fair because they really are very much an upgrade from the regular rooms. We decided not to upgrade because none of the new rooms had 2 double beds. Luckily our room was fine and it all worked out. Room Clean and everything worked. They really are just in need of renovation. The room was nice enough just old. If you are picky and want luxury, book the NEW room. It is worht the price. My husband would not have stayed in the old room. We girls were fine. But by European standards, the old rooms are like new. Important to note: The West side of the property is under construction. Guests staying on that side should request an interior courtyard room, or an interior room to the midway of the resort. I would assume the resort next door will take about another 6 months to complete.
Service. Wow!! for a 3-4 star resort they were on it. Everyone was very friendly. And eager to please. Every request was met with a smile. There is no beach service for drinks. However, they are constantly picking up and keeping the beach free of cups, plates etc. There is a main drink bar close to the pool and beach. Premium liquor is happily served upon request. Drinks are made per order and we never had a long wait at the bar and or anywhere else for that matter. Full spa on site actually has fair market prices. They do not jack up the price like most other resorts, so indulging in a spa treatment is totally doable.
Beach chairs always available no need to rush the beach or save spots. NICE!!!

We did do a $25 short snorkeling trip right from the resort. The boat picked us up on the beach. The reef was right off shore. It was awesome to swim in the sea with the fish and see the coral. We were back on the beach within an hour and a half. I have paid more for similar trips.

Ofcourse they do night parties, shows and they have a disco. We were in bed by nine every night so I could not rate this area of the resort. Sorry we did our cocktailing in the afternoon on the beach. However, several folks were coming in as we were getting up for coffee. They all seemed to have had a great time. Ofcourse they have a full activity staff on site that is there to make sure everyone has a good time. They were not too in your face. We really came to relax on the beach and stayed away from the fanfare.
If traveling with kids there really did seem to have lots of fun things for them to do as well. I would go here with my son in a heart beat. One day they did a mini olympics in the pool area. They had a series of survivor like events set up. The kids and young adults looked like they were having fun.
I would go next door to MAROMA with my husband for a romantic trip.
Catalonia was perfect for our girls trip and groups traveling together.
Best thing about the resort: The beach, then food and friendly staff.

As two teachers who decided to check out an all-inclusive for the first time, we spent a lot of time on TripAdvisor reviewing all-inclusive resorts for our vacation. We were not looking for a party resort, but wanted a good deal and a place that would be nice and relaxing. We read many reviews of the Catalonia Playa Maroma (CPM) and decided that the good reviews out-weighed the bad ones and stayed at the CPM from March 29th-April 5th.

Our hotel room was simple, but nice. It was cleaned every day and the bathroom, although also simple, had everything that we needed. The rooms are right in the middle of the jungle and we woke up every morning listening to the birds! There are numerous geckos and small iguanas all over the hotel complex and for us, being from the cold, wind-swept prairies, this was quite exciting.

Depending on which hotel 'block' you stay in, you can be a little far from the beach. However, the walk is no more than a 3 minutes. The other thing to consider is that if you are in the block furthest from the beach, as we were, you are closest to the dining hall and entertainment. So, in the end, it all balances out.

The food at CPM was great! The buffet had many options. If you weren't interested in being adventurous with your food choices, there were always 'american' options, such as pizza, available. The resort also has theme nights at the buffet such as seafood night and Mexican night. We enjoyed the food at the buffet so much that we only took advantage of one of the a la carte restaurants. The food and atmosphere at the Mexican a la carte restaurant was great. Make sure you ask a waiter for some Mayan coffee. The display they put on making the coffee is well worth it! Dinner at the buffet started around 7:15pm and, once finished, many people headed to the the piano bar in the lobby before attending the evening entertainment that occured nightly at 10pm. If you still were looking to have more fun, the discotheque opened its doors shortly after the conclusion of the evening entertainment show.

The beach itself was unbelievable.The water is incredible and there are lots of chairs on the soft sand, cool to the touch, and there are plenty of activities such as volleyball, kayaking, and soccer.

Other activities offered by the resort included: yoga, aerobics, spanish lessons, numerous dance lessons and bar-tending lessons! Most of these activities were located around the pool which we sat around later in the afternoon.

A lot has been said about the language barrier at the CPM, however, if you have any bit of patience this is not an issue. We had no trouble communicating in English but there are many French and Italians there. Basically, every activity is announced in four languages: Spanish, English, French and Italian.

There are many tour options that your tour director will go over the first or second day there. We chose the Mayan Adventure Tour. This included a tour of the Coba ruins (the tallest in the Mayan and also one that you are still allowed to climb up, unlike Chichen Itza) and a trip to a Mayan village where we hiked, canoed, rappelled into a cenote, and ziplined across a crocodile pond. We also took a free shuttle bus into Playa del Carmen for the evening. An evening was really all we needed, as Playa del Carmen was way too touristy for our liking.

We were incredibly impressed by the Catalonia Playa Maroma and would certainly return there in the future. Please feel free to contact us with any questions!

P.S. The road from the highway to the resort is terrible but do not be discouraged as the destination is worth the trip!
P.P.S. Yes there are topless women, mostly on the beach.

We just got back from Catalonia Playa Maroma. We were there from April 6-13. We had an amazing experience. We started out a little concerned about the language barrier but really should have never worried about it. The resort was kept impeccably clean and the staff were so helpful and friendly. The food was wonderful and plentiful. We would definitely recommend the Meditterranean Restaurant. The beaches were relaxing and we never had to search for a place to relax. White sand never gets hot and there were plenty of activities to be a part of if you want. We enjoyed the walk along the pathways, it was a nice time to relax. Our room was right next to the construction but we never really heard it until we walked out of the room and even then it was minimal. I think this was a great place to go for a reasonable price and we would definitely go back!!!!

We stayed at the Catalonia Playa Maroma from March 31 to April 6. For the most part is was a decent trip until near the 5th day of our vacation (COCKROACHES). The GOOD: The beaches are excellent. Well kept and large. You never have to wake up at 5 am to claim a chair at the beach or the pool..... the reason may be apparent later. The ala carte restaurants were fantastic. Very good steaks and salads and soups. I suggest if you stay here to reserve a restaurant every night because the buffet food was very avg. The staff were nice and we didn't have any problems. The BAD: Unless you book in the 6000 block you have to walk a mile to the beach. We were in the 6000 block so it was great but you still had to walk a mile to get to the lobby. They cater to Italians and French so there isn't much English but it didn't bother us. Hardly any rooms have a beach view. Most of the views even from the upper 2 floors can only see jungle. The UGLY: The Catalonia Playa Maroma room we stayed in had a few dead cockroaches on the floor on the 5th day. It was definitely disgusting. Makes you wonder what's crawling on you at night. We had no food in the room and the only thing we could figure is the construction all around had stirred the cockroaches up. It made it very unpleasant to sleed the next couple nights.

If you can get a great super deal on this I would avoid at all costs. If you get a great deal like we did just bring some cockroach spray. This may have been an isolated incident but it did very much put a damper on our vacations end.