We stayed at this resort Feb 14 - 28th. We had previously stayed at the Barcelo Beach section many years ago and have traveled to the Riviera Maya many times.

The grounds were more beautiful than I remembered. There is a hard working team of gardeners tending to the beautifully manicured property. There are so many choices of things to do at the Barcelo; mini golf, chess basketball, tennis pool arobics, dance lessons, pottery painting, scuba diving, snorkeling, dance lessons...........and more.

Check in went smoothly and I found that all my room requests were met. We made our a la carte reservations immediately after checking in. We did not experience any difficulty making our reservations at a time that was suitable for us. I did hear that some larger groups had more limited choices.

The food was very good. The buffet had a great variety of well prepared food. I noticed lots of safe food practices; hairnets, gloves worn by cold food handlers, and trays low on food were replaced not refilled. The friendly staff at the buffet takes your order as soon as possible. You will not see the staff standing around talking to each other as they are actively focused on clearing tables and serving customers, We also enjoyed the a la carte restaurants. Our favorites were the Japanese and Steakhouse.

Love the large beach at the Barcelo. For us there was just the right combination of rock and sand. We are avid snorkelers and there is lots to see in front of the Palace section or off the pier. My husband used the dive shop and found the staff friendly and knowledgeable. We did take the snorkling tour available through the dive shop. The pools at the resort are large, clean and refreshing.

The location of this resort is close to cenotes and lagoons to visit. If you walk across the highway there are several cenotes you can visit. We spent one afternoon at snorkeling at Cristalino cenote. It cost 80 pesos per adult and is a gorgeous natural setting. We also took a cab to Yal ku lagoon for snorkeling. It was only $12 USD if you had your own gear. You can also snorkel off Akumal beach with the turtles.
We did visit Chinchin itza for the second time. While the ruins are amazing I was shocked at the amount of vendors lining every pathway through out the property. They were constantly calling out to you to buy their wares. This truly cheapened the whole experience and we would never return.

We will return to the Barcelo Maya Tropical again. The only complaint I have is that the washrooms off the pool should be tended to more frequently. Overall the service, friendliness and cleanliness makes this resort a top choice. Special thanks to the housekeeping lady who took care of our room 7679.

This time we stayed at the medium level hotel of the Barcelo hotels. Not much different.
We asked for a room change upon arrival because my travel companion was disabled.
Our new room was on the first floor, but we had horrible shower noises the first night from 11:00 pm to 11:30 pm....it woke us up. Our clock radio was "psycho" and we had the maintenance team fix it.
Other than that, our stay was great. Food passable, but no Coke Zero (has lower sodium and lower caffeine, as well as low calorie). I also suggested that they need to get a coffee bar--iced decaf mocha latte would be nice.

My husband and I stayed here from March 2-March 8th 2013. This was our first trip to a Barcelo resort as well as the Riviera Maya. The resort as a whole was lovely. The grounds were beautifully kept, the staff were attentive, and the rooms were clean. I would definetly reccomend this resort.

Pros:
Buffets were great. We particularly enjoyed breakfast. Everything was well stocked and fresh. Very good food compared to other carribean resorts we have stayed at

Even though the resort is huge and there are a lot of people, we never really waited long for anything. Bars were well staffed and there are many places to choose from. We enjoyed the tequila bar in the tropical lobby and the lobby bar in Colonial.

Lots of activities during the day! We played tennis, kayaked, and snorkled. As a runner, I loved all the paths that lead in an out of different resorts.

Beaches and pool were beautiful. Although we did have to get out early to reserve beach chairs, it wasn't anything you don't see at other places.

The specialty resturants were nice. We loved the hibachi and the steakhouse. The Italian resturant was our least favorite. We paid $15 extra per person one night and ate at the Brazilian resturant on the Palace side. It was our favorite, so worth the money!

Cons:

We stayed 6 nights and were only given 3 vouchers for dinner at the specialty resturants. So we were expected to eat at the buffet for dinner half of the nights. This is why we choose to pay extra to eat at the Palace becuase the buffets get old!

Upon arrival we were asked if we would like to upgrade our room to one of the suites. There really are no ocean front rooms at Barcelo, just ocean view. We declined the upgrade even though it was discounted. They put up a pretty hard sell. It was kind of annoying after a long day of travel to arrive at the reception and given attitude and pressure to pay more. Although the upgrade included free Wi-Fi and upgraded booze, it wasn't worth it to us.

We enjoyed our time there very much and had a wonderful and relaxing vacation. We took a day trip to Tulum which was very cool. Bring lots of $1's, a few tips go a long way for better service!

Have fun!

This was our first trip to a Barcelo's Resort.On arrival we were upgraded to a Suite and asked if we did not like it to let them know,it was beyond what we expected!Sea food restaraunt in the Caledonia Resort was great along with incredible service.All staff members very friendly and made you feel like they were very interested in were we came from and how we lived.Very close to Playo so Cab rides were easy and cheap for a day trip of shopping.All facilities extremly clean and cannot say enough about the friendly and proffesional staff.Highly reccomend for a family or even a couples getaway.