Barcelo Maya Trip Report, May 26-30

[Jwolz]

My wife and I just returned from a brief (five day/four night) visit to the Barcelo Maya Caribe and what follows is some of my/our thoughts on this all-inclusive property. (For photos, go to http://community.webshots.com/user/jwolz).

First, a little bit about us: We're 40-something Midwesterners who try hard to get away at least once a year for the better part of a week sans kids and, when possible, we like to vacation on the beach (i.e., Jamaica, Mexico, St. Croix, Hawaii, or anyplace else where there is an abundance of sun, sand, and sea). This year our trip was something of a "last-minute" arrangement when we decided we couldn't let our 25<SUP>th</SUP> wedding anniversary pass without going somewhere, so with less than two weeks before our intended departure date we contacted our travel agent and asked him to pull a rabbit out of a hat in the form of an all-inclusive Mexican resort somewhere around the Mayan Riviera. He came up with the Barcelo Maya, a five-star resort about 30 km south of Playa del Carmen (last year he booked us at the Riu Palace immediately south of Playa del Carmen which we enjoyed immensely and which I'll use as a benchmark for this trip report).

As soon as we knew we were heading to the Barcelo Maya, we got online and started reading reviews and trip reports about the resort. As we read those trip reports, we noticed that quite a few people complained about the hardness of the beds, the quality of the food, and the small cups used for drinks on the beach and at the swim-up bars. That didn't deter us...after all, we liked firm beds, we figured we could bring our own insulated mugs for the beach, and as for the food, we don't plan our vacations around our stomachs...as long as it was edible we'd be fine.

Something else I picked up from the trip reports was that it's sometimes possible to make special requests regarding room locations and bed sizes (most people don't want a room in Building 5 too close to the beach because the disco rolls on until 2 am). It also helps, we read, to e-mail your special requests in Spanish, so I composed a letter explaining that it was our 25<SUP>th</SUP> wedding anniversary and that we would prefer a room with a king size bed near the beach in Building 2. Now, aside from "hola" and "si" and a few other basic words and phrases, I know very little Spanish, so I found a free translation service on the Internet, fed my note through it, and wound up with a rough translation (for instance, I tried to apologize in my note for my poor Spanish, and I think the translation said I was a poor Spaniard). I e-mailed my note about a week before our trip, but it was never acknowledged. I figured it either never got through or, if it did, the staff had a good chuckle reading my stilted Spanish.

Anyway, we flew to Cancun on Northwest Flight 1968 out of Memphis. The 2+ hour flight put us on the ground in Cancun shortly after noon. We breezed through immigration and had our bags about 20 minutes later then headed for customs which was relatively disorganized...although there was a line, the line seemed to dissolve and everyone seemed to head toward the "red/green light" gate in unison, but once we were past that bottleneck (and past the time share salespeople), we quickly found ourselves being escorted to an Olympia Tours van for the 80 km drive to the Barcelo Maya. Last year we made the drive from Cancun to Playa del Carmen in a solid downpour, but this year the weather was perfect and we could take in the scenery...most of which was not worth looking at, but we were able to see the entrances to several other resorts we've read about on the Internet and would like to visit someday.

We arrived at the Barcelo Maya almost an hour before the resort's 3 pm check-in time and our room wasn't quite ready, so we checked our luggage, made a quick stop at the lobby bar (make sure you sample some of the Spanish nuts), and headed out to explore the grounds. We immediately found ourselves making some comparisons between the Barcelo Maya and the Riu Palace. For instance, the Barcelo seemed to be carved into a "jungle" setting, while the Riu had more of a European palace feel. The Barcelo's pools were much larger than the pool at the Riu (which wasn't small by any means), and although the Riu's beach was quite a bit deeper than the Barcelo's beach, the Barcelo's beachfront was much longer and every bit as scenic.

After an hour, we returned to the front desk for our room cards and headed off along a vegetation-lined walkway toward Room 4216 located on the second floor of Building 4 relatively close to the beach. The room was clean, well decorated, with a king-size bed and balcony, and a mini-fridge stocked with soft drinks and beer. It was at this point I decided that someone had actually read my e-mail because there on the bed was a bottle of champagne and two glasses surrounded by rose petals laid out in the shape of a heart... http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=1486051 69&photoID=149147202&security=JzUXKW. There was also a bundle of fresh fruit and bottle of liquor. As for the "hardness" of the bed, yes, it was quite hard, but we preferred to think of it has "firm"...we found it quite comfortable.

I could go on in minutia about what we did every hour of each day, but rather than bore you with the details, here's a summary of our impressions of the Barcelo Maya:

Room: Very adequate with a nice view of the grounds. Well-stocked fridge, large bathroom, plenty of towels, lots of storage space, a room safe (ours didn't work so we locked our valuables in one of our suitcases), and a television with mostly Spanish channels and a pay-per-view movie channel (our movie channel didn't work). Oh, yeah...the walls seemed "thinner" than we're accustomed to; we found we could hear the "activities" of the couple in the next room quite well (they were pretty vocal!). Rooms at the Riu Palace were larger and the in-room bar in the Riu rooms were nicer, but all-in-all, the Barcelo rooms were very adequate.

Service: No complaints here. As a matter of fact, we thought there were several instances at the Barcelo at which employees seemed to go out of their way to serve us. Case in point: As we walked into the buffet area on the night of our actual anniversary, I noticed the staff was singing "happy birthday" to a guest, so I asked the hostess if some of the staff could sing "happy anniversary" to us. She asked our names, which I thought was a little odd, unless they were planning to include them in the song lyrics. Nothing happened all through dinner and I was starting to think my request had been forgotten. But suddenly a parade of about a dozen joyously singing waiters, waitresses, bus boys, and servers wove their way through the dining area with balloons, streamers, and a slice of cake with two entwined candles which they explained represented my wife and I. And on the cake plate, in chocolate script, were our names (mine was misspelled, but it was the thought that counted) and the words "happy anniversary." The staff's efforts went well beyond my expectations. This kind of enthusiasm and friendliness was evident throughout the resort and, in general, we thought the Barcelo staff was friendlier than the staff at the Riu.

Food: Nothing to write home about, but certainly edible. The breakfast buffet was consistently good. Make sure you make a reservation (or reservations if you're staying long enough) for one or more of the specialty restaurants on the property. We ate at Captain Morgan's steak house on our final night and found our meals there quite tasty (however, if you like your meat done "medium" make sure you order it "medium well" because our cuts were a little on the rare side). From a comparative standpoint, the Riu food was probably a little better than Barcelo's.

Beverages: Good bar service throughout the resort (lobby bars, restaurant bars, swim-up bars, theatre bars). Several areas included self-service taps for beer and daiquiris. Hint: Bring large insulated mugs for the beach & pools...the cups the bars provide are pretty small and the bar staffs would just as soon serve jumbo-size portions in mugs supplied by guests. In comparison with the Riu Palace, bar service was a draw.

Beach: Very picturesque, nestled in a cove and filled with white sand and palm trees with plenty of beach chairs to go around (we were told the resort was at or near capacity when we were there, but the beach never seemed overly crowded). There were non-motorized water activities on the south side of the beach (sailboats, kayaks, water tricycles, etc.), a pier and dive shop on the north end and a large, shallow swimming area in between. There were also two sand volleyball courts on the beach where pick-up volleyball tournaments and other activities were held daily. North of the main beach, and just beyond the dive shack, was a fairly long stretch of deserted beach, good for a quiet walk or solitary jog. The main Barcelo beach seemed to be less "European" (translation: fewer topless sunbathers) than the Riu Palace beach. We didn't do a formal "count" but we probably saw fewer than 20 topless women during our four days on the Barcelo beach and most of that was very discrete. By comparison, there was probably three times that number at the Riu Palace. Overall, we'd say that both beaches were very nice, but the Barcelo's was probably just a little prettier.

Pools: The Barcelo features two large pools, each with a swim-up bar. Both pools are surrounded by an ample number of lounge chairs and plenty of hammocks. Tip: Bring inflatable rafts. You can buy 'em there, but it's less expensive to bring them with you. We brought a couple of "collapsible" rafts which were admired by several others who wanted to know where we found them (Wal Mart).

Entertainment: The Barcelo's large theatre featured a different stage show starting at 10 o'clock every night, ranging from a "Miss Barcelo" competition among guests and an evening of traditional Mexican dance to a Broadway song and dance review and a Michael Jackson impersonator (who drew a standing ovation for his dead-on portrayal of Wacko-Jacko). After every show the disco, located in the Captain Morgan steak house, kept things pumpin' until 2 every morning (so try to avoid the rooms near the beach side of Building 5 unless you're a night owl and plan to party at the disco yourself!). Between the Riu Palace and the Barcelo Maya, we'd give the entertainment edge to Barcelo.

Miscellaneous: If you're interested in scuba diving, there's a well-staffed, well-equipped dive shop on the grounds. "Paula" was very helpful and my dive master, "Luc," was very patient when dealing with relatively inexperienced divers (I have only about a dozen dives under my belt and discovered that I was among the most experienced divers there!). There are several interesting reef sites within a short boat ride from the Barcelo, and if you're not certified, the resort offers training courses.

If you're interested in seeing some of the area sites (i.e., Tulum ruins, Playa del Carmen shopping district, Cozumel, etc.), daily excursions are available. We've been to several of the main tourist attractions before, so this trip we stayed planted at the Barcelo and lounged on the beach.

Little else to report (I've probably said more than enough), but if you have questions, feel free to e-mail me at jwolz@charter.net.

[K and P]

Very welll written review. Glad you liked Barcelo, and the natural setting which makes it such a nice resort. We so far still favour Barcelo, we stayed at the RIU Tequila and fround the beds just as hard, and were happy to be able to get a queen size bed at Barcelo. We are returning to Barcelo very soon with our kids because having the snorleling on site is a great advantage and the jungle walkways are also what we missed while at the RIU complex. So back to Barcelo, and there are a few others on our list for future trips. Thanks again Your pictures are not comming up for me, not sure what is the problem just letting you know. Great Report