All Catalonia Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Reviews

Arriving at Catalonia Riviera Maya was a little confusing since all the other Hotels have a grand entrance like Gran Velas and Royal Tulum...This Hotel is situated in Puerto Aventuras deep within a residential area...The landscape of the hotel is adequate and the pools super clean, for the magnitude of the hotel size, we believed that the beach area was way too small and rocky. The restaurants were very limited to specific meals....and the buffet we felt like we were eating the same thing every day since the specialized restaurants only open once or twice a week e.g.( Mikado Japanese ). In regards to the service with the waitstaff/bartenders, Amazing, polite and curtious..If you go here make sure you look for Esther (waitress) at the buffett ( Las Brisas ) very attentive and sweet young lady. The Spa beautiful, but make sure you get the massage on the beach since its cheaper. When booking/reserving your aquatic sports make sure you keep checking the status of your reservation since they are subject to change based on the personnelles decisions. If you encounter any problems with anything, please hesitate to speake to conceirge (HEATHER). she is of no use, We Guess she's never heard of the phrase "The customer is always right"...Overall we give this Resort a 3 Palms.

Very good when all inclusive there are a lot of restaurants to chose from but they only give you a certain amount of meal ticket to use during your stay for dinner and when you run out you just eat in the buffet. the environment around the resort is nice and gate so you can walk to shops and stores close to the resort without any problems most of the excursions are within the gate community so you don't have to travel very far you could even walk if you want. the safe for the room is 7 dollrs a night

Although it is billed as a beach resort, the Catalonia Riviera Maya has no beach to speak of. Don't be fooled by the photos... They have used a retaining wall to create a sort of flat terrace, which is covered with sand. Beach chairs are jammed in, side-by-side. There is a tiny, man-made beach along side a mand-made lagoon, but the water is not particularly clean and the sand is not inviting. Food at the Catalonia is not great, even by resort standards. The "inclusive" aspect is somewhat misleading, as guests can only access one restaurant and the snack bar on a regular basis. You are given three coupons to use at the other restaurants over the course of a one-week stay; however, they do not take reservations at these restaurants and the night we tried to use our coupons, there were waits of 1- 1 1/2 hrs at at least two of the restaurants. When we were finally seated at the steak house (which is set up in the snack bar), we had a mediocre meal, which was hardly worth the 1 hour, 15 minute wait. I was traveling with a friend and we were looking for a relaxing vacation spot. The Catalonia Riviera Maya is not that: lots of young adults into the bar scene and families with young children running around everywhere. Let me just say that I have stayed at numerous family resorts in the Caribbean and elsewhere. This spot was especially noisy. I will say that the rooms are quite nice for a moderately priced hotel. No complaints there. On a somewhat comic note, although we had made it very clear that we were not a couple (2 women), after a long wait (several hours after the 3:00 check-in time) we were shown to a room with a big banner saying "Happy Anniversary!; a heart-shaped towel "scupture" and rose petals adorned one of the beds! The concierge was lovely, very helpful and sympathetic--although there was really nothing she could do to resolve our issues (noisy, no beach). Ultimately, we left the hotel within 24 hours and went to stay at the Azul Beach Hotel (another family resort), which was absolutley fantastic. In fact, in a way we have the Cataonia to thank for our relocation to what is truly one of the jewels of the Riviera Maya. We are already planning a return to the Azul Beach--as soon as possible!

We just returned from the Catalonia Riviera Maya. We spent 5 days and 4 nights. We upgraded for free on a vacation website to the honeymoon sweet, in which we received quite a few additional free ammentities. The room we had was great. It had a king sized bed, the bathroom was all updagraded with marble throughout. The shower had a rain-head and handheld fixtures. Our patio area was huge which consisted of a sitting aread with a table and four chairs outside of the first set of sliding glass doors, the other side consisted of two lounging chairs along with a private large tub/small pool that was a very nice ammenity to enjoy in the evening. The hotel had activities going on everyday, which we already were busy and didn't get a chance to enjoy. (hopefully when we return we can take advantage) We received a free couples massage. We also received a free steak and lobster private dinner on the terrace which we just didn't have time to take advantage of. We ate at the buffets for breakfast and lunch. For dinners we ate at the Tapas Restaurant (it was different, not what we are used to - which is ok - we are on vacation to experience new things!), we also ate at the Japanese Restaurant, which we didn't really care for ( we are just used to the ones in the US) and we also ate at the Steak House, which was our favorite. Everyone at the hotel is very accomodating, a smile and an "hola" to the staff will take you a long way. We had a pillow menu in our room, which we took advantage of the first night, and they were at our door with out requested pillows within 10 minutes. I must say, this is the first time I took advantage of calling the front desk with requests, and they fulfilled all of my requests without any hesitation. All of the hotel grounds were just beaufiful, very well maintained and clean. The complex consisted of 5 pools and many chairs on the beach. We never had a problem finding a couple chairs on the beach with an "umbrella". I would recommend bringing a pair of water shoes. If you go into the water there are some rocks. Unless you have some tough feet - it's a good idea. The hotel is in a beautiful and safe area which really relieved us (knowing what is going on in certain areas of Mexico). It's in a gorgeous beautiful "village" called Puerta Adventuras. I just can't say enough - it was an amazing vacation and we couldn't be the value! If you visit the bars, request a "Tequila Boom Boom!" - (It's great!) Room Tip: If you have the opportunity, try and get a honeymoon suite.

CheapCaribbean.com runs a well organized travel service with GREAT deals! I am very pleased with the excellent service and the seamless travel arrangements, not to mention the fantastic price I paid for an all inclusive vacation. I have and will continue to recommend AND use their services again and again!

Excellent resort,good food,very clean,everything you need for you vacations!!I would go back any time!

The resort was great and I can't say enough about the staff! From the front desk check in to the bars and restaurants (all of which were very assessable), we were greeted warmly and helpfully! The rooms were comfortable and clean and we found upgrading your room to the midrange was well worth it! The beach beautiful with soft white sand, plenty of chairs and crystal clear water! There were also really pretty fish swimming with you, so I recommend brining a snorkel! We did the Chi Chenitza excursion and had a fantastic time! The guide was engaging, knowledgable and entertaining! Don't be discouraged by the length of the trip it's well worth it! My only warning is that you double check the airline included in your package! DO NOT FLY SPIRIT AIRLINES!! My husband and I as well as everyone of our fellow travelers, renamed this joke of an airline 'Break Your Spirit Airlines'! The worst customer service I've ever experienced; canceled flights, $100 carrie-on luggage fees and seats so close together my 5,10' husband was kissing his knees!

Best vacation ever! The resort offers a variety of activities and dining options. Everyday was a new adventure at Catalonia Riviera Maya. Will definitely come back again in the future!

Overall our vacation was a fun one, we definatley took advantage of the ocean activites the hotel offered and the co-ordinators of ocean activities were very helpful. We sailed on the catamaran with captain John, & daily snorkelling which BTW was excellent. It is annoying how someone from your party needs to be up at the crack of dawn to save beach chairs with towels & personal items.......forget trying to sleep in and expect a beach chair at 9am cause you'll be lying in the sand. The food was average but tasty and plenty of fruit & vegetable selections if you want to go healthy. The drinks were awful, very very weak , I ended up going with baileys (or the mexican version of it) on ice, however the service was excellent both at the bar & dining room. The mexican restaurant was very tasy also. Housemaid service was excellent we came back to a newly folded animal made of hand towels every day :) If you choose to venture outside the hotel for activities we highly reccommend Xel Ha natural aquarium & for a night out in Playa del Carmen definatley go to club Coco Bongo a show/disco with acrobats, dancers, costumes the works.......that was well worth the $50 we paid for all inclusive drinks.

I had never been on an all inclusive vacation before or used Cheap Caribbean so this was a new experience. First the good: extremely nice and warm staff from the waiters to the maids, great honeymoon package (worth the extra), great dinner restaurants and lots of variety, good location in the riviera maya. Now the not so good - International hotel means lots of smoking French people - and diehard chair savers (if you did not get to the beach and put your towel on it by 7 - 7:30 am - you were out of luck for the entire day), beach not the prettiest but swimmable - if you want the golden sands and gentle surf this is not the most protected area. Snorkeling is not great. that said, it was perfect for 5 days to relax and yet be close enough to everything else you might want to see for day trips. Make sure you go on your own in the local collectivo's rather than on the packaged tours - you'll get lots more time wherever you go and it's fun to be out with the locals.