Barcelo Maya Palace

Natanahel Soto and our server Araceli Calderon made dinner tonight fantastic. The Miradore has become the favourite gathering spot for our large group, with good food, great service, oceanfront views and friendly, accommodating staff. We’ve been having a fabulous vacation so far, and the resort is beautiful and very clean. Booking the à la carte dinners seems almost impossible, which was a bit disappointing, but the buffets have pleasantly surprised us. 👌⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The beach snorkeling was a highlight, especially seeing a giant turtle, and the pools were great. We had some really good service at the à la carte restaurants too. Manuel at the caribeno was especially friendly and an excellent server. The buffets were just okay, though I guess that’s how most are in Mexico. It’s an amazing location and a great family vacation spot at the palace, but the drive from the airport is the one thing that kept me from rating the location higher.

Daniel Ledezma cleaned our room for most of the stay. He was a pleasure to talk to and always had a big smile. At the buffet, Marthali Brito, Leonardo May and Omar Bacab kept our drink cups full and whisked away our dishes before we’d even put our forks down. I wanted to thank them personally. We spent 14 nights here and had everything we needed, with exceptional food and service. It was our third visit to the grand resort and our first at the palace, and we weren’t disappointed with our choice to return.

The checkout left a sour taste. We were blindsided by a suggestion that we’d got blood on a towel and might be charged for it. We had no major injuries or issues, hadn’t noticed anything on the towels or sheets, and would have owned up if something had happened. Maybe we’d scratched ourselves and missed a small spot, but the hotel ultimately didn’t charge us only after we repeatedly denied it and made a major issue of it. I’ve never heard of a hotel trying to charge for something like that, which I’m sure happens often. That’s why I gave service 4/5. We chose the Barcelo Maya Palace for our wedding, with 50 guests including quite a few children. The wedding coordinators and vendors were great to communicate with, answered questions quickly, and their packages made planning easy. We picked the resort for its size, quality and family friendliness. The kids’ pool was a favourite, the main pool was huge, and the adults only area was quiet. The beach was beautiful, with white sand, shallow clear water full of fish and turtles, palm trees and loungers, so it was easy to find sun or shade. The spa was beautiful and relaxing, with hot and cold pools, steam rooms, saunas and an outdoor area. Our wedding package included a spa day, so we paid nothing extra; based on the prices, I’d say it’s worth the cost. There was a good buffet selection, and the à la carte restaurants were good and handled groups well. Palace guests can also use the Colonial, Tropical, Caribe and Beach resorts. We only went to some of the other lunch buffets and à la carte restaurants, though there was also a mall, mini golf, sports bar, discoteque and plenty more to do. I didn’t do much else myself, but our guests did and enjoyed it. Our rooms were spacious, kept in good shape and cleaned daily. It’s a very large resort, so there’s a lot of walking. The rooms and buffets weren’t especially close, about a 5 minute walk. That was easy for us, but harder for guests with limited mobility.