Catalonia Riviera Maya

“Fabulous stay at Catalonia riveria maya”

Absolutely stunning location, fantastic atmosphere Rooms are spacious and kept impeccably clean The staff are on hand to help with everything that you need Big shout out to Alfredo the bell man super helpful and just wonderful, very friendly and can’t do enough to help you as with all the staff a… more

Absolutely stunning location, fantastic atmosphere Rooms are spacious and kept impeccably clean The staff are on hand to help with everything that you need Big shout out to Alfredo the bell man super helpful and just wonderful, very friendly and can’t do enough to help you as with all the staff at Catalonia riveria maya Will definitely be returning again smile😎

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“Hotel Catalonia”

Great family resort. Food is very good. Staff are warm and friendly for the most part. Several pools but not for swimming - too crowded. Loungers by the pool are at a premium. Very little sandy beach and you can’t walk along the beach very far. Marina and dolphinarium are close and walkable which i… more

Great family resort. Food is very good. Staff are warm and friendly for the most part. Several pools but not for swimming - too crowded. Loungers by the pool are at a premium. Very little sandy beach and you can’t walk along the beach very far. Marina and dolphinarium are close and walkable which is a plus.

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“Wonderful Family Vaca”

We just returned yesterday from this hotel. We had a fabulous vacation. The property itself is stunning. The grounds are well kept and luscious with beautiful palm trees and greenery. The staff are all very very nice, although there is a bit of a language barrier with a lot of them, so if you spe… more

We just returned yesterday from this hotel. We had a fabulous vacation. The property itself is stunning. The grounds are well kept and luscious with beautiful palm trees and greenery. The staff are all very very nice, although there is a bit of a language barrier with a lot of them, so if you speak Spanish even better, but never a big issue asking questions and so forth. I love that there is an option for a WhatsApp chat with someone in the hotel. We were able to ask for turn down service one night through that and they delivered. You can also ask any other questions and they're happy to answer on there within a few short minutes. I will say that if you are a beach person this is definitely not the resort for you. The beach itself is hardly even a Beach, the privileged Beach is okay for young kids as it is very shallow and the kids can play in the sand however it seems like they poured sand on top of a bunch of rocks because it is very easy to stub your toes on rocks while walking and tons of rocks when you walk into the water. Also, caution in the shallow water, there are a lot of baby jellyfish, one kid in our group got stung and we heard of multiple other kids being stung as well. The beach on the other side on the Yucatan side is a tiny bit nicer and okay for snorkeling but the one side is a pretty steep hill into it and just all in all the beach is not very nice. Now if you like pools for your vacation the pools at both resorts are wonderful. The only complaint I have is the amount of chemicals in the pools which peeled off my nail polish and turned my nail polish from white to Green, which is to be expected with all the people in the pools, but multiple people in our group had issues with their eyes in the water because the chemicals were so heavy. I guess this is not really a complaint more of a warning to make sure that your kids wear goggles in the water if they are used to opening their eyes underwater. Food: The food was pretty decent, I was always able to find something to eat, the only issue was getting bacon at breakfast, they only had it out once for the buffet, any other day you had to ask for it and they were hesitant to give it out some days, it was very strange. Lunch and dinner at the buffet was pretty much the same every day, not much variety. But all in all the food quality was good for buffet food. The American Burger a la carte was amazing, and so was the Italian. We didn't get a chance to try to the Mexican one but I've heard it was fabulous. The steakhouse steak was very fatty, and just not for me. We did not do the Japanese because part of our group did it one night and didn't have the best experience. They were there for 2.5 hours and ended up having to go to the buffet after because portions were so small. They also mentioned there wasn't much of a show, so needless to say, we cancelled and changed our reso to another one. The guac everywhere is unbelieve, I wish I could have taken it home. Another minor complaint is that there is not enough shade by pools. There are umbrellas around but they are very small and don't do a whole lot just because of where the sun is and how small they are. If I could suggest anything to the hotel or would be to get more and get bigger ones that can shade a lot more chairs. We were there with kids and wanted them out of the sun to let sunscreen set and to chill out sometimes and they had to huddle on one chair. The resort itself is not very large and is pretty walkable but getting up the main lobby may be tough for anyone with mobility issues, as the big ramp is long and not smooth. It was a lot after a long day in the sun and having a few too many wobbly pops LOL Room: We stayed in a privileged suite, with our kid. These rooms are amazing for families traveling with kids, as there is a separate living space for kids and parents. We only have one kid so she would go to bed and we could close the doors to her room and go sit on the balcony or watch a movie late at night and not disturb her. The rooms are huge, and very clean, a tiny bit dated but I understand that they are going to be renovating these rooms in the near future. The other normal rooms are all renovated, I believe. You also have a little plunge pool on your terrace or balcony. If you're on the side facing the resort, there is 0 privacy as you are facing a main walk way and other rooms looking down on you, so don't expect any sort of privacy there, sorta sucks for couples with a plunge pool, would be nice if they provided some sort of privacy screen for the terrace to provide some shade and some privacy for anyone who wants to get into the tub with no bathing suit on. It was honestly kind of useless for us because of this, we weren't even comfortable with our daughter going in their naked because of lack of privacy. Other than that, the room was pretty much perfect. And our terrace was still super beautiful and relaxing. Entertainment (Day): We found the entertainment to be pretty good here. The staff around the pool during the day were awesome. Angel was our fav. His dance moves were as fierce as him and he was hilarious. My only complaint about the entertainment during the day was the weird elevator music remixes they would play. They would be good songs but remixed into strange elevator type music, it was honestly so bizarre.. just play the real songs. There are signs that say you can't have your own speakers but people still did, including us, just don't be a dick and blast your music. We kept ours quiet enough for just our area when there was nothing else going on and no one said anything. There was a group that was blasting theirs which was pretty obnoxious and annoying and makes me understand why they don't want people doing that.. the aquagym daily was fun and the music was good for that. Entertainment (night): As mentioned, we were there with kids, so we didn't get to the disco or to any of the adult shows, but the kids stuff was decent. I wish they did the kids stuff a bit earlier, starting at 8 pm is a bit late for kids who have been in the sun all day. It was a struggle keeping the kids up sometimes, and nights where there was a princess show at 9, is insane. None of the kids in our group was able to make it to 10 pm.. I think kids stuff should start at 7-730, and adult stuff after that. It just makes it difficult on parents dealing with my exhausted kids who want to see the shows. I will note that if you are a smoker, it is not a great place for you. They are pretty strict about smoking around the pools or in non designated smoking areas. There are only two of them, one at the front outside of reception and the other is at the far end of the resort by the privileged Beach, in the blazing sun, with nowhere to sit down. And absolutely no shade.. my husband got told on the first day that he couldn't smoke anywhere but those spots. There were some people who broke the rules, if they had lenient staff that day but for the most part, it sucks for smokers. You can still smoke on your balcony, but no ashtrays, so either bring your own or always have a can available. All in all, it is a gorgeous property. Especially considering the price. We had a suite, for 3 of us for under 4k CAD.

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