Catalonia Yucatan Beach

Hotel/room We are from UK and are used to 3/4 star Hotels. Usually in spain/europe/turkey/egypt ect. We stayed for 14 nights. We thought we’d give Mexico a go now the kids are older. Which cost us an extra 3k than our normal holiday. We stayed in Catalonia Yucatan (not riviera maya/privileged). We hit the first issue when the receptionist told us we had booked a comfort room with 2 double beds (there were 4 of us 2 adults 2 kids age 12 & 14) i said straight away my kids cant sleep together, can we please swap the double for 2 single beds? We were told they didn’t have any single beds. They only did double. And another double wouldn’t fit in the room. We were offered to move to a suite in Riviera Maya side which would cost us another £1300 extra. Which we just couldn’t do. After they spoke with manager it was advised they would wait for a double bed and when available (hotel fully booked) would try and fit one into the room. And we would speak to our travel agent the following day to see why they allowed us to book this kind of room. We were then show the room. It was very dated. The door was mucky and paint chipped. The bath paint was peeling off. It was really shabby. We were ready to accept a ‘dated but clean’ room as this is what we had read before going. But it was really grim. Especially with all the money we spent. So we did go back to reception and i explained my concerns and they offered us another room on the same side, that had been renovated. This was so much better and we accepted this room. We were still in the same situation though with the beds. And in the end we couldn’t be bothered to deal with it anymore and we ended up sleeping me with my daughter in one and my husband with my son in the other (who wants this on a holiday!!) Rooms are cleaned daily & fresh towels given daily. Food. We had access to the buffet restaurant and then al a carte, Mexican, American (burger) and Italian. As i said, we are used to travelling to all inclusive hotels so are well aware that the food is very samey/repetitive and usually we are satisfied that there is always something. We dont have an issue with food ever. I think as the hotel is on the smaller side there is obviously less selection. We did manage to find something but not a lot of choice. And as someone else said, no chips/fries here. What we did eat was nice! Lots of choice for Salad/fruits. The alacartes were all really nice and we ended up booking one of these for most of the nights (bar 2/3) The ‘bikini bites’ toasty bay was lovely for afternoon snacks and also the crepe shack! Pool and pool area. We always got beds around the pool provided you are out by 9am anything after that you may struggle. Someone mentioned in a earlier review that the pool is not clean. We did notice this, there were yellow stains around the edges and in ‘corners’ there would he yellow foam/froth. Someone did get in the pool & clean it everyday but they would just clean it, into the pool. Unfortunately all our white swimwear turned a mucky yellow which is kinda gross. Not sure of it is muck or chemicals, but it’s never happened before anywhere else we stayed. The pool bar is fab lots of choice for cocktails and really nice! And you do have access to other pools in the next door hotel if you wish! All bars do these cocktails, theres a few dotted around. Entertainment. I think during the day a lot of the entertainment was in the other hotel pool. Which we were allowed to access but didnt. We did have pilates on the beach at 10am and aqua aerobics in our pool at 12. The evening entertainment was fab. They have an indoor theatre with stage and great aircon. Beach. The beach is lovely. However the bottom is rocky so you do need sea shoes. When we were there they had a seaweed barrier up, mostly clean beach but sometimes a big influx of seaweed would arrive and the staff work tirelessly to clear it. The area/trips Puerto Aventuras is a gorgeous little gated village you can walk around but they allow you to rent a golf cart and explore fully. We found some ruins, a lagoon area, a cenote, the public beach (which is really nice!) The marina area is lovely little bars and restaurants overlooking the dolphins. We ate at one of the restaurants and it was lovely. We got a taxi to a local cenote outside the community, called Cenote Cristaline which was about 10 minutes away and it was a beating cenote. We did a trip where we swam with the turtles and cenote on one. And then another day we went to Maya Adrenaline Tip - make sure to bring mosquito spray they are everywhere. Overall, we had an amazing holiday! The place is lovely apart from our few niggles.

The hospitality, service, & environment was simply WONDERFUL overall. ONLY detail needing improvement is check in!!

I don’t usually write reviews but I was so impressed with my experience with Miguel at the Spa that I had to share. I’m not usually a huge fan of massages but my back was so tight from the flight I booked in for a 25min back treatment, it was so so good that I booked for two more 80min full body treatments. Miguel is absolutely wonderful, not only is he welcoming, kind and professional but he’s sooo amazing at what he does. He mixed a deep massage to try and relieve my back with some flowing massage techniques which complimented it beautifully. I honestly can’t recommend Miguel enough, it was one of the highlights of my trip which says a lot as it’s been an amazing trip. Thank you Miguel 😀

Great Resort & Staff. Terrible food unfortunately. You will get ill if you eat at this resort which is a shame because it's a beautiful resort and staff are amazing.