Barceló Maya Palace - All Inclusive

We met an awesome young man named Eduardo at the palace. I suggest everyone ask for him at the front entrance at the Palace. He was so helpful to my husband and I and the family. We will miss him and hope to see him again real soon.

Have stayed here before 4 times, will not be going back. We couldn't get reservations for any of the specialty reservations. Too many people for what they have room for.

Our family had a wonderful experience at the Barcelo Maya Palace. The staff, accommodations, food, entertainment, and facilities were all great. The weather was spectacular and we spent time every day at the beautiful beach and pools. We would rate this among one of our favorite family vacations.

We absolutely loved our time here! 2 parents, 13yo, 18yo. So much for all to do. I heard that it was 100% full while we were there over spring break but it was not an issue at all. We hardly waited for anything, the pools are so big it didn't matter how many people were in them AND there's so many different pools to choose. I especially loved that it's in its own "private" cove, there's basically vegetation at each end of the resort and a checkpoint to get in - this provided my kids much more freedom because I felt like it was safe from the outside public.

This is our 4th visit to the Barcelo and we are always happy with our experience. With what is happening in our world around us….we are grateful to all the staff at the Barcelo. Everyone is always pleasant and work so hard to make our vacation memorable….from the pleasant surroundings to the wonderful meals…..we will definitely be back. Thank you to all the staff for your hospitality…..

One of the slowest checkin experiences ever in Quintan Roo. We booked what we thought was junior suite ocean view and got placed far away from the ocean, called front desk to have the move me and now I’m being told they’re fully booked yet you can go online and make a reservation…. Make that make sense. Do not recommend staying here

DO NOT go in March unless you are a drunk college kid!! We did a Premium Ocean Front room at the Palace thinking that since it is the more "upscale" hotel in the resort it would more likely be calmer and relaxing and we were WRONG! The music was sooooo loud at the pool that even with the door closed, you felt like you were standing not far from the speakers. They finally had a quieter room open up on the third day so we moved rooms and that helped some. You could not get a decent timed reservation at any of the al-la-cart restaurants until the 3rd and 4th nights and then when we were there, the restaurant was half full!! My guess is they advertise them but purposely do not fill them so they really do not have to pay for the more expensive meals. We also did not realize that the hotel caters to college/high school spring breakers. I really did not expect that of the Palace. We have stayed at the Caribe before in the summer and always thought the Palace was supposed to be the more "upscale", quieter facility but we will never stay there again especially in March or April...

This is a wonderful resort. Everything was perfect, from the food to service to the beach. Even though it was busy with spring breaks, it never felt crowded or busy. Never any lineups. Barcelo should be commended to be able to manage this.

Average resort expected more. Felt under staffed. Food options in buffet not great. Drinks were ok. Staff was pleasant. Grounds were beautiful. Room was nice.

First off let me say that this resort is actually overall an excellent place for vacation. We stayed at the Palace in a Premium upgrade "oceanview" room, which means you are very close to the pool with an overview view of the ocean. Proximity however to everything was great. Upgrades on Premium may not be worth it overall but the distance from our original room to our upgrade is night and day so it was for me. Why? THIS RESORT IS HUGE. Let me expand on this. The Palace is Huge...string 5 other resorts under the Barcelo brand and its a massive overall property. There is walking. Good news is you can walk the entire resort through a covered walkway. perfect for rainy evenings and you are dressed for dinner or shade from the sun. Pools are huge and mostly warm (not heated) in March. The pool lounger game is off the chart however. If not between 4am and 7:30am you are not likely getting a spot around the pool. Very little shade areas at the pool...unless you are in the water under the actual concrete tiled loungers in the edges of the pool Beach has chairs and more shade, but i did not love the beach. Top side it felt like rock covered in sand and then the beach sloped down to the water. More sandy but hard compact sand. Water while we were there was not blue...and had to deal with the Sargasm (sp?). Not the resorts fault as they cannot control the ocean but they attempted to try and clean it daily so kudos to that. Some days it was a losing battle. Food. - Buffet at the Palace is fairly good. Booking for a la carte was pretty easy for 3. I think larger groups had more difficulty however with Premium you can book more. Got options for what we wanted, however sometimes it was 8:30pm for Japanese...so be it. Rooms - all rooms are suites. Location is your biggest challenge. As i said, its huge property. If you are not Premium and just get assigned your room by luck, hope you are not further back. Its a long way to pool or lobby/buffet etc so you wouldnt want to forget things. The room is adequate size for 3-4 people (family would be best). While the Palace is an upgrade the style is certainly not modern in the room. Its very dated with furniture but that wasnt so bad. Amenities - there is a lot to do here. You have shops, you have pools, beach. activities, pickleball/tennis, lots of kids stuff and nightly shows. A great spa. A small casino. Nightclub (didnt see it) The entertainment staff is adequate with stuff around the Pool but this certainly wouldnt be classified as a party hotel per se. Distance from airport - its a hike. Either from Tulum or Cancun its likely 1 hr 20min by bus transfer. Check in can be busy. Seen it both ways, i guess depends on when you get there. Some complained of long checkins, some not so bad. I guess Premium would be best here as you by pass the line to the Premium lounge to check in. Staff - friendly enough. Not over bearing or overly out of their way but accomodating. Rooms always made and water and fridge always updated each day...no issues. Had problems with the safe. Called down and someone was there in 5 minutes to fix it..twice. So service was pretty good. (although i couldnt understand why they would only have 1 server working drinks around that LARGE pool. Certainly they could hire another 1 or 2 people to work the pool area. Maybe a couple more bartenders as well (at least during peak times).