Ultimate Barcelo Maya Riviera Review: Everything You Need to Know in 2024!

[@BostonVentures]

Highest Rated Private Transportation in Cancun & Riviera Maya: tinyurl.com/Transfercancun

[@claynpendleton]

I was here on a "fam trip" as a travel professional in 2019 before the resort opened. Myself and about 8 other invitees were wined and dined for several days by the director of sales for Barcelo Resorts. I must say it was the experience of a lifetime. The staff, the amenities, the food, and the views were second to none. Of all the places I have stayed in Mexico this resort complex was my absolute favorite! I want to stay again so bad!

[@BostonVentures]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching

[@nicobeluga6158]

im 15 and im going there with my family. Really excited. Im from canada and it's my first time in south. Thanks for the video!

[@BostonVentures]

That's amazing! You'll have a great time 😊 I'm half Canadian hahaha thanks for watching

[@Charles-nk3ep]

you can't stay at the GRANDE because thats adults only but you can stay at any of the other 4 properties that are located there. Were going back for our third time at the PALACE in 4 weeks and can't wait !

[@SavedGasMan27]

No you can’t be going here because this side of the property is adults only. Smhl

[@johnnieyang1963]

Was just there march 18th. Had an amazing time. 😊

[@BostonVentures]

I'm glad you did! It really is a great resort! Thank you for watching 😀

[@claraMckay420]

Amazing views ❤🙌🇨🇦😎 thank you for sharing this beautiful experience

[@BostonVentures]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@NighthawkCarbine]

Fantastic review video. I was there at the Riviera (AO) in May 22, May 23, and I will be back in May 24. Love the resort. What camera equipment did you use?

[@BostonVentures]

Thanks for the comment! I was actually just using my Samsung s23 ultra with the insta 360 gimbal and the boya microphone that connects with usb c.

[@andremathews1823]

Great video!! Do you know how far away the new Tulum airport is from the resort?

[@BostonVentures]

Thank you! Yes it's about 1 hour 30m. It's basically the same distance even if you arrive at the Cancun airport

[@bobothehobo420]

Incredible Honeymoon experience there.

[@BostonVentures]

I'm glad you had a great time! It was worth it 😀

[@voir-dire]

Thanks for the video, brother! We're heading there in September.

[@BostonVentures]

Hope you enjoy it! It's a great time, and with lots of heat hahahahha

[@xoseleena]

What resort did you book specifically? There is Barceló maya beach, tropical, caribe, etc.

[@mimidunn8426]

Thank You, amazing review

[@BostonVentures]

Thank you for watching 😊 I'm glad you enjoyed

[@Bandofbros_]

😊😊

[@BostonVentures]

🥰

[@jaysolo2152]

well I am here at the Barcelo Maya Riviera Resort and let me tell you it is a nice hotel, huge. Depending on your room you may have to walk a long distance to eat. We are staying in a swim-up room (premium service) but unfortunately there has not been nothing premium about our stay. We called for refill of our mini bar to enjoy the pool outside our room and it has taken over 3 hours to get our refreshments. Food is not the best, even in the specialty restuarants. We do recommend the French and Italian, we think these two are the best. In the pool area, it is divided into two sections. One is the Music bar area where you can be loud, smoke and really go crazy. The other is quiet, cannot have a speaker with you to listen to your own music, no smoking allowed. We will not be returing to this hotel.

[@BostonVentures]

Thank you for your review 🙂

[@ernie370]

Amazing video man, thank you for it. Do you know for the a la carte restaurants, were you able to order as many things as you want because you were premium level? Would it be different if someone decided to not go premium level?

[@BostonVentures]

No, whether you were premium or not you can order as much as you want 😀 thanks for watching!

[@jhille74]

Great video! Me and my wife and my one friend are going there in October for my 50th birthday,

[@BostonVentures]

Thanks for watching! Happy almost birthday! I promise you'll have a great time 😀

[@mistyholder8640]

Oh, you totally missed out on the hydrotherapy! There is a hot pool and a cold pool. And ice bath. And an aromatherapy shower. And a steam room. You do them on a circuit. You should have tried it!

[@BostonVentures]

Oh dang! Are you talking about the one I showed in the video in the spa? Or another one

[@Lovetotravel23]

Thank you for your very informative video. However, I think You haven't talked about the entertainment. Do they have live music? nightly shows?

[@BostonVentures]

@@Lovetotravel23 I talked a bit about it. The entertainment they had was at night, they put a dj by the lobby. There really wasn't that many people tbh. And during the day time by the pool they also had a dj for a couple hours

[@SoulMusic24]

Thinking about booking. Thanks for the review. How’ was the water at the beach? We are wanting the crystal blue water that you’ll find in Turks or Aruba

[@BostonVentures]

The water is nice and clear the dates that we went. But I do have to say it was a bit Rocky:(

[@SoulMusic24]

Nice! Ya I’ve seen that but also heard further down the rocks clear up a bit. Do you have a good selection of water sports/excursions? Jet skis and snorkeling are a big selling point for us

[@BostonVentures]

@@SoulMusic24 there's a fun place called aquaworld that has all those water activities. It's in the Cancun hotel zone

[@kayladeveau2984]

We were SO let down that none of the beach seating has any coverage ot shade. Just chairs only. No drink or food service on the beach, no food service around the pools. We have been to so many top tier 5 star adults only resorts, and this was the first one to have all those issues.

[@BostonVentures]

Yeah that's true, the shade depends on the sun because it only comes from the palm trees hahahah and yeah that's true about no service on the beach. I'll mention that on my next Hotel review 😀

[@marvinbolden6882]

You also don't have to fight off birds and other animals because of this.

[@TM99099]

And buffet closed at 6pm- not. 5* resorts 😂

[@googlyannabelle2826]

I have been to a multitude of PDC and Punta Cana all-inclusive resorts, most top tier, and NONE of them had food service around the pool or beach. It is for reasons of hygiene. It would be disgusting to see the used plates, remnants of ppls food and trash from ppl eating at or in the pool or on the beach. If you want to eat, go to the restaurant. And the beach at the Barcelo Riviera is so massive, they couldn't possibly provide beach bar service. And the multitude of palm trees on the beach provides plenty of shade. Only a complainer would have a problem with this.

[@jaysolo2152]

I really enjoyed your video. I've seen others on the Barcelo Maya Riviera. Great sound, clear video and you focus on the important topics people want to know about. My hubbie and I are going late August and also staying in the Premium level. One question, I read somewhere there is a pool only for Premium level guests? is this so?

[@BostonVentures]

Thank you! From what I saw no there was no pool exclusive for that. And when they explained to us at the premium level desk our benefits I don't remember hearing that

[@jaysolo2152]

@@BostonVentures thank you so much for getting back to me. I also apologize for just Thanking you for the information. Cannot wait for August to be there and enjoy a week of pure heaven.

[@Mikey-cl1rt]

Did they have any shows or entertainment in the evening?

[@BostonVentures]

Yeah they have sports on the beach like volleyball, some dance/exercise on the pool, ping pong tournaments. Usually every hour they have something. From 11 am until 3-4pm they got activities

[@131krystle]

For the restaurants needing reservations, do they have an app to reserve or did you have to do it at the lobby each time?

[@BostonVentures]

It was at the lobby, with the premium level. But I'm sure at any lobby you can make the reservation. Because they didn't really talk anything about the app :)

[@JerodLockhart]

Hey there! Absolutely love your video, thank you so much!!!!! Does the concrete get hot during the day, do need flip flops to wear. How late are bars open?

[@BostonVentures]

Thanks you! That means a lot. Yes concrete gets suuuuuper hot, and if I'm not mistaken I think there is always a bar open

[@teresadiaz370]

Any other hotel in Mexico you recommend never have been there heard about isla mujeres

[@BostonVentures]

@@teresadiaz370 well talking about price this is one of the best I've been to regarding price. If you want to spend a bit more and get an amazing resort I'd recommend moon palace. It really depends if you want all inclusive (if you wanna stay most of the time in the hotel) or get a cheaper option that's not all inclusive if you wanna do more exploring. Isla Mujeres is nice but it's very saturated

[@teresadiaz370]

Did the beach have rocks and was the waves very ruff

[@BostonVentures]

Yeah the beach had quite a few rocks once you entered the ocean. But the waves were not rough

[@teresadiaz370]

Thank you yes I meant rough 😂

[@BostonVentures]

@@teresadiaz370 hahaha no worries 🫡

[@SavedGasMan27]

Hey, which building was your room and what floor was it on?

[@BostonVentures]

It was on the far right. I believe it was third floor

[@jeffe8621]

Did you fly into the Cancun airport or the new Talum airport?

[@BostonVentures]

I actually live in Cancun. So when I fly it's the Cancun airport, and the times I gave was from the Cancun airport as well

[@AnaRodriguez-ox1wf]

can you give more info, on the nightly entertainment? Such as DJs, & if there are any places; where you can go , dancing? bailar, salsa merengue etc.

[@BostonVentures]

Yeah! So when I was there they had a dj at night in the lobby. There was maybe around 50 people there. Also the restaurant I showed is also at night with reservation (not the buffet one). And you can also go to any of the night events in the other hotels

[@John13133]

Does hotel provide transportation, thank you

[@BostonVentures]

At an extra cost I believe they do. But I used USA transfers, they are always super reliable and great price 😀

[@nancybergman8550]

The bed is two fulls together. Also the free room service is only for premium.

[@BostonVentures]

No wonder it was that big

[@drazenbasic2913]

what is the situation for smokers, I heard that in Mexico there is a very strict law and that you are not allowed to smoke almost anywhere?

[@BostonVentures]

Well there was a law that passed about 1 year ago, were you couldn't smoke in any establishment. But it's mexico and there's no one enforcing it so I haven't seen any place were they tell you you can't smoke

[@johannachavarria8719]

What about night entertainment??

[@BostonVentures]

It lacked it tbh. Only once I saw in the lobby they had a dj but there really wasn't that many people

[@erickquiroz3776]

Is it worth the premium level??

[@BostonVentures]

If you will get a massage, want the extra benefit of included room service and don't want to sit with a sea of people I would say it is. So it really depends if those things are important to you 😊 because the massage discount was 40%

[@bonjourq]

Nicely explained video. You didn't mention entertainment. Any intresting night shows?

[@BostonVentures]

Oh yeah, well in the hotel at night in the lobby they had a dj. To tell you the truth it really wasn't that good of an atmosphere. But besides that we didn't go to any shows

[@TM99099]

Buffet closed at 6pm- no shade- no services at beach- 5* Cuba 😂

[@BostonVentures]

True with that. O really don't order stuff to the beach tbh

[@lizzycalderin1871]

The place looks awesome but it really look like he didn’t really enjoy the place or the food. He had a lot of negativity to say.

[@BostonVentures]

I did enjoy it, but in my hotel reviews I do try to make them as honest as possible. So stating anything I didn't really like

[@alib4561]

Belle hôtel,les a la carte ne sont pas à la hauteur,un manque d'ambiance, il ne manque pas grand chose honnêtement pour que ce soit parfait: du coca cola,de la redbull,de la vrai mixologie niveau cocktail, une club plus privée que le Jaguard. Des rooftop ,et des bars de plages avec service plage. Les swin up sont très froide et le prenium level ne sert à rien. La carte des vins et champagne n'est pas à la hauteur. Sinons très propre mais la plage des sargasses. Le prix a augmenter en un an.

[@BostonVentures]

Thanks for the review and watching the video 😀

[@adelsoyanez9289]

Tu n'as pas aimé!!

[@alib4561]

@@adelsoyanez9289 jai aimé

[@adventura11]

Nice 👍 we stayed at Maya Palace in summer 2022 our first time to Mexico from Canada as well. We weren’t able to visit Grand only the other properties. Its nice to see the room tour to compare. But personally I don’t care for the Grand building obstructs everything the view and don’t care for the layout and set up in front I prefer the more Mayan look and scenery of the other properties and the one we did. Also there is an abandoned resort right next to this one I don’t know if you knew. I was able to see it from Palace balcony in the lobby looking over the pool and beach. I got pictures with it. I might upload a short with that on my channel. It was cool to see I learned about it when I did my research into resorts and this one in particular before we booked. I have a room tour and walk around tour and buffet tours on my channel of Palace and Tropical and some Beach. Here is my room tour kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnylhoWfgqeepJYsi=aNCTZC9nDgGzvkOY for Palace if anyone wants to see the difference. What did you think of the entertainment? One aspect we felt lacked compared to Bahia Principe Akumal we did last summer. After the shows it was virtually dead either people hung out in lobby bar or Strikers there was nothing people did not even hang out in the lobby all the lobbies were dead at night it was strange. Usually other resorts I been people migrate there after the shows not at Barcelo. Overall it was nice and we had two showers at Palace in the bathroom lol really helpful with getting ready for dinner fast 😂

[@BostonVentures]

Yeah it lacked entertainment from the nights I was there. They had a dj at night in the lobby but the atmosphere was dead. The restaurants had lots of people though at night