Originally posted on TripAdvisor:
This was our first vacation as a family of three, so we opted to return to an area my husband and I knew, but try a resort where we hadn’t yet stayed.The Catalonia ended up being awesome in some ways and very not awesome in others.
First, a few of the things that were not awesome:
When we arrived, we were offered an upgrade from a Privileged room to a suite, which we were glad to accept. Alas, when the gentleman checking us in actually looked at his computer, he found (as we already suspected from checking online) that there were no suites available. That was highly disappointing.
The restaurant situation is unusual (in our experience): depending on how many nights you’re staying, you’re allotted a certain number of visits to each restaurant. No reservations — it’s all First Come, First Served — hence why we didn’t get to eat at the hibachi restaurant, despite showing up an hour early for the first seating.
The hallways surrounding the rooms echo loudly. That means that every bathroom door, every drunken co-ed proclaiming about tequila shots, and every tropical bird are clearly audible at all hours of the night and morning.
The bathroom didn’t have many places to hang wet swimsuits. We expected one of those retractable clotheslines, but no.
You get what you pay for when it comes to free WiFi.
The place is kind of a maze. I suppose that’s meant to make the place feel bigger, but it ends up being frustrating when some pathways don’t go directly from Point A to Point B and you’re forced to go around.
Also, one is forced to walk past the “concierge” station to get just about anywhere on the resort. We weren’t interested in seeing what they had to offer, as we already had a travel company helping us plan our excursions, but they really wouldn’t take no for an answer. It made for some uncomfortable moments.
About halfway through our stay, we misplaced some prescription medications in our luggage. Of course, we assumed they had been stolen, and we went to Guest Services with our complaint. We weren’t thrilled with their response that they’d need to have someone come into our room and go through every bit of our luggage with us — being that we already felt violated, this didn’t sound ideal. Their comment that the guest has usually misplaced the missing item also didn’t do much for us, although I do understand that it’s the truth. To be honest, I’m not sure what would have assuaged our discomfort with the situation, but what Guest Services did wasn’t it.
(We found the medication as we were packing to leave the night before our departure. We stopped by Guest Services on our way out and apologized for assuming the worst.)
Now, for the parts that WERE awesome:
Restaurants BLoved and Alebrijes were our favorites. We found ourselves returning to BLoved, since we were permitted to go back unlimited times as Privileged guests.
Alebrijes offered a great Viva Mexico cocktail that involved tequila and muddled basil.
The Privileged beach was a better beach than was available on the rest of the property. It wasn’t amazing, but it was definitely better than the rest.
Exchanging towels can be a pain at some properties, but not here. Just bring your old towel (while someone’s on duty), and you trade it for a new one.
One of the pools had a shallower kiddie pool in the center of the normal pool, and that’s the one we frequented, since our six-year-old wasn’t yet a strong swimmer, but was too big for the toddler-depth pools.
Speaking of our six-year-old, the Kids’ Club was fantastic! Shout-out to Pamela. It just so happened that it was someone’s birthday on the day when our son decided to spend the whole day at the Kids Club, so he got to have birthday cake and enjoy a pool party! They also had movie time indoors and playtime on the pirate ship playground. Our son had a great time!
There were activities at the pool during most of the mornings and afternoons, although that wasn’t really our scene. Games, water aerobics, music, etc.
Not only was the (spotty) WiFi included at no extra charge, but so was the rollaway bed that we requested for our son (since we didn’t get upgraded to a suite).
The resort is also only a short walk from the nearby marina, where there are plenty of touristy shops offering t-shirts and clothing, jewelry, lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) masks, and plenty of other souvenirs. There are also bars and restaurants if one chooses to dine off of the resort, although they all seemed pretty touristy, anyway.
In conclusion: Did we have a good time? Yes. Would we go back to Catalonia Riviera Maya? No. If we decided to visit the Riviera Maya region again, we’d likely choose a different location entirely, as the Catalonia wasn’t quite awesome enough to lure us back.
