My daughter and I stayed at the Colonial in July for 6 nights to celebrate her graduation from High School and visit the Mayan Ruins. I chose this hotel because of the amenities and the great price through Funjet. We would highly recommend it. The food at the buffet was very good, we are pretty picky and there was always something that we enjoyed. Our room was clean and spacious and the ground were beautiful. We spent 3 days traveling to Coba, Tulum, and Chichen Itza. We used Entertainment Plus and had private tours. This is the way to go if you don't mind spending alittle extra money. We were finished touring Chichen Itza just as all the tour buses were showing up at the hottest time of the day!

The Barcelo is a beautiful resort. The rooms are spacious and immaculate. We had adjoning rooms for the five of us which was great. We had plenty of space and 2 bathrooms. The pool is gorgeous, but a bit deep for a four foot pool. It was hard for my 7 year old who is a good swimmer to swim all the way to the swim up bar. There is only one shallow part with a zero entry. The water park is great for young kids. They don't allow bigger kids to go on the slides. The beach by the Tropical is where all the activities are. The staff that runs those activites are a lot of fun and friendly. The beach is beautiful. The water is gorgeous. It was hit or miss each day. There was seaweed some days and rocks that could hurt you if you stepped on them or swam into them But overall it what was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The buffets were good. Plenty of food. The steakhouse was excellent, especially the filet mignon. You have to ask the waiters to bring you drinks they do not offer. It was annoying getting up to get drinks. It felt like you were making many trips to get food and then drinks. Speaking of drinks they need to put more alchohol in their drinks. They are not strong at all. They need to have a waitress by the pool and in the lobby when you are relaxing at night.The resort was very nice and I would recommend it for families, especially if you are traveling ina group. The reef was great. My 11 year old son loved diving off the pier and snorkeling. The Mexican Plaza was nice at night to walk around and go shopping. The mini golf was good. My kids played 4 times during our stay. The pitch and putt was not too good. The greens were too long and made it hard to hit the ball. There was plenty to do if you wanted. Tennis, basketball, shopping, snorkeling, swimming, golf, activities by the pool all free. You had to pay to jetski and para sail. It was a great experience. If you go with teens make sure they have someone to hang out with, otherwise they can get bored. The shows at night were okay. Not always appropriate for kids and they don't start till 10pm. The staff needs to engage more with the guests. Not many of them are bilingual and it is hard to communicate. Only one day that we were there did staff come over and ask us to join in the activities by the Tropical pool. They should work on getting the guests more involved. Over all though it was great!!

vacations are like a good baseball cap,,you gotta find one that fits you perfectly,,and weve found that the BARCELO resort(COLONIAL) fits our needs just fine. has possibly the nicest private beach weve seen..never had a problem with finding chairs at beach or pool,,lots of hammocks available for afternoon snooze in the summer breezes. ala cartes were good for us,,japanese was fun,,steakhouse could of been better,but i didnt refuse my dinner selection,,lol,,the seafood restaurant was nice,,we thought it was only nice,,,we enjoyed the air condtioned lobby bar as well as the ala carte rest. bars,,our favorite beach bar was at the marina,,could of sat in those cheap plastic bar chairs for days and stared out into the waves of the caribbean up until god said ,,time for you to come home! the disco at the colonial was impressive,,,alot more than i assumed. great sound system, and after you meet a few people,,makes it nice for late night visiting,,theatres at the MAYA BEACH and COLONIAL, are possibly the largest ive ever seen at a resort..shows indeed were somewhat goofy,,but,im on vacation and once again,,i was something to see late at night besides YOU KNOW WHO,,IN HER CURLERS,,,haha...the colonial has a cute little shopping area outside the lobby . we didnt buy anything here but found it a nice touch...the tropical had a cigar bar,,,and it was nice knowing i wouldnt upset anyone with a cigar after dinner being in this bar..the buffets far exceeded our expectations,,as a matter of fact,,,the best weve seen.. both were air conditoned for breakfast and dinner..lunch was served at buffets at the beach or hop over to the maya beach facility buffets..like any resort,,it has its ups and downs,,but this is our 4th visit to this complex...stayed in the maya beach prior,,but the colonial / tropical have much nicer rooms and better food,,we snuck into the palace pool area,,,VERY NICE,,,, but they experience the TOWEL GAME like most resorts...but the pool itself is HUGE...as far as the employees at barcelo,,we understand where we are at,,,and if they cant understand me,,I UNDERSTAND,,im visiting their house,,,WOULD ONLY EXPECT THE SAME when they are visiting in the states. room was cleaned daily and whoever filled the fridge,,after a $5 tip in the fridge,,lol,i had enough water in my room to satisfy my needs if i decided to walk back to the united states...lol,,,,kept everything locked up,,no sense tempting someone to do something wrong. the room was great,,food was real good,,the staff was more than responsive to any questions we had...im sure we would of had different opinion if we would of had no electricity or been robbed out of our room,,,but this wasnt the situation...barcelo complex is huge, and the train made it nice to scoot around to see the other properties...i guess my priorties are somewhat different than others,,SHOW ME some blue water and white cap waves,,had me a plate of food and a cocktail,,throw a beach towel over my lap,let me watch small children playing on the beach,,toss in a few women in bikinis walking the beach,,some decent music playing in background, and THIS vacation has just achieved its goal,,,,,,,

We very much enjoyed our stay. has anyone ever stayed at a resort with a better pool for small children ?!? service was excellent from day one : after long day of travel, we didnt feel like dining in the restaurant. no problem... wonderful meals were delivered to our room, promptly, for a VERY small service fee (~$4, if I remember correctly)

if only the resort had a nice walking trail on the jungle side of the property and helped coordinate the short trip to Playa Del Carmen, we would have rated 5 star. Shuttle service to PDC would have been ideal, even if we had to pay $10 to per adult, round trip. We would feel much more comfortable on a Barcelo shuttle than crammed into a local taxi.

A 9 hole par 3 course, would have boosted up to a 5 star rating, as well. many resorts have a nice walking trail surrounding such a golf course. the "workout room" was pretty spartan.

we loved the food. the spa had just opened & our couples massage was fantastic. this was a great experience. At the fairly high rate we paid, this was a good value (not a great value)

-The Taylors, San Mateo, CA