Barcelo Maya Palace All-inclusive Vacation Cancun Resort Highlights
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
(Lobby)
Today, I got back from Mexico. We had been planning this vacation for the last two months.
My brother got lucky in the stock market. This gave us enough to go on a vacation. It had been ages since we had traveled outside of the country.
I think the last time we visited Mexico was 6 years ago. With the pandemic restrictions lifting, we thought it was a good a time as any to travel.
We used Risa Travel in order to plan our vacation. After speaking to a representative, we chose the Barcelo in Cancun.
We had been to that resort before. So, we were already somewhat familiar with what it had to offer.
We packed three bags, and we took 3 backpacks. We don’t like to leave check luggage.
(VIP Room)
A friend of ours once lost her luggage, and she has been miserable ever since. For this stupid reason, we only travel with whatever we can carry.
It was difficult to stuff 7 days’ worth of luggage. I took the smallest clothing available, except for the bathing suits.
(VIP Room Food and Drinks)
I used bathing suits that have long sleeves. The best way to protect your skin from the hot Mexican sun is to wear long sleeves.
Plus, they do not let you use American made sunblock. The chemicals of those products are bad for the marine life.
(Mermaid Fountains of Oaxaca Suites)
The ban on those products is part of the reason why you can see plenty of fishes in the Gulf of Mexico.
It is not as if that sunblock actually works. The Mexican sun is super-hot. All tourists with exposed skin resembled red lobsters.
It was really amusing to see so many individuals with sunburns. Anyhow, we chose to fly super early in the morning. It rains a lot in South Florida.
To avoid rain and turbulence, it is best to fly out early in the morning. The airport was actually the most boring aspect of the trip.
I could tell you more about it, but I do not want to bore you. When we arrived to Mexico, we got intercepted by the salesman.
(Playground)
He sold us 3 excursions for the price of two. In order to get the discount, we had to tour a hotel called Moon Palace. We scheduled that tour for the following day.
I will tell you more about that excursion in a different blog. For now, I want to focus on the Barcelo Maya Palace.
We got picked up by a bus that took us directly to the hotel. Since we had the all-inclusive pass, we could access all the facilities of all the hotels.
We could also eat at all the buffets and restaurants. The restaurants are by reservation only. You can only reserve 3 restaurants at a time.
So, as soon as you use up one reservation, you can get a new one. Since we had gotten tours, we only went to 3 fancy restaurants.
They are going to be their own individual foodie blogs. I will also rate the different buffets we visited in the Barcelo.
(Barcelo Bedroom)
They are pretty similar all across the two hotels we dined at. The only difference is that the Colonial Barcelo makes better pizza.
It also has different dessert options. Around three, we were able to finally go to our rooms. We had a two-bed suite with ocean view. It was called Oaxaca.
This suite has its own bus stop as well. This room came with two pokestops. The Pokemon Go situation is still as good as ever, but there is one slight inconvenience.
The cellphone internet is too weak to run the app. So, you need to use the Barcelo Wi-Fi to play your phone Apps.
The Wi-Fi is free. You do not need a password to log into it. There are a few dead zones here and there, but nothing that can stop you from enjoying your Pokemon Go game experience.
In the Barcelo Maya Palace there are a dozen pokestops within walking distance of each other, as well as two gyms. From the Oaxaca suites, you can walk to the Colonial Barcelo resort.
It is important that you learn how to maneuver between all hotels. At night, the bus situation can get a little intense. To move among all the Barcelo hotels, you need to take a bus.
The bus gets super crowded at night. Some of the tourists can get a little antsy because they have never ridden a bus in their entire life. It is common to get pushed and shoved, by drunk louts.
The buffets are open all night. If you are too lazy or too tired to leave your bedroom, you can just order room service. The room service is free if you have the all-inclusive package.
If you buy within the hotel, the stores do not accept dollars, only credit cards. The dollar has gotten so cheap that not even the Mexicans want it.
A one-dollar tip isn’t enough to thrill them anymore. The pandemic hit them like a ton of bricks. The folks who relied on tourists to survive nearly starved to death, during the six months that Mexico was closed to outsiders.
One of the waiters ranted a bit with us about the bad times. He stayed in the hotel guarding the fort, during the low season.
It is interesting to note the changes that the hotel experience from the last time we visited it. A lot of the exterior statues got their paints removed.
Now, they look like boring Greek Statues. The Barcelo was struck by three hurricanes during the pandemic, so, this is why the statues look different.
The beach still looks nice, but it is a little bit rockier. The hurricanes took a lot of the sand. There is now a net around the beach areas.
(2023 Visit and 2016 Version)
They allow smaller fishes and turtles to get inside, while it keeps out the larger fishes, like sharks.
The pools still look the same, though, in the main one, do not look underwater. Trust me, you are going to wish you had never been born.
A lot of female tourists are pretty nasty, leaving their things underwater. Parents also leave their children’s diapers floating about as well.
It is not known as the “Swimming Poo” for nothing. At night, the pool gets cleaned, but by noon the tourists have messed it up again.
Folks, when you go on vacation, please, don’t be a messy tourist. I think I ranted enough about that nonsense. Aside from swimming, the pool has a bar for drinks.
You can ask for a juice, if you are not in a drinking type of mood. If you do not like the pool, the beach is only a few footsteps away.
(Swimming Poo)
There are plenty of lifeguards here and there, so, you can relax. It only raised once during the entire vacation. It was pretty wild when it did.
There was wind, sideways rain and plenty of lightning. In total, we spent three days fooling about the hotel.
The rest of the time we spent it on tour. The giftshops had plenty of nice things to look at. The prices range between 5 bucks to 100 bucks.
They have some pretty elaborate, and expensive souvenirs. You can also get tequila.
Mom bought a set of small tequilas to gift to a friend. I got me two decorative Mexican skulls, as well as some other items.
You are going to be seeing the new props in future BJD Doll photoshoots. Before I forget, the items in the minibar come included as well.
You can also ask the room service lady to give you more shampoo and toilet paper. Aside from the amenities, the Barcelo resort has plenty of nice decoration.
(Room Service Dinner)
I saw a lot of cute paintings and statues here and there. It was amusing to photograph them.
I think I ranted enough about the Barcelo for one day. The following blogs are going to focus on the food, as well as the tours.
(Room Service Dessert)
I hope you look forward to reading about them. The flight back to Miami was a major pain.
The flight was delayed. We rotted in the Mexican airport for hours.
Room Service Breakfast)
It was one of the most boring moments of my life. The flight itself was pretty decent. We had a good pilot that was skilled in dodging around the clouds.
Well. Now, I am officially done with this super long blog. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.
