Catalonia Playa Maroma

We booked this place based on two factors: price comparisons and the reviews of the beach. Overall, we feel like we made the right choice. I got a little wary reading some of the other reviews after we'd already booked -- complaints of long walks, mediocre food, outdated rooms -- but decided I wasn't going to stress about it. Yes, the resort is long and narrow. If your room is near the main building, you have a long walk to the beach. If your room is near the beach, you have a long walk to the buffet. But, the sun is shining, and breeze rustles through the coconut palms and hibiscus, and coatis scamper playfully at your feet, and there are drinks at the ready almost anywhere you're going. You can probably deal with five minutes of walking, knowing there's a spectacular beach at the end of it. As for food, yes, the buffet isn't spectacular, but it's certainly edible. The variety of fresh juices at breakfast is great. There are occasionally flies hovering over the fruit, but it's an open-air pavilion. What do you expect? We had a pretty standard room. Not huge, not fancy. As long as the bed was comfortable, we didn't care. We spent much more time on the beach, which is why we went. And the beach is indeed lovely. The other reviews are also correct in noting that Catalonia Maroma hosts tons of Europeans and very few Americans. If that matters to you, go somewhere else. That said, we had an incident the second night there that could have easily ruined the entire trip, and we're lucky it didn't. We left the room to have a pre-dinner drink and to eat, and returned about two hours later. Upon returning, we found a note on the safe that said our safe had been opened by security staff and the code was changed, and we'd need to call the front desk between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm to get our new code. No reason was indicated. Not kidding, it was about 7:58. The front desk didn't answer the phone after a few tries, so we bolted to the lobby. The front desk clerk said she didn't know why our safe was opened, and when we asked why they were in the room during that two-hour period since the room had already been cleaned, she seemed (or pretended) not to understand and just repeated that the cleaning crew needs access to the room. She called security, and a team of two security guards met us back at the room very quickly. The security guards couldn't answer our questions either (both understood very little English -- less English than most of the staff at the resort) but they hooked a machine up to the safe and allowed us to put in a new passcode. Then, they were very pushy about getting us to sign a paper that said nothing was stolen, without even giving us a chance to look. We refused to sign until we accounted for our passports, phones, travel vouchers, and the contents of our wallets (about 5-10 minutes). During this time, security used our room phone three times to call the desk and inform them that we hadn't yet signed. It wasn't threatening in any way, but very uncomfortable. Finally, we confirmed nothing was missing and signed. Smooth sailing from there on. Aside from that incident, the majority of the resort staff was welcoming, accommodating and friendly. It's also worth noting that Cheap Caribbean did a great job. Our transfer was easy to find at the airport, our resort matched the description, and the Cheap Caribbean on-site staff member was great -- she helped us select and book a snorkeling excursion that was appropriate for us without trying to push us into excursions and packages we weren't interested in. (We also watched as she was very professional toward another American couple, despite their inane, annoying and somewhat rude questions and commentary.) Expectations were met by Cheap Caribbean every step of the way.

My husband and I spent months looking at this site trying to find out the best place to go but still within our budget. We were celebrating our 15 year anniversary and wanted it to be special. We decided on a different hotel but upon calling the reservation line, the specialist suggested we book with the Catalonia Privileged Maroma because of their excellent beaches and all around resort. SO glad we listened as this resort was beautiful!! We got a free upgrade as well! The shuttle to pick us up was on time and helpful. The commute was about 40 min as we had to drop a few others off along the way. The drive into the resort was a bit dicey - mainly bc they were re-doing the cobble stone drive. We were relieved when we pulled up to our resort to see that it was gorgeous! The food and service was wonderful! The staff went over and above making sure we had everything we had. Their was a variety of foods at the buffet that changed with each day. The cactus juice was a favorite buffet drink! We tipped all our servers at the buffet while we were there (bring a 20-30 $1 bills for $1 tips) as well as anyone who brought us drinks on the beach, the bartenders, etc. You don't have to tip them every single time but if you tip them, they remember you and go way above and beyond for you the rest of your stay. We didn't purchase any day trips before we arrived but the hotel staff was helpful and we booked an afternoon shopping trip - which was perfect for us as we didn't want to spend an entire day away from the beach and fun! With shopping, our airport food, and tips…I don't think we didn't spend more than $100 US dollars the entire 6 days we were there. I love that about all-inclusive resorts! Shopping in Playa Del Carmen on 5th Ave was nice. We felt safe and found things we were looking for. We spent 4 hours and anything more would have been too much. The streets are cobble stones so avoid wearing heals as it's quite uneven. Also, all the local street venders know what color wrist bands go with which resort and are quick to tell they are your server…but they aren't, so don't fall for it. :) If that were true, nearly 50 of my servers worked as street venders. The driver who took us and picked us up gave us the inside on that - which was nice! The beach….it's amazing!! Seriously the best beach in the area. The sand is so clean. The water is such a pretty color, clear, and is the perfect temp. We snorkeled out front of our hotel (we brought our own gear only bc the thought of sharing something that was in someone else's mouth was a bit concerning), we sailed on the complementary Catamaran everyday, we played beach volleyball, and just relaxed ALL day long. They have a exercise classes near the beach that take place all day long. While we didn't participate in those, they were free and available to everyone at the resort. We did have to get up early in the morning to save a spot on the beach but that wasn't a big deal as we were early risers and watching the sunrise come over the ocean made it all worth it! We put our towels on the spot we wanted (which totally works) and then grabbed breakfast or hit the cafe to get our morning cup of joe. Honestly, if you want a beautiful beach, a clean resort with great service that offers a variety of food and restaurants, book THIS hotel! You won't be sorry! We will go back and look forward to our time there!! We cannot say enough great things about this resort!!

To start off I would just like to say that we weren't expecting much from this resort or trip because of what we spent on it, but we couldnt have been farther from the truth. When I booked the trip on cheapcarribbean.com the customer service rep I dealt with was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about everything and made the booking process easy, fast, and stress-free! She even went out of her way to check over 5x's for different flights for us that had more ideal times which she surprisingly found! This was mine&my Boyfriends first trip alone together, we're in our 20's, and we just wanted a good deal& place to just relax that had a great beach. We chose Catalonia Privileged Maroma because the reviews weren't that bad, it was all-inclusive, it had a great beach, and the price was un-beatable! When we arrived at the resort it was actually about 4 hours before check-in time and we were concerned about not being able to eat since we weren't officially "checked-in," but we were able to go to the buffet, start drinking&go to the beach which is exactly what we did. We were allowed to go in our room about 2 hours early as well which was very nice and convenient! Just a little break down of the reosrt.... The beach is amazing! crystal clear, blue water, no rocks, white sand, so many chairs/beds on the beach with or without shade, not too many waves, and very hard working servers who got drinks for everyone. There's a lot of activities that you can do at the beach, parasailing, jet skiing, kayak, etc. The beach was only about a 5min walk from our room, but it depends where your room is at the resort. We were very lucky to have chosen the Privileged package which included a nicer room, access to more restaurants, a nicer beach area, and better seating at the buffet. So I would totally recommend doing the Privileged package! The room was on the third floor as requested because the cheapcaribbean.com rep had told us the lower level rooms could get noisy with rooms on top of you. The view was very nice, it was of the garden area with fountains. The room was very clean, had a comfortable king sized bed with great pillows, a fridge, a flat screen tv, welcoming champaigne&fresh fruits, a huge closet with an ironing board, a ceiling fan, great working AC, beach towels (they cost $30 if you lose one, so be careful!), a safe, balcony, and a nice bathroom with just a stand up shower in it. The room was cleaned every day by staff and sodas and waters were re-filled in the fridge, you're only allowed to have the 1st two coronas in the fridge but after that they charge you so don't drink anymore than two if you don't want to be charged even if they re-fill them. The pool area was conveniently located right next to the beach. The pool isn't that big but I thought it was big enough, if you want a good chair with shade you should go down early in the morning probably around 10ish and reserve a spot with your towel because it gets packed early. The pool area has a creperie where you can get freshly made crepes from 10-6pm, ice cream, and milk shakes. It also has a bar that was open from 10-12midnight. On top of the bar is the restaurant The Terrace, which I believe is only allowed for dining by Privileged members. The restaurant has a great view of the ocean but you can only sit out there if you reserve a table (which costs extra $) or if you buy a special meal (like lobster) so I was disappointed about that. So we sat inside and just took pictures outside. The food at the terrace was OK, not that great, and has very small servings. We actually went to the buffet afterwards because we weren't full and saw another family eating at the buffet as well who had just came from the terrace LOL. I believe all the restaurants (a total of 4 not including the buffet) are available to Privileged members at lunch time with no vouchers. We stayed a total of 5 nights and recieved 3 vouchers that we could use at 3different restaurants for dinners. We actually only used 2 of them because the buffet was great. The buffet basically had all the food that were at the restaurants anyways, the only difference is that you get served food at the restaurants where at the buffet you obviously get the food yourself which isnt a big deal to me at all. You do get served drinks at the buffet though, not sure if you can order alcoholic mixed drinks there but you can get un-limited white wine which tasted amazing! The buffet is about a ten minute walk from the beach area where you walk through this long path through what looked like a man-made jungle with coati's running wild. Coati's run free at the resort, they're cute racoon looking things that I wouldn't recommend getting too close to, but they didn't harm us or anyone else that we were aware of. If you feed them food they will follow you, so don't. The walk wasn't bad, we're young so we like to walk but I could imagine it being a difficult walk for older adults in the heat. The buffet is right next to the lobby where they have a 24hr bar that served better drinks than the pool bar. The thing I enjoyed there was that they served you drinks in actual glasses, not plastic ones like at the pool bar. And they were great tasting drinks, my favorite drink there is the coco loco and the margaritas, my boyfriend enjoyed the mojitos. I also liked how the drinks were made fresh, with actual mint leaves or actual creme de coco, not the pre-mixed sweet stuff that I was served in Punta Cana. The lobby bar also serves snacks all day long, the peanuts were different but tasted great, and would usually have pastries. Next to the lobby bar is the theatre where they have shows every night by the great staff in charge of activities. The shows start around 9:45pm and lasts until 11. We only went to one show, Moulin rouge. The staff in charge of activities are from all over Europe and even some from different parts of Mexico. They were really great. They started around 10am every morning being around the beach and pool area doing all different kinds of activites and like I said before they did the shows at night. The pool area is great for people in their 20's, the activity workers played really good music and did fun drinking games with the guests. At the beach they would get guests involved in games. They weren't pushy though, if you seemed like you didn't want to be bothered they would leave you alone. One thing that we completely loved is how hard working the staff is at the resort. Everyone was incredibly polite and went out of their way to please you. We went the end of May and the weather was very hot, probably in the lower 90's and very humid. I didn't mind the weather at all because I like the heat and cooled off by going in the pool or beach. It only rained once while we were there and it lasted for about an hour. Expect bugs to come out after it rains though! So definitely bring bug spray with you. The majority of the guests at the resort were Europeans, mostly from France, Italy, and Spain. Some were American's and Canadian's. We didn't appreciate how the Eurpeans never tipped the staff. Only the American's did. The staff treats you as if your royalty so please tip the staff, $5 dollars a day of tipping there goes a long way because the staff will remember you tipped and treat you amazing for the rest of your stay! Some people went topless at the beach but not many, and if you can't handle the smell of smoke then this isn't the resort for you. ALL of the Europeans smoked everywhere, but what can you do? It was a little excessive with them even smoking at the beach.That's their culture so they don't think anything wrong of it. They're not allowed to smoke at the restaurants though which was refreshing. Basicallty all of the staff knew enough english to get by with. While we were there we did one excursion through Olympus tours, it was called Tulum Extreme. We got to go see the Tulum which is the Mayan ruins only about 45mins away from the resort where you can swim at the most amazing beach down below from. Then we went about 25 mins back towards to the resort where we went ziplining, snorkleing through this fresh water cave(it's a small cave though) and you could go repelling which we refused to do lol. They served us a great authentic mexican lunch there too that was included. That's about it. Overall it was a great vacation and would recommend this resort to anyone! Hope this review was helpful :)

We just returned from five nights/six days (7/9-7/14/2013) at the Catalonia Playa Maroma. Overall, this was a GREAT resort for my family (four kids ages 21, 20, 15, and 7). We had the Privileged package and I will summarize our experiences below. Rooms & Grounds - We had three Privileged rooms for our group. All were fairly updated, nice-sized and (most-importantly) clean. The bathrooms were great ~ big, tile showers with rain shower-heads (no bathtubs, though, if that matters to you). We were in buildings 1 & 2. The views there were nice but nothing to write home about (jungle & courtyard views) but we didn't spend much time there so it didn't matter too much to us. There were a couple of buildings that were closer to the beach/pool and may have had better views. One disappointment was that we asked that our rooms be close together (or adjoining). Instead we got two rooms on completely opposite sides of the same building and one room in a completely different building! They also had no double/double rooms available and wouldn't put a cot in the room (said the room was too small ~ but I disagree) so our three girls ended up sleeping together in a king bed. We made it work but it was not ideal! They don't guarantee these requests upon reservations but I wished they could have been more accomodating since it was a little uncomfortable (and inconvenient) to be so far from our kids. Thankfully, we have a couple older kids that we could leave on their own... but if our children were young my husband and I would have had to split up! The grounds were lush and impeccably maintained. I cannot imagine how many hours they spend cleaning and landscaping but every inch of the property is beautifully groomed. TIP>> bring plenty of bug spray!! All that lush folliage comes with plenty of mosquitos! Beach & Pool - Fabulous... the beach is gorgeous! There were plenty of lounge chairs available in all sections all the time. There were also lots of other fun venues to chill (bean bags, hammocks, lounge beds, etc.), plenty of palm trees and palapas for shade. We never had a problem finding a place to relax! Same goes for the beautiful pool area. I felt the animation team did a nice job of keeping the place fun with games, activities, exercise classes & dance lessons. They took a break for a couple hours midday which was a nice reprieve from the high energy & noise, allowing for some down-time. The photographers roam around a lot with various props and animals for posing. They do not hard-sell the pictures at all. Just smile and pose and they move along. As a result I do have a few great shots of the kids with iguanas and toucans and a really nice family picture. Some reviews I read complained of the constant activity at the pools and I would agree that there is a lot going on. That said, I like to have some action and energy around, but if you want peace & quiet you can always find a private, quiet spot on the beach. Food & Beverage - plenty to choose from here! We had breakfast at the buffet everyday and it was delicious. The made-to-order eggs at the omelet station were great and there was definitely something for everyone here. We ate dinner at the buffet only twice. They seem to have a different theme every night... we were there for Mexican and Asian food. Both were fine. It's buffet-food... nothing more, nothing less. But they offered TONS of options and it was an adequate dinner, no complaints. I also noticed they also decorated the whole place to fit the theme which was a nice touch, so I'd give an "A" for effort there. The a la carte restaurants offered a higher-quality meal. We ate at the Terrace tapas restaurant, Tortuga for steak, Toscana for Italian & my older kids dined at the Mexican restaurant. We all agreed that they were all quite tasty. The steaks were a little disappointing and our least favorite (good flavor but kind of lower-quality meat). But all the other restaurants were quite enjoyable. You certainly can't complain about the amount of food... each person received an appetizer, main course and dessert! Lunches and snacks were great... Tortuga for burgers, fries, salads, the Creperie for a light lunch or delicious afternoon snack and the juice bar for a refreshing smoothie. My favorite lunches were when the staff set up barbeque on the beach and grilled fresh fish or burgers. Delicious! The pool bar was great too providing a variety of beverages including cappucino and espressos! TIP>> bring your own insulated drink cups. The bartenders are happy to fill them for you. You will make less trips up to the bar and your drinks will stay cooler longer! :o) Staff - all courteous and hard-working. Everyone was friendly and helpful. No complaints at all here. Most spoke an adequate amount of English to communicate with you (certainly better than my Spanish!) Atmosphere & Location - This is a European hotel chain and the clientele is predominately European. I personally loved the atmosphere ~ hearing all of the different languages (Spanish, Italian, French, German all spoken in abundance here) and enjoying the different cultures. We love to travel to other countries and always welcome the opportunity to experience different cultures. But if that is not your thing then you may want to keep this in mind when booking here. Americans are definitely in the minority at this resort. As far as the location goes, you're a bit secluded here. Although you're in the heart of Riviera Maya and many places are nearby (PDC, Xel Ha, etc.) you will definitely need a cab or some other form of transportation if you plan to leave the resort. We didn't leave the resort as we had a short stay and plenty to keep us occupied. But just know, you won't be walking anywhere should you decide to go exploring off-property! All in all I would most definitely recommend this resort and would absolutely not hesitate to go back! PS. This was our first booking with Cheap Caribbean and I will definitely be coming back!! Great service start-to-finish and absolutely NO glitches with our reservations or trip!! Thanks, CC!