This is our 2nd time at this resort, and multiple stays at Barcelo Resorts. Overall the staff were great! Lots to do, many places to eat. Shows were average, not from lack of effort. Food was good, not great.
Main problem is we reserved and paid for Maya Colonial, and when our party of 10 arrived they said that section was FULL and no rooms available. We spoke to multiple people but no one seemed to care. They moved us to the Caribe side, they said it was the "same tier." They may cost the same but they are quite different in many ways, which is why we selected Maya Colonial over Caribe in the 1st place. We were not informed of this when booking with ******* that we could get moved to a different resort. They did not offer us any compensation of any kind. The staff just said "we are full." Not sure how they can overbook when we reserved our rooms months ago and paid a large amount for the New year's weekend. We felt completely screwed. Other guests we met had the same problem, but some were upgraded to premium level all inclusive, some got perks at booking the A-la-carte restaurants. They gave us nothing. For this reason we will never return to Barcelo resorts again.
Secondly, our room key cards had to be replaced more than once a day, they just stopped working. In such a large resort, it was quite a nuisance to walk back and forth multiple times a day.
Lastly, the water sports via an outside company was quite good, only problem is they were not very efficient.