My husband, our 18 year old daughter and her friend recently returned from a 5 night stay at the Maya. This was our first trip to Mexico and our first AI.

I want to start by saying that the property is beautiful - lush, green, and well maintained. The rooms are beautiful - all are suites probably about 25' X 15'. Gorgeous. All balconies have a hammock. We had a king bed and it was firm but we loved it. Slept great every night. The staff were friendly (everyone greeted us with "hola!" as they passed), attentive, appreciative and eager to please - this included the bellmen, front desk, bartenders, maids, waiters, waitresses. Nothing could have been better regarding the property, rooms and service.

Now, on to the food..... Overall, most of the buffets were disappointing. Food was over cooked, undercooked, bad tasting, bad texture. It was not unusual to see flies around some of the food. We are not huge foodies, but we know good food and mediocre food. We did, however, find one good lunch buffet - The 1 to 3 PM at the Chinese restauarant. (Not a chinese buffet, but a buffet set up there). We found this on our second day and went there for every lunch after that. The cooked veggies were good to excellent, paella was top notch, yummy mussels, various pastas and an excellent ceviche. This is by far the best of the buffets.

Breakfast buffets had cold, overcooked eggs, tough pancakes - "fake" scrambled eggs. I learned to just ask the people at the grill to make my fried eggs over medium, and I made toast and had some fruit. Ate that everyday and was happy. I love omelettes, but to me, they should never be browned. I had them cook my food because it was hot off the grill and gave no time for flies....

We ate at the Italian one night, and I guess we ordered the wrong things because out of 3, only one was okay. The lasagna was “off” and a little sweet. Very good dinner at the steakhouse - just ask for medium rare and it should be very good. Ate at the Japanese twice because we liked it so much. The chicken, beef, shrimp, and scallops were excellent.

Observations and tips:

This is NOT a resort for relaxing by the pool. There was constantly music blaring, contests, water aerobics, etc. Pool bar drinks were overly sweet and gross. We took one sip and handed them back. The safe drinks at the swim up bar are beer and Mojitos. IF you want some relaxation, go to the private pool by your building. (Tho the water will be warm)

The beach was great when we were there. Aqua water, white sand. I read about the rocks so I brought my aqua socks and had no problem. However, you can see the rocks so it was easy to avoid. We had nice waves and one day pretty big ones (Yellow flag) which were a lot of fun. We went kayaking on the ocean every day (included) which was one of the highligts of the trip for me. No problem finding chairs. There were SOOOO many! Beach snack bar –was kinda gross, except for the french fries. Too many flies on the food for us. Drinks at the bar okay. Tip these very friendly guys!

Drinks: Get the best drinks at the lobby bar, They had top shelf liquours and made good drinks. Jorge and Jose were the best. You can get your drinks to go if you want as well. All drinks made by them were excellent. For wine drinkers, like me, I tried all of their reds and only liked the XA Cabernet Sauv. Not every place had it. Ask. They had whites as well which overall were better than the reds. No name brands. I think most from Chile and Mexico. I wasn't thrilled since I'm a bit of a wine snob, but they were okay. All bartenders made a good mojito.

Shopping center was nice and convenient. We ate the tacos: good – hamburgers: okay. Tapas - unappetizing but drank the wine. There is a nice jewelery store there that specializes in sterling for pretty good prices. Another nice shop with Mexican pewter. There is a night club there mainly for the younger crowd. My daughter and her friend went almost every night. We attended the shows twice. They were actually more fun that I thought they would be. While we missed it, supposedly the oldies night is the best.

Day trip - we only took one to Playa Del Carmen. DO THIS! ($20 each way) Have the cabbie drop you off at 5th Ave. Go early in the AM (9AM) or later in the day, after 4 or 5. Otherwise its too hot between 1 and 4. Lots of shops, restaurants, bars. One of the other highlights of our trip.

Tips:
Take with you:
A good waterproof sunscreen. If you do spray on, do it in the room before you go. Bring some lotion for the beach. Sunscreen here is twice the cost as the US.
A hat! All of us had burnt scalps.
Water shoes for the ocean
Insulated cups for drinks by the pool,
A cheap blow up float for the pool and just give it to someone when you leave
Immodium and Pepto Bismol. We had one, not the other, It's pricey.

Brush your teeth with the bottled water in the room.
Avoid food that the flies seem to like.

We had a lot of $1 and tipped everyone extra, even tho it was included in the price. We traveled via Fun Jet and everything went smoothly.
Overall, this is a beautiful property, We had a nice time and the value – about $200 per person, per day – was pretty good. But like most all other Mega – AI’s, the food leaves something to be desired.

The place is beautiful and the service is good. The drinks and the food are plentiful, although sometimes disappointing in the flavor department. This is an all inclusive and has to cater to many tastes, European, Mexican, and American. So over all they do a pretty good job. Having everything paid in advance is a great way to enjoy yourself and not worry about running out of funds.
Only go in the summer if you really like hot weather, as it is very hot and muggy and the bugs are out at night. You can see many attactions from this resort by way of tours or taking the shuttle to town ( Playa del Carmen) to do shopping.
My best advice is to get up early during high season (any time the children are out of school) and put a book and towel on the chair you want for the day as they fill up fast.
Other than that ,all ages are in for a great time.

We have been to the Maya every year for 4 years with our extended family. This year, I don't think the Maya is at the same standard as in the past. The cart service on the property for guests was non-existent. (At the lower priced end--Beach or Lindo--carts were all over the place with guests. We have a few immobile family members.) The staff was noticeably smaller and the food selections were pared down as well. The mattress and pillows were basically from "when they opened" as they were not comfortable or usable (pillows). The linens were rife with holes. Food quality was comprable to years past but marginal at best. In the past, the specialty restaurants were better than the "no reservations required" buffet. This year, the buffet was fresher and better than the specialty restaurants. Although the property is still beautiful and the grounds have been well kept, I'm not sure it is worth the extra expense. If you paid to stay at one of the lower end (Paraiso Beach or Lindo) you still had full access to the pools, theater, grounds, etc. The extra money for the choice of more restaurants is not really worth it. The beach is much improved however!

The property is beautiful and everything is well manicured and maintained. Our room was really nice and clean and the maid service was wonderful. There was plenty of shade and lounge chairs to relax in. We were originally booked at the Lindo and were upgraded to the Maya, which was nice. The property was too big for us personally, you have to have a map to get around and I know there are some things thats we didnt even see. Our room was at the back of the property so it was a hike to get to the beach or even the main pool. If you forgot something in your room, it was a major ordeal to retrieve anything. We were close to some of the restaurants though.

BEWARE, there were four of us in our party and all of us have been sick with diarrhea and nausea since the second day of our trip. We have been home for 24 hours and we are still sick. The food is NOT good. The quality is poor and to top it off everything is cold. The only way to get hot food is to stand over the grill and wait for them to pull it off the grill. There are a few select things that are good but you really have to search it out. The specialty restaurants were not much better. The seafood was the worst Ive ever eaten. The steak restaurant was good, the steak was good, but the baked potato was cold. The Japanese was good, probably because it was the only hot meal we got since it was cooked right in front of you. There are no premium liquors at the swim up bar. We did find a bar that only the Maya guests could use, and they did have a nice selection of premium liquors, thankfully we were upgraded!

Also, dont even think about getting married anywhere except the Grand next door. We saw about five or six weddings, and they rope a small section off in the middle of all the lounge chairs where everyone is sunbathing with yellow caution tape, it looks like a crime scene. There is nothing private or romantic about it. You have people literally feet from you in bathing suits staring at the wedding. We saw one at the Grand and that looked awesome. We did walk over to the Grand and it is beautiful, the lagoon pool was very nice and they had all premium liquors at the swim up bar. We weren't supposed to be there, but I wanted to take a peek!

We did walk over to the Beach and DelMar, and the pool area was very nice and it was actually closer to the beach than the Lindo and Maya. We ate at their buffet and it was even worse, if thats possible.

The beach grill is OK at best, just prefab burgers and fake cheese nachos. They always had good fresh guacamole, that was the best thing we ate there.

We agreed none of us would ever go to an Iberostar again. I would not waste my time money and most of all health on this place. This is the first vacation I have been ready to go home, and we have traveled a lot, including the Caribbean.

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