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rmaki
Easton, Maryland

Great All-Inclusive Value

5.0 of 5 bubblesReviewed 14 Oct 2010
My wife and I spent a very nice week at the Barcelo Tucancun Beach resort located in Cancun's Hotel Zone. Our typical vacation accommodation is sleeping on the ground in a tent, so staying at an all-inclusive resort was absolute luxury for us. We didn't know how to act!

The hotel's service was excellent, from the time we got out of the airport shuttle at the main entrance until we checked out. The front desk clerks were all very pleasant throughout our stay, as were all of the restaurant staff members, and the concierge service. The concierge staff members get commissions from referring people to visit certain tourist shops and vacation rental properties, so be prepared to listen to their spiels. It was only mildly annoying to have to listen to the offerings, but it didn't take much time and there was no pressure.

We had a lagoon view room with a king-size bed; but, since it was a corner room with windows on two walls, we had views of both Nichupte Lagoon and the Caribbean Sea. The bathroom had a shower stall, but no bathtub, which didn't really matter to us. The air conditioner worked well, and the tile floors also kept the place cool and comfortable. Maid service was efficient, except for one day when we got back to the room early after a brief outing. We couldn't quite mesh our schedules with the maid's (not really her fault), so we just hung the "Do Not Disturb" tag on the door handle that day.

We ate meals at all four of the hotel's restaurants. El Mallorca buffet restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, featured international cuisine. La Claraboya a la carte restaurant had a great lunch offering, and it featured seafood dinners. Mexico Lindo a la carte restaurant served (what else?) Mexican dishes; and, Don Quijote buffet restaurant served Spanish meals. My wife and I thought that the seafood offerings at La Claraboya were a bit too much haute cuisine for our pedestrian tastes, so we had dinner there just once. La Claraboya and Mexico Lindo both required reservations for dinner.

The hotel featured nightly entertainment, but most of it wasn't our cup of tea. We've never been to Las Vegas, but I got the impression that the shows were similar to Las Vegas night club acts, featuring singing and dancing. We stayed for just a little bit of our first night's show - international music - and for all of the circus themed show.

There are five bars on the premises, but since my wife and I drink very little, they held no appeal for us. One disappointment was that it was impossible to get non-alcoholic beverages at any of the pool-side bars. By the way, most of the restaurant servers seemed to be quite surprised and disappointed when we didn't want any alcoholic beverages with our dinners. Actually, I had a glass of sangria before our last dinner.

We enjoyed each of the three hotel swimming pools. All have quite a few chairs and chaise lounges around or near them. My wife and I were both surprised, though, at how warm the pool water was, but at least it was still cooler than the air temperature. There was some shade provided by umbrellas and a scattering of palm trees around the pools.

The hotel's Caribbean beachfront was nice. Beach chairs were available, but there was no shade from either trees or umbrellas. The sea was clear, turquoise, and warm, but the surf was rather rough at times.

The Barcelo Tucancun Beach hotel is located practically in the middle of Cancun's Hotel Zone, and just a few steps behind the Kukulkan Plaza shopping center. City bus transportation is convenient, frequent, clean, safe, and inexpensive. The fare was 8.50 pesos (about 68 cents) per person to go anywhere along the route.

Any complaints we have are minor:

Our room was right behind the elevators, which were somewhat noisy during the day, but had no effect on our ability to sleep at night. The two elevators in our wing of the hotel were tiny, and one of them was out of order for part of one day.

When the clerk at the Guest Services desk got sick, there was no one to replace her. She had offered to print our departing airplane boarding passes for us, but she was absent the day before we left, and no one else could do it. I went to an Internet cafe in the shopping center across the street and paid a few pesos to have the passes printed.

Postcards that we gave to the front desk to mail for us never reached their destinations, but that could have been the fault of Mexico's postal service.
Date of stay: August 2010
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
5.0 of 5 bubblesValue
5.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
5.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
5.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
5.0 of 5 bubblesService
5.0 of 5 bubblesSleep Quality
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Reviewed 13 October 2010

My friends and I chose Barcelo Tucancun as our destination for a recent girls weekend. Given the price, our expectations about the quality of the rooms, food, etc. were somewhat low, but we were still expecting the level of service we have come to appreciate in Mexico. The service we received at this hotel was by far the worst I have ever encountered - anywhere - and I am a seasoned traveler. We were made to feel, throughout the stay, that we were lucky to be there and shouldn't expect much else. Something as simple as asking for an additional towel was a fight. When we attempted to present our concerns to management, we were passed from manager to manager, each indicating it was "not their problem," which is what we were told, word-for-word, on several occasions.

By way of example, one night of our stay, only two restaurants were open (and thus overly crowded) and we were unable to eat at the resort despite our all-inclusive package. When we asked the length of the wait, the manager's response was "could be two minutes, could be two hours - not my problem, senorita."

I have visited Mexico several times and have always found the people to be warm and welcoming to tourists. I'm typically overwhelmed by their high level of service, and this includes stays at hotels of questionable quality. By that, I mean it has never been "you get what you pay for" when it comes to service - it's always been great. Almost all of the management we encountered at Barcelo Tucancun resort made us feel very unwelcome. While I look forward to my next visit to Mexico, I will never stay at another Barcelo resort, in Cancun or elsewhere.

I have never posted on Trip Advisor before, but couldn't let this experience go unreported. Please consider spending your money elsewhere.

Date of stay: October 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled with friends
    • Value
    • Location
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
2  Thank cah1028
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mpgiesemann, marketin Office at Occidental Tucancun, responded to this reviewResponded 21 October 2010

Dear Cah1028

Thank you like always for your comments, Will continue in contact via email so solve this issue.

Kinds Regards
Marc Giesemann

Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Reviewed 13 October 2010

Let me start by saying I really had a hard time rating this resort. I have stayed at 5 star resorts and I have stayed at motel 6’s and this is somewhere in between.
Room:
We stayed in the center tower above the buffet restaurant. I think that this is the old part of the hotel. You could tell that when it was first built it was very nice, but at this point our room looked a little worn out. There were broken tiles, small cracks in the plaster, and a air conditioner that rattled pretty loud, although it did work very well. And yes as the other reviews state the pillow top is under the mattress. Once you put it on top of the bed it is a lot better, without it the bed feels like you are sleeping on just the box spring. Once you put the mattress pad on top it feels more like a motel 6 kind of bed, but after a long day it doesn’t really matter. As for the shower it does go from hot to cold constantly. By day 3 you are so used to doing the hokey pokey (left arm, in left arm out, scream a little and turn around, and all together that’s what it’s all about) in the shower you won’t even notice
it.
Hotel/Pool:
We did not have any problems with the front desk people. And the rest of the staff were very friendly. The pools were all cleaned daily and the grounds outside were perfect. We mostly stayed at the infinity pool because it was laid back and it had the best view overlooking the Caribbean. The fun pool seemed to loud and we came on vacation to get away from loud. The pool with the swim up bar was nice but kind of shaded and you couldn’t get a good view of the water.
Beach:
There was a little drop off from the beach to the ocean, but there were ramps cut in so it wasn’t a big deal. The water was a little rough, but once you got past the breaker it was nice and calm. The water is so warm and blue unlike most of the waters in the US. The flags were red the whole time we where there, but the water seemed fine. There was a life guard, but I don’t think he was really paying any attention to the swimmers.
Weather:
We went the last week in September and the weather was great. We were very nervous because a tropical storm was heading right for Cancun, but it seemed to turn a little and all we got were some clouds. And actually you kind of look forward to a cloud or two because it is so hot. I think next Cancun trip we might get the trip insurance just for a little peace of mind. September was really nice because there weren’t a lot of people there so we never had to deal with waiting at the bar or not having a lounge chair. I think the next time we go to Cancun we will also go in Sept. or Oct. again to avoid the crowds. Also going in fall meant that there weren’t any kids.
Food:
The best thing about the food was that it looked great, taste is a different story. If you have eaten at a Denny’s restaurant the food here is identical. It is mostly all edible, some things are really good and some things are terrible. Breakfast, just like Denny’s, is great. I would definitly check if all the restaurants will be open before booking with this resort, because only one at a time was open while we were there. I don’t understand how they could let someone book their resort and not tell them that half of their food options were closed. And one more note before moving on, why would the buffet serve Chinese food? If I wanted to eat Chinese food don’t you think I would go to China? One nice thing about going to another country is to try different food…from that country.
Drinks:
Much like the food the drinks all looked good, and for the most part they all tasted good. But I think they forgot the alcohol. Now I know it is all-inclusive so they might cut corners on drinks, but I swear there was not a drop of alcohol in those drinks. They did spray something out of a gun that tasted like alcohol but after several drinks my wife and I did not feel a thing, and usually after a drink or two my wife is on the floor. I know that they had real booze because I could see the bartenders passing shots back and forth to the kitchen. Another funny thing is that they don’t put a lime in your Corona, you have to ask for it. I just thought that was a given.
Conclusion:
All in all we had a good time, I don’t know how you couldn’t with sun, pool, beach, and no kids. If I were to get a good deal at this resort I would go there again. But next time I will be prepared for the non-alcohol drinks and get a bottle at the mall to make everything more enjoyable. So again not real sure where to rate this resort. It has all you can eat ok food and all you can drink semi alcoholic drinks and it has several pools and is beach front. I guess for a 3 star resort I would give it a 3.5, and with better food/drink a 5. Heck even with just better drinks I would give it a 5, because everything is better with a good margarita in your hand!
Email me with any questions.

Date of stay: September 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
2  Thank devin1073
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 13 October 2010

The only nice thing I can say about the hotel is that it is beautiful on the outside. The front desk staff should find a different line of work. They were miserable. They were super slow at check in, check out, exchanging dollars for pesos, and ANY other service we needed. I met 9 other girlfriends there thinking they would want to be accomodating or at the very least pleasant, we were wrong. The walls were paper thin and I heard my neighbor say he needed to shave his nipples. Eeeewww! Also, they claimed to have several different restaurants but only 2 a night are open. They also charged $5 (American) to use the internet. What they don't tell you is that it's free across the street at the mall. I will NEVER return to this hotel or recomend it to anyone.

Date of stay: September 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled with friends
    • Value
    • Location
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
2  Thank Angelica005
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 12 October 2010

Loved the service, the staff was friendly and helpful. Our room had issue with AC, but we were immediately upgraded to room with ocean view. Location was great, right by Isla shopping mall. My favorite part was the variety in hotel restaurants

Date of stay: June 2010
Trip type: Travelled with family
1  Thank rzuniga
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mpgiesemann, Marketing Office at Occidental Tucancun, responded to this reviewResponded 13 October 2010

Dear Customer,
Greetings, thanks for choosing Barcelo Tucancun Beach It was a pleasure to have you with us,
Thanks for taking time to value and rate our product and services,
We hope you give us another chance to serve you, if you happen to visit Cancun in the future.

With best regards,
Marc Giesemann

Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Reviewed 11 October 2010

We stayed in the villas right on the beach. The beach was wonderful. The many restaurants served a variety of dishes from many countries, The mall was directly in back of the hotel and we enjoyed shopping and they also had a casino calledPlay City which we enjoyed in the evening

Date of stay: July 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
Thank lenear
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mpgiesemann, Marketing Office at Occidental Tucancun, responded to this reviewResponded 13 October 2010

Dear Customer,
Greetings, thanks for choosing Barcelo Tucancun Beach It was a pleasure to have you with us,
Thanks for taking time to value and rate our product and services,
We hope you give us another chance to serve you, if you happen to visit Cancun in the future.

With best regards,
Marc Giesemann

Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
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