Catalonia Riviera Maya

-Enjoyed the resort itself., it was definitely an older resort but well maintained.

-I loved the full gardens, and the amount of large palm trees.

-They upgraded us into the "privileged" building because it was my birthday. 

-The room was cleaned beautifully every day. They even tidied up our toiletries, and would stock the mini fridge with cans of beer, pop, and water. There was a coffee maker in the room which was also restocked daily.

-We enjoyed the food at the buffet. There were mixed reviews on the food from other people. I think maybe because there was less "pub style" food like deep fried stuff. It seemed to be more of a Mexican flair.

-The burgers served in the restaurants were REALLY good! They had Modelo on tap, and a few different Bourbons which we enjoyed. They were happy to make virgin cocktails for the kids.

-A surprise to us was the kids' club. We found that they did plenty of events for the kids around the resort where they could participate and we could still be at arm's reach.

-The kids club had the children meet in the afternoon that wanted to participate in the night show and included them in the show. It was great!

I found the service at the resort to be good. Personally, we never had to wait long for anything.

-We LOVED the gated community of Puerto Aventuras that the resort was in. We felt super safe walking around off resort. This community has the only full-service marina south of Cancun. The marina was full of big boats, lots of restaurants, shops, and bars. In the middle of the marina there was a big pen with dolphins. You could watch the dolphins for free. Of course, we paid extra to go in and swim with them. This community would be a great spot for somebody to rent an air BNB for a week or two that didn't want to stay on resort. 

-The beach at the hotel was in a calm area which was safe for the kids to swim in. There was also a small reef loaded with fish. We all did a lot of snorkeling.

-The only real drawback I found was the amount of seaweed at the beach. There were days where it wasn't swimmable. The resort had staff working to clean it up, but there was just so much! From what I'm told this is common for Mexico. The beach was also very rocky and required water shoes. 

-We had access to the resort beside (Catalonia Yucatan) because it was the same ownership. Really, it was more like one resort. Each resort had a pool with a swim up bar. The pools were nice. The resort was small, which was good for kids. 

-Overall, the resort was dated, smaller, and not a luxury resort. But, because of the size, service, and location in the gated community, it was great for young families such as us!

(Stephen + family, kids 6 & 4, March 2026)