Bahia Maya hotel

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celo

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St. Croix USVI
Has anybody stayed at the Bahia Maya hotel in Puerto Morales between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen lately? or in the area.
 
My fiance and I did stay at the Bahia Maya for 5 nights back in September and were generally pleased with the resort.

It has nice rooms, certainly not extravagent, but very close to the water. We were able to upgrade to a room facing the ocean, no more than 10 feet from the beach. The room had two beds, a TV, a small refrigerator, and a nice bathroom, with bidet and lots of tile. It also looked like it was made to survive a hurricaine, as everything that was not easily removable was made of concrete. They kept the mini-fridge stocked with juice, water, and beer and did a nice job of cleaning the room. The air conditioning worked well, but there was a place where the condensation dripped onto the floor, just at the bathroom door, so we stepped around it when we had to use the AC.

We were on a tour bus, taking many people to different hotels, and there were some chuckles as we drove up to the Bahi Maya. It is nestled between a beautiful, narrow beach and a swampy lagoon, complete with crocodiles. They have a large fence up on the lagoon side, and we never saw the crocs anywhere but in their swamp, but it sure looks like a horrible vacation spot from the road. Luckily, once you get to the actual resort, things improve a lot. The staff was very courteous, the grounds well kept, and the food tasty and varied. The beach is fairly narrow, but long, and they are constantly cleaning it of seaweed. It isn't in a hotel district, so the only people you'll see on the beach are at the Bahia Maya with you. There are kayaks available, as well as windsurfing, and you can see the waves breaking on the reef about 400 yards offshore. The two swimming pools are nice and clean.

The resort appears to cater to Europeans and their tour schedules, which seemed to run every week. We arrived on the last day of a tour from Spain, so we were kind of stuck in between tours. Our first night was fun, as the staff had planned a dance around one of the pools. The beach was 5 feet from the pool, and the ocean another 30 beyond that, so it was a beautiful setting. The next day, everyone left but us. We were completely alone with the entire staff at our disposal for the day. Spending the afternoon on your own private beach is something most people can only dream about in Mexico, but we got lucky. Late that evening, the tour bus arrived with the new group, most of whom were from Spain, with some Itailians mixed in. They were friendly and did their best to include the silly Americans in the evening activities, but they catered to the Europeans. The music they played was obviously well-known to most of the guests, but we had never heard it. It was nice to see a different way of life, even if it was just at a resort, and it was nice to try to fit into it. Something else that we didn't fully expect is that the staff, while very courteous, didn't generally speak English. We spoke a little Spanish, and some of the staff spoke a little English, and one of the desk clerks was fluent in English, so we were able to get along just fine, although it was a surprise. The beach was also more European than American, with spedos and topless folks more often than not. It didn't impact our trip, but is worth mentioning.

The food was quite good, with many flavors we hadn't run across before. There was always a buffet, with many options of salads, breads, and vegetables, with one main meat course. If the meat course was not to your liking, they had a grill available for special requests - fish, beef, chicken, cooked to order. We typically ate from the grill, with side dishes added from the buffet. The dining room itself was large and airy. It felt like an island dining room ought to, but had nice white tablecloths and a relatively attentive wait staff.

The only unfortunate incident we had did not involve the hotel itself, but the scuba diving operation that is based there. We agreed to a price for a private dive, which was great, but when we got back to shore, the price we had agreed to suddenly became the price for each of us, not for the entire dive. After voicing our displeasure, they lowered the price, and I'm still not sure whether it was a bad misunderstanding, or a deliberate attempt to rip off the Americans. Again, the dives themselves were excellent, and our divemasters knew what they were doing, so I'm inclined to belive that it was a misunderstanding, but if you do any diving, make sure everything is paid for in advance!

As I mentioned, the Bahia Maya is located well away from the main hotel district, down a long, lonely road. They will happily call a cab for you, but it's a bit out of the way for the cabbies, making it somewhat more expensive than other resorts. We wanted a place where we could have some peace and quiet, taking the days as they came and relaxing as much as possible, and Bahia Maya definitely delivered that.

Here's a few links we found while searching for information:

This link has some great pictures:
http://www.travel-center.com/hotele... and Mayan Riviera&Destino=Puerto-Morelos&P=1

The link to the former homepage for the hotel chain, royal premiere hotels http://www.royalpremierhoteles.com/ , doesn't include the Bahia Maya now, which is troubling. Perhaps they have been bought by another chain? It's worth looking into before making any plans.
 

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