6Gill
Guest
Maya Ha resort is located 4.5 hours outside Cancun on the Yucatan Pn. Our group of 15 people were there from 1 Nov to 10 Nov. I felt it was the trip from hell! My advice pass this resort up!
The resort itself was beautiful, the grounds and rooms were clean and well laid out. That is the best thing that I can say about the resort. I will now break down my comments to resort operation and dive operation.
Resort Operation:
1. Overall view of the resorts operation: They just didn't seem to get anything right...not well coordinated at all. A very substandard operation. (Poor management.)
2. Food wasn't up to normal standards of other dive resorts that I have been at (Cozumel & Roatan). No choice of main course. I was unable to eat a couple of the dinners they were so bad. The only good meal of the trip was the special Anniversary meal paid for by a couple on the trip. Lunch meals were nonexistent for divers. I saw nothing to compare to the posted menu on the resorts web-site.
3. Food Service was very poor, slow and not well coordinated. One waitress for the whole group. Her lack of being able to understand or speak any English didn't help. This slowness, especially at breakfast meals caused some problems with early boat departures. On the last Saturday boat dive, most divers going didn't have time to eat.
4. Bar/Drinks: The bar was OK, however; the bartender wasn't very proficient at making drinks. Overall, the drinks were overpriced. Ordering drinks at the dinner table, was difficult and was only possible by walking upstairs to the bar and ordering it, or catching the bartender while he was delivering one to others.
5. Hot water for showers: I did not get a hot shower on any day of the time I spent at Maya Ha. It would come out Luke warm (sometimes) and quickly turn to cold. The tiles in the shower and surrounding floors were extremely dangerous when wet. (I took a painful fall in the shower.) The supplied mats were not very good at making the shower less dangerous. They need hand holds and better slip protection in the showers.
6. Generator problems: Lights and power would go on and off frequently. A/C was off most of the day time, when non-divers were trying to stay cool in the rooms.
7. The pool was well kept and heated. The steps/ladders for entrance or exit from the pool were strangely laid out and very difficult to use, especially if your feet were long. I have never seen steps like them in any pool that I have ever been in.
8. Bugs/Mosquitoes: The mosquitoes were fierce! The resort is surrounded by a swampy jungle. The area really needs to be sprayed and some measures taken to control the mosquitoes. I noticed each Villa/Room had a tub of water in front of it to wash sand off your feet, etc. They were however, full of mosquito larvae and were never refilled with clean water while we were there. So, we each had our own mosquito breeding farm in front of our Villa.
9. The so called gift shop was nonexistent No memento's were available at all. (Perhaps this is just as well...who wants to remember this resort.) I didn't see a Spa either!
10. Poor coordination on trips to town: Some people were stranded in town and some attempts by the manager to scam people into paying for trips to town from some people and not others discovered. (Best covered by those that had problems.) I had an overall feeling that the manager of the resort was a scam artist at best and may be an out right crook. Note: One diver was contacted by her credit companies security and informed someone was attempting to order a Dell computer and other items in Florida and have them shipped to Maya Ha resort.) It of course wasn't her.
11. Transportation to and from the resort: The drivers did a good job getting us to and from the resort. The vehicles were clean and well maintained. No faults here!
Dive Operations:
1. The dive boat was well equipped and staffed and visually clean and well kept. Engine maintenance, however; was another story.
2. We had engine problems with one engine all the time we were there. This prevented trips to the distant reef, until Friday when they got both the engines working and we got three dives on the Chinchorro reef. On Saturday, they attempted to go to the Chinchorro reef again and lost both engines and had to be towed in with the loss of three dives. Overall we lost four dives to engine problems during our stay.
3. Boat crew: The crew and dive masters were not very helpful at all. Don Peterson the trip manager was a lot more help to me then the crew.
4. Boat lunches: The food was very poor and sometimes had ants in it. (Nothing like described in their Brochure). We had more then our share of boat lunches because of proposed trips to the reef that never happened. I know, that I only got to eat lunch at the resort on one day and it was only because they gave me what the help was eating.
5. The dive shop it self was not well supplied nor equipped. There was only one person on duty there and he was not present a lot of the time. The shop had dump tanks for washing gear, however; they were always empty or half filled with dirty water. The several hoses used for washing off gear didn't work because the compressor was not working. Keeping our gear washed off was next to impossible.
6. Diving on the local reefs was mediocre at best. The were very few large fish and in fact compared to other places in the Gulf, fish were scarce. (Area over fished?)
7. Our one trip to the far Chinchorro reef wasn't all it was cracked up to be, however; we did see a few more fish and the reef it self was very pretty. I would have liked to have seen more of it.
8. Security on the boat: We mostly left our gear on the boat over night. Nothing of mine was stolen, however; a Ladies dive light was apparently taken from the boat over night. (They were working on engines after dark at times.)
9. Air supply: I heard some divers complain that their supplied air was sort of had toxic fumes and gave them headaches. I didn't experience this.
10. The lack of docking facilities for the boat was also bothersome. One had to wade to and from the boat, This made booties full of sand and/or wet sandals. Just not a first class operation.
11. An alleged former owner approached our group in the vicinity of the dive shop and alleged that the currant operators were conducting illegal operations and that our boat crews were not qualified to operate. He was also urging us to join in a class action lawsuit against the currant operators and resort people.
Note: The resorts web site at >http://www.mayaharesort.com/<:nono: :boom:
The resort itself was beautiful, the grounds and rooms were clean and well laid out. That is the best thing that I can say about the resort. I will now break down my comments to resort operation and dive operation.
Resort Operation:
1. Overall view of the resorts operation: They just didn't seem to get anything right...not well coordinated at all. A very substandard operation. (Poor management.)
2. Food wasn't up to normal standards of other dive resorts that I have been at (Cozumel & Roatan). No choice of main course. I was unable to eat a couple of the dinners they were so bad. The only good meal of the trip was the special Anniversary meal paid for by a couple on the trip. Lunch meals were nonexistent for divers. I saw nothing to compare to the posted menu on the resorts web-site.
3. Food Service was very poor, slow and not well coordinated. One waitress for the whole group. Her lack of being able to understand or speak any English didn't help. This slowness, especially at breakfast meals caused some problems with early boat departures. On the last Saturday boat dive, most divers going didn't have time to eat.
4. Bar/Drinks: The bar was OK, however; the bartender wasn't very proficient at making drinks. Overall, the drinks were overpriced. Ordering drinks at the dinner table, was difficult and was only possible by walking upstairs to the bar and ordering it, or catching the bartender while he was delivering one to others.
5. Hot water for showers: I did not get a hot shower on any day of the time I spent at Maya Ha. It would come out Luke warm (sometimes) and quickly turn to cold. The tiles in the shower and surrounding floors were extremely dangerous when wet. (I took a painful fall in the shower.) The supplied mats were not very good at making the shower less dangerous. They need hand holds and better slip protection in the showers.
6. Generator problems: Lights and power would go on and off frequently. A/C was off most of the day time, when non-divers were trying to stay cool in the rooms.
7. The pool was well kept and heated. The steps/ladders for entrance or exit from the pool were strangely laid out and very difficult to use, especially if your feet were long. I have never seen steps like them in any pool that I have ever been in.
8. Bugs/Mosquitoes: The mosquitoes were fierce! The resort is surrounded by a swampy jungle. The area really needs to be sprayed and some measures taken to control the mosquitoes. I noticed each Villa/Room had a tub of water in front of it to wash sand off your feet, etc. They were however, full of mosquito larvae and were never refilled with clean water while we were there. So, we each had our own mosquito breeding farm in front of our Villa.
9. The so called gift shop was nonexistent No memento's were available at all. (Perhaps this is just as well...who wants to remember this resort.) I didn't see a Spa either!
10. Poor coordination on trips to town: Some people were stranded in town and some attempts by the manager to scam people into paying for trips to town from some people and not others discovered. (Best covered by those that had problems.) I had an overall feeling that the manager of the resort was a scam artist at best and may be an out right crook. Note: One diver was contacted by her credit companies security and informed someone was attempting to order a Dell computer and other items in Florida and have them shipped to Maya Ha resort.) It of course wasn't her.
11. Transportation to and from the resort: The drivers did a good job getting us to and from the resort. The vehicles were clean and well maintained. No faults here!
Dive Operations:
1. The dive boat was well equipped and staffed and visually clean and well kept. Engine maintenance, however; was another story.
2. We had engine problems with one engine all the time we were there. This prevented trips to the distant reef, until Friday when they got both the engines working and we got three dives on the Chinchorro reef. On Saturday, they attempted to go to the Chinchorro reef again and lost both engines and had to be towed in with the loss of three dives. Overall we lost four dives to engine problems during our stay.
3. Boat crew: The crew and dive masters were not very helpful at all. Don Peterson the trip manager was a lot more help to me then the crew.
4. Boat lunches: The food was very poor and sometimes had ants in it. (Nothing like described in their Brochure). We had more then our share of boat lunches because of proposed trips to the reef that never happened. I know, that I only got to eat lunch at the resort on one day and it was only because they gave me what the help was eating.
5. The dive shop it self was not well supplied nor equipped. There was only one person on duty there and he was not present a lot of the time. The shop had dump tanks for washing gear, however; they were always empty or half filled with dirty water. The several hoses used for washing off gear didn't work because the compressor was not working. Keeping our gear washed off was next to impossible.
6. Diving on the local reefs was mediocre at best. The were very few large fish and in fact compared to other places in the Gulf, fish were scarce. (Area over fished?)
7. Our one trip to the far Chinchorro reef wasn't all it was cracked up to be, however; we did see a few more fish and the reef it self was very pretty. I would have liked to have seen more of it.
8. Security on the boat: We mostly left our gear on the boat over night. Nothing of mine was stolen, however; a Ladies dive light was apparently taken from the boat over night. (They were working on engines after dark at times.)
9. Air supply: I heard some divers complain that their supplied air was sort of had toxic fumes and gave them headaches. I didn't experience this.
10. The lack of docking facilities for the boat was also bothersome. One had to wade to and from the boat, This made booties full of sand and/or wet sandals. Just not a first class operation.
11. An alleged former owner approached our group in the vicinity of the dive shop and alleged that the currant operators were conducting illegal operations and that our boat crews were not qualified to operate. He was also urging us to join in a class action lawsuit against the currant operators and resort people.
Note: The resorts web site at >http://www.mayaharesort.com/<:nono: :boom:
