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Barcelo Maya Riviera - LIVE - June 20-28


Saint Greg
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Here are my other trip reports for anyone who missed them and wishes to catch up.

 

These are newest to oldest:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/breezy-like-sunday-morning/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/seven-days-of-freedom/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/i-will-triumph/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/leaving-the-elation/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/r1-my-intro-to-cruising/

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You want to talk about a dead message board..nobody has posted here in over two years! I'm glad it's here though I don't think this should be mixed in with Cancun because it is a different area.

 

We got some really good news this week that Mardi Gras will be sailing on July 31st. Which means I will be on the 5th sailing on August 28th. That will be happening over on the Carnival Board. But I have three days of vacation I have to use before August. I decided to make it a week and book another resort.

 

Planet Hollywood and all of the other resorts I was considering last time have higher prices this time. After doing a bunch of research I think I may have come out with a better place for the same price I paid for Planet Hollywood. I booked Barcelo Maya Riviera which is on the Barcelo Maya Grand resort. It is an adults only resort and it's the newest of the resorts having opened in December 2019. If you are doing Matt Mitchem's Land Cruise in August, this is where his luxury rooms are located. The regular rooms for that trip are in the two neighboring resorts Beach and Carib. 

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Barcelo consists of six resorts. (left to right) Riviera, Beach, Carib, Ocean, Colonial, and Palace. Anyone who books Beach, Carib, Ocean, or Colonial is able to access all four resorts. Anyone who books Palace is able to access those five resorts. Anyone who books Riviera is able to access all six resorts. People at the lower four resorts can pay $20 to eat at a Palace restaurant. Adults at the other five resorts can pay a $30 upcharge to eat at a Riviera restaurant.

 

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I did enjoy my experience with the all inclusive outlet booking so I stuck with them. I upgraded to an ocean view room with a hot tub and I'm paying about $200/day including my flight and transportation to and from the airport. The flight options weren't ideal. The only option included in the price was a 6am Sun Country. I didn't know Sun Country was an airline. I thought it was the callsign of a guy from Top Gun. Apparently it's an airline. To get Spirit I would've had to pay an additional $175 for a 7am flight and the prices just went up from there. This resort is 30 miles from the airport. Planet Hollywood was 12 miles and it was a 30 minute ride. So I'm expecting an hour or so ride and I don't want to get in late where I lose the entire first day. I ended up booking the 6am Sun Country and I'm just going to have to be a super early riser on Sunday. I do like the Sun Country upgrades. They are just like Spirit. It was $24 each way to the the exit row aisle seat with extra leg room. Then checking a bag was $35 each way.

 

The Grand Resort area has a mall, a night club, a dolphin show, and a thrill park. Each resort has it's own entertainment so I'm expecting to be able to pick and choose where I want to see a show each night. I have heard of people being able to snorkel with sea turtles early in the morning. I'm definitely going to be keeping my eye out for that. Across the street are several Cenotes you can swim in. I plan on checking out at least one if not all of them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of only being 30 minutes from Tulum. I've been wanting to check out the mayan ruins there but it's always a long trip from Cozumel. Then I would like to check out Playa Del Carmen as well.

 

It should be fun. There's definitely a lot going on here. I don't think I'll get bored. 

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9 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I didn't know Sun Country was an airline.

 

I flew on that airline a million years ago when I went to Cancun with some friends. It was a charter flight through Funjet vacations (anybody remember them lol). It was definitely a budget airline, but hey, we got there and back in one piece.

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I got everything I needed done this week. laundry, yard work, mail hold, banking. For anyone who missed my Cancun trip I came close to running out of 1's the last day or two and had to go to three bellman to scrounge together 20 one dollar bills. This time I'm bringing an additional 50 ones. Having too much is better than not having enough. I got quite a look at the bank asking for 150 one dollar bills though. I was getting other denoms as well...5's and 10's and 20's. But I'm sure the crazy look was about the ones.

 

I haven't done any packing but really it's almost all done from Cancun and Cozumel. I should just need to throw some clothes in the suitcase.

 

Does anyone know if they take dollars in Tulum and Playa Del Carmen or if I'm going to need to get pesos? I still have some from probably 2016 when I was in Merida but not a lot. Maybe $30 worth.

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My unlimited talk, text, data worked good in Cozumel (except on the east side). I don’t know how it’s going to be where I’m at between playa del Carmen and tulum. But I have an offline maps app called maps.me and I always download the map whenever I’m going somewhere new.

 

 

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On 6/12/2021 at 1:48 PM, Saint Greg said:

I did enjoy my experience with the all inclusive outlet booking so I stuck with them. I upgraded to an ocean view room with a hot tub and I'm paying about $200/day including my flight and transportation to and from the airport. The flight options weren't ideal. The only option included in the price was a 6am Sun Country. I didn't know Sun Country was an airline. I thought it was the callsign of a guy from Top Gun. Apparently it's an airline. To get Spirit I would've had to pay an additional $175 for a 7am flight and the prices just went up from there. This resort is 30 miles from the airport. Planet Hollywood was 12 miles and it was a 30 minute ride. So I'm expecting an hour or so ride and I don't want to get in late where I lose the entire first day. I ended up booking the 6am Sun Country and I'm just going to have to be a super early riser on Sunday. I do like the Sun Country upgrades. They are just like Spirit. It was $24 each way to the the exit row aisle seat with extra leg room. Then checking a bag was $35 each way.

 

The Grand Resort area has a mall, a night club, a dolphin show, and a thrill park. Each resort has it's own entertainment so I'm expecting to be able to pick and choose where I want to see a show each night. I have heard of people being able to snorkel with sea turtles early in the morning. I'm definitely going to be keeping my eye out for that. Across the street are several Cenotes you can swim in. I plan on checking out at least one if not all of them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of only being 30 minutes from Tulum. I've been wanting to check out the mayan ruins there but it's always a long trip from Cozumel. Then I would like to check out Playa Del Carmen as well.

 

It should be fun. There's definitely a lot going on here. I don't think I'll get bored. 

We flew Sun Country once on an all inclusive and it was very nice and on time.  I hope you like it!  We had never heard of it before then and was a little nervous but we ended up being pleasantly surprised.  

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29 minutes ago, tkportersat said:

We flew Sun Country once on an all inclusive and it was very nice and on time.  I hope you like it!  We had never heard of it before then and was a little nervous but we ended up being pleasantly surprised.  

 

Thanks! That's how I felt when I first tried Spirit and now it's the first airline I look for. So far Sun Country looks similar with the baggage and seat upgrade pricing. It doesn't look like they offer in flight internet. That $1 internet on Spirit is a great value.

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1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

 

Does anyone know if they take dollars in Tulum and Playa Del Carmen or if I'm going to need to get pesos? I still have some from probably 2016 when I was in Merida but not a lot. Maybe $30 worth.

I've read/watched some reviews recently of vloggers visiting Tulum and PDC, and US dollars are accepted. Of course, pesos are always "recommended", but they take dollars as well.

 

Is it time to leave yet!!? 🤣 cant wait! Safe travels Greg 🍹🏝✈

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8 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Thanks! That's how I felt when I first tried Spirit and now it's the first airline I look for. So far Sun Country looks similar with the baggage and seat upgrade pricing. It doesn't look like they offer in flight internet. That $1 internet on Spirit is a great value.

Yeah, that part I can't help you with. My husband reads and listens to music, I play Candy Crush and my son usually watches downloaded movies when we fly 🙂

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4 minutes ago, CruisinMama2003 said:

I've read/watched some reviews recently of vloggers visiting Tulum and PDC, and US dollars are accepted. Of course, pesos are always "recommended", but they take dollars as well.

 

Is it time to leave yet!!? 🤣 cant wait! Safe travels Greg 🍹🏝✈

 

Sunday. My friend that went to Cozumel texted me at 1am saying don't forget to send him pictures. Then he texted me again at 10am "no pictures yet?" He thought I left today.

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