I booked Akumal Bay Beach & Wellness Resort as my partner and I's first holiday together. As you can imagine, we were extremely excited coming all the way from the UK to what we had envisioned to be a tropical paradise. However, when we arrived, we found this was not going to be the case.
When we checked in, the process was very swift and the bell boy helped us with our luggage up to our room, in Building 3 - which I had previously read happened to be the only renovated block out the 4 Buildings available to stay in. When we arrived at the room, we were both extremely impressed with the renovated room, it was spacious, trendy, and the décor very classy looking. Having arrived at 6pm (Mexico time frame), we decided to order room service as we were both absolutely exhausted from travelling almost 19 hours. The menu had a variety of food, which was mainly Mexican/American, as to be expected. We found that the room service waiting times were very inconsistent, and also 9 times out of 10 arrived cold. The next morning we woke up and headed to try out the buffet for the first time. As Brits, we were half expecting the usual eggs, bacon, sausages, beans etc... It was safe to say, we were extremely disappointed. The only eggs were Mexican scrambled, (although I believe the did fried at the omelette station) however there was always a gigantic queue. There were hash browns, mini chipolata sausages, bacon and toast. The rest were all Mexican breakfast options. Be prepared, as all the food at the buffet is usually cold and covered in flies. It was awfully off putting. Lunch at the buffet we found was better, however you still had to time it so you arrived when the food was fresh and hot, same with dinner - although the options were usually the same, maybe even leftovers, from the lunch selection 6 hours prior. We ended up at the A La Carte restaurants most evenings as the food there was much much better. Lima & K'ooben were our favourites, the food was 10/10 - and the staff were always welcoming and very friendly. The steakhouse, Rodizio, was okay, we just didn't like the fact that it wasn't A/C. This meant that the door was always open, and the flies and mosquitos were EVERYWHERE. I think I must have left the restaurant with 7 new mosquito bites that evening. Unfortunately, this put us off Alux, the Mexican restaurant, as this was also not A/C.
We unfortunately didn't get to experience any excursions, as the first 6 days of our 2 week trip was rainy, windy & thundery due to Storm Alberto. This meant we also couldn't enjoy the pool, beach, or even the lobby as it was full when the weather was at it's worst. I know the hotel cannot do anything about the weather, but there seemed to be nothing to do in the mean time. No entertainment for any age. No kids club, no pool tables, no sports bar (many hotels in the Riviera Maya have one) just a dark gloomy lobby. They do have a spa, however I would advise you NOT to waste your money. My partner and I were compensated for an issue we had with a couples massage treatment which was supposed to be 60 minutes. It was about a 40 minute treatment, and my partner actually left feeling more achy than he entered. As a result of the lack of entertainment, when the weather was bad we found ourselves in between meals back in the room re-watching Game of Thrones! For the next 6 days that the sun was out, we spent our time at the beach. There was normally a sunbed whatever time of the day, however if you wanted one with a palapa, you'd have to reserve it from 8am (the time the beach towels open). One thing I will say is that the ladies working at the beach, taking orders for drinks were great. You wouldn't have to leave your sunbed all day as they are always around and always happy to get you more and more drinks, with a smile on their faces.
We did have an issue with our A/C in our room, which never got fixed.
The maintenance man who came to look at it, stood on his ladder for 5 mins holding his hand in front of it, proceeded to tell my partner it was broken and to use the ceiling fan. We could not do this as the fan wasn't bolted onto the ceiling properly and every time it span, made an awful clanging noise. Me being a light sleeper, this was not an option. When reported to reception again, nothing was done about it. A few days after this incident, I woke up at 6am to ask my partner to turn the A/C back on due to it having switched off, due to it being broken... and when my partner stood up, he almost slipped over as there was water covering our floor.
Pros:
- Amazing food at the a la carte restaurants
- Bar and beach staff extremely kind and friendly
- MOST buffet restaurant staff friendly
- Nice rooms (building 3), if the A/C worked
- Nice beach
- Lots of interesting sea life & wildlife: turtles, manta rays, tropical fish, pelicans, crabs and iguanas
- Secluded spot, no partying etc...
Cons:
- Buffet food: not much variety, often cold, always crawling with flies, breakfast diabolical
- Some male staff can make younger women feel slightly uncomfortable
- Room malfunctions
- Drinks: very hit or miss, either too watery or way too strong - no balance
- Snack Bar: don't waste your time as you'll be waiting until Christmas to be served, they do not clean the tables of chairs after use, and found the staff were rather rude
- Reps: seemed like they weren't interested and would rather be looking at their phones
- Mosquitos: usually I don't get bitten however BRING SPRAY! I left with 13 big red bites all over my body
- Smells like sewage at times around the resort
- LOTS of sargassum: I don't blame the hotel for this, however there was a truck on the beach full of sargassum one morning from 9am right the way through until 4pm. This attracted lots of flies and smelt disgusting, which should have been removed from the beach and paying customers
- Lack of entertainment for all ages when the weathers bad: you'll find a jacuzzi on your balcony which you cannot use as it was full of dead bugs, and if it is cleaned whilst your there, the water is cold. As previously mentioned, a communal pool table may be a good idea?
- Evening entertainment very bland and boring compared to other resorts I've stayed at, entertainment definitely aimed for the older/elderly couples
All in all, I would love to come back to Mexico perhaps not during hurricane season (our own fault for not doing our research) however I would not be open to staying here as it is not a 5 start resort it claims to be.
I do hope this information is useful to others looking to potentially book ABBWR.
