Akumal Bay Beach And Wellness Resort Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico

By Beach | Trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico

“Almost Great, ... Almost” 

This was our first stay at this resort. We rate the resort 3.5 out of 5. If it wasn’t for the excellent staff, great beach and terrific snorkelling we would rate it 3.0. We explain our rating below. Room: The first room (2016) we checked into was building 2 (first floor). It was directly behind the pool and about 100 ft. from the nightly musical entertainment that played at the bar. It sounded like the music was piped into the room. We could not hear the television nor fall asleep until the band stopped late in the evening. We knew the resort had been renovated; however, we discovered the room to be very plain and unclean. It felt like were in the designated ‘party room’, as the walls were dirty; plus, we didn’t want to touch the glass doors to toilet and shower or the closet doors because of uncleanliness. The second day we had a very strong sewer smell in our room. The front desk staff was immediate to send someone to investigate. They discovered a sewer pipe had broken and the sewer gas was entering the room via the air conditioner; hence, the room was shut down. The front desk staff gave us the choice of 3 available rooms. We were moved to building 3, third floor room 3215. Even in that room, a sewer smell came from the bathroom sink. After a worker checked it out, the smell remained. We never had hot water in the bathroom sink; but, we did in the shower and the Jacuzzi. The jacuzzi was a nice touch especially on some of the cooler nights. The shower water stream fluctuated constantly as did the hot to cold. We had to have a service person repair the entry door’s lock to our room that wouldn’t work. The door looked like it had been kicked in at one point because of the large 6” crack near the deadbolt. In both rooms the sliding patio door would not lock. Service people tried to fix the patio door on three different days until we gave up. Also, when the wind was strong at night it whistled extremely loud in the room. On the third night, we discovered the solid patio door had a one half inch gap from the frame. We stuck two towels in the gap and wind tunnel noise was gone. It would have been nice to have had a desk and chair in the room. The buildings may have been renovated with a ‘new skin over old bones’; but, those bones keep poking out. Even with a new coat of paint - the water pipes, fixtures and air conditioning are still old and not dependable. We, as most people probably don’t spend much time in their rooms except for sleeping and showering; but, you still want the room to be decent, especially if your stay is more than one week as was ours. Restaurants: From our 12 visits to Mexican resorts (4 star or higher), the buffet was the best we have experienced, although the food wasn't always hot (similar to most resort buffets). Every night there were different foods to enjoy. The staff did their best to serve us; but, they were always short staffed. Consequently they would frequently forget our water, coffee, tea or wouldn't serve us. We weren’t sure what music they played in the buffet all day; but, it was truly awful. Why wouldn’t they play Mexican music in the background? In the evening, a four member Mexican band would visit tables and take requests. This added to the ambiance and was enjoyable. No reservations required for the 4 a la carte. Because of a garlic allergy, we only visited two a la carte: Gourmet and Mexican. We would give the Gourmet restaurant high marks for their presentation of the food - very impressive. Somewhat disappointed with the Mexican restaurant as we expected more traditional food we have experienced at other resorts. We never visited the popular sushi bar. Instead we would go to the snack bar where they served food all day, as well as cappuccino, coffee, tea, beer or liquor. And it had a nice sheltered sitting area by the pool, yet close to the beach. Beach: Towel cards are not a policy at this resort; but, perhaps should be, as some folks would take extra causing a shortage of towels. The towel game was the norm as it is at all the resorts we have stayed. Although, on our second last day about 8 am, we saw a staff member do two walk-throughs on the beach taking many towels from vacated beach chairs. Ourselves, I would go to the beach at 7:30 am and select two chairs for us and I would stay there and enjoy a cup of coffee from the snack bar and watch the sun rise. My wife would come to the beach after 8 am. We would then go for breakfast at the buffet. When I first went to the beach at 7:30 am, all of the first two rows of shelters with chairs would have towels draped over them. Sometimes people wouldn’t show up until 11 am or later. That is unfair to other visitors and good on the staff for taking some of the towels. We only saw one verbal exchange between people who came back to find others were occupying their lounge chairs. The staff had taken the towels and when the new people took the chairs, they had no idea others had draped towels there hours earlier. The original people moved on, disgruntled and no lounge chair to find! We preferred the area surrounding the dive shop. Abel, the one-man-band would appear most mornings on the beach. He was quite entertaining – enjoyed it very much. There was a small bar set up every morning near the dive shop in front of the most northern building number one. Marcelino tended the bar most days and he was super, as were the young women serving people drinks on the beach: Patricia, Rocio and Marcia. The drinks served were generous - certainly were not watered down (anywhere drinks were served)! The beach was well kept by the staff, removing the sea weed every morning. The beautiful beach itself was long, so you could enjoy long walks up and down. Only a short walk north on the beach is an area featuring local shops to purchase souvenirs, sun screen etc. We enjoyed popping into the different shops. Beach vendors must not be allowed on Akumal beach as we never saw one at all. The snorkeling was great. We always saw turtles, stingrays and different coloured fish every time we explored the ocean. The dive shop would supply us a life jacket free for 1 hour per day and only $3 if you wanted to use it all day. We had four days of no wind where the ocean was smooth as glass, four days of strong wind and six days of moderate wind. We did not stay at the pool at all as there were only beds! Lounge chairs should be by the pool instead of large beds. Large beds could be found in front of all the four buildings facing the beach and ocean for people to lie on. Tipping: As mentioned the staff we encountered over two weeks was exceptional, and we were grateful. We tipped regularly: room attendants, bartenders, waiters/waitresses, musical entertainment, omelet cooks, pasta cooks, restaurants (breakfast, lunch, supper). Check-in: We were one of two couples who checked in the evening of Jan. 25 at 6 pm. Once checked in, the clerk motioned us to a fellow behind us (Saul) and said he would direct us to our room. Rather, he small chatted and motioned for us to sit down. Upon doing so, he said he could reserve a lounge chair on the beach in the VIP area for 2 mornings. He also asked us about excursions we would be interested in. He commented our trip provider could help us but we could also book through him instead. We were both exhausted from a long plane and bus ride. We just wanted to go to our room. We noticed the other couple who checked in only conversed with their intro person for a few minutes. Saul seemed to want to keep us. We became suspicious and asked him if he was employed by the resort and he said he was. We thought perhaps he was with Time-share. We just wanted to go to our room so we ended the visit and had him direct us to our room. We discovered the next day he was with Fidelity Club. Needless to say, we did NOT use Fidelity Club. The resort reception should not have the Fidelity Club people pounce on you upon arrival. On our third day there, we mentioned to the reception people what happened, and they had no idea who Saul was. So we don’t know what the hell was going on when we checked in. If patrons want to pay the price of Fidelity Club, it should be a person’s choice to explore that option. Hotel management – stop doing this to people as they check-in. Miscellaneous: The Gym was clean with good equipment and wasn’t busy. The grounds workers were always trimming and cleaning. They do a great job. In the evening we found the lighting in the bar and the lobby area to be quite dim, so it was difficult so it was difficult to see while visiting with people or playing cards. We went to a Cenote with one of the dive shop staff. It was a morning tour and we went with two other couples. It was a small Cenote which hasn't seen many visitors. It was a great tour. We didn’t go on any other tours this visit; but, we have previously been to Tulum and Xel Ha twice. These were excellent and there are other great places nearby to visit as well. The resort is a 1.5 hour drive from the Cancun airport. The beach area in front of buildings 3 and 4 was smaller with somewhat of a rocky entrance into the ocean. The waves were quite noticeably stronger in this area as well. It may also have been quieter than in front of building 1 and 2. There were four pools. One small pool in front of both buildings 3 and 4 which people used every day. One larger pool in front of building 1, with the large main pool in front of building 2. The main pool should be heated a bit, as the children we saw were freezing in the cold water. It was a smaller resort with a big punch! In other words, it had a lot to offer for a smaller resort. We spoke with some people who have visited multiple times. One couple had been there 15 years in a row! We did not utilize the sauna or the massage area. Nor did we play tennis during our stay. People enjoyed the daily yoga sessions at the south end of the resort. We used the gym for a 1.5 hours 10 of the 14 days were there.

The strong points Relaxing friendly atmosphere, super staff, great beach, terrific snorkelling, good buffet food offering, appealing well-maintained grounds, no beach vendors. The weak points Disappointing 2 rooms we were in (sewer smell, malfunctions - renovations should have included plumbing, cleaning of air vents, door repairs), lounge chair towel game, only beds at pool side - should have lounge chairs, annoying Fidelity Club person.