Ocean Riviera Paradise — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

First off, I will start off by saying this resort is not a 5 star resort. 2.5 star at best. I have been to many AI resorts and this one falls near the bottom. Not everything was bad. I will list the Pro's and Con's. We are a well-traveled family, especially in Mexico, so we have a lot to compare it too. ||Pro's:|-Food was good. Not great. But, good. We enjoyed the Italian and Route 66 the best. Don't sleep on Route 66, you will be pleasantly surprised. Buffet: Enjoyed breakfast here the most. Make sure to go before 9 am or it was overwhelmingly busy. I hope you don't have Rosemary as a waitress, or you will get looked over. She never did stop, we just went and got OJ inside the buffet. I am a coffee drinker and thoroughly enjoyed the iced coffees with cream that you can order at breakfast at the buffet (Amaranto). Mikes coffee was good. Not worth the long ques though. If you're an iced coffee drinker, just order it at Amaranto and skip going there to wait. If you're an early riser, Mike's does not open until 7:30 am. Inside Amaranto they offer a table with hot coffee and OJ to self-serve, which I thought was great.|-Rooms: We stayed in the Daisy rooms. We thought our room was nice and enjoyed the bathroom set-up. We would tip our housekeeper and fridge stocker everyday and they seemed to take good care of us. |- Service at restaurants: The service at the specialty restaurants was good. We had no complaints other than their insistence to scan a google review qr code. We did it at the steakhouse and then was asked every time to do the same at all the other restaurants (you can only do it once btw). |-Service at the swim up daisy bar was exceptional. Thank you!|-Kids Club: They were very active with the kids, had great activities each day and were very kind! |-Bell boys - Kind and courteous||Con's:|-Check-in: Very unwelcoming. No information was given other than our wrist bands and told we could come back at 3pm. (We checked in at 10 am) We had a long/early travel morning. Around 2 pm we inquired if our room was ready, and they wouldn't even look or check. They said no, we said 3:00. Okay, SORRY. But, I have been to many resorts and can check-in to a room when it is available. Not here, so don't expect it or even ask for that matter. You can use the resort, just no access to your room. They were frankly rude. |Once 3:00 hit we went to get our bracelets activated and get a room number. We had put a reservation request at booking (6 months ago) a double bed room with a crib also, sent an email 1 week out with the request again. We were told no FOR BOTH. My husband had to get stern with the male front desk attendant to ask for one or the other. He told us it had a "pull-out couch so... " like I said, RUDE. He continued to request one or the other and after 15 mins of standing there he finally wrote down a room number on a pamphlet, said nothing and activated our bracelets. We had no idea what room we even got at that point. We were never offered to upgrade to privilege either.|- After check-in: (Which was already terrible) a man pops up in a blueish shirt from the privilege area saying our bags were not there unfortunately and he would make sure we got them so we could go to our room. He then went and got a female who he handed us off to. She asked if we booked any restaurants yet and showed us a screen with activities and what not and I had already downloaded the app and was familiar.. so then she told us to have a seat with her. Here is where they try and sell things to you regarding "free" services and credits and time-share memberships etc. I was so ready to just get to our room. My husband told her no thank you and we wanted to get our bags and go back to our room. She was visibly pissed and just got an attitude after this. So, we go back to the man who said our bags weren't there and he would get them. He looked at us and walked away when we asked him about our bags. EXCUSE ME. I have it figured out at this point, this was the game they play to sell things. We proceeded back outside with our luggage tag number and the bell boys took good care of us from there. Please do not fall into this trap.|- Lobby: While the lobby is very pretty, its a a huge trap. My 5 yr old daughter and myself would wake up and head to the lobby bar (opens at 8) to grab a virgin daq or cappuccino and sit down together. We stopped doing this after day 3 because they will hound you with offers and try to upsell things (h10 memberships i believe) I tuned them out. Can't relax at all, it's horrible. I have never been to a resort that I have seen this sort of dire need to sell things. |- Cleanliness: While our room was clean and the specialty restaurants were clean, the buffet was iffy and the pools were dirty ( I can only speak for the daisy pools ) It was honestly kinda gross at the condition of the (daisy) pools. |I was in the ladies room at the Amaranto Buffett and had a cockroach in my stall. Gross. But I can't say I saw them in the buffet area/seating area but if there's one in the bathroom....... you get what I'm saying. ||I will end this by saying although I know this may not be directly the resorts fault. Both of my children (5 and 2) got hand foot and mouth. Please bring lysol wipes and wipe down EVERYTHING. What a nightmare this has been.||You get what you pay for, we wanted to try this resort, it was cheaper and now I wish we would have spent the extra $2500+ to go to another resort like the Iberostar Maya/Lindo which are excellent and clean!|Just my...

Do not stay here. Please be advised

To say that the Ocean Riviera Paradise is a dumpster fire would be unfair to dumpster fires.

Before I go on, please take my advice and DO NOT STAY HERE.

We have stayed at well over 15 all inclusive resorts in our time, and this is easily is the worst we have ever encountered. BY FAR.

Every positive review is a fake. We are convinced that these people cannot be commenting or have stayed at the same resort. This hotel has clearly paid for fake reviews and has a very adept marketing organization that nicely polishes this turd through content and media.

The rooms. We had one of the two story rooms with jacuzzi deck over looking the pool. know that the rooms in this resort are filthy. Absolutely filthy. The furniture is old, stained, ripped, and deteriorated. The floors are stained with cracked tiles that haven’t been washed since their construction. The floors are caked with brown film. Walking around barefoot in the room or with socks on will yield blackened feet. The walls of the building interior have black mold throughout which they simply paint over (we have seen them actually doing the painting during our stay). The bathrooms constantly emit a smell that must be some form of raw sewage. Management tries to overcome this with a nasty chemical spray scent, but it wares off and doesn’t overcome the stench. You will also be residing with bugs of all shapes and sizes — if you like bugs, this is the hotel for you. You will not have any storage for your belongings because the lodgings will be quite small (and we shockingly had what they consider a fancy room). The elevator in the building, of which there is one of, only fits three or four people so be prepared to walk up and down stairs throughout your stay. Net net, absolutely filthy accommodations that befit maybe (and this is generous) a two star hotel.

The food. You will never find such a cornucopia of utter garbage to eat as you will at the Ocean Riviera Paradise. To put it mildly, the food is inedible. The good news is that you may actually lose weight at this resort because there are limited food options and what does exist you will only want in your mouth for at most 3 to 5 seconds. Are you reading this excited to maybe make some reservations at one of the glorious “restaurants” on campus as you meticulously plan your exciting vacation? Don’t bother. They’re all garbage. The Italian. The Japanese. The place on the beach.

the Steakhouse. I’m not sure what they are serving there but it certainly isn’t steak. If you want to get a full picture of what it’s like to eat there, take off one of your sneakers, put it in the microwave, dress it with butter, and cut through the rubber sole with a steak knife. Make sure you chew.

The buffet. Oh my god, the buffet. First of all, it’s a tiny selection relative to other all inclusives. I’d say it’s about a quarter of the size of what you would expect. For breakfast, there’s one person making omelets for over 100 people so be prepared to wait 45 mins to an hour to get an omelet. I’m not exaggerating. They also constantly run out of food so get there early if you actually want to eat. They do not replace bowls for the yogurt or cereal so you see children and adults eating out of coffee cups. I kid you not. The food was a sad parade of soggy pasta, rubbery chicken, and mystery meat that left us questioning our life choices. The salads wilted under fluorescent lights, and the desserts were a crime against sugar.

In conclusion, the Ocean Riviera Paradise truly redefined what it means to leave disappointed. From the dilapidated rooms to the lackluster food, every aspect felt like an exercise in endurance rather than enjoyment. The staff is unkind and seemed overwhelmed and ill-equipped. This resort serves as a cautionary tale—no amount of all-inclusivity can mask shoddy service and an uninspiring experience. If you're seeking relaxation and delight, look elsewhere; our stay (and the stay of nearly anyone we have met here) was anything...

We are H10 members. Were told when we were booking that it was too full to use our membership. Therefore we booked through Expedia. Upon arriving, we learnt there are plenty of empty Member rooms empty. We paid to upgrade. We were told our room is in a quiet area. Not true. The delivery trucks for the resort next door are right outside our room. Also, resort vehicles run up and down the resort road right outside our door and often park outside our door. Most Member rooms are left empty so the sales people can sell you a membership and immediately upgrade you to a Member unit. We have been members since before Covid and have not been able to use our membership here because it is allegedly always full. Essentially, that means we paid the cost of membership for an upgraded room that first visit. And have paid membership fees every year for nothing. The arriving members names are posted daily. Until yesterday, it has been about 11 daily. If you upgrade, there is a sign offering free wine or liquor to upgrade. I enquired about that and was told that because we didn’t pay the full upgrade price, we don’t receive the free bottle. We were offered the upgrade because we are members. We didn’t set the price and the room was vacant otherwise. We paid to upgrade period! And even though we identified as members, we received a message to attend a membership sales presentation. Apparently, if you are not approached upon arrival by the 20 or so ssles people, you receive a note inviting you to meet a sales agent to receive freebees. But you don’t know it is a sales agent. Other issues. Food safety is non existent! Milk at the buffet is not refrigerated. Food in hot tables is not kept hot or monitored. Health regulations require it to be over 105 F to prevent the growth of bacteria! Vegetables are displayed in water! Another health issue. My wife and I have had diarrhea within 30 minutes of eating every meal. We took a day trip to Holbox and had no issue until 9:30 pm when I finally ate at buffet. A word of caution, avoid anything with dairy and/or water. Avoiding these reduced the effects of diarrhea. A/c in room does not function properly. The hotel has a dehumidifier in our room that requires emptying every 4-5 hours. Again, this is a health concern if you are not in room to empty. Further, the dehumidifier needs regular cleaning. Judging by smell in room when it isn’t running, cleaning isn’t occurring. We upgraded to ElBeso and have a swim up pool. Issues. Water level is too high for skimmers. Pumps for skimmers are not working. Baskets for skimmers are not emptied. Rotting vegetation in skimmers releasing bacteria into pool water. I have made it a personal job to empty skimmer baskets daily. I do not believe the chlorine system for our pool is functioning either as I saw two staff members pouring a little (about 1 litre) of chlorine into the pool. They did not check the pH level. And since skimmers are not functioning, that little chlorine is not circulating. The beach? What beach. Non-existant. And because of the time of year, seaweed is rotting on the beach. Rather than using mechanical equipment to remove it like other resorts we have visited, the resort employees people to rake it and dispose of. The stench is too much at times for us to even consider going in that direction. When we upgraded upon arrival, we upgraded to the “Adults only section”. After upgrading, we were sat at the front of buffet restaurant. There was a list at hostess stand to indicate “adult only”. Suddenly on Monday, that list disappeared. We are first ones sat in what we thought was “adults only” section. The next table sat was right beside us with two children. That has been the normal for the rest of the week. So much for a relaxing, stress free holiday that we both so definitely needed! Instead, we have spent our vacation beside screaming ill-mannered kids and running...