AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye about Costa Maya Resort...

I appreciate all the response we got about lodging. I took your advise and did the "search" thing about Costa Maya. This gave me mixed feelings. I have an uncertainty about the quality of stay there.
Several items are causing concern:
1. The distant to town without reliable transportation. We tend to stay at remote places so this might not be too bad. Sounds like the "golf cart" routine will be a must. Or is the water taxi sufficient. Need advice on best deals there.
2. Read that the restaurant sucked. Is that true? Wher is the next best one? Also there was a lack of cooking utensils. My wife and I are good cooks but we don't necessarily want to cook all the time. "it's vacation, mon!"
3. Also the absence of staff at nite and the "rape" thing. Several stated that the place was run down.
Anyway, I may be "sniveling" and should perhaps shutup and enjoying, BUT.... I would appreciate anybody input on this place. If it's too bad I may try to cancel out of the reservation and book elswhere. We are staying at the Coral Bay Villas for the first five days

Tators and Dab...I have seen your posts in regards to your concerns about this resort and we too were in very much the same circumstances as you about 3-4 weeks ago. We arranged our stay through an exchange through our timeshare company and were assured it was a 5 star resort with many amenities that convinced us to book our stay with them. However, after reading the board and the information about this resort we didn't know what to do. We received a letter from the timeshare company informing us that many of the amenities we were told upon booking the resort were not there. I immediately called the timeshare company and requested that they either find us another resort or cancell our exchange and refund us. They did...and we made other arrangements which I think we'll be happier with. This is not to say that Costa Maya is not a reputible place (from what I understand it's under new management and we intend to check it out when we actually arrive in AC) However, as firsttimers we didn't want to take a chance. We received the following from a representative from the resortwhich perhaps may help you out making a final decision.... "Just to let you know that we do have these following items at the resort and I'm not sure why you were told they weren't, but I will look into it. The exercise room, convenience store, etc are projected amenities for this year sometime. Also, anywhere on the Northshore Island is mainly other resorts, such as ours, and restaurants, there is no shopping or convenience stores on the Northside. So anyone staying on the island would go into San Pedro to pick up the items they need, and there is water taxi's that go there every hour or two. I just wanted you to know in case you ever were to stay on the island. There are more items on order for the units, however they haven't arrived yet and therefore Interval needed to let all guests know. We do have an alarm clock, and there is laundry service right at the resort, and there is a VCR at request (due to sea air, we keep them out of the units), irons and ironing boards. And hopefully SOON, we will have TV's in the master bedroom, which will be ordered shortly. I understand your concerns and will look into the refund today. Thanks and have a great day!" Good luck....Goody

Goody and I were in the same boat... so to speak. We also bailed on our accomodations but probably would have stuck them out if not for our daughter travelling with us. My husband and I would have been perfectly happy scuba diving with BAD (the PADI scuba shop at the resort) whom we have read many good things about, they were also very helpful with all of my questions. CMR was also very helpful and tried to calm our fears but after the letter from our time share company we decided to stay at another location. We had also heard from another lady that just got back and she e-mailed us some beautiful photos. I think it had a bad reputation and it is having a hard time trying to live it down.

goody2shuz & BNBelizesoon,

Boy that was a mouthful! Thanks for your input. Where did you two end up staying? We booked this through II on a "Get Away". We tried an exchange but nothing was available for the time we wanted 5/3 - 5/19. Found out that Cap't Morgans is booked entirely out for a wedding 5/10 - 5/16. Bummer as that is where we wanted to stay. We are staying at Coral Bay Villas the first 5 days. So anyway, maybe we'll be the guinea pigs and try this place out and will post our findings. However if your other place sounds good then maybe we'll bail out too.
When are you going to be there? If you get back before we leave, let us know what you found out.

Tator... We were in the same boat..we are making our trip in April. We've booked Banana Beach...seems like alot of boarders have alot of good things to say about them. They are not within II exchange, however their rates are pretty good. AS a matter of fact, I think you can get better ones than we did because I hear that May is not the heavy season and most places offer specials. It's really up to you...you may want to hold off and perhaps if we had a chance to see Costa Maya while we're there (we'll be there in April) we can give you a report of what we think. We know exactly how you're feeling and we were going to try to stick it out...but with a way out we took it. We intend on checking some of the timeshares out for future stays.....Goody

Both are going in April, I'm sure Goody and I will report back on CMR as I think we will both end up checking the place out. That other couple I told you about said the place was beautiful and it did ease my fears ... they had a great time and said the place was beautiful, again my biggest concern was the distance from town and the food situation. Also, CMR was very helpful when we were going to stay, answering questions and such and when we bailed they were very helpful, very understanding, both CMR (we had booked 1 extra night directly) and II (we also purchased the getaway). I almost feel guilty... Goody family and my family have both checked into Banana Beach.