Barcelo Karmina Palace

We recently spent a week at Karmina Palace (January 2003) and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The hotel itself is gorgeous, the rooms are really large and very clean, the ocean was warmer than the pools and deserted. Actually the whole hotel seemed to be at about 50% capacity - there were as many staff there as guests, it seemed. The staff were all very helpful and friendly (trying a little Spanish seemed to be appreciated). We received a free massage with our package and that was great! The first day we asked the lady cleaning our room for some more bottled water and every day after that our mini-bar was stocked to overflowing. We had one on one dance classes and for the power walk in the morning we were the only couple walking with the guide. All the young people working in the Entertainment team were great and they seem to be really trying to make our stay good. The fun casino was fun and we even won some prizes. Although they suggested we make reservations for the restaurant at night, we never needed them - just walked right in. What a lovely spot! All in all it was a super vacation and we'd sure consider going back to Karmina Palace next time. We are concerned, however, because this week's earthquake down there was in the general vicinity of the hotel - hope everyone and everything is okay at Karmina.

We stayed at the Karmina Palace for two weeks in Jan 2003. The hotel is beautiful, the grounds are amazing but the food is horrible. Our whole family got sick. The food is the same everyday. I hope you like refried beans and deep fried fish - eyes, head and all. The food sits out in the open air covered in ants and flies. It was disgusting. This is not an exaggeration. Several people we met got sick as well. This hotel has the potential to be a 5 star if they fire the chef. Unless they make immediate changes I would not return. Eating Exlax would have accomplished the same result. Bring a hefty supply of imodium if you go to the Karmina Palace. Also I recommend you learn spanish and look Mexican. Mexican tourists rule the place. They get preferential service from the staff. We often were pushed aside in favour of a Mexican tourist. We have never experienced this treatment in Mexico. This is not a racist comment but a fact!!! My rating "TWO BUMS DOWN"

We just returned from a 4 day getaway at Karmina Palace. Having read all the reviews here I was watching for signs of the misfortunes some people mentioned. First, the rooms are first rate. Nice size very comfortable and pleasant. The grounds are beautiful and the golf course huge! The food was not 5 star, but then, when you're cooking for around 1000 people at each meal it's unlikely to be as it would in a 5 star restaurant where everything is cooked to order. The food was, however, very good, definitely enjoyable with lots of variety. The Carioca was disappointing. The menu limited and the food only fair. The buffet is definitely the way to go. I did not experience the problems with the drinks or service to non-Mexican visitors as others mentioned. I speak Spanish and tried talkedonly in English at times and found no difference in service or attitude. I was disappointed with the private beach. The sand did not look clean and it was very small. It also seemed to be occupied by mostly kids. Basically this is a very relaxing weekend or 3 day getaway resort. Any longer and the repeditiveness of the food and lack of activities would be oppressiveI do not recommend with children over 10 years old; just not much to do and older children would be very bored. It is definitely a good value but we probably will not go back to Karmina Palace, or to Manzanillo. It's just too quiet and not enough to do.

Where do I start. We spent Christmas and New Years at the Karmina. The rooms are very nice and the grounds are beautiful. This was our 9th trip to various parts of Mexico for the holidays. We booked for two weeks and we were ready to come home after 4 days. I am not a prejudiced person. It seems that during the Christmas season, the hotel is frequented by many Mexican guests, mostly from Guadalajara (80% of guests). I don't know if its because these people have greater wealth or what, but they are undoubtebly the rudest and most arrogant folks that I've met anywhere in the world. They crowd in line and demand service. The wait staff kisses their butts for fear of losing their jobs. We waited in the 4PM line to the sitdown rest. We were #4 in line, when it was our turn, there were not any resv left for 8PM. It seems only a few need to wait. I went to the grill one afternoon and ordered some quesadillas, the cook responded that she didn't have any. I asked "you are out of cheese and tortillas", she replied, how many would you like. Last but not least, they charged us 100 dollars per person to attend the New Years Eve Party. Interesting for an all-inclusive. This place was quite an experience.

Just got back from the Karmina Palace Dec. 27- Jan 4, 2003. Well folks, it's like this. The grounds, hotel and room are amazing. Truly beautiful and definitely 5 star stuff. My ten years old loved the kids club. Management and service leave a lot to be desired. The food is lack luster and hardly ever served at an appropriate temperature. Drinks which you would presume to be alcoholic are not unless you specifically ask for alcolhol and then actually watch the waiter pour. New Year's Eve was the biggest joke I've ever seen. They organized 2 parties for the visitors, one was free and the other was $100.00 (U.S.)per person. well nobody wanted to pay that ticket price so nobody went to the expensive bash. Unfortunately, the Karmina was not prepared for most people to attend the free bash and they did not have enough table space to acommodate everyone. Many people went back up to their rooms. My group, however, went to the manager and complained. As a result, the manager gave us a table at the expensive party for free which was great for us but imagine how the paying guests must have felt. We also simply could not get a safety deposit box for our room. The hotel did not have enough if all rooms are being used. And finally, the swim up bar has been built over by the one of the restaurants...so don't look for it. We took pictures of where it used to be. Very hit and miss at the Karmina.

I recently spent a couple of weeks in Manzanillo at the beautiful Karmina Palace. I had a wonderful time. Some of the things that made it so enjoyable were these. The rooms are THE best I've been in on a resort. Comfy beds and a great view. I found the food service staff to be quite accommodating and friendly. I speak next to no Spanish and was able to get everything I needed. There was a good variety of foods. However, let's be honest. It's rare to find food that's of gourmet quality when on a large resort. Be conscious of your choices and the food's completely acceptable. Try booking into the restaurant. Yummy Tortilla soup. The activities staff was always brightening my day with there outgoing, upbeat manner. They encouraged lots of fun exercise, taught me how to dance, and put on some entertaining shows. And when I needed time to just relax, be in my own head space and daydream, I found the extravagant ocean view a perfect escape. I'd say the strongest draw to Karmina would be the dreamlike aura surrounding it. What memories! I've been to a number of resorts and this was far and away the most beautiful.

Karmina Palace....what can I say...it was great! We start off walking into one of the most amazing lobbies ever (I don´t usually notice the lobby in hotels). This one is like a mayan temple. Then we walked outside and saw this beautiful Palace! Pools everywhere, beautiful tropical gardens and a nice little private beach. Our room was great with a great view of the grounds from our little balcony, and there are two TVs in the room! Those of you with kids will appreciate that one! My little guys (I have 3 - 4, 6 and 7) were really happy in the Kids Club and the staff did a great job with them. The activities staff were great and we had a great time in the various activities, even though there weren´t a lot of people there, they still were enthusiastic and very nice with us! The shows were lots of fun and it was great to see the guys up there doing their best! Our overall experience was great for the whole family and the little things the staff did to help us out with stuff was a big plus. We found that a little effort on our part with the spanish and the staff reacted very positively. It seems funny that so many people forget that in Mexico, their natural language is spanish! Imagine if someone came to Canada or the US and expected us to speak their language! All in all a wonderful experience was had by all, and I recommend Karmina to any family looking for a great time together. Ed Washburn, Missisauga, Canada

My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon at Karmina Palace. Palace my a#@! More like a prison down to the tacky wristbands we were required to wear all week long. The rooms are nice and the scenery is great, however we came for service, good food, and entertainment none of which we received. Food - Horrible, So this is what 5 star beans taste like? Service - What Service? After deciding to get her own drink because there was no waiter in sight, my wife had to wait 20 minutes while the bartender served other waiters literally trays full of drinks before he got her just one. Entertainment - The only entertainment we had was playing ping-pong and watching out dated movies in a so-called theatre. Language - Not English, unless you are fluent in Espanol I wouldn't even visit the place. In summary, we cut our honeymoon short due to this misserable experience. Please, I'm begging you, don't go!! Your money would be better spent flushing it down the toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just returned from a wonderful stay at the Karmina Palace Resort. The weather was hot but with a nice ocean breeze. The rooms were very nice but stay no lower than 4th floor. A few tips for a more enjoyable stay than the previous reviewers: 1. Learn a little "espanol" before your stay!!! (Please and thank you go a long way with the staff) 2. They DO!!! print a program for the schedule of the resturants each week. Make sure to get reservations for the Curiacao at 4pm sharp as it tends to fill early!!! duh!! 3. Try tipping your room service wait staff a few pesos and see how much more pleasant your stay will be. (20 pesos goes a long way!!!) 4. Get out of the "compound" at least once and see the local area. hint: great mediteranean rest just to the south of karmina driveway!! 5. Don't try to "bring" the U.S. with you wherever you go!!! 6. Use the safe deposit boxes a the front desk if you are too cheap for the room box. 7. Use the water slide at least once!! It's ok even if your over 15!!! Watch out!! It's fast!! 8. If you want to try scuba diving try Underworld Scuba just accross the golf course on your left. Sue, Garry, John and Carlos can hook you up for some great dives or snorkle trips!! Had a great time. Wish we were back there.....

We spent eight wonderful days at the Karmina Palace. It was the first time we had gone for less then two weeks on a tropical holiday and were sorry we weren't staying longer. There was not a thing we can think of to complain about. The staff was friendly and helpful, food was great, location beautiful. The beach was small but still had plenty of room and was safe for swimming. Actually if I think hard one thing to complain about would have been that tennis was far away - we did miss playing. We came home totally rested and relaxed and wanting to go back very soon!