Timeshare nightmare

The biggest issue was the circle one timeshare that was being sold upon entering the airport when we arrive to Mexico before we found our taxi we were hounded by sales representatives and unfortunately believed one of them and gave them the only cash we had on us for tipping they invited us to a breakfast the following day at a five Diamond Resort and told us that we would get discounts off the tour of the one of the Seven Wonders we foolishly believe them once we arrived at our hotel we were to [... read more]ld that they had an orientation the following morning ironically at the same time when we declined and said and asked if we can go at a different time they asked us directly if we were approached by someone at the airport trying to arrange for us to go to an orientation at another hotel. We were honest and told them what happened they said that they would help get our money back they in turn provided coupons that were redeemable for cash equivalent of $200 they said that we would have to also set screen orientation the next day basically it was the same sales pitch for the circle one Club and they took us to one of the buffet areas for breakfast basically told us that we should be tipping the staff at the buffets and asked us a whole series of questions of what we like what we don't like where we would like to travel to and so forth try to offers free alcohol then basically laid out the plan for us when we denied or decline the fun they left us and did bother to bring us back in the taxi they just let us walk back to the room. In addition to this the rooms were not ready until 3 p.m. are playing landed at 11 a.m. the lobby is not air-conditioned we were drenched I asked earlier around 1 p.m. if the room had been cleaned then after a series of phone calls they said yes it was ready thank goodness we thought to ask before 3 p.m. . The beach is a 10-minute bus ride away the buses come four times a day the beach at the resort was not deemed usable by the guests because it was dirty they had told us they had a seaweed problem bathrooms smell like sewage. The food was good at the buffets the restaurants would not take reservations if you did not wear long pants when you are basically in a sauna long pants do not come to mine and we didn't even bring long clothes long pants for the males in our family so the Mexican Italian and French restaurants were out of the question which left us with the steak and the fish this was unfortunate you would think that shorts would be admissible. I wouldn't recommend going to this Resort I would save your money if you don't have enough to book a better Resort I would wait until you can afford one and I would definitely do research because everything that I researched about this area was not what I expected. A tip to the organizer of this all-inclusive package you should not have flights arrive in the morning when rooms are not ready until late afternoon or make sure that the rooms are ready in conjunction with the flight arrival times telling a gas to go to the buffet for 3 hours is absolutely ridiculous you have all your clothes in your luggage you can't even go to the pool because you're not dressed for that right off the plane.

Great resort, amazing staff!

Had a great week at the Blue Bay! The food was awesome, the grounds were very clean, our room was great, and the staff were amazing!! We brought our two children and the staff were so good with them and very patient. We have only been home a few days and are already planning to go back!

Good Resort

The staff are wonderful and the grounds are lovely. The food is good but the specialty restaurants book up fast!!! There is plenty to do in the area for excursions so take advantage! This was my second time at the resort! They gym and spa are wonderful!!

Okay Vacation

The hotel was beautiful and clean. The only think was I was locked out for 2 day each for 2 hours because they didnt change the door lock! So annoying .Entertainment was good. Need more English workers.

Wonderful Staff!

The resort has plenty to offer but the staff is what makes it different from other places. From check in to check out, they take good care of you and make sure you have the best stay. Servers at all restaurants and bars are polite and very nice!

Good Resort

This resort was good, a lot of walking if you have small children. The water at the beach was not clean, but they have a spot about two hotels down that the water is clear and nice to swim. The food was great, serves was excellent.

Nice resort

Large resort, lots of golf carts to take you around, fast check in, good food/drinks, bad beach, nice pool, friendly staff, fairly clean. Slow staff in dining room. Lots to do on resort. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Resort was okay... would not recommend

For a resort in mexico the food was terrible. My entire family got food poisoning about half way through the trip. Rooms seemed very old and outdated, cracked tiles in the bathroom and bedroom and you can hear people in the room next to you talking. Only thing I really enjoyed about the resort was the large pool, But it was a twenty minute walk from our rooms. Seems they have too many people on the resort and the staff have a hard time keeping up with the demand this shows most in the food. They [... read more] are also definitely not the friendliest staff I have been around. It is getting very outdated and needs some work.

Blue Bay Review

Everything was very good except the waiter service was sometimes lacking , shower water pressure was slim to none. Had a good experience overall. Would go again and i have been before. The pool was full of activities even though the beach was covered in seaweed

It still above average, but I expected a bit more.

Overall I was pleased with the stay. I was initially placed in a room with an inoperable air conditioner. Unacceptable. I appreciate that the next day I was moved to the next building where the AC was perfect. So bad that the algae on the beach were everywhere. Generally, the beach is unusable. It would be nice if customers were informed in advance of this beach condition. Actually, the only place to cool off is the pool. There were lots of sunbeds. Drinks and food were excellent. Many choices.

Good family vacation spot.

First impression by Lobby / check staff was poor. Too long to check in. Attendant was slow and not very helpful. Restaurant, grounds, pool and other facilities were great and staff were friendly. Beach was unusable during the entire stay. Lots of seaweed and rough waters. Watch out for the "not timeshare" sales tactics. it starts with " I will be your personal concierge". They are very persistent in trying to sell you something. Spa was great.Overall ok.

Excellent averall

The hotel blue bay grand Esmeralda was fantastic, it’s just annoying that you can’t do night swimming on the pool as it closed at 7pm. On the bright side you see that they actually maintain the pool... the stuff are friendly and helpful and respectful. I like that they are attentive and give me my privacy depending on what I need. I really enjoy my stay on the resort

Nice resort

The grounds were nice, some jungle areas with lots of wildlife. We saw deer, raccoons,capabarras, iguanas and quatis. The pols were great multilevelled for relaxing, swimming or suntanning. Plenty of activities to do like foam party or a zip line across the pool. Food was good plenty of selection. Our first room had a broken a/c so we were moved without any fuss. It turned out to be a nicer room with a walk in shower and double sinks. The room safe was included as was wifi for one device. The be [... read more]ach was nice except for the seaweed. It was all along the coast at most of the resorts and by late afternoon you could smell it. They were raking it up constantly. But The seaweed issue is not the resorts fault it’s all over the Caribbean.

Friendly staff

The food was excellent. The buffet had a different theme every night and there was something for everyone!!! The ala carte restaurants were also very good!!! It was well organized and the staff was always very helpful and attentive. I would definitely go back!!!

Enjoyable Family Vacation

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda is a rather nice resort. We found the rooms as spacious and clean. The à la carte restaurants were plentiful and food (for the most part) was excellent. Buffets were repetitive - which most are! They struggle to understand/accommodate allergies ie. celiac. The grounds were very clean, lush and lots of wildlife (ie. Coati, Capybara, deer). Resort is very widespread, so expect a lot of walking or waiting for shuttles. Staff were very friendly, beach/pool bar servic [... read more]e was just okay :). We enjoyed our visit, however had a few disappointments. A lot of young immature "adults" who partied (obnoxiously) all day and night, with no break! The beach was the worst I've ever seen, large piles of rotten/smelly seaweed covered the shoreline and water, water was very murky with rocky bottom. If the beach is not an important part for you, you should be happy with this resort!

Gorgeous resort

First time in Mexico, and I'm so glad I picked this resort. Staff are amazingly friendly and helpful. Food is delicious. I have zero complaints! Grounds are beautiful and immaculate. Cute little raccoons and lizards everywhere. Loved it and would return over and over !

Great food, surroundings, staff, but not the greatest beach and noisy at night

We were especially pleased with the quality of food available at the buffets and a la carte restaurants even if they did start a bit later than we would normally eat. The desserts were the biggest let down with only a couple that we really liked, but we were satisfied enough with the main buffet options, we didn't feel we were missing anything on the dessert end. Ice cream/ sorbets were excellent though especially when mixed with "irish cream" whiskey. The alcohol selection was very good quality [... read more] name brand selections for most anything you could want. Canned beer & soft drinks restocked daily in the room fridge was well appreciated. We liked to mix our own drinks using the canned pop. There were many places scattered around the resort to stop and pick up a drink or two without waiting in much of a line if any line was there at all. If you want to go to a resort and hang out all day around the pool this would be a good choice, or try and find a lounge chair along the beach if you're lucky. It would be so much easier if resorts simply asked people to not throw a towel on a chair and leave it there for the whole day. You would be hard pressed to find a chair on the beach without a towel on it, but 70% of those chairs had no one sitting on them for hours. And it's not like they were out swimming in the ocean. I rarely saw more than 10 people in the water at any one time. The ocean structure here is far from pleasant to enjoy except for a few small sandy patches off to one side. The staff throughout the resort were excellent, not just the people you deal with, but all the maintenance workers as well keeping the place clean and working. The crew on the beach dealing with the seaweed had the worst job ever that I would never think anyone would sign up for without some sort of mechanical help. As many people have noted in other reviews, the late night noise that filters into your room is more than enough to keep you awake at night until they finally shut off the lounge music at 1:15am. It was as loud as someone standing inside your room talking, and our room was far from where the music was coming from. I had to turn the TV on quite loud just to match the volume of the noise. If you're not a late night party person, don't expect to get an early sleep. It goes on every night of the week. For some people this would be the ideal resort to let loose... if that's not you, be prepared. Perhaps there is a quieter part of the resort you could request to be located in. Our room was on the outside edge facing the "jungle" but that didn't help. The signage around the resort is not overly helpful. None of the restaurants have any sign at all to tell you what they are. You could walk right past the main buffet and not know it is anything at all. The Steak House and Sea Food restaurants are doubled up inside the waterfront buffet at night and again there is no sign at all to tell you they are located there. You just have to ask other guests to direct you. Even the signage for what building you are in, they may tell you that you are in building 7, but when you get to the building there is some other "name" and not a number indicating what building it is.

It was a okay hotel

I did not like the resort at all, the rooms had bed bugs and they were really rude about it. The alcohol was shit. If we wanted good booze it was extra which I don’t get because it’s all inclusive. Horrible

Beautiful property

The grounds were lovely and very well maintained. There were people on the job 24 hrs a day. Although many of the staff didn't speak English (there were multi-language guests so you can't expect all to speak your particular language) , all staff you happened upon always had an HOLA & a smile. We were in OXMAL 4123. Miguel was our housekeeping. He is fabulous! Everything was clean and tidy. He didn't take any short cuts. We saw the difference when he had a day off. Not hat his replacement  [... read more]did bad job, Miguel just does a better job. Gracious Miguel! Concierge - Mauricio & Fernanda deserve special mention as they go beyond their duty to assist. Both are an asset to the resort or any of your other resorts. Gracious to both! The Buffet by the Lobby - Gilbert, Santiago, Alberta & Angel made eating at the Buffet very fun. Their happy spirit was infectious & the make you feel so important & valued. We dined in all restaurants but this team were the best! Gracious to all of them.

You get what you pay for.

TripCentral emailed asking for this review, but honestly I probably would of wrote it either way. Officially my first review to give some context, but I was motivated to at least inform potential guests either way. I'll ramble for sure, but hopefully it is useful. First and mainly, this resort is O-K. Not great, not terrible. I read dozens of reviews prior to my trip and there were plenty of both. Here's whats true imo: - The beach is awful. There is a lagoon about a km down you can wal [... read more]k to, but its not great for swimming. If you want to tan there are plenty of chairs, great. If you want to swim, hard no. Pool, or excursion. I highly recommend Xel-Ha. -The rooms do smell musty. Some worse than others. Our first room was awful, but one phone call, 10 mins and we were moved. The second room was noticeably better, but the A/C does have a musty smell. Credit to the service team here for quickly moving us. I can easily see why reviews can go off the rails here. You get what you pay for. -The resort is old. It is worn in many places, but is kept very clean. The grounds, rooms, pools, restaurants are all very clean. We saw plenty of staff working to clean all of these areas regularly. You get what you pay for. -The sewer smell is real, but its not sewage. You can be educated on this if you need to be. Its not overpowering, but its there occasionally. It never ruined any of our experience. -The buffet is nice. The restaurants were OK. Steakhouse and Mexican were good. Italian, Seafood and French, were not. It was simple to book through a concierge and were never turned away as we booked in the morning the day prior. -The Pools are great, probably the best part of this resort. They are old, and there are tiles needing repair. But we did see workers attending to this almost every morning. -Drinks are o-k. If you want premium booze, you will need to ask for it. Otherwise no name well shots used in most drinks. Our room was also restocked daily with beer, pop, water and we were given a free bottle of tequila on day 1. - Free activities - not much going on... at all. There is options for pay to play jet-skis and excursions. Some worth it, some not at all. Even less going on at night. Black and White bar is ....a resort bar. There was a market three nights until midnight with local vendors. Prices were...eh..touristy. - The nightly shows are O-K. Some of them were pretty entertaining, just dont expect Broadway. You get what you pay for. - The sales pitch. You WILL be harassed. You will have a BEST FRIEND until you attend one of the sessions. Personally I went just to see what it was about, but you can tell them to take a hike. We were given 200.00 toward excursions for 2.5hrs of chat. So take that for what its worth. I went, I learned, I passed. I still got the 200.00. Once you do go and say no, you will never see your best friend again. You will still be approached regularly by others. In short, cleanliness, the food is OK, and the pools are big and nice to hang around. The bad I have outlined above. Mostly that its an older resort, not a bad value if you get it on the cheap and that the beach is basically non-existent. The the main point is that you get what you pay for. This is an OK resort, but I would never pay a dime more than I did to go here and I doubt I will ever go back. I paid about 1400.00 CAN and had a nice time. I dont feel burned. If a friend asked, I would tell them to spend a couple hundred more, to go to a much nicer resort.