Perfect!

We have just returned from a one week stay at the Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda and from start to finish, it was perfect! The resort itself is very large and absolutely beautiful. The room was large and located in a great spot. The food was the best I have had at any resort and there was so much to choose from. The grounds were very clean and the staff were always friendly, I never encountered one person who did not have a smile :). This is a resort we would definitely come back to!

Beautiful Resort

Great place! Great food! Great beach.....loved our stay at this resort and would definitely recommend to my friends and family. I am hoping that we can return in the near future and that we win the trip to Jamaica; as we are hoping to go there next year.

Amazing experience!

The blue bay grandeur is a massive property! Lots of buffets to choose from, all serve a large variety and all good. The beach is clean, wide and very well serviced! Lots of interesting excursions close by. Highly recommend the Tulum/Coba excursion with Mayan lunch and swimming. Great resort!

Good resort

I thought the customer service was poor, the key machine wasn't working when we checked it, we ended up waiting hours for our room keys to brought to us, and a couple of days another issue with most of the resort room keys weren't working. Someone got into our room on our second last day and took the tip and goodie bag I left for the maid after they cleaned our room. But the room wasn't cleaned so I called guest services they said they would send security to check the key pad to see who came i [... read more]n but no one dame . We just got another call and asked if we wanted our room cleaned. The restaurant staff were very pleasant especially Wendy.

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda

First I'd like to say all the positives. Great staff, (if you tip well) beautiful lush grounds and very clean grounds. The pool was run down, tiles cutting your knees. Dirty from the day before they clean it every morning at 10:00 am. Too late if you ask me. Food, 3.5 / 5 beach was not nice, but up the beach to the left, beautiful lagoon. Strong current so beware. Overall, 3/5 star. Not worth the money.

Great place!

The food was good. The shows at night were entertaining and the beach bar show was amazing! Loved the swing bar! The pools were clean, bathrooms were immaculate and rooms were spacious but thin walls, lol. The only complaint was the smell while walking to and from the rooms to the front lobby. Sometimes, it was really gross smelling!

Good resort

Lots of great things about this resort: * Grounds are beautiful * Rooms were very nice * Beach/Pools were nice Checkin is painful - took over an hour and the process seemed to be disorganized Room cleaning dropped off (towels etc. missed on several days) Service with meals was hit and miss for breakfast only Would consider implementing a rule on towel "ownership" on chairs, often they were towelled but not occupied for hours therefore limiting other chair occupancy. Nice spot but wo [... read more]uld have paid a couple hundred more to get more consistent service

Blue Bay Esmeralda - Mexico ......Okay Resort - Great Location

This was my 5th visit to the Mayan Riveria. I love Mexico. For the most part, we are not going for the resort, but rather to experience all the area has to offer. Typically, we rent a vehicle and travel up and down the coast to see and do a variety of different things. Based on this the hotel's location (situated about at the half way point between Cancun and Tulum) it was perfect for reaching places in a short amount of time. The hotel itself was for the most part clean and well kept, h [... read more]owever was lacking the "WOW" factor. Nothing about it made us say "Hey, look at that....isn't that special". No swim up bars, No lazy river, very little water sports available, no fruit or ice sculptures on the buffet, no disco. There were a few shops (not that I want to shop) and basically one bar in the evening with some entertainment. Also, there were game tables however you had to pay to use them. At the time of booking ( and I will say I paid more this time than I have ever paid for a trip) we put in a request for a King size bed. We never did get our King size bed, but instead had 2 double beds. For people who are used to sleeping in a Queen size bed at home, this made for a very uncomfortable 9 nights sleep. I did request each day to have a King size bed (none available) but stopped asking by about the 5th day. To me, the beds should at the very least be Queen size. Meals: We did like that fact we had several dinner options each evening, Mexican, Italian, Steak House, Oriental, Seafood, French and a dinner show. Usually I enjoy the food in Mexico much better than I did this time. For the most part the food was okay but not spectacular. I will boast that the 'presentation" of the food on the plates at each restaurant was very nice. Circle One Club: Or whatever they call it....BEWARE! Over the years I have done several Time Share Presentations - all a total rip off! And this is just another one of these too! Although they don't call it Time Share. The 90 minute presentation which turned into 3 hours was a farce. They want you to invest a lot of $$$ in the property which boasts nothing more than a more private section on the beach! What a waste of our vacation time. All in all I would probably go to another resort next time or even consider not an all-inclusive option as I feel we don't get our money's worth for the amount of time we actually spend at the resort property. If I WAS going for the resort, I would go to the Grand Princess or try another one with more things to offer - "more bang for my buck"

Would go back

The staff were exceptional! Beach was nothing special 10 min walk down the beach to a very nice area to swim in at a different resort. The food was also exceptional! I have been to different resorts in Mexico and I would say the food at this resort surpassed all the others I have been to. We swam mostly in the pools which were very nice except the fact that both my kids cut open their feet on the tiles that were broken in the first two days of our stay. The staff at the kids club were gr [... read more]eat and the shows at the resort were amazing.

SMALL VILLAGE FEEL

THIS WAS MY FOURTH TIME STAYING AT THE BLUE BAY, NOT THAT I'M A CREATURE OF HABBIT BUT THAT THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE RESORT. WONDERFUL RESTAURANTS PERCHED ON THE OCEAN. LOVELY, FRIENDLY STAFF, EXTENSIVE BUFFETS. THE AREA IS FAST YET STILL A 10 MINUTE MEANDERING WALK ALONG A WELL KEPT FORESTED GARDEN WALKWAY (WHICH DOES HAVE LITTLE TROLLEY CARS THAT CAN TAKE YOU FROM PLACE TO PLACE IF YOU SHOULD REQUIRE ASSISTANCE) NIGHTLY ENTERTAINMENT, MARKETS AND WONDERFUL BOUTIQUE SHOPPING [... read more] ON THE GROUNDS. CONVENIENT BUS SHUTTLE TO PLAYA DEL CARMEN DAILY FOR FURTHER SHOPPING AND LOTS OF POSSIBLE EXCURSIONS IF GOING TO SEE ALL THE MAYA RUINS OR SINOTES. AND GYM FOR BURNING OFF THAT OVER INDULGENCE AT THE BAR AND BUFFETS. OF COURSE I WILL GO BACK EVEN THOUGH THE BEACH IS A LITTLE SMALL AND ERODED.

Nice resort

the people are great the rooms clean and nice buffett great no beach to speak of at all if u like to walk the beach don't go there great pool though also circle one people hound you so be prepared and then they don't honour the spa coupons and charged the room bit of a scam

Great Value

Grounds were awesome, pool and beach were very good, rooms were clean and stocked. Staff were always accommodating and helpful. Food was good with lots of different choice. The only complaint was the noise late at night and no one from the resort to police the offenders.

Relaxing time

We went to Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda the first week of January, 2017. It was our first all-inclusive trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 10. So, our review is with limited comparison! The resort itself is pretty clean, the grounds are immaculate, and the staff are friendly. I would say our first impression was not the best, as the check-in process took a VERY long time. When we finally got to our room, we found that their were no beers in the 'stocked fridge', and a family of 4 room is onl [... read more]y given 2 towels. We left a note everyday (and tip) for extra towels and a stocked fridge to fix that problem. WIFI is only given to you for one device. We opted to pay for the extra 3 passwords for the week, but I'm not sure if it was really worth it, since the WIFI was sketchy at best. I highly recommend downloading a lot of Netflix shows on your devices before leaving for your vacation! The food was pretty good. Breakfast and lunch are always buffets, with several locations. Our kids could always find something that they like.... in particular, hamburgers, pizza and hotdogs. :) The dinners are your choice of a la carte or buffet. We chose the restaurant option, and enjoyed all meals. The main pool is nice and big. The kids loved wandering through it and playing with their new friends. There is also a smaller pool away from the beach, which is nice if you prefer a 'quiet area'. I have to admit, that we were disappointed with the 'kids club'. It didn't look great, so we never left our girls there, nor did they want to be there. Its nothing against the workers in that area, but the kids club was away from the pool and beach, which obviously, our kids wanted to be near. Thankfully our girls are at the age where they will quickly meet and make friends at the pool, so they enjoyed playing this way instead of in a 'club atmosphere'. The beach is very nice, however please note that there is seaweed that the staff constantly cleans up, and it is a rocky bottom. Our girls only went to the beach a couple times since they couldn't see the bottom, and was very rocky. The sand is very nice though. Overall, we spent most of our time poolside. I suggest 'picking your chairs' early... people place their towels on a set of chairs, and they are claimed for the day. We preferred the shade, so we started going down around breakfast time to 'claim' our 2 chairs before heading into the buffet. Most importantly, the bar is excellent. Lots of options, including our Canadian Club rye. :) I did see a lot of people bring their own travel mugs, which made sense, but we're rookies. Overall, we really enjoyed our week of relaxation. My only caution would be for families who really need a kids club. I'm not sure if I would use that aspect of the resort. We did see some rooms with their own 'swim out' area... never actually saw a person in that little 'runway pool'... I wouldn't really recommend paying extra for that feature. Everyone is by the main pool.

Good resort

Good Place for the price point, food was better than expected. The water at the beach was not what I had expected. Soft Serve Ice cream and fanta make excellent Floats on a hot day. Pools were great. Only about 45 minutes from the airport and 15 to Playa Del Carmen for shopping. Stay away from the on resort stores which charge 12 dollars US for Doritos. Really good experience though.

Really good resort

We stayed at this resort in November 2016. Overall my husband and I enjoyed our stay. The resort was clean and well maintained. The restaurants and the food and drinks were amazing! The staff were friendly and very helpful. Some of the things we didn't like was the size of the resort. We stayed in the furthest bungalow from the beach and on foot it was about a 25 minute walk to the beach. The beach was also not the nicest we have seen. This resort also did not have a swim up bar  [... read more]or a true 24 hour snack bar. Other than that we enjoyed our first trip to Mexico!

Mediocre...

This was our second time at the Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda over Christmas - and was very underwhelming. We booked it again because it seemed like a great price and we didn't want the hassle of researching all new resorts. The holiday was ok - but nothing really spectacular. We have been going down south for Christmas since 2004 - and usually go to Punta Cana, Dominican. Last year we thought we'd try Mexico. It was a nice change so we decided to return this year. The food was pretty good  [... read more]with a decent selection. Except for desserts - they weren't very good. A lot of gelatin tart things. Christmas Eve was supposed to be a special dinner - but it seemed like the regular buffet items - but with a stuffed turkey. Of course I'm comparing the experience to Dominican here there is a huge seafood & sushi spread, carved roast beef, ham, turkey, special desserts... The service was lack lustre too. There were of course a few exceptions to the rule of bartenders/servers who created an experience - but most of the time it was hard to get their attention. They didn't really offer anything - like more water, coffee, another drink, etc. - you had to ask. And if you asked they would come and fill yours and then walk away without filling everyone else at the table. On Christmas Eve when the Black & White bar was extremely busy, they had two bartenders serving - and one on a ladder doing bottle inventory?????? We thought it would be easier to get a drink at the bar since the servers don't come to the tables very often, but we couldn't get a drink at the bar after waiting about 20 min. There was one server - Elvis - in the buffet at the small pool who was great. He's really the only one worthy of noting. The maid service was adequate. They would make the bed and replace the towels - but that's about it. Sometimes they wouldn't even replace the towels. Some days there would be three facecloths and one bath towel...other days no facecloths and three bath towels... The trolley stops running at 10:45 pm - but the restaurants are still open, and the shows are still going on. It was difficult (and far!) for my elderly parents to walk back to the room if they wanted to finish watching the show. And no matter how many people were left waiting for the trolley, they would not make another run after 10:45 pm. It is also difficult to get to the pool restaurants. The steakhouse & seafood restaurant are on the other side of the big pool - and you have to balance on the pool edge and squeeze between the chairs they have lined up. There is also no place to sit and have a few drinks and play cards & talk. There is only the Black & White bar at night which is loud, dark and always crowded. Hard to get a table - never mind service! And no where to go if it's raining. Except B&W - but good luck getting a seat when the entire resort is trying to get on there! Pools are decent. Although there is not much shade at all. At the small pool they have a few hut like things - but the roof is just slats so the sun comes in. And they were all taped off when we were there because they said they were redoing them. So there was ZERO shade around the pool for the entire week. There is little to no maintenance around the grounds either. The lights in the main hallway of our building were out all week. Despite us mentioning it several times to the front desk. Overall the resort is ok. Decent. Mediocre. The rooms are clean (didn't see any bugs), the food is good, no one is rude. But no one goes above and beyond to make your stay great.

Terrible Experience

Cockroaches in the washroom, raccoons running over dinning areas after closing, boring entertament starting very late followed by an hour long "disco". Never coming back there. Cheap alkohol selection. Crown Royal only for VIP guests LOL terrible :(

Amazing Resort!

We thought this resort was outstanding. The food at the main buffet was excellent, always changing the variety of food from day to day. The grounds were well kept, the staff was very polite and friendly. The beach was a bit rocky but we're not really beach people and the pools more than made up for the beach. The steakhouse a la carte was a bit of a disappointment which likely was due mainly to the poor service we received. All in all, we can't wait to go back.

Great week in the sun!

Hello, let me start by saying we had a fantastic time at BBGE. This is a great resort and did not disappoint. This was our first time in Mexico and the Riviera Maya is beautiful. We stayed at the BBGE the week of December 09th 2016. I would definitely recommend this resort. Our room was nice and kept clean and stocked everyday. The food was amazing. The a la cartes and the buffet were great. We went to the Mexican, Italian, Asian and the Steak house. All were really tasty and the service was the [... read more] best I have seen. The staff will help you at any time and are always extremely friendly. Hats off to Alfonso at the front desk, who made our stay feel like we were VIPs. The resort is very clean and well upkept. It is a long walk to the beach if you are in block 8' but you can always grab a trolley. While we were there the quite pool went a little green, the staff worked all night to clean and rectify the problem. By the next morning it was clear again. The beach was nice but the ocean was a bit murky and due to the recent storms that the area suffered, there was some ruff areas at the bottom. The night light was good at the Black and White bar and beach party at the wild pool right at the beach. It started everynight at 11:00 pm until 1:00 am. The dance shows are good. The only down side is the time share thing (Circle One) that they hit you with the minute you check in. They invite you to a VIP breakfast and then show you around the VIP area. Then it is up stairs and they try to convince you to buy in. It could be good for some but not for me, and don't forget you are on vacation, we don't want to know or have to think about anything legal or signing into something which is binding and expensive. They try real hard but just stick to your guns if you are not interested. The only good thing about it is that they offer you 150$ US in hotel certificates which you can use for different day trips and stuff from the store. You will also receive a beach bag, a Mayan calendar pendant and a bottle of tequila. Like I said they will try hard to get you to sign on and I am sure that they set up people in the room that sign on and they all clap to signafy the event. I believe this is a setup to get you to buy. Anyway this is a fun resort and we had a great time. I would definitely go back and I am already planning to. Hope this helps.

Beautiful!

Grounds were immaculate. The staff were cleaning steady. Food was good. The beef at the steakhouse and French restaurant were impeccable. Staff was always nice. Armando at the beach bar is awesome! Beach is beautiful. Some parts a little murky but still fine for swimming. Just say no to the time share they try and sell you when you arrive. Other then that we had a wonderful time