3* resort

Very disappointed that we were in a disability room that had so much mold on the walls, resort was not to capacity and still took till late wednesday afternoon to assign us a new room. Told us they would send a bellhop to help us move and no one showed up, we carried everything on our own to a non disability room. Not one apology

A wonderful resort by

A great resort in every sense of the word. The grounds were emaculet, the food was abundant, the rooms were spacious and well equipped. The best ever was the unparalleled quality of service and the welcoming attitude of the staff everywhere in the resort.

Nice place. 2nd time here. Would recommend

As this was my second time here, the first being a year ago at the same time, I knew pretty much what to expect. As with most Riu hotels, of which I've stated at many, you can expect a clean environment, from the common areas, to the dining rooms, and most of all in your spacious hotel room. The staff here is very good, upbeat, eager to please, and the rooms are always cleaned earlier in the day. The beach is great, long and expansive, with a nice little commercial area a 10 minute walk on the b [... read more]each from the hotel. There you can eat, drink, browse various shopping options, and even visit a local Oxxo. There are 2 bars, both gave poor acoustics, so it can get very loud, and very easily. In one of the 2 bars, the non sports bar, there were the same 2 bartenders who were there from last year. They are a true comedy team, and their attitudes are infectious and welcome. Regarding the food, it's pretty good, but not great, but you will be fine. The location of this hotel is more isolated than say in the Golden Zone, but for us, that's MUCH preferred, as it's quiet and peaceful, as opposed to the bustle of the Golden Zone. That's just not our thing, maybe it's yours though. Overall, the Riu Emerald Bay is a very nice choice to say in Mazatlan

Stunning Resort

The resort was amazing! We had a jacuzzi suite on the 18th floor. Such beautiful, clean, spacious rooms. The sunsets can not be beat! Everything from food, to beach, to pools, to staff were great. Cannot think of one negative thing. We will return again!

Riu,amazing resort

Riu resort was a fantastic trip,grounds in resort are well maintained. Food was great in all the different restaurants,lots of choices. Staff was excellant,friendly and always helpful. Superior rooms in newer section were excellent. Entertainment at night time was always a fun time.

Great resort

Stayed in a superior room in the new section of the hotel. It was very spacious. Loved the little decorative touches the maid left everyday! The resort is very well laid out. Lots of pools and loungers. Found that there was lots of choices available at the Tres Isla buffet for dinner. Had breakfast everyday at the Malecon. Our favourite restaurant was the Bamboo. Enjoyed the ABBA tribute show. The guitar player and singer that played before and after were fantastic. We would definitely return to [... read more] the Riu.

Great place

Went for a week with a friend! We both in our 20's had a blast! Uber downtown is 12$. The place is great, food is "ok"..staff are very friendly. Lots of drinks types. Beach is ok plenty of activities. God bless all

Everything you need for a great vacation

Pros Clean!!! Great food and choices Friendly and helpful staff Fully stocked room including towels and drinks Easy access to buses and taxis Nice long walking beach and opportunity to play in the waves Plenty of Sun loungers Good choices for pools with activities or quieter poolside opportunities Drinks available poolside from their portable bar service Cons Very noisy resort due to the high ceilings and tile floors presenting loud acoustics in the lobby and hallways. The B [... read more]anda on the beach plays most of the afternoon through a PA system, (which is less loud on the south end of the beach) but still very loud even in the rooms. No fault of the resort just a matter of fact.

Fantastic Hotel

The food was above average, hotel was kept clean including pool areas and lobby. This is a 1000 room hotel which is well built and the rooms have sufficient sound proofing . The room was the perfect size , nice big bathroom and closets and good privacy on the balcony with full ocean view If there is one complaint, the elevators were slow and I was on the 19th floor. As well, the mini bar fridge was not always fully stocked. A big shout out to Manuel and Francisco at the main bar lounge, they we [... read more]re entertaining .

Done

This was our 5th and last time to riu emerald bay, we where in the new section rooms are nice clean but locals have no respect for the resort and other people as the noise is terrible at night our 3 am take your pick food was still good except alacartes but that's always been like that hit and miss, bands playing on the beach is terrible everyone complains but public beach and locals like it so bands it is so for these couple reasons we will not be back.

Great Resort

Hotel grounds and the beach were beautiful, as was the ocean view room we stayed in. Staff were great too. General buffets and the snack bar were delicious, but the specialty restaurants were a little disappointing; could only get into two of them, and one was also a buffet, with pretty underwhelming fare. Still very happy with our stay though!

Nice Resort

Liked: the location, the beach, the staff, the food. Needed more elevators, and palapas on the beach (Palm trees not providing enough shade), not much insulation between units and floors; heard a lot of noise from the neighbors.

Large Beautiful Resort

What a beautiful resort! Considering that the resort was fully booked because of the eclipse, there were never any problems getting into the restaurants or finding a lounger by the pool or the beach. The checkin process was very quick, even with three tour buses of guests arriving at the same time. Dining was superb with great food and friendly staff. The rooms were very nice with a very comfortable bed. The only negatives we had concerning the room was the replenishing of the minibar and liquor [... read more] dispenser. Two of the bottles in our liquor dispenser were empty when we arrived and it took several days to get someone up to replace the bottles. Also, the tap water is not drinkable so large bottles of water are supplied in the minibar. Except our minibar was not replenished until the last day of our stay so we had to scrounge around getting water to use. I guess another maintenance item was the loose and broken tiles on our balcony. But the view totally made up for it!

Lovely Resort with beautiful beach

The resort is beautiful. This is by far the cleanest, best cared for property we have every stayed at. The service was exceptional throughout the resort. Been to several all inclusive properties and the service at this one really stood out be it the restaurants, Bars, housekeeping or just asking someone for directions. They all went the extra to be helpful. It is set a little away from town, but easy access by bus, Taxi, Uber, or Safari cab. It has an absolutely beautiful beach, however ocean S [... read more]wimming depends on Tides and time of year. It does have a strong wave / undertow at times. Lots of pools and a great resort for both adults and families with kids with water slides and dedicated kids playground and activity area. Looking to come back next year with the whole family.

Good Resort

This resort is a great place to take your family. The pools are very clean and are not too full. They do a great job at cleaning the bathrooms and rooms. The food selection in the restaurants is also amazing.

Great Resort

We had a great time at this Hotel Resort. The food was good. Lots of fresh fish and sea food in the buffet. All kinds of things for kids to do. There was one kids show and two adult shows a night. Hotel was very clean. They where always cleaning every where. Nice to see that. The staff in the buffet, restaurant and around the whole resort where some of the best we have seen. Very friendly and help full. It was a great mixture of young parents with children to elderly people like my self all h [... read more]aving a fun time. Thank You

Great resort for kids

We traveled to the Riu Emerald Bay for a week in February 2024 with our two kids aged 5 and 8. Overall, the kids had a great time, even though we did find the resort lacking in a few ways. We stayed in the tower with a beautiful oceanview. The tower rooms are very dated and in need of an overhaul - small, uncomfortable beds, chairs on the balcony were cheap plastic patio chairs - which was an issue since we hung out outside each night after the kids went to bed. Also no light on the balcon [... read more]y which made evening time a bit more challenging. The food was plentiful and overall decent. My kids didn't have issues finding food to eat. The a la carte's are not easy to reserve - we only got to Bamboo once, even though that was by far our favourite. If you have any dietary issues - this may not be the resort for you. I'm lactose intolerant and don't eat pork and found the available options to me to be extremely repetitive. Kids club was good - lots of diverse activities that mine enjoyed. Having the indoor ball play area was helpful the days we had rain. The large slides were a hit for my eldest, but user beware - I'm not sure this would pass a safety inspection in Canada. Beautiful and huge beach, but waves can be very rough with a strong undertow. Our package was supposed to include babysitting for an added fee. Very disappointing to arrive and learn this was not in fact offered by the Riu.

Pretty good with some flaws.

Grounds For the most part, the resort was very clean. There was always staff cleaning different areas of the resort. Rooms The rooms are a little bit older, but they were very clean. The beds were somewhat comfortable and the AC was strong. When being assigned room, you should hope that you get assigned to a room closer to the ground level as it takes a really long time to take an elevator down to the lobby. Every day, I just walked down from the 8th floor to the lobby. Food The [... read more] food gets quite receptive after a few days. The food tends to be overcooked and it tasted average at best. Nothing really blew me away. There are only two restaurants where you require a reservation to dine in (Asian and Mexican). In my opinion, the Mexican restaurant was quite horrible and the Asian restaurant had decent food. However, for both the Asian and Mexican restaurants, they either were fully buffet style (Asian) or the appetizers were buffet style (Mexican). The other 3 restaurants were buffets along with a grill near the pools. The non-alcoholic drinks tasted quite diluted. Pools They had an amazing waterpark that is fun for both children and adults. The resort has around 7 pools. The pool near the buffet was less popular and tend to attract a lot of seagulls and birds. As a result, it led to a lot of seagulls defecating in the pool. Otherwise, the other pools looked relatively clean. Service The service from the staff was amazing. Everybody was extremely friendly and polite. The RIU app was easy to use and enabled us to make reservations at restaurants, request a refill in our minibar, or request refills to amenities such as conditioner and shower gel.

Amazing Resort

Rooms, food & service was fantastic. Maids were amazing & waiter’s. Great bartender’s. The only downfall is that the entertainment needs to be improved. They need at least a Michael Jackson impersonator. They also need the head of entertainment to speak better English. P.S I’ll never book with Trip Central as my agent told me & emailed me a visitax form that cost me for 2 $58.71 US dollars. I then find out I didn’t have to purchase it. Not for Mazatlan, Mexico. Trip Central said it was my fault. [... read more] I reached out to the Mexican government & they will honor this if I visit a city that needs this visitax form.

Amazing resort

Stayed at RIU for the first time, haven't been to a better place ever. Great service both room and hotel in general, clean pools, nice bars with entertaining bartenders, huge variety of delicious food, everything was on point. 5 stars, hands down!