Oddly inconsistent experience. Disappointing.

We checked in on a Friday night. We were escorted to smaller unkept check-in which smelled like sewage. We were offered drinks and I requested my usual but they only had cans of pop which I'm not used to at a 5 star resort. We were given verbal instructions on how to get to our room. The hallways were very dark and an elevator was out of service so we got lost and had to come back again to the main lobby - again used to being escorted to our rooms at most five-star resorts. On the walk to our ro [... read more]om there were beer bottles scattered on the floor which was not pleasant to see. We went to the Blue agave that same night and our server was so rude. I asked for a virgin margarita and he said "so just lime juice?" He cut me off when ordering too. The service did improve throughout the rest of the days but be forewarned, if you checkin at night you will be very disappointed as a first impression which is not a great way to start off an experience. The room service food is very inconsistent, when it was fresh the ceviche and steak tacos and rigatoni were delicious. if you go with kids, half of your restaurant choices are gone as they are adult only. You only get 3-4 choices so during a week long stay, it will get very repetitive. We got food poisoning from the hibachi place. The shrimp aguachile at the Mexican restaurant was raw (grey). The buffets have no fresh food station like pasta or omelet. They have no toys or rental equipment for you to use if you have children so you will have to bring your own. All in all of you have gone to other 5 star resorts you will feel so disappointed here. We did enjoy breakfast at The Lunchbox, Victor and Carmen were amazing. Carla at the kidsdom was so sweet. Manuel at the aqua park was a machine. Such hardworking staff overall. Everything switched up on Monday when more guests started checking in and managers came on site. Our room service did a pretty great job cleaning the room, organized things in the room wrapped up chargers which was a really nice touch.

Incredible Resort

Our family extremely enjoyed our stay at this resort. There was plenty of options to eat, rooms were spacious and kept clean, lots of great pools. But the best part was the service was top notch from the staff. Very accommodating and polite. We will be back again.

Amazing Resort!

Great Resort this was our 2nd time going to this place. Food and Service was excellent loads of activities for kids and adults alike . Beach wasnt so great as they are having a seaweed issue . Rooms are well maintained and service is next level.

Paradisus Playa del Carmen

This facility is very clean, staff were extremely helpful and friendly. There are your typical restaurants such as Italian, Oriental and Steak house. The main buffet restaurant is by far the smallest buffet I've seen. This is my 7th facility and by far the lowest rating. The food was for the most part warm at best. The selection is limited and would repeat frequently. For what it cost I would have expected better.

Fantastic Family Resort

Overall we had a great family vacation ( travelling with 2 small children) at the Paradisus and we would recommend the resort to family /friends The pros: 1. Fantastic staff! Everyone was so friendly and worked so hard to make everyone’s trip a great one. 2. Upgrade to reserve. Very happy we did this option! Having Rossana as a concierge was very helpful. She helped book all of our reservations for dinner and handled any requests we had super quickly. She also brought little surprises  [... read more]to our daughter throughout the week which she loved. In addition we loved having access to the additional restaurant Olio and reserve pool 3. Layout of the hotel. Very well designed making it easy to get to all of the different areas quickly 4. The food. Restaurant options ( other than the buffet) were awesome and better than other resorts we have been to in Mexico 5. I had heard some complaints about seaweed prior to coming but when we were here the beach was super clean and warm with plenty of spots to sit! The cons : 1. Swimout and pool temperature. We upgraded to a swimout but wouldn’t do it again. Our sun beds were in the shade and the pool temperature was really too cold to make a lot of use of. In addition we found the pool temperature at all pools to be a little cold ( including the “ heated” reserve pool) 2. Towels- multiple times there were no towels available at the pool All in all despite the few cons the resort is fantastic with such amazing staff! We would come back again!

Paradisus is paradise

Very clean hotel! Staff are very friendly and helpful. They try to make your stay pleasurable and enjoyable. Great food and restaurant choices. Lots of loungers poolside and at the beach. We wished for more umbrellas for shade, especially up around the pool. People tend to stake claim on those shade spots early by leaving their towels. Otherwise would highly recommend the resort! 👍🏻👍🏻

Beautiful wedding venue

We were a group of 40 or so attending my daughters wedding and it was beautiful!! Excellent resort for children as my grand kids were all there. Rooms, pools, service, and staff were awesome! The biggest problem we encountered at this resort and would cause me to never visit again was the food. Not that the food tasted terrible but was always cold!!! Taste was good but buffet food temperatures were horrible and the al la carted we visited were not quite as bad but if you didn’t eat quickly you [... read more] were eating some of it cold. I am not the only one in our group that complained about it we all did.

Stunning resort!

Beautiful resort with *incredible* and friendly, attentive (without being intrusive) service. Immaculate grounds and picturesque public areas. Lots of unique seating all over resort for relaxing in. Room was perfect, large and modern with in room stocked fridge. Pools were lovely with lots of chairs available at all times (we were there end of January) both on adult and family sides of resort. Bars served wide variety of fun cocktails and staff were friendly and welcoming. Food was fantastic- tr [... read more]ied 4 a la carte restaurants, the best of these being the Teppanaki where a chef cooks for a small party of 8-10 people at a time. The buffets at lunch and breakfast were outstanding with wide variety. Last but not least the beach was amazing, white sand, clean and well maintained with a lifeguard, washrooms and a bar. Would most definitely recommend and will be coming back ourselves!

Excellent resort

WE travelled in many different all inclusive, 5 stars.Our expérience at Paradisus Esmeralda Satisfied all of our expectations.We were very satisfied with all aspect of the resort.Amazing service, very professional and pleasant staff. Food and service at all restaurants and buffet excellent Nothing negative to say. Rooms very clean .

We keep coming back!

This was our third visit with our kids, now 4 & 6, and we can’t wait until next year! The food, the pirate ship pool, the water slides (heated pool!), the staff - all five star. We have never done family concierge, and honestly don’t see a need to.

Excellent Value

The Paradisus La Esmeralda is a very well appointed resort. The five core a la carte restaurants were very solid with Bana being home to the best sea bass I’ve ever had. The staff across resort are quite friendly and Mario at Vento was simply the nicest and attentive server we’ve had in a long time. The rooms are clean and are in pretty good shape. Beds are soft, the balconies offer a welcoming view, and the mini bar is stocked every day. There is a good sized water park in addition  [... read more]to the many pools. It should be noted that while there is a small restaurant there, they do not have a stocked bar. The beach is definitely a plus with a long stretch of soft white sand and plenty of chairs. Now the cons: The check in process was more stressful than it needed to be and with two little kids in tow was difficult to then drag our bags to our rooms. We also had an issue with one of our credit cards not being processed. In more than a dozen all inclusive trips overseas this has never happened so I highly recommend alerting your bank to your travel plans. There were also a LOT of mosquitoes to and with several of the restaurants and the main lobby area open air this left our children exposed to several bug bites the first couple days. Finally, I’ve never been more bothered for upgrades or to attend a time share presentation in my life. There are staff members literally lurking behind corners to greet you and inquire if you want to upgrade a room or rent a cabana. These are resort staff and by the seventh time I had to be very firm with them and then also seek ways to avoid them. This was very frustrating. Overall, the resort is a nice place for families with young kids and on par with a resort like the Azul Fives.

Great Resort!

The resort was great! Food, especially the a la cartes, was really good. The buffet selection is small, however this ensure fresh food is always being brought out and it’s not sitting for extended periods of time. The overall feel is relaxing and there was always lounge chairs and couches to sit on in the evenings. One part the group of us enjoyed was the adult side (la perla) is not restricted to only those who booked for that section. We were not travelling with children but stayed at la esm [... read more]eralda. We were able to eat at the buffet for breakfast and book a la cartes on this side or even go get a drink at one of the bars. We thoroughly enjoyed this option. As two of us were celebrating birthdays, the resort staff surprised us by putting balloons in our room which was a nice touch. In the mornings when heading out to breakfast or the pool, we would place the door hanger out indicating you are “out enjoying paradise” and our room was cleaned most days upon return to change into our swimsuits which again is much better than most resorts where they are cleaning it late afternoon when you are wishing to get out of the sun. Overall this resort was one of the best we’ve all stayed at and are looking at returning in the new year! I would recommend this resort to anyone who is looking for good food, relaxing time and excellent service, especially Grisey and Marcos, two of the pool side servers who were quick to take our orders, both food and drink and would even bring the drinks to us while we were in the pool trying to stay cool. They were as amazing as the resort was!

Return Visit

This was our second time at the Paradisus La Esmeralda. We loved it so much that we wanted to return. The check-in process was simple, we were welcomed immediately. Our rooms weren't ready but that gave us time to grab some lunch in the buffet and refamiliarize ourselves with the resort. The waterpark is an amazing addition. It wasn't open last year when we went. The kids (and adults) loved it and it was never busy! The staff at the poolside restaurant were amazing. Arturo kept us well ta [... read more]ken care of every day. The Activities Staff (Angel and crew) provided so much fun. My children loved playing the games with them by the pool. No surprise, the food in the restaurants was top notch. We even ventured onto the adults-only side to try one of their a la cartes. Overall, a fantastic vacation. We will be back again!

Great vacation

We were very impressed with all the amenities the hotel had to offer. The restaurants a la carte were excellent, and they had a lot of activities for children. The water park was a lot of fun. My kids 3 and 4 years old had a blast. They have an adults only hotel that you can also have access too ( the gym is located in the all adult section and the classes are super fun, I did the spinning class a couple of mornings). Transportation was always on time, and we felt very safe. Would visit again.

Beautiful resort

I liked in this resort the rooms and service. The pools are very beautiful.on the beach some days was a lot seaweed. The resort is very good for families and has a lot of programs for children. There is also a beautiful pool and water park for children.

Nice pools but horrible beach

The hotel is beautiful but the beach is so horrible we would never go to this area again. Service was great but i got food poisioning. Thr quality of the wine needs to be better. More options for different wines. Waterpark is amazing.

FAMILY RESORT

HOTEL NICE AND CLEAN, NICE POOLS, GREAT FOOD, GROUNDS WELL KEPT. STAFF VERY NICE, BEACH IS NOT GREAT BUT OK. EXCELLENT FOR FAMILY WITH YOUNG CHILDREN. BARS SELECTION GOOD, NOT A PARTY RESORT BUT ALSO LOT OF YOUNGER CHILDREN SO NOT VERY QUIET.

Huge resort, disappointing beach.

The property is huge, with tons of pools and restaurants. It’s beautiful and the staff are amazing - every single one was over the top friendly. The beach was a huge disappointment (obviously not the fault of the resort). Not swimmable because of crazy amounts of seaweed. Incredible lattes and excellent food. Tons of swim up hotel rooms if you enjoy pools.

A great week!

Our week at this beautiful and luxurious 5-star resort was a pleasure from beginning to end. Big, bright rooms; delicious and plentiful choices of food and beverages; and very friendly staff. The resort was beautiful and large and fun to roam around with a drink in hand. Our friends were there with their kids and they had a ton to be entertained with! When we needed a break from the kids, we simply hung out at La Perla, the adults only side. The food was delicious, and we were mostly impressed w [... read more]ith the genuinely friendly staff. The only drawback was the volume of seaweed on the beach. The staff work hard to remove it every day, but there is still lots and it’s slightly unpleasant to swim in. No big deal, though, we still enjoyed the beach.

5 Star Hospitality

We had a fantastic holiday here. The staff was so friendly from the cleaners to the dance instructors. We felt pampered all week. The restaurants were great...especially the civiche at the Peruvian restaurant. The music was fabulous... lots of live entertainment. The beach suffered from high winds and seaweed but I’m sure we will have better luck next time. Only issue all week was the very long wait for our shuttle to the hotel. My daughter had tears on the plane home...sign of  [... read more]an amazing vacation.