Good value

This was our 3rd time going to this area of mexico. We were overall happy with our trip. To start off, its not too far from the airport so we were not all day getting there. Check in was fast and easy. The room was big, clean with a nice bathroom and fridge was well stocked with water, beer and pop. The pools were nice, however our biggest complaint was that there were not enough loungers by the pools or beach. Many of them were in bad shap and they could have used double the amout. You had to  [... read more]get up early and clain them if you wanted something to lay on and we even witnessed a few altercations over people stealing other peoples chairs. The beach was the nicest of the 3 resorts we have been to, but that is not saying much as the first 2 were really not very good. The one nice thing here was the Cenote that was a 15 minute walk from the resort. Its a must to check out. As for the food, the buffets were clwan but the food was average at best. Very repetitive for all 3 meals and usually not overly warm. The a la cart restaurants were very goof, the Steakhouse was our favorite. This resort was overall decent enough for what we paid. We are not very fussy people and we go on vacation to get away from work, life and the cold, so as long as the sun is shinning we can overlook minor things.

Verg Good resort

Amazing resort. The entertainment was amazing. The food was delicious. The beach was nice ans the weather was perfect. The hotel staff were very nice and helpful. Good value for money. Needs some renovation though.

Great resort, had a blast

This hotel is very good, food was excellent at the buffet and snack bar. I didn't try the a la carte restaurants. The staff care about their jobs and making guests happy. The resort and my room were very clean. One negative was there was not enough chairs at the smaller pool. The ones that were there were always reserved since very early in the morning with towels and hardly anyone ever using them. The concrete loungers in the pool were usually mostly taken but I could always find one when I wan [... read more]ted one. I wish the staff monitored the smaller pool and reserving chairs was not allowed. You should also be aware that this is a REALLY big resort. There are 8 buildings of rooms spread between the ocean and into the property. I was in building 7 and it took about 25 minutes to walk from my room to the beach and main pool. There are golf carts that regularly drive around to help people get around but sometimes they are full and infrequent. Overall I am very very happy with my stay and with the resort in general, I just know I prefer smaller resorts now because I'm not a big walker.

3 star at best!

Grounds: beautiful and well kept. Buildings are run down and in need of work. Rooms: run down, sliding door didn’t work, lots of rust, had to change rooms twice. After two family members got sick, we requested to pay for a second room to have more separation. The front desk staff was quite rude and would not help with this. They suggested we pay $270 usd per night or try to find a promo code online. I don’t feel like this is a reasonable suggestion … you work there, you find the best price and [... read more] we will pay it. To ask a guest to go prove out rooms online and they will match it is unacceptable. That’s your job not mine. The unaccomadating attitude of their staff cost them the rental of another room, there was lots of availability, and we had to then spend Half the day organizing two cots and moving beds ourselves. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.

Average Resort

Overall I believe this to be an average resort. I'll simple list the pros and cons my son and I compiled with our stay. Pros: Garden Room, nice room, housekeepers very timely and friendly, Good size shower, double sink vanity. Small bar fridge in room always stocked with beer, water and pop daily. Food was good, restaurants I'd say a bit above avg, all had salad bars with them. Buffet was good for selection. Staff friendly Cons: Desperately need more dec [... read more]k chairs, lots of room for more but always a shortage. Probably nothing new, but people not being considerate regarding removing towel when leaving for long period of time. Need a change machine to allow for making smaller bills for tips for staff, we were constantly asking waiters and bartenders for change, as the front desk rarely had any money. Wifi was non existent in most of the hotel room or balcony(small pockets), a WiFi booster at each building would be a cheap but effective way of improving it! Booked an excursion for the day. BE AWARE THIS HOTEL DOES NOT ALLOW COMPETITORS TO ENTER THEIR PREMISES TO PICK YOU UP! IT WAS A 1.5KM HIKE TO AND FROM THE HIGHWAY TO GET PICKED UP FOR OUR DAY EXCURSION. PICKED UP OTHER PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY AT THEIR HOTEL LOBBY, ONLY THIS HOTEL PREVENTS IT. THANKS FOR THE BILSTERS ON MY FEET!! Other notes: Check-in was long, warning they grab your bags when you check in and leave them at the front, no high security so i wouldn't trust them to watch them closely. You need your passports to check in as well, so bring them with you if you do decide to leave your bags at the front. A suggestion for this hotel and others is to have a 5min video on loop in different languages on the resort, ie where everything is located, shuttle services, pickup points and timing etc. Our shower had a leak at the top of the shower which was not spotted until after our first shower which sprayed our entire bathroom, no lie! Plus there were no towels in our hotel on our arrival, so my son ran back to the lobby to get some, 10 min walk.

Mediocre

My room was flooded twice as well as my friend's room after a downpour. The food is average at best and the water at the beach is murky/black... a far cry from the aquamarine Caribbean you'd expect. Spotty internet throughout the resort. While severely understaffed and overworked, the staff were amazing and always did their best - the only positive.

The best time!!

We really enjoyed our week at this resort! The pool by the beach was our favourite, the food was great, the entertainment was good too, loved the drinks at the swing bar by the beach. We travelled with teens and recommend this resort. We stayed in building 5 and had adjoining rooms. The beach wasn’t the most amazing but it was swimable and clean. A 5 minute walk to the right there was a better beach but we spent our time by the pool! We loved the Saturday afternoon pool party with foam machine [... read more] - so fun!

Resort going down hill

Been at the Blue bay Grand Esmeralda before and each time we have found it is going down hill more and more. It needs a lot of up keep. Our room the pillows have no stuffing left in them (flat as a pancake). The sliding patio door - could hardly get it open - it was stuck - use soap to loosen it up which helped. The door handle on room was held by a screw - not the proper one and we were worried not were not going to get out one day as it would be in our hands. The knob to turn on the showe [... read more]r was put together with some kind of nail. Some days we had to go after towels, hand towel or shower mat. No face cloths at all. They supplied 2 little bar of soap, 2 little bottles of shower gel, lotion, shampoo and conditioner for 2 people for the week - lucky we brought our own. Couple of buildings had tarps on the roof. Sports equipment - gun was broke - archery - no feathers on arrows or no ends. A lot of pool loungers will have to be replace shortly as they were near ripped(webbing was frail). Not even round pool. Food selection was less than previous time - but still good. All areas were clean. Over all impression - was gear to Circle One members. We are a member, but did not go as a circle one member. The picture above is not like that. Previous year if you were a circle one member they had the 4 post, you grab a lounger to put under it. First time there it was 5 star now may be a 3+ star. At the gate to go in to resort they had blue tiles with water flowing down the ledge very nice - now no tiles and no water.

Don’t bother with this place

Garbage!! Rooms are filthy, pillows are disgusting… food is pathetic. Customer care is non existent. We had no towels for 24 hours. And for the rest of the week the continued to have a shortage of towels. It took my asking multiple times for them to bring the crib. They assured me they would have a new room and a crib in the room for us the next day… no surprise, our names weren’t on the list for a room change. We had no drinking water in our room for over 24 hours. Don’t  [... read more]come here period… but especially don’t come here with a baby, their cribs are Dangerous I can not in good conscience put my 4 month old in it to sleep. This resort is not child friendly. Go anywhere else but here. Due to the size of the resort, they are dependant on golf carts.. but don’t charge the batteries. Be prepared to walk everywhere. Also, if you are not part of the circle club, they only have 1 cart for the rest of the guests. Our room only getting cleaned at 5:15 pm right whilst we are trying to get ready for our dinner reservation… so we asked for the bare minimum to be done. This happened several times during the week. I even approached them for an upgrade, no such luck. Guess the fancy rooms are for members only.

Amazing Resort

We had a 10 stay at this hotel and it was fantastic. The staff bent over backwards to help in any way they can. Staff is so courteous and friendly and try so hard in every way to make our stay a memorable one. The staff never stop cleaning as the place is immaculate. They keep the pools clean and safe. The food was excellent with lots to choose from on the buffet and 5 great al acarte restaurants to enjoy an evening meal with no restrictions on the number of times you can go. Great bartenders m [... read more]aking up any request we had. The beach was mostly clear of seaweed as the staff kept it clear and a big bonus was no vendors on the beach. This is a very large property and requires a lot of walking, although they have golf cart buses to get you around. We love to walk so it didn't bother us at all. Actually after all that great food the exercise was welcome. The only complaints were that the elevator outside our 4th floor room was not working and very limited hot water for the first couple of days but they got the hot water issue repaired.

Will definitely never return here again

Customer service at this hotel is horrible , there is absolutely no room service after 12 am at night after having drinks all night and we all know the drinks aren’t lightly served, majority of the employees are rude and do not want to help , they have carts that drive people around from one side to the other side of the resort but the never want to give you a ride , front desk service is horrible , my friend and I paid for two separate beds but the hotel insisted that we sleep together on a 7 [... read more] day vacation as two grown woman! When we requested to get what we paid for all hell broke loose and the employees at the desk was very rude and argumentative! I love Cancun Mexico but I would never ever go to this resort again ever even if it was free !! The pools close at 7 no late night swims or food unbelievable!!

Very nice

Everything was very well kept and clean the grounds staff were always keeping everything trimmed and looking good. Pools were very nice and the daily entertainment was great in the pool areas and elsewhere.

Okay, not great

The staff at the resort were fantastic, especially Benjamin in the Italian restaurant and Elias the concierge at Bonampak. We enjoyed the quiet pool as opposed to the main pool. The seaweed smell at the beach was unbearable. The food was mediocre including the a La carte restaurants. No fans or air conditioning in most of them. Black and white bar did not have snacks past dinner time. The room was clean and had the amenities you would expect. It was very noisy throughout the night even though th [... read more]e pools were supposed to close at 7pm, people were partying loudly outside all night. For some reason dogs were allowed on the resort and one person brought their dog into the pool (the staff asked them to leave the pool) . Time share salespeople bombard you as soon as you arrive

A few drawbacks that can be worked around!

We’ve been to Blue Bay twice. There are 2 drawbacks: if you can deal with- 1. no beach for swimming BUT pools are great. 2. Food~ great breakfast and lunch. Dinner buffet poor BUT a la cartes are delicious. So book your dinners each night. Staff is fabulous 🎀

Needs some TLC .

Grounds not as manicured. Bathroom in pool area 2 out of three bathroom stalls not working . Lids left of septic system smell very unpleasant . Room not kept bed lacked spread left on chair in room. Staff sitting near entrance blocking hall with cleaning cart, animals from resort grounds in cleaning room as food tray left on floor and door opean.

Stay Away!

We've been to Mexico 30+ times and this is the worst resort. Public washrooms were dirty the whole 2 weeks there. Changed rooms three times. No a.c., broken ceiling fan, patio door wouldn't lock. Room towel shortage. Couldn't get toilet paper twice. The food was substandard for Mexico resorts. Even the a la cartes were very poor. Concierge didn't care about concerns. EVERY Canadian we spoke to there, even people who were there before, said it was terrible and would never go back. Believe EVERY b [... read more]ad review and do NOT stay here! I've never complained about any other trip to Mexico.

Very big resort

The resort was huge with alot of walking. When walking the golf carts almost hit you as they don't slow down. Food was good. Service was good. Not much of a night life. Rooms are nothing special. Money went missing from my roommates wallet.

Great value!

Our family of 4 including 2 teens were here for a week in April 2023. Great value at this resort. Staff were friendly and resort had everything we needed. Rooms were tired but clean. We were in building 6 which was near the smaller pool. We liked being close to the main buffet/gym/lobby as other reviews state - this is a big resort with lots of walking! Food was great with lots of options, including gluten free. We did note the lines for the main buffet got crazy busy around 8pm. A la c [... read more]arte restaurants were excellent and had no problem getting reservations. Pools were nice - we spent more time at the quieter small pool. Beach was decent and good for lounging, seaweed was only bad for a day or two. It’s worth the 10min walk to the lagoon.

Hotel Amazingly Beautiful.

We had a great time, Good Health selection of Food, well prepared, variety to choose, rooms, clean, appreciate they share the same respect for environmental concerns. Staff great! I had an incident, fell and bruised my knee Life guard was there within minutes. Great Family resort. Sports Team was amazing, fantastic shows, entertainment, fitness - great rejuvenation for the week. Feedback! Very disappointed that the entire beach was not usable - stinged smelled and piles of weeds. On [... read more]ly 2 workmen was seen daily to clean up. Management did not put in any effort or shown any respect into ensuring to "Having the Beach Ready" for Spring Break, as did the other Hotels next block. Due to this every morning guests were up at 5:30 a.m.to secure lounge chairs at the pool side. "Lounge Chair Wars" Cabanas were not adequate enough to accommodate all of the rush - Did not get my money's worth! This was critical, the most important reason for my trip. Be on the Beach and be in "Natural Salt Water" Mobility - to get around the resort, more Carts were available for VIPS (Time Share) some were empty driving around, yet will not pick up anyone - Consideration should be give - that all are equal as human. If it is empty then utilized - Alll are Your Guest. However - I will visit this resort again - Amazing Staff!

Getting a bit dated

The hotel is good, just needs a bit of updating. Get there early i.e. 6 am with your towels if you want a sunbed and try to find 1 that isn't broken. Unfortunately beach unusable because of seaweed. Small complaints. The food is excellent and the staff and good. Common areas clean and well maintained. A bit of attention would help.