Riu Emerald Bay-great beach resort

The grounds and and beach were immaculate. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. There was construction noise but the resort was large enough to find a quiet spot for the day. The night shows were entertaining and the staff knew what they were doing. The food was always warm and ready with lots of variety. My take away is, I would return to this resort. It met my expectations and was happy with my accommodations.

Amazing Resort

Lots to recommend; starting with an amazing check-in system, great staff, very clean facility, a vast variety of good tasty food. The pools were nice and warm and the swim up bar had excellent service. Beautiful ocean view from every room! Riu Emerald Bay Mazatlán was very good to us; will definitely be back soon!

Amazing Resort

The hotel was lovely, everything was well maintain. Staff was very professional, friendly and helpful. Food was fantastic. Beach was clean, we enjoyed going for walks It's a very safe place Enjoyed the evening shows

Great Vacation once again

Third visit to this resort and still love it..great location a fifteen minute walk to flea markets and restaurants .several pools to choose from.The food was great and plentiful..we had a beach party one nigt with BBQ and entertainment right on the beach..I have nothing bad to say about this resort.

Will be back again!

The Riu Emerald Bay was a perfect all-inclusive choice! From the moment we arrived, we were treated well by all the staff, even treated with a cold beverage right off the bus. The resort itself was very well kept. The rooms were comfortable, and every room had a beautiful view of the ocean (upper floors are better). The elevators were very slow, but at least you had a view while you waited. The hotel was clean, and had plenty of eating options. Of course, by the end of the week, we were bored of [... read more] the food (the main buffet is the same every day), but the food tasted really, really good. We did not have one bad meal there. The only thing that could have been improved was the night-life. The beach party was very fun, and karaoke another night was ok. The disco was empty whenever we went, but it does not open until 11 (which is late). We are young and only met a couple people the same age as us. There is a lot of construction going on around the resort, so it was a little annoying listening to all the noise all hours of the day/night, but nothing can be done about that! Some tips: 1) get a beach or pool chair first thing in the morning (7:30), or you will not get them. 2) take the stairs if you are floor 4 or less, 3) you cant get a new towel before 8am, so when you return your old towels, grab a new one at night. 4) you MUST try Mr.Lionso's restaurant at the end of the beach to the right of the hotel- best coconut shrimp ever. There are a lot of people on the beach trying to get you to buy stuff- ignore them EXCEPT for Euardo (or something like that) who is selling deep sea and bottom fishing. We went deep sea fishing and it was awesome! We spent 1/2 the amount that we would have if we had booked with the resort, and we caught a ton of fish. We will definitely be visiting another Riu- either this location, or another.

Good resort

Paid for an ocean view room … was assigned a room that was just partial ocean view to make matters worse it was facing a major construction area with heavy duty equipment that was going non stop all day (an extension was being built to the existing riu complex). Had to wait 2 days to switch rooms. Have to tip continuously or else the word gets around and you are treated accordingly … on 2 occasions I failed to tip because 1) did not walk with my wallet and 2) ran out of $1 and when I encount [... read more]ered the same waiters again I got the "treatment"....so much for the negatives.... enjoyed walks on the long sandy, clean, beach. had better food at other resorts but it was fairly good. ground were well kept.. public washrooms were clean ran into a few rude, obnoxious younger Canadian tourists. the sunwing rep on site (WG561)...Alejandro was just the greatest … hands down.... a remarkable young man … kind, caring, thoughtful....the best rep I have encountered in my travels.

We really enjoyed Riu Emerald Bay resort

Check in was incredibly smooth. Room was very nice. We loved the view from the balcony. We could see and hear the waves crashing on the shore. Front desk people were exceptional. Very helpful in every way. Any questions we had were answered politely and thoroughly. They were wonderful. They even changed our larger denomination Peso bills to smaller denominations. Food was very good. There are quite a number of employees whose work is to keep the place clean and tidy. They can be seen at wor [... read more]k everywhere. Pools are nice. Beach is gorgeous. You can walk a long ways. Beach is clean. The entertainment started off really weak but got better as the week went along. The last couple of nights had excellent shows. The Mexican one was fabulous. Brenda Melo recommended the Riu Emerald Bay resort to us. We are glad we accepted her suggestion.

Beautiful Resort

This was our second all-inclusive trip and our second RIU resort. RIU did not disappoint. We arrived at 5:30pm. The checkin process went very smoothly and were just in time to see the Pacific Ocean sunset from our 17th floor room. We had a wonderful vacation. The weather was perfect. Not humid like it was on the Gulf of Mexico side at Playa del Carmen. The Amazing Mazatlan city tour was fantastic. We saw several whales on the whale watching excursion. It was very exciting and a fanta [... read more]stic crew on the boat. The only downside was that we were seated at the back, right in front of the motors and were breathing fumes for four hours. Headache, nausea and so exhausted we were in bed at 8:45pm, sitting out the entertainment on our last night there. We had heard about complaints regarding long waits for the elevators, but we didn't have a problem with that. The swim-up bar was closed for renovations, but it didn't really affect us. Food was great, entertainment thoroughly enjoyable. It was over too soon!

Awesome resort

We had a awesome time at this resort, and the people that work there are amazing, so friendly and certainly accommodating . It was s blast and we certainly recommend this hotel to everyone. Located close to shopping and some great restaurants adds to this resort! Looking for a great getaway for a great cost this is the one for you, our second time there and we seen the improvements since we were last there. The sports and entertainment group is the best, thanks for the fantastic vacation !

Convenient, easy vacation

RIU had everything for a simple and smooth vacation. Right on the beach. Nice pools. Plenty of loungers. Restaurants and bars were handy to the pool and beach areas. Waiter service was a bit hit and miss, but that was a minor irritation.

Expectations over exceeded

This hotel was our beautiful home for our first family vacation of four. We had two kids 3 and 1 and couldn’t have had a better experience. Staff was great , food was excellent, drinks were cold , and the sun was hot. The ocean is amazing to be in, as well as the pools. We had the best time , and would consider going back to this same resort in the future.

Great resort

I have been to Riu Emerald Bay several times.I enjoy my stay there very much as I only go to rest and get some sun.My husband enjoys this resort because he has mobility issues and there are table and chairs everywhere and he feels comfortable walking around.This time I was a little disappointed because there were a lot of towels being taken off some lounge chairs so you had to watch your stuff.The resort was also filled with Mexican families so if that bothers you ,this is not the place for you. [... read more]The food is very good and the servers are very friendly and the price of the trip was decent.

Not so good resort

Out of 17 people 5 of us got sick and some are still reporting back to us that they think its starting on them. Not a good trip when within 1 day the first person starting with symptoms and had to stay in her roo. 2 days.

It's going down inside but outside is awesome!!

My 2nd visit, unfortunately the hotel did not live up to my expectations. Upon arrival to our room I knew the a/c wasn't working so we got changed and headed down to notify Sunwing rep - he said he'd get maintenance on it while we went to dinner. We returned after dinner to a still very warm room so went back to the lobby to see reps were gone for the day so notified the front desk, asked to be moved and was told they have no rooms and said they were busy but would send someone up as soon as the [... read more]y could. When repairman showed up, he couldn't get it to turn on either but eventually by some grace from the heaven's it came on very faintly and he even said "work pocita" That night and every night we slept with the patio door open as our room was hotter than it was outside (we were gone all day with a/c "on" and patio door closed) During our 7 night stay I think the a/c turned on twice for 45 seconds each time. Wi-Fi is limited to 2 devices regardless how many people you have in your room (I was with my 2 children, both with phones) An extremely frustrating week to have to rotate usage during our down time. One night we were woken up at midnight by neighbour playing very loud music with company on their patio - remember, we're forced to sleep with our patio door open. I called down to the front desk as I'd met her the night before same thing and she didn't speak English. 10 minutes later, still nothing so called again and was told security said there was no party. I demanded he come up to my room immediately as I wasn't going to tolerate this. Sure enough, standing in the hallway waiting for security, one could hear the music from my neighbours. Security came in, very little English but went out to our balcony, stood on chair and hollered over at our neighbours. He promised me no more noise. A couple nights later, we're on our balcony and return to find our room a wading pool. I immediately thought toilet had flooded but soon discovered it was coming from hallway. We were able to get everything up off the floor quick enough but I hate to think of what would've happened had we not been in our room as this was at 6pm. Water completely covered our entire room and was going onto the balcony, we stuck around to allow them to clean it all up (took 3 people and about 40 mins) before going down to dinner. Unfortunately when we came back up, floors were still wet and slippery so had to use our towels to mop up the floors to prevent any of us falling in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure housekeeping wasn't impressed as I tossed all the sopping towels in our tub and asked for our room to be serviced the next day. They didn't come to refill our fridge that next day either so I had to call down to the front desk, shouldn't have to if they're only refilling every 2 days. I know there can be elevator issues, there is 2 banks of 3 elevators (1 on each side of hotel plus another that serves lobby to 18) was unfortunate to have 1 elevator down for a few days but overall if you plan accordingly, you can usually avoid long waits. Being outside our room was the best part of the trip, the staff around the pools, in the bars and the wait staff in the restaurants were always a delight and a pleasure to deal with. Geraldo "Jerry" was very personable and a lot of fun & Pedro (bartender around the pools) was great! I didn't make an issue about the a/c thing as my intention wasn't to spend the week in the room, although it'd have been nice for the room to be a bearable temperature during the night. I do like the location away from "it all". Be sure to keep that in mind if you want to go walking to see the local sites etc, you'll have to take a bus or taxi to get anywhere. I picked this hotel specifically for this. Locals play their instruments on the beach around dinner time but at night its quiet around the resort and on the beach (aside from the nightclub which I didn't participate in but 1 of my children did) The food wasn't great, nor was it awful - one morning we were without sausage which I found depressing as I loved my fresh vegetable omelet with sausage for breakfast! I found the bacon inedible. My kids can't eat ice cream - nice to have sorbet as an option, even if only option was lime flavour. By the end of the week we felt it all was tasting the same. The beach is kept clean, but keep in mind it can be rough waters to swim in, especially for kids. The tides are crazy at times!! Nightly entertainment wasn't bad but I saw the same shows 1.5 years ago... my kids weren't with me that trip so they enjoyed the shows. It's extremely unfortunate that a resort of this size doesn't have a proper doctor (or I guess one that doesn't insist on gouging guests) Don't bother asking for hotel doc, make your way to Sharp or Marina hospitals - it'll be WAY cheaper. Overall - I may or may not stay at the RIU Emerald Bay again, right now it's a no as wasn't overly impressed this trip and would hate to think our room experience could get worse. I'll recommend to others with disclaimer on the issues the hotel itself has.

Third time lucky, first and second too!

This was my third visit to Riu Emerald Bay, and probably won’t be the last. This time I went with my husband and two other couples, we had a great time. The hotel is spotless, food for many different tastes, lots of good drinks from first rate bartenders, nice pools and right on the beach. My two other visits were with my teenage daughter, she loved the hotel as much as I did, and met people her own age to have fun with. Great value!

5 star resort

This resort was amazing the staff was friendly , food was 100% and great selection pools where perfect and loved the swim up bar ( spent to much time there lol ) I was very happy and would come come back

Clean

Hotel was great, very clean & accommodating. Great food and lots of variety to choose from to eat. Huge hotel, only a couple complaints, the elevators were very sketchy, as in they always felt like they were going to break down, also the girl at the front desk did not speak English, I just think if you are on the front desk you should know both Spanish & English. Ocean was clean as was the beach, the pools were disgusting, there was a floating poop the one morning & the next day there was a dirt [... read more]y diaper so we never went in the pools. Also there was a competition of bands on the public beach every day from 4pm -12am. I know the hotel can't control this because its the public beach but they have to do something about it, we paid a lot of money to sit & hear the ocean and could not as the noise from the trumpets & tubas canceled out the noise of the water. The actual town of Mazatlan was very safe & so exploring in town was nice.

Beautiful Beach

What a great 2 weeks at the Riu Emerald Bay .. amazing beach went swimming everyday , food was great and always a such variety for the whole time . Entertainment had great music and dancers, loved the best couples show .. funny 😄 very clean throughout and beautiful ocean views from the rooms . Staff work very hard and we’re all great .

Ok

rooms nice service staff very good pools dirty food average activities outdated needs lots of updating more current food choices better activities closer to gold zone activities more access to shopping

Nice place!

The hotel was very nice and the grounds were kept up very nicely! Check in was prompt and efficient and room was everything we expected. Wait staff in restaurants and buffet very friendly and hard working.