An excellent resort

The food was outstanding and service was always great. The format of the resort was nicely laid out. Plenty of room by the pools and a nice beach area close to the bars, bathrooms and restaurant. There was great entertainment every night.

Beautiful resort!

Short review about our week at Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda in Riviera Maya January 2020. All in all a good vacation. Resort is very nice, with well maintained grounds and gardens. All personnel were friendly and gave excellent service. Food was excellent. One or two drawbacks: line up for food at the main buffet. You can only serve your self from one side of the buffet setup, resulting in a wait of 10 plus minutes for food, not to mention all the budinskis. Very inefficient. The beach:  [... read more]some sort of dredging operation going on in the water. So the water looks brown and dirty. No one is swimming in it. Your view is platforms and the wave barriers. Thumbs down to that. Also, some major ,very loud renovations going on so the quiet pool was not quiet. I think they played very hard driving nightclub music all day to cover over that. Wasn't ready to listen to that at 7:30 in the morning at the quiet pool buffet, so asked them to turn it down a bit. Was actually hard to find a quiet spot anywhere. So for those reasons I would not return.

Enjoyable Experience

Grounds, pools, rooms were clean. Food was great, excellent variety of fresh fruit and veggies. Italian and Steakhouse were amazing. Overall good service. Beach good for walking but water murky with seaweed in front of resort so not good for swimming. Swam in the lagoon just down the beach very clean.

Disappointed

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. There is a nice pool area but the beach area is less than expected and the ocean water is on swimmable. There is a lagoon about 15 minutes away that’s beautiful but if you have any issues with mobility you would not get to see this lagoon. They have a policy at this hotel that you have to be there at 7 Am To reserve for the à la cart restaurants. This is absolutely absurd to have to wake up at six in the morning to reserve a meal for the next day an [... read more]d you can only do one for the next day. I say 6 AM because this hotel is spread across quite a distance and you need to walk from one place to the other which can take about 15 minutes . For anybody with mobility issues and or an injury or disability this hotel is a nightmare. I found many areas where it was not well lit and dangerous for all ages and even the main pathway was not lit in the early morning hours when you’re trying to go to a excursion. The staff are friendly and do react quickly in an emergency situation. This is a positive. However the bathrooms near the pool and beach area are extremely dangerous and slippery and there are no hooks behind the bathroom stall doors to put your belongings. I did appreciate the automatic flush , Sink and paper towels to keep illness at a lower level. The fact that this hotel only has one place to go late at night on the beach is unbelievable because they have a beautiful black-and-white bar that is semi indoors that could be used when the weather is unfavorable. The nightly shows were overtaken by the backdrop And constant video that runs over the dancers and performers which is very distracting as well as the music system not being of high-quality. The French restaurant had the best food and service. The other food is good but the Buffay does become a little bit monotonous. After making a Written complaint they did try to accommodate us by upgrading us to a suite and by allowing us to book all our à la cart restaurants at one time. This was very kind of them however it was a little too late as my three friends and I were already very disappointed with our experience for the first few days. My friends had no air conditioning for three days in their room. The Jacuzzi in the updated suites was small and almost on functionable. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone I will not return to this hotel. They do have a shuttle that goes to and from playa Del Carmen but the last shuttle returning is at 6 PM so if you want to go into town to experience the nightlife you need to take a $25 taxi ride to playa Del Carmen and a $25 taxi ride back which is not so great if you’re on a budget. The fact that the very first morning they called us three times in our room Around 8 o’clock in the morning was ludicrous. I’m post to be on vacation and I was having to get up earlier than I do for work at home. This was frustrating. I could continue with many many more observations and criticisms of this hotel but for the most part please don’t send anybody there. Thank you for your time and energy.

Magnifique hôtel

C’est la deuxième année que nous allons à cet hotel. Nous y avons passé 9 jours l’an passé et 14 jours cette année. L’attente au buffet est plus que mauvais 30min pour se servir.Sinon tout est parfait

Ok resort but beach isn’t nice

This is a very large and accommodating resort. 2 big pools. Depending on which building you are in, it’s a long walk to beach and main pool. The most disappointing aspect of this resort is it’s on a man made lagoon that has very shallow mud beach. It’s not the Playa del Carmen beach you imagine. And you can’t swim far as it’s protected by barriers. Also the food was pretty mediocre as was the main bar that’s not open air, and had low ceiling and fluorescent lighting. The resort grou [... read more]nds are nice and lush and staff very good. Also nice that is big if you like to walk. But there is no quiet shady area to nap or hang by pool - always music on from 9 am. So if you want a more relaxed environment with a nice beach, would look elsewhere. Lots of activists for kids and by the pool.

Great stay!

My boyfriend and I stayed at this resort for 9 nights and 10 days! I’d highly recommend staying here but it does have its pros and cons depending on what you are looking for. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and the staff are ALWAYS working so hard. The room we stayed in was fairly dated and our air conditioner was leaking all the time but besides that it was cleaned daily. The resort Is fairly large but there are little shuttles that are always going by so you can grab one, and walking fr [... read more]om one end to the other would maybe take 10 mins max if you have a far away building from the beach. As for the buffets we weren’t very pleased with them but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. I would highly suggest making sure to book your a la carte a day prior , we really enjoyed those.. they were so yummy and we really looked forward to trying a new one every night. On Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day they have a lot of great shows and events going on!! There is always something going on here you won’t get bored!

Not that great

The beach front was very dirty and not well kept.. There was nowhere to snorkel out front, due to the bad visibility..And when Becky hurt her hip and was unable to go on the excursion, the kept the whole $130 American she paid to them... 👿 Not impressed with this place at all...

Great food, friendly staff, not-so-great beach

The hotel grounds are very well maintained, the rooms are clean and the resort is very beautiful. The staff is also very friendly and respond to issues promptly (we had a leak due to excessive rain, and they were very accommodating, helping us switch rooms). The food is probably the best that I've had on all inclusive resorts with this level of rating (4 star hotel). They had 6 a la carte restaurants, and 2 buffets (one was closed) and the food was tasty with a good variety. The only thing that  [... read more]I did not like is the beach which is probably the worst I've seen thus far. It is a nice beach in the sense that it is scenic and very pretty, but the water is murky and there are LOTS of broken sea shells all along the beach, so you are not walking on sand, you are walking on sea shells (can't really walk along the beach barefoot). However, their pool is very nice, so we still had a good time and enjoyed being in the water. If going into the sea water and a nice sandy beach are important to you, I would recommend looking into another resort. The beach is the only negative about this resort though, it was great on all other aspects!

Great place

This hotel is beautiful,rooms were nice and big and clean,pools were clean and warm,very friendly staff,the food was plenty and good, the La carte steak house was fantastic would recommend this resort.

Blue bay esmeralda

It certainly was not the best hotel I stayed in. We had to have staff spray for ants or bugs. Food was pretty good. Towels could have been softer. Did not like the critters walking around that much.

5th time

First off this was our fifth time at Blue Bay we absolutely love it. They have completely redone the large pool at the ocean fantastik job.They are in the process of redoing the small pool and I cant wait to see the job finished when we return. Food was great room clean as always.Service outstanding as always. We cannot wait to return in november 2020. Never disappoints

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda

We were very pleased with our room. Very Clean and had some pretty cool animals on our bed everyday😊 The resort looks even more amazing since they completed the renovations at the big pool. Staff were very friendly! This was our second time at this resort and it was just as great the second time around.

Amazing

This was our 3rd time at the blue bay Esmeralda . Everything was perfect we got the rooms that we requested . The staff at the resort are fantastic and go above and beyond to get everything you need. Food very good . Pool great, beach very clean . All in all great time was had by all the family!

Good hotel

The public areas is good, restaurants good, the rooms need renovation, The beach is terrible. In conclusion is a good hotel with a good service persons, and a terrible beach. Oh I forget, really love the care of the hotel have wit the nature.

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda

A little background first. We are a family of four, with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. We have been to 3 All Inclusives before, two in Riviera Maya & one in Punta Cana. We stayed at Blue Bay for 7 nights, 8 days. THE ROOM We were put in block 6, 4th floor (top floor) Garden View. On Sunday(arrival day) the shower drain was clogged and the water wouldn't drain so we went up to the lobby to get maintence to fix it. They sent someone to plunge the drain, problem solved. On Monday, th [... read more]eir was a downpour, which started leaking from the ceiling into our room onto the headboard/pillows/mattress. When we reported it, they informed us we could not stay in the room and would have to be moved. So we were moved down to the second floor. Whole process took about an hour. On Tuesday, we headed back to our room around 9pm at night with our kids who were tired and hot, only to discover neither of our room keys would open the door. My husband had to go down to the conciege desk to call up to the lobby to report the issue, who sent a bellboy with new keys, but that didn't work so we had to wait for the security guard to show up and let us in. This took about 20 mins. Asked for 30 mins to get our kids ready for bed before they come back to fix the door issue. When all was said and done, the door issue took about 1hr 5mins. On Wednesday they came to fix our mini fridge as it wasn't cold which we had mentioned on Tuesday night during the whole door issue. After this their were no issues with our room. I will mention though that both rooms had, were defintely in need of a update. Housekeeping was great though and I did actually see them moving furniture around to clean behind and under the big items. Knowing the room was at least clean, we were able to handle the dated items. THE BEACH No seaweed but you do have to walk through a thick line of broken shells before the soft sand. As well, the shells are there when first entering the water too. Nothing the resort could do about this though, that's just nature. If you bring water shoes, you should be fine. The kids loved looking for different shells :) We met a travel agent while walking on the beach who told us Blue Bay usually has the nicest beach around but there has been alot of erosion lately which shows. We ended up spending most of our time at the main pool. THE POOL Being the off season, half of the main pool by the beach was closed for renovations, not a huge deal as their were plenty of chairs around the pool that was open. The part that was open was very nice and had shallow areas for the kids to be able to stand up and splash around. THE SPA My husband had a pedicure and I had a chocolate wrap. Unfortunetly, I didn't get too far into the spa to look around as my service was being done in another building. Turns out, it was just a random room in my own building block #6 (closest block to the spa) set up with music & 2 massage beds. My husband & I love doing hydrotherpay circuts & we got an email about 3 weeks before travel saying the Spa was under renovations so we couldn't partake in that particular activity. So not sure if the wrap was done in a regular room because of renovations or if that is the actual regular spot. So that was pretty disappointing. The wrap itself was nice, though not convinced it was worth $90USD. My husband says the pedicure was "good" lol. THE FOOD Typical fare at All Inclusives. The dinner buffet is themed differently each night, Italian, Oriental, Mexican etc. Tried 3 a La cartes. The Steakhouse, The French & the Oriental. The Steakhouse When we booked this restaurant we were shown on the map where it was, at the restaurant down by the beach. Get down there and nope, "not here, don't know where" was the response we received from one guy, the only unfriendly/unhelpful staff member the whole trip. We eventually managed to find out that it was back up at the top of the resort in the Mexican restaurant. I guess in the off season, they don't utilize all the restaurants, and some will share double duty as a La cartes. As we were already late for our 6pm reservation, we couldn't wait for the little tram to come around to take us back up so we had to walk, in full dinner clothes, heels, and our 3 year old. We were very hot & sweaty by the time we made it to dinner. The saving grace here was the food and the waiter, Alfredo who was amazing! The French Definetley recommend dining here if you get the chance, food was great, atmosphere was great and our server Wendy was great! Hands down the best service we got all trip! Wendy deserves a promotion, raise, recognition, something, absolutely the best! THE STAFF Amazing! Very friendly, (other than the one guy at the beach Steakhouse.) Everyone was very good with our boys too, high fives, fist bumps, 1 waiter even made our eldest a locust out of palm fronds during lunch one day. THE ENTERTAINMENT Shows were good. There was a different show each night of the week. They start at 930pm which is a little late in my opinion. Would be nice if they could move them up to 9pm for the littler kids. Circus show on Monday night was great but no live animals, more acrobatic performances. Saw the Peter Pan show on Thursday night, only stayed about 20 mins or so as our 5 year old wasn't feeling well and our 3 year old was scared of the loud noises & flashing lights. Saw the Grease show on Friday night, only watched about half as my 5 year was bored & wanted to leave but I loved what I did get to see! THE GROUNDS Bring mosquito spray!!! Lovely grounds but it is a very long walk to the beach/main pool and this resort is in the middle of mangroves/swamps. Could use more lighting along the paths at night. I'm serious about the mosquito spray, my kids were covered in bites and I was spraying them everynight before we left the room to go to dinner. OVERALL IMPRESSION We have yet to return to the same resort twice as we like to discover new things, but if we ever did, we would not do a repeat of Blue Bay & don't feel like we could recommend it to anyone. This was our first trip in 6 years and our kids first trip ever and though they don't know any different (they just loved swimming everyday) we were pretty dissappointed. I had to keep reminding myself, that at least I was on vacation and that was better than being back at home working:)

Had a great time..

First off. The food is amazing here.Buffet an especially the el a carts. Steak house and Italian WOW.. Rooms are getting a bit dated but all and all we have a wonderful time with the exceptional staff.

Not recommended

This is our 3rd time in Mexico. We've been to Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and now here. While we love Playa Del Carmen, we would never stay at this hotel again. This is definitely not a 4 star hotel and we are easy going not high - maintenance people. To begin, as soon as you check in, the time share reps swarm you like bees. In the end, we agreed to go to a stupid meeting only because we got $200 in resort credits which we used to buy the Coco Bongo excursion. (can only be purchased through you [... read more]r flight rep ie:Air Canada rep at the hotel, not the club reps by the pool) The food: Buffets were good. Steak house was good. Mexican restaurant was terrible. Shout out to Augustine in the breakfast restaurant by the pool. The only server that seemed to have genuine conversations with the guests. The room: Had cockroaches in ours. Absolutely disgusting! The entertainment: Tuesday evenings they have vendors on site selling their "handmade goods". You can find it cheaper at their Walmart! The evening shows we're ok. It's so hot where they do the shows that it was usually unbearable to sit and watch. Nightlife : We're in our 30's and nightlife is non-existent here. So boring after the shows are done. They have a "beach party" from 11pm til 1am but it's super boring and you can barely hear the music. The pool: Our cousin sliced his foot open in the pool. The staff didn't care. The beach: What beach? It's dirty brown and closed off,not to mention it stinks like an outhouse. Ten minute walk to the left takes you to a lagoon. 10 minutes to the right takes you to the beach in front of other hotels. Other points to mention: It costs $375 pesos to take a taxi into Playa del Carmen or $25 USD. Coming back you can pay about $20 USD. The resort offers a bus to take you into town and back at set times for $5per person. It conveniently drops you off in the back of a jewelry store that you have to walk through. We love Mexico but would never recommend this hotel or come back here.

Questionable Place

This hotel was questionable, there were wanting to sell you time shares as soon as your arrive. The front desk staff were horrible, we arrived 10:30 am tried at 1 pm were told our room wouldn't be ready until 3 pm. Came back at 3 pm only to be told our room wouldn't be ready until 4 pm. The front desk didn't care to accommodate at all considering we were the first group checking into the hotel that day. When it came to the grounds staff they were amazing.The rooms are very damp that your clothe [... read more]s in the rooms get moldy. There is an infestation of there raccoons to the point that they were jumping up on tables stealing patrons food. When we had booked our trip it would have been nice to have been informed that you were not able to swim in the waters due to the fact that they are land filling to extend the beach further into the ocean. Due to the fact we couldn't swim in the beaches we stayed in the pool, where my fiance his foot on broken tiles at the bottom of the pool. Trying to get band aids is just like to trying to get bottles of water VERY hard to get. The food was good at all the restaurants. If you are looking for a quiet hotel that has nothing to do in the night this is the place for you.

Beach is not good

This is a very decent hotel with a clean rooms, good food, welcoming staff. But it's not for a beach lovers. Water in the sea was stinky. I was told that from September to November it gets bad because of sea weeds. Anyway, I had to spend 5 says out of 7 in the pool with cemicals, the same as in my condo in Toronto. Night shows were boaring, couldn't compete with Cuban shows. The same artists played the same performances during the 3 different programs lkie Circus de Soleil, Michale Jackson and A [... read more]ladding shows just changing their wearings.