BlueBay Grand Esmeralda All Inclusive

6.4

Fair

1056 Guest reviews

6.4

Fair

1056 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness6.8/10

Service7.2/10

Comfort7.2/10

Condition6.0/10

Amenities6.4/10

Very good atmosphere, very friendly staff but the property is old and deteriorated

Excellent service and beautiful beaches

My husband & I stayed here back in 2011 as a couple without kids. We were in a building that was renovated, clean and noise free. Nothing to complain about, we had a great time. We decided to go back for spring break with our two young children & two other families as a group vacation. We were placed in building 5. Our room was run down, the mirroir in the bathroom had moisture stains all over it. The bathroom fixtures were tired and the water pressure was poor in the shower. We were unable to open the sliding door to the patio without being two adults as the doors track is finished and wouldn’t slide. The room wasn’t well insulated which resulted in hearing our upstairs neighbors and anyone that walked past our room with clarity/high volume. The food, as a vegetarian, was very limited. There should be easy options and unless I wanted to eat cream soup and pasta all week, I was out of luck. People stole towels from others while being on the beach or in the pool resulting in a $30 US charge. They need to get a better system. There was limited shade areas around the pools and on the beach and simply not enough beach chairs for the volume of patrons. The highly rated experience was the kids club and spa. The staff was very engaged and the kids loved the variety of activities presented. The spa treatments were fantastic and the staff was great. I would suggest that the spa staff arrange for transport to/from the rooms where the treatments are being given rather than make us walk

The staff was super awesome! There was really anything to do near the property that was close.

It could have better maintenance.

It was more than terrible, my vacation was ruined, left home in the second day, lost more than 2K

Love our stay

Beautiful grounds, lots of gardens and wildlife! Room was clean and comfortable, and food options were plentiful. Staff were the best I've ever encountered...made the stay extra special. We are now exploring other Blue Bay resorts around the world to visit next!

This is a very large resort. Lots of walking if you don’t want to wait for the shuttles. Food is really good at the buffet Ala carts and snack bars. The downside is there are not enough pool and beach chairs. People get up at 6 am to get chairs for others that show up around 9. The bars are great, but be prepared for strong drinks. Overall we still enjoyed our stay, the room was great, lots of hot water and friendly cleaning staff.

I wouldn't recommend staying at Bluebay Grand Esmeralda. Room was dank and you could see where they painted over old mold spots. The room had a spot to put your card so electricity would stay on. So when you left the room everything, including fridge and ac, would turn off. So you'd come back at the end of the day to warm water/pop/beer and a reset clock. The front desk ALWAYS had a line. There was usually only 1 or 2 people working and going through a small 5 person line took over 45mins. Most people, like us, were there to get their cards working again. They have a shuttle that can take you into Playa Del Carmen, if there are too many people for the shuttle. They send you in a cab. We were forgotten about and were told we needed to pay again to get back to the resort. The beach area was tiny and never had enough chairs for people wishing to use it. The food is the most basic you'd ever had: "crunchy garlic potatoes" are just fries. They allow you to book "reservations" on their app. But be prepared to share a seat with another couple or wait 30mins till they have room. They have golf karts that can speed up the 800m walk from the main area to the pool. Where do they stop? No idea. How often do they stop? No idea. There were some great staff that really helped out and did a great job. But yeah, choose another location.

Building 5 needs renovation, our room smelled strongly of damp. No wifi in the room. Always the same thing at the buffets. Little entertainment.

We like it overall, food was excellent, I was able to book all restaurants reservations through their app, entertainment was good as well, but still probably won’t return to this resort again and will explain why. First of all, is the ocean - water is full of weeds - it’s not possible to swim in it and for us it’s just must as we don’t care about pool at all (although pools seems like are good)…you can walk maybe 10 min to the lagoon which is very nice. Secondly, situation with the beach lounges is absolutely ridiculous - there are a very few of them…once I checked them out at 7a.m. - believe or not, but none were available…on my vacation I am not to set up an alarm for 5-6 a.m. to “book” a lounge for myself! Next door resort has all kind of lounges/benches/gazebos and a lot of them but we can’t use them of course - so, bring inflatables with you!!!

The staff was the best part of the stay!

Beautiful hotel and wonderful staff. The food in the buffet was great quality. Rooms are a little dated but very comfortable and clean

The staff, service, food and drinks were excellent as were the grounds. The rooms were fine and mostly clean, but some items could be updated (hard to get in tub/shower convert to shower/mirror/patio door latches/handles). Except for one night of our 7, the entertainment was fantastic. One suggestion is to work on the sound system as the music was far to loud and we were basically not able to understand a word that was said. There were not nearly enough lounge chairs by the pool/beach. Most chairs were "saved" by 7 am and if you didn't stay with them, security would remove the towels and personal belongings. To guarantee a chair you needed to be at them by 6 am....far too early for a vacation. There was plenty of space around the pool and beach to add many, many chairs. The sea water and beach was very dirty with silt and I don't know what else and cloudy/murky and not pleasant to swim in. Had we payed attention to other reviews about the chairs and sea water, we may not have chosen this resort to visit even given the excellent other aspects of the resort.

We were taken to our building. Elevator was pushed for 3rd floor. We then told to go left with our luggage to our room. Once at our room after going down a dirty hall our door had to be pushed to get it open. Room was smelly. When walking into bed area and my shoe stuck to the floor. Once I lifted my shoe there was dark dirty area. We went to the lobby to ask for different room and report the above isses. We were told that we were not able to have a different room. Waited for our room to be cleaned by housekeeping. Also waited for maintenance to come and spray the bottom of the door with something like WD40. This really doesn't fix the door issues when you can see light at the top and bottom due to the door being poorly hung. Into our stay we found out the there were other rooms and others were move due to issues. We also found that several people had no hot water or their air conditioning didn't work. I would not tell anyone to book this resort.

slow check-in, food below normal for this property, room needed repairs, noisey all day and nite, facility needs major upgrade as it`s tired - this is our fourth visit to this property and will be our last

great resort overall only thing is the walk to and from restaurants is quite long but they do have golf carts that go around once in a while

Let us start by starting with the only good thing. THE FOOD. Yes it was great!! The waiters were friendly. They all made the stay enjoyable. Shout out to them!! All BAD things: We will never go back to this place. Never 1) Early on the morning, the main bathroom on the lobby smells urine. Even after telling one of the concierge person 2) This property is huge and to move around you have to use a golf cart or you walk. We requested a ride from our room to the lobby because it was still dark and no one showed up to get us. 3) there was not enough beach chairs. In order to secure one guests had to wake up at 5 am to put something personal on it. This is unacceptable!!! This vacation time for God sakes. 4) Racoons are all over the inside of the restaurants. 5) In the shower, water stopped running while taking a shower. It happened every day of our stay there. 6) I think they should have given all guests a list of shows or free activities for the week so we can plan accordingly. 7) The elevator where we were has a hole on the floor. It was rusted. We were afraid that the floor would collapse. 8) The entire building needs a facelift. 9) Early in the morning housekeeping is pushing a cart in the hallway on the uneven concrete. It was very noisy. If they have any respect for their guests, they would have given the room attendants a cart with a robber tire which would be more silent. I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE

Disappointed first time, not 5 star but 3 star. Food, cleanliness and service was great. Buildings and rooms need lots of love…. Very old worn rooms broken , unsafe dangerous balcony railings, dirty mattesses, broken air conditioners, broken elevators, No hot water, leaking water from ceilings, not enough lounge chairs, most lounge chairs are old and broken, wild animals in the restaurants and room buildings. No hot tub! If you want a lounge chair you need to get up at 6am and stay with your chair or else chair and towel will get stolen. Lots of fights over chairs. But the time share (circle one) got new lounge chairs…This is also a party resort, music and drunk Spanish university students all night until 6am, bring ear plugs…I will never go to another Bluebay and I will tell everyone I know not to go there.

Not good value for your money

When I booked the Bluebay Esmeralda I was a bit nervous as the reviews are all over the place, so loved it some hated it. Here's what I found... overall the food was good better than expected. Seemed to have enough selection for everyone. Service was fantastic. Our room was clean , and housekeeping was amazing!! We were in building #4 on the 3rd floor and had a very nice view of the ocean and front pool area.Here's where the resort could improve on.there is no where to sit outside... the few chairs by the pool are reserved by towels at 6 am . I'm on vacation and not waking up at 6. Even by the bars no tables or chairs swing bar has approximately 12 chairs absolutely a great concept but more chairs could be infront on the concrete so a person can relax and have a drink. Checking in to this resort was brutal. Stand in a line up to stand in another line up. This building doesn't even have water after a long flight a person likes to have a drink . Most resorts have some type of refreshments when you arrive. The app to book the a restaurant did not work . So I had to stand in a line up of 50 people to book my restaurant. Once I was booked my experience improved as I booked all my restaurants until my departure. The Black and White bar is filthy, tables need to be washed. The front buffet restaurant was very clean and it had a good selection of food. So even though I had a decent stay, I will not return to this resort as I found it very expensive for the value.

Beautiful resort.

This place was a 2 star at best would never go back

The hotel was falling apart! Not enough pool chairs, not enough options for bars and only the Italian food was any good. This place needs a major overhaul! Got sick also from eating the ice cream because of the dirty warm water they put the scooper in. Full of bacteria!

Workers where super friendly

Good place

Beautiful resort with plenty of options for entertainment and dining

Our 2nd stay here, 1st was before covid. All the working staff were exceptionally polite and friendly. Room balcony had a nice ocean and pool view. This has increased this rating. The resort requires building maintenence. Thatched roofs leak as some areas have lost the thatch. Thought we could sit on the balcony and enjoy the rains, but that roof didn't stop much of the rain. The door deadbolt wouldn't latch, had to have the plate on the frame replaced. 3 days later the door's card reader failed completely, had to have that replaced. Water staining on the room's ceilings. Room complex #5 had 1 elevator OOS the whole stay, the 2nd elevator worked intermittently. Pool chairs were reserved for the day with towels by 7:30, even though people would show up for a couple hours only. Not enough chairs/lounging chairs. Pool wait staff is less than what's required. The VIP & Circle sales staff would not provide any summary without attending their breakfast meeting. I've attended these hard sell meetings at other resorts and had to become rude after a number of times indicating that we were not interested...

Customer service is horrible. They sell water for 10 dollars. Everything is over priced and no one ever clean our room. Rooms are dirty. Food is bad. We all got sick from it.

Room had mold , faulty door and toilet. Maintenance needs improvement.

I like food, restaurants, evening show, bars and pools. Do not like: reception - very slow, not enough stuff there, you have to stay in lines with your question. My request was room with 2 beds, they give me with one bed. They wanted I sleep with my son teenager. Lol. I come back to reception 3 times to switch the room - It was so difficult! Tried not nerves on New Year Eve.)) I do not like the ocean at all there. Grey color, dirty and with sludgy at the bottom. We have to walk to swim the next two resorts for river to swim. Of course, It is not a fault of resort, it is a Nature. But next time I am not coming here. Because the ocean is very important for us during vacation. An last thing what I do not like - the music at the pool. It is soo boring and old. like from 80xx. American music. Sometimes Cabirian. but old too. You guys have to do something with you playlist. Do not be so antiquated!

The resort, pools and beach were all beautiful. Great food, but must book restaurants as soon as you arrive to get in for dinner the second day, which is okay as the buffets are also excellent. Our only concern was that we didn’t confirm that transport from airport to resort (and back) was included - just incorrectly assumed it was, as it always has been with all-inclusive vacations. It was an additional $200 USD for round-trip e-taxi which was quite convenient once we realized that was our only option at that early hour.

We have been coming to this resort since 2009. Although some things have changed over the years, it continues to be a great spot for us! We were disappointed by the lack of lounge chairs around the pool but we still managed to get a chair each day. Our room was comfortable and always cleaned daily! The staff at this resort are amazing and this trip we were thrilled to connect with an accommodating and helpful Le Sommelier Rodrigo! He helped us select wines for our dinners - always attentive and reliable! This was a real plus for us. There are so many amazing members of the team here - Alonzo, Andres, Ruperta, Candido, Miriam, Estelle, Alberto, Romiro, Gustavo, Rogaciano, Samuel, Jose, Joel, Willie - too many to list! The managers at every restaurant were very welcoming and accommodating.Our a la carte dinners and the buffets did not disappoint! We also love the convenience of the DiveX shop and the very professional scuba team. Thank you Blue Bay for another amazing vacation!

The staff was very attentive kind and engaging. A fun atmosphere for all ages. Grounds were very clean. Food was quite good with a lot of options. We would stay there again.

This is a 3 star resort and should not be advertised as a 5 star. The staff is great! The food isn’t bad and the drinks are cold. The resort is old and “tired”. It’s time for some updating and upgrades. The Black and White bathrooms need repairs- staff does their best to keep them clean, however there’s not much they can do with broken doors and cracked toilet seats. It’s not terrible but it isn’t great.

The staff were absolutely amazing here! The live entertainment was fun and entertaining. The fire show was one of the best shows ever accompanied by a beach party. 10/10 would come back here. If possible ask to stay in buildings 1-5. They are the buildings closest to the entertainment pool.

We had a great time. The only amenity missing was a swim up bar. Building 2 was much more updated compared to 5/6

The resort was nice, but they did charge us a fee for “stained” linen.

After staying at this resort 3 times previously much had changed. The biggest complaint among guests is the lack of chairs around the pool. Food was good Xmas and New Years Eve but not so great on regular days compared to other resorts we frequent. Staff were friendly and helpful. Another big negative was the lobby gave our room to new guests twice while we were in the room. These new guests just showed up at our door with suitcases and door keys. Overall not a plessant experience.

Transfer from Reception/Restaurant to rooms should be better organized. On a rainy day it is really complicated. Restaurants should be better structured to receive larger groups. Staff should be trained to speak English as most of the members had difficulties to communicate with guests. Rooms maintenance to be strongly improved. Small number of chairs on the pool area, generating issues to accommodate guests. Several activities that needed coin, such as scale for luggage weight check, pool table, fussball could not be used because the hotel has no change. Good hotel in general, but needs to improve to be the 5 star they sell on internet

No, 4 star hotel.Dated and smelly rooms. Horrible food. Look somewhere else. Do not waste your money

Wouldn’t recommend this property to anyone else. Just came from here and never going back. Took my girlfriend on her first trip and I apologized for an awful experience. Our bedroom floor was constantly dirty even after the maid. The bed was always full of sand and we showered before entering bed all the time. We noticed things missing like a thing of gum and a chocolate bar (yes I know little items but still), that the maid must’ve took on us because we could not find them nor did we finish them. The ceiling fan made me feel like it was gonna fall off and land on me with how bad the bearings were. The AC quit on us twice and had to call room service each time. The water in the shower I wouldn’t call hot. The buildings are definitely outdated so you hear every sound coming from the hallways. When I booked this trip, I specifically chose for “partial ocean view” well my view was literally a swamp. Not happy at all. Terrible choice I picked. I heard this hotel offers free bottles of tequila if you leave a good review. That’s probably why they have 4.1/5 stars. Gotta bribe people somehow. But here’s the real trick. All around the resort it feels like back home in the boonies and swamps. DO NOT COME. waste of money. Also had to pay for my own shuttle to and from the airport on top of the expensive trip this already costs me. Brutal.

Limited buffet food, limited towels, limited hot water, limited seating at pool

The outside landscaping and hotel staff friendliness was exceptional. However, the rooms and buildings are outdated & need remodeling, there were cracks in sinks and we had mold in one of our rooms. The phones weren't working (we had to use our cell phones to call front desk) in none of our rooms. The room keys stopped working for one of our rooms, we got locked out and had to.wait for maintenance to fix the lock.

Overall our stay was good. The food was okay, the grounds were nice (but the lobby and some of the main building areas need to be updated and have better lighting added), and the ease of booking specialty restaurants was nice, but not having hot water in your room all week and lack of organization in the lobby for check in and questions was frustrating. If I was looking for a get away to somewhere warm again and the price was right I would stay here again.

It was a mediocre property, definitely needs updates or a rebuild soon. We did enjoy our time at the beach. Had to wake up to get beach chairs by 6:30 so thankfully I’m an early riser! Staff were kind and helpful.

First, I would like to say that the staff was incredibly gracious, helpful and hardworking. We REALLY liked the staff! They put on a wonderful New Year’s Eve dinner and event. Muchos Gracias to the staff!!!! What was frustrating was that we never had hot water (multiple phone calls, trips to the front desk), it took 2 days before we could get towel cards so we couldn’t get beach towels(they didn’t have enough cards. But plenty of towels! ). People were able to save chairs at 5 AM at the beach for the entire day. We could never get chairs at the beach. There were multiple small inconveniences that we were willing to overlook, it was the holidays, we understand but not having hot water and towels was not ok. When we called room service, the phone was answered 2 out of 9 times, over the course of 6 days. I will be requesting a partial refund as this was supposed to be a special vacation for us too. We requested a different room and was told it was not possible.

A lot of walking between beach & rooms. The golf cart shuttles were nice but not super convenient. Resort should invest in more pool chairs, if you didn’t reserve chairs at 7am, you had to sit on the concrete. Restaurant options were acceptable, the ala carte restaurants were the best!

We could tell they were still recovering from the hurricane but everything was clean. Staff was friendly and campus was nice and lots of foliage. Loved the wild life too

Beautiful ,but needs renovation, plus to .many kids, needs a adult only resort.

1. Front desk stafd doesn't speak English. 2. Missing chairs in the pool, a lot of guests reserve chairs with towels because of the small amounts available. 3. Reservation for dinner was very easy as special restaurant are small. 4. Just 2 bars on the pool are with just 1 or 2 bartender, causing 20min wait for a drink. 5. In case of rain they don't have enough shuttle to move guests to the restaurants. 6. Elevator on the apartment building barely works. On my case were broken 4 days on my 7 days stay.

Horrible check in experience the rooms were dirty.

Spent 18 days over Xmas at the Blue Bay. Our room (3rd Floor) was spacious with an Ocean view. Housekeeping staff were excellant. With 5 ala carte Restaurants our favorites were the Italian and Mexican. Even the buffets were really good with lots of choices for you. Huge pool area could use more chairs as you need get up at 7 and grab some. 2 Bars, one with swings which is the Social one for meeting people. Unfortunately the ocean in that area is full of Sargasso which made it a bit dirty to swim in. Hotel was trying to keep it as clean as they could, but wasnt crystal clear blue as Im used to. Place could use some updating as its getting on 20 yrs old now. All in all though it was a nice relaxing Vacay and quite enjoyable.

Todo bien solo algunos detalles en la habitación y problemas con el ascensor, muy muy pocos camastros en el area.de playa eso muy mal

When we checked in our room was wrong and they weren’t willing to make it right. It’s hard to get into the restaurants because you have to make reservations days ahead. The food at the buffet is under cooked. There were two bars and the no adult pool like advertised. Very limited pool loungers so you have to be up at 7am to get one. The excursions are terribly expensive if booked through the hotel and not to mention they are under construction throughout the hotel. The whole experience was sub par and not worth the money we paid.

Elevator wasn't working

I checked out after first night. False advertisement, old resort, smelly old rooms, average food . Absolutely dirty sea water on the beach with rocks on the bottom you cannot see. It is impossible to swim in this goo, and it is not because of seaweed, it is because the water is simply DIRTY, unclear and murky! The beach area is very small with the lack of sunbeds, umbrellas, and shades and it is divided by ropes on Exclusive, VIP and the rest peasants - it is disgusting! No sunbeds are available, I borrowed a chair from someone and being told that a concierge may come and tell you to leave to "your" area. I approach a tiny shack bar asking for a bottle of water, they said I should go to "my" bar, but finally gave me a bottle. I will never come to this resort again and do not recommend it to anyone.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. SPEND FEW EXTRA DOLLARS AND STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE. Terrible customer service. Check in took 1.5 hours. Employees are very rude and unpleasant. You need prior reservation for their mexican and seafoods restaurant which takes a day. The foods were terrible. We really had bad experience in this place. Never coming back to this place. There is nothing near the hotel not even a convenience store. This place is far from everything you will spend lots of money on transportation. Stay in cancun downtown area.

There was NO hot water in the shower. In hot Mexico and no shower for a week. I will not return to BlueBay

They have only 20 beach chairs and 7 beach umbrellas for the whole resort . Lazy staff snd dirty rooms

Booked a deluxe garden view room, all we aw was a bit of grass and trees. Not my idea of a garden. Was supposed to be bathrobes in the room, there weren't any. Called for an 11:30 pickup for us and our luggage, on day of checkout, to take us to the lobby. It never showed up. Had to walk to the lobby. Wouldn't recommend this resort, sorry.

Bad wifi, power went out entire resort for hours, extremely loud all hours of night, phone connection bad, sewage smell all over, not much hot water, booked a la carte when said they accommodated vegan to be turned away all dressed up with nothing. Charged for guacamole and meals were same every time every day. VERY UNIMPRESSED.

Great

Disappointed and Frustrated – A Stay to Forget... I recently stayed at the Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda, and my experience was far from what I expected, especially considering the significant amount of money I spent. Towel Policy Concerns One of the most frustrating issues was their pool towel policy. Guests are charged $30 for a lost towel, and this policy feels more like a money-making scheme than a genuine security measure. Despite being cautious, I was treated with zero empathy by the concierge staff, particularly Edgar. This practice felt exploitative, and I suspect the staff may be complicit in "losing" towels to enforce charges. Deteriorating Facilities The property is in desperate need of attention. Buildings are run-down, elevators don’t work, and some areas have an unbearable stench reminiscent of a septic tank. Restaurant Management Issues A particularly unpleasant incident occurred at the Mexican restaurant, where the manager, Enrique, enforced a baffling and inconsistent dress code. Guests wearing t-shirts, shorts, and strapped sandals were allowed, but I was turned away for single-strap sandals. This not only ruined our evening but felt inconsistently applied, as others with similar attire were allowed entry. Final Thoughts Overall, my stay at Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda was disappointing. Its poor policies, declining facilities, and lack of guest care make it impossible for me to recommend. I hope the hotel addresses these issues.

The service was horrible, the property was huge and the shuttle service was horrible the property was old and dirty huge cockroaches , food was bad never go here!

Super outdated, public restroom non functional always only one working at the most busies times. Always same food and no snacks by the beach pool Area

This property is very large. The pathways need better lighting at night. Also, not enough lounge chairs at the pool areas.

Grounds are well maintained. Staff are friendly and helpful. Some rooms are musty smelling and mouldy. Sliding doors would not lock properly. Buildings and rooms need updating. Food was ok, not great. Most food items were luke warm at best. Pool was fine. Resort needs more deck chairs around pool.

This resort is horrible. The resort stole my room from me and gave it to another guest when their room caught on fire. When I complained about the hotel stealing my room the hotel manager threatened to call the Mexican police on me and send me to jail. I recorded the conversation and told Expedia about how the management treated me; however, Expedia decided to side with the resort and not accept my videos as evidence. Expedia was unable and unwilling to investigate this issue with the partner hotel and sided completely with the hotel instead of protecting their customer. Stay away from this hotel and Expedia.

I will never recommend this resort to anyone worst seafood was served at dinner .water used to stop in showers while soap on body in building 4 and 5 same in toilets.much more to say

Elevator was not working in building 5 my room light was not working and toilet was not working

THIS WAS THE WORSE RESORT I HAVE EVER BEEN TO! the food was horrible, my husband was sick every night we were there. There is no change in the food, the food was exactly the SAME every night. Booking the a la carte is so hard, the app to book it on did not work for us so most nights we had to pay the doorman to let us in. There are raccoons, lemurs and bird all around you when you are eating. The animals will jump up onto the tables. We had no working wifi most of our trip and were forced to turn on our roaming to stay in touch with our families. There was no hot water for us when we showered and from our experience the sheets were barely changed during house keeping. They would just fix up the same sheets for you. Room service was not free either even though you were paying for all inclusive. One of our nights there one of the building went up in flames. When they relocated the people in that building, they relocated them to a room that my brother was paying for and had not checked out yet. When we complained about this we kept getting “sorry there is nothing we can do” and when we finally yelled enough for a manager to come out we were told “we are going to call the police and you can sit in jail” We were treated terribly by the staff. Upon us checking out they hid our stuff in a back room for some time because they up charged our rooms and when we asked for a break down they didn’t have one. Many people had money taken out of their safes like thousands. DO NOT GO HERE

Don’t do it

If you are traveling with friends, do NOT stay here. This place is very inconvenient and their website is not truthful. For breakfast and lunch, the only option is 2 dining halls with bad food. -Have to walk to lobby every day to make dinner reservations at the concierge, can’t call -can’t make multiple reservations for entire stay, only for the next day -after hours buffet was disgusting -AC only present in hotel rooms, not in restaurants/lobby/bar -food was dry and salty, severely underseasoned -ice cream scoop was in dirty water -App doesn’t work -some outlets didn’t work in room -use the same plastic cups for everything -orange juice smelled like a fart and made us sick -wifi doesn’t work -charge for room service that we didn’t know about -room service took an hour -have to call room service number multiple times before it goes through -Bathroom stall doors didn’t lock -constant knocking sound on room door -lobby roof leaks when it rains -moldy ceiling -rude waitress at steakhouse didn’t even acknowledge our friend -worker mopped over my friends feet -coffee shop was closed at 8:30am -bathroom smells like sulphur dioxide -no Mexican music, all acoustic covers of American songs -have to turn in room key and towel card or you get charged at check out -conflicting info about when concierge closes -mirror in room has paint splattered on it -umbrella only in some rooms -no swim up bar -animals (cats, cottis, raccoons) in dining hall -housekeeping popped our bday balloons

Not even close to enough lawn chairs for guests. Beach was dirty and uninviting. Facilities were in disrepair, rooms are horribly outdated, bedding and decor dismal, no bathrobes in rooms. Service was mostly friendly, but food just okay.

Really loved the pool

Our room floated while trying to take a shower there was a wall leak. The hotel didn’t proceed to do a room change until the next day. I feel like we wasted a whole day just trying to get accommodated.

Wr really liked the many dining options and the large number of pools and the easy access to them. We didn’t like the fact our fridge in our room didn’t work and the lineups at the main bar.

This was our second stay for 10 days at Blue Bay. We had a fantastic and amazing experience once again. Staff are friendly, welcoming and helpful. Because of this great experience once again, we decided to become a member of the circle one. Thanks to all the blue bay staff. Looking forward to our next visit.

Amazing people and resort

Good value for the money

After reading reviews we were unsure of what to actuallt expect but booked anyway. We were pleasantly surprised. The drinks were strong, the food was good, the staff was friendly, no issues with getting rides in electric cars. Beach was clean. We will definitely recommend it if the price is right. We stated in a garden view building 7. Close to the pool. Only negative was the elevator button wouldnt work for down so we had to walk down the steps but could ride the elevator up.

Staff at front desk not friendly at all. They need to learn how to accommodate guests with their needs. Also, they need to explain to their guest about their policy clearly. They need to know how to understand english.

Very effective staff , so polite ,and helpful.

The golf transport in the property should be more consistent in each stop.

Excellent service and friendly staff

The place needs to be updated. The rooms smell, the sliding doors don’t work . Honestly I will never go back there again.

Staffs were amazing the place was beautiful and the food was great

Great Staff

The staff was fantastic! Very friendly and helpful. The AC needs some improvement and the could use some repairs. But over all a very nice stay. They were making repairs all over the resort while we were there, so this review may be improved soon. They are do push to buy an membership but its not as aggressive as some places ive been too.

Value

Clean and friendly,food was good Only problem was power outages at some points and are key card was deactivated twice. Overall for the price we paid,it was a good value,especially for families and groups.

Sure, here's a revised version: --- The hotel is not bad, but it is not the best either. Many parts are under construction. There are only two buffets, which at night are used as restaurants with reservations. The staff is very good, although they try to sell you programs that, according to them, are no longer "time shares," but in my opinion, it's the same dog with a different collar. They tell you that they will give you a welcome breakfast and that they need 90 minutes of your time, which turns into almost 3 hours. We paid $7.00 USD for a hotel taxi to take us from the lobby to the hotel entrance because the tour bus could not come to pick us up. The room is not bad, but it is not the most beautiful; it is a bit old. There is only one swimming pool, although it is quite large. If you travel like I do with the all-inclusive package expecting to enjoy Coronas 🍻, let me tell you that this is not part of the all-inclusive. The check-in service is a little disorganized, and the heat is horrible. The beach has a lot of seaweed, and I didn't really have time to enjoy it. In conclusion, if you are looking for something economical just to sleep and barely be in the hotel, it is a good option.

After reading comments about this property and it’s staff before our trip, I did lower my expectations already. The property was massive. Staff are incredibly great and helpful and respectful. Some may find them very rude maybe because most of them does not understand nor speak english. Despite this, they still try their best to help us in every way they can. Food, I may say is very sub par, they can do better. The only time we enjoyed our meal was when we had dinner at the Italian restaurant. My daughter had a blast! She was given a second entree when she asked and our server gladly gave her the lamb chops that she asked. They truly made her day ( she was sick and is on bed the entire day). The downside is that we had to make dinner reservations the day before. Our Steak night dinner was such a disappointment. As I’ve said, they can do better. My daughter had the duck, in which we have to pay extra (around 20 usd). Steak and duck are both salty. They asked me to sign the charge slip even before our dessert was served, which by the way took them forever. Maybe they did this because my husband and my MIL left before dessert was served. Avoid breakfast and lunch at the buffet area by the beach, so much flies! Drinks, all are too sweet for my liking. The cocktails are so sweet it can give me diabetes. The only cocktail that I liked was their margarita. Pool closes at 7 pm, too early! Beach area is ok. Beach along the hotel zone is way more better!

They have a lot of reneverations to do on the property and there is no swim up bar this is just not true

Muy buen lugar para quedarse serca de la playa con la familia ♥️

The resort was clean, beautiful beaches beautiful pool the food and drinks were great the service was excellent the entertainers were very friendly and very good, overall was a great experience I would recommend the resort to anyone and I will definitely be going there again. The only downside is unfortunately the little coatis (raccoon) in the balcony in the room all day and night we weren’t able to enjoy the view from our balcony because the coatis was taking over our balcony, we understood they are not dangerous but it is somewhat uncomfortable having them in your balcony if you leave the door a little open they will definitely come in your room, they are animals and not dangerous but they should try to come up with a way of trying to keep them out of the balcony. Other than that it is a great resort.

BlueBay Grand Esmeralda is a great family hotel with a lot of entertainment, great service and delicious food options. It was a great vacation.

beautiful place but not sanitary found mold, ants, roach, dust, blood, got a rash, drain wasn't going down, brown water, water all over the floor after a shower, bed was broken in half and unpolite staff at lobby area. just a horrible experience at both rooms. When we called maintenance hours later no call back got switched to a different room the next day after calling 3 times and still dint come until an hour, after. the door barely opened or closed kept getting stuck Golf Carts would barely stop. Always coming in the room without permission. made a report and took photos of us. we supposably made too much noise threaten to call the police and accommodated the other customers after what we said about the first room the second one was worse. most of the staff were selective on who they were nice to. Other than that, the staff at the bar and the women were awesome very nice and helpful.

I enjoyed my stay and felt welcomed.

We had a great stay at Blue Bay. The staff were amazing and the property was well maintained. We read a lot of bad reviews but took the gamble and it paid off. If you’re looking for a good affordable, family friendly options that has two pools, plenty of food options, swim-able beach and great helpful staff this is could be the place. We also loved all the different animals we saw in the beautifully maintained grounds and the cenote lagoon just down the beach

Worst experience ever. Wished we stayed home instead of going on that vacation

We had to change rooms 3 times. Once for broken doors etc. and secondly BED BUGS our room was fumigated and they expected us to sleep in that room for the remainder of our stay. Don’t waste your time or money on this resort!!! Not a 5 star more like 1/2 a star! Nasty all together. Food was awful!! Don’t let the photos on the website fool you! FALSE ADVERTISING AT ITS BEST!!!!!

Great buffet. Different buffets each day was awesome. Did not miss home food. Beach was not great with lot of seaweeds. But you walk right to go in front of ocean maya royale and the beach there is great. Just 0 min walk. I would definitely come back.