Bluebay Grand Esmeralda

The hotel was really awesome from our room, services and food everything was very good. I was hesitant because of all but reviews but with our experienced there it was really awesome and one of my favorite hotel or resort here in mexico highly recommended and will comeback here for sure. [Details]

Had a great time! Disappointed by the beach and concierge was not helpful [Details]

Absolutely wonderful staff !!!! 10 out of 5 stars review from my wife and I. This facility is still coming back from the effects of the pandemic lockdowns and seems to be making good progress. A lovely surrounding, beautiful grounds and exceptionally well maintained facility. We would stay there again and enjoy another week. [Details]

The experience at the hotel was not the best, I asked for a handicap accessable room, only to recieve a room that had a 2' step to get into the shower, an elevator that worked sporadically. When I asked about this was informed they likely don't have any, when I asked if they could check they said no. We were not the only people requiring a handicap room and I am not certain their outcome. We rarely received linens in our room even when we asked [Details]

We are a group of two Canadian couples who did google research prior to booking and assumed if Google lists it a 4.5 to 5 star in Mexico, you will get a decent holiday. We were wrong, and were looking to leave within hours of landing there. Staff did not take time to tell us where we can get food or a drink when we checked in. You didn't feel welcomed when arriving. After a long day of travel, we needed a meal, but were in between times at the buffet and that only made the experience worse. But it didn't get any better. By day 3, three people in our party suffered diarrhea which lasted the rest of the trip, likely due to the poor food quality and cleanliness. We are two days home now and still have diarrhea.
The main pools are beside each other and close to the beach, with two bars and a snack bar but with only one bathroom. The bathrooms were a hazard as they are not kept up and it is a danger just trying to walk across the floor for abled people. I'm not sure how elderly or anyone with impaired mobility does it. There are 2/3 working female bathroom stalls for the entire pool area. The pool area likely holds up to 1000 people, so guess where those who didn't want to take their lives into their hands likely went?

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. They should close up and do some much much needed improvements and hire staff that are trained in customer service. It was rare for staff or guests to greet you or say good morning on the very long walks that are needed because the hotel is so spread apart, that walking to meals is needed. Golf carts are there, but not reliable and seem to stop for VIPs but not for regular folks too much.
Beach is horrible. You can't really go in the water because the resort doesn't spend time or money cleaning away the seaweed. The smell is bad.

The picture you have in this ad must be at least 20 years old as the pool does not look that clean and the chairs are in need of repair or the dump. I don't recognize that picture from what we experienced. [Details]

I was disappointed about the seaweed Beach and a toilet that ran for over 1/2 hour after each flush…..but the pools were very nice, the bars served good cocktails, the food was good, room attendants were excellent; the resort overall was good - I'd return [Details]

Check in was good other than Iwere not clear on the lay out of the resort. I had a hard time finding our building number that they had given us. Later was told by an other guest buildings were by names not numbers, and ours was on the other side of the entrane into our area. Our room was clean when we entered it, but no beverages in the fridge except a couple beer. Our belcony door was broken and would not lock. We went to the front desk it was fixed pretty quickly. ( did hear from many other guests their belcony doors didnt lock as well and looked like alot of main floor quests had sticks in their doors). This is a large resort so lots of walking to get to any place on the resort. They did have staff driving around to pick you up, with that being said we tried flagging down them numerous times and not once did they stop for us even if they were completly empty. As far as our rooms getting cleaned and restocked each day, we did get lots of water. But on a couple of occasions we only got one towel and we never did get face clothes. We did tip especially our room but it didnt seem to make a difference. I found the staff in the main eating area friendly and nice. The staff at the bars were not so friendly and sometimes just right out rude. The bathrooms in common areas were usally broken and instead of lets say 3 toilets there would only be one. So for such a large resort not enough washrooms for sure. Nightly entertainment was good. I enjoyed it. All in all I dont think I would revisit this resort again 1 it was too big for what I like and 2 it didnt feel overly welcomed.
P.S food was okay lots of choices [Details]

We stayed at the resort 10 years ago when it was only a couple years old and at that time we had a good stay and enjoyed the resort! We returned to the resort and was a bit disappointed in a number of things! Now, with that said, we were somewhat new to staying at resorts on our first visit, but since, have stayed at many, many all inclusive resorts from Mexico, to Jamaica, to Dominican Republic to Cuba! We now stay at high end resorts which cause making comparisons tough when not comparing apples to apples!

With that difference in mind, there are several things that the resort could do to improve the experience!
1) The pool side loungers are in really rough shape and if you aren't out and saving your spot before 7 AM you're not likely going to get one by the pools! The beach does have plenty of loungers which could be moved to the pool areas so more guests could enjoy the pools!
2) The pool side service is almost non existent as I think in our 1 week stay I saw a server come around about 3 times total! Now, as mentioned, with higher end resorts we find that that is not an issue and service is top notch!
3) The buffets where only mediocre at best, but the specialty restaurants where quite good, but could only be booked the day before and many were booked up by the time we checked in with the concierge!
4) The resort and washrooms were pretty clean for the most part!
5) Bartenders and servers where friendly and polite as well!
6) The resort covers a big area and there's a shuttle that is supposed to run from pool to pool, but, for several days it never showed up for an hour or more at a time, so commuting for elderly or people with mobility issues were kind of on their own trying to get around!
7) The rooms were clean and cleaned daily and were pretty good other than the amount of towels supplied in the bathrooms as usually just one hand towel and a couple of bath towels!
8) The pools were good and kept clean so no issues with enjoying them!
8) The limit of 1 pool towel each is quite annoying as if you want to sit or lay on one you didn't have another to use as a pillow or to dry off with unless you wanted to sit or lay on a wet towel afterwards! Again, our usual resort has NO restrictions on the number of towels you take or use at any time!
In closing the resort could use some sprucing up as it's starting to show it's age a bit! [Details]

Horrible! Don't go there. Grounds were in poor condition, drinks and food were terrible. The seaweed (Which I realize is bad everywhere right now) was left to pile up and rot on the beach causing a smell across the resort like no other!! We moved resorts after 1 day. Other resort was cleaning their beach daily and didn't smell a thing. The staff at Bluebay was in no rush to help us with anything. We will never go back [Details]

Overall, the people were friendly and the main lobby was nice. More and better entertainment needed every night. Kareoke is not the way to go. It is actually irritating. Bring more dancers and singers on a nightly basis. The drinks were done well. Having a car take you to another resort is a good idea but it was often difficult to get back to the resort. Many of us did not know where we needed to go and stand to get back. [Details]

The staff was very friendly, service was great, the food is good, room was clean and decent, get their app for booking restaurants.
Only complaint is the sewer smell by the main pool area. Most people don't seem to notice it though, maybe alcohol numbs ur sense of smell.
The timeshare guys in the white shirts bother you the first few days till your tanned up. [Details]

Compared to other Resorts in the area, this is more like a 3-star resort. The double-room I had was fairly clean but dated and in much need of repairs, room entry door lock was loose, cabinet dresser doors wouldn't close properly, patio doors were difficult to open/close. The buffet food selection was decent but it's difficult to get a reservation for private dining in other restaurants given the number of restaurant choices in the resort. My feeling is unless you're part of the Circle One VIP, be prepared to be treated so-so. [Details]

We stayed for two weeks over Xmas and New Years in Dec 2022. Our room was broken into and the balcony door was so damaged it would no longer lock. It took 10 hours of complaining to get them to move us to a new room. The room we were moved was filled with sewer gas coming up through the floor drain in the bathroom and within 12 hours my entire family was sick. The sewer gas back up lasted the first week we were there before they got it under control. We complained and had security come to the room - they acknowledge the problem but refused to do anything about it. They tell you they have six restuarants on site but really only have three and one of them the divide in half at night and say it is two. You have to go up each morning and stand in a line up for 30 - 40 min to try and get a reservation for that night and then they would only give us a reservation for 9:00 PM. We were traveling with young children and 9:00 PM was to late so we were stuck eating in the main restaurant everynight. We tried to book our reservations a day or two in advance and were told NO. You can not swim off the beach - the water directly in front of the hotel is churned sand - they have big cement barriers to try and help but it doesn't. 200 yards down the beach there is black sludge washing up on shore - I believe it to be raw sewer that is being drained into the sea. They promote this property as a 5 start hotel - don't get fooled by the picture. This should be rated a 2 star. This was my sixth trip to this area and I have never stayed in a more disgusting hotel. [Details]

Too large at times. They seemed to have a lot of shuttles, but not the proper amount during the busy dinner times when people needed to be ferried back and forth to the reserved restaurant spots. If you were elderly and down by the beach, getting to the main restaurants required shuttle. Waiting times were brutal for some (we mostly walked). Heat was a little much for me, but I cannot fault the Resort for that. There was too much seaweed to enjoy the beach, so the pictures were definitely not doing justice. Some staff were kind and courteous. Others were just spiteful and rude. Food was what to be expected at an all inclusive, but there was definitely a lot of choice. I never really had the pleasure of finding out what time was best to shower there. I tried many times and only found hot water once (stroke of luck). If this is a five star resort, I guess I will be reserving my travel for other countries. In my opinion this was a 3 at best. [Details]

This is definitely a four-star hotel not a five star.
Food was good & lots of variety
Grounds were clean
Staff could be a little unorganized at times, but friendly
Pools are clean
All of the à la cart restaurants were also really really good! [Details]

We were expecting a 5 stars hotel, which i believe is more a 4 star.
Certain areas of th resort needs a uplift.
Other than that, we were treated like a 5 stars guest.
The food, drinks etc were amazing.
it was my best out of 15 trips in all inclusive.
we are bringing back our family of 6 next year. [Details]

This resort is extremely run down, with the smell of sewage everywhere, mold in rooms on walls, and broken air conditioning; it was a rough stay. The Bar is dank, with only one working toilet and sink in the women's bathroom.
I spent 24 hours in my room with food poisoning from the seafood a la carte. We found four men in our room when returning from the beach in the afternoon, saying they were spraying for mosquitos but had no equipment, and many items were missing. We made a complaint, and security was supposed to meet us in our room to file a report. We went to meet them there, but nobody showed up, and some of our items magically reappeared.
It was rare to see staff smile or even be friendly.
The beach was ungroomed, with smelly seaweed stacked in front of the water. Sand packed down and ungroomed. The ocean smelled of sewage. NOT OK. I wouldn't say I liked this resort. [Details]

The hotel is very run down. There was a strong sewer smell throughout the resort and in our room. Housekeeping was not consistent and we constantly had to ask for replacement towels and facecloths as they took them but did not replace them. Curtains were falling off the rod and the handle on the balcony door was coming off. Although we were told they would be fixed, they never were. So many things wrong and so not worth the money we paid. Rooms are extremely noisy, wifi was sporadic, air conditioning didn't work for 2 days. [Details]

The staff is very friendly. Very nice and clean resort. Would not think twice about going there again. [Details]

The Resort was nice and the staff was great however I think they should spend more time on fixing the rooms that are very tired and stop promoting circle one. Stop treating the non members that made the Resort what it is like they don't mater [Details]

We got married here in 2020. Went back for our 3 year anniversary. The resort has definitely gone down from 2020 maybe due to Covid. Many things were run down or broken in the buildings. But the food was amazing and staff was friendly. [Details]

I want to say it was a pleasant experience, but I can't. The staff is wonderful and we can't say enough good things about them.
The Time Share Sales people are really annoying as are some of the patrons who were very drunk and singing very loudly. Because they are Circle One members, bad behavior is tolerated and the rest of the guests tolerated 2 hours of obnoxious behavior. This included one of the Circle One guests dumping a ladies belonging from a poolside table onto the ground because "Those are for Circle One Members only. We pay for those. You don't." The attendant who witness it just shrugged and walked away.
There is a total lack of poolside and/or beach loungers.
The beach is not usable. Even on a calm day, the water is so murky and sand filled that wading into the water is treacherous. If you are willing to walk 5 hotels down the beach, there is a lovely sandy beach that is swimmable.

Food is less than mediocre. I suspect that a lot of the food is leftovers from the a la carte restaurants. It was dried out, overcooked and totally tasteless before it was even put out on the buffet tables. Even the bolognese sauce for the pasta was pretty much Heinz tomato paste without any flavoring what so ever, poured over penne.
The 24 hour snack bar they tell you about in the lobby does not exist.
Food is packed up by 10:30 pm and nothing is put out until 11 am the next morning. Also, be prepared to pay $ 8.00 US for a package of gummy bears,or bag of potato chips at the gift shop. And make sure you have exact change. A lot of times they don't have change, so you need to leave them a "tip" because they don't have change.
Because the recommended for field is mandatory to submit a review, I chose clubs and partying. I did neither so have no idea what it is like. [Details]

Hotel is old, outdated and smelly.

Water pressure is really weak for shower (water stopped on me in the middle of shower).

Building is old and outdated (all the seals are breaking off) and smelly washroom to begin with. Towels you only get two, and they are old (thin and dusty). There is a sewer drainage pipe on washroom floor, guess where the smell is coming from??

Food is sub par, almost the same food everyday, except the dinner in different restaurant.

You have to make reservation everyday in order to get a seat in the restaurant for dinner (there is an app you can use, but 90% of the time it does not work).

Most of dinner restaurants are good.
Do not go to Italian restaurant though, food is terrible there, they will serve you frozen pizza for pizza menu.

When you check in, you are dragged into this VIP service desk and the staff will tell you that he will pick you up for breakfast, etc.
They pick you up in the morning, take you to breakfast, but turns out, it was 3 hours of waste of my vacation time to listen to the sales person trying to sell you this VIP ticket for $15,000 USD. What a waste of time (the sales person is very aggressive, and as soon as you express your lack of interest, they will change their mood very quickly).

Other service staffs were nice though.

Wifi. Where do I start.. it's there, but I hope you are patient person.

Beach is okay, they blocked off front part of the sea with some sort of stones or sand, guessing it blocks strong waves?? But it traps all the dirt and garbage, water is not desirable at all. I did not go into the sea water at all, just sat on the docks most of the times. You will understand why if you choose to go here.

If I was to go back to Mexico (though I do not think I ever will), I would spend some more money for adult only, more updated resort. [Details]

The stay was ok, the staff was very friendly. The service at the buffet was great all servers where nice and knowledgeable. The EL a cart was good they did a great job with adding the special detail to the food and service. The reason that I say it is not a four star not even close is the rooms and the black and white bar and bar service in all.

The rooms where very poor they had a horrible smell(in several room we had a group of 30 plus people and three rooms need to be changed do to model and smell). The paint job was horrible paint everywhere the room was ok cleaned but no extra things or special items. Service like safe problems took hours to get any support and you had to stay in your room and wait for them to come. So waiting hours to get that service mad us waist a whole night out. The bathrooms where out dated and the repairs where horrible. The repair in the whole hotel where horrible patches and model everywhere. The wall in the hallways where dirty not just dirty but gross they had what looked like poo on the walls and was not cleaned the whole time we where there.

Booking Elacarts was horrible the on line app was hard to use and you could not get in to any unless you stayed up until 1am. The front desk would not book for you and it was hard to get anything from them.
The biggest problem we had was the push for Time Shares!! Every morning they would attack you on the path about coming for a free breakfast it made the trip very unrelating . I don't need to be attacked even morning same people it sure made us want to leave.
Know the bars first off there is only three for such a large resort this is unacceptable. also by 8pm there is only two option black and white or swing bar. The premium liquor was not premium in anyway. it took for even to get a drink any where!!
Also the night entertainment was sub par, the Black and white bar where everything was held was not executable smoking in side!! It smelt bad, line ups out the door to get a drink and the sound that the speakers made was horrible.
The night life was horrible there we had to hunt down someone to find out where we could get food or snacks. Once found it was ok but again there should be an option for 24hr food should not be a closed time.
There was no I say no coffee shop at all the coffee was the worst I ever had it was like coloured water. And if you wanted coffee at night or other times of the day it was a machine like at a convent store. Mexico coffee no where to be found in this hotel.
The front entrance of the hotel was dirty and not impressing at all for a first impression it was gross.
Be aware they dont tell where your travel agent is they try to get you to buy from the Day people out front. The travel agents are hidden behind the black and white club and are only there a few days threw your stay. Also unless you are a time share they kind of treat you sub par.
The beach is good but they have these barges in the water so in blocks the ocean view all the way big black barges. They tell you to go for about a 15min walk down the beach to find snorkling but when you get there they don't let you on the place because it is a private beach.
All in all if this was not for a wedding we went to I would have left the hotel the first day we got there. It was not great at all. The hotel is very out dated and damaged no way it this even close to a 4 star hotel maybe a 3 star.
would not recumbent [Details]

Was a good hotel overall. And we enjoyed ourselves as a family of 4 (2 kids, 5 and 7)
Beach was fine. Nice sand, lots of chairs. Water was mostly okay, there are some barriers that break the waves (I guess) that are a bit on an eye sore, who cares, but they seem to trap in murkiness and seaweed whenever there is any. There can be a lot at times. Fortunately the hotels just to the right of it have a great open beach and you can walk there in about 2 minutes. The one on the left (4min walk) has a beautiful river dumping into the ocean and is a must see. Google map it check the pics.
Pool area, excellent.
Bars, good, liquor/beer quality good. Good brands and not watered down.
Restaurants, buffet was great lots of good tasty selection, loved it. Didn't do a la carts as buffet did it for us.
Kids club, very good. Attentive staff good programs, kids absolutely loved it.
Animation/poolside entertainment and activities very good, lots to do if you want it.
Grounds are well kept and rooms are cleaned efficiently.
Room was great, beds were hard. Oh well. But overall room was great clean, spacious everything worked fine.
Nightly entertainment… shows were decent, great dancers etc, the area where the shows were lacked a bit of character. It turns into the only place to get a coffee or drink after it's done and doesn't really make you want to stick around. Not a complaint, just an observation. But it's fine. A couple of bar stools at the bar would probably be a good idea because if you are by yourself it's pretty awkward standing against a wall or sitting at a table for 5 all alone.
All in all we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Great time! If the price is right, as it was, I'd definitely go back. [Details]

The hotel was amazing. The "VIP" greeting was a horrible experience. Very high-pressure sales-pitch that we gladly opted out of. When we opted our treatment from the VIP staff changed dramatically - they were very rude.
Aside from that experience - our stay was amazing.
Suggestion from others who were coerced into the 90 minute meeting ....DONT GO!! [Details]

It's a very large resort, lots of walking. We did on average 9km walking just in the resort lol

Lots of partying, but may be due to its new years weekend. Lots of restaurants and has a 24 hour bar. The neatest town is a 450 Pesos cab ride each way $30 Can

There are 2 large pools and a smaller pool at the other end. It's right on the beach, but isn't very nice, small and a lot of seaweed, as of all of that area right now. It's located in Playa del Carmen, about a 45min ride from the airport, so make sure you have a shuttle with the package.

All and all, I'd say it's an ok resort. I just prefer to be closer to a town for the food and seeing the culture. The room is a typical Mexican room, nothing special.

There was some areas that had a weird smell, our room was one, smelt like stagnant water...

The power went out the day we left as well as the running water. There is a water shortage in Mexico right

The store on sight is crazy expensive! For 12 advil it was $20 Canadian and the sunscreen was $36 Canadian for 1 can! [Details]

Very good loved the week there, the interaction with the staff was very good pool area bars and the party on black and white [Details]

We had to request a new room twice before we could get away from the sewage smell. The smell was so overwhelming that we couldn't sleep.
The resort is very rundown and needs extensive repairs.
This is definitely not a 5 star facility. [Details]

All in All, resort was okay. toilets/washrooms away from main restaurant areas were a little unsanitary and a few were missing toilet seats.
This was are 4th time to this resort in the last 6 years and it seems to be not kept as well as the first time we were there.
Was surprised that , being a repeat client, there was no upgrades like we have had from other resorts. [Details]