Jsk Fallseason
I hadn’t been to Mexico in about ten years — we’ve been going to Cuba and the Dominican instead — but decided to switch it up for a siblings trip. At the time of booking, the hotel was rated as a 5-star.
The Good:
Check-in went smoothly. The room was decent, though definitely not what I’d consider 5-star quality. The food was good — Mexican cuisine is usually reliable. I remember it being amazing years ago, but it was still better than Cuba and slightly better than the Dominican. The beach vendors weren’t overly pushy, which was appreciated.
The Bad:
During my limited time at the beach and pool, I witnessed two arguments over lounge chairs — the classic “towel down at 7:30 a.m., show up at 1 p.m.” situation. For a resort of this size, there’s very little shade and not nearly enough seating. The property is quite spread out, so be prepared to do a fair bit of walking (not necessarily a bad thing). If you enjoy long beach walks, that’s limited as well — the beach either ends or is blocked off.
The Ugly:
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Cuba and the Dominican, but this wasn’t an ocean you’d want to swim in — at least not when we were there. The water was murky and full of seaweed, which made it pretty unappealing.
Overall, for the price we paid, I expected more. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t return.
Michal Strzembicki
Our stay at Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda was absolutely fantastic and truly memorable.
We would especially like to thank Alex and Yulissa for their exceptional help and professionalism. They organized a beautiful private dinner for us with a private Mariachi concert, which was an incredible experience and showed a very high level of care and attention to guests.
The food throughout the hotel was delicious, with a wide variety of options. The themed restaurants are on a top world-class level, offering excellent quality and great atmosphere. The service across the entire hotel was friendly, professional, and always helpful.
The hotel offers a very rich evening entertainment and animation program, so there is always something enjoyable to do in the evenings. The rooms are very clean, comfortable, and well maintained.
Garden-view rooms are a real highlight — they offer beautiful views and the unique opportunity to observe wildlife directly on the hotel grounds. We saw coatis running along the pathways, as well as deer, raccoons, and many other beautiful animals, which made the stay feel very special.
Electric golf carts run constantly around the resort, making it easy and convenient to get to restaurants, the beach, and other areas of the hotel.
Beautiful hotel, excellent food, and warm, professional service.
Highly recommended!
Stan Club
Just returned from Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda and wanted to share an honest review of our experience.
We arrived around 9pm, and unfortunately the first impression wasn’t great. The lobby was quite dark and the central fountain wasn’t working, which immediately gave the feeling that the property wasn’t very well maintained. Throughout our stay, that initial impression proved fairly accurate.
Since we arrived late and haven't eaten any food, we went to the only late snack bar in the Mexican restaurant, which opened at 11pm (runs from 11pm to 1am). We went right at 11:05pm, and had a burger (which was tasty), and wanted a second. Unfortunately, by the time, we went for second, which was around 15 minutes later, the server said the burger patties were run out.
We booked two rooms in Building 7. One room on the second floor was decent in size but had a very strong, unpleasant cleaning smell upon arrival. The second room, on the first floor, had a loose doorknob that wouldn’t lock properly and we even found a large cockroach crawling across the floor. We requested a room change and were moved upstairs. We had also asked in advance for rooms side by side or at least on the same floor, but that request was not accommodated.
Housekeeping and basic service were inconsistent. Both rooms had to call multiple times (3 to 4 attempts) just to request water or cleaning service. Response time was slow.
Breakfast was offered in three different locations, but the selection was nearly identical at each. The omelette stations were disappointing, presentation and preparation felt rushed and sloppy. Overall, the food quality throughout the resort was underwhelming. It did not feel like the standard we expected in Mexico. We also met several fellow Canadian guests who experienced food poisoning during their stay, which was concerning.
There is only one coffee shop on the property and it doesn’t open until 10am, which resulted in long lineups every morning.
The pools are large and visually appealing, but there were no umbrellas available, which made it very difficult to escape the strong midday sun. There are limited shaded canopy areas, and guests were reserving chairs as early as 5am to secure shade. Additionally, the pool surfaces are extremely rough — several of us ended up with scratches simply from getting in and out. At the main pool, only one or two staff members were circulating for drink service, which wasn’t enough for the size of the area.
The nightly entertainment had effort behind it, but shows often started late and the overall quality was not impressive.
One of the women’s washrooms near the beachside restaurant was missing a toilet seat and toilet paper for the duration of our stay, and it was never addressed.
On a positive note, most of the staff we encountered were friendly, and the resort grounds are very large with plenty of space to walk around.
We went in knowing this was marketed as a 4-star resort, not 5-star, but our overall experience felt closer to a 3-star standard in terms of service and upkeep. At first glance the property looks nice, but the details tell a different story.
Unfortunately, based on this visit, I would not return or recommend it.
Picture attached shows the " 1 " was missing, and we couldn't even press the button going down, and needed the help with one of the staff members in the building.
I really hope this review will lead to REAL CHANGE by the management in this resort, and not the generic, cliche response to every 1 or 2 star reviews. Because BlueBay does have potential, but not there yet.
Neha Vinayak
Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda was a great resort for us. The pool is huge and can accommodate everyone. The beach is a bit dirty but there is another beach nearby that is really nice. The buffet restaurants in this resort were not so good but the speciality restraints were amazing. There is lots of bars and also games like arcade games and pool tables in the black and white bar. A short walk away there is a really nice lagoon too. The room was spacious but the toilet got clogged once and we also didn’t get our room cleaned one day, but the beds were very comfortable. This resort is really big and golf carts do come by but you need to be slow to walk to get around. Also, the shows were absolutely stunning. Huge effort by the entertainment team. We saw a variety of shows like a magic show, a fire show, and a special Christmas show and parade. The entertainment crew also worked very hard at the pool and always had activities for guests. Overall this was an amazing resort and I would recommend it to other people.
Mary L Giesbrecht
The BlueBay Grand Esmeralda, Riveria Maya, Cancun, Mexico needs more sun loungers! There was so much empty space around the pool and beach area to nicely accommodate all of us but there were not enough loungers. Tourists would wake up early, reserve their spot with their hotel towels and only return hours later causing frustration for the rest of us who were ready to use loungers but couldn’t because they were reserved. This caused the issue of towels to be removed or stolen because there was a $30 fee for towels not returned at check out. This problem could so easily be solved inexpensively by having more loungers. This is a complaint I’ve read online and heard at the resort, so the resort should listen to comments to promote word of mouth advertising and so they have repeat customers. The resort itself was beautiful, food and entertainment was great, service was great, servers went above and beyond! Clean and well taken care of. We travelled with my sons and their room had a bad sewer smell all week. Our rooms were older as well but clean. The walking to the beach was also quite the hike. If you’re having trouble walking, this is probably not the resort for you.
My Booking
