TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I would like to share my experience about that hotel! The hotel is older but not bad, our room 1434 was always nice and clean, many thanks to the person who took care of it! A terrible smell comes from outside around the Tulum 1 building, I think it's stagnant water from those swamps around the building! The food is ok, we are not spoiled so we always found something we like, I'm a bit disappointed with the fruit because it tastes the same as here from the Superstore, you would expect tropical fruit to taste much better and sweeter! The beach is not good for swimming because the water is very cloudy and there weren't enough sunbeds on the beach, there isn't much shade, if you don't come early there won't be any more places because people probably leave their towels overnight! The only thing I really don't like is that when you arrive, everyone rushes to carry your suitcases to give you a favor, and when you leave they don't care about you at all!!! Mexico is beautiful and we had a great time, but I don't think we will go back, I think their prices are too high for excursions and buying souvenirs, generally too overpriced for everything!!

If I could give it a ZERO, I would! Please do not stay at this hotel. You WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! The property is seriously outdated and needs upgrades. Upon arrival, our room had no air conditioning. We had to be moved to a new room which seemed to take forever and air conditioner was just as bad. There was a power outage seemingly every day and we also experienced an episode where there was no water. We were celebrating a birthday and paid for room decorations THAT WE NEVER RECEIVED. I checked on it daily at Concierge while there and they used the language barrier as an excuse not to respond/resolve. Concierge via email is NOT HELPFUL once you pay your money! They no longer respond to your emails once you send proof that you have paid for services. To date, I have not been refunded so I will allow VISA to resolve the issue. Although all inclusive, the drinks are watered down. The food was okay but buffet serves the same thing every day. Don't waste your time, money or energy at this resort. You will be extremely disappointed. Pay the extra money and stay in Cancun at Moon Palace or Hilton WA...brands that you know you can trust!

Our time at Blue Bay Esmeralda was disappointing, but it would be unfair to be overly harsh. Our first impressions of the hotel were good as we approached the property. However, the reception had no aircon or fan, which made the 45-minute wait to be checked in rather uncomfortable. Despite only three families in front of us and two members of staff working the desk, it took 45 minutes for us to be checked in and our room card etc. given. Then, after waiting 15 minutes for a lift to our room on one of the buggies, we reached our room and realised that our key card didn’t work. That resulted in us having to drag all our luggage on a 10-minute walk back to reception, where we were told that it happens sometimes, and we were given a new card and asked to walk back- meaning that the time from arriving at the hotel to being in our room was 90 minutes. Which, after a nearly 20-hour journey, wasn’t what we would have liked. The room was good; it had all the expected amenities, including daily housekeeping, new towels each day, and a fully restocked minibar. There were, however, three large circles of mould on our walls, which was somewhat off-putting. The pool was lovely, with plenty of sunbeds, until at least 11 am. Both pools were pleasantly clean and well-maintained. However, one minor criticism is that the music can be too loud near the main pool, meaning it took a lot of work to converse with the people at our party. The food could have been better. Breakfast was inedible other than the fresh fruit. The cooked breakfast wasn’t excellent, the butter was inedible, and the fresh juice had an awful aftertaste. For lunch, if you stick to the fresh meat and salad, the food is alright; however, past that, it wasn’t desired. The Al ’carte restaurants were genuinely awful (we returned to the buffet after each visit, so we didn’t go to bed on an empty stomach). In the Italian, the pasta was raw, and the pizza was underwhelming. At the Mexican restaurant, the enchiladas were genuinely repulsive (my partner and I both spat it out), and the steak restaurant was poor, with my sirloin steak just gristle. The French restaurant had an excellent overall vibe, but the food was again average but better than any other sit-down restaurant. The drinks were generally quite good, with a mix of frozen cocktails, beers, wines and a wide range of spirits, including named brands such as Captain Morgan’s and Smirnoff, which was a pleasant surprise. It was disappointing that the snack bar was under renovation until December 2024 (which wasn’t advertised anywhere or told by the front desk), and we had to find out for ourselves when we walked the entire distance and had to ask a staff member why it wasn’t open. In our room, we didn’t have any phone signal or WIFI unless we were on our balcony, which was very disappointing; when we spoke to reception, they just said, tough luck. Overall, the staff worked incredibly hard and made our stay enjoyable, but it does feel as if the hotel is very tired and needs a spruce up to bring it to the standard that you expect from a 5* hotel. All in, we wouldn’t call it a 5* hotel and we wouldn’t visit again, but it was a nice week away.

Amazing resort. Old school but still best value and great place. Best good, best shoppingband overall great atmosphere. Best value . Though newer resorts exist old ones were the beginners. Blue bay all the wwy. Great beach, great people and great mango tangos

Mexico Really wasn't sure what to expect after the reviews but was pleasantly surprised. I'm in a wheelchair so had emailed the hotel myself to let them know so I had a downstairs room with wider doors and a shower as I can't get into the bath. Room was great .. really clean I had clean towels daily and they changed the sheets quite often. I really think the hotel has taken on board most of the complaints people were making. We realised we couldnt lock the patio door but they were here on 15 mins and totally replaced the lock .There is no kettle but the coffee maker was brand new and worked fine. If we run out of water I'd ring reception and it wasn't long before we had some. I'd take my empty bottle and go to black and white to refill it. Another tip is change the language on the TV to English in settings then you have loads of TV channels. And the free WiFi is phenomenal. We are in block 8 and there's a smaller pool which is a lot quieter I find the big pool by the beach is very busy. Yes there are a lot of Mexicans ....it's Mexico lol they do cater for all . Yes the Mexicans are loud but they are also very kind and nearly every one of them said hello and would help me without being asked. As I said I'm in a wheelchair we went to the Italian restaurant and in the front there is no ramp. A group of people waiting realised and basically picked me and the wheelchair up to get us in. Food was fab . Hot and plenty of choice we used festival a lot.There are so many service waiters and they are very helpful. So much choice and mostly geared to the European people. On the map they give you when you get there there's a link to the hotel App. It's brilliant you can use it to book meals etc. we have tried all the restaurants and my all time fave is French.. the steak restaurant and the fish restaurant are brilliant I really enjoyed them my least fave were Italian and mexican but that's personal choice. Another tip I'd recommend is book the restaurants for the weekend as the hotel is really full and there's big queue s.. It's independence day this weekend 15th and the hotel has gone from 600 people to totally full. The atmosphere is amazing everyone in party mood, and bonus all the drinks are top brands I drink gin and was drinking tangeray. Make sure you take enough pesos for your trip. We ran out tipping everyone and went to the cash point for money. It only gives you dollars and it charges you 21 dollars for the privilege I then went to reception as I wanted pesos and they charged comission too ... All on all in UK I paid 100 pounds for 2400 ISH pesos over here I ended up with 1450 a loss of 1000 pesos wasn't happy about that but so far the only drawback. Also went to onsite shop and it cost me 400 pesatas for 2 large bags of crisps 8 quid each !!! I never got them hubby did as a treat lol there's no way I'd pay that. The black and white bar is brilliant the only thing I would say is they need moerere air conditioning it's quite warm in there. The bar staff are great my fave runner was Alejandria she really looked after us. All on all we had a really great stay weather was fab no complaints from us about the food or service and one day we'll definitely be back.