BlueBay Grand Esmeralda reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4.0 Very Good

  • Cleanliness 4.2
  • Location 3.8
  • Rooms 3.9
  • Service 4.0
  • Value 3.8

18953 TripAdvisor reviews

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Great experience at the Kids Club

Vacation62749488267 on Nov 28, 2025

Great experience at the kids club, lots of fun activities. Pamela and Elisabette were great at intertaining my 10,8 and 4 years old and they made lots of friends.

TripAdvisor users rated this property 1 out of 5

Bluebay Grand Ezmerelda - It's a disaster. Run away.

Jeffrey C on Nov 27, 2025

Absolutely the worst all-inclusive resort I have ever experienced. Upon arrival, they had me wait 20 minutes for a shuttle ride because of a problem. Then, when I asked where my room was, they told me that its about a 4-minute walk. Upon arriving at my building, the first thing I noticed was that the elevators were out of order and there was a copious amount of water dripping from the ceiling. The room itself was barebones, with no supplies, evidence of recent black mold that had been sloppily painted over, and a deep smell of mold and mildew. I arrived in the evening. The advertised snacks at the Black & White bar were not being served. The Mexican restaurant opened at 11:00 PM, but they provided minimal amounts of mystery meat and a foul-smelling paella. The meal was barely edible. I went back to the bar and ordered a beer, which was so watered down that it tasted like flat ginger ale. I went back to my room, where the smell of mold and mildew was overwhelming. I did not get any sleep at all. In the morning, I went to the breakfast buffet, where the eggs were powdered, the pastries were stale, and the "juice" was a powdered mix. Another inedible meal. I did a quick walk-around the resort. All of the pool and beach chairs were already taken... no place to sit. The beach was full of sargasm, and the seawater was brown. No place to leave my stuff. No swim-up bar, no service to speak of. I decided to cut my vacation short and get a flight home. No one at reception was able to assist me with any planning. I was on my own. I did manage to discuss the situation with several other vacationers. Everyone that I spoke to was disgusted by the place, and many were planning on cutting their vacations short. The Bluebay Grand Ezemelda is nothing more than a front for time-share sales. Do not book this resort. Sta healthy instead.

TripAdvisor users rated this property 4 out of 5

Had lots of fun I can say, however, lack of sunbed disappoint

Janice P on Nov 27, 2025

I was here for five days from November 21 to November 26. My only complaint would be the lack of sun beds. I’ve seen large groups not being able to sit together. I’ve seen older folks not having anywhere to sit. I’ve seen young families with children and babies with nowhere to sit. For this reason, I would not go back because we go away only to lounge on the beds. Other than that, the staff is the hotels biggest asset. The staff are very hard workers very attentive. In my opinion they deserve better in terms of the hotel sometimes had a lot of complaints and they were very busy trying to make everyone happy. I had a lot of fun there was a lot of dancing. It was so much fun. I enjoyed the food as well. I started off in building five had a free upgrade to partial Ocean view and I want to thank them for that. However, we could not get in the room. Something was blocking the door from the inside and then we asked to be in building 7 closer to the lobby in case we had to do too much walking back-and-forth so we ended up in building 7 and the room was great. Thank you to Brenda at reception. Thank you to the maintenance guys who fixed my door twice. And thank you to all the staff for being so helpful, friendly and attentive. Staff is second to none.

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Pool activity

??? ? on Nov 26, 2025

Amazing activity! The pool sessions were so much fun, and Andres is absolutely fantastic — super friendly, energetic, and truly makes the whole experience unforgettable. Honestly, without him these days would have been much less exciting. All five stars are purely because he’s here. Highly recommended!

TripAdvisor users rated this property 1 out of 5

The worst all inclusive in Riviera Maya

Ritha L on Nov 25, 2025

We stayed for 10 days. They tried to push their 'Circle One ' timeshare VIP club on us and we refused. We soon realized they are the only guests that get any service. My partner walks with a cane and is painful to walk long distances. There are golf carts that drive around but when an empty VIP cart would see him hobbling, They look at his arm band and drive by. There are enough lounge chairs for 1/3 of the guests but the Circle one area is full of empty chairs. The food is terrible. The description shows a snack bar at the top pool. It is actually closed down. You have to walk to the noisy bar near the lobby to get nachos or hot dog. You are not allowed in the upper buffet with swim clothes. The pillows are stuffed with lumpy foam chunks. We had no hot water for 5/10 days and the shower would just stop while you're in the middle of it, sometimes for a minute or 2. Housekeeping took our friends dirty bath towels and didn't replace them for 2 days. When we checked in we were greeted by 7 cockroaches coming out of our bathroom drain. We killed them and had to put glasses over the hole as they had no stoppers to provide us. The food was terrible. It was rare you ever got a glass for a beverage. I would be served my glass of wine with dinner in a plastic cup. The same cups they use for drinks on the beach. Eating at an ala carte wasn't at all a step up from the buffet. The food was the same. I will give a shout out to Jonathan 'concierge' and Moshie and Parker ' shuttle drivers'. It's obvious the 3 of them love their jobs. They could all do better working at a better resort. I've been to Riviera Maya 10 times and many other parts of Mexico and the Caribbean in my lifetime and this was by far the worst managed or cared for one that I've ever experienced. It is far from a 5 star, I would give it a 1 at best.

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