TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This was the perfect resort for our family’s first time in Mexico! The room was spacious and comfortable. We had a private patio, which also happened to be poolside and steps from the walkway to the beach and Bali Beds. The buffet and restaurants all exceeded our expectations, with so many choices! We loved the pop up bbq and taco lunches, as well as afternoon tea. In room fridge was stocked with 3 choices of beer, and sodas. Room service was excellent, and staff was efficient. Beach had the seaweed, but staff were always working to clear it, and we enjoyed lounging in the beach side Bali Beds. Beautiful, luxurious property!

The entertainment was wonderful and Jorge’s energy was so fun and great to have around! He really encouraged a fun time and helped to promote a good time. All of his events had people all the time and he worked hard for it. He even gave me a coconut that was so delicious!

March 25th Customs took about 25 – 30 minutes through the family line, there is an adult (18+) customs area for people now with about 6 lanes. Baggage came out about 1 hour and 15 minutes after landing. (Brutal wait) Kalido Travel (kalidotravel.com) Chauffeur was excellent and excited to see us and offered us water in the vehicle. It was 25-30 minute ride to the resort. Once to the resort about 1pm, bell man grabbed our bags tagged them with our name and handed me a receipt for later if we needed to get our bags to get our swim suits or anything out of them until we could get to our room. Check in was as normal as could be. We were offered a cool towel once inside the hotel to freshen up. Agent stated our room wouldn’t be ready till 3pm and told us to come back around then to get our hotel keys. Decided to go have lunch at Zavaz. Service was extremely slow, drinks were continuously empty and took forever once we asked for more, took 25 minutes after ordering dessert to have it arrive, the ice cream was 60% melted already at arrival to the table. Lunch for 2 adults 3 kids took 2 hours… Mahi Mahi had bones galore in it. I had to ask for extra keys, agent never asked how many we wanted. Family Suite walkout room in building 4. First entry, there were 2 ceiling lights that didn’t come on that must have been bulbs burnt out. Room was clean but you could tell needed to be updated. I told the bellman who brought our bags to the room and asked if we had any issues with the room, I told him about the light issues and it needed to be taken care of because it was super dark in the entry way and closet area to put clothes away ect. Had to request extra pillows and sheets / blankets and the huge stain on the couch. Our room said it could sleep 5. The had everything set up for 4. There was a huge stain on the cushion of the kids’ couch / bed where the kids sleep, nothing was done to fix it after telling someone. Our littles (3/5 year old) slept on the full bed. Us having a small family having the walkout to the pool 10 steps away was great. There was no one on our pool side walking around to ask or get us drinks. We had to make the walk to the outside bar at Zocalo or the swim up bar to get all our drinks. Bartender(s) were very nice and accommodating though. Pool clarity was cloudy and water level was low to the point the skimmers were above water level by 1-2 inches. Pool tiles were falling off the walls into the water and we were constantly picking up loose tiles from the pool floor. Dinner- Siena right at 5:30pm. The hostess told me to wait outside for about 15 minutes since we didn’t have a reservation and he would come get us if something opened up. 15 minutes later he found us and sat our party of 7. Our server was Jimmy he was AMAZING. The service was great drinks were never empty and the timing of our meal was perfect. This was our best experience for a dinner we had all week long. Night entertainment - Michael Jackson at 9pm. Excellent shows drink provided by us having to go into the Mojito Lounge every time where there was 2 bartenders and a line usually. March 26th MORING COFEEE only available from Starbucks at an extra charge, besides room self-made coffee. One person working there, wait times daily were terrible, the person working was way over worked taking orders and having to make everyone’s drinks as well. Every resort we have stayed had had a Café for morning coffee or day time pick me ups, and quick grabs of morning and daily treats. We didn’t enjoy this part at all especially the extra cost. Need to be up and get pool chairs by 7:30am for first choices daily. Breakfast - Spoon buffet. Took less than 10 minutes to get sat. The kids enjoyed the buffet plenty of choices to choose from. Kids loved the kids pool area with water slide ect. Our 5 year old wanted to do the kids club which opened at 10am but requires a reservation made day prior because of limited spots. The manager was able to accommodate her without a reservation due to some no shows and book us for the 2pm – 4pm slot later that afternoon and reservations for the following day. 10-12 and 2-4. Excellent service at Azulitos Playhouse every day. Lunch - Spoons buffet was chosen because of previous days wait times Dinner - Zocalo, check in for family of 7 was told 45 minutes and to go relax and have drinks outside at the sitting area near the bar. After 45 minutes we approached the hostess stand and ask how much longer and was told 10-15 more minutes please. After 45 minutes and not being sat at a table, went back and asked what was going on and was told “I forgot about your party, I will get you seated shortly” took about 1hr and 40 minutes from check in for dinner to finally get sat. This was completely unacceptable and left a bad taste / vibe for dinner. Our expectations were set very high coming here with our conversations on the phone between Tina, Karisma rep (Maria) and myself on how well the food and services of the resort were. Night entertainment - (Men singing) I can’t remember the name of the group. It was great again same experience with drinks and service at Mojito. March 27th Breakfast Spoons – same as previous days Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 10-12pm Lunch – Spoons same as previous days Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 2-4pm Concierge visit Spoke with Laura who was very nice, saw it was our anniversary in our reservation notes and I wanted to talk about a family friendly excursion. She asked how everything was going with our stay and I explained about the lights still not working in our room and the other issues with lunch and dinner the previous days. She seemed to feel bad about it and would get maintenance to fix the lights for us. (OUR LIGHTS WERE NEVER FIXED DURING OUR STAY). Laura recommended a Cruise to Isla Mujeres for our family where there would be 15-20 people on the boat, included snorkeling, a cruise to a private beach area with lunch and drinks included, and then another sail to the vendor area for some time, then a sail back to where we would get picked up and driven back to our resort. Sounded like a great time and looked great after showing me pictures, explained the costs, and then Laura recommended we do an informational session for the Prestige Vacation Club to save quite a bit of money. So, we signed up for a Thursday morning session for that at 8:30am. My wife and I visited the spa to see what was available for the special going on and was able to get a reservation for the two of us for Saturday March 30th at 10am. Afternoon pool the bar ran out of ICE for the afternoon. Limited to wine or tap beer. How does a resort of this size run out of ice before 2pm…? Dinner – Spoons for the kids’ same experience as before. Walking out of spoons there was a ton of commotion going on around the pool to the right of Star Bucks. People screaming and a crowd around what appeared to be a small child laying on the ground and they were doing CPR and a nurse we saw eating while in Spoons running with an Oxygen Bottle to the child laying on the ground. It was not a sight to see for our children and we quickly moved away. Later to find out an electrocution took place while in the pool from a pool light between the child and 2 family members… Super concerning, and led to us wondering the level of maintenance at the resort, especially with how our room lights still where not taken care of, and the quality of the pools on the family side of the resort with water clarity and water levels and pool tiles falling off everywhere… Dinner Adults – Zavas, wait times not terrible, dinner food and service were better than we had the first day for the lunch there. Our bed was decorated with 2 swans made from towels and flowers. Very Nice. Night entertainment - ABBA (EXCELLENT) and Mojitos same experience as previous nights. All pool light on the family side were turned off very dark everywhere. Also, where the electrocution took place, it was roped off with caution tape to be expected. This area was like this for the remainder of our stay at AZUL. March 28th Breakfast – with Prestige Vacation Club rep. (Jon) he asked how our stay was going and we told him. From the get go he stated “I’m sorry this is your first experience with Karisma, this resort is our worst property we have…” didn’t leave a good taste on our mouth. But at least he was honest and upfront. My parents, Jenny and I have stayed at other all-inclusive resorts and we all had the same feelings about the resort. It was definitely the worse Adults only or Family resort we had stayed at for the first 3 days we were here at Azul. After eating we followed Jon to go tour one of the Prestige room suits to only find out it was unavailable to be toured. Walked to the office for the explanation of the program. It was very quick paced, showed what the club included and the different levels followed by costs. (Was told it was 90 minutes long). After they almost expect a decision of yes or no. We said we were concerned about putting down that amount of money. In steps his manager with some extra incentives for a paid next 6 day vacation etc. etc. We ultimately decided to tell them we need some time to think about it. Ultimately, we chose not to be a part of the program even though we could afford to do so, mostly because of our experience so far at AZUL. We received our vouchers for the cruise and booked it through Bahi Maya at the resort stand and they use Albatros catamaran tour company, for Friday March 29th 8:20am lobby show for the 7 of us. Afternoon, my wife and I partook in a painting class that was for Prestige Members only, but they had extra chairs and the people in charge said we could partake in the class. It was very well done and the staff was very attentive. Tapaz, wait time 45 minutes was given a buzzer when table was ready. Enjoyed drinks outside from Mojito bar. Right at 45 minutes our buzzer went off. Our server was great. Drinks were never empty, food was good. Negative it was so smokey inside the restaurant from the overhead grill suction failing. Night entertainment – Family Magic Show. Extremally packed but the show was great. Due to the amount of people Mojitos was understaffed and wait times were very long leading to missed parts of the show. No staff to come around and take orders during the show. March 29th Breakfast – Same as previous days Show time for excursion. Everyone was there at 8:20am as directed. We checked in and told to wait in lobby and they would get us to board when transportation arrived. Laura at concierge told us this excursion was for Karisma properties only. Finally, at 9:10am a large bus arrived to pick the 7 of us up. Bus only had 6 seats left near the back with people from many other resorts. Our one son had to ride for 45 minutes on our lap. This wait time and organization through Bahi Maya felt like a money grab and led to a terrible impression. Once finally at the boat dock area, waiting in line for what seemed forever maybe another before we boarded our boat. The boat had about 35-40 people in it not the 15-20 people as Laura had told us there would be. Here is where the entire day changed. The service on the boat was AMAZING. Snorkel experience was quick maybe 25-30 minutes a ton of fish ect. The boat provided Mask, Snorkel and life jacket NO FINS. Fins were not really needed as they had you going with the current back to the boat after drop off. It was very well organized. (I recommend if you have your own mask, snorkel, and fins to bring your own. The boats quality wasn’t that great my father told me. My son and I had our own gear). Drinks and staff extremely attentive to the customer. Once at the private beach area there was a lot of people there but it was so well organized, food was hot and being replenished quickly, drink service was excellent. We elected for a golf cart tour for 50.00 USD per golf cart, it was set up and paid for on the boat after snorkel experience was over and it was well organized with a few different stops at places on the island for photo opportunities and sites. Golf cart tour on the island was about 1hr 30 minutes long. Back to the beach area for more drinks and swings over the water and playing in the said till we left on another sail to the market area. Once at the market area they gave everyone about 1hr 20 minutes to explore etc. Back onto the boat for a final sail across to the dock to get onto our transportation home. Exhausted as we were from a day in the sun an activities. We boarded our waiting transportation not a huge bus this time but one that held 15 – 20 people. We luckily were first to be dropped off as all the others were at resorts further south of Azul Beach Resort around 7pm. Dinner – Spoons Buffet same experience as previous days. Our room again decorated with towel swans and flowers along with a dessert saying Happy Anniversary written in chocolate with two spoons sitting on our bed. Night Entertainment – Beach party we didn’t attend. We had some drinks at Mojitos service much better because crowds were way less due to no entertainment that evening there March 30th Breakfast Spoons – same as previous days Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 10-12pm Spa from 10am – 1pm. Our spa experience was AMAZING. One of the best ones we had ever had at a resort. It included a Hydro treatment (Sauna, cold shower, Steam Sauna, cold shower, then a cool world pool and hot tub pool treatment. Followed by a private room couples body scrub and wrap treatment, facial, and 50-minute couple massage. Lunch KIDS– Parents and Kids Pizza Pizza same experience but took longer to get food due to how busy it gets. Lunch (Jenny and I) we went after spa to Zocalo where it was Ceviche was on the back sitting area. Very good Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 2-4pm No tap beer available this afternoon they had can beer for about 2 hour and ran out of that. Ice was scarce no frozen drink available for most of the afternoon. This NO ICE thing became a common problem even after following the Facebook page for the resort after we left. Terrible look for what everyone pays to be at the resort. I came across Laura from concierge this afternoon and she asked how our cruise was. I told her the cruise was amazing once on the boat, but the morning wait for 50 minutes waiting on transportation was terrible. Also, the fact the boat as she promised would be 15-20 people from Karisma properties only was far from the truth. I explained to her everything I described above about the negatives and positives. She said she was sorry and would follow up with Bahi Maya (Booking agency at the resort) about our experience. Dinner Kids and my parents went to Spoons again because they didn’t want to wait for a table for the family and Spoons was quick and easy. Wife and I had reservations at Le Chique at 7pm previously reserved when we booked the vacation along with our request for the chefs table (Extra Cost). Night Entertainment – Beach disco March 31st Breakfast Spoons – same as previous days Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 10-12pm (Easter Activities) Lunch – Kids - Spoons same as previous days Jenny and I Zocalo where it was a BBQ with a pig roast, burgers, guacamole etc. Very good Azulitos Playhouse – Excellent 2-4pm (Easter Activities) Dinner – Spoons buffet Family pictures- Our photographer was very attentive and took amazing photos of our family in multiple locations with different arrangements for family members and kids. After dinner the adults went to the adults only side and enjoyed drinks at Waves. Night Entertainment – Karaoke(Family) April 1st Check out was as usual to pay our room charges ect. Odd part was the iPad survey from the resort right after checkout. There definitely not enough time to answer all the questions truthfully and with exact information that this resort needs for feedback to be better. Its pretty lengthy. This is why I’m writing this review on my own time for our travel planner (Tina) and for you the managerial of Azul Beach resort and Karisma Properties. Our van through Kalido Travel schedule to pick us up at 7:20am for a 11:20 am departure. (Due to traffic, road construction, etc. They don’t want you to be pressured on time just in case something happens to not miss your flight home. We arrived at the airport around 7:50am for our 11:20am flight We used the extra time to find something to eat and mill around the airport till boarding. Plenty of stores and food options. Our expectations for our vacation were set pretty high from other says at all-inclusive resorts. (Family or Adults only) Initially, we were very disappointed with how our first lunch went had. We needed to stop using our previous resorts experiences and just deal with what Azul Beach resort was giving us to enjoy our time here. Resort- Azul Beach Resort Family side seems very run down and needs a lot of maintenance and a great face lift to compare to other resorts rooms and pool areas we have experienced. - Facilities, the tennis courts are run down and need replacement. The resort did provide racquets and tennis balls, but we brought our own to use because we didn’t know what the quality of the provided ones would be. The tennis balls were very old and used. They could put new balls out there every couple days for people to enjoy the experience. Pool actives were Volleyball, or water polo. And some other activities ocean side. We did the kayaks one day which required a $6 dollars (USD) per person for a “reef fee”. Which seemed odd to me for an all-inclusive resort. They provide Kayak, paddles, and life jackets. - Room cleaning was done daily but never left us enough towels for a family of 5 to shower daily. We constantly needed to call the front desk to request more towels. One day they forgot to even leave wash cloths after the service was completed. - Beach area, we previously knew the beach area was going to be small, because of the hurricanes in 2020. All but 2 days the beach had hardly any sea weed, the staff did a great job getting rid of it when it was brought to shore. We didn’t utilize the beach at all since there was very small availability of seating and sand area available for the kids to play. - Azulitos Playhouse was amazing our daughter and son loved the time spent there. Pick up and drop off was super simple and the staff was amazing, daily activities they did with the children were great. Our kids always wanted to keep going back. Nothing but positives here. - Restaurants were in our opinion were not the quality of service, wait times, and food quality we were use to from other experiences at other resorts. Siena and Le Chique were by far our best dining experiences while we were there. The rest was 2.5 – 3 out of 5 in our opinion as to reasons stated above. - Pool Bartenders were great as long as they had the tools they needed to provide their services. They were constantly saying sorry because of the availability of NO ICE for 3 days and the availability of beer some days. The lack of pool side service on the family side was also a big disappointment. Experience 3/5. - Spa Services 5+/5 exceptional for reasons stated above. I wouldn’t send our friends or family to this resort in its current state. This resort needs lots of rehab help and revamping to be brought up to the level of other resorts in the Cancun area. Our first taste of a Karisma property left us feeling we definitely didn’t get what we paid for and uncertain if we would try another one of their properties again. It’s unfortunate from what we had to experience when we had been told how great this resort was and how wonderful our experience would be in our conference call between our travel planner (Tina) and Karisma agent.

Rooms were very clean and so were the grounds and pools. Food was disgusting and they only had about 20 pieces of mango one day only. Was told they ran out of mint for mojitos. Half the restaurant’s were closed one that was supposed to be part of the all inclusive you had to buy either a bottle of wine or a steak. We were told the cabanas were first come first serve, so you could image our surprise in the 3rd day when they were roped off and you could join there foam party for $150.00 per person. We moved to another areas to sit by the pool. We were approached and asked our room number and we were told we could not sit there it was for “ prestige” customers, the hotel is only 25% full. So now we had to move agin all the way to the other side of the resort to sit by the pool. Disgraceful! The best restaurant that they brag about and show pics of in their advertisement cost $150.00 per person, you need long pants and closed toed shoes. So understaffed with non English speaking staff. There is no beach and an over abundance of seaweed that stinks. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY COMING HERE!!!!

After reading some dodgy reviews at the start of the year I was apprehensive about visiting this hotel. However those reviews are rubbish. There was no issue getting into any of the restaurants and no issues with cold food in the Buffett. Overall the food and drinks were of a higher standard than in other all inclusive hotels I have stayed in, the staff are incredible helpful especially the staff around the pools service drinks. Great selection of refreshing cocktails. The rooms were huge, to a high standard and the whole hotel and grounds was kept exceptionally clean. The gym was great for a hotel if you are interested in a bit of exercise. The entertainment on an evening was good but finished a little early (10pm) so the resort was quiet after this time. The location is only 10 mins from Puerto Morelos which i would highly recommend visiting for a change of scenery / food / and a bigger beach. Don’t be put off by other reviews on here this is a great hotel