All You Need to Know About the Restaurant
at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda
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Guests1 room, 2 adults, 0 children
C$202
C$280
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C$280
C$183
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Restaurant review highlights
... the best one was Augustine that works at the beach front restaurant....he was the best we have ever had in Mexico! We also...
... very much. The service was always excellent at every restaurant. The staff really cared that we were always satisfied. So...
... fact that there is a 15 minute walk from the main lobby, restaurant and set of 3 different room buildings, to the beach....
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Reviews that mention restaurant
Write a reviewLet me start of saying this resort is VERY big and there is a lot of walking involved. The resort offered shuttles but not enough of them. I would suggest them putting bikes at different locations so that you could ride them when you needed them! We was lucky with our room we was close to the beach.....but the resort has a separate room location in the back of the resort which is a good 1/2 mile hike to the beach. I would have been upset if we had been put back there. We had issues with checking in, there is no pool bar, and food is average at best, and there is a ton of sea weed on this beach! I would say on the positive side that we had excellent servers and waiters and the best one was Augustine that works at the beach front restaurant....he was the best we have ever had in Mexico! We also enjoyed all the wildlife that you see while staying here. We over all had a great time.....but I will pick a different resort next time with a better beach and less walking!
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Frederic C, Hotel Manager at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda
Responded May 10, 2017
Dear Patrick, On behalf of all the staff of BlueBay Grand Esmeralda I would like to thank you for your comments and for choosing our resort. We sincerely regret that you were not completely satisfied during your past stay with us. We are always improving on the areas that are in our hands. We sincerely hope to have a future opportunity to serve you again soon and offer you the best holiday for all of you. Kindest regards, Frederic Ceglarski Director Residente
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
The food was great with alot of choices at the buffets for all meals.Went to the French,Steakhouse and Seafood a la carte which we enjoyed very much. The service was always excellent at every restaurant. The staff really cared that we were always satisfied. So so nice. At the Jaal-ha buffet, the staff are all great and work hard. Juan and Pedro were amazing. They knew what we liked, were very professional and made us feel so welcome. We were there all week. The drinks and all the bartenders were great. Our room was on the ground floor which I was nervous about bugs but no problem at all. The room was very clean (staff also doing a great job) and the location near the pool and the beach was perfect. Lots of choices for chairs at the pool and the beach in the sun or shade. The pools were so clean. Always staff scubbing etc. My husband and I went on the Tulum,Akumal Snorkeling with go natural explorers excursions which was great fun. Sorry I cannot remember the guide and the drivers names. They took care of us so well and made the day very enjoyable. Everyone in the group all agreed that it was excellent. There is nothing but good to say at this resort. Would go back for sure. The owner or owners can be proud and appreciate their staff throughout the resort for they truly make the vacation special and enjoyable. The resort is beautiful also. Thank you for the wonderful memories.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Frederic C, Hotel Manager at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda
Responded Feb 16, 2017
Dear Norma, Your positive comments are certainly welcome and we are glad to read that you enjoyed everything about your past stay. Thank you also for your kudos for our staff, we will share your comments with them and they are always willing to serve our guests in every possible way and always with a sincere smile. We look forward to serving you again in a near future and thank you again for sharing your experience and for preferring BlueBay Hotels. Kindest regards, Frederic Ceglarski Director Residente
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
My wife and I stayed at the Blue Bay from Feb 18-March 4. The first comment I will make is about the airport. It is very busy and takes quite a while to go through customs, so a good idea would be to have some shorts on, not long pants. After you have picked up your checked in luggage and are heading out of the airport be careful not to get dragged off to the side by the timeshare vampires. Go straight outside and thats where you will find your shuttles. Representatives will be holding up signs for you to see and follow. So again I repeat don't stop inside the airport by someone saying they represent your tour operator. After we had booked we were concerned that we made a mistake in choosing this resort. We have been to the Mayan area once before and enjoyed our stay at a resort that is actually huge, over 3,000 rooms. Other reviews say the BB is huge, but it isn't that big. There are under 1,000 rooms. It is all in where you have stayed in the past. One of the reasons the huge comment is made is due to the fact that there is a 15 minute walk from the main lobby, restaurant and set of 3 different room buildings, to the beach. There is a marshy forest area in between these buildings and more room buildings, restaurants, main pool and beach area. There are 3 shuttle buses that take you around the resort if you don't want to walk.
THE ROOM: We stayed in building no. 7 on the third floor. There are elevators in each building. We didn't have a great view from the balcony, but not a huge deal. The room was in nice condition. We didn't have a couch which would have been nice to have. The bed was quite comfortable and we weren't sore in the morning. The pillows sucked and were quite soft for our liking, so we either doubled them up or put a towel in the pillow case to give it some bulk. The bathroom was a good size and has 2 sinks which is good. The shower is huge at 7 feet long with a bench at one end. It has a rain shower head and a hand held wand so two could shower at once if you like. The lighting in the room was sufficient with enough plugs through out for plugging things in. You have to put a key in a holder when you first walk into the room to operate the power. We got 2 keys and left one in the holder sometimes to keep the air on. AC worked very well that we shut it off a lot of the time as it was too cold. The safe use is free and we kept any valuables in at all times. There were no issues with anything missing. You get a code for the free wifi, it is slow as stated in other reviews. Not a big deal for us as we were able to communicate with our kids when we had to and check e-mail when in the room. We tipped every day for the housekeeper and for the water/beer guy and had plenty of each for your free consumption. The bottles of water are the one litre size, wished they had the small bottles to carry around with you if needed.
POOLS: The pool at the buildings near the lobby is the quiet pool where it is well, quiet. The bigger pool is located right beside the beach area. This pool is where all the activities take place. The water temperature of the pools is not cold. If you want to cool off after lying in the hot sun it is very refreshing. Once in for a few minutes it will become very comfortable. The comments in other reviews saying the pools were freezing were probable from visits in the cooler months when there is less sun and not quite as hot weather. If you are pool people it is recommended to get a towel down before 8:00 otherwise they fill up quick.
THE BEACH: This is the biggest area of concern if you love the beach, which we do. The sand area from the main pool down to the ocean is very nice and quite a big area. There are lots of loungers and you can get some any time of day, unless you want a palapas, then you have to lay a towel down before they get booked up. I don't mean you can reserve them either, just by putting something on them to look like they are being used. The shore line is being eroded by the ocean and that is why there are sand bags at the edge in one of the main parts of the beach. The water is definitely not like in Punta Cana, it is more murky. When the ocean is calm it gets better but was never like PC. We like to walk along the beach and were quite surprised and happy we were able to walk a long way going to the right side of the resort and the beach was a lot nicer that way. Going to the left it was much more difficult to go very far, but there was a fresh water lagoon like area that comes from an under ground cenote which was very nice to visit.
THE FOOD: We are not really fussy eaters and don't usually go to buffet restaurants while at home. The buffets at the BB were quite good with a nice variety that should satisfy any palate. There is the main buffet that has the largest selection, the quiet pool for breakfast and lunch and the beach buffet, also for breakfast and lunch. The beach buffet turns into the seafood in one half and the steakhouse in the other half for dinner. The quiet pool restaurant turns into the asian al-a-cart for dinner. Some of the al-a-carts require long pants for the men and they do enforce this rule. This resort is different then most for booking of the al-a-carts, you book them only the day before, not for the week. The earlier in the morning you book the better option of time you get. We ate at all the al-a-carts. We enjoyed the Steak house, the French, the Italian and the Dinner theatre the most. The Seafood al-a-cart was just O.K., when i think of seafood I think more of lobster, crab, big shrimp, etc. The Mexican and Oriental we didn't care for much. They weren't bad just not to our liking, to each his own as they say.
THE ENTERTAINMENT: It was not that great, but after being to Vegas a few times it's hard to compare. This is another area where some people will enjoy the shows and some won't. The entertainers work hard and I give them full credit. The animation team is very energetic and do a good job of getting people involved without being pesty. Lying on the beach closer to the pool area you can hear what is going on and can enjoy the music and such. If you don't want to hear that type of noise you can move closer to the ocean and won't hear any of it.
COMMENTS: In some reviews you see it said that there is quite a language barrier. I couldn't DISAGREE more. Most of the servers, wait staff and bartenders speak English quite well. The housekeepers usually don't. A comment my wife made to me after about a week was, why wasn't I speaking more Spanish and less English. I don't speak very much, except for saying, please, thank you, one, two, three, beer, good morning, afternoon, night, how are you, etc all in Spanish. The reason I reverted to English is because they spoke to us in English first, so there isn't a big barrier there. There isn't a swim up bar which lots of people enjoy, however there isn't a shortage of bars. They have a live band a couple days of the week in different locals. The guitar player is phenomenal and could play with almost any band. The Black and White bar near the theatre and main lobby stays open 24 hours and is very busy most nights. It seats lots of people and the main bartender there is unbelievable, he can take 3-4 orders at once and has your order to you in record time. There is no smoking inside this area so comments about it being smoky are very exaggerated. There is no smoking inside the theatre area as well. There were weddings every other day. The receptions were held on the beach and looked like they were having a blast dancing in the sand barefoot. Overall we had a very good stay and if the price was right would go back in the future. I would rate this resort very close to a 4 star no question. Feel free to contact me with any questions, I would be happy to give more details.
THE ROOM: We stayed in building no. 7 on the third floor. There are elevators in each building. We didn't have a great view from the balcony, but not a huge deal. The room was in nice condition. We didn't have a couch which would have been nice to have. The bed was quite comfortable and we weren't sore in the morning. The pillows sucked and were quite soft for our liking, so we either doubled them up or put a towel in the pillow case to give it some bulk. The bathroom was a good size and has 2 sinks which is good. The shower is huge at 7 feet long with a bench at one end. It has a rain shower head and a hand held wand so two could shower at once if you like. The lighting in the room was sufficient with enough plugs through out for plugging things in. You have to put a key in a holder when you first walk into the room to operate the power. We got 2 keys and left one in the holder sometimes to keep the air on. AC worked very well that we shut it off a lot of the time as it was too cold. The safe use is free and we kept any valuables in at all times. There were no issues with anything missing. You get a code for the free wifi, it is slow as stated in other reviews. Not a big deal for us as we were able to communicate with our kids when we had to and check e-mail when in the room. We tipped every day for the housekeeper and for the water/beer guy and had plenty of each for your free consumption. The bottles of water are the one litre size, wished they had the small bottles to carry around with you if needed.
POOLS: The pool at the buildings near the lobby is the quiet pool where it is well, quiet. The bigger pool is located right beside the beach area. This pool is where all the activities take place. The water temperature of the pools is not cold. If you want to cool off after lying in the hot sun it is very refreshing. Once in for a few minutes it will become very comfortable. The comments in other reviews saying the pools were freezing were probable from visits in the cooler months when there is less sun and not quite as hot weather. If you are pool people it is recommended to get a towel down before 8:00 otherwise they fill up quick.
THE BEACH: This is the biggest area of concern if you love the beach, which we do. The sand area from the main pool down to the ocean is very nice and quite a big area. There are lots of loungers and you can get some any time of day, unless you want a palapas, then you have to lay a towel down before they get booked up. I don't mean you can reserve them either, just by putting something on them to look like they are being used. The shore line is being eroded by the ocean and that is why there are sand bags at the edge in one of the main parts of the beach. The water is definitely not like in Punta Cana, it is more murky. When the ocean is calm it gets better but was never like PC. We like to walk along the beach and were quite surprised and happy we were able to walk a long way going to the right side of the resort and the beach was a lot nicer that way. Going to the left it was much more difficult to go very far, but there was a fresh water lagoon like area that comes from an under ground cenote which was very nice to visit.
THE FOOD: We are not really fussy eaters and don't usually go to buffet restaurants while at home. The buffets at the BB were quite good with a nice variety that should satisfy any palate. There is the main buffet that has the largest selection, the quiet pool for breakfast and lunch and the beach buffet, also for breakfast and lunch. The beach buffet turns into the seafood in one half and the steakhouse in the other half for dinner. The quiet pool restaurant turns into the asian al-a-cart for dinner. Some of the al-a-carts require long pants for the men and they do enforce this rule. This resort is different then most for booking of the al-a-carts, you book them only the day before, not for the week. The earlier in the morning you book the better option of time you get. We ate at all the al-a-carts. We enjoyed the Steak house, the French, the Italian and the Dinner theatre the most. The Seafood al-a-cart was just O.K., when i think of seafood I think more of lobster, crab, big shrimp, etc. The Mexican and Oriental we didn't care for much. They weren't bad just not to our liking, to each his own as they say.
THE ENTERTAINMENT: It was not that great, but after being to Vegas a few times it's hard to compare. This is another area where some people will enjoy the shows and some won't. The entertainers work hard and I give them full credit. The animation team is very energetic and do a good job of getting people involved without being pesty. Lying on the beach closer to the pool area you can hear what is going on and can enjoy the music and such. If you don't want to hear that type of noise you can move closer to the ocean and won't hear any of it.
COMMENTS: In some reviews you see it said that there is quite a language barrier. I couldn't DISAGREE more. Most of the servers, wait staff and bartenders speak English quite well. The housekeepers usually don't. A comment my wife made to me after about a week was, why wasn't I speaking more Spanish and less English. I don't speak very much, except for saying, please, thank you, one, two, three, beer, good morning, afternoon, night, how are you, etc all in Spanish. The reason I reverted to English is because they spoke to us in English first, so there isn't a big barrier there. There isn't a swim up bar which lots of people enjoy, however there isn't a shortage of bars. They have a live band a couple days of the week in different locals. The guitar player is phenomenal and could play with almost any band. The Black and White bar near the theatre and main lobby stays open 24 hours and is very busy most nights. It seats lots of people and the main bartender there is unbelievable, he can take 3-4 orders at once and has your order to you in record time. There is no smoking inside this area so comments about it being smoky are very exaggerated. There is no smoking inside the theatre area as well. There were weddings every other day. The receptions were held on the beach and looked like they were having a blast dancing in the sand barefoot. Overall we had a very good stay and if the price was right would go back in the future. I would rate this resort very close to a 4 star no question. Feel free to contact me with any questions, I would be happy to give more details.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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The bus was patiently waiting for
us at the airport even though our flight was 2 hours late. We arrived at the resort and didn't have to wait much to get in to our rooms. There is a restaurant reservation desk at every building so you can convieniently reserve your restaurant, the bartenders are very good if you are polite enough to wait for them to greet you. I saw ppl cutting line and beeing rude...come on your on vacation folks try to freaking relax!! the resort is massive so fat ppl that can't walk 7 minutes might not enjoy waiting for the carts for a lift but we enjoyed walking around in this amazingly clean and tidy resort. Good luck finding a cigarette butt on the walkways here. Our room had a king size bed, tv, good size washroom and a really good air conditioning system. The food is amazing, by far the best I've had in a resort. I must admit the beach isn't that great but its very refreshing if you can handle a bit of sea weed. The pools really make up for it though because they several, are huge and really well maintained. We never had a problem finding some chairs to chill on because they have hundreds of them. The bar is your typical resort bar with ba bands that play americain top 40 crap but at least the bartenders are nice and the ambiance is ok. If you want to experience something else theres a shuttle to playa de carmen city 3 times a day, we're heading there today. Vacation is what you make of it and your attitude will greatly influence how much fun you have and how ppl treat you :)
us at the airport even though our flight was 2 hours late. We arrived at the resort and didn't have to wait much to get in to our rooms. There is a restaurant reservation desk at every building so you can convieniently reserve your restaurant, the bartenders are very good if you are polite enough to wait for them to greet you. I saw ppl cutting line and beeing rude...come on your on vacation folks try to freaking relax!! the resort is massive so fat ppl that can't walk 7 minutes might not enjoy waiting for the carts for a lift but we enjoyed walking around in this amazingly clean and tidy resort. Good luck finding a cigarette butt on the walkways here. Our room had a king size bed, tv, good size washroom and a really good air conditioning system. The food is amazing, by far the best I've had in a resort. I must admit the beach isn't that great but its very refreshing if you can handle a bit of sea weed. The pools really make up for it though because they several, are huge and really well maintained. We never had a problem finding some chairs to chill on because they have hundreds of them. The bar is your typical resort bar with ba bands that play americain top 40 crap but at least the bartenders are nice and the ambiance is ok. If you want to experience something else theres a shuttle to playa de carmen city 3 times a day, we're heading there today. Vacation is what you make of it and your attitude will greatly influence how much fun you have and how ppl treat you :)
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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This may in fact qualify as hands down the WORST possible "vacation" experience overall that I have ever had.
There were SOME few things that we could appreciate, but the overall grade is an absolute zero.
We did visit Playa del Carmen, and that was enjoyable, we had some good food there, a little bit of good music, and it was at least something to get a little bit away from the rule-and-restriction infested cocoon of the sub-par resort environment and get at least a little bit of the local culture.
In no particular order, here are just some of the egregious failures of Blue Bay and the reasons to NEVER EVER waste your money there.
Upon our arrival in the early afternoon of our first day, as I was folding and placing my sweater into one of the pieces of luggage and changing from my shoes to sandals, I was accosted by some strange woman in a white coat pumping me for personal information about where I am from, etc.... I told her to deal with my companion who was handling check-in somewhere else. She continued to bully me for information so I just ignored her. At some point not too long after that, I took a seat on one of the lobby couches waiting for my companion to finish trying to get check-in done, when this same woman approached me again, asking again as to where I was from, etc....vaguely stating that there was some sort of "important" welcome packet that she "needed" to give me. (READ: She was trying to connive me into some sort of time-share scam). I asked her what my origins or nationality had to do with this so-called packet that she "needed" to give to me. She gave me more ambiguous scammy horse-hockey , and then while I continued to thwart her efforts to manipulate me with her obsequious routine, she launched into directly insulting me by saying that I had a very heavy accent (I don't), and that I didn't speak English very well. I had to laugh. Eventually I just stared her down with a giant condescending smile on my face and she left me alone. She glared at me every time she saw me in the lobby after that. It is just sad that so many people allow themselves to be manipulated by individuals like this woman.
The Blue Bay also insisted on the most absurd and pointless rules and requirements for reservations. Number one, we would have to reserve at the resort's restaurants days in advance to get a normal time like 7:30. Here is what happened on day one after I was accosted in the lobby. Because the first room that we were given was an absolute dump, we had to waste the entire afternoon walking back and forth and around the resort to look at different rooms in the hope of finding one that was passable. So instead of being on vacation and enjoying the place, we were battling to get some decent room to stay in. We finally got that done and took a look at a map of the place with times for when and what food was available. But before we could just relax, we had to get back to the concierge to make a reservation for a restaurant for that evening. We couldn't just walk into a buffet somewhere and have something to eat, we HAD to have a reservation. So I went to the concierge and made a reservation. The concierge told me that there was a "special" dinner show for our first evening at the resort. Our reservation was set for 7:30. Ok. Having been on the road since 6:30am EST, and up since 4:00am EST, and having had nothing to eat during all of this, we were quite ready for a moment of true vacation time by the late afternoon. We had to run to the only thing that was still opened but soon would not be. We got a little something, and then went back to our room to get settled. We went to the dinner, and this is where it got interesting - - we arrived to be seated in a sad looking banquet hall room with a stage set up at one end of the room, and a posterboard set on the stage that looked like something a class of 3rd graders put together for their school play. The "menus" on the table were low resolution basic xeroxes that had been folded 3 ways and placed standing on the table, as if that made the use of cheap copies better. The food was no better - practically inedible, and we ate very little of it. The "steak" was mostly fat and grisle. The "show", such as it was, was basically a never-ending repetition of what we have all seen for eons on MTV/VH1 - - only not even as good as MTV/VH1. Many of the dances were totally inappropriate for underage children, and there were many in the room. We barely touched the food, and hot-tailed it out of there in search of food elsewhere. We got to some buffet by a pool, and make a B-line for one of the many empty tables. I started asking one of the people behind the counter for a dish that I saw there. I got alot of hemming and hawing, and blank irritated looks, at which point the "concierge" of the "restaurant" approached me asking if I had a reservation. Uuuummm, the place is empty, why in world would that even matter. The "concierge" insisted that we step "out" of the restaurant so that he could seat us. REALLY ????? Are you seriously serious ?????!!!!! If I hadn't been so hungry I would have just left in disgust. We got seated, we tried to have some food, but it was all absolutely terrible except for some few cold things I got from the salad bar. Plus, the weather happened to be in a cold snap, we were freezing, they had no heaters outside to compensate for the unusual weather, and we had no warm clothes because we were supposed to be going to a warm place. I am not blaming Blue Bay for the weather, I blame them for their negligence and total lack of care for their guests.
Welcomed to the Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda. I wish I had stayed home.
Almost everything was broken in the room - - the second "better" room we ended up in. The first room that we were given had an absolutely disgusting bathroom. We pressed for a better room, (had to grease a palm handsomely for it, but even though we paid extra for something that should have been basic standard, we still had to experience bad bad attitude from the person getting their palm greased. Seems like the entire philosophy of this resort (as noted in the title of this review) is "We bite the hand that feeds us".
Starting with the bathroom (of the second "better" room); the secondary hand shower sprayer was taped with black electrical tape. Both shower heads - the top one and the electrical taped one were full of soap scum that had apparently never been cleaned. The shower door did not close properly, so water always ended up soaking the floor, which meant asking for more towels to put on the floor. For the first 3 or 4 days, the water never got warmer than lukewarm. I look forward to vacations that include cold showers, don't we all???
I also found long black hairs everywhere every day all over the bathroom.
The room; The air conditioner literally rained into the room. It was situated above our heads in the living area of the room, and literally rained all over the floor when it was running, so we had to put 3 large towels onto the floor just to keep the floor form being soaked. There was mold all over the walls of the entire space, bathroom included. It had been painted over, because why clean it??!!! Also, not all of the light fixtures worked in the room. For some outlets, only one of the plugs in the outlet worked. One of the spinkler fixtures in the ceiling had been taped to the ceiling, because, of course, why bother actually properly placing it into the ceiling.
After a few days of crap treatment, bad attitudes, total negligence and incompetence, we went to the concierge to ask what it would cost to be upgraded to VIP status and a better room. L O O O O L! We sat in front of the completely inept "concierge" while she piddled around with phone calls, sitting on hold, asking questions of other employees that were not what we asked for. We had to repeat over and over what we were asking because she seemed determined to just not do what we had asked. While sitting with this incompetent knucklehead, another knucklehead showed up who claimed to be a VIP "manager". Right. This person couldn't even provide a straight answer as to what exactly VIP status would avail us of, nor would either of these two clowns give us a straight answer as to what exactly was a better room, and how much it would actually cost. After further trifling with these idiots for about 20 or so minutes, my companion had had enough, and asked these people to contact him when they had figured it out and could provide some clear information. So, basically, 2 people who work for the resort, whose business it is to give people what they asked for, were just told by a customer, that; said customer might be willing to spend more money at the resort, and needed some information in order to make that decision. Ok, let's repeat that, shall we? They were approached by a customer who told them that they might be willing to spend more on their business. ANY resort or hotel employee worth their salt whose job title included the words "concierge" or "manager" - - ANY such individual in ANY such location in the world would have been chasing us down with flags to get that extra money from us. We never heard from anyone at any point as to the request. The incompetence and negligence are absolutely laughable.
Only One Room Key:
We were permitted only one room key which meant that we had to be stuck together at all times or have to continually coordinate who would have the key, and when, and when one of us might need to go to the room. We had no way to communicate with each other if we were separated in the resort either (other than trekking around the resort to find each other), since internet access was only available in the front lobby. So, for example, if one of us needed more rest, while the other wanted to take a walk. The "walker" had to wake up the "rester" to let them in the room when they came back. How is this a vacation experience ???!!!!!!
The card key was also designed to function as an electricity "blocker". We could not charge any of our laptops or phones while we were not in the room, because the electricity in the room ONLY worked when the card key was in the slot by the door. Also, the air conditioning was controlled by a magnet on the sliding door, so you could not have the sliding door to the balcony opened AT ALL and have the air on at the same time - so, for example, one of us was lying down in the room on the bed, and one of us was on the balcony. If the sliding door was opened, the person inside couldn't have cool air, nor could the person on the balcony. If the sliding door was closed, then we couldn't communicate normally, and the person on the balcony sweltered while the person inside had air, but no one could communicate normally. Again I ask, how on earth does this qualify in any reality as a relaxing vacation experience.
We didn't have housekeeping come in every day to clean because we wanted to ensure some privacy, but on the days when we did have housekeeping come in, they did not replace the obviously used tea cups with fresh cups, they left a used napkin on the table with the cups, did not replace the tea that had been used, did not replace the plastic teaspoons with clean ones, and did not provide more water. So, the first time that this happened, I had to call 7 (YES, SEVEN) times to get them to bring water and coffee cups. I was argued with, I was not acknowledged, I was given excuses that the 'Do Not Disturb' sign was on the door which is why we were not provided with water and clean cups when housecleaning "cleaned" the room. Uh, WHAT?? First of all, that isn't even true. What IS true is that it so happened that when I called for water and cups we did have the 'DND' sign on the door, and apparently, rather than simply knock on the door since we had just asked, they preferred to waste our time by having someone show up, NOT knock on the door, and then call after a ridiculous delay to tell us why they refused to knock on the door. What the hell is this???? After several calls (and of course removing the 'DND' sign), I did finally get water, but I was brought tea cups that still had the mangled glue-clotted stickers on the sides of the tea cups. I handed the dirty cups to the maid who promptly began to carefully inspect the cups, and question me as to whether they were really dirty. I shut the door in her face.
One of the other times that we asked for housekeeping to clean the room, they did not actually clean it until very late in the day, and so were in the midst of cleaning it when we returned in the late afternoon. He was ready to leave the room with the floor still soaking wet. I had to tell him to dry the floor properly before he left, and to provide the towels that we needed.
The Place:
The beach was absolutely filthy. It was full of cigarette butts, empty drink glasses, and general garbage. If I wanted that, I could go to Jones Beach.
Overall, the food at this place is some of the worst I have had at any hotel/resort. The service is mostly non-existent, but when it is there, it is positively surly. This is even after giving tips. I had to repeatedly ask for pineapple juice with plain soda and a piece of lime - - even when I asked for it in Spanish!!!!!! They would bring me Fanta, Lime juice, Pinapple juice mixed with sprite, orange juice, anything but what I asked for, even though I would make SURE that we were clear on what I wanted, and I would get the very certain 'yes, yes, yes, senora'. Invariably, after requesting the pineapple juice and soda with lime, and being assured that it would be brought, someone would come up to me and tell me that they didn't understand what I wanted and ask me again what I wanted. It was Beyond Words.
Also, the waitstaff at Blue Bay didn't clean up when something spilled, they just left it there. So I guess we were supposed to do that....... Example: We were sitting outside of the rancid smelling sports bar, (because I needed to access the internet, and this was one of only two places on the entire resort that I could do that), and my companion ordered a couple of drinks. Mine was strawberry coloured (this is relevant). The drinks miraculously actually arrived. Ok. But then, my companion kicked the table and the drink fell all over the table and ground. A waiter walked by, looked at it, brought one napkin, and walked away. I ran to get more napkins which I used to clean the table. We moved to the next table over, and sat there instead, since no one was appearing to clean up the spill. For the entire time that we sat at the next table no one ever appeared to clean it up. The large strawberry coloured puddle just slowly dried on the ground.
We had a day trip to Coba to see the pyramid and other structures, which also included bikeriding, hiking, ziplining, rappelling down to a cenote, canoeing, and ending with a traditional home-food Mayan lunch at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. This was an early-start day (leave at 7:10 am), which was too early to have a chance to have some breakfast before we had to depart on the shuttle (there was no breakfast being served at the resort at 6:30am). We knew that it would be a very active day, and we needed to be fueled up for it. Since we were warned by Best Day Travel that the tour operator would not provide breakfast for us, we had to scrounge around the night before for some sort of breakfast items that we could hide in our shirt or purse to have in the morning. We tried to go to one of the buffets to take a plate of some fruit and bread to the room , but were rudely stopped at the door. For no reason at all, in an all-inclusive resort, we were not permitted to bring food to our room. We managed to "steal" a couple of rolls, butter, bananas, and pears. I had to stuff the rolls and butter into my purse in a napkin while no one was looking - - in an all-inclusive resort - - - as in we already PAID for all of that. I can't make this stuff up!
So, in conclusion, I STRONGLY recommend that anyone considering Blue Bay, skip the waste of money and avoid this place like the plague. The only thing this place is good for is bottom drawer alchohol, a dirty beach, sub-par cuisine, and surly incompetent "service".
There were SOME few things that we could appreciate, but the overall grade is an absolute zero.
We did visit Playa del Carmen, and that was enjoyable, we had some good food there, a little bit of good music, and it was at least something to get a little bit away from the rule-and-restriction infested cocoon of the sub-par resort environment and get at least a little bit of the local culture.
In no particular order, here are just some of the egregious failures of Blue Bay and the reasons to NEVER EVER waste your money there.
Upon our arrival in the early afternoon of our first day, as I was folding and placing my sweater into one of the pieces of luggage and changing from my shoes to sandals, I was accosted by some strange woman in a white coat pumping me for personal information about where I am from, etc.... I told her to deal with my companion who was handling check-in somewhere else. She continued to bully me for information so I just ignored her. At some point not too long after that, I took a seat on one of the lobby couches waiting for my companion to finish trying to get check-in done, when this same woman approached me again, asking again as to where I was from, etc....vaguely stating that there was some sort of "important" welcome packet that she "needed" to give me. (READ: She was trying to connive me into some sort of time-share scam). I asked her what my origins or nationality had to do with this so-called packet that she "needed" to give to me. She gave me more ambiguous scammy horse-hockey , and then while I continued to thwart her efforts to manipulate me with her obsequious routine, she launched into directly insulting me by saying that I had a very heavy accent (I don't), and that I didn't speak English very well. I had to laugh. Eventually I just stared her down with a giant condescending smile on my face and she left me alone. She glared at me every time she saw me in the lobby after that. It is just sad that so many people allow themselves to be manipulated by individuals like this woman.
The Blue Bay also insisted on the most absurd and pointless rules and requirements for reservations. Number one, we would have to reserve at the resort's restaurants days in advance to get a normal time like 7:30. Here is what happened on day one after I was accosted in the lobby. Because the first room that we were given was an absolute dump, we had to waste the entire afternoon walking back and forth and around the resort to look at different rooms in the hope of finding one that was passable. So instead of being on vacation and enjoying the place, we were battling to get some decent room to stay in. We finally got that done and took a look at a map of the place with times for when and what food was available. But before we could just relax, we had to get back to the concierge to make a reservation for a restaurant for that evening. We couldn't just walk into a buffet somewhere and have something to eat, we HAD to have a reservation. So I went to the concierge and made a reservation. The concierge told me that there was a "special" dinner show for our first evening at the resort. Our reservation was set for 7:30. Ok. Having been on the road since 6:30am EST, and up since 4:00am EST, and having had nothing to eat during all of this, we were quite ready for a moment of true vacation time by the late afternoon. We had to run to the only thing that was still opened but soon would not be. We got a little something, and then went back to our room to get settled. We went to the dinner, and this is where it got interesting - - we arrived to be seated in a sad looking banquet hall room with a stage set up at one end of the room, and a posterboard set on the stage that looked like something a class of 3rd graders put together for their school play. The "menus" on the table were low resolution basic xeroxes that had been folded 3 ways and placed standing on the table, as if that made the use of cheap copies better. The food was no better - practically inedible, and we ate very little of it. The "steak" was mostly fat and grisle. The "show", such as it was, was basically a never-ending repetition of what we have all seen for eons on MTV/VH1 - - only not even as good as MTV/VH1. Many of the dances were totally inappropriate for underage children, and there were many in the room. We barely touched the food, and hot-tailed it out of there in search of food elsewhere. We got to some buffet by a pool, and make a B-line for one of the many empty tables. I started asking one of the people behind the counter for a dish that I saw there. I got alot of hemming and hawing, and blank irritated looks, at which point the "concierge" of the "restaurant" approached me asking if I had a reservation. Uuuummm, the place is empty, why in world would that even matter. The "concierge" insisted that we step "out" of the restaurant so that he could seat us. REALLY ????? Are you seriously serious ?????!!!!! If I hadn't been so hungry I would have just left in disgust. We got seated, we tried to have some food, but it was all absolutely terrible except for some few cold things I got from the salad bar. Plus, the weather happened to be in a cold snap, we were freezing, they had no heaters outside to compensate for the unusual weather, and we had no warm clothes because we were supposed to be going to a warm place. I am not blaming Blue Bay for the weather, I blame them for their negligence and total lack of care for their guests.
Welcomed to the Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda. I wish I had stayed home.
Almost everything was broken in the room - - the second "better" room we ended up in. The first room that we were given had an absolutely disgusting bathroom. We pressed for a better room, (had to grease a palm handsomely for it, but even though we paid extra for something that should have been basic standard, we still had to experience bad bad attitude from the person getting their palm greased. Seems like the entire philosophy of this resort (as noted in the title of this review) is "We bite the hand that feeds us".
Starting with the bathroom (of the second "better" room); the secondary hand shower sprayer was taped with black electrical tape. Both shower heads - the top one and the electrical taped one were full of soap scum that had apparently never been cleaned. The shower door did not close properly, so water always ended up soaking the floor, which meant asking for more towels to put on the floor. For the first 3 or 4 days, the water never got warmer than lukewarm. I look forward to vacations that include cold showers, don't we all???
I also found long black hairs everywhere every day all over the bathroom.
The room; The air conditioner literally rained into the room. It was situated above our heads in the living area of the room, and literally rained all over the floor when it was running, so we had to put 3 large towels onto the floor just to keep the floor form being soaked. There was mold all over the walls of the entire space, bathroom included. It had been painted over, because why clean it??!!! Also, not all of the light fixtures worked in the room. For some outlets, only one of the plugs in the outlet worked. One of the spinkler fixtures in the ceiling had been taped to the ceiling, because, of course, why bother actually properly placing it into the ceiling.
After a few days of crap treatment, bad attitudes, total negligence and incompetence, we went to the concierge to ask what it would cost to be upgraded to VIP status and a better room. L O O O O L! We sat in front of the completely inept "concierge" while she piddled around with phone calls, sitting on hold, asking questions of other employees that were not what we asked for. We had to repeat over and over what we were asking because she seemed determined to just not do what we had asked. While sitting with this incompetent knucklehead, another knucklehead showed up who claimed to be a VIP "manager". Right. This person couldn't even provide a straight answer as to what exactly VIP status would avail us of, nor would either of these two clowns give us a straight answer as to what exactly was a better room, and how much it would actually cost. After further trifling with these idiots for about 20 or so minutes, my companion had had enough, and asked these people to contact him when they had figured it out and could provide some clear information. So, basically, 2 people who work for the resort, whose business it is to give people what they asked for, were just told by a customer, that; said customer might be willing to spend more money at the resort, and needed some information in order to make that decision. Ok, let's repeat that, shall we? They were approached by a customer who told them that they might be willing to spend more on their business. ANY resort or hotel employee worth their salt whose job title included the words "concierge" or "manager" - - ANY such individual in ANY such location in the world would have been chasing us down with flags to get that extra money from us. We never heard from anyone at any point as to the request. The incompetence and negligence are absolutely laughable.
Only One Room Key:
We were permitted only one room key which meant that we had to be stuck together at all times or have to continually coordinate who would have the key, and when, and when one of us might need to go to the room. We had no way to communicate with each other if we were separated in the resort either (other than trekking around the resort to find each other), since internet access was only available in the front lobby. So, for example, if one of us needed more rest, while the other wanted to take a walk. The "walker" had to wake up the "rester" to let them in the room when they came back. How is this a vacation experience ???!!!!!!
The card key was also designed to function as an electricity "blocker". We could not charge any of our laptops or phones while we were not in the room, because the electricity in the room ONLY worked when the card key was in the slot by the door. Also, the air conditioning was controlled by a magnet on the sliding door, so you could not have the sliding door to the balcony opened AT ALL and have the air on at the same time - so, for example, one of us was lying down in the room on the bed, and one of us was on the balcony. If the sliding door was opened, the person inside couldn't have cool air, nor could the person on the balcony. If the sliding door was closed, then we couldn't communicate normally, and the person on the balcony sweltered while the person inside had air, but no one could communicate normally. Again I ask, how on earth does this qualify in any reality as a relaxing vacation experience.
We didn't have housekeeping come in every day to clean because we wanted to ensure some privacy, but on the days when we did have housekeeping come in, they did not replace the obviously used tea cups with fresh cups, they left a used napkin on the table with the cups, did not replace the tea that had been used, did not replace the plastic teaspoons with clean ones, and did not provide more water. So, the first time that this happened, I had to call 7 (YES, SEVEN) times to get them to bring water and coffee cups. I was argued with, I was not acknowledged, I was given excuses that the 'Do Not Disturb' sign was on the door which is why we were not provided with water and clean cups when housecleaning "cleaned" the room. Uh, WHAT?? First of all, that isn't even true. What IS true is that it so happened that when I called for water and cups we did have the 'DND' sign on the door, and apparently, rather than simply knock on the door since we had just asked, they preferred to waste our time by having someone show up, NOT knock on the door, and then call after a ridiculous delay to tell us why they refused to knock on the door. What the hell is this???? After several calls (and of course removing the 'DND' sign), I did finally get water, but I was brought tea cups that still had the mangled glue-clotted stickers on the sides of the tea cups. I handed the dirty cups to the maid who promptly began to carefully inspect the cups, and question me as to whether they were really dirty. I shut the door in her face.
One of the other times that we asked for housekeeping to clean the room, they did not actually clean it until very late in the day, and so were in the midst of cleaning it when we returned in the late afternoon. He was ready to leave the room with the floor still soaking wet. I had to tell him to dry the floor properly before he left, and to provide the towels that we needed.
The Place:
The beach was absolutely filthy. It was full of cigarette butts, empty drink glasses, and general garbage. If I wanted that, I could go to Jones Beach.
Overall, the food at this place is some of the worst I have had at any hotel/resort. The service is mostly non-existent, but when it is there, it is positively surly. This is even after giving tips. I had to repeatedly ask for pineapple juice with plain soda and a piece of lime - - even when I asked for it in Spanish!!!!!! They would bring me Fanta, Lime juice, Pinapple juice mixed with sprite, orange juice, anything but what I asked for, even though I would make SURE that we were clear on what I wanted, and I would get the very certain 'yes, yes, yes, senora'. Invariably, after requesting the pineapple juice and soda with lime, and being assured that it would be brought, someone would come up to me and tell me that they didn't understand what I wanted and ask me again what I wanted. It was Beyond Words.
Also, the waitstaff at Blue Bay didn't clean up when something spilled, they just left it there. So I guess we were supposed to do that....... Example: We were sitting outside of the rancid smelling sports bar, (because I needed to access the internet, and this was one of only two places on the entire resort that I could do that), and my companion ordered a couple of drinks. Mine was strawberry coloured (this is relevant). The drinks miraculously actually arrived. Ok. But then, my companion kicked the table and the drink fell all over the table and ground. A waiter walked by, looked at it, brought one napkin, and walked away. I ran to get more napkins which I used to clean the table. We moved to the next table over, and sat there instead, since no one was appearing to clean up the spill. For the entire time that we sat at the next table no one ever appeared to clean it up. The large strawberry coloured puddle just slowly dried on the ground.
We had a day trip to Coba to see the pyramid and other structures, which also included bikeriding, hiking, ziplining, rappelling down to a cenote, canoeing, and ending with a traditional home-food Mayan lunch at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. This was an early-start day (leave at 7:10 am), which was too early to have a chance to have some breakfast before we had to depart on the shuttle (there was no breakfast being served at the resort at 6:30am). We knew that it would be a very active day, and we needed to be fueled up for it. Since we were warned by Best Day Travel that the tour operator would not provide breakfast for us, we had to scrounge around the night before for some sort of breakfast items that we could hide in our shirt or purse to have in the morning. We tried to go to one of the buffets to take a plate of some fruit and bread to the room , but were rudely stopped at the door. For no reason at all, in an all-inclusive resort, we were not permitted to bring food to our room. We managed to "steal" a couple of rolls, butter, bananas, and pears. I had to stuff the rolls and butter into my purse in a napkin while no one was looking - - in an all-inclusive resort - - - as in we already PAID for all of that. I can't make this stuff up!
So, in conclusion, I STRONGLY recommend that anyone considering Blue Bay, skip the waste of money and avoid this place like the plague. The only thing this place is good for is bottom drawer alchohol, a dirty beach, sub-par cuisine, and surly incompetent "service".
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Room Tip: Stay at a different resort. Blue Bay is the textbook definition of if it sounds too good to be...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Questions & answers about the restaurant
Answer from ModdyinVermont
Jun 2024 |
Yes, all restaurants are included. There is a daytime buffet, a very nice evening buffet. The six a la carte restaurants require a reservation, made one day in advance. Each building has a concierge, so this is easy.
Food is quite good, especially the Mexican & the French.
Answer from Ken bridge
Jul 2023 |
Has long as you don't go in there half naked nobody seemed bothered.
Answer from ModdyinVermont
Jul 2022 |
No lobster at buffet. You can get it at seafood a la carte, cost extra.
Answer from Jenne83
Jan 2020 |
Buffet requires men wear t-shirts at least for dinner service, no tank tops - we saw this strictly enforced on several nights. I wore flip flops with a dress to the A La Cartes with no issues, but the men did have to wear long pants, but not closed toe shoes (the men in our group wore sandals with no issue)
Answer from ModdyinVermont
Jan 2020 |
This resort is quite safe. The property is entered through a guarded gate. Good for walking, especially at night. Each room has access to wifi for one device. There are six a la carte restaurants, all very good. You need to make a reservation, one day in advance. Several Mayan ruin sites are within an hour's ride. Excursion buses will pick you up at the resort. There is a tour desk.
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