BlueBay Grand Esmeralda

Delicious food, friendly and kind staff. Highly recommend!

We were quite disappointed with our stay. Our rooms were missing many items , the sliding door handles were broken off so the door closed but could not lock. The sheets smelled bad, like sewage. We only received room service a few times in the week that we were there. The buffet seemed to be pretty much the same every day and the food wasn't all that great. The beach was full of seaweed, so we didn't spend any time there at all. The rooms are very outdated and in desperate need of upgrading. The grounds were very well kept though. The golf carts were not around often at all to catch a ride around the resort, so we did an awful lot of walking. A lot of the workers there couldn't communicate with us or answer questions, as they didn't speak English. The bartender wasn't friendly and the drinks were very simple. Not a lot of effort put into them. Large chunks of ice instead of a slushy type drink. There were cats everywhere!! The store at the resort was Extremely overpriced for items you may need, so bring everything you May need from home. I had to pay $65 for some Immodium. ( about $20 worth at home) I had to pay $20 for chapstick! The music for the evening entertainment was SO loud it was distorted and deafening. My grand daughter really enjoyed the kids centre there and they were fantastic with the kids. The pools were nice, but the signs everywhere stating that saving lounge chairs is not allowed were ignored. The staff didn't enforce the rule so there were never lounge chairs to use unless you got up at 5am to put your towels on them. But we didn't, because you're not supposed to. We wouldn't go back there.

Pamela and Elizabeth are wonderful for the KidsClub! My kids had a great time and couldnt stop raving how awesome the staff was. My kids are usually very picky with babysitters... so the fact they couldnt stop talking about Pamela and Elizabeth and activities they did, shows they are doing something right !!! Thank you girls for a wonderful job !

I stayed at the blue bay grand Esmeralda resort and we stayed in building 8 the smell of mildew mold and sewage was extremely strong the full five days and three of us in that building ended up congested with a dry couch that I’m sure is from the smell of mold . I would not recommend staying in building 8 I had friends in others building that the smell wasn’t there . Also when it comes to accessibility it was very unorganized and there should be accessible carts for people with disabilities.

I normally never write reviews like this, but after our experience with the NOVUM / Circle One membership team at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda, I honestly feel people should know exactly what happens. At first they approach you very casually and friendly. They tell you it is only a quick feedback session about the hotel and that it will take a short time. In exchange they offer small gifts like a hat and tequila. Nothing is explained clearly at the beginning. The next day, instead of a quick feedback session, we were kept there for around two hours. First they start showing you VIP rooms and exclusive areas of the resort, trying to make everything look “luxury” and special, as if seeing expensive rooms is supposed to impress you or make you excited enough to spend huge amounts of money. Then they take you upstairs and the real sales presentation begins. Endless talking about “luxury vacations”, “exclusive travel opportunities”, VIP drinks, VIP beaches, special discounts and future holidays for the next 15 years. At one point they start writing numbers all over a paper in a very confusing way, changing prices constantly from around $29,000 to “today only offers” around $17,000, then financing plans around £8,000 plus monthly instalments. The funniest part is that they genuinely think guests are stupid enough to make emotional decisions on the spot and give them thousands of pounds during a holiday because they wrote random numbers on a paper that barely makes sense. A normal person invests their money carefully — not into confusing vacation contracts sold under pressure in a resort. Even after we clearly explained that we were not interested for personal and financial reasons, they continued insisting. We were told the manager would simply come to collect feedback about the service, but instead she immediately started again with more pressure, more payment plans, “pay half now”, “restart in January”, “monthly options”, and more confusing offers. At that point the situation became offensive and uncomfortable. The manager was extremely rude and acted like she could pressure us into giving away our money. After searching online later, we found many similar negative reviews from people saying they regretted buying these memberships. The sad thing is that the hotel itself is actually nice and most staff members working here are polite and hardworking. But the aggressive NOVUM / Circle One sales culture completely changed the atmosphere of our holiday. Another disappointing thing is the beach setup. The VIP beach has many umbrellas and empty spaces reserved for members, while the standard guest area has very limited shade and not enough umbrellas for regular guests, despite the extreme heat. We also experienced problems with a shuttle service organised by the resort, where we were suddenly asked to pay more money than the advertised price on the official paper because there were not enough passengers. Guests come here to relax, not to constantly feel pushed into spending more money