Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun

We stayed 4 nights at this resort then 5 nights at the Hilton Tulum. This resort definitely had some aspects we enjoyed more than the Hilton. It's a small resort which means we could easily walk everywhere and not have to wait around for trams. It was super empty there, which was almost eerie, but nice and quiet. Their restaurants didn't require reservations so we could show up to whichever one at any time within the window, which I loved. The desserts were all pretty bad but the meals were good. We went to all 4 restaurants and enjoyed them all, but liked the Italian and Mexican the most. The staff were all very friendly and accommodating. The breakfast buffet had nice touches with an omelette station and a fresh smoothie station. The pizza place was great for lunch. Their teen club was empty so they didn't say anything to my family when we went in and played ping pong and foosball with our kids. There was zero entertainment at night and very little activities during the day. They had a few board games available in the lobby to play, which we did one night. There's a shuffle board court near the water that we played. The Latino bar in the lobby had a good DJ that we enjoyed dancing to on our first night. However, it was a little awkward because there were only 2 other ppl in the bar. The pools are super huge and fun to swim/walk through with bridges to go under and swim up bars (there was nothing special about the Hilton pools and no swim up bars). However, the water was really cold in their pool, maybe because of the size of the pool? The pool needs to be renovated, however, mosaic tiles are missing everywhere. From a distance it looks super nice, but up close, very old. The biggest downside at this resort is the lack of beach. You can't see any sand, only a mountain of seaweed. Gnats were swarming near it and it was stinky. I really would have liked to have been able to walk the beach if not swim in the ocean. There are some weird things with the rooms. The towel bar is at hip height in front of the sink, making it difficult to stand close to the sink. Very strange placement. The shower has a frosted window on the bed side of the room so we could see the outline of the person showering. Loved having the jacuzzi tub in the room. I wish there was a hot tub by the pool, but it seems like most resorts don't have one.

TLDR: no direct access to beach. Not actually all inclusive. Bad customer service. Bad partnership between hotel staff and Tafer timeshare. A lot of pools and a lot of space and quiet due to the lack of people here. Let’s start with the cons (there are a lot): This being an all inclusive resort, everything here is actually not all inclusive, despite the prices you pay for it to be all inclusive. Each restaurant has a “premium” portion of a menu that you have to pay out of pocket for. As I was extremely excited about the lobster, this was a huge disappointment because the lobster was on all the premium sections and for just the tail it was $75 USD, which is insane because in my landlocked state back in the US, a lobster tail is half that easily. Coming to this resort, we expected easy access to a Mexican beach. We found out they do not clean their beach and not only is it unable to be used, it also makes the whole resort smell bad because there are piles of seaweed (screenshots included from a video I took). It’s weird because the Hyatt resort right next to us had a spotless beach..but we couldn’t reach it because there is a wall restricting mingling between beaches. The other resort on the other side of us also had a spotless beach but there was another wall. Alas, we had to catch a uber to go to a public beach (Puerto Morelos - beautifully kept) and essentially spent a day outside of the resort to be at the beach. In addition to having to pay to go to the beach, we also booked an excursion on our own. The hotel excursion prices are a rip off. A lot of the employees do not know what they are talking about. We lost our shuttle email arriving and spend an hour at the airport trying to get the information to leave. The guy on the phone was giving us incorrect information but after about 40 minutes of going back and forth inside and outside the airport, a nice gentleman (from a different company) helped us and found our guy (Aventour) who was nowhere to be seen prior. In another instance of the employees not knowing anything; We called the hotel to confirm when the gift shop closed and the lady on the phone said 6pm. We got back to the hotel before 6 and the doors were locked. We asked and they went to see what was up. A guy came around and opened the door and let us get what we wanted. We asked him when he closed and he said 7pm. The door says 8pm. No fruit. No coconut bar. No real juice (all juice offered is Jumex which is high fructose corn syrup). There was a major problem with tafer (the people who bought out the hotel from Azul). We have a tafer membership and booked with a pre arrival concierge Jose Rodriguez. We requested two beds as we are opposite gender family not wanting to sleep in the same bed. The concierge said the request was not put in the system so we got a one bed room. To have the problem alleviated she took us to the front desk… Alfonzo, the front desk guy, was adamant that he and the hotel are not to blame for the mess up and there was nothing that could be done because a missed American Airlines flight took a bunch of rooms. This looks to me that they are 1. Just trying to fill up rooms and 2. Do not care about their members or customers who booked with them ahead of time (prioritizing over members). Alfonzo then went on to say Tafer is to blame. Pointing the finger was wild and unprofessional and does not look good from a customer standpoint. Probably will not come back here. Another problem I personally had was buffet staff laughing at me… Yamirel, a waitress at the breakfast buffet and another waiter was talking and he pointed to us and she looked back at me and started laughing. I can understand elementary Spanish but it was so loud in the buffet that I wasn’t able to hear all of what they were saying. It’s actually messed that they are just laughing at people though. Have not experienced the best customer service, especially compared to Jamaica. Pros: good quality and affordable merch at one of the gift shops. While a handful of the staff are rude, a lot of the staff are nice and helpful.

My wife treated me to Palmar Beach resort for Father's Day. Our stay was for 5 days and 4 nights. The resort is beautiful but when we arrived, we saw maybe 4 other people on the resort. When I asked our Assistant where everyone was , he told us that it's not busy this time of year. meanwhile we're in Cancun in the middle of June but ok. The food was a hit or miss . Our favorite was the mexican restaurant and the Italian was pretty good also. The smell of the seaweed throughout our stay was horrible but not THE deal breaker regarding us returning. Fast forward to Sunday morning . My wife and I arrive on time for our 90 minute timeshare presentation and was greeted by an individual named Franco Navarro. He seemed like a nice guy at first until he made several disrespectful remarks towards me in front of my wife. I'll start from the beginning. We he first saw me, he said, "You look pretty buff. "Don't worry, you won't have any problems out of me!" We all laughed and I thought nothing of it but things started to add up.He waited as my wife and I brought breakfast back to our table before starting the timeshare presentation . As I'm heading to our table, I notice him eyeballing me. Again, I though nothing of it. I tell my wife that my egg omelette was very spicy and I said that maybe the green peppers were jalapeño peppers . The Agent says to me, " Well apparently you’re not as tough as you look!" My wife and I just look at each other in disbelief. As he's discussing the presentation and asked us a few questions , my wife told him that because of our different work schedules , purchasing timeshare won’t work for her. I also told that we will listen to his presentation but have no intention of buying at this time . This individual kept saying to us that he's not trying to be a jerk so I addressed why he kept saying that and that no one assumed that he was. I asked him did he think that I was I being a jerk and he said,"Yes." I could not believe what I just heard so I asked him what did I say or do to make him say such a thing. her said, " Well you already had your mind make up that you weren’t going to buy before my presentation . I told him that my wife made that clear to him from the beginning and a good confident salesman would have said, " Well sir , if you give me a chance, then maybe I can present something to you to change your mind." I can see in his face that he was highly upset so I tried to calm things down. I say to him, " Listen, my brother, It's Father's Day lets not fight-" he interrupted me and said, " I'm not your brother!" My wife and I could not believe what he said to me so she had to intervene in what was about to become an even uglier situation . He cut the 90 presentation down to 30 minutes because he wanted to get away from me as quick as possible .I should have asked for someone else . Maybe they could have sold us a package that was ideal for us. No one should ever be spoken to and treated in a disrespectful manner especially while they're on vacation from a so called salesman and in front of my wife on Father’s day at that. There was a very nice young lady who came after him and we gave her about 6 references to contact. Now that I think of it, I do not want any of my friends or family members to risk having this guy as their timeshare salesman so I will advise them to try Villa Del Palmar and hopefully they will be treated with the respect that everyone deserves.

We had such a wonderful time staying at Palmar Beach! From the moment we arrived, the staff went above and beyond to make our trip enjoyable — their friendliness and helpfulness truly made the experience unforgettable. Our kids especially loved the swim-up bar and the buffet — they’re still talking about it! We spent most of our days relaxing in the pool and lounging on the comfortable beds by the water. Everything about our stay was just what we hoped for — relaxing, fun, and full of great memories. We were bummed the beach was not accessible because of the sargassum, but this certainly was not the resort’s fault. Rolando, Cruz, Roman, Enrique, Pablo, Carlos, Angellus, and Jesus provided great service in the restaurants. Mauricio and Sergio provided exceptional pool side service. And can’t forget Jorge with the activities!

We just returned from an unforgettable vacation at the Palmar Beach Resort & Spa and I have to say—this place exceeded all of our expectations! From the moment we arrived, we felt completely taken care of. Our upgraded connecting swim-out pool room was a dream, and the kids were in absolute heaven. Let me start by giving the biggest shoutout to Freddy—an absolute superstar! From the moment we checked in, Freddy made sure every question we had was answered and every request was taken care of. He even added us to a group chat with Janet, another amazing manager, so we basically had 24/7 concierge service throughout the entire trip. That kind of personal service is rare and really made our stay special. I know some reviews mention the smell of the water—but let’s be real, that’s a regional issue along the entire strip, not just Palmar. Honestly, once you're having fun, you don’t even notice it. Our room was right by the ocean and we weren’t bothered one bit. Yes the resort is not packed as others have mentioned but we didn't care kids made friend with other kids that were there and us as adults mingled as well,. you don't need a jam packed resort to have a fun filled vacation. Make friend, talk nice to the staff, relax, enjoy your stay and all will fall into place. We knew half the staff before we left as we spoke to everyone which in tunr made the stay even that much more enjoyable. Mauricio and Sergio at the pool kept the drinks flowing non-stop—day and night! We never went more than a minute without a drink in hand (and yes, even the kids had their fun with juices and smoothies). If you're planning to do the spa, ask for Magali as your spa butler. She’s so sweet and funny—she’ll have you laughing and relaxed at the same time. And when it comes to dining, while all the staff were great, Enrique truly stood out with his attentive and friendly service. A quick tip for excursions: Ask lots of questions! I didn’t and ended up missing out on a few things I would’ve loved to do. Also—bring your own goggles, snacks, and water. Trust me, if you don’t, you’ll feel it in your wallet real fast. All in all, Palmar gave us one of the best family vacations we’ve ever had. Great service, beautiful setting, and unforgettable memories. We’ll definitely be back!