Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun

This was a somewhat last-minute vacation for my teen daughter and I. We stayed in a junior suite pool view room and loved it. I love the resorts where your room key is your bracelet. We had that. The balcony was cozy. There is only a shower in the bathroom. The doors to the shower and toilet aren't ideal for privacy (depending on who you are traveling with), but that's typical at most resorts. Their is a nice big jacuzzi tub in the room itself. Hair dryers work really well. We didn't require much housekeeping, but it always seemed to be pretty late in the afternoon before our room was touched. Drink selection in the room is underwhelming. I loved that we could take our water bottles provided in the room and get cold water in the hallway. Air conditioning in the room worked great. We had it off or set not as cold because of how well it did work. The buffet wasn't one of my favorites. I didn't love the options or desserts compared to other buffets I've been at. One thing that I did like, though, was that there is a section just for kids (if traveling with any). We only ate at the Italian Restaurant and were pleased with our meals. There were 2 nights we realized last minute that the buffet wasn't open for dinner. It is more inconvenient, but we took advantage of the room service. The selection isn't the best and we didn't love it. All of the staff were pleasant and provided excellent service. There is an app where you can check daily activities, order room service, and check restaurant hours. This is my least favorite beach out of several resorts I have stayed at. The flag was red most days, where there's no swimming. We went in one day when the flag was yellow. The water is brown, and you're stepping on rocks, seaweed, etc. We never went in again. The beach itself is very small... the water isn't far away, leaving less beach area for chairs or kids to play. I am more of a pool person, but I somehow missed that it wasn't the Caribbean Ocean and was as disappointing as it was. It's not an ideal location for a nice resort. We loved the pool. We never had a problem getting clean towels (no card or return towel needed & located at a few spots), or getting a spot by the pool. We had a blast with water aerobics, a couple of foam parties, and just watching activities at the pool. We pretty well stuck to La Brisa all week. "Ever" was the name of my most frequent bartender at the swim-up. I loved the selection of daiquiris! Strawberry, mango, passionfruit, and raspberry, I believe. Passionfruit is amazing! Lemon drop shots are also perfect! It was never too busy, but keep in mind, it was a June vacation & peaceful!! I did enjoy the size of the resort. I have been at larger ones, where you have to shuttle or walk way longer to get anywhere. This was nice and easy to find your way around. My daughter could easily just run to our room from the pool. It was really close. Star Prestige isn't really something I would want. I don't stick with the same chain of hotels usually. I did find it feels very pushy, like you feel you need to join for breakfast and a 1.5hr info session... with perks for coupons and $ off excursions. We didn't go. We also chose no excursions this trip anyway, as we went to just relax. They have access to other pools and options, but nothing I felt I was missing out on. There are 2 shops at the resort. As expected, they're very expensive. 2 bags of chips for $20usd or $15usd/each, for example. There are lots of cute souvenirs, though. We just spent too much money, lol. There is a tattoo artist on the spa level. I found it pricy, but I got a meaningful tattoo I love and am pleased with. The experience was fun to do on a vacation. Around the resort, I saw my first coati! Occasionally, you'll randomly see one running by. We saw a couple of small raccoons. I am used to seeing little tiny geckos running around, but here, there were always large iguanas nearby throughout the day. We had no issue with bugs, etc. If you're not much of a beach person, I would likely recommend. Sadly, that's the downside to it. We had a great stay, though, and loved every minute! Meeting people was the best part! Thanks for an amazing vacation, Iberostar!

My husband and I are here now. Our first adult trip away from the children. We have been to Lindo and Maya a hand full of times since 2016. This time we went to Iberostar selection Rivera Cancun. It’s very low key smaller resort but nice for relaxing quick trips. I know it was just added so we wanted to check it out. Rooms are very clean and luxurious. Entertainment staff and restaurant and bars staff are great. But the down fall we feel very uncomfortable and annoyed that we are constantly hunted down by concierge staff to do vacation club when we are not interested. We already know the cost of them and it’s definitely not something we want to do or could even afford. We have said no multiple times. We feel very harassed and at this point we just gave in for a presentation just so we would stop being bothered. We never experienced this at any of the other locations. We do our presentation tomorrow morning and hoping we will no longer be approached afterwards. But we are not confident about it.

My wife and I had a wonderful time at this resort. The staff are very friendly and a pleasure to interact with. The resort is very clean and the atmosphere was very relaxing, exactly what we were looking for. We stayed in a couples room with jacuzzi tub and large balcony with sofa and chair. The room exceeded our expectations. There were a lot of choices for food and we always found something we liked. La Barisa Caribbean restaurant was our favourite and we visited multiple times. The resort has a lot of pool space so you can always find a spot with the atmosphere you are looking for. If you are a beach person I would not recommend as the beach is very narrow and there was no one on the beach during our stay. A special thank you to Ever, Carlos and Fernando at the La Barisa bars who made our stay fantastic and were so very attentive to us.

you are looking for a relaxing, well-priced, family-friendly resort with great pools, good food, and quick airport access, this is an excellent value. The service was beyond excellent. We love the Staff, they were very friendly, attentive, and helpful. Elisabeth, one of the Prestige host was excepcional and went above and beyond to accommodate my family. We love the Club area . As an iberostar Gold member I’m so grateful with the prestige staff ,they took care of me and my family. Ivan , Michelle and Ramon did a great job helping us with everything. Big thanks to Irving and my funny guy Mauricio for those amazing cocktails in the pool members. Alejandro and Aaron in the members club bar they were super friendly and take care of my family really well , thank you guys . The star camp staff are incredible, they took care of my son really good and he had a really great time with them , big thanks to Paloma . The buffet was super taste every day , too many varieties. Orlando he did a great job serving us every morning. And Erick in the dinner was very helpful as well . Everyone in the buffet area are exceptional people, thanks to Jesus and Noemi for make our lunch to special . The restaurants are so good , We really enjoyed all of them but Odeth and Marlene in the Caribbean restaurant they are going to made your dinner special . Is impossible to get bored in this hotel they have Plenty of activities during the night and in the pool area. We really enjoyed our days here , For sure we are going to come back .

Notes about our trip: -We did not travel with children, and our main goal for this trip was to sit back and relax. Due to this, we have no feedback for the kids areas, hotel activities and shows. -We were there the week before Memorial day weekend, so the hotel was not crowded. We did not see seats being reserved at the pool. Getting into the restaurants for dinner was very easy. The Good: -The pools: if you are a pool person, you will love this property. If you are a beach person, I recommend looking at another hotel. -This was the first time I traveled to an all inclusive and did not get a bunch of bug bites. -Drive time from Cancun airport to the hotel is about 20 - 30 minute ride. We used Happy Shuttle for our transportation. -The staff: very kind and helpful. This excludes the front desk and star prestige "concierges". -LOVED the 24 hour cafe. The Bad: -Buffet: needs some more variety in their food offerings. -Maintenance: we had two rooms in our reservation. One room's AC worked great. One of the rooms would only cool if it was set at 18.5 celsius. You change that to 19 degrees and the unit would not cool the room. Maintenance did come out to the room 3 times, but since the room was technically "cooled", they noted that nothing else could be done. If you like rooms to be freezing cold, please note that the AC may be hit and miss. -There seems to be some miscommunication between the management and front desk people. For example, our reservation included free access to the hydrotherapy area at the spa. Once we got to the hotel, I had to talk to multiple people to get access to this benefit. The front desk sent me to the spa, the spa sent me back to the front desk, the front desk tried to send me back to the spa, but I made them come with me to the spa. After this third trip, the spa staff members noted that they would talk to their manager and get back to me the next day. After all of this, the access to the hydrotherapy was provided. -The confirmation email we received for our reservation does note for a tax to be paid at the hotel. The email noted that this tax is $3.70 USD per night/per room. During check out, the front desk noted that the "Environmental tax" is really $5.00 USD per night/per room. The price provided in the confirmation is simply an "estimate" and/or the hotel will round up these numbers if paying with Mexican pesos. I understand that this is not much of a difference, but combine this and the issue with the hydrotherapy access, if felt like there was a lack of communication and transparency from the management and front desk staff.