My Trip to Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay

In December my boyfriend Johnny and I went on a trip to Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay. This was my first time ever going to Mexico so I wanted to share my experience with you and let you know what I thought of the all inclusive resort Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay with a detailed review.

Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click that link and  make a purchase I may receive a commission at no cost to you. However, all opinions are my own.

Journey there

Johnny and I left for our trip to Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay early in the morning on Friday December 15^th. I do like early flights because when you arrive you still have sometime to do stuff in the day which was the case for us. The flight did give us a complimentary drink which was nice, I had a mimosa. We arrived at the airport in Mexico around 2:00pm and got to our hotel at about 3:30pm. As we arrived we were greeted with drinks and brought into one of the bars to be given our room numbers and any other information we needed by the SunWing employees.

By the way you can thank my boyfriend Johnny for a lot of these pictures as we was awake at 5am one morning and he went to take some pictures while no one was around.

Room

One of the best parts about this resort is that every room has an ocean view! I think this is such a great idea. It’s really smart for driving people towards their resort and something they should really promote more. Our room had a king size bed with a TV and a large balcony. Our bathroom had a tub and shower combination and his and hers sinks. The room was a great size and I was very impressed with it. Every day the maid came in to clean the room and actually spent a long time doing so and we received an animal made out of towels everyday which I thought was very cute.

Restaurants

There was one restaurant that had a buffet for breakfast and dinner and another that had a buffet for lunch. Both restaurants were very great and made me very full. There was also a Mexican and Asian restaurant you can make reservations at. We only ate at the Mexican restaurant once and it had delicious authentic Mexican cuisine. All restaurants do say they have a dress code however; they do not enforce it. Many people show up in their flip flops and tank tops and no one bats an eye so no need to worry about looking out of place with your wardrobe but I would bring some nicer things for every few nights.

Beach

The beach was pristine! It wasn’t a clear blue ocean, it was wavier and you couldn’t always see the bottom. The water isn’t completely safe as there is an undertow. If you’re not a great swimmer I wouldn’t go out very far. Honestly this part didn’t bug me because it’s just like the ocean back home in PEI Canada. What did make me a little nervous though is there were some rocks down the beach that had what I think are sea urchins on them so the fact that I can’t see the bottom of the ocean and they aren’t very far away from where I’m swimming made me a little nervous. I’d rather not cut my foot open on vacation so I’ll just stick to the pools. The beach did also have lots of chairs and a beach volleyball court.

Pools

This resort advertises as two pools and a bar pool. Honestly I thought one of the pools was two the first day. The single pools are broken apart into two each by a cascading edge, so it’s really like four pools and a bar pool. One of them had activities planned throughout the day such as volleyball and water polo. They even had water aerobics everyday at noon. There was also the bar pool which is what I’m sure a lot of you are wanting to hear about. It had decent space in it along with plenty of tables and seating along the walls. The swim up bar in the pool was connected to a walk up bar on the other side to grab drinks when at the beach.

Night

The Mazatlan Riu Emerald Bay resort was more of a family resort so the night life wasn’t as great as it could have been. You can book a restaurant, go to the sports bar that is open 24/7, go to the disco, or attend the entertainment in the big auditorium room. That was actually in Spanish and filled with kids so it wasn’t really my scene. The one thing I did really like in the evening was on one of our last nights they had a beach party. They set up a big BBQ buffet and had many tables set up for everyone to eat. They also had a band playing live music. Later on that evening they had dancers for entertainment and lit a huge bonfire. Honestly, after waking up earlier to go to the pool and spending the entire day in the sun I preferred to just relax in the evening and go to bed.

Staff

The staff at the Riu Emerald Bay resort were amazing. Everyone was very friendly and really acted like they were on vacation as well not at work. The SunWing staff were who we went to first with any concerns, to book excursions, or to book our seats for our flight back home. The employees at this resort are extremely hard workers so if you go please tip well, they really deserve it. The only difficult thing was we called the Spa to book an appointment and they didn’t speak any English. Easy fix though, we just asked the front desk to call for us.

Bars

The Riu Emerald Bay resort had three bars in total. There were two inside and the pool bar outside. The sports bar was a fun place to go because it was a little louder and more fun and it was nice to watch some sports that we would see back home. They also had some food in case you were a little hungry. The other bar was extremely nice! A little fancier and had a bit of an older crowd in it. We went in it one night and there were several people in there playing cards.

My favorite is the day bar which is the pool bar. This was a swim up pool bar with another walk up side facing the beach. To be honest we did spend a lot of time in this pool. Johnny made friends with one of the bartenders and tipped him every morning and anytime we went up to the pool bar he got our drinks right away for us. These guys were hilarious and so nice, joking around and playing with us. There was also a little bar set up near another pool in case you didn’t want to go to the bar pool and there’s also bartenders walking around with carts or just going and taking an order from you then bringing your drinks back to you.

Spa

The Riu Emerald Bay Resort also has a spa. There are a few things they offer there such as a full weight room, hot tub and  many types of massages. Johnny and I decided we would get our first professional messages and they were great. Very relaxing, we really enjoyed it. However, like most resorts this is an extra cost and is a little expensive, but we really wanted to treat ourselves on this trip. There are other places nearby like on the beach where the locals offer cheaper messages and some people that I met went to these and said they were great as well.

Journey back

The journey back from Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay was obviously very sad as we knew we would be going back to snow. The bus picked us up again and took us to the airport. It was pretty quick to get through security, however, our flight was delayed. The airport was very small and was full of people, about half the people were either standing or sitting on the floor which is really gross because we found a huge cockroach.

My experience

Overall I think that Mazatlan Mexico Riu Emerald Bay was a great resort, especially considering it was 5 star and the cheapest we could find! The weather was beautiful, so warm and sunny all except for our last day. The one thing that I really did not like however was the elevators! They took way to long especially going down. Overall, I would definitely recommend it! My final review of the Riu Emerald Bay Resort is 9 out of 10, definitely worth checking out. If you’re looking for another resort in Mexico then check out my review of the Grand Sunset Princess Resort in Playa Del Carmen Mexico.

 

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