Where: Azul Hotel and Beach Resort, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, MX
Who: My wife and I, plus our 16 year old daughter and 11 year old son. It was the first time out of the country for our kids and their first time for an extended beach stay. It was my wife’s and my first time to the Yucatan and our first time in an all-inclusive resort.
When: June 25, 2005 to July 2, 2005.

The Good: The Azul is in a wonderful location on an isolated beach. Sugary sand and plenty of beach lounges, hammocks and palapas for shade. Our rooms (one for the kids and one for us) were oceanfront, clean, air-conditioned and roomy. Mini-bar was stocked with pop, water and beer. Our room (#506) was located 40 or so feet from the beach, and a window overlooked the beach; our balcony overlooked the main bar/palapa and was within 60 or so feet of the restaurants. The smallness of the hotel was wonderful. The staff was a delight. All of the staff gave friendly and personal attention, spoke English and seemed to enjoy their work. Beach Butlers must be the greatest invention of mankind.

The beach swimming area was exceptional with clear water, many fish and shells. The kids adored snorkeling with the gear we brought. The sea kayaks are great. There is some grass, but it is raked from the beach daily. We really did not go into the pools. We enjoyed some of the planned activities such as water aerobics, beach volleyball and late-night dance lessons. I thought the food was excellent. I often had grilled shrimp and twice I had lobster. There was enough of a variety on the menu together with daily specials to allow plenty of options during our stay. There were no “bad” foods such as pizza or hot dogs, which was nice. If the kids wanted a snack, there was a place to have fruit or a tuna or lamb pita, both of which I recommend. We also never had to wait to get into dinner at Blue, and waited once for 10 minutes to get into the Asian restaurant.

A pleasant surprise was the variety and quality of the entertainment each night in the main palapa. On different nights we enjoyed a Cirque de Soleil-like act, magician, folk dancing, jazz band and a music trivia contest where a wrong answer requires a shot of tequila. Lots of fun.

The Bad: My personal disappointment was that there was only one Hobie Cat and you could not sail alone, a staff member sailed while guests rode the boat. As mentioned above, the hotel is a bit isolated and there are not many water sports activities on site. Nor are there bikes, tennis or other activities. Also, you will be charged a $2 per person fee for going on the water, the fee is for a pass to the underwater national park that lies off the coast.

I was disappointed with the “personal travel consultant” from Worry-Free Vacations who grabbed us just after we checked into the hotel. His job was to sell excursions, which we wanted. However, we felt a little hustled and were anxious to get lunch (after getting up at 2:30 a.m. in Denver to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight) and hit the gorgeous beach rather than spend 45 minutes sitting in the heat. We wanted to go to Xel-Ha and also wanted the kids to swim with Dolphins. Rather than tell us that you could swim with Dolphins at Xel-Ha, he tried to sell us another trip to yet another attraction. I guess everybody needs to make a buck, but it seemed to have the hotel’s stamp of approval, so it was a little unexpected.

Towards the end of the week, the maid service got a little sloppy, even though I was tipping daily. We were not given towels or soap and had to ask. Minor point, but not expected at such a great hotel.

The Ugly: The ugly occurred when we wanted to go into Playa del Carmen to visit. We were told to arrange transportation through the concierge desk in the lobby, which we did, for $10 per person round trip. A cab is $28 one-way to Cancun or Playa del Carmen. After squeezing into a van a little after the appointed time, we were told that ("Doh!") we would be driven to “Lapis” a store selling jewelry, leather and carpets, for a 45 minute stop, then taken to Playa del Carmen. The store was like Tiffany’s and no one wanted to stop there. We were then driven to the town, and the guide hustled us (meaning everyone on the van) to a particular restaurant. We were seated, looked at the menu and then got up and left – very pricy. We ended without much time to spend because of the stop at Lapis and the early return of the van. Lesson: Spring for the cabs – don’t take the van to Lapis.

Another negative is that the hotel desk cannot cash traveler’s checks, or value loaded cards or provide advances on credit cards. There is no ATM in the hotel. Therefore, you must go into a town to find an ATM. Of course, the ride into town and back will cost $56 by cab, or you can take a short cab ride ($6 I think, then a $2 bus to Puerto Morelos, without knowing if your card will work in the ATM. A bus also goes to Cancun). I had an American Express Traveler’s Cheque Card – but could not easily find an ATM in Playa del Carmen from which to get cash. My wife went to a bank in Playa del Carmen on a second trip and had a bad experience. No one spoke English and they would not provide any service for obtaining a cash advance. Lesson: Take enough cash to get you through until you can get to a town with an ATM.

Conclusion: We had a ball despite the apparent negatives mentioned above. The hotel is wonderful and well-kept. Other guests that had stayed at other all-inclusives told us we were very spoiled to have gone to the Azul first. I highly recommend this resort as a place to go to relax and stay on site. We left for two all-day excursions (to Xel-Ha and Chizten Itza) and a partial/evening to Playa del Carmen (and that stupid Lapis store). It was a bit of an ordeal to leave the grounds, requiring a van to another location to board a bus for the all day trips. We loved the area and would go back, but if we wanted to explore attractions outside the hotel, we would consider a place more centrally located. On the other hand, if we want to go somewhere to kick back, enjoy the sun and surf, eat great food and have a mojito – the Hotel Azul will be our choice.

We stayed at the Azul for 4 nights and aside from the personal stuff, we had an awesome time.

It rained when we arrived and then rained again off and on the next day due to the hurricane passing by. I thought our vacation was ruined due to the rain but the second day, the sun was out and it was just gorgeous. We did have a problem with our first room due to the rain (no electricity) so they gave us an upgrade to a room in Villa 2 and complimentary massages. Except for the water (I don't think they can really help it and it didn't bother us since we used plenty of bottled water to brush our teeth), I wouldn't change a thing about the place. We did have noisy neighbors but it wasn't the hotel's fault.

Anyway, food was good, drinks were good, and service was excellent. I made sure to tip the butler, waitors, and house keeping and everyone treated us great. They were very grateful for those couple of dollars. We took advantage of their room service quite a bit b/c it was more comfortable for us to eat in our room w/ our baby. We ordered from their room service menu and also went to the restaurants to place our orders and had them bring them to our room. The beach was an awesome experience...we settled in on one of the beach beds for the day and it was just awesome. The ocean is very crystal clear and clean - the beach itself was also clean. Everything - the pools, restaurants, rooms, and the beach were all very close to each other so I was very happy about that. I had such an awesome experience that I can't stop raving about this place to everyone I speak with.

We left our balcony door unlocked so that we can go in and out that way during our entire stay and we never had any problems of our stuff missing/stolen. My husband got his toe cut in the ocean so we had to rush to the hospital to get stitches and the hotel staff were on it just like that. The hospital in Cancun is very clean and new - no need to worry should you need to visit it.

The hotel has everything you need for your baby - cribs, bath tubs, bottle warmers, sterilizers, you name it. I took everything w/ us but next time, I'll know better and I'm definitely going back. Staff was very good with kids as well - they were very friendly with our baby.

We spent 4 night and 5 days at Azul. This place is a beach paradise only; we loved all the beds and beach stuff. You could swim or walk for miles.

The drinks were fantastic, the Asian restaurant was a little scary, DON’T EAT the sweet and sour shrimp soup, trust me! The main restaurant has a serious service problem, ill leave it at that :^)

We were in building 8 first, then moved upon our request to building 7. THE ROOMS do smell terrible, I could hardly stand the smell and I have a fully stocked farm at home!!!! They do have a serious sewer problem, I think that they do not have any vent pipes to release the gases from the toilet bowls and sink; also they have a sewage drain in the bathroom… The rooms with big balconies do have smaller bedrooms space; but I do not think that they have a smell problem like the small blacony rooms.

The gift shop (over priced) sells phone card some are rip offs, you’ll buy 2 cards and one will have 20 min, and the other only has 5 min, pissed me off! They also have merchants that sell all kinds of stuff and night; they are all way over priced like 3 to 1. We say, it is worth it to take a day trip to Playa Del Carmen, you can find better prices off the main drag!


We would not go back to Azul because of this sewer problem; it took me over 2 weeks to get the smell out of my mind, body and nose, it was horrible!!!!!!

Ps, We did not get a cold rag when we arrived :^(

We just returned from a 5 day trip June 19-23 at the Azul Hotel & Beach Resort. I was very surprized at the ambience and quietness the hotel exhibited. The hotel is located on a remote beach next to the Desire Beach Resort (alternative lifestyles, etc. etc. etc.). If you do not want to see what goes on at the Desire Resort resort then dont walk past the signs that are posted by the Azul. The Azul hotel staff were very helpful and were at all times ready to meet your needs and make your stay a wonderful experience. The grounds were immaculately kept by a large contingent of personnel. There is some seaweed that washes up during the night, however again the groundskeepers keep most of it picked up. The swimming area (roped off area) is a little small but is very pretty. The swimming pools are a little small, however adequate for your needs, expecially with the swim up bar. The rooms were very nice, HOWEVER can be a dissapointment if you get the wrong one. The bottom floors seem to have a better ocean view than that of the upper floors. In building # 2, do not get room # 206 or you will have a great view of the coconut palm tree from the balcony, not the oceanview that you paid good money for. There are a couple of those trees that the resort really needs to trim to take care of this problem. The front desk staff was unwilling to change the room as we requested. So for the 5 days, unfortunately, we were stuck with that room. Beyond the room view problem, the rooms were nicely appointed and had great A/C, and full small mini-bars. The food was adequate with breakfast probably being the best of the day. The lunch and dinner menus need revisions since they were the same for the full stay. We had an anniversery while we were there and were treated with a romantic dinner for two with champagne. Quite the experience. For those alcohol drinkers who read this review, believe me you will not be disappointed. Thanks to Elroy, our livers will probably not ever be the same. The beach butlers were great as they made sure you did not run out of drinks. If you go to the Azul, make sure you get a beach massage while you are there. Those folks were great and it is a wonderful experience to receive while you hear the ocean waters. Very relaxing. The FunJet representative (Rolando) was very helpful and assisted up with our off site tours to Xel-Ha(do go!) and to Cozumel for Para Sailing. The downside was that the cabs are very expensive if you want to leave the resort and go to Playa del Carmen or Cancun (about $28 US per person one way). You can arrange with the travel folks there for transportation to one of these areas for about $40.00 per person US R/T in advance. So beware. The hotel really needs some form of shuttle buses or offer better transportation alternatives than that was offered or received. Last, the companies who own these resorts (all of them are doing this now) need to stop the practice of trying to sell you a timeshare or vacation packages. This became very annoying on a daily basis no matter how many times you told their representative NO. Just remember that they try to sell this stuff as soon as you get at the resorts, all under the guise of a "Vacation Planner Concierge". This is one way to ruin any tourist opinion of the Cancun - Mayan Riviera resorts. Not all was negative and I do hope that whoever read this review will take into consideration that all of the resorts in Mexico have similar downfalls as well as attributes. I would return to the Azul, however I would look at the rooms before I accepted my room assignment.