Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay — Hotel in Sinaloa

“5 star All-inclusive”, they said; “It will be fun!” They said.

Pablo Bonito - Emerald Bay & Mazatlan

My Husband and I, after 8 years, were finally able to book our first international all inclusive vacation. I have never been out of the western hemisphere before. After months of research “Pablo Benito - Emerald Bay” was continuously the most popular 5 Star in our price range with, supposedly, great food. Boasting five on site restaurants, free shuttle between sister resorts, activities, stunning grounds, clean beaches and endless support from staff, we counted down the days excitedly.

The flight to Mazatlan was uneventful and smooth. Arriving at the airport in Mazatlan there was no information about where to go, who to contact or how to get to the resort. Many people ended up getting cabs not realizing there was a shuttle provided as part of their package. We however, did eventually find our way to the bus.

We arrived at the resort at approximately 5 pm. The front desk staff were inexcusably rude. I have never been to an all inclusive before so I didn’t know what to expect. She rolled her eyes at my questions and smirked at her colleagues as she spoke Spanish to them. After receiving our room number we were dismissed. No idea where we were going or how to get around. Luckily, a house keeper saw us wandering confused and directed us towards our building. We had paid for a king room and arrived to 2 twins. Black mold and ants everywhere. Whatever, we will deal with it in the morning. Let’s eat! The pools bars stop serving food at 5 pm and drinks at 6, so off to the buffet. Never before have I tasted such disgusting food. It was inedible. I could not make my body swallow it and neither could my husband. There was no fresh fruit, the main courses were soaked is some kind of grease that coated everything. The tacos were fat, gristle, cartilage or a combination in every kind of protein offered. Trust me, we tried. We left disappointed and hungry. 2 of the other “restaurants” advertised were in fact deli/ convenience stores that would have to pay extra for. The only other restaurant was a bistro at the other end of the resort that closed at 11. No where could you get food or drink on the resort after 11 pm without paying an extra delivery fee to your room. With no water or mini bar provided my husband went to the front desk to ask for bottled water around 11pm. The front desk staff turned him away saying to try the bar (does not serve food and again closed at 11) in the lobby. After asking a total of 4 staff he was finally able to find 2, room temperature bottles of water and head back to the room. Needless to say the resort failed to impress. Dead foliage everywhere, and rotting coconuts littering the grounds. Garbage, cans and plastic cups littered the planters. It wasn’t until halfway through our 10 day stay that we were finally contacted by management to change rooms. Day 5 we also found about the other resorts and their restaurants. The only restaurant that we found worth eat at was Angelo’s. Thank God for Angelo’s. We booked our last 5 nights there and we are So happy we did. The staff, food and service was amazing. We can not wait to go back on our next vacation to Mazatlan.

All the activities on the resort were an extra charge. The menu also had a new charge for any premium drinks or food that were not included in the all inclusive package. This new premium charge was implemented after we booked our vacation.

Needless to say my husband and I were able to make the most of it with the extra care and attention their waitstaff provided especially Julio Vargas. Julio went above and beyond to try and make up for the shortcomings by owners, management and senior staff. As well at the misrepresentation by WestJet travel as what to expect. Julio and the staff at Angelo’s went beyond the call of duty to make our stay the best they could with what they could provide.

We fell in love with the Mexican people and the country but I have never been so disappointed in an...

Booking: I went through Expedia to book my package and vacation, which was 6 days at the Emerald Estates Luxury Villas, part of the Pueblo Bonito Resorts properties, all-inclusive package. The booking was easy, straightforward, and left little to vague interpretation or fine print nonsense. The package was stated as an all inclusive package with access to the other resort property that was more activities-based and featured more restaurants to choose from. These restaurants claim to be part of the all-inclusive package but beware of some items on the menu that will be out of pocket. Those are not itemized or disclosed in their entirety in its listing, booking, or disclosures, that I saw. The airlines were included in the package, which was outstanding. However, please note that you will need to choose from the package flights available. Ours were two connections to Mazatlan, and three coming back, it was rough. Alternative flights would have cost us 500 dollars more per person.

The property: Wow!! that's all I have to say. Exactly as advertised. We saw a three bedroom four bath, private pool and hottub, on the property, and part of the all-inclusive package. All in 5,400 dollars for the week (property, flights, all-inclusive), even with the final charges (as I'll detail later) we didn't bust our budget of 6,000 dollars US. There is a 4 dollar room service charge every time they go out. We mostly got room service and averaged about three times a day resulting in about 60 dollars for the week (4x3x5). This was explained when we checked in, not in the package listing online.

The amenities: We had our own hot tub and pool so we did stay on the property most of the time The beach at the Villas property was very rocky and dangerous in terms of playing in the surf. There are very few excursions or activities at the location and if you want that, I recommend booking at the sister location, plenty of beach related activities, jet skis, parasailing, volleyball, bingo, etc. To transfer to these other resort locations you have to book a shuttle that goes about every 4 hours. I've stayed at Sandals which has much more frequent shuttles to their other locations. The restaurants at the Villas location are all subpar. It's whatever and seems to be an extension of "resort food" which is definitely a thing, especially all inclusive resorts. However, Cilantros at the sister resort was outstanding. Of course, you'll be stuck there for 4 hours if you decide that it's not as good as I am conveying.

SAFETY!! There were no sprinklers, smoke detectors, or anything resembling fire safety devices anywhere on the property. They did have a fire extinguisher (that looked like a converted SUBA tank) in the washroom. The electrical outlets and lamps were totally sketchy, the bulbs in two of the lamps were hanging from their wires, and there were at least two outlets that looked so mangled I didn't want to even attempt to use them for fear of shorting it out.

The Value: All in all I'm happy with the value offering. We had 1800 square ft of luxury. No butler service, that I was aware of, but we still felt that we were special and pampered by the staff. One more thing to note, though. We only had select options, in terms of flights, when we booked. We got into Mazatlan at 12:30 AM, so we burned through our first day of fun at the resort. We also had to get on the shuttle on day 6 at 9:00 AM so that's another day that's burned.

Bottom Line: When I went to St. Lucia, it cost me 15 thousand for 10 days but after ten days I had enough of the vacation. I was more than ready to go home and back to work. Mazatlan was less than half the price and our property was at least three times the value. There is a trade off of expectations in terms of what is included but the property was just as nice, if not a bit nicer in Mazatlan. I will probably go to the same property again if I can get a similar deal, no question.

P.S. I ordered the "American Breakfast" once and for the sausages I got a hot dog cut in half...

Real disappointed in just about every aspect of the resorts customer service. Resort itself is beautiful... room smelled of a little mildew but thats not a shocker for an older resort on the water. My issue is solely related to customer service and the resorts intent to squeeze every dime out of their customers.

My girl and I actually debated this as we were leaving the resort this morning. Btw... we checked in and payed for 9 nights at this "All Inclusive" resort but checked out after less than 24 hours. Her contention was that due to Covid... businesses are needing to bring in extra revenue to keep the lights on. I feel the opposite .... and during times like these ......businesses in competitive industries like travel & tourism need to do MORE to earn your business. Ultimately I'm not sure if she or I are correct but I DO KNOW in this case I took my $29000 pesos back ( at least I attempted to.... read on )........... and stayed at another resort.

First night at the resort... worn out from travel... chilled and just wanted a quiet evening in our room. I understood room service charged a cash fee for delivery ( not exactly all inclusive ).......but we didn't mind given the circumstances. The menu from the ONE restaurant that offered ala carte dining was very limited and we found that a good 25% of the menu was the "Additional Charge" section. In essence.... pretty much everything that actually sounded good we were going to pay extra for. We relented and ordered something else .... saving surf n turf for a sit down and dine night. VERY disappointed to find that the room service menu was a VERY small sliver of the already small menu of things we could order without paying another $30$40 per meal. The chicken enchiladas we wanted .........we were told COULD NOT be brought to the room Bare in mind... we stayed at this resort because we were told it was the nicest in Mazatlan...... but don't expect to get Chicken Enchiladas to your room. The Room Service menu was not much more than nachos or cold pizza.

The next morning I tried to get some work done but.... INTERNET DOWN for the 3rd time since I arrived. Went to the gym at 8:30 but was told I couldn't work out because gym was closed. ..... will be open at 9. I felt an explanation was due since MANY if us prefer to get our workouts in before 9. Woman w/ limited english and who was VERY frustrated with me for not understanding.......told me I could sit and wait until nine to ask the gym manager. I pressed because I didn't see a reason to sit 30 minutes to get a simple answer. I couldn't wait anyhow because I had an appt this morning and needed to get in and out of the gym fairly expeditiously. I FINALLY got the answer that they are limiting the number of people due to covid and they allow blocks of gym users to come in .... I had missed the 7 am and the next block was at 9. I don't love this scenario .... but I understand I guess so I "Made An Appointment" to workout tomorrow / Tuesday at 7 and asked for "An Appointment" in the hot tub to follow the workout at 8 am. I was abruptly told that if I am not a property / time share owner that the hot tub is a $10 per person per day charge. I about lost it at that point. I am at the nicest ALL INCLUSIVE resort in Mazatlan and it cost me $10 to use the hot tub????? I imagine plans are underway to install coin operated stall doors in the public rest rooms.

I decided if I'm getting 3rd rate service then I'll just stay somewhere with 3rd rate pricing to match. Upon checking out this morning I COULD NOT get a refund. The explanation still baffles me but in essence I was told since the transaction already "went through" they could only issue a credit to my bank account. I explained over and over that it doesn't matter if they procesed a sale.... they can now process a "CREDIT" the exact same way back to my credit card. They wanted me to leave a ton of personal information which I refused to do. I am now disputing the transaction...