HOTEL: Azul Beach Resort
LOCATION: 15-mins south of Cancun
MOST RECENT STAY: April 2012
STAR RATING: 5*
RESORT SIZE: Small – 147 suites
WIFI: Yes – all rooms / lobby, $15/day or $70/week.

OVERALL: This is a boutique resort that is all about attention to detail. Food is gourmet, service is excellent, the beach is soft (with more than enough lounge chairs for everyone) and water is clear. Beach butlers serve you everything from picnic lunches, suntan lotion, and even offer magazines to read. The updated  Kids Club offers high tech toys and Fischer Price learning toys. Big wins here are amazingly good and friendly service, a powder soft beach, good variety of gourmet restaurants, and comfortable rooms. Ideal for families but romantic for couples too. Rooftop ‘Sky Weddings’ are a perfect idea for a unique destination wedding.

ROOMS: Renovations finished on all but the Deluxe rooms last year. New rooms are modern and well laid out.  They have a mini-bar stocked with Coke products, juice, water, and beer, flat screen TVs, DVD players & iPod docking stations. Bathrooms are clean & private. Rooms on the 1st floor have a walk out patio or swim up (depending on room category), rooms on the 2nd – 4th floor have a balcony and overlook the gardens or the pool areas. Beds are very comfortable. Most rooms have at least a partial oceanview but if not, are only steps to the beach anyway. AC units have all been switched out for lower emission high-efficiency ones. 

New Family rooms are spacious with a king bed with sliding privacy doors for the parents and trundle beds for the kids. These rooms are at the back of the resort and don’t offer an oceanview but overlook a very nice pool area…enjoy the view while relaxing on your oversized balcony or book a swim-up and swim up to the bar for a drink while the kids are down for an afternoon nap.

FOOD & BEVERAGES: There is a small but frequently refreshed buffet in one of the restaurants for breakfast or lunch but the main dining here is a la carte. Food is gourmet and includes Pan-Asian sushi & teppanyaki, Blue (where they offer 5 menus (an all-lobster menu (NO extra charge to order from this), South Beach Diet, Vegetarian, Low Carb, or Chef’s Choice), Chil (seafood with a Mexican/Caribbean flair), and two new additions – a Latino and Italian theme restaurant, each with a signature welcome drink. La Mancha Energy Bar offers casual dining for lunch including smoothies, grilled sandwiches, and kid favorites (hot dogs & cookies).  At night, try some new flavors of tequila (they have 30) at the Tequila Lounge.

Insider Tips:

• Beach Bed Daily Draw. Rather than have people saving beach beds at the crack of dawn, they’re trying out a new system where you put your name in for a beach bed the day before and then each bed is randomly assigned to the resort guests.
• Deluxe category rooms are being renovated currently and will have modern furnishings but no major work is being done.
• The gym & spa are currently being built. In the meantime, you ca use the gym at the nearby Azul Sensatori resort.
• You can walk for miles in either direction but note that a clothing optional resort is about 5-minute’s walk south of Azul Beach. Walk in the opposite direction for a relaxing stroll without any surprises.

WEDDINGS: There are wedding packages to suit anyone’s taste, from Free Weddings to Sky Weddings (new for 2012!).

HOTEL WEBSITE: http://www.karismahotels.com/resort/azul-beach-hotel-karisma