My experience at the Melia Azul Ixtapa was wonderful! Here are my opinions broken down into categories...

My age: 18

Who I went with: My mom, dad, little brother, 9, my boyfriend, 18.

Ages hotel is best for: Families and Young Couples (Alot of people say its better for families, and not so good for young couples, but my boyfriend and I had a blast, might not be the best for older couples)

Keep in Mind: This is my first trip to Mexico and my first trip to an all-inclusive resort.

Location: It is located farther away from all of the hotels, so you were surrounded by nothing but mountains and ocean. The town is still only 5 minutes away. There is an awesome market just two minutes down the beach. The water taxi to get to Ixtapa Island is right by the market. There is also a nature reserve in the same area with crocodiles and iguanas. We didn't even need to go into town!

Hotel: The hotel is awesome!! We got a junior suite and it was beautiful. It's ocean view, marble floors, large bathtub, two beds, smells really new and feels clean. The hotel is HUGE! The pools are so large you can always have your own space. There is even a section for 16 and older, which no one is ever in. There are plenty of bars and resteraunts. There is a long pier, with chairs and space to watch the sunset. There is mini golf (but it's $5 per person). There are 5 or 6 shops. The entrance is beautiful with waterfalls and marble floors. It's so big that they even have escalators. They have a playland, babysitting service, tennis courts, and soccer field as well. We saw a lot of other hotels on our bus ride to our hotel and ours blew them all out of the water! My flight got delayed and we spent an extra day at a hotel in town called the Dorado Pacifico, it was a major, MAJOR dump compared to our hotel!!

Pools: There are two main pools. The upper pool has a wading pool for toddlers and there is a gate to get to the 16 and older section, which is really cool, with waterfalls and everything. There are chairs in the water and plenty of umbrellas. On the lower level, the main pool has a large swim up bar, waterfalls, and a volleyball court. There is also a section with water slides for all aged children. There are a lot of chairs and umbrellas, but if you're going during a busy season you'll have to save chairs early, like 8:00.

Food and Drinks: The food was my least favorite part of the trip. Every morning they have omelets, which are good, but there are a lot of wierd foods. Lunch and dinner at the buffets vary every day, but it still isn't the best. You'll find something you like, but it's harder for kids. There are 3 restraunts that you need reservations for. You can make one reservation for each resteraunt per room. They are MUCH better than the buffets. The Oyster Bar sits on stilts over the ocean, it's very beautiful. Costa Azul is really fancy, you feel like you're eating a $300 meal. Las Velas is a barbeque where you can choose your own steaks cooked the way you like them. There was even a fourth dinner show that we booked rewservations for, they performed on stage as you ate. My boyfriend on the other hand like ALL of the food, so I guess it's just preference. The drinks were good, my favorite were the Cabanas. They have a lot of fruity smoothie drinks, you can't even taste the alcohol. I do reccomend going to Ruben's Hamburgers in town, that will satisfy your burger and fry craving that you will definately develop sometime throughout the week!

Entertainment: During the day they play bingo, have games and contests in the pool, have exercise classes, a gym, mini golf, hair braiding, arts and crafts, and more. I was really impressed with all of the activities they had for all ages. At night they have live music in the Lobby Bar, music by the pool, they have a stage where they perform and dance, and a disco on the pier that is open until 2 am every night. I was surprised by all of the night entertainment as well. It can be a little tough to get to bed before the Lobby Bar closes at midnight, but you cannot here the disco from your room. They also have other surprise performers that you watch from your window of your room. There is also a large bar in town called Senor Frogs, we did not go but a lot of people said it was cool. There is a $10 cover charge, but you get a couple free drinks. It's only a 5 minute taxi ride.

Staff: The staff was so so friendly! They worked so hard to help you in every way. Many remembered us and said hello every time they passed. They will hold open your door, light your cigarette for you, basically everything you can imagine. They come around and actually make sure you are satisified with your room and ask if there is anything they can do.

Beach: The beach wasn't the best, but I enjoyed it. They have plenty of chairs for you to sit in with lots of umbrellas. It's kind of fishy smelling some days and the water is sandy so you cannot see the bottom. There aren' t too many people swimming so you always have plenty of space. Even though it's public, it's really only people from our hotel, since not much is around. There are lifeguards on duty and the waitstaff from the hotel comes to serve you on the beach as well. The hotel lends you free boogie boards, kayaks, and more. There are a lot of vendors that try to sell you things, it gets a little annoying. They also have parasailing, jet skiing, sailing, and hair braiding. Overall I thought it served it's purpose.

Ixtapa Island: You definately must go! It's only $3 per person roundtrip. You have to buy food and drinks and they kind of pressure you to do so, but you can get away with only a beer or two. Why drink there when you get free drinks at your hotel?! The beach is nicer, the water is clear. There is one side for snorkeling, one for swimming. There are really pretty rock formations, a coral reef, and much more. It's really beautiful!!

Activities Non-Hotel Related: We went horseback riding in the mountains, we booked it through the hotel. It was awesome, and worth the money. My little brother was afraid of horses, but they made him feel really comfortable and he ended up LOVING it. We went small game fishing, which was fun but a little long. They have zip line tours, and snorkeling. Booking through the hotel is safe and easy, they have help desks all over the place. We did go fishing through some guy on the beach and it turned out to be fine. We even brought our fish to Ixtapa Island to have a cookout after we were finished.

Weather: We went from March 14-21 and it was sunny and high eighties-low nineties every day!!!!! It was just gorgeous, couldn't ask for better weather.

Overall: I would recomend this hotel to anyone. It is well-priced, very big, with plenty to do. I read a lot of reviews before I went and I admit I was a little afraid. I disagreed with a lot of the complaints that I read. The beds were not hard, the air conditioners would turn off and on, but if you keep it as cool as it goes, your room will be very comfortable, perhaps a little too cold at times. There are a lot of stairs outside, but you'll need to burn some calories after all of the buffets you go to. Stop worrying and reading all of these reviews, just book the flight and pack your bags, I promise you won't be disappointed.

My husband, 2 kids (ages 18 months and 3 years), and I just returned from a week-long stay at the Melia Azul Ixtapa.
We have stayed at other all-inclusive resort chains in Mexico and the Caribbean such as Riu and Iberostar, and the Melia Azul was on par with those places. Our first impression of the hotel was that none of the pictures on this or any other websites do it justice.
We arrived on the Friday before Good Friday and commented on how few people there were and how easy it was to get a beach/pool chair. It stayed that way for 3 days, and then the resort was super busy with people reserving beach chairs at 6:30 in the morning. The hotel staff was excellent though. If you asked for a chair or umbrella, no matter what time of day, they found one for you.
ROOM: We stayed in a standard room with an ocean view. It was room number 1918 which was in the middle building, on the highest floor, and right by the elevator -- very convenient with kids and a stroller. The room was extremely quiet; not once did we hear noise from outside the room. We did not have a balcony, and when we inquired about it, we were told that we could get one for an additional $25 a night. We decided to keep our original room. Housekeeping did an excellent job. We left a tip each day and had wonderful animals made out of towels and flowers left behind. Don't forget to tip!!!!
POOLS: There are 2 large pools and a water park pool for kids. There are plenty of lifeguards. In fact, I was surprised how many there were. And they handed out floaties/water wings for the kids to use. The water park has 5 slides and is monitored closely by the lifeguards. My 3 year old was able to use all of the slides independently. We were able to get seats by the pool each day with an umbrella to block the sun. The kids even took naps on the beach chairs with no problems.
BEACH: From the reviews I read, I expected to find a big mud hole, but that is far from the truth. The sand is dark with flecks of gold in it. It is hard-packed which I now prefer because it was super-easy for the kids to walk on and they loved digging and making sandcastles there. The beach feels secluded as there are only 2 hotels in sight. You also have a great view of Isla Ixtapa.
FOOD/RESTAURANTS: The Oyster Bar was my favorite restaurant. We had a 6:00 reservation, so we got to watch the sun set over the island. The food and service were great too. Actually the service was excellent at all of the restaurants. Food was okay at the buffets -- nothing extraordinary. One other thing that was different for me was that there was not a lunch buffet at noon. They had a snack bar with very American food (hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, nachos), but I guess lunch at noon is an American custom and we were in Mexico!
ENTERTAINMENT: There were so many things to do. We tried the water aerobics, pool games, and water polo. The kids loved the mini-disco at night. We saw a couple of shows, which were great, but again, the kids fell asleep too early! We went to the playground once, but we never used the kids club for day care.
LOCATION: Melia Azul was not close to shopping or restaurants of Ixtapa, but the bus is easy to use and inexpensive. It is 7 pesos (70 cents) per person and they usually didn't charge us for our 18 month old daughter. We took the bus to Ixtapa once and Zihuatenejo twice. Everywhere we went was stroller friendly.
MONEY: I was worried about using dollars vs. pesos, but they will accept your dollars. You just get a better deal if you use pesos and there is an ATM at the hotel.
This is a great place for families. We loved the convenience of the all-inclusive Melia Azul, while still being able to experience a little less commercial Mexico in Zihuatenejo.

We just came back from the Melia Azul and were quite happy with it. We paid 3400 taxes in for 3 people and knew going we were'nt staying at a Palace. We've been away a lot so do have some places to compare to.

The food was good but the buffet was repetitious (I know buffets usually are but this one is more so). To be fair at the Oriental they had someone to cook up fresh tapanyaki (sp) and at the Italian they would cook up fresh pasta of your choice. The two are joined so we often started in one and finished in the other. The two a la cartes were both good. Someone mentioned the saltiness and I noticed it too but I didn't find it overpowering and no one else in my party mentioned it.

Rooms all have oceanview. We had 1507and 1508 in the main tower and they had massive balconies. We'd asked to be higher up but the rooms were being painted. It took a couple of days but we did get these two which adjoined (which we'd asked for) as we had a single friend with us. Tanya from Nolitours was great in clarifying what we wanted. Any room requests, print off your emails.

We never had any problems with the staff or our rooms being cleaned. If we wanted anything we'd call down and within 5 minutes our request was met and then they'd call back to make sure we'd gotten it.

The beds are very hard!! We called down and got extra mattress covers which helped a bit. I don't know if in the newer towers its the same problem.

Everything is very central and as we usually go to the Mayan side this was a plus here, but it is kind of annoying that you have to walk around all the pools to get to the beach. But whatever, you need to walk a bit anyway yes? This is the first place I've been to which really gave us beach drink service, and frequently throughout the day. They'll put your chairs and umbrellas wherever you want. The beach isn't white here but there was no humidity either which was a plus.

We found the shows pretty good considering and a few are definately targetted at a younger audience. This is a great place for kids.

Ixtapa island: A great photo op from the hotel but we wouldn't go back. The current was too strong to snorkel in and they'll charge you for chairs without telling you until you leave. But there is a great little market by the pier. A 5 minute walk from the hotel and the crocodile habitat was also nice to have nearby.

There have been a lot of comments made about the Mexicans. Hello this is Mexico. We always heard the entertainment announcements in Englsh, Spanish and even French. We had no problems with any of the kids behaviour although the occasional Canadian or American kid would have a meltdown. They're kids and they're not mine so no trouble for me.

All in all for the right price I'd go back, but hopefully with newer mattresses... I can't imagine anyone would have any questions after that meandering review but I will put a forum comment in if anyone's interested.

Well it started off OK.....then Saturday the Mexican holiday season started (Now that I know I will never go to Mexico the last two weeks in March - crazy busy) and the Hotel was stretched far beyond what it could handle.

Also Never book your deep sea fishng with Bennie Guzman located in Zihuatanejo Even his fellow fisherman friends called him a liar. I suggest book via your tour co or hotel even if it costs you a bit more. Make sure you see the boat too.

I read the reviews on here before I decided on the Melia. You can make your own decision:

The Pros:

- The waterpark
- Nice pool
-Ocean view rooms
-lots of life gaurds around the pool
-night shows

Cons:

-Getting to the pool, retaurants, beach is a bit of an adventure - you have to switch elevators after a walk down a hallway or change to stairs - not easy with a stroller or wheel chair
-For an "all inclusive" the Food options are controlled and not made known, if we didn;t see someone eating ice cream on the 3rd day we would never have known, it was available, as it is not posted anywhere or on menus, several hidden items
-If you are not Spanish speaking it is difficult for your kids to particpate and win a prize and you are always 2nd.
-Kids clud and games was mostly in Spanish so my 5 year old who is very well spoken felt left out as she said she can't understand the the games as they were explained in Spanish so she went once and never wanted to go back.
-The food was always the same
-Only 2 a la carte restaurants were open until Saturday when the Mexican Holiday season started, All of a sudden all the restaurants opened
-The food is not good at all which was a surprise from the reviews in here - Very Very salty - Cozumel Iberostar has had the best food in Mexico out of 5 different places I have been too in Mexico
-Had to call for my room to be cleaned everyday or it would never have been
-Never had turn down service
-Never had clean towels delivered to the room in the evening, had to call ever night
-Always ran out of beach towels
-Never had enough poolside seats
-No clocks anywhere except front desk, not even in your room
-My bed sheets weren't changed
-The room was extremely dusty. Dust bunnies on the floor everywhere
-Wiffs of sewage smell around the pool
-Some sort of run off of used water drains over a concrete ally by the side of the hotel over the beach directky into the ocean

Could go on but this was my experience and observations