El Dorado Royale & Spa Hotel

4 readers found this review helpful

Great complex ,fantastic staff, good food and drink.

only problem was the room this was not 5 star, they it needed upgrading various problems I complained and they made an effort to sort it out but failed. We changed rooms in to another block of rooms that was newer and the decor etc was a good standard.
I would definetly go back but make sure we was in the better rooms ,if you have the spare cash stay in the adjoing hotel the Casitas it his mint.

4 readers found this review helpful

My wife and i went to this hotel on sep 23rd 2010 from the very moment you walk into the lobby you are greated with a glass of chilled champayne and are treated like royalty the rooms are nothing more than perfect we had a swim up room with a spa the resturants are second to none the food 1st class and the staff are a credit to the hotel they could not do enough for us smiling all the time helpful and in my opinion the best hotel ive ever been to and we have been all over the world on holiday we will be coming back as soon as time will let us and i just know we will be treated just the same like royalty.

32 readers found this review helpful

We spent a week at the El Dorado Royale at the end of Mar, beginning of April 2009. After a 10 hour flight and a ridiculous carry on at the airport with the slowest baggage carousels on the planet we were happy to arrive at the El Dorado Royale. We were greeted with a cold glass of champagne in reception on arrival and our bags were immediately taken by the concierge while we checked in. Check in took all of 5 minutes and we were givena map of the resort, a guide to the activities that week and a list of te restaurants. We were then immediately greeted by our concierge who took us on a golf cart with our bags for a guided tour of the main resort before dropping us at our room, carrying our bags up and showing us how things worked.
Our room was a jnr garden view suite. Yes I have stayed in plusher but I had no complaints. It was meant to be authentic and had a rustic charm to it. The bed was a huge four poster and a jacuzzi bath in the room was a nice feature. The bathroom was large with a big walk in shower and there was plenty of wardrobe storage. The mini bar is restocked daily with 4 cans of beer, and a few bottles of water and cans of soft drinks. The maid service is very good, if you don't want to be disturbed just hang the sign. They left us some lovely towel art a couple of nights too. The hammock on the balcony is a lovely touch and became a nightly chill out place before heading out for dinner. Not a graceful look getting in or out but still fun!
The resort itself has beautiful gardens from the minute you walk out of main reception you are greeted with colour and lovely water channels and fountains. Our room overlooked this and it was lovely.
The food on the resort is of a high standard. You can choose from Italian, International (Cocotel), Oriental (Kampai), Fondue at La Fondue, Mexican (Fuentes), Carribean (Jo Jo's) and then a lovely open air restaurant too which was right opposite our room and overlooking one of the main pools. There's something for everyone, including 24hr room service. We only had to wait twice for a table and were given a pager. Once was 30 mins at the oriental (very popular) we just had a drink at the bar and headed across when our pager went, and then once for 10 minutes at Jo Jo's, again we just had a drink at the bar. You're on holiday, there's no rush, relax and enjoy. During the day you can choose from a range of places to eat from Jo Jo's on the beach to the pizzeria inbetween the main pool and the beach, there's also a health bar and a mexican, as well as a great guy who serves tacos from a stand.
All the pools have swim up bars and Alex at Tucanes makes the most amazing cocktails and always provides service with a smile. getting a sunbed does involve getting up early. The canopy beds around the main pools are always snapped up very early but we always got a standard sunbed at Tucanes if we got down before 9am. We didn't actually spend much time on the beach. It was quite windy while we were there and hubby not a fan of the sand. However we did go out jet skiing (very expensive). Yes there are sand bags, but they are there to protect and rebuild after the hurricane so just look past them and they're not that bad.
The main bars on a night are all good. The Martini Bar is lovely although air conditioned and a little cold, we preferred to sit in the open air, so we headed to the beach bar and then to Guacamaya where the main entertainment takes place. There's something every night and live music from around 9-9.30 until 2am.
We did take a dolphin trip booked through First Choice to Xcaret but after speaking to other people we believe we payed a little over the odds for this so I suggest shopping around before signing up to tours. There's lots to do on the resort from cocktail making, towel art, ceramics painting, spanish lessons, salsa dancing, water polo, volleyball, kayak racing and much much more, so if you want to get involved there's lots of options, if you want to kick back and relax you can do so too.
The El Dorado Royale resort is beautiful, weather gorgeous, food great and staff always gave service with a smile and you were always greeted with an "ola" in passing, it all makes for a lovely holiday experience. I would recommend this resort to anyone and would certainly go back.

10 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from a 10 day holiday at the El Dorado Royale. The food was fantastic, service amazing and the cleanliness of the resort is 100%. We stayed in an ocean view room overlooking the main pool. The room was slightly dated and possibly needed a revamp, but I cannot fault the room features (double jacuzzi, hammock, large bed) or anything else about the resort. Yes, they do use golf buggies at night and some do drive around without lights, but they all stop and say hello and in my book their people skills/customer skills were A1.
There are huge sand bags which have been deposite in the sea to stop the beach being eroded further, they look unsightly and you can only go in as far as waist deep into the sea. However, the fish are brilliant and the water is at bath temperature.
the hotel is about 25ks away from any other town, so you have to go everywhere by coach, or stay within the resort. Cancun is aweful, but Playa del Carmen has atmosphere. we swam with dolphins (a must).
If you are wondering about booking this resort, do it, you won't be disappointed, unless of course you are always disappointed with hotels!!!

3 readers found this review helpful

Four of us stayed at the El Dorado Royale from 12.25.08 to 1.1.09.
Overall impression: A large middle-market property, lots of tattoos on women and pony-tailed men my age, beer pong at the pool, huge waistlines, guests are bobbing and weaving before noon. The topless scene at the beach gives the place that Euro flare; the bottomless dude is pushing the boundaries...
Rooms: Okay. Our "upgraded" rooms - on something called the Lazy River - are at the far end of the resort, but they're quiet and we're enjoying the walks to restaurants, the beach. We can hear the ocean. No internet access. Get to the bell desk at the entrance very early to get a copy of the Miami Herald. Water hammer is a problem I haven't encountered in years. A slow-to-drain sink calls to mind the Motel 6 we stay at when visiting my wife's kin in Kentucky. At the other end of the resort - literally and figuratively - are the Casitas. These certainly look more upscale, but guests there use the same eateries as us riff raff. We can move for a few extra bucks a day, but why on earth would we give these banditos any more money?
Food: Fortunately, I need to lose a few pounds and it won't be hard to do here. This place fancies itself as a gourmet dining destination, but what was conceived in the executive chef's kitchen has to be completely different from what's presented tableside.
--Small portions of poorly-prepared, tasteless food: Friday night's salmon (an ordering error to begin with) went back to the kitchen and replaced with an edible shrimp dish.
--Tuesday night's deck-of-cards sized steak drizzled with a white chocolate mole: my wife and I played half the deck and folded.
--A ceasar salad at beachside Jo-Jo's was a laughable attempt at minimalist deconstructionism: someone's been watching The Food Channel.
--The Health Bar makes a mean smoothie, but a decent cup of decaf is near impossible to find.
--The pan-Asian Kampai is a Panda Express with linens and booze, but at least we got enough to eat.
--We've discovered that room service breakfasts are an okay alternative.
--My recommendation: 1-800-GORDAN-RAMSEY. It'd make a great episode!
Service: Fair to poor with a notable exception or two. This is a big 600-room place with lots of guests at a busy time of year and the staff deals with it like that. The charming hospitality and well-trained staff we enjoyed at the Royal Hideaway are absent. The litmus test: it's been difficult to find staff worthy of a tip. My efforts to speak to the property manager about the Christmas Day Flood in room 5202 - an inch of water throughout the suite - were blocked repeatedly; it wasn't until I went to the front desk and insisted that I would wait indefinitely did he show up. Alejandro Lopez turned out to be a decent fellow and gave me the apology I was strangely obsessed with obtaining. Mauricio and Alex - our waiter and wine steward at Friday night's dinner - were personable and helpful, particularly Alex, a French-Canadian with an impressive knowledge of the resort's mostly overpriced wine list. "For New Year's Eve, we're offering a 10% discount on $900 bottles of Cristal." Yes, really.
Amenities: Gym: too many out-of-service signs - lots of use and not much maintenance; the place is dirty. Did I mention towel cards - shades of Club Med! The amigo who restocks the fridge doesn't take "no" for an answer - bounding in to carry out his duties while my wife's in bed saying "Not now" and I'm out. I was able to stop the insecticide guy from spraying our rooms, only because we were in them when they began. The girls love the beach and not the Las Vegas-wannabe pool scene.
Property: The landscaping is lovely and well tended. Not a single complaint about the perfect weather, but the beach is an eyesore as a result of hurricane damage.
Transportation: During the day, the resort staff transports themselves in golf carts that share the 6'-10' wide pedestrian paths. Guests quickly learn to walk on the edge of the walkway and to look carefully to the left and right before crossing. At night the carts run with no lights, which makes the sport even more entertaining.

11 readers found this review helpful

When we arrived after a 10 hour flight from England into a wonderful lobby/reception area. We were offered Champagne and eventually arrived at the front desk. We were asked for our details and these were checked on the system. We had booked an Ocean View room. We were told that they had an offer at the moment on a Casita room available for an additional $1400. We thought about this whilst the person was checking the computer. He then was informed by another member of staff that there were none available and that they had a Front Ocean View room available at an additional $850. Please bear in mind my opening line, we were very tired and all we wanted was some sleep. So we accepted the room. We were not offered site of the room we had booked at all. Ok, so the room had a front view of the ocean and was closer to the beach which was very nice. This did however bug me during the first week of our stay and I complained about the way this was done to the staff on several occasions, hard selling to people who are tired is unfair in my opinion. We were in room 4021 which was on the top floor of block 40. Directly behind us was a night club that was open until 0200hrs!!!!! Needless to say we were getting little sleep. So, we asked about moving further away. We were told that they had not had any other complaints about that room which was a lie! I found out later asking around. We eventually moved to an Ocean View room which was the room we had in fact booked! Room 4321 in block 43. This was perfectly adequate (apart from a rather nasty smell in the bathroom which they did try to reslove without success) and we could still see the ocean with a nice grassed area with swim ups and the main pool which I thought was a far more interesting view. And of course it was very quiet. We had a discount for the days left from the previous room which was more than acceptable. So BEWARE, make sure you stick to your guns and have the room you chose in the first place and upgrade later if you so wish. Don't accept block 40 else you will not sleep!!!
Another word of warning! Watch out for the notes pushed under the door from the Concierge. They offer various gifts for attending what they tell you is a 90 minute chat at the "Exotic". You are given the impression that this is securing rooms such as the Casita's or the Presidential Suites for future use with huge discounts. We didn't actually get sucked in but we were asked on several occasions to attend. We found out that this is "Time Share"!!!! One couple who we spoke to who had been "sucked in" spent 3 hours being grilled about this and were asked to commit to £29,000!!!!
Ok, enough of the moaning. The place is fantastic, the restaurants and food were wonderful. The service is exceptional throughout the complex. Adults only is also wonderful, we love kids to bits but it’s so nice to have the place so quiet apart from the club of course.
We also had to us the medical facility which was first class. The people that looked after my wife were excellent and very caring. She eventually had to go into Cancun to the hospital where she was treated by excellent staff and in no time at all we were back at the hotel $950 less but well worth it. Thank god we have insurance. We had several calls from the staff asking how my wife was which we thought was very nice indeed.
Watch out for the golf cars, they use these all over the resort as it’s so large. However, some of them are driven quite quickly, have no lights or horns/bells and so creep up on you at night. But they are so useful to get around the place. Take advantage of them to look around the resort.
The beach is lovely although rocky in places. They have also created sea defences consisting of large black sand bags which stretch along most of the beach. They didn’t affect our enjoyment of the sea at all as within them, nearest to the beach they created a sort of lagoon where you could enjoy the sea without the waves.
The wildlife is also good. We saw a Pelicans, Osprey, bats and the resident Iguana called “Tonita” although we think there were more than one looking at the holes under the pathways!

7 readers found this review helpful

A Fantastic Hotel!! If you want to be pampered from the minute you enter the resort this is the place to go. As soon as you enter the lobby you are welcomed with a glass of champagne (always on ice and included in the all inclusive). Having never been to an all inclusive we were pleasantly suprised. All food is prepared and cooked especially for you no buffets.
We went in a basic junior suite which was a spacious room fully equiped. The air conditioning worked a treat and kept the room lovely and fresh. The jacuzzi in the room was great and we found ourselves wishing that we had one at home. Our male maid kept our spotlessly clean and nothing was too much trouble.
All staff treated us with respect and nothing was too much trouble. Palm trees gardens and fountains souround you wherever you are the site is also adequately lighted at night.
This truly is an all inclusive a la carte hotel and the only things that we needed to spend money on were the spa treatments and trips. As the hotel included 2 free trips per week this also did not come to a lot.
The beach was great, fish swimming around your feet and waiters bringing you drinks to your sun bed. There was entertainment day and night although this was not intrusive if that is not your cup of tea. We went for 2 weeks and plan to go back next year.
However we did encounter major problems with Thomas Cook before and after our holiday and would not entertain travelling with this company again!!

3 readers found this review helpful

We would not recommend this hotel as there were concerns over security. The maid constantly left the balcony door open after cleaning and we had a souvenir item we had purchased go missing from the room. We reported this to security but there was nothing they could do.
The hotel was clean and the staff were friendly and helpful. The food choice was limited towards the end of the holiday though.

1 reader found this review helpful

Our first time to Mexico, had a great time the El Dorado Royal was the best hotel we have stayed in. The service is a little slow some times but always with a smile the food very good there are also priemum drinks in the bars even the swim up bars. The only down side with the hotel is the waiting for a dinner slot if you are not in a casita room and cannot book and the saving of sun beds at 5 am by 8am they have all gone so they need more sunbeds. The down side of the holiday and the rating of 8 is for the flights which we took with first choice priemum paying £568 extra and My husbands tray table was broken and he had to try to hold a tray and eat with 1 hand and all drinks on my table on the flight home the headphone were not working nor the call button both of wich were important as had the seat belt sign on for 2 hours. But had a great time when we got there and the hotel staff are great. Booking again next year as only time husbands realy relaxed.

14 readers found this review helpful

Okay, here’s a little insight into our experience at El Dorado Royale Casitas and getting there with Thomas Cook.
Anyway, firstly a little about our choices :
- We are a married, early 30s, European couple….
- Spent 2 weeks in a Swim up Casita between 30th Dec 2007 and 13th January
- Travelled from London Gatwick to Cancun coach with Thomas Cook
- Limo transfers with Lomas travel
Thomas cook
We had the Thomas cook lounge access at Gatwick, which was a waste of 100 pounds as you are given access to the cheaper/shabbier of the two Serviss Air lounges and for some stupid reason they allow kids in. Now I love the little bast…darlings, but God created executive lounges for the primary reason of avoiding them! Complimentary chloroform or at least Sellotape would have come in very useful here, but security checks meant a ban on liquids over 100ml and we would have needed a lot more than that….We didn’t last long before scrapping the idea and heading out for some shopping.....
There was very little difference between Thomas Cook cattle and Premium cattle classes, all equally cramped, all with the complementary screaming new born in each cabin, leg room was a problem for anyone over 5.6”, but we’re both short so were fine....
Cancun airport was fine even with 2 large 350 passenger UK flights and 5 US flights landing within the same hour, luggage took a while but hey it always does and I made the mistake of not putting my wife in the queue for customs which you have to go through after you collect luggage whilst I waited for the luggage. 2 hours later we were through...On the bright side, all the local airport staff were friendly, the airport very new and clean and the only idiots were some lippy Mancunians looking to pick a fight with security....hmmmm.
Can't comment on the Thomas cook rep as we didn't see him/her at any time (our choice) - this was the first package holiday we had done in 7 years and are fairly independent doing prior research and then booking locally.
Lomas Travel (Part owners of El Dorado)
Had a hot and cold experience with Lomas Travel. I can't fault their pre-sales both online and by phone, they were prompt and very friendly. The same was true of the dedicated rep based in the foyer of the hotel who we booked the Dolphin Experience with (Do the ROYAL TOUR EXPERIENCE - it is stunning! and book an early showing say 09:00am, we had a group of 4 people where as the same tour at midday was 14 peoplel!).
The let down was the airport transfer.
The limo transfer was arranged prior at a cost of 150USD as the thought of a 12 hour flight coupled with a 20 hotel drop off no doubt sat next to newborn triplets didn’t tickle my ivories. Anyhow the drivers with relevant placards wait outside the main terminal building and needless to say there are quite a few..... for future reference the guys from Lomas are dressed in turquoise (rather than blue) shirts and a white tie but they are better hidden than French traffic police with those radar guns waiting for the English heading down to Le Mans. The only difference is that the Gendarme jump out of the bushes and snap you with your trousers down, but at least making themselves known, where as Lomas Travel are obviously far better trained: exquisitely covert and have the art of hiding behind columns down to a tee...30 minutes of phoning the main office and watching the Thomas cook coaches steadily depart, the guy shows and pleads ignorance stating that he had been there all the time- “Where were you?” he asked, “Hmmm, well please forgive me Senior for wasting your time, my wife and I actually saw you hours ago, but wanted to play a game of hide and seek as we had so little fun on the flight and then….would you believe it, just as we were about to come over to you, I was distracted by those long lines of beautiful airport trolleys which I just had to go and count and take photos with … individually-such joy!”.
Anyway we were led to the long limo - suitcases in tow, 150 gets you a car but not a porter or assistance….it also doesn’t get you any water or soft drinks, we queried the driver, but he smiled and mentioned that of course there were no drinks, what a silly question to ask as I hid my head in shame! – The wine glasses were lovely to look at though, so who am I to grumble! 20 minutes later we were at the hotel…Best 150 dollars spent! Next time I have 150 bucks to suitably invest, I think I’ll buy some pink fluffy dice with Swarovski encrusted crystals to hang on my car dashboard…..
Check in
Okay this is where it gets good. We were met by a concierge as we stepped out of the car and taken by a Golf Cart to the independent Casita reception along with a Canadian couple. All sorted within 10 mins, 500USD card authorisation for spa and other charges like internet (which goes at 8USD per 30 mins, no wifi and only shared PCs). Porter brought the luggage direct to the room promptly and with a smile. I can not emphasise how friendly and helpful all the staff were with or without tipping.
Bars and alcohol
All the liquor is readily available and recognised brands, available 24 hours a day at all bars, but not room service.
Martini bar is horrendous, unless you like large sports screens or the smell of an Alcoholics Anonymous gathering treated to a “drink all you can” session at Hooters…It really did stink of people who were on the verge of alcohol poisoning…If you want to chill out and feel like you are in Mexico, try the bar at Jo-Jo’s which at least is open air and more relaxed…..
I have to say the free local sparkling wine really is not palatable – so don’t get your hopes up to it being even close to a Cremant or a Cava, because it’s not. I am in no way a wine connoisseur and we’re not ones to waste a bottle especially when it’s free, but the complementary bottle in the room remained unopened as we checked out… Still we continuously heard from the Americans that loved this “champagne”, so perhaps it was just my taste buds suffering from jetlag and food poisoning and Ebola all at once. …We picked up a few bottles of bubbly at Duty Free, chilled it for the day and took it to the restaurants….They do, however, have Moet for 250-300usd and Cristal for close to grand….Bargain! If you are the type who like to uses 50s as a replacement for toilet roll – makes London restaurants look simply cheap! As for the wine list, excl. the house wines, the cheapest red/white was 40USD with the average around 70USD. About average prices for a standard bottle in a good restaurant.
Restaurants and Food
Firstly those in Casitas, go to your concierge and pre-book your tables for a decent time…
All the restaurants were great (except Fuentes which was about as Mexican as the Queen is Jamaican), but this all comes down to the dish you choose for the day – luck of the draw really. Yes there is a dress code, thank god! For some reason people do behave themselves when they are dressed well and this made for some nice dinners in a pleasant atmosphere. Kampai and D’Italia are great for those having problems adjusting to the heat with solid air-conditioning which would make Frosty feel at home….For normal people, I would advise jumpers (sweaters)/long sleeve shirts for the gents and cardigans/pashminas for the ladies along with a request to be seated away from the A/C vents.
Do the candle light beach dinner! And ask the concierge if you want something special…We arranged for some Mariachi to come down from Cancun for the hour and they were outstanding…best 300USD spent to keep the lady happy…
Weddings
The hotel really made a huge effort to make the weddings extra special and have multiple locations for the ceremony and enough bars and areas to host a separate banquet. To those of you who got married (there must have been 10 couples): Congratulations, the brides were all beautiful and the grooms were very lucky. I hope the other guests didn’t disturb your magic day – It is just that some people didn’t realise you were getting married and felt that you were just a party to gatecrash and make as much noise as possible when around you….don’t you feel sorry for them, how were they to know - It was confusing for them, I mean the white dress, brides maids, crying mothers – this could have been a Star Wars convention or anything…
Ok so here’s the run down:
5* resort with 5* service with 4* food let down by SOME 2* clientele. Take the hint (and for once I’m not talking about my fellow Englishmen abroad - my memorable foreign policy friends from across the pond and your northern neighbours), I know you’re only there for a short time (it seems that most of the noisy groups were only there for between 3-5 days, but they were always promptly replaced by another group), but do you have to drink all day – I know it’s free (a novelty and you have to get your moneys worth!) and the bars opens from 10:00 and you have proven from the first daythat you can drink non stop from 10.00 am til 2.00am, but spare a thought for the couple on honeymoon or aching for some quiet time at this romantic resort ....
Disclaimer: We met some stunning people from all over the globe including Americans, Dutch, Canadians, Russians….. Luckily there were always a select group who represented their country with distinction!