El Dorado Royale & Spa Hotel

We stayed at the EDR for ten wonderful and glorious days. It was just beautiful. The rooms were nothing but the best they were clean and the jacuzzi fit two people very very comfortably. They had marble floors through out. And for an added touch our cleaning lady Virginia made us a display of towel animals and flowers everyday when she cleaned our room. The resort was quiet and had wide open spaces. The resort was full but you would never know it, there was enough space and beach that if you wanted to be alone you could be. But if you wanted to hang out with a group of people you could do that too. From the moment we stepped onto the resort the staff was nothing but nice. Anything you wanted or anything they could do for you they would and did. The food was awsome and the variety of things they prepare was outstanding. La Isla (the casual dinning restaraunt) was great. Romero our waiter and the rest of the staff gave us nothing but the best service. If you glass was half empty they were there to fill it. IF you were still hungry they would bring you more. The best thing was the breakfast buffet at the beach snack bar. Everything was cooked from scratch and all of it was hot and oh soooo good. The mexican restaraunt was also excellent they make a black bean soup that is just awsome along with all of the other things. The steak house was great and everything we ate at all the places was nothing but the best and the wait staff was friendly courtious and always there to bring you another drink. Now lets talk about drinks. They make some of the best drinks at the EDR. they spare nothing when it comes to the alchohol. I personally recommend a drink called the Seven Blocks. After about 8 of those i know why they called Seven blocks, thats about as far as i could have walked if i wasn't in the pool. Antonio our bartender always had one waiting for you when the first one was half empty. The EDR was a wonderful experience for myself and my girlfriend. IT was a relaxing, quiet, and calming place. The resort if you wanted to. We did the jungle walk where they take you on a tour of the grounds and that was cool. They have nightly shows with different themes and they are great lots of laughs and lots of fun. The sand on the beach was wonderful and they had umbreallas(or pallapas as they were called) that you could hide out under if the sun got to intence. The water was beautiful and yes they had huge sand bags in the water to act as breaks for the waves but hey who cares. would recommend some water shoes some spots in the water are rocky but once your out a little ways its all sand. We had the best time at the EDR and would go back again and again. Everything was perfect from the room to the food and drinks to the total setting of the resort. We went to cancun for a day and i would never stay there but it was fun to go shopping and haggle with everyone. We were also a little leary about the so so reviews we read on here but after being there, if you didnt like this resort than there must have been something wrong with you . We will definitly go back again and again. Who couldnt like a place that has more than one swim up bar. It was a beautiful place, filled with wonderful staff and a view that was just spectacular. We would recommed that you go on the day tour to Xe-Ha for snorkling it was gorgeous there too. and all the food and drinks you could want. Thanks again to everyone that made our vaction one to remember and we willl definitly be returning to the EDR.

We just rteturned from a week at the El Dorado Royale and had a great time. I was nervous about going after reading the reviews that were posted in 2002 but after a recomdation from our travel agent we committed to the trip. Our room was a junior suite and we were quite happy with it. The kingsized bed was firm and the jacuzzi in perfect working order. The bathroom was sapcious and with a large walk in marble shower that was good, it just lacked water pressure like every other hotel or resort I have ever stayed at in Mexico does. The staff were kind, attentive and very proffesional. A few well placed tips went a long way. We mainly tipped our servers at the specialty restaurants and a few of the bar tenders. The food was good to almost very good. The specialty restaurants were the best with the Japanese and Steak house being the best. The Mexican was not very good in my opinion and the Italian served solid, meaning good, American style Italian food. The Wednesday evening Mexican buffet was great. The alcohol selection could have been a little better. They had a few premium brands, which you had to request, and no top shelf brands. The lay out of the resort allowed guests to either mix in and socialize or if you prefered privacy and did not want to have human contact it was easy to slip away to isolated palapa or one of the swimming pools with out a bar and have some quality alone time. The Spa services were good, I had a full body massage which was very relaxing and my girlfriend got a manicure which she was very happy with. This was a graet resort and a great time.

We stayed at EDR from May 25 - June 1 for our honeymoon. I chose the EDR because it sounded like the perfect honeymoon spot to relax, stay in the "Casitas" and be pampered.....I was a little nervous after reading so many so-so reviews but it definitely exceeded my expectations. I found the reviews on this site informative so I thought I'd return the favour minus the personal opinions....I'll stick to the facts.I wasn't feeling well when we arrived at the resort and although our room wasn't ready they gave us another room in the meantime so I could lay down. They were very accomodating. Raymundo, our Casita Concierge, with whom we made all our dinner reservations etc., was very helpful. The Casita suite was everything we hoped it would be. It's huge with a great ocean view! (* You can borrow DVDs if you are staying in the Casitas!) Our mini bar was topped up everyday and we made good use of the jacuzzi and room service. People who complain about the food forget that they're in Mexico. Yes the cheese and milk may taste a little different but you're not in US/Canada anymore. We thought the food was awesome and a wide variety. Beautiful presentations. We ate at the Mexican (very good), Oriental (excellent), La Isla (excellent) (menu changes), and the Beach Bar (which we favoured for the awesome breakfast buffet and lunch (real tortilla chips with guac and salsa..mmmm....) We tipped sometimes and not others and it really didn't seem to affect the service. The service was NOT slow and very friendly. We recommend taking the Chichen Itza day trip. And we also took the shuttel to Playa. (Make sure you meet back at the bus with time to spare, it left some people behind!) Although they may act a little insulted, bargaining is expected and is a fun challenge.We both had a 30 min. massage together outside (very good!) - - 30 USBut probably my most favourite thing was the cabana on the beach. There's only three on the resort (casita end). Cushioned with pillows, draped curtains, the pool and swim up bar 1ou. That was the life!!Ask Pedro at the Perrigos Bar for his banana special....yummmmmm....What really amazed us was how uncrowded the resort seemed. Never trouble to get a table in the restaurants, there might be one other couple with you in the pool and you could walk to breakfast without passing anyone. It made it such an enjoyable experience to feel you had plenty of space to yourself.To address complaints in previous reviews: Room was very clean. No bugs. Yes, there is a sewer smell in sections after it rained but didn't bother us. Yes, the breakers in the ocean look like humpback whales, but we spent most of our time in the pools and the snorkelling was good right of the resort. ** bring water shoes if you want to go in the ocean Didn't get sick from the food/water at all.Overall, definitely a five star!!! We would definitely go back.

DON'T BELIEVE ANY OF THE BAD REVIEWS YOU READ!!!!!!!!!!! We stayed at the El Dorado Royale from May 25th-30th and had a wonderful time. The food, activities, pools, drinks, rooms, and beach are great. The service was also wonderful. People went out of their way to please you and they did! Please spend at least 5 nights there if you can. The prices were reasonable and I would advise anyone to go there!

My Girlfriend and I just spent a week at the EDR, (12-19 May) and we couldn't be happier with the experience! The room was lovely and cooled off by the mother of all air-conditioners. The service was friendly and complete. The food was great. The grounds were immaculate and inviting, and the salt-water pool was worth the price of admission! It was a quiet, relaxing get-away for grown-ups. If you want to vacation in a shopping mall atmosphere....try the moon palace or one of the larger resorts. If you want to spend some quality time with the sun, be pampered, and get to know your travelling companions, the EDR is the place for you. I can't imagine what type of person you have to be to complain about a resort like this one....but if your glass is half full, and you're not a spoiled snob, then you will love this place!

Unbelievable vacation! We were very wary after all the trip reports we had read. From the moment we arrived on property to the moment we left, everything was wonderful! We arrived May 9th, immediately taken to our casita (words cannot describe) by golf cart and introduced to our "casita concierge" who handled every possible want and need. No problem with dinner reservations as we had read, Raymundo handled this for us, including scheduling our dinner on the beach in honor of our 15th anniversary. We were staying 4 nights and only left the property once. It was truly a restful getaway for parents of 3 children under 10. I guess if I had to pick one thing negative to say it would just be that the food was so/so. Actually, we only had the Asian (Kampai) and Mexican (La Carreta. Both of these were just okay or less. The dinner on the beach was excellent, very American menu, prime rib.... And the steak restaurant was also very good! Room service menu was lacking except for breakfast. We would put our room service menu out at night for breakfast and have breakfast on our porch every morning, it was wonderful! We also enjoyed the live band in the Guacamayas bar at night, the lady singing had a beautiful voice not to mention the swings! The 2 shows we saw while there were also just okay, they seemed to be the same show 2 different nights with 2 different show titles, International show and Caribbean show???? Both shows were the same dancers in different costumes. Our casitas are at one end of the property and the "nightlife" is at the extreme other end. The beach is all yours at night, very beautiful and very private down by the casitas. My husband paid FunJet for a snorkel trip one afternoon and said it was good but had just as good or better snorkeling right on property. I had a 50 minute massage that afternoon that was "wonderful" by Vicki in the spa. The day we left the property, we caught a cab into Playa to shop and decided to ferry over to Cozumel. This was a 50 minuteme we would definitely skip this as Cozumel was very uneventful. We came back after a quick American lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. Shopping in Playa was fun, especially the bargaining with each vendor. We did notice on the last day of our stay, vendors came to the resort and set up for the day to sell many of the same items we had seen in Playa and were just as willing to bargain. We also painted a vase at the main pool as a souvenier, it was $15 and the man would help/teach you and then touch it up and fire it to have ready the next day. As I said before, with a Casita Suite, you have Raymundo at your beck and call, I can't imagine not having a Casita Suite. We would go back in a second if we could!!! Don't listen to all the complainers, they obviously don't get out much!!!

Contrary to one review i saw here, we had a wonderful time. The food and drink were 5 star. The facility and grounds were impecable.we also visited the spa numerous times during the week and it was spotless and the services were world class.We visited in march 03, spring break. i would visit again, enjoy!!! Tom

This was our first time at an all-inclusive and our first visit to the Cancun/PDC area (previously visited Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan). The El Dorado was very nice and yes we would visit again. The staff was superb and the food was excellent. A few tips to hopefully make your stay more enjoyable -- You can make dinner reservations 2 days in advance. We heard reservations for the steak house were hard to come by, since we live in the Midwest and can get a good steak anytime we had no desire to eat at the steak house. We found the Oriental and Italian restaurants very good. It was not our honeymoon, but we did pay extra to have a candlelight dinner on the beach. Since it's included in the honeymoon package definitely worth it, not sure it was worth the extra $50, but it was a nice romantic evening. The Mexican Fiesta on Wednesday night was very good. Try to get a table near the entrance (away from the pool) as this will give you the best view of the performers. I e-mailed the resort the week before our arrival and was able to get dinner reservations for our first night and then followed normal protocol for dinner reservations. Ingrid, dinner reservation lady, was very helpful. The resort does provide a shuttle in to Cancun (M, T, Th and Sat) which departs at 12:00 noon and leaves Cancun at 5:00, arriving back at the resort around 5:45 pm. They also have a shuttle that goes in to PDC that leaves at 6:00 pm and departs PDC at 10:00 arriving back at the resort around 10:30. that shuttle runs on Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri and Sun. You do need to make shuttle reservations the day before, otherwise you are on standby. Dinner reservations and the shuttle do require a little advanced planning. There are plenty of daily activities, all coordinated by "sexy Fernando." If you don't want to do anything you can just lounge by one of the 8 pools (one salt, the rest fresh water) or on the beach. We did tip a little ($1 here or there), but didn't notice it affecting service to those who did not tip. Again, the andro was our favorite waiter at La Isla, Hugo and Rosalio from Fun Jet were very informative and Florencia, our maid, made beautiful displays for our room. Hope this information helps and that you have a great time at El Dorado Royale, we did.

We recently spent some time travelling in the Yucatan Peninsula, and we spent 3 days at the El Dorado Royale Resort. The food made my girlfriend sick, the activities staff were completely unhelpful, and the waiters and bar staff were rude, and unhelpful. It was the most expensive part of our trip, and it was the least enjoyable of all.

For a first time traveler to Mexico,this trip was wonderful,although we had some problems that could have ruined it. The path we took was through Miami,which I would not do again;take a direct flight instead! We booked through Funjet,which is Lomas in Mexico,and they do an excellent job.The airport in Cancun was a mess,of course,but if you stay with only the Lomas guy you'll be good. The main thing to remember is that a buck is a big tip in Mexico;use it liberally,and stick with greenbacks,anyone will take them!Although our trip was all-inclusive,a buck here and there did wonders,especially with taxis,waiters,and room services. The El Dorado r&s is about an hour and a half from Cancun,and the trip is fast and interesting.It doesn't look as fancy in front as some of the other ones,but that's because the resort is set way back from the road.It is truly beautiful,well laid out,but requires a lot of walking,which can be enjoyable if you're in fair shape,not if you're a wreck.The rooms are really nice,roomy,and cool.Our first room had a problem in that it would not lock,and it took a few hours before we were finally upgraded to a jacuzzi suite,thanks to the Lomas guy.In retrospect,the jacuzzi suite is the way to go,especially if it's out on the balcony as ours was,in view of the beach and surf,on the second floor. There is a reef in front of the resort,which limits swimming,but not a lot. The reef was a disappointment,but that's because we were used to snorkeling in the Bahamas,and that was living color compared to Mexico's B&W.(More another day)