Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa

2 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from a superb two weeks stay at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa. I will keep this short, it was the best value for money I have ever found. From booking in at Manchester it all went brilliantly. Flights were on time both ways. Lots of food and drink on planes. Extra leg room in Premium seating at no extra cost. Pick up at Cancun was faultless. When we arrived at Sandos, the whole coach gasped, and we could hear WOW up and down the coach. It was a good start to an absolutely brilliant stay. Can not fault anything about it. The Standard Rooms are spacious, with double beds masquerading as singles. Rooms and room service was faultless. Air conditioning was controllable easily and worked wonderfully. Nothing was too much trouble for maid looking after our room. Also liked the fact that she constantly had a Security guard with her when around rooms. For her and our safety I presumed.
The entertainment team deserve a medal they were constantly dancing and encouragaing people to get up and have a dance, whether it be in the dance area, or the pool. Superb Team, well done for finding them all.
The food was just out of this world. Everything you can imagine and more. Always fresh and the displays of food were worthy of a picture, and believe you me the Ice Sculptures are in our Album. The effort the staff went to every night to change the look of the Laguna Buffet was very impressive.
I can add that we were not disturbed by the building works that are taking place, and can't wait to go back again for a holiday. The Spa and Gym was very impressive and the staff that I met were professional and soo friendly. Actually, every member of staff that we met was happy and smiling and genuinely interested in us as visitors from England.
Anyone reading this review who is waiting to go on holiday to Sandos, relax, you will love Mexico's weather and you have picked probably the best place to stay. Enjoy your holiday, we all did.
Barry family.

3 readers found this review helpful

Superb is all I can say. Ate like a king all week ,never the same meals twice. A la carte restaurants are superb.If you like meat try the Brazilian or Argentinian restaurants. Italian is best for a salad based lunch each day,took a few trips off the beaten track with my family and came across: Koti, Racoon's,deer,iguanas a plenty,numerous wild birds,crabs,lizards etc too many to mention.Couple of tips:- save your souvenir shopping until you go of to Chitchen itza (if you go that is)as the locals charge a fraction of what things cost in the resorts. Having said that the hotel does have a nice little gift shop for the quick item you forgot to pick up. MAke sure that you swim in a Cenoté.Xel Ha is amazing also.
Watch out that you stay out of the midday sunn , it is ferocious. 10 out of 10 Sandos , will make the 11 hr flight back any time I can.
Love you Meredith XXX

3 readers found this review helpful

Myself, husband,and 2 duaghters aged 10 and 18 stayed in this hotel last summer and loved it so much we have just booked again for this year, this time taking my Mother.
What can I say,except we just had the most brilliant time.
My youngest daughter loved the pools and aqua park. We could always get sunbeds wherever we chose to settle for the day. mind you there was some building work going on so some rooms were empty. think the work should be finished now but was no problem to us in any case. some fussy people complained about it but I think that was just to see what they could get free.
rooms were large and clean, beds bit hard but slept like a log every night.
great choice of food and all restaurants had good selection of food. Service was amazing but it helps to have some dollars to give for tips which helps.
wild animals around complex were a great attraction for the kids, raccoons fed out out of your hands, very cute.
entertainment was typical holiday but good.
Dont pay for select rooms cos not worth it, you dont get much more for your money in my opinion.
Would definately recommend this place and cant wait to get back there.
Also would recommend a trip to Chichen Itza.

8 readers found this review helpful

I had an excellent holiday here having just returned after an 11 night stay. I travelled with my husband and 18 month old toddler. My first impressions of the hotel were poor as it took one hour to check into our room from the time we arrived. That is not good after an 11 hour flight so we were a bit cheesed off to begin with. Other than that, we really enjoyed ourselves and the hotel is set in fantastic surroundings which the hotel's website does not do it justice. The wildlife there is superb and the hotel has display signs dotted everywhere with descriptions of all of them. The racoons came out in groups every night and were very cute. The staff were very friendly and made us feel very welcome. Our room was great as it was very clean and well kept with a good shower (we were in block 42), although on a number of occasions the cleaning maid forgot to provide us with towels. The hotel complex felt like a little village with lots of places to explore, which were all pushchair and wheelchair friendly. The buffet restaurants were very good (we actually preferred these to the 'a la carte' restaurants which were always booked up and we only managed to get 9.15pm sittings. The food served in the buffets was much better!! The family swimming pool was excellent (nice and warm) and the beach was good too. The entertainment team were always hard at work and kept everyone entertained on the beach. I participated in the relaxation class which was just that, so I recommend that one. We didn't make it to the evening entertainment so I cannot comment on that, but they had a good line up each evening (shows started at 9.45pm). They had a kids club which looked brilliant from the outside, but unfortunately they only take children from 2 years old, so we could not make use of this facility. The El Nida bar (with swings) was brilliant for a quick snack and they also had an ice cream machine, so you could serve up your own "Mr Whippy" which was good fun. The best place for coffee (those into coffee) is Bar L'Elefant, serving great cortados, espressos and frappucinos. Well worth a visit. Two years ago, we visited the Sandals resort in the Bahamas and this hotel complex is so much better. Apart from a few gripes, we definitely recommend it and it is good value for money.

2 readers found this review helpful

The hotel clearly has expectations of providing a really unforgetable customer experience and it did, well nearly !!
The hotel staff are superb, extremely helpful in every area from the reception to the maid service, bar staff, gardening teams and the maintenance teams. Everything was done to help us at a pace that I still find hard to believe, it was awesome and much credit must be given to the hotel management team for this.
The hotel room was of a good standard, very clean. The free mini-bar was stocked every day. The air-con was a blessing after the humidity outside. The safe was a little temperamental - we had to get the code reset and the door card keys were unreliable and had to be changed several times albeit without any undue fuss. The TV reception was poor and the choice of stations limited, but hey who wants to watch TV on holiday anyway.
The eating facilities were good, always plenty of choice and no queues - the 24hr bar with its endless supply of burgers and hot-dogs was a delight to the children although I guess it did nothing for short term fitness levels.
Some people have complained about the smell and 'mozzies'. I didn't take any precautions although free mosquito repellant is available in many areas of the complex and never had a problem with mozzies. The smell was confined to the swamp areas on site but was not overpowering. To do something about this would seriously detract from the natural beauty of the place, the turtles, raccoons, monkeys etc would all disappear.
The only bug-bear for us was the major refurbishment work going on at the moment. THIS COMPLETELY SPOILED THE HOLIDAY FOR US. The whole of the beachfront area is currently like a war zone, large areas are fenced off for safety reasons and the noise levels are truly unbearable. Sitting on the beach or round the family pool is impossible at this moment.
This could be a problem for families with children aged between 11 and 18. They are too old for the Aqua park activity pool and too young for the adult pool (over 18's only). Fortunately my 15-year old is 6 foot 2 and passes quite easily for 18.
Once the work is finished the area will be fantastic but please check on the status of the work before you book.
In the medium term I would certainly recommend the place, particularly for golf-lovers once the new Nick Price course is completed.

just back 19/6/io good hotel excellent staff bad points mosquitoes their is a swamp area and tree branches grow up to the balcony's which are very small to phone home to britain was 6 doll a minute from your bedroom they do not have public phon they do have a swipe phone and you have to by a card from a machine witch did not work for 3 days we went to play/del/Carmen a got a card their but did not work at the hotel phone but could yous it from room witch cost 6doll to use the phone line their is a no smoking policy in the rooms but we still had a great holiday

2 readers found this review helpful

sandos caracol is the best hotel ever the food is very very good the chinese restaurant was our favourite, and the 24 hour snack bar which had everything burgers, hotdogs, chips, ice cream etc.
Our room was gorgeous we got upgraded to a jaccuzi suite for free, the room was massive and the maids done a display on our bed every day, our balcony hsd a jacuzzi on which was brilliant!!!!
The entertainment was really good they had shows like michael jackson etc which were really good and on our last night there they had a disco on the beach which didnt finish till 3 in the morning. The entertainment in the dsy was really good the entertainment team were brill they had you up doing games in the pool etc.
the main pool is big and has a swim up bar yhe only complaint was the pools were very cold. The spa was good the pool had sunbeds in and two jacuzzis.
we swam with dolhins which was amazing!!!!

12 readers found this review helpful

got back from sandos friday 01/01/2010 after spending two weeks there.there was 17 of us has my granddaughter chose this resort for her wedding,i have to say she couldnt have chosen better.everything about this place is amazing the food,the staff,the cleanliness,and the amenities,it was fantastic and i would definitly recommend it.the staff work hard and cannot do enough for you if you are looking for a dream holiday and resort this is the one.

9 readers found this review helpful

Beautilul beach, friendly staff , fantastic holiday!We were in Sandos Caracol Hotel with my 6 years old son and my husband in Nov., we spent there 2 weeks.The hotel has wonderful garden, and nice exotic birds, racoons , iguanas , my son was happy with them. We also were happy with the brilliant entertainment group, specially with charming Suzzy.And also with good food and drinks in the restaurants.The main buffet was excellent, it had lots of choices.We also tried a la cart restaurants,our favorite were oriental and steak house, but in the mediterran had good fish and brazilien had delicious salads and desserts.
The staff people are really friendly and helpful, most of them are smiling a lot.Our room were nice and cleaned every day, the cleaning women made fantastic " towell sculptures".
We have met mosquitos only in the evenings and basicly next to the beach and not around the room.
We went to the charming town Playa del Carmen, where we could shopping and walking.We also went to the fantastic maya town Chitzen Itza by tourist group.During the way we could swim in the unique yucatan cenote, and we had a short stop in colonial spanish town Valladolid.
Later we went to another historic maya town Tulum. Swiming in the unbeliveble blue see under the Maya piramid was unforgettable!
If you want good, well organized and not expensive hotel , beautiful beach, wonderful relax time and strong cultural experiencies, you must go to Yucatan and Sandos Caracol!
We would like to go back if we can!

3 readers found this review helpful

sickness bug from the pool child cut finger then foot 1 member of staff very rude !!!!!!!!!!!!!! never go back