El Dorado Royale by Karisma

Old resort, poor entertainment and immature drunk crowds. Nothing what You would expect from a 5 star resort, except for food and ala carte options. To sum it up the crowds were mostly young and loud. The Beach was poor, rooms were old, entertainment limited, service was ok and food was excellent. We stayed 03.01-12.01.2024 in the Junior Suite. LOCATION We didn't move from the resort. If You want to have a walk on the beach it is almost impossible because of the rocks. The security will also not allow you to leave the resort this way but they probably have good reasons. The place is big enough to walk inside the complex about 1.5 km on the pathway / driveway close to the beach ( El Dorado Royal, Casitas and Generations). It might seem like a small thing but running and walking around the place can be very stressful due to hotel vehicles “flying” on the pathways all day and night. You need to be constantly looking back almost like you are in traffic. BEACH AND POOLS Not a paradise beach. Rocks everywhere. As well as the big cement structures on the sea. It almost looks like a beach landing defence preparation. A lot of beds and sun chairs. As in most resorts you need to throw a towel or something in the morning if you are looking for some nice spots near the pool. Main pool was crowded and noisy but I'm sure that’s a plus for some. There are also 2 other pools with less noise and crowds We have travelled a fair bit but this was our first time in Mexico. Not sure if this is the norm or American drinking culture in this region but a lot of people were very drunk by mid morning! Can’t say we’ve experienced that in any resort before. Also note that technically if you are not staying in Casitas parts you cannot use their pools. NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT Not what we expected. We thought the entertainment will be top class but except for few events it was a disappointment. Check with a staff location because different shows are in different locations and the hotel app doesn’t specify it. Don't get us wrong. Some shows and singers were great but they played only about an hour, mostly starting at 8.30 - 9.30 pm, for us it was dinner time. Danna Kennedy or Tenores stole our hearts. Mariachi was a nice show, badly organized, nobody knew the location and there was chaos during the arrival. After the show there was sometimes “live dj” - music from speakers. I really love to dance during vacations but for the first time I wanted to leave and go to my room. It was very loud and the crowds were very young and drunk. There were a couple more bars on the property but they lacked any music after 9pm most nights and that is a shame as they could have provided some mature experience over there. We just missed simple entertainment - a live band for a few hours after dinner so you can dance and relax. Perhaps we chose the wrong place for us. Gym is located close to the beach. Has mostly what you need but the bar on the squat rack is unusable as it’s the wrong size for the stand. If You like running outside, one loop around from the gate to Generations is about 5 km. ACCOMMODATION Junior Suite To be honest, terrible. Old furniture, chairs and sofa looks like a grandma's room. Dirty spots from years of use. We also had an issue with leaking air con. One time there was a massive puddle under our bed because of this. It took an hour before someone came to fix the air con and probably a few more before someone cleaned - we called a few times and left for dinner. They left a wet mat near my side of the bed. Room has no views of the sea. You need to be careful when using the shower door as the design is flawed and the towel rack hits the glass if you open it too far. A few times they didn't stack our bar fridge full. There was no coffee available in our room either. We made several enquiries about this in the reception but they never brought it. I honestly don’t understand how a 5 star resort would not invest a couple of dollars to place a pod machine in every room. It should be a standard by this day and age. . Room looks clean ( except a few things) but the overall look with dirty furniture around is just awful. Smell was the same as wet old furniture (might have been caused by the leaky aircon). There are robes available in the room but no slippers or beach bag. Casitas - we thought about upgrading for Casitas but in the end decided it will be a waste of money. Looks more private with the pool belonging to few Casitas only but the pools are located near the pathway so a lot of traffic around. Beach is the same with rocks. CATAMARAN, CANOTE AND MORE One of the things that convinced us to book this place was the “more inclusive” option where you could book a bus for a free transfer to Maroma beach and stay there and use their Catamaran etc. In the end it wasn’t worth it at all for us as you are forced to stay from 8am till 5pm and you can only use a couple of facilities there (on the beach). You don't have access to a gym or restaurants inside. Catamaran is at 9.30 am or 1 pm. We decided not to go as we won't get breakfast and we will be stuck there all day. You can come back on your own if you like to pay for a taxi. FOOD AND DRINKS As mentioned before, no coffee in the room. You can order a free coffee as a part of room service but you either need to wait a long time if you do it in the morning or you need to schedule it for a specific time the night before. We did it a couple of times but we have always regretted it as we had to rush out of the bed to let the waiter in. There are a lot of options for Breakfast and Lunch but often you have to wait for the best spots. Dinners on the other hand were amazing. There are 10 restaurants a la carte to choose from and you can book them using a resort app so you don’t wait in line. Please try and do it as soon as possible as they fill up pretty quickly. Room service is an option as well but it can take over an hour to get the food. SERVICE Not a personal touch but the resort is huge so it lacks personal touch. We asked about upgrading our room, but nobody called back. They also don’t do anything on special occasions like birthdays (as far as we noticed). Overall everyone is nice and helpful. Feel so sorry for the bartenders from the main bar with the disco. They are doing an amazing job with all the drunk people. All Ala carte restaurants offer great service. Concierge was useless for us. Wasn't any point to using his service. You can also get premium alcohols as a part of all inclusive. We do not recommend El Dorado Royale (at least to mature couples). It is a big resort with focus on a massive policy. It was our first time in Mexico so we are not sure if every resort has the same policy. It's a 5 star resort but we can give only 3 stars based on the experience above.

From the moment you enter the lobby until your last step onto transportation to the airport it’s all about service! I’ve stayed at ElDorado Royale many times and will continue to return. At any resort things can go wrong, but it’s all about perspective. I choose to look at the bright side. The staff here at ElDorado Royale is the hardest working, friendliest and most accommodating I’ve ever experienced. The shining stars of this trip are Edmar at D’Italia Casitas! He was our head waiter and was absolutely fantastic. Top notch service above and beyond along with so much personality and humor. Made our last dinner so special. Plus the food was delish!! Always a favorite! Additionally, our butlers Hugo and Ruben in building 54 were amazing! Helped out three rooms of wild women and kept everything in check. They made our stay organized and thought of everything for us. Not only were they attentive, but also brought humor and fun! We genuinely appreciated them. Last but not least the shuttle driver Macaroni! He was fantastic! Funny guy, good driver snd a memory I can’t comprehend! We will be back because we love it here. It checks all of our boxes!

Great resort. Massive. We went 1/4/25-1/11/25. This resort is sprawling with many pools with bars along the beach. The staff is fantastic. I want to give a shout out to Ana Zapata who was are room attendant. The down sides to the resort for us were the food and the beach- or lack of beach. The coast here is full of massive concrete breakers. I know they serve an important purpose but they aren't pleasant to look at. The food wasn't great at the evening restaurants. The most recommended was Santa Fe. My wife's a pescatarian (Only eats fish not red meat or poultry) She ordered the lentil meatballs at Santa Fe and they were awful. I took a taste and it was damn near inedible, not sure what was in them but really terrible stuff. For us there wasn't really a clear winner when it came to restaurants in the evening. The pizza at the main pool bar in the day is pretty good and breakfasts at Cocotal beneath the main lobby, were very good. Buffet style and opened until noon. Those were our best meals. Overall, great resort and staff. Top shelf liquor everywhere included if you like cocktails. Beautiful highly attended grounds. Tram service is readily available to cart you around this enormous property. My one big recommendation for management is to offer a general buffet during the day. Something that offers classics like wings, burgers, fries, nachos etc. We did not find that anywhere. We've been to probably 20 different all-inclusives in Riviera Maya. I'd give this one a 7 out of 10. Just need to work on the food and maybe get rid of some of those eye sore breakers in the ocean that are falling apart.

We went to El Dorado last month. This last trip was so much better than the previous year at Casitas, which was very hit or miss. My review is about this trip. Our concierge, Ruth, got us off to a great start. We were able to book a day trip to El Dorado Maroma, which was included in our package price. If you go- it is an 8-hour day, you might consider taking the hotel shuttle there and a cab back to the hotel when you have had enough. The beach is beautiful and the food is good, it is just a long day in hot weather. If you take the afternoon catamaran, the guests might be rowdy. A couple of shout-outs to the staff at El Dorado Royale, Samy, the breakfast waiter in Ricon, took great care of us each day. He is funny and an excellent waiter. The pool bartender by Spot Restaurant, Benjamin, was very efficient. For lunch service, Israel and Alex at the Palms (at Generations) were great. Edmar, at Casitas di Italia was outstanding. He went above and beyond and made our last night there for dinner an amazing experience. He was so kind, attentive, and made great recommendations. If we go back, we are asking for him. Views from Generations wine bar on second floor are lovely. Haab, the Indian Restaurant at Generations, has unbelievable food. We went back three times this last trip. As for the cons, the maid service was lacking at times. Had to order literally everything through the website, he did not restock bath towels or water. This got annoying, we were there for over a week. The food at times was undercooked ie: filet and ribs, pretty much raw. The day we left I went into the lobby bar to get a bottle of water for the ride to the airport, they refused because they did not open until 9:00, it was 8:55 when I asked- no exaggeration, that was obnoxious. Thank you to all the staff who made this trip really great!

We stayed at the El Dorado Royale Jan. 1st thru 8th and there were 18 of us in the group. Overall, it was a great trip with no real issues except the dinner reservation system. The app does not allow you to book a table for more than 6 people even though we saw groups of 8 and 10 seated at one table in some restaurants. The poolside pizza place did just push a bunch of tables together one night so 12 of us could eat together, so we thank them for that. Back to the reservation system, for example, on Thursday, we looked to book reservations at one of the restaurants for the following Monday and the app showed no availability. Then, on Friday, we checked the app for the same restaurant to book for that same Monday and found several open reservation times available. This is a BIG resort, so be prepared to do some walking. They do have 8 person golf cart shuttles that operate from roughly 8am until 10 or 11pm. There are several shuttle stops positioned around the resort, and they are supposed to be on a 20-minute time loop but there are times the cart is already full of people when it gets to your stop and you have to wait for the next one in hopes there will be room for you. Pros: - Great food and drinks - Extremely clean resort with meticulously maintained grounds - Lobby bar makes GREAT espresso and chocolate martinis - Large resort that gives you access to the beach, pools, bars and restaurants at the neighboring Casitas and Generations resort sections Cons: - Pools are not heated and were a bit chilly on days - App to make dinner reservations needs improvement - No dinner buffet available during the weekdays Special shout-outs: Augustin - bartender Gerardo - Kick beachside restaurant Rodrigo - Kampai restaurant Macaroni - baggage/bellow Pool volleyball staff (Rose and the other 3 gentlemen that played) Luis - cabana server at La Isla pool. Luis provided AMAZING service for our cabana rentals. We found that buildings 1,2,3,4,5,6 & 40 were the most centrally located to the main activities pool and restaurants. Our room was a swim out room in building 40. It had great views of the beach and ocean and located close to the gym, ampitheater, and Guacamayas bar that had karaoke, music & dancing. Ohh, and there is a late night taco cart serving beef, chicken and pork tacos until 1 am!! If they found a better way to do dinner reservations, we would stay here again without hesitation.