My Trip Advisor Review
(I'm hoping one of these days, some vacation/travel web site will sponsor me... honest reviews in exchange for free trips!)
My husband and I stayed at the El Dorado Royale from March
4-11. This was our fourth El Dorado
experience (we had previously stayed at the El Dorado Royale in January 2010,
the El Dorado Maroma in July 2010, and the El Dorado Seaside in July
2011). We chose the “El Dorado Fun for
Less” option on Funjet. I was rooting
for the Royale (more to do), and my husband was rooting for the Maroma (better
customer service). In hindsight, I agree
that the Maroma would have been a better option. But the “El Dorado Fun for Less” package
through Funjet is a great deal.
In January 2010 we lucked out with an upgrade to an ocean
front swim up room (thanks to Francisco).
This time around we weren’t as lucky, but we still got a free upgrade. We were in the 55 building again, but this
time we were on the second floor (so ocean/palm tree view, but no swim
up).
We were a little bummed that some of the things we were looking forward to were no longer available. We loved the sunset lobster cruise (excursion through Lomas/Funjet), and apparently that is no longer routinely available due to demand. Also, we enjoyed Casino Night when we were at the Royale two years ago, but they didn’t offer that this time around. We loved the fondue restaurant (I mean who wouldn’t want to eat dinner in an awesome tree house?), but that is no longer there (although we did indulge in several bowls of fondue cheese at La Isla). We were also looking forward to eating at this awesome hole in the wall restaurant in Playa del Carmen (a few blocks off 5th Street) called Deli Fish, and the restaurant had closed! We did try Veronica's massages (off Constitution) thanks to some reviews my husband read on Trip Advisor, and the massages (2 deep tissues massages for 60 minutes for $30 each) were AWESOME! The food at the bagel place next door to that looked scrumptious, but we just grabbed a beer.
Our biggest disappointment (which deserves its own
paragraph) was the lack of the 5-star customer service that we expected. Most afternoons we relaxed on a bed at the
Las Fuentes pool, and we did not receive drink service (well maybe one day out
of the 4 we were there). Likewise, when
we were at the beach, we only got offered a drink one time. Considering we tip a dollar every round, I
don’t understand why the wait staff wasn’t more motivated to serve drinks. Maybe the resort needs to hire more staff? It also took a few days (and 2 calls and 1
visit to the front desk) to get maintenance to replace the batteries in our TV
remote. And one more thing… I’m assuming
this is just harder to do at larger resorts, but why is getting to-go food such
a big deal? I wanted a sandwich or
something light from the health food restaurant, and the lady told me
“smoothies only” for to-go orders. At
Maroma, they would never say no. I
remember asking for a cracker and cheese plate, and they came up with something
off the cuff and delivered it to our room and it was awesome.
We had a few negative experiences with the bars as
well. I tried to get some rum drinks at
Las Fuentes (and I had to go into the restaurant to talk to the bartender since
we didn’t get drink service around the pool area) and the bartender told me that
someone drank all of the Bacardi and they only had Appleton rum. Isn’t something like that an easy fix where
they could make a phone call and get another bottle from one of the 17 (or
however many it is that they brag about) bars?
In addition, my husband and I bought a bottle of Don Julio silver and a
bottle of Crown Royal from the martini bar for $30 on our last night. We were a little suspicious, because it
appeared that the bottle of Don Julio was open (the seal did not seem fully
intact) and also it was refrigerated (and I have never seem them refrigerate a
bottle before). So we took it back and
got our money back, but it was kind of a pain and the whole thing seemed kind
of shady. We talked to Jimmy at the front
desk who referred us to Howard, a manager.
We told Howard what happened, and he sounded concerned, but we never
heard any sort of resolution from the resort about this. My husband asked Howard towards the end of
the conversation, “why should we come back to this resort?” and Howard didn’t
have an answer. That pretty much summed
it up for us.
I will stop being Debbie Downer for a minute (and if you
read my other reviews, I normally have almost all positive stuff to say – I’m
not one of those regular complainers on here).
We did have a very relaxing time at the resort. I worked out every day and absolutely loved
the gym. The treadmill helped me not
gain weight at all on the trip. The food
was amazing – like always. We were very
surprised by how much we loved Cocotal (we must have overlooked it on our first
trip). The breakfast and dinner were
both amazing. Try the garlic soup and
the surf and turf (it’s actually a soup) for dinner. We ate at the Italian restaurant three times,
because we love that one too. The Asian
restaurant is okay, but I think it’s a little overrated (oops, I’m supposed to
be positive in this paragraph). They
don’t have free sake (What? Even
three-star resorts have free sake!) and the waiter copped a bit of an attitude
with us when we wanted to order a bunch of sushi instead of a main course. Plus that place leaves me a bloated mess with
the huge amount of salt they use to cook, but maybe that’s just me. Seriously though, give Cocotal a try for
dinner – way better than the Asian restaurant in our opinion. Okay, back to a few more positive things. The resort is absolutely beautiful (so
beautiful that we saw two Iguanas makin’ love outside of Cocotal… who could
blame the crazy lil’ reptiles). They do
an amazing job keeping everything so lush and beautiful. Don’t take the shuttle (well unless you will
keel over or something)… walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery and burn
off your cream-based soup! Also, the
room service was great too (I have to applaud anyone who will bring nachos to
drunk people at 2 am). We ordered
breakfast room service a few mornings as well – very relaxing. They always do a good job with the time
estimate too.
Okay, so in summary, would we come back again? Probably not.
But that also has to do with us being a little burned out on the
all-inclusive Mexico experience as well.
If we did want to do it again, we would probably look at going back to
the Maroma or finding another 5-star resort (any ideas?). I would be more inclined to come back to the
El Dorado Royale if we had a group of friends/family and/or if they offered us
a really great deal (we still haven’t stayed at the Casitas).
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