Review of El Dorado Royale

As a Vacation & Cruise Specialist, I am very critical of most hotels and resorts. I purposely didn’t check any reviews of the El Dorado Royale before we stayed there so that I could make a completely unbiased opinion of the resort, since that is what my clients would expect of me.

We stayed at the El Dorado Resort from 9/2-9/6/08. Knowing it was and deluxe, adults only, all inclusive resort, I was looking at this property with my honeymooners and destination wedding couples in mind. The first word to describe my opinion of the El Dorado Royale was WOW- I was impressed and I am hard to please. There were a couple of minor points that I thought could use improvement and I explained them later on in the review but I would not hesitate to send my clients to this resort.

Here is my very long and detailed review:

We pulled up the resort and the drive from the main road is about a 5 minutes. The resort itself is located directly on the beach (unlike some other resorts in the Riviera Maya that are built further back into the tropical gardens and further from the beach). One of the first things that I noticed about the lobby is that it was air conditioned-a nice break from the heat and humidity of early September.

We were given an oceanfront junior suite in building 3. Since I was there as part of the Gourmet Inclusive Specialist program, I really was hoping for one of the Casita Suites but the junior suite was perfectly located for us and was a great room. We had a tour of the property before we got to our room and we really got to see how spread out the property is. Our room was in the middle of the resort, not far from the Casitas section and not too far from the main lobby.

The king sized canopy bed was extremely comfortable- and I am very picky about a good mattress. There was plenty of drawer space, TV in an armoire, table and chairs and the famous in room Jacuzzi tub which overlooked the beach with a huge window in front of it. We only had neighbors for a short time on one side of us so it was actually quite private, although I am not sure how comfortable I would be knowing that my neighbors might be able to sneak a peak if they really wanted to. I did leave the curtains closed a bit to make the Jacuzzi area a bit more private. The balcony had a table and chairs but the chairs could have used padded cushions to make them comfortable. The bathroom was spacious and had more than ample room for all of our toiletries. The sink was a bit high (and I am 5’7” tall- so this might be an issue for very short people and the make up mirror would have been perfect if we were 6’6” tall but other than that, no complaints about the bathroom. It had a huge shower with a seat (or marble bench) in it for sitting and shaving your legs, or, what I used it for- to hold the shampoo and toiletries.

When we arrived the bed was made with a towel swan and rose petals on top. On another day, after returning from the beach, the curtains were all drawn around the bed and it was filled with rose petals. This resort is the perfect backdrop for romance!

Food is always a big part of an all inclusive resort. I was told by one client that the food was too gourmet for her husband’s taste so I was very curious about the food at the El Dorado Royale. Our first experience with dining at the resort was at JoJo’s, a casual beach side restaurant open for lunch and dinner. After our property tour on the first day, we were hungry but didn’t want anything too heavy since it was already after 3pm. We were escorted to a table overlooking the ocean and were given menus. It was a pretty extensive menu for just a snack and I over heard other guests ordering multiple dishes (appetizer, salad, main course). I ordered a chicken Caesar salad and my husband ordered 2 appetizers. I was expecting a salad like you would get in a Fridays, Applebees, or local American diner. What I got was a bit more unique-and then I understood why the other guests were ordering multiple courses. Let me try to explain my beautifully presented chicken Caesar salad. First, if you look at your index finger and then picture 2 pieces of chicken, each about the size of your index finger, artfully arranged on the plate. In the middle was a decorate piece of romaine lettuce rolled up and tied with a decorative and edible piece of vegetable, and drizzled with dressing. That was it! I told the waiter that I think the dish put in front of me was the wrong order and he assured me that it was indeed a chicken Caesar salad. After my 4 bites of food and a good chuckle, I went to the salad bar and filled a plate with some salad and bread and was fine until dinner. Now we understood why other guests were ordering multiple course meals!

Although I am not a gourmet, and I am perfectly fine with most food, I do have to say that the food was EXCELLENT. Our favorite restaurants were the Italian restaurant and Caracol for dinner (both were air conditioned and right near the lobby). The Asian restaurant was great as well. We were not thrilled with the fondue restaurant but that was more that I don’t particularly care for fondue (too cheesy for my taste) but the dessert was great. Carocol for breakfast was great. They have a small but very fresh and appetizing buffet or you can order off the menu. We also ate at La Isla restaurant for breakfast a few mornings as well. JoJo’s was great for lunch and there was a burger and pizza restaurant behind La Isla pool which was perfect for lunch. This is my take on the portion sizes- yes, they are small but if you want more- order multiple portions. The wait staff will bring you whatever you want.

I did have another funny story about the food. One afternoon, after laying on the absolutely wonderful beach beds (more about that later), I wanted some ice cream. We walked over to JoJo’s and were told that there were no tables available at the moment but they expected some to clear in about 10-15 minutes. I said that I only wanted a bowl or cone of ice cream and could I just get it “to go”. The hostess gave us an odd look and said that they don’t serve ice cream like that but if we went to the bar, she would get us some. About 5 minutes later, she appeared with a bar glass full of chocolate ice cream (again artfully decorated with chocolate straws). That was all I wanted but the resort is so focused on gourmet and beautifully presented food, that just getting a bowl of ice cream wouldn’t do!

Drinks- you could get anything you wanted and as much as you wanted. I am not a big drinker so my brief run down on the beverage service: the mixed drinks that I had (ie: Miami Vice, Pina Coladas, etc) were fine. I mostly drank club soda and lime, throughout my stay. My only complaint- the only wine with dinner that is included is a chardonnay or a merlot. If you want a white zinfandel, for instance, or a different type of wine, you would need to buy the bottle.

Pools and beach- The pools were wonderful. We spent most of our time at La Isla pool with the swim up pool bar. The pool is large with a couple of fountains. Guests were bringing in lounge chairs to the shallow side of the pool to lay in the water. This is the quiet pool vs. Las Fuentes pool which is the main activity pool. We never saw any people or activities going on at Las Fuentes and since La Isla was closer to our room and the restaurants, we just parked ourselves there.

The BEST part of the pools, are the beach beds. Trust me when I tell you- I wanted to bring them home with me. They are basically a king sized mattress covered in vinyl with a round bolster and pillows. They sit on a wooden canopied frame with curtains all around that can be closed based on which way the sun is hitting. For people like me, who avoid the sun- I was in heaven. Since you only get 1 towel per person, I do recommend bringing towels from home with you so you have towels to lay on as well as towels to dry off with. These beach beds were all around the pools and on the beach as well.

The beach is probably one of the main drawbacks of the resort. Due to the beach erosion problem which effects many of the properties along the Riviera Maya, there were beach bags all along the beach. Unfortunately, the beach bags were not the most attractive to look at. You can swim around them to get to deeper water but they did ruin the beauty of the beach. The property has a gorgeous wedding gazebo overlooking the beach but it actually will overlook a lot of beach bags.

Entertainment- There were activities going on during the day like ping pong, beach and pool volleyball, ceramic painting, cooking lessons and more. The entertainment team went around looking for participants but we really just wanted to relax. The evening entertainment was moved since the main show lounge (near Las Fuentes restaurant) was closed for renovations. The shows were actually considerably better than at other all inclusive resorts. We are big cruise people and the entertainment can’t hold a candle to cruise ship entertainment but it was much better than anticipated and were well attended.

Guests- this is definitely a honeymoon resort although there was a pretty good mix of young and older couples. The week we were there was very non-American. We saw many couples from Great Britain and the rest of Europe. The Americans and Canadians were definitely in the minority this week.

We also toured El Dorado Maroma and El Dorado Seaside Suites. If you have any questions about any of the El Dorado Resorts, feel free to email me directly at mindy@myvacationlady.com.