El Dorado Royale

Loved the El Dorado Royale

by A TripAdvisor Member

We just returned from spending seven nights at the EDR. We had a wonderful time! When we arrived we requested to be upgraded from garden view to ocean view for $25 per night. It was worth every penny! I read all the reviews before we left and have to admit we too were a little nervous! Everything was great! The food was OK, service excellent, but be sure and bring water shoes because the beach is very rocky!! Once you get past the rocks you can swim, snorkel, etc. We really enjoyed Mexican Fiesta night on Wed. food everywhere!! The rooms were beautiful! We would go back in a minute!

Relaxing at El Dorado!

by A TripAdvisor Member

What an Excellent Resort! If you are like me right now you are reading this trying to decide if the El Dorado Royale is the right place for you. Well, I was there and took the chance to go...my wife and I owuld go back in a second! It was AWESOME...the rooms are great (we had the Garden View and trust me this is plenty!) The service is wonderful!
About tipping, bring lots of singles...Mexicans are among the nicest people in the world and VERY HARD WORKING!!!! You will be glad to help out in any way you can.

The pools are excellent and the bars are great! The activities were OK during the day (not great...but adequate) at night the entertainment was fine - again, not great but certainly enough for us. The Mexican Fiesta on Wednesday night was great too. All in all a great trip and worth every penny!

Heaven on Earth

by A TripAdvisor Member

El Dorado Royale is heaven on earth. The staff is always there to help (cheerfully) with anything at anytime day or night. The area and the hotel are gourgeous. The cleanliness is unmatched. We never lacked for anything. There are all kinds of activities. If you can't have a good time here, then it is your own fault. It is a fantastic getaway for anyone. We spent five nights there. The food, drink, staff, are all five star!

Looking for relaxation?

by A TripAdvisor Member

EL-Dorado Royale is the perfect place for relaxation. My husband and I just loved the place simply because of the atmosphere, cleanliness, friendly staff and the rooms. We had the Garden View which was absolutely beautiful. The things that we didn't like was that they do not have any top shelf liquor, the wine and champagne selection was not that great. They only have one Jacuzzi at the resort which does not work. Also, the beach is not open all night, they close it down like at 1 or 2am. But other than that, My husband and I had a great time and I highly reccomend this resort to couples who are getting away for relaxation.

Want a really fun relaxing time go there!!

by A TripAdvisor Member

We went to the EL Dorado Royale resort for a week in July (July 6-12 2003). When we arrived at the airport it was as humid as expected and my advice for all you unsuspecting Calgarians is wear shorts on the plane or you will COOK!! We found eveyone really helpful in finding our tour rep. some too helpful so remember to either tip the help or hold on to your bags tight. DO take advantage of the beer they offer in the truck on the way to resort it is nice and refreshing. When you arrive at the resort you get all the champagne you can handle and a nice tour of the grounds in a golf cart. The food was very good except we found the beef a little lacking (biased Albertans I guess), the activities were plentiful and there were a lot of not to badly priced tours and remember everything in Mexico is up for negotiation so try and get a better price when ever you get a chance, palms can always be greased!!
The only thing lacking about this resort is the beach. It's rocky so bring water shoes that was a tip we got from others who went. For all you ladies out there, the always talked about "sexy" Fernando is really there but is harmless and fun just be careful if the live band starts playing the Tequila song and he is walking around with a Tequila bottle, you will without a doubt be getting a mouth full of it.

El Dorado Royale

by Excaper

"Arrival"

The driveway into the resort is quite long and twisty and the resort appears only “okay” as you pull up to the front. When you enter the main lobby you will have a much better feeling. Only 3 couples got off the airport bus at the El Dorado Royale.

We had booked a Casita and the check-in was not in the main lobby, it was in the office of the concierge for the Casitas so after being given a glass of champagne we were wisked away on a golf cart to check-in.

Raymundo was our concierge and he quickly explained things like booking dinner reservations, etc. and gave us our key. The golf cart took us to our room. We had requested a second floor Casita but none were to be had. The place was fully booked. Raymundo’s office is located under the Japanese restaurant and he is usually there from 8:00am to 5:00pm, although we have seen him working much later. This is also where you can borrow CDs, books, and DVDs.

"The Casitas"

There are two types of Casitas. Although they are identical on the inside, they are pros and cons to each in terms of the outside. There are two buildings in each Casita section that each house four Casitas. Then there are several individual Casitas as the sections curve towards the beach in a semi-circle.

The Casita was gorgeous decorated all in cream colours with dark woods. It had a vaulted ceiling, a king-size bed, two bedside tables, an armoire housing the TV, a minibar and a CD/DVD player. There was also 2 closets and a table with three chairs. The safe is in one of the closets. There is a mosquito net above the bed, which was entirely esthetic and just added a nice little touch to the appearance of the room. The bed had an extra pad under the sheet and was very comfortable. There are also an iron and ironing board, a coffee maker with coffee and condiment packages, and bathrobes for your use.

The bathroom had double sinks, a separate area for the toilet with small doors so that two people could easily use the bathroom at the same time with reasonable privacy. There was a shower in a large tub with glass doors and a window that looked out over the outdoor shower. Two things about the indoor shower: If you have decreased mobility, this is a difficult shower to get in or out of. There is a handle on the wall but an older couple we met didn’t find it all that helpful. I am 38 and in relatively good shape and I found it a little difficult. The other thing about this shower is that there is a “moat” of sorts around the tub and when you shower the water builds up faster than it can drain through two small holes to the outdoor shower area. This will probably not be an issue during one shower but we found that when we showered one immediately following the other, the water would get too high and start leaking through the doors. To resolve this we took the bathmat and rolled it up and put it against the doors. It worked relatively well but it is still something to keep in mind as the room is all marble floors and it gets slippery when wet. The outdoor shower is huge and is built with stone, both walls and floor. There is, of course, no ceiling. The water came out of a huge wooden “sculpture” for lack of a better word, and was beautiful. Our shower could be seen from a window in the Casita above although the window is in the Jacuzzi area of that room and the likelihood of anyone looking out would be minimal. If this bothers you, I would suggest requesting an upper Casita or one of the individual Casitas.

There is also a Jacuzzi tub at the front of the room. It has windows (with curtains) on three sides and opens to your room on the fourth side. Bubble bath and towels are provided as well as a candle on the side of the tub. Very romantic!!

The patio or balcony area is oversized and each contains two hammock-type chairs, two regular wooded chairs, a table, and a hammock. Wonderful place to sit in the morning or the evening!!! The patio/balcony lights come on and go out automatically so don’t waste time looking for the switch like I did.

"The Common Areas at Casita Section"

The common area in each Casita section has a seating area with tables and chairs in the shade of a huge palapa. Also under the palapa is the pool bar. The pools are small but large enough for the number of people staying in each section. There was never a day when there were not lots of lounge chairs around the pool. No one really used the “saved by a towel” method around the pool. There are also lots of lounges on the beach. We did notice towels on the chairs there but there was really no need for it, unless you want a beach lounge on the big palapa with a raised wooden floor and a roof big enough to shade three lounges. These were probably the most coveted chairs on the resort! We saw a few arguments when people left their towels there around 6:00am but then didn’t return until noon and expected their towels to still be there. The pool has a swim-up section with about six or seven stools. It also has a very shallow area where there are always a couple of lounges where you can enjoy lying around and keeping cool at the same time. The chairs, tables and lounges around the pool are all wooden with thick ivory pads and the beach lounges are plastic with fabric netting. All very nice.

"The Resort"

The beach has beautiful white sand but also a lot of rock or coral at the water’s edge. This doesn’t have to be a deterrent to entering the water, as there are also lots of sections where you can walk on sand between the rocks to get in. There are rocks on the beach that you have to walk around in some sections in front of the resort but there is lots of room to walk and you can walk a good distance in either direction. The snorkelling is very good for “off-the-beach” snorkelling because of the rocks and coral. The surf while we were there was rough and you have to be careful getting in or out of the water and it can sweep you off your feet. It was a lot of fun though! There is a man-made breakwater a small distance from shore that helped most, but not all of the time. I do think it was just the weather while we were there as we did see a lot of storms off-shore in the distance.

Around the center point of the beach there is a saltwater pool. This has rock steps that make it easy to get in and out of but it is very deep at points. The bottom is almost all sand. There are usually some interesting fish in the pool as it is fed in several places from the ocean.

Each of the three or four Casita sections had its own pool but there was also a large main pool where there is much more action. Lots of people but I usually still saw chairs to be had at any time I was there. There are a couple of fountains and bridges at the main pool and it is really very nice. There are also activities going on in and around the pool for most of the day.

El Dorado Royale - Riviera Maya

by stockton

"Resort and Room"

Well after reading lots about this resort on the Web, I can finally report on it. The bad reports are not to be believed. It is an adults only - with about an equal split between Canadians and Americans, with a few Italianos, Deutschen and Limeys. Average age would be 35 to 40 (estimate only) as young couples (three weddings) right thru to folks in their sixties.

Resort Location:
It is south of Cancun and north of PLaya Ddel Carmen, so we were the first to be dropped off and last to be picked up on the return. It is quite a ways off the highway and those seven speed bumps can get pretty tiring.

Room:
Had the cheapest GardenView room which was more than adequate. The upgrades give you ocean view or ocean front, but who needs it as you're only in your room to sleep. Big shower plus a 2 person Jacuzzi. Only complaints re room are the saggy mattress and lack of hot water in the am (need to run tap along time if you're an early bird).

"Activities and Pools"

Pools were the best feature - there's about 7 or 8 which is a good thing as the ocean is a little wavy. Most pools had a swim up bar.
Animation staff were good at trying to get people to participate in the activities. Usually there was a water volleyball going on. Also there was ceramics painting (charge), dancing and cocktail lessons, bikes, yoda, etc. Weakness was at night in that the shows were not comparable to those we've seen in Cuba.

Free shuttle into Playa and Cancun. We booked the Tulum/Xel-ha trip in Playa for $71 US versus the $90 or $95 that the reps at the hotel wanted.

"Restaurants and Meals"

There is the La Isla which is a la carte for breakfast, lunch and dinner - no reservations needed. You need to make reservations (up to 2 days in advance only) for the Oriental, Mexican, Italian and Grill restaurants. Nevefr ate at the Grill at night but was said to be popular. The best (in order) are Oreiental, Italian and Mexican - our Mexican entree was just too damn salty for some reason.
All meals feature appetizers, soup, salad, entree and dessert. And although the portions are not huge, ordering all courses should be more than enough for the average person. And if you're still hungary, next time order two appetizers!!
The also set up a grill by the pool at lunch and cook hot dogs, hamburgers, steak and chicken. (Steak is muy bueno). A secret is that the Oriental is also open for breakfast with a sub-set of the choices at La Isla.
Staff are great - especially those in La Isla (hola Carlos!!). The bartenders vary - some need to look at the drink menu to see what is in the drink!
One complaint is that the brands are all generic (even no Kahlua) with only Jack Daniels and Jim Beam to be seen.
Another is that the meals are never hot, just luke warm. This may be because there are no heat lamps in the kitchen.