El Dorado Royale - Only adults

“Second trip to our favorite resort!”

This was our second visit to El Dorado Royale having been there last year for the first time (we loved it so much we had to go back). So much to love – the staff, the food, the impeccably cared-for lush grounds and pools were all just as lovely as last year. A few things that changed since last ye… more

This was our second visit to El Dorado Royale having been there last year for the first time (we loved it so much we had to go back). So much to love – the staff, the food, the impeccably cared-for lush grounds and pools were all just as lovely as last year. A few things that changed since last year is what I will focus on in this review. Concierge – dinner reservations: They seem to have done away with the app from last year (you can still use it to check on times and types of restaurants and bars at the various resorts). Now you make all your dinner reservations with the concierge (unless your restaurant of choice doesn’t require reservations). However, the most ridiculous thing is that you can only make the reservations with YOUR OWN concierge which is at a designated booth nearest your building. You can’t just go to any concierge booth to make the reservation which I find RIDICULOUS and inconvenient. Guacamayas Bar – Entertainment: We preferred the lineup and times from last year rather than the new change which is later, please consider changing it back. The new schedule now starts late, 9:00 PM for a show, and then the band at 10:00 PM. Last year the bands started at 8:00 PM and then a show or whatever after that. We preferred this because even though we’re on vacation, we don’t like going to bed that late – even though we can sleep in, we don’t like to waste the gorgeous Riviera Maya morning. The band we saw this time was “Happy Band” – they were good, but our favorite band from last year, “Black Cow Band” wasn’t there during our week this year, so that was a bummer. La Isla Restaurant – This was our biggest disappointment. We LOVED La Isla last year where they had a lunch buffet (which was WONDERFUL) and a lovely breakfast buffet as well. This year La Isla has been turned into a regular, menu only restaurant (no buffet). We ate there only once, and while the food is still outstanding (I had salmon), we loved the old buffet where they also had a woman making fresh tortillas and smoked/grilled fish. Having this one option for a buffet was a favorite of ours, so we were sad to see this change. Please consider changing this back. We thought we would try breakfast there one morning - we sat there for 10 minutes before we got coffee, then sat for another 3 minutes until we got up and left to go to Cocotal because we were hungry. It was not busy at all, only about three tables with people, so I’m not sure why we had to sit there for 13 minutes. We ate at Cocotal for breakfast each morning because we loved the buffet and the food is outstanding. Shout out to our fantastic server Rami who we had most days, he was wonderful! One service I made use of this year which I didn’t have to use last year (thankfully) was their medical services. They have a small, medical office with a doctor on hand 24/7. While they are technically a private company outsourced to work at this resort, I was thankful they were there when I needed to see a doctor for an eye issue I was having. Dr. Arturo was wonderful, very thorough, compassionate and knowledgeable. My father was an M.D./physician so I’m very particular when it comes to medical professionals’ bedside manners, his was a 10/10. I received very good care and left with some prescription eye drops. Some welcome changes when it comes to the rooms were the frosted shower door (last year it was clear), and the frosted panel that divides the bathroom and bedroom (that was also clear last year). I still think that needs to be changed to be completely closed (meaning up to the ceiling). The spillover of light from the bathroom into the bedroom when someone else is still sleeping I find totally annoying. As far as the pool - we stayed mostly at La Isla pool, which is lovely, but since most of us are really there to RELAX - it would be great if the music was at a slightly lower volume. As well as the genre of music - this is an adults only, all-inclusive resort on the Riviera Maya, not a spring break party atmosphere in the heart of Cancun - we would appreciate a bit less of the "party/club" style of music. Lastly, as I gushed about in my first review of El Dorado Royale – the staff are just the BEST – friendly, hard-working, and will do their best to help you with anything. The restaurants we ate at and loved were D’Italia Villas (Mediterranean), Kampai (shout out to our excellent server Raul who we had both last year and this year!), Habb, and the Wine Kitchen (at Generations Family Resort at the far end). We LOVE El Dorado Royale and I'm sure we'll be back at some point. You can't beat the comfort, staff, food, and the stunningly gorgeous grounds.

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“Sixth time back and another wonderful experience!”

We returned to El Dorado Royale for our 6th time in March to celebrate our 8th anniversary. We got married at El Dorado and continue to keep coming back because of the people who work there who make our experience so special. Last year the resort was undergoing changes - as we understand it, the … more

We returned to El Dorado Royale for our 6th time in March to celebrate our 8th anniversary. We got married at El Dorado and continue to keep coming back because of the people who work there who make our experience so special. Last year the resort was undergoing changes - as we understand it, the ownership replaced the former management group (Karisma) and took on management themselves, and there were some noticeable changes to things. However, the Lomas group has seemed to get things back on track and I think this came through in the staff - people seemed much happier than last year, and the resort was back to the constant upkeep project we remember from past years. Rooms were being renovated and other structures were being upgraded or replaced. For this trip we took advantage of a "come back" offer that we were offered in the lobby upon departure the year prior. We didn't notice the fine print of a 7-night limit on the offer, so we ended up needing to book two consecutive trips to add up to our desired 13-night stay. The come back offer WAS a great deal - saved nearly a thousand dollars compared to the advertised rate on the website at the time for a swim up room - and so we did it again this year when we were leaving, too. (The new deal seems to be a slightly less discount, but it no longer has a stay length limit.) The offer is essentially, put some money down ($299) and get access to a discounted rate. It's hard to gauge since the rates are ALWAYS on sale when booking direct, but at least last year we found the deal was well worth it. For the other 6 nights we booked direct on the Lomas website, and emailing the resort a few weeks ahead of time there was no issue linking the two stays; we never had to "check out" between the two stays which was really nice. (Both reservations were for the same room category.) The resort now includes a number of benefits called "More Inclusive" which starts with free transportation. This is just fine in our opinion - we did wait around a half hour but the shuttle was great. The Lomas reps are easy to find at arrivals in Cancun (teal shirts with white ties) and everyone is very friendly. Gener helped us when we first arrived and was great, and our shuttle driver Abraham was good. Shuttle was great and we just had one stop at Generations resort next door before we were dropped off. We always book a swim up room because we like being able to use the swim up in the later days of the vacation when we get tired of the different pools. We bring floaties for the pool, too, but if you don't bring any there are always people leaving theirs behind! (But the simple hammock-style floats are great and pack very small.) The room we had was in building 40 which we have previously stayed. Building 40 is near the nightlife bar (Guacamayas) so it IS loud at night, but this doesn't bother us. The room was in fine shape - we had no issues during our stay, and our Concierge team of Jazz and Andres were great at making sure we were happy with our stay. Housekeeping was great and consistent. Minibar service seemed to be every other day which was just fine - we always left a note for extra waters and they always delivered! (And from previous stays, a quick call to the front desk or concierge can get minibar service or extra waters if needed.) Concierge booked our dinner reservations, which run on a Sunday to Saturday schedule. Last year they had rolled out an "app" (website) to book your own reservations, but this year they went back to having Concierge book reservations. The "app" still exists, though, and you can see your reservations in the app which is nice. We had no issue getting reservations, and we also had no issue when we walked up to some places without a reservation. Reservations are strongly recommended, but MOST of the restaurants accommodate walk-ins with no issue. Every meal we had was fantastic! We started our stay with the Mediterranean restaurant. This was previous known as "D'italia Royale" but changed last year to the current concept. The menu had changed a bit from last year but we loved it! Nestor was our server and service was top notch as always. On our second night we went to Rincon, the Mexican restaurant. On previous trips we never found the menu enticing, but that has changed! The menu was great including the bone marrow appetizer. Our server Jesus was outstanding despite being very busy that night. He mentioned he also worked at Fuentes and to ask for us there, and we did! (See below.) Third night was Kamapi, the asian restaurant. The menu seems mostly unchanged and everything was fine - definitely hit the spot for both the sushi and noodle/rice dishes. The deserts are all fantastic, so definitely be sure to save your appetite! We did the Mexican Festival our first week but did not return the second week. This is good, but we were SO spoiled by our experience with this back pre-2020 when it was held outdoors/open-air at Guacamayas that the current location in the ballroom just feels a little stuffy. The food is great, but far from some of the standouts from years ago like a massive barrel of cocktail shrimp and the pre-hispanic mayan cuisine (like grasshoppers). The Mariachi is great, but overall this isn't a standout experience for us. The welcome drink is probably the highlight of this experience. We always try to arrive early and then leave to grab an after-dinner cocktail at the Martini bar. Night five was Sante Fe, the steakhouse. Here the menu has also changed and absolutely for the better - we actually got two slightly different menus and thankfully the oysters were available the night we were there - they were fantastic! The prawn dish was great, as was the tuna tiradito and the beef brisket bone marrow. We really appreciated that the server let us know how the Beef Picanha was cooked (does not come rare) but WOW was it delicious - I think this was the ONLY dish we ordered more than once our entire stay. Portions are definitely large here... which was only a problem because we wanted to try more! We returned to Sante Fe later in our stay, too - we didn't have a reservation the second time and we had no problem getting seated after a short wait. On night six we had our first dinner at Fuentes, the "culinary theater." This has ALWAYS been a highlight of our trip! The resort has slowly increased the cost of this restaurant - years ago it was just a no-show charge if you did not show up for a reservation, but it recent years I think the cost has slowly gone up, now around $30ish USD per person. We still find the experience valuable, but it was clear when were there that the popularity has fallen - the space was only around half full but he host remarked how it was a packed house. This was sad to see because the experience, from the welcome drink cocktail to the show to the live music and fantastic service are all such a standout experience. We requested Jesus as our server and he did not disappoint! He remembered us from Rincon (I do not know how the staff here remember all the guests!) and provided excellent service the entire night. We did the wine pairing which I highly recommend doing at least once! During our stay there were 3 menus in rotation, and we did the "Fire" menu which was our favorite of the three. The former head chef left the resort shortly after our stay last year, and the new chef was good but the whole demonstration was missing a lot of the cooking that we saw in past years. Some of the courses were simply just brought out plated and the "demonstration" just added a garnish. We would love to see a return back to more of the actual cooking for the show. The music from long-running performer Pablo was excellent as always, even if the songs are usually the same year after year. The food was great, and our server Jesus asked if we wanted to return again. We absolutely did and we were able to book another night directly through him and just had to pay for the wine pairing, which was a great deal. Our second time at Fuentes was a unique experience on International Women's Day featuring dishes from the women chefs that work across the resort. This was a great concept and included a female singer for the entertainment who was great! This service was much more intimate, which is a kind way to say that the audience was a LOT smaller for this special dinner. This was really a shame, with only around 20 people in attendance for what was truly a special experience with great dishes and attentive service. I would love to see the resort get more people to Fuentes because I think it's such a unique experience compared to other comparable resorts, and the space is too special to go underutilized. Our seventh night was at Habb, one of the restaurants over at Generations, the family resort. Habb is an indian restaurant and our dishes were (understandably) spicy but delicious! As with every place we go, the server we had (I forget their name) did a great job of guiding us through the menu and offering suggestions. For the night of our wedding anniversary we had reservations at D'italia Casitas, which is arguable the BEST restaurant of the resort. A few days prior we made a visit to the newish coffee + ice cream shop (next to Gaviotas bar) and the staff working asked about where we were going for dinner - he said he worked nights at Di'talia for dinners and to ask for him. His name was Edmar and the team of Edmar and Miguel gave us an incredibly memorable dinner experience not once but twice! Edmar recognized us as soon as we sat down and gave us just a simple question - red wine or white wine - and that was that! He poured us the house wine, left the bottle on the table, confirmed no allergies, took our menus, and left! We were SO excited to see what he had in store - Edmar chose our dishes for us and so each course was a delightful surprise. We had a fantastic meal with dishes we would not have chosen ourselves but which were all fantastic, including both the tuna and steak carpaccio, bolognese, and a shrimp alfredo special which was only available that night. The final course consisted of filet and pork belly dishes, and both were delicious. The portions were medium sized - a little larger than we would have preferred so we had no room for desert on our first visit. We returned to D'italia and Edmar/Miguel on our last night and we had another incredible experience. This time we chose our meals and again everything was great - the special that night was a pesto dish with filet and it was outstanding. Each morning we went to Cocotal for breakfast. While other restaurants do serve breakfast, we love the buffet and options at Cocotal. Our FAVORITE staff for our entire stay this time was Lu who worked as a host at Cocotal. She was incredible kind and friendly with us, recognizing us each day and teaching us some spanish each time. On one morning when it was especially busy she saw us and got us a table ahead of others which was really special - we were not in a rush but we appreciated the service! Each morning Lu greeted us and we were so happy to see her! We often sat in Alfredo's section at Cocotal, and Alfredo was always attentive to get us our usual drink order each morning. The food at Cocotal was great - we often split an omelette and a few of the pastries, and we loved to see some of the special pastries that rotated through the selection. One of the silliest things we love is the butter - this sounds crazy but the butter is so delicious, I have tried to buy so many different kinds of irish or extra creamy butter back at home but nothing beats the butter they serve here. The juice bar was new and really cool - not our thing but we had a few drinks and they were great. We spent our days usually lounging on a beach bed in the early part of the day then heading to a pool in the afternoon. We saw Ulysses from the entertainment team often at the pool or beach - we played pool volleyball and beach volleyball with him a few times and he was always a delight! He had a great personality and did a great job getting people to get involved in the activities at the resort. The nightly entertainment has improved since last year, with the live bands now performing in the bar area AFTER the main entertainment each night instead of before the shows like they did last year. The bands in rotation are all great, with Cygnus band being our personal favorite. Our biggest issue is that the bands seemed have a hard cutoff for playing which was disappointing - the sets seemed to only be a firm 45 minutes. Would love them to play a little longer! The (almost) nightly entertainment shows were all great, and Dana Kennedy was our absolute favorite performer!! She has an incredible voice and does such a fun, inclusive show with the audience. We, a couple in their late 30s with no kids, did take a day over at the Nickelodeon water park, Aqua Nick, and holy cow it was great! While this is absolutely a place for kids, it was a really fun break in our stay. The two lazy rivers were nice and the mix of slides were fun for a half day. The "snack" spots included were a drink spot, a pizza place, a chicken fingers/burger place, and a spot that served poke bowls. Unsurprisingly the chicken fingers place had a line the entire day, but the best spot was absolutely the poke bowl place which had a HUGE menu for options! Honestly I wish they had something like this for a light lunch at El Dorado. The bowl was a light and refreshing treat on a hot day. (And then they served ice cream in the afternoon.) Definitely bring some cash to get a locker. There were plenty of lounge chairs scattered throughout the water park with lots of shade. The games for kids were a hoot, and all of the staff were incredibly kind here - a level up from even the service at El Dorado - and it was very clear they were committed to safety with the amount of life guards on duty around the park. The park was only a (long) golf cart ride, and we were able to leave early to take a cart back. The artwork throughout the Aqua Nick was so cool as someone who grew up watching Nickelodeon, and the kids sure seemed to have a blast! Some feedback for the resort: 1) There has got to be a solution for the chairs at the pools! We almost never need a chair and so we just would put our things next to a tree, but SO many chairs sit unused all day. We would love to have storage cubbies to be able to stuff our bag and shirts/shoes when we go into the pool. But really some kind of a system to encourage people to not save lounge chairs all day at the pool if they at not actively using them would be great. We had a similar issue with the beach beds, but less so - we could usually find an open bed early enough in the morning - but something to discourage people from saving spots they don't need would be great. At the beach one day, two of the three beds were "saved" for 3-4 hours before the people showed up - they spent a half hour and then left, but kept their stuff there for the rest of the afternoon until they returned to gather their things in the late afternoon. What a waste! 2) Bring back the fans in Guacamayas please!! It is SO hot, especially when bands are playing. Please install some high-power fans to keep the air circulating in the bar area! 3) The massive video wall at Guacamayas felt really out of place. I realize it must have been expensive to install and sometimes there might be a cool sporting event to put on, but so often it was just a bright distraction that took away from the atmosphere in the bar. Most nights I would have rather the screens been off, showing abstract art, or just showing a live video feed from some other scenic spot than to show a sport or the "commercial break in progress" screen. A few tips for travelers from our 6 times visiting this resort: -Do not be afraid to ask for anything! The people who work at this resort are all outstanding - we meet people who have worked here for 10, 15, or 20+ years - and they are so happy to make your experience a great one. Your concierge is your ticket for fixing room issues, and when your dining do not be afraid to ask for any customization. We often ask for smaller dishes (so we can eat more variety) and the kitchens are always happy to accommodate. (For example, we like to just get every sushi roll on the menu at Kampai, but we don't want to be stuffed; they brought us just two of each which was perfect.) -Make your meals an experience! The dishes are small on purpose - get a few appetizers, a few courses, and do not miss the desert. We see so many couples come in, order a dish, and leave before we even get through our round of appetizers. Slow down and enjoy the food, you will not regret it! -House wine is always available - just ask! -Cash tips are appreciated by the staff. We tip more often than most, but we want to reward when we get excellent service! US Dollars are welcome and the most common, but pesos are OK too. -Enjoy the walk! It is a big resort, but we love spending our time walking. The carts are plentiful, though, so if you don't want to walk it does not take long (maybe 10-15 minutes at most) for a cart to come by.

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“Great anniversary trip!”

Beautiful resort. Super friendly, helpful staff! Reina and Claudia, our concierges, were awesome! We stayed away from the main pool unless the all day party scene is your thing. We stuck to the beautiful , quiet beach, which is unfortunately not swimmable (sargasso grass and concrete barriers). T… more

Beautiful resort. Super friendly, helpful staff! Reina and Claudia, our concierges, were awesome! We stayed away from the main pool unless the all day party scene is your thing. We stuck to the beautiful , quiet beach, which is unfortunately not swimmable (sargasso grass and concrete barriers). The resort was quiet so restaurants were easy you get into. Bars were plentiful. The only suggestion would be coffee, dessert, and snack stations if you didn’t wanna go into a restaurant. Entertainment was fun and shout out to Happy Band!

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“Stay away…unless you love dated mediocrity!”

The grounds are well maintained and the room was clean but extremely dark, dingy and dated. The furniture has seen better days and looks like something you’d find at a garage sale or going out of business sale for a tired hotel. It’s clear that the room I stayed in was done in the 90s and no furthe… more

The grounds are well maintained and the room was clean but extremely dark, dingy and dated. The furniture has seen better days and looks like something you’d find at a garage sale or going out of business sale for a tired hotel. It’s clear that the room I stayed in was done in the 90s and no further investments have been made. Kind of a dump with chips out of the tub and visible rust. This is a very sleepy resort. A big plus is that there are no children, but it skews very old and the activities and amenities are more limited and kind of lame. If you are a beach person who wants to swim in the ocean, avoid this place like the plague. Impossible to swim there - rocky and full of seaweed. The quality of the food was decent but very inconsistent between the restaurants. Some of them were quite good and some of them were very disappointing in terms of both food and service. The breakfast buffet in the basement of the main lobby area was consistently good every day. Lunch options were very limited, and the quality of the food was quite poor, consisting of hamburgers, pizzas, etc. I didn’t find the service staff at the bars very good. One sign of a good resort is staff who keep an eye on your drinks and keep you stocked. This place was the opposite and left you having to hunt out drinks. This was even the case when I rented a Bali bed for the day that had its own butler. He was lazy and came by twice in four hours - the first time to get my only drink and the last time to tell me he was leaving for the day and sniff around for a tip (I thought he’d left hours before based on the service level). Another thing to be leery of at this resort is the quality of the excursions. I booked a four hour tour through Lomas Travel to Tulum (one hour away). The tour took eight hours in the end and more than half of that time was gobbled up by picking up people and dropping them off at their resorts. Ours was the first one where they did pick up and the last one where they did drop off. On this milk run of pick ups they decided to stop on the side of a very busy highway for 20 minutes to try to help change the tire on another tour van that was broken down while we all waited inside with cars whizzing by. It was pathetic and dangerous. I took this up with the staff at the hotel and they were the next thing to useless. If you book a tour, make sure to ask whether it is a resort to resort milk run.

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