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El Dorado Royale Traveler Review :: "El Dorado Royale Far From 5-Star Aspirations"

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Summary of All Property Reviews Ratings based on answers from a total of 40 reviews (All Reviews) 10 is best 1 is worst
Feature	Ranking	Feature	Ranking
Cleanliness of Property	8.97	Quality of Property	8.22
Privacy & Quietness	8.57	Quality of Service	7.70
Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff	8.43	Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience	7.08
Food and Dining Experience	7.12	Price/Value of Property	7.12
Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property)	8.85	Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach)	6.55
Total Property Score: 7.86 | Average Star Rating: 3.85 out of 5

• 65% (26 visitors of 40) said they would go back to El Dorado Royale again.
• 68% (27 visitors of 40) said they would recommend El Dorado Royale to friends.

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Word of mouth hinted at El Dorado Royale aspiring to a 5-star rating. I would say they are some time away from that achievement. It is impossible to have a bad time in the beautiful Cancun area with gorgeous weather and wonderful people, but I would not return to El Dorado Royale, and would caution my friends and family with our experiences. I have been lucky enough to travel a great deal around the world and stay at some wonderful places, and El Dorado Royale is nowhere near 5 Star.

I will preface my comments with the fact that we were there for only 3 nights, and those three nights were during the USA Thanksgiving holiday, so our experience may or may not have been typical of a longer visit or a non-holiday weekend.

First, it felt like our entire first day was wasted trying to avoid the Exotic and other tour guides and time share peddlers. You could not go to the one end of the resort without being practically forced into hearing one more spiel. When all you want is to relax by the pool or ocean with a welcome drink, and begin your vacation, a Mayan calendar is not enough to overcome the hassle of constant sales pitch babble.

The restaurants were very difficult to get reservations...we ended up with 9:30-10pm reservations every night, and could not get in to the Oriental restaurant at all. The restaurants close at 10-10:30, so I felt rushed to finish when we were the last remaining diners. The food was lackluster at best. The Steakhouse was down right terrible, with tough, chewy, overcooked steaks and bad sides. The Italian restaurant has a long way to go...don't order the fettucine, especially on lobster night. The only redeeming quality was our server. The Mexican restaurant was actually very tasty, especially the steak and chorizo main course, but it, as well as La Fontana Italian, are located right beside a loud bar that caters to wedding parties and late-night bands. There's something not quite right about blaring 80s music and standard cheesey wedding reception songs while dining by candlelight in a romantic environment. It would be nice if the party bar and nice restaurants were more separated. Especially since our heads were already ringing from the bad elevator music that they pipe in all over the resort all day long.

Most of the staff was very warm, friendly and helpful. Pedro attended the farthest casita bar and he had the most excellent service I've seen in some time. The breakfast staff at Kampai was great, and we enjoyed the two mornings that we had there...nice way to start the day with good service and a peaceful environment. Good omelettes.

Like I have noted in several other visitors' reviews, the regular rooms were fine, but nothing note-worthy. Ours was an ocean front, but it was quite a ways back from the water, and right beside the main pool. If you want a peaceful, romantic setting and can't get a casita, request an ocean front as close to the casitas as possible. The casitas looked wonderful, and were at a much more peaceful end of the resort, but we could not upgrade because they were all booked. Another issue was that we had no hot water the first day we were there, and our in-room fridge was broken for the first 2 days. Did not end up taking advantage of the in-room jacuzzi tub because of no hot water the first night, and when we ran it the second day, the water was darkly colored and had the strong sulfur smell that also permeated our bathroom.

One thing I would point out is the lack of activities at the resort. On re-reading the website description I realize now that they do only mention bikes, kayaks and paddle boats. That is all they have. Our booking agent, however, had mentioned the great snorkeling. I made the mistaken assumption that more water activities like snorkeling, sailing, etc were available directly from the resort. You actually have to drive from the resort to these type of activities (unless you bring your own snorkel gear). For our short 2-day trip, we elected to stay at the resort only and were unable to take part in these things. So, that was our choice, but just make sure you understand that snorkelling and such is not available straight from the resort.

One last comment is that you will probably never get one of the beachside palapas (small 'hut' with privacy curtains and pillows)unless you bribe a current 'claimant', and you may have to wake up at 5am to claim a lounge chair if you want to be on the beach or at any pool other than the main pool. Competition was surprisingly fierce, and not a relaxing way to begin the day. We were surprised to wander out at 8am our first day and find all of the lounge chairs already claimed.

Like I mentioned, you probably will not have a bad time with such beautiful weather, but I would not be in a rush to recommend El Dorado Royale to anyone if good food is important to you on vacation or if you have expectations of a high-class resort. It is more a standard, run-of-the-mill all-inclusive...with a litle bit of contrived Disney-esque atmosphere thrown in. We learned our lesson on how such resorts are classified, and Deluxe does not mean 5 Star.

Property Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you stay at this property again?: ... No
Would you recommend this property to your friends?: ... No
In your opinion, how would you classify the "style" of this property: ... Family Oriented
Possible Anwswers: Family Oriented, Couples Oriented, Mixed/Diverse in a Good Way, Mixed/Diverse in a Bad Way

• Cleanliness of Property: ... 10
• Quality of Property: ... 7
• Privacy and Quietness: ... 6
• Quality of Service: ... 7
• Courtesy and Hospitality of Staff: ... 8
• Accuracy of Website VS. Actual Experience: ... 5
  
• Food and Dining Experience: ... 2
• Price/Value of Property: ... 5
  
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property): ... 10
• Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach): ... 6

Destination/Island Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you visit this destination/island again?: ... Yes
Would you recommend this destination/island to your friends?: ... Yes

• Cleanliness of Destination/Island: ... 7
• Options of Activities in the Area: ... 8
• Ease of Transportation (air, taxi, bus, shuttle): ... 7
• Quality of Beaches in the Area: ... 7
• Courtesy & Hospitality of Locals: ... 8
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe in the Area): ... 8
  
• Local Restaurant Experience/Options: ... 5
• Price/Value of Destination (Does your dollar stretch?): ... 6
  

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