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El Dorado Royale Traveler Review :: "Stayed Jan-2004 at the Eldorado Royal, a Spa Resort"

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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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My wife and I (we’re in our mid 30’s)stayed at the El Dorado Royale for 1 week. We are fairly well traveled but have only stayed at 2 other all-inlclusives separately. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here as an R&R Vacation. I will detail some areas:
THE ROOM:
Our standard junior garden suite was quite delux. At least 600 sq/ft with king bed, nicely marbled floor, spacious bathroom with soaker tub, table and 2 chairs, stocked minifridge, safe, 2 person jacuzzi, remote controled air conditioning and 21' TV. Only complaint here was the worn saggy bed, but they gave us a new mattress within hours!
THE SERVICE:
We give it top marks. Workers are eager to please and generally quite friendly. Delicious food with lobster twice a week at most restaurants. We enjoyed champagne and OJ on a few mornings with a make-your-own omlet. You can get a decent steak for lunch at the main restaurant and the lunch menue their changes daily. Service was faster but food was slightly lower quality. One big tip: anyone wearing a shirt with 'Exotic Travel Club' on it wants you to buy a timeshare. We were even told that the presentation would only take an hour an that they did not want to sell us anything!
FOOD: Excellent with good variety and great presentation. Yes, our orders got mixed up a few times, but hey, its Mexico and being all-inclusive, we didnt feel obligated to eat anything we didnt like. In fact, I sometimes ordered 2 of a dish if It was good. Food was usually higher quality at restaurants needing a reservation and was well worth a slightly longer wait (still faster than your average restaurant back home). However, one big hassel was the restaurant reservation process and having to get up early 2 times a week only to wait 30-60 minutes to meet with the only one person that makes reservations for all 5 restarants (on paper) for the entire resort! When I asked the reason for this the answer was so that they had more control over the reservations. Well if that's the case, how come the earliest reservation we got all week was at 8:30 PM? Surely a computer database program would be more efficient and could handle priorities etc. With this resort expanding I would hope that this process and the restaurant seating capacity will change.
DRINK:
Good variety of mixed and blended tropical drinks. Service on the beach was touch and go. I found it odd that they have 3 different tequilas and 4 kinds of scotch but no bottled Corona or Sol beer! They only have Tecate and Tecate light by the can and DosEquis on tap. This must be a cost saving measure plus cans are safer. Red and white wine was from the Baha and are decent. Premium bottles are avail. for an extra charge.
GROUNDS/FACILITIES:
Very clean, nice layout and landscaping. Daily activities we're on the poor side with the equipment in need of maintenance and the activity guides didnt care. The gym had 3 stationary and 2 reclined bikes, 2 treadmills, 1 oliptical trainer, a universal-type machine, barbell rack, and dumbells up to 50 lbs. We did not visit the spa as it was a bit pricey considering the cost of labour($55 US for a 1/2 hour massage). Don't expect a wild night life here, they do offer a VIP shuttle to a hapening club in Cancun for $30US I think. The last resort bar closes at 2am.
THE BEACH:
The beach has the fine white sand and turquoise water you can expect from the caribbean with mesh lounge chairs and some thatched palapas for shade. there was a steady off-shore wind most days that brought up to 4 ft waves with witecaps. Rows of huge sandbags 50-100 ft off-shore block the pounding surf and make ocean swiming possible. you can wade across this artificial lagoon in parts and the bottom is a mix of sand and mostly dead coral. The snorkeling was disappointing and so was the lack of watersports. The space is too limited within the lagoon for ameteur sailing or windsurfing and the ocean is too rough outside the wave barricade. The only watercraft available are plastic double kayaks and pedal boats so if you're into water sports you may want to consider a different resort. The peir is still damaged from the huricaine and is closed off.
Overall we think this resort is great for those wanting R&R without kids and are more concerned with food and drink quality/variety over activities. If you alway travel 5 star and you're really pickey then you may want to shop arround. Because the area of Mexico has alot to offer, adventure seakers may want to chose a non-all inclusive resort an outsource your activities. You can get your open water PADI in Playa Del Carmen for $300 US...I'm not sure how much the resort charged for the certification...I'm sure more. Its important to remember that the area and resorts are always changing and some comments are only subjective. Some of our complaints and praises were put down on our on-site comment sheets to help the resort change for the better. One last tip: Always lock up any kind of valuable in your room safe(if it will fit). We met a couple that experienced a theft from their room but I think that this can happen on any resort. The resort was a nice break from our usual choose-your-own adventure travelling but now I need to loose the weight I gained!! ;O)

Property Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you stay at this property again?: ... Yes
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: ... 8
• Quality of Service: ... 9
• Courtesy and Hospitality of Staff: ... 8
• Accuracy of Website VS. Actual Experience: ... 7
  
• Food and Dining Experience: ... 9
• Price/Value of Property: ... 7
  
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property): ... 6
• Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach): ... 7

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: ... 5
• Options of Activities in the Area: ... 9
• Ease of Transportation (air, taxi, bus, shuttle): ... 8
• Quality of Beaches in the Area: ... 8
• Courtesy & Hospitality of Locals: ... 8
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe in the Area): ... 8
  
• Local Restaurant Experience/Options: ... 9
• Price/Value of Destination (Does your dollar stretch?): ... 8
  

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