El Dorado Casitas Royale, Catamarán, Cenote & More Inclusive

I've only been to a handful of all-inclusive resorts around Mexico, but this one was by far the worst experience I've had. It probably deserves a 1-star but I'll be nice and give them an extra star for a few staff on their resort that didn't make the experience miserable. Here are things that went wrong/recommendations: -None of the restaurants have water bottles -Half the staff don't know how to make mocktails -A majority of the staff are not friendly and really don't want you to interact with them at all -Very few bartenders go around the pool to offer you a drink -They tell you to download the app and that you can do everything on it...yet the app barely works and crashes all the time. Whenever we put through a room service request on the app it says it's completed and yet nothing happens. -All the restaurant menu's are wrong on the app. Also, all the restaurants are almost always full and overly packed. We were told they had several GF (gluten free) options but were disappointed with what we experienced. The staff also weren't trained well on how to handle us when we told them there was a GF person in our party. -Most of the staff are absolutely clueless on what's going on. This includes the concierge who pretty much is only there to make your dinner reservations for you. -Housekeeping & turn down service are at completely different times every day. Most resorts try to do it around the same time everyday so you have a good idea when they will be in your room. Nope, one day it's at 1 PM and the next it's at 7 PM. They never restocked our mini fridge bar & snacks once during our trip. However, they made sure to rearrange the beer in my mini fridge every single day. -The shuttle service here is absolutely horrible. We had to wait 20-30 minutes for a ride most of the time. If you do need a ride, you practically have to jump in front of a cart. The drivers act like they don't see you so they don't have to give you a ride. If you don't get a ride, you will have to walk endless miles to get to your destination. -The coffee machine in my room didn't work. There is actually no to-go coffee on this resort except for a Starbucks that costs extra. I called to have coffee delivered to my room and waited over 2 hours and nothing. We tried to order room service for dinner one night when it was raining, I had to call them 7 times to check on the food. It takes 2-3 times longer than they say, and half the times you call for cleaning or room service nobody answers the phones. -This is the first resort that didn't ask us how our experience was at checkout or have us fill out an exit-survey. -The phone in our room pretty much didn't work -The food was very underwhelming in terms of flavor -I've never heard 'No' so many times on a vacation. If you make an ask or request, they don't mind saying no and moving on. Nobody really wants to go out of their way to make your stay better. -Casitas doesn't offer enough to make it a standalone resort, so you will have to cross over into the royale. You will need a shuttle ride because it's miles long. Be warned however, royale is filled with wedding parties and people who want to party all the time and isn't as intimate for couples. -Shower in my room was either way too hot or way too cold most days. -Wifi wasn't working at all on the resort the last day of our trip. -The health bar was one of my favorite places on the resort but the man who worked behind the counter there everyday made it horrible. He acted upset whenever someone would walk up to order. -The few people who prevented this trip from being a complete disaster: Randy (Bartender), Carmen (Gift Shop), Macaroni (Luggage carrier), and Jose (Spa). Ricky/Ricardo (Resort Mixologist) made my wife's day when he was bartending at our pool and could make her mocktails. He was the best staff member on the resort. The chef at La Isla also went out of his way for our table one night. Aside from them, every other staff member we encountered was a negative experience.

Words can barely describe the beauty of this amazing resort. The gourmet restaurants are some of the finest we have encountered. Room service was fast, and almost everything was part of the all-inclusive. Cesar was our personal bartender for the week and did a fabulous job. He makes it a point to remember your name from the moment you tell him what it is. The pool area was beautiful and extremely well kept, as was the rest of the resort. Everyone was very professional. My only complaint was that the concierge did not seem to be trying to fulfill our requests but instead kept trying to oversell us for excursions that took too long and were overpriced. Do your own research prior to arrival. Every restaurant was amazing with incredible food. The room was fantastic with an outdoor shower experience you will never regret!! The indoor shower was beautiful, but after using the outdoor one, we never used the indoor one again! The house wine on the resort wasn't great, but they offered hundreds of other options.