El Dorado Seaside Suites

My honest opinion. This place is amazing bar a couple of little quarms. STAFF Are the nicest people i've ever met, even the gardeners and cleaners always say 'Hola'. They all work so hard to keep the resort clean and tidy. My only niggle with staff was the beach waitresses. 2 of them serving right by the vegan restaurant and bringing drinks from the BBQ bar. They seem to only want to serve certain groups of people, like literally every 10 mins. Couldn't help but notice these people tipped big and with every drink brought. We did tip them too but we we're lucky if we got asked twice in the space of 6/7 hours we were on the beach. If we wanted a drink we pretty much had to go get it ourselves, which isn't beneath us, it just shouldn't be that way! ALL guests should be treated equally. So maybe a word or 2 to these ladies would help prevent further complaints. Also there are designated smoking areas within the resort as we were informed that smoking everywhere else including the beach is forbidden, and yet there were guests smoking on their loungers regardless. Maybe a few staff patrols around the resort and beach to enforce this. Why have the rule and signs up if no one is checking. The buggie drivers around the resort are great, please do tip them, they literally won't let you walk anywhere and nothing is to much trouble. 1 guy is hilarious, he shouts out ' no licence, no insurance, NOOO breaks, beep beep'. He always made us laugh! COCKTAILS Are amazing. I had a blue hawaiian in my hand pretty much all week. Hubby said the beers are pretty decent too. I love a pina colada but found the ones here way to sweet. Wines pretty good too. I had a merlot and sauvigon blanc most evenings. FOOD Very much hit and miss. 80% of the time it was barely warm. I get it with room service because the time it takes to get it from the kitchens to your room, but the restaurants there is absolutely no excuse. This does need improving. The amount of stuff we had to send back that was barely warm was ridiculous. However, we were very well looked after by the staff after we complained, which was nice as we were made to feel that they genuinely do care and want you to be 100% happy. Coffee was really good in some restaurants and bars but other ones quite weak. With room service I just requested it to be strong. RESTAURANTS For us Mia Casa ( Italian ) was by far the best. We didn't like Driftwood ( Mexican ) that was just weird! We went to the seaside market ( the buffet ) once for dinner and once for breakfast, dinner wasn't great, staff not very attentative, but breakfast was good. We did the gourmet pub once that was quite nice. Hubby liked the fish and chips. The beach bbq is amazing, by far our favourite lunch. The burgers and nachos were delicious and hot as its cooked in front of you. We booked the romantic dinner on the beach, that too was so disappointing. It cost us £160 ( around $220 ) and the food wasn"t great, plus everything was luke warm again. There was only 2 choices per serving and 1 for dessert. Portions were very small too. We felt we literally paid £160 just for the experience of eating by the beach. Getting the restaurant reservations was beyond ridiculous. We ended up going back 4 times to the concierge to try and book, to just be continuously told to go back latrr or next day, in the end we got our Tui rep to do it. SUNBEDS. Yes you will have to get up at stupid o 'clock to reserve them. We are not normally those people who put towels down but after spending our first day around 10am walking up and down the beach, then walking around the whole resort trying to find the small pools that seem to only have about 8 beds around them, then back to the beach. After about an hour of doing this we finally got 2 beds together on the beach but no umberella though, so we were burning a lot. The next day we were down the beach by 7am, went to breakfast then to the loungers. At least we didn't put our towels down and go back to bed like most. The hotel really should enforce this as it's not fair and people shouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, you're on holiday. Also as you will see in the few photos i've added, everyday a tractor was going up and down the beach taking sand from 1 end to the other. Not what you want to see or hear while you're trying to relax. Surely there has to be a better time for the hotel to do this. You won't get a bali bed, again unless you come down early. Alot of them all seemed to have reserved signs on. But we wern't bothered anyway. The sunbeds aren't the greatest, so put as many towels down as you can to pad them up. SPA OMG do it do it do it! Ask for Caroline. Iv'e had a lot of massages and spa experiences over the years but Caroline is by far the best iv'e experienced. I had a 50 min massage for £100, ( $138 ) expensive but so worth it. Cannot recommend her enough. DAY TRIPS Can't comment because we didn't do any, we were there to just kick back and relax. Plus nothing really took our fancy, but from what other guests told us they are all pretty good. ENTERTAINMENT We didn't really watch any as by 9pm we were really wiped out. We saw a little bit of an acrobat show, that looked really good. ROOMS We were in room 3711, 2nd floor. Very nice over looking the gardens. I have to say I don't know why anyone would want a swim up room as they all look to be in the shade all day, but each to their own. Our suite was really really nice. Huge bathroom with 2 round sinks, massive walk in shower that could fit 6 people at least, with a rainforest shower and smaller shower. Seperate toilet. Massive bed that could sleep 4 people. A small table and chairs and a hot tub. We used that a few times, really nice. Balcony is quite big with 2 wooden chairs and table. Lots of wild life to see too. We saw patches the cat a few times around. An iguana, lots of pelicans down the beach. Watching them dive for fish was amusing. The Coatis are so cute too. They do try to come into the outdoor restaurants but the staff encourage you not to feed them. Lots of pretty birds to see too. I would say try and remember to bring everything and plenty of it because we found the shops on the resort very expensive. £18 ( $24 ) for a box of immodium and only 8 tablets. A bag of doritos was £10 ( $14 ). All in all its an amazing resorts with lots to see and do. Wonderful, helpful friendly people. They just need to work on getting the food hot in our opionion. Would we return? YES, if the opportunity arose we would definetly go back!

Late Review 24.12.25 - 07.01.26 Flight from Birmingham with TUI private transfer within one hour to our location Kantenah Bay Riviera Mayo. Smooth check in golf buggy to garden view room 3812 overlooking Gaviotas swim up bar to the left. Large clean room a little dated as most reviews say but clean and kept clean by our lovely maid Edmerita. Our first night we ate food in the Gourmet Bar Pub our least favourite restaurant. Our favourite eating restaurant was the Seaside Market for breakfast more variety and staff worked very hard to accommodate us. We did try Arrecifes a few times but was less selection for breakfast also went for midday lunch and the TUI blue ladies were excellent waitresses on our return one day they were not there and a poor service only two waiters for the whole restaurant. Jodi was always polite and courteous shame she wasn’t serving everyday. Italian restaurant is a must to visit Mia Casa which we ate in twice during our stay. Brilliant food and service. Culinarium restaurant was a once only visit we tried a couple of times but was holding private functions without prior notice. During our evening meal we went to the Seaside Market possibly our favourite restaurant because of the staff and high food quality a huge shout out for ALEX he is just on a different level to anyone else with enthusiasm for visitors needs. Bars during day and evening were busy but served within minutes due to staff hard work. Our daily barman Ubaldo who was in Guacamayas Bar friendly and polite. If you are vegetarian or vegan visit KAAB and try Bibimbap starter, plant based burger or pastor mushroom tacos you will not be disappointed sat under a canopy on the beach. Overall a wonderful time at this resort celebrating Christmas and New Year with fireworks and brilliant entertainment.

I don't know why im bothering because no doubt IF I get a response it will be the same copied and pasted reply that Lomas throw out!. I'll try to be brief... 1. Black mould in our very dark room 2. Food in all restaurants luke warm at best 3. Menus do not correspond with what ends up on the plate 4. No cushions on beach sunbeds 5. Only cushions around the ,activity, pool when you can't hear yourself think! 6. Spa is EXTORTIONATE!! Do haggle! 7. The gardens and wildlife are amazing 8. Pools are freezing!!! All the hotel did when we complained about the food and the fact they run out of cutlery, glasses etc was pre book the speciality restaurants for us, something we could easily do.... nothing more or less...same rubbish food !!! So many people co plain ed when we were there!! It's definitely NOT a 5 star hotel..it's a partial All inclusive with an upsell, timeshare vibe!! Co.w on Tui blue...do better!!!

We booked for Christmas and new year as we had stayed here 9 years ago when it was the Sensimar Seaside Suites and Spa and was a luxury holiday in paradise, we always said we would return. how wrong were we to revisit. We stayed on the Palms side of the resort which we knew would be quieter or so we thought, that is the first thing that had changed. the beach etc were still lovely but you need to reserve your bali bed or even a sunbed early as people go to watch the sunrise which is beautiful and they reserve the beds at the same time, we went to relax and not worry about getting a bed so we booked a swim up room but never actually used it as the water was freezing, the swim up rooms all seem to be in the shade until late afternoon. weather was 27 - 30 degrees and we did get a lovely tan. We were in a newly refurbished room which looked lovely when you first see it but the decorating looked like a blind man had painted it. The food was no where near as good as when we went previously, the food was never piping hot unless you went to the grill bar on the beach for ribs, steak, burgers etc at lunchtime where they cooked it to order while you wait, this was very popular and had to queue. Drinks are very watered down and mainly ice, no longer premium drinks. Supposed to be all inclusive but a lot of upselling for special evenings and add on's ie Chinese restaurant now want an extra 25USD per person and a very limited menu, If you like using the spa and have Massages which we do, last time it was amazing so we asked the price for a couples massage and he said $420 to which we said someone had told us yesterday $240 to which he replied I have to start somewhere, as you will guess we didn't have massages as they are just in it for the money. only very few in the hotel now Staff were not all friendly only a few, our experience we have always said that the Mayan people were lovely. We did Book with the TUI rep the $1 trip to Playa Del Carmen which gives you 2hr 30 mins shopping on 5th Avenue on a mini bus ( 8 people) they go 3 times a day and you book the best time for you, they take you to where they make and sell Jewellery and the Tequila tasting on the way. If you go on this trip please take note and lots of photos where the mini bus drops you off and the street name as we got totally lost even taking photos only made it back in time with 4 minutes to spare. Happy to answer any question if you have any...

My husband and I have been here for 2 days and are absolutely loving it. Don’t listen to the bad reviews. Come here and make your own mind up. Yes, the rooms do smell a bit foisty and some of the furniture looks a bit old but how long do you actually spend in the room? Plus when you’re asleep you can’t smell anything. The room is big. Huge comfy bed. Big bathroom - could do with updating, massive jacuzzi bath which we haven’t used yet (well, I washed my clothes in it!!) Mini bar which is restocked daily. Lovely coffee machine, no kettle so can’t have a cup of tea in a morning just coffee but no biggie. The staff work so hard to keep the place spotless and it is. They are all so friendly and welcoming. The restaurants are great. Fabulous food. The drinks are tasty. Strawberry daiquiris are delicious. The beach is perfect but you do have to be there early to get a sun-bed. There are fresh towels for you to use on the beach. The only disappointing thing so far is that we went for a game of pétanque earlier which was meant to be part of the entertainment and there was no one there. Don’t think the entertainment is that brilliant but then we’re only a couple of days in. So pleased we booked here to celebrate my husband’s 60th birthday. Perfect.