El Dorado Seaside Suites

We are repeat guests to El Dorado hotels in Mexico. We have stayed at the Casitas multiple times and also Maroma Beach. We have a “Standard” that the group of hotels have set, and I would say Seaside fell short a little. The Good: Always the staff! This is consistent. They will go very far out of their way to do what they can to make your stay enjoyable. Sebastien our concierge, Efrain the beach bartender (dude was incredible), Genny our breakfast server and the spa!!! I loved the spa gang! Daphne, Alberto, and Ruben(massage magician) The grounds: beautiful grounds at all of the combined 3 resorts. Lots of time spent manicuring, always a place to sit and enjoy the grounds. They work hard and keeping the beach beautiful and the snorkeling is great! The food: while it was not the best I’ve had, it was good everywhere we went. You will never be hungry. The carrot and coconut soup was amazing, the vegan restaurant was a surprise and it was amazing (I’m not vegan or vegetarian) the breakfast buffets were great will loads of choice. The “Room for Improvement”: Accommodation: we paid for beachfront and definitely got it. Building 25 with a balcony. It’s directly in front of the main party beach bar. It’s extremely loud, even with double glass doors. This room is only good for those that plan to be in that bar till the music is off at 1am. It should never be booked for 50+ year olds. 😳 We asked to be moved but it would have been several days before they could move us. Too inconvenient. We slept with Nytol. The room cleaning was hit and miss with them having forgot us all together 1 day, and taking our towels on another day and leaving us none after returning from a 10 hour excursion. We needed our jetted tub fixed ( was filling with black sediment), our shower fixed ( barely a trickle of water) and our phone stopped working while trying to order room service. Our poor concierge handled it all like a champ, but it made for unnecessary vacation interruption. Resort Reservation system: Ouf. This was rough. Imagine being told that there were no reservations available for you the day after you arrive. This should never be the case and you should not need to take matters into your own hands and run between resorts begging restaurants to take you at 9:30pm. The system is broken and needs a fix. The night buffet is fine for a night, but with 5-6 other restaurants to choose from it should not be your only option. 5pm and 9pm are not when most people eat. We did not get to enjoy the Mexican party, or the street food party. They were overbooked. We did find a way to eat everywhere else by dining very late and tipping large. 😎 The resort was clearly at capacity and struggling during our week. We absolutely still enjoyed our stay, but with so many great competing options, we will likely not return.

Just come back from here which was suppose to be a special holiday for my husbands 60th birthday. Tui BLUE it is not. Room was very dated and not clean. Most restaurants are sit down service and you have to wait 1-2 hours every night to get seated. Only one available to book for Tui guests is the Italian which is like gold dust. Meals are very small, we did go to the buffet restaurant once which was nearly an hour wait by the time we got in most food had run out. You to be down for a sun bed by 7am or your not getting one, 3 hr wait for sunbed towels. Even though it’s all inclusive they try and upsell everything from sun beds to a table for 2 at events which start from $50 (which is the cheapest bottle of wine)

Absolutely a gorgeous resort where staff work exceptionally hard to maintain and continue the beautiful landscape. The staff are all incredible - including Celvin at the beach who was always trying to make guests' experience wonderful, to the amazing restaurant staff who create yummy meals for everyone's enjoyment and all of the concierges, but my special ones were Rodrigo and Luis, who elevate your vacation by trying to assist in any way imaginable! EXTRA shout out to my favourite, Alex Gil at Guest Services who went so above and beyond to provide additional support during a medical crisis and he followed up to ensure help was always readily available! Staff make this vacation destination one that visitors should be excited to enjoy and return for repeat vacations.

This hotel offers a truly exceptional experience, with comfortable rooms, excellent service, and beautiful surroundings that make every stay enjoyable and memorable.

Other than a one-day visit off a cruise some years ago, e have never visited Mexico before. Looking for somewhere hot accessible by a single-leg flight from the UK, we opted for the TUI Blue El Dorado. And we are so glad we did, amazing place. It has two parts, the Suites, which is a co-located hotel and the Palms, a series of blocks set in the grounds; both surrounded by beach on one side and the jungle on the others; we opted for the latter. Accommodation: Our Junior Suite was lovely even though it is technically the more basic level. A large bedroom with king-sized bed and en-suite with french doors out onto a lovely balcony over-looking the gardens. It was immaculately clean although some of the fit and finish was a little dated. We are seasoned Cuba campaigners and compared with Cuba, this was much more up to date. The housekeeping staff were excellent with the complimentary fridge being re-stocked daily with beer, soft drinks and snacks. Overall, very good. Food & Drink: There are numerous restaurants and snack bars and the overall quality was excellent and the staff, exceptional. Point to note. There is a weekly programme issued showing the when and where for food-related activities. It is a bit confusing at best and inaccurate at worst. E.g. There is a Mexican Restaurant, officially. Officially, there is no Mexican Restaurant, the Arrecifes Restaurant does Mexican on some nights. If you go looking for "The Mexican" you will be searching in vain. Also, not all restaurants are open every day, but the programme doesn't make this clear. On one evening, there was a Beach BBQ. What the programme didn't mention was that the Sea Market, which is the big buffet, closed on that evening and effectively the only place, other than a couple of the A La Cartes, was the only place you could get anything to eat. On another evening, there was a Day of the Dead celebration which was apparently in the Plaza Zocalo, the main area in front of Reception. Click on the link on the TUI Blue App and it said, "Join us on the beach to ......"; the beach and Plaza Zocalo are not the same place at all. Apparently there is an American Grill. there isn't. It's actually the "Gourmet Pub". This contradiction and multi-naming made it un-necessarily confusing for the first few days until we got our heads around it. That aside, the food was really good and the range of offerings, pretty much up there. And no, neither of us got Montezuma's Revenge! Beach & Gardens: The second one first. The gardens are simply wonderful. Loads of shade provided by the palm trees and everywhere is maintained to an incredibly high standard. The complex is simply dropped into the jungle and wildlife is in abundance, from the shy but lovely Agoutis, which are like large guinea pigs to the cheeky 'trash panda' raccoons to the simply enchanting Coatis which will happily take food from your hands, there is loads to see and experience. The only possible negative was the signage giving directions to everywhere which were, at best confusing. After a few days, I believe I got my head around them but even after two weeks, I am not sure I am right. They are blue with white writing with names of the places. But where those places are, is not clear. I think, but am not sure, that if you see a sign with a place name and an arrow, that means you should follow the direction of arrow, which would appear straightforward. However, approach the same sign from the opposite direction and it looks exactly the same! The only difference is that one side also has arrows while the other side doesn't. My assumption is that if there is no arrow, you assume that the place is actually behind you. Mind you, after a few days, you will get your head around the place anyway. The beach itself was lovely. Extremely long with loads of loungers and sunbeds. The hotel has a policy that if you try and reserve a bed and then leave it for two hours, your property will be removed and placed in lost-property. A sound system and with only one exception, we never saw anyone taking advantage. The water is lovely but, due to erosion risks, there is an artificial break-water, like a mini-reef, around a hundred meters out from the beach. This means the water is very shallow and there is a bit of weed but nothing compared to other places we have been to such as Punta Cana. Again though, everything is maintained to a high standard and is exceptionally clean aided, perhaps by the fact that the hotel is strictly no-smoking, except for a couple of designated areas. Big shout-out to Lizabeth for her continuous delivery of Mango Daiquiri to our sunbeds, delivered with an irrepressible and beautiful smile, daily. Entertainment: We have visited several places around the Caribbean and the entertainment has been, to be kind, mixed. Jamaica was fun but a bit amateur-hour, Cuba was a lot of fun but primitive and Dominican Republic was hilarious if only for the complete absence of talent on display. The Entertainment at El Dorado was simply superb. Day time entertainment is excellent, delivered through an amazing team. On this we have to give a massive shout-out to Ixchel who is simply lovely and made our holiday truly special. Evening entertainment was really good too, from the solo musicians playing in the Plaza Zocalo in the early evening to the acts who appeared in the Guacamayas Bar a little later on, through to the big show events such as Mexico Day and the Day of the Dead celebrations which were simply stunning. Overall, there is little I can point out with any serious kind of criticism. My wife and I have been all over the world and to loads of different hotels etc but for this place, we have made a lifelong exception. We have loved some places but we have never been to the same place twice. For El Dorado, we are making an exception and are already planning to go back again next year. The hotel is wonderful and there was so much we would have wanted to have done but didn't have the time and are extremely confident that even after another two-week break, there will still be more to see and do. We needed a relaxing break in a lovely environment and we got it in spades. I can't recommend it highly enough.