El Dorado Casitas Royale by Karisma

Another amazing trip to Mexico. Casitas did not disappoint. Our butler and friends butler Ruth and Hugo were 5 star the entire week. Clemente was our daily bartender mixing excellente cocktails by the dozens was also 5 star. The entire staff left us wanting for nothing. Going back in April and can’t wait.

Overall/TLDR: • Overall feels like a higher end 4 star hotel, however rated a 3 overall due to lack of value for money. • Might be worth it if you find a deal but otherwise you are better off at another resort or a standard Dorado room. Resort: • The El Dorado Casitas Royale is badged as a separate resort to El Dorado Royale but in reality it isn't - it's essentially an upgraded room, you get nothing extra over those at the normal Dorado resort • The resort complex includes the Generations resort (not adults only), and is large - would probably take 30 mins to walk end to end but easy to navigate. • Beach isn't great - other than some smaller sections the majority is inaccessible due to rocks and the wave breakers. • There are plenty of deck chairs and Bali beds (free to use) and there was no issue with people claiming these early • There are plenty of bars but not much in the way of pool/beach drinks service Rooms: • Rooms are nice but dated in places and could do with refreshing and infrastructure upgrading - regular issues with toilets flushing and one occurrence of shower not getting hot for 20 minutes. • Outdoor shower is a bit of a gimmick - would be better served incorporating that within the indoor footprint and making the bathroom larger. • A lot of the 'space' is actually just from the high ceilings - you don't actually get much more floor space than a typical junior suite at other places Food - unfortunately where the resort falls down: • There is no dinner or lunch buffet at the El Dorado, there is one at the Generations resort but the offering is limited • There is a breakfast buffet at El Dorado but it gets very busy with long wait times - the offering is limited and they regularly ran out of popular items which sometimes weren't replenished quickly. • There are a few other restaurants that are open for breakfast on select days where the food is better and you don't need to book for these. • There are various lunch spots across the resort which don't require reservation - we generally found these to be better than the evening dinner options. • There is a range of evening restaurants but availability is an issue - reservations must be made in person (no app) and not every restaurant is open everyday. We stayed for 10 nights and could only get into the popular Italian restaurant on our last night having made the booking on our 2nd day. Value for money - another area this resort falls down on • This holiday cost us considerably more than our past trips to Mexico and underdelivered - having received a similar experience from Bahia Principe and Dreams Jade for 1/3 of the price. • The vibe I got is that they have historically benefitted long term repeat custom and are basically pricing high to take advantage of those that return our of habit or without putting much thought into looking elsewhere • Bottom line is if I had to spend this amount of money again I would not choose to stay here and would go somewhere else • Wife was quoted $230 USD for a 50 minute body massage and the same again for a facial - these were apparently the discounted prices.

I went with a friend for 4 nights and it was so much fun. The food was delicious, the staff so kind, and the amenities amazing. The room was very clean and the grounds so well kept! Leticia was our concierge and was so friendly and made our stay so much better! We will be back!

We are currently on resort now. We arrived yesterday from Toronto with an all inclusive package booked through Air Canada. Wanted to pre warn all Canadians that might have booked this package if the hotel scam to try and get you to attend a high pressure presentation for time share. To keep it brief … our flight home leaves on Sunday Dec 14th at 22.10. Our airport pick up arranged through Air Canada is 7pm. We asked today about paying for a room extension or even to pay to be swapped to another room or to use a courtesy room as check out is 4pm. Here are the options given - 1) We must check out at 12 noon as hotel is full (it is not so many empty rooms). And stay on resort until 4pm after which time we must leave despite our transfer being at 7pm. We must pay for our own taxi to airport, despite having bought an all inclusive package with Air Canada. No room extension available even if we want to pay 2.) We can pay $400 usd for a room in the El dorado royale ( Oh I thought there were no rooms available) 3) We can pay $130 usd night fee to stay on resort from 4pm to 7pm 4.) OR we can attend a time share presentation for 2 hours at breakfast and then we can stay in our own casita room until 5pm free of charges. Plus we can have complimentary massages plus our dinner at Fuentes which is an extra cost would also be free. Hmmmm scam ??? In collusion with Air Canada? Not our fault our all inclusive flight is 22.10 ?? We have phoned air canada and they have said they cannot throw us off resort at 4pm. They are contacting an Air Canada Rep on resort for us. Hoping someone can help !! And no we don’t want to attend a presentation to just get a room extension until 5pm. We are prepared to pay. They were lying that there was no availability. And top it all I couldn’t get on Trip Advisor on the hotels wifi. I had to use a VPN. Beware all Air Canada passengers that have booked the same package with a late flight.

This resort is a shell of what is once was. I really don't think any maintenance or general upkeep has been done in many years and it shows. This was my 15th+ visit and will definitely be my last. We had a large water leak over our bed and in our closet that was a constant issue during our stay. Not one person on site, even my contacts that I emailed responded, so I'm posting this to make you aware. The evening it first happened we called FOUR TIMES to the front desk, and it took 3 HOURS to get dry pillows and towels. This resort was once pristine and serene, and you felt like you were in a little piece of heaven. It no longer feels like this in any aspect. Broken locks on doors in the room, the one in the shower kept falling off. The phone didn't work. The lamps didn't have shades, just a bulb. The water faucets are just about breaking off the sink. No seal in between the outside shower door, so bugs and water get in. We had constant water leaking into puddles out of our closet ceiling, so we couldn't put anything in it, the blanket on the top shelf was soaked through. The water leaking over our bed would drip down to the pillows, so we had to move the mattress back, changing out towels every couple hours. In the past the patios were kept up with sheers for privacy and covers on the plastic beds, but no more. They patios and roofs are very damaged and shabby. Housekeeping would take plates out of other rooms by us and leave them on the stairs, and we wake to the food everywhere and animals outside the doors. The dinner reservations were worse than normal, we were told that everything was booked upon arrival, but when we'd show up to restaurants in the evening, they'd be mostly empty and seat us. Kampai was good, but Wine kitchen beef was inedible. We also were able to squeeze in to the Italian, of which they make a huge fuss because now they only offer one option, but it was just okay. I will note that all our servers at our meals were fantastic and really went above and beyond for us. Several were old friends from past visits, and made sure we were taken care of. Alexis at Sante Fe breakfast, Eliezer at Kampai, Silverio at Italian Casitas and the staff at Wine Kitchen all should be noted. We only had four sets of loungers, two broken, at our Casita pool 29, so we did try Casita 28. Unfortunately, they now blast music from open to close and won't turn it down at all when the guests ask them. We had six people one day, four reading and two others, all asked for the music to be turned down, and he said he "was trying to get more people to his pool" They are also doing this at Gaviotas. Once our absolute favorite place to relax is now treated like an upkept, cheap drink stop. Plastic throw away cups, dirty loungers and zero vibe. They even took out the nice lighting and now longer switch it over with clean cushions and glassware for the evening. No live music to be found. This was such a great vibe of past visits, but they do nothing like this anymore. If you like coffee before 9 am, you must go to a restaurant. We were really excited about the coffee shop, but it doesn't open until 9, and some days they would be out of popular ingredients by 10. The coffee pots they sit around Health bar and Gaviotas were mostly empty when we tried that as well. There is the option to schedule with room service, but when we asked for 7:45 it showed up at 6:45am!! We remember the days of having the Casitas pool attendants that would refresh the white lounger covers and get you clean towels. Now it's just old and torn brown cushions and you have to hunt down towels. One day we had to use bath towels, as we tried everywhere with no luck for pool towels. We also remember the carts coming by with the 3pm treats, no more. Several of the bali beds along the beach are broken and roped off. They also don't offer the check-in amenities with the pillow menu or room spray choices. It was just a lot of little things that all add up to make it lose what we loved. The seasoned staff you can tell are getting frustrated that things aren't getting fixed, and they have to hear it from guests. I'm so glad we don't have a membership and are obligated to come back. This place needs a major overhaul. Special thank you to Luis Alberto who has been working in the front desk staff/Shuttle staff for many years, and he is an absolute delight. What a gem of an employee to this resort!