El Dorado Casitas Royale by Karisma

Not as nice as it has been in the past. May have to think seriously if we will return next year. The facility is less lush and well maintained as it has been in the past. The foods are ok, not great. However the addition of the coffee/ice-cream bar was a nice surprise. Shows are just OK, no afterhours bands. If it is a rain day, bring your own games or a good book, there is no where to get these on site.

I love this place, which is why I keep coming back to Casitas. I've traveled here both with my husband as well as on a girls' trip with a couple friends and I think June 2025 was probably my 7th or 8th visit. Always had a great time and this was again true last week. I had not been back to El Dorado since Lomas took over from Karisma, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't notice any huge changes. They now offer a shuttle to Maroma Beach (which makes perfect sense as the beaches at El Dorado are not really usable), though we didn't take advantage. They got rid of one of the Italian restaurants and replaced it with a Mediterranean restaurant, though weirdly the menu still says D'Italia on it and there's no new signage. Lomas seems to be trying some new activities on the resort, which are welcome. I saw something like "BBQ Recipe Contest" which sounded cute but I was busy at the Spa when it was happening. (Speaking of the spa, I had two wonderful facials there and can't wait to go back. I just wish the prices were set and not negotiable; I paid the (way overpriced) retail rate for my Sacred Ritual facial because I wasn't in the mood to haggle over the pricing, but a few days later I was able to get a Vit C facial for about 50% off the listed price. Getting the price down felt very much like buying a car - "let me see what I can do" etc - and it just seems unnecessary for both the staff and the client. I wish they would just reduce their prices but keep them firm.) Nighttime entertainment was fine. There is usually music at 8:30pm and then a show starts around 9:45pm. The highlight of music for us was JuanRas Trio, they were just incredible and so entertaining. Could not say the same for Blackcow Band... they were very sweet and reminded me of a high school band, all members look to be about 17 or 18 years old, and the singer needs to take some voice lessons. It is a cute act but probably too green to be singing at a big resort. (The Cygnus Band is okay. They remind me of a wedding band, which is a compliment, but they should probably refresh their act. I've probably seen them six times at this point and the poor lead singer has to make that "Shaggy" joke to the audience every single time. He must be dead inside at this point.) The food is better since Lomas took over, with the exception of Santa Fe. Our food there was not good at all and it took forever to arrive at our table. Instant mashed potatoes at a steakhouse? Yuck. We heard others express similar opinions later. So we probably won't go back there. Had great meals at Isla, Kampai, Spot, D'Italia, etc. The bartenders were always friendly and attentive. The room was, as usual, very clean and well equipped. I am obsessed with the outdoor shower, which is so, so nice. I wish we had a "do not disturb" sign to use, but the last few times I've visited, they haven't been in the room. Mini bar was always full and my only wish was that instead of beer, the hotel also offered mini wine bottles. I loved taking Yoga in the morning and the instructor was great. She probably needs a microphone/speaker so you can hear her (it's tough given the outside noise) but she does a great job creating a challenging flow that is accessible to all levels. Finally - it was nice to see the animal control guy walking around with his dog, Laila. He said she's there to chase the coati back into the woods. I love this idea and think it's a great alternative to other methods (like poison). I'd love to see fewer mouse poison boxes on the resort; with the number of outdoor cats living around the hotel, you would think that they would not need poison to control the rodents. Spay/neuter those cats and let them do their thing!

This was our 6th time to stay in the casitas and we had the best butler ever - RUBEN took care of everything we needed, every day of our stay! He anticipated our needs and was on top of it! The Italian restaurant at the casitas was absolutely wonderful! Breakfast buffet at Cocotal has been expanded and we loved it every morning. Crepes and omelets were my favorite. Seafood soup delicious! The only negative this trip was the menu at Kampai. I always look forward to eating sushi for lunch every day, but they only have 6 rolls on the menu now and it's basically a chuck of rice with a speck of fish on it - not the quality or quantity we expected. It's more of a Thai menu now (previously Japanese menu). We didn't have time to try the sushi at Palms in Generations, but will next trip.

Our trip started badly as transportation was not set up and we had to ride in the Lomas shared shuttle. At check-in we sorted this out and received a $200 credit. We stayed in 3204 a honeymoon private pool swim up and loved it. We didn’t do the beach thing as unfortunately the Sargassum was bad, but still enjoyed our pool, the lazy river, and the swim up bar area. Every Friday is the foam party. Section 32 has a seafood lunch available everyday, which was fine, but would like it to also include beef, chicken, and/or pork added. We did room service everyday for breakfast, which was fine. Tried out most of the restaurants with the Italian Casitas chef table the best. You have to pay more for this, but well worth it. Rebeca, Jairo, and Omar made the experience wonderful. Our butler service from Miriam, Antonio, and Cuahutemoc was amazing. We would however like the Diamond private butler service for “follow me” members sorted out and more shuttles available to all butlers. The rooms are starting to show their age and we hope for renovations in the near future. Overall we had a wonderful time and look forward to returning in November.

Stayed in May 2025. 4th time staying here now. Once at El Dorado and 3rd time in Casitas and though we had some reservations as it was the first time under new management, we were happy that it was as wonderful as ever. A few minor gripes: Although we still love the Casita suite (we just had a regular one in block 26 this year) it is looking a bit tired in places now and could do with some TLC. We had a leak from the outdoor shower due to the sea around the door failing and though it was reported nothing was ever done about it. We resorted to plugging the leak with a flannel. Concierges - now you don’t need them to book restaurants I can’t see what else they usefully do unless you’re willing to spend money with them, in which case they jump to it. Ours was disinterested at best. Entertainment – They used to have bands on later in the evening than 9.30 at Guacamayas on the El Dorado side. It would be great if they could bring that back! Now on to the positives, of which there are many more: The grounds are immaculate and so well looked after. We loved just strolling around and would get so many steps in over the course of a day doing this. The food for us was as good as it’s ever been. Still love the rooms despite the gripe above. Great size, comfortable and cleaned to a high standard every day. Always plenty of beds available either around our Casita pool or on the beach. Every member of staff works so hard and is so polite and friendly. We never met a bad greeter, waiter or barman. Shout out to Luis who was tending the Casita 26 pool bar the week we were there in May and looked after us every day. A credit to the hotel. We already can’t wait to book our next trip back.