El Dorado Seaside Suites

This was our first time at El Dorado Seaside Palms and we had a great time.  We travelled with 2 other couples, so six in total.  These opinions are naturally subjective and everyone's experience is different. Transfers:  Our transfer from Cancun airport to El Dorado was smooth and efficient.  The Lomas Hospitality team were friendly and helpful from the time we arrived for transfers and excursions .  Our transfer was arranged through our travel agent and the return trip to the airport was arranged at the resort. The drive from the airport to El Dorado is over an hour long.  Our luggage was stored in a secure room at the end of our stay until departure time and we were provided a tag. Check in:  We checked in at the lobby on El Dorado Palm side.  It is a smaller lobby area than the Seaside Suites side, but nice, welcoming atmosphere.  Staff were very courteous and professional.  We were provided with either a refreshing, cold lemon or cucumber drink.  We had an early flight and therefore arrived at the resort by noon.   Check in time is 3:00 pm (standard for many resorts), however we did not get our rooms until 3:40 pm.  Disappointing because I feel the resort should have rooms ready at the appropriate check in time, particularly when they're aware that our arrival is so early.  Yes, guests are able to use all the amenities during their wait, but at the same time, guests want to get settled.  Also, guests can only reserve excursions and ala cartes once a room number has been assigned, so everything is delayed.  There is no wristband, you only receive 2 room key cards.  At check in time, you can download the resort app with the QR code they provide.   The app provides you with all the information you need. There was no environmental tax issued at check in, but your credit card is charged 7000 pesos for any incidentals (damage to your room, etc.) and then credited after your stay. We were shuttled to our buildings and assisted with our luggage.  We were in building 3900, 3800 and 3500. Grounds:  The Palms side of the resort is very lush, with beautifully maintained gardens and tons of palm trees.  Staff are seen regularly pruning hedges and palm trees, watering gardens and sweeping the grounds.  Very friendly!There's a fair bit of wildlife at this resort, such as the coatis, raccoons, iguanas and beautiful birds.  The coatis can get pretty bold, so keep your room doors closed and your food out of sight.  There's a young baby raccoon that hangs out near the Arrecifes pool and he's pretty entertaining.  A couple of resort cats which will accept any loving that you offer them and may even snuggle up to you at a Bali bed. Rooms:  We were on the third floor, so if you have mobility issues, that is quite a trek.  There are no elevators in these buildings.  The decor is a bit dated, but our room was always cleaned by mid morning.  The fridge was always stocked with water, beer, pop and potato chips.  There's sufficient closet and drawer space, with a safe, umbrella, bath robes, iron and board in the closet. The bathroom had a double sink.  Water and towels were replenished daily, even though we were prepared to reuse a towel and the water bottle was replaced with a full bottle, even if ours was half full.  I started putting it in the fridge or taking it with me, so as not to be wasteful.  There's a large bathtub in the room, but we didn't use it.  The shower is large with excellent water pressure and hot water.  Just a suggestion, the floor could be slippery so pack a mat or place a towel on the shower floor.  The toilet is separate with a locking door.  Air conditioning worked fine and there's also a ceiling fan. Beach and Pools:  The beach had some sargassum, but cleaned up routinely.  We stayed primarily at the Arrecifes pool with a swim up bar behind the Trattoria restaurant, but walked along some of the beach.  There's a stone wall along part of the beach and generally it's pretty stoney and rocky, so recommend bringing water shoes along.  It was unseasonably cool during our stay for several days, and therefore the pool was pretty chilly too.  Pool was clean and routinely saw staff cleaning it.  A couple sections of the base of the pool were showing wear, but given the diligence they show in maintenance, my guess is it'll be fixed sooner than later.  There's activities like Bingo, Trivia, water aerobics and music at this pool.  The music is a bit loud if you're sitting close to the speaker.  There are multiple pools.  Our buildings have ground floor swim ups which are connected to a larger pool with a swim up bar.  Lounge chairs provided with each ground floor unit.  There's another quieter pool with Bali beds.  Premium section has a pool as well.  Unfortunately, like at many resorts, you do need to get up pretty early to get a lounge chair or Bali bed.  And of course, there are those guests that don't show up for 4-5 hours.  I was up at 6:30 AM a few times, and barely any loungers were available.  There are plenty of towels at the pool in a bin and no towel cards are necessary. Restaurants/Bars/Service:   Our first evening, we basically roamed the area to get our bearings and ate dinner at the Seaside Marketplace.   There was enough to choose from but I found the roast beef extremely salty, so "hit and miss" at times.  Once we figured things out, we managed to get one ala carte dinner at the Klay Talay (Japanese restaurant).  The food was good and so was the service.   We didn't get a chance to try out the Mia Casa, but were able to enjoy a great Italian dinner at the Trattoria.  Also, we didn't bother with the Driftwood restaurant because they serve a lot of seafood.  Every night we basically lined up at the door of the restaurants by 5:30 pm and were able to get a seat.  We enjoyed the Gourmet Pub for a couple of nights.  The beef short rib, the burger, tomato soup, chicken wings were all great.  One evening we enjoyed a great meal at the Culinarium.  All the bars had great drinks and friendly service.   La Sandwicherie is outside of the Arrecifes restaurant and offers pizza, burgers, hot dogs, burritos, french fries.   Ice cream and donuts available next to it.  You can have your meal either inside the Arrecifes restaurant or outside.  It's a great place to enjoy a meal with beautiful beach scenery.  Note that some of the wildlife might take advantage of a free meal if your place is left unattended (or maybe even if you're right there lol).  The coatis and birds will scope you out. Room Service:  Everyone in our group used room service at some point and we were all very satisfied with the service and food quality.  In order to have early breakfast due to an excursion, I called the night before for a 6:30 am room service.  We were very pleased with an excellent hot breakfast promptly at 6:30 am delivered to our room. Concierge Service:  We did not need to use the concierge service, except for the one ala carte.  However, I did have questions regarding possibly using a Hospitality room to freshen up as we had a late flight out of Cancun.  Check out time is 12 noon.  El Dorado does not offer a Hospitality room.  The concierge then tried to upsell us on attending a meeting to learn about the El Dorado villas at Maroma Beach and if we chose to attend the meeting, he could offer a $100 credit towards a late check out.  Not having a Hospitality room is not a deal breaker, but sure is a nice perk.  Not keen on the "upsell".      Excursion:  With our vacation package to El Dorado we had some inclusions.  Our group did two excursions which were arranged by the Lomas representative in the lobby.  The bus left the El Dorado Seaside Suites lobby area for both excursions.  One of the excursions was to Aktun Chen Cenote and Caves.  This trip was from 11:00 am to about 3:00 pm.  If you struggle with motion sickness, the road from the highway to the caves is very windy and a bumpy dirt road, so suggestion to take Gravol before you leave.  Remember to wear suitable walking shoes for the caves and water shoes for the swim at the cenote.  The water is very cold.  The other trip was to Maroma Beach which included snorkeling from a catamaran.   We left El Dorado at 8:00 am and returned around 5:30.  If you choose to go to Maroma, but don't want to do the catamaran, it's a great day at the beach.  The sand at Maroma Beach is like talcum powder.  Your food and drinks are included. Entertainment:  From the little time we had to enjoy the entertainment, I can say what we saw was very good.  These events take place in the Plaza area in front of Palms lobby.  The fire show is exceptional.  We chose not to attend the Mexican Night, but from what I observed, it looked fantastic.  The lineups to attend or reserve a seat at the Mexican Night or Fire Show dinner start early, so plan for 5:30 pm at least.  There was a band playing at the Plaza as well.  The bar near the Arrecifes area has a band playing some nights. Smoking:  There are designated smoking areas throughout the resort, so for the guests that are smokers, not to worry.  I really didn't see anyone smoking in other areas, other than the odd individual vaping where they shouldn't be or the odd person having a smoke outside of their room.  Overall, most people were very respectful. In conclusion:  Would I return to El Dorado Seaside Palms; yes, at the right price I likely would.  The ride from the airport is longer than I prefer, but overall has more pros than cons.  The food, service, and atmosphere was very good!

We had the best week! Lizbeth and Cynthia bringing drinks on the beach. Luis and Maria are excellent leading activities from Zumba in the sea to making incense sticks and learning about the plants. We did the Balam experience with Anatachio and Juan with a Mayan sweat lodge, blessing, and dinner in the jungle which was a lifetime memory. Dinner with many choices; Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, the Pub, and you MUST try Kaab on the Palm's beach for lunch, Julian is fantastic. Butlers Julian, Azeal, and Arturo are AMAZING, and on the beach Gabriel and Celvin are there to greet you in the morning and make your beach day perfect. The staff really put this resort over the top as you can see. Perfect holiday retreat! I highly recommend.

Just back for a 2 week stay at this beachfront resort - in my honest opinion this hotel is definitely not a 5 star hotel more a 3-4 star especially for the money we paid through TUI. However, shout out to all the staff, the golf cart drivers, cleaners, waiters/esses, gardeners etc all were amazingly friendly and they work so hard but the hotel is extremely understaffed. If they had the right level of staff this hotel could be a 5 star!! The Culinarium was our favourite restaurant for breakfast and the staff (Lorenzo, William, Sandra and the lady at the front desk - can’t remember her name, there can’t do enough for you, the breakfast there was superb and had a wide choice. The Arrecife and Seaside market buffets were very good with lots of choice and the choice of drinks is very good throughout the whole hotel. It is near impossible to book the restaurants that need reservation - the Italian and the Mexican - so be sure to book with your concierge when you arrive. The Italian was lovely but the Mexican not so good. Our rooms were in need of updating as looked very tired but we had all the basic amenities, beds very comfortable, and they were cleaned thoroughly every day. Only coffee machines in the room so if you prefer tea take a travel kettle. Download the TUI blue app to report maintenance issues and order room supplies. We stayed in block 28 beachfront suite which was ideally placed and very peaceful, If you want a sunbed and especially a Bali bed on the beach though you need to be up by 6am as all the beds were reserved by 6.30am!! The hotel grounds are beautiful and we saw amazing wildlife - iguanas, raccoons, barracuda’s, sting rays, trigger fish, needle fish, an agouti, and an array of birds osprey, kiskadees, pelicans, frigate birds, grackles, woodpeckers, oriels, turkey vultures, herons and egrets to name a few and some beautiful butterflies. The weather was averaging at 27 degrees the whole time and the sea was clear and shallow. Would I come back to this hotel, probably not as there are better ones in Riviera Maya for your money but regardless we had a great holiday.

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.