El Dorado Seaside Suites

We had such an amazing time at el dorado seaside palms. Our room was spacious and clean with great access to the beach. The beach was clean and tidy, with workers working around the clock to keep the beach and resort tidy. We never had a bad meal at any of the restaurants included, all the drinks we had were delicious. Staff were fantastic and so helpful. We loved the included tours with more inclusive. Highly recommend this resort and would return.

The property is quite large, the seaside suites side is the party side and the palms is a calmer side but it does have a fun bar in the evening The entertainment was amazing and not cheesy or gimmicky. Really talented people. The beach is smaller, but it’s a good beach and there’s always enough chairs and the bali beds are free on the beach and the pools There are several pools The food is by far the best I’ve ever had at any all-inclusive and the variety is unreal There are already a ton of restaurants and bars At one of them, you can get seafood and ceviche at lunchtime it’s amazing. There’s a beach grill that you can get ribs at it’s fantastic The drinks are not watered down The rooms are big The rooms in block 3700 were updated and the room we had in 3600 was not updated so you have to ask that. The tours that are included (for Canada) are unbelievable. The service is top notch. They take very by good care and pay attention to you. Even servers on the beach My only complaint would be reservations at the best 3 restaurants are a bit tough to get.

December 1st to 11th ~ This was out 3rd visit to EDSP, we have gone the last 2 Decembers in a row now and this year we stayed in a Luxury Jr Jacuzzi suite (Building 18, 2nd floor) and prior to arrival had requested to be put into either building 16, 17 or 18 and the Guest Services Manager came through with our request. It had a fabulous view of the grounds and the ocean and was in a really quiet locale. Room was spacious, spotless and the bed was the most comfiest mattress we have ever slept on, best sleep I have had in months! The jacuzzi tub was my 4 p.m. bubble bath/cerveza time, loved every moment soaking in it. Food in all the restaurants we went to (we did not do Klay Talay as Asian food is not our style) was outstanding, never had a bad meal anywhere. We went to Seaside Market Buffet breakfast every morning as they have so many food options available, there truly is something for everyone.. Really tough to get reservations for the restaurants that require them at a reasonable time while we were there, anything past 8:30 pm is a no go for us. I suspect it is a staffing issue (due to influx of displaced travelers that were going to Jamaica) with the hotel at max capacity and that there isn’t enough cooks and servers to handle opening more tables in each one. Overall we really enjoyed all the restaurants we went to and we both were pleasantly surprised at the Culinarium menu, it had changed since December 2023 and it was simply amazing (tip – definitely try the Carrot soup with Cardamom foam!) Bars are all fab, we always ended up at Cotorros Bar around 3 p.m. for an early happy hour and then again after dinner. The bartenders Antonio, Cynthia, Estefany, Martha and Tiburcion made our visits there special! We loved them all, especially Antonio! Grounds are immaculate as usual, this is what we love about the Palm side, the stunning scenery, gorgeous plantings, hundreds of towering Palms. I would go for a 3.5 km walk every morning (working off breakfast lol) and I know I took over 300 photos of all the different plants/flowers, etc. I just marvel at how well maintained the grounds are (the gardeners are always working so hard and are all so friendly) and the thoughtful way they grouped their plantings. We also look forward to seeing Patches every year and we also got to meet the new addition Romeo! Adorable resort kitties that are both very vocal lol. The only negatives we came across is that the resort is lax at enforcing the No Smoking rule on the property. We encountered many, many people smoking/vaping at bars, pools, beach, room patios, anywhere they felt like it. There is a countrywide ban on smoking in public except in designated areas but the resort needs to clamp down on people thinking they can smoke/vape wherever they want. I have no desire to be exposed to second hand smoke by selfish, inconsiderate people. The other negative was the lack of enforcement of the dress code at dinners at the a la cartes, we witnessed people going into La Carreta and the Gourmet Pub in bathing suits for dinner, cut off jean shorts, board shorts, t-shirts, flip flops, etc. Why have a dress code if the resort is not enforcing it? The resort portrays a fine dining experience, they are doing a disservice by not enforcing the dress code, thereby dragging down their hotel star rating. Other than those 2 negatives, we do love the resort for what it is and what they provide. We hopefully will return next year as we have not found another resort that has just about everything we like/require in a resort , they just need to clean up the smoking/dress code issues.

We had the best time at El Dorado Seaside Suites and Palms! The entertainment team (Benjamin and Loana) were fabulous! They had super funny games and competitions every day. The silent disco was really fun as well as pool games, karaoke, bingo nights, the fire show and the acrobat show. We loved the "more inclusive" excursions! We did the beach/ catamaran/ swimming with sea turtles, and the Bonanza Ranch excursions. It was hard to believe that they were free because they were so much fun. We actually liked some of the free excursions we took even more than the paid ones we bought. My husband and I were on our honeymoon and the resort made sure it was recognized. They surprised us on our 5th night with a beautiful "Happy Honeymoon" display on our hotel room bed. They also gave us a few upgrades and were just really great about it. The resort it's self was beautiful- you can actually swim in the ocean, unlike other resorts we have gone to where it is difficult to get through the seaweed or rocks along the shore. It was HUGE- we are pretty active but had to take the shuttle a few times if we were trying to get to the other side of the resort, just because it is so large and there is a lot to explore. The food was also great! They have taco bars set up outside just about every night (unless it was raining) and we really liked the "make your own ceviche" in the Driftwood restaurant. Thank you so much for such a great vacation El Dorado Seaside and Suites. Now adjusting to the -20 degree weather back in Canada is our only downside. We will be back!

Returned to El Dorado Palms via TUI after such a good holiday last year. Grounds and rooms still spotlessly clean and majority of staff really friendly. One of the first differences to last year was the price of Premium room - they were so expensive compared to what we paid last year. Waited to see what our allocated room was like and it was great (Block 37). Liked the jacuzzi bath being in the main room, bed really comfy. Decent minibar (including crisps!!). Only down side was the mattress, bedding and towels not as good quality as premium and was a bit further out from lobby area but no complaints and saved us a fortune! Food generally good. Loved the breakfast and lunch choices. Evening dinner variable. Disappointing there’s limited choices when a big event on. An improvement was seating in bars at night. Much more comfortable than before but not enough. Also might be worth the bartenders removing cushions when raining or have towels nearby when people have been sat in wet beachwear. Not nice in evening wear to sit on wet cushions! Don’t expect the traditional Caribbean beach. This is, to me, what really lets this resort down. Stones in the sand and lots of seaweed. Cloudy dull water. Photos make it look better than it is. Also uncomfortable sun loungers. Lovely photo opportunities around the resort. Buggy’s transfer between Palms and Seaside but only seem to drop off at lobby this year. Had a lovely spa experience but had to go to the reception to get the better price. Extortionate otherwise!! Hydrotherapy experience and couples massage about £185 GBP. This year it was much busier due to redirected guests from Jamaica. Felt understaffed at times but the staff that were there worked hard to keep up. If you’re with TUI, the reps weren’t the best. Last year we saw them at the pool area regularly but this year you had to go to the office. Not that forthcoming with trip advice or helping to upgrade flight home. Also paying for Klay Talay if TUI guests is an insult! ‘members’ get priority for restaurants as it is let alone now charging if not a member. And who knows how to be a member???! All in all a great holiday but partly because of the price being discounted due to going from a different airport. Not worthy of the original price quoted. Would say it’s 4 maybe 4+ stars but definitely not 5. Lastly I have to give a big shout out to ‘Sexy’ Luis at the pool - he’s a credit to you. Fun and friendly and can hold his audience!! Also his dance partner!! She’s fab at aqua fit! Must also mention Jose Luis who was our housekeeper. Kept our room lovely and clean. And not forgetting Petunia!!!