El Dorado Seaside Suites

We arrived at approx 5pm on Christmas day and after a long flight all we wanted to do was get to our room and relax , HOWEVER after filling in the relevant paperwork we were then told in length the layout of the hotel (which we could have worked out for ourselves once in and unpacked ), so eventually hit the room at 6:30pm The rooms are spacious (Beachfront Junior Suite) , however tired and in need of updating I think, not sure there is a need for an whirlpool bath but it's in there The beach is kept clean , however if you want a Bali Bed or sun lounger on the front row then you need to be up early ( I witnessed a gentleman with a head torch one morning, putting towels on beds when I was up early and waiting for the sunrise ) If you want to book a restaurant as a TUI customer you must use the consiages in the main reception, as the ones who sit in the booths only deal with "the members".(to clarify "member" it's the people who have timeshares on the site). We ate in the Italian one evening and were initially told that it was fully booked for the time we wanted, however from the photo I attached it appears that the tables are booked up "just in case" a member decides to eat there. I know of one person who just walked in one night and asked for a table and eventually after discussing the amount of empty tables, they were let in. Service at the bars was sometimes slow as the staff would finish their conversations with each other before attending to the person at the bar , unless you were a Non TUI guest. The hotel grounds are immaculatly kept with constant attention by an array of staff ALL staff are friendly and will do anything you ask. Beware of the wildlife while eating outside tho we had a Coati on our table one morning eating what breakfast I didn't want after it had pinched a pastry from my husbands plate . I highly recommend eating at the Frontara bar which has a BBQ at lunch time with ribs,burgers,steak,kebabs and chicken drumsticks We booked the TUI trip to Tour of Chichen Itza’s Maya ruins and Cenote Tsukán with lunch this is a 5:30am pickup and we got back at approx 17:30 , yes it's a long day but worth it What we didn't realise when we booked this hotel was that there is a Seaside Suites (mainly American and Canadian) as well as the Seaside Palms which has a Premium section to it (TUI and others ) with a small HIDDEN BEACH section in the middle of the 2 for "Naturists" Some people used shoes for the sea (you can get away without them), but there are quite a few rocks but there's plenty of fish swimming around you. The location is ideal if you want to just chill out on the beach or by the pool .

My husband and I stayed at this resort for 10 days and had a very good experience. The jungle-like gardens are beautiful and make the resort feel peaceful. Our junior suite was spacious and comfortable, and housekeeping did a great job. The concierge booked all of our restaurant reservations, which made dining easy. We enjoyed the free excursion to Mamora Beach — it’s a nice beach and food and drinks were included. The resort’s own beach is also nice, but bring water shoes as some areas are rocky. If you want a chair on the beach, you need to get up around 7am to save one, as there are not enough chairs or beds. There was a good variety of food across the restaurants, and the Asian à la carte was our favorite. One downside is that there is no top-shelf alcohol and the bars sometimes run out of bottles. The entertainment was hit and miss. They didn’t always follow the schedule, though some of the afternoon activities were very educational. In the evenings, it would have been nice to have more than just a DJ starting at 11pm.

The resort itself is clean, the rooms, the beach for the most part, the pools, where they lack is in the variety of food offered. If you are not a member you will get late dinner reservations 9 9:30 pm. They also lack in the reception area where you check in and out, not enough information is provided. Some lack of English understanding. The rooms could definitely use softer fluffier pillows. The maid staff are very good. Room service could be quicker. The bar tenders were all very good. I felt there was a lack of information as to all the restaurants, food served, hours etc. the info they did provide was written on poorly published paper hard to read and not enough. The scenery and location make up for the things that I feel could be better. They also need to beef up the entertainment as well.

TLDR; relaxing jungle vibe resort, not posh but high quality, be aware of dark rooms check-in is slow (approx 10min) and if you arrive with a load of others or just after you might wait for long time for your turn. they offer a margarita while you check in though. as a resort, it’s not the most modern or posh, with plastic key cards (aside from premium building) and older furnishings. however the service and general amenities are high quality. various pools and bars for everyone’s taste. The TUI half of the resort is very lush and green, almost jungle like. we and our friends enjoyed this very much as it creates a natural & relaxing atmosphere. we loved seeing animals on the premises, eg. raccoons, coatis and squirrels. rooms: we first had a luxury junior suite. it is quite dark and therefore depressing - also poor layout with a couch & coffee table alone in a dark entrance room… we did not go to mexico to spend it indoors but room should be enjoyable too. the style was slightly old fashioned and worn out but very spacious. the room had a nice lush yard. the bed was almost up to my waist, had to climb in! the room mini fridge has sodas (coke etc) and beer, no wine or spirits. one free refill per day included. due to the depressing and cave like feel we upgraded to a room in the premium building which has its own pool. the building is high and rooms much brighter as trees are not blocking sunlight. in case it matters to someone, the television in luxury juniors suite was also far and inconveniently placed in relation to bed - in premium junior suite it was in front of the bed as “expected”. both rooms had wall sockets on both sides of bed, behind the night stand. the premium room was better designed and quite modern including wristband key (for a woman who’s clothes don’t have pockets and who doesn’t want to carry a handbag around a resort this is great). we had a view of the swim up pool but no noise carried up to 3rd floor. cleaning was fine. hot water etc was all good. restaurants: the buffet is not huge as aren’t the other restaurants, i appreciated the slightly cozier feel. breakfast buffet had a lot of fresh fruit, cheese and most of the basics plus lots of sweet stuff. Arrecifes has nice brekkie and lunch especially with the outdoor sea view area. Bistro with “international” cuisine is basically american & british. but it was ok. mexican restaurant was great. for the 3 bookable restaurants there is a lot of “gate keeping”, you can basically get one booking per restaurant per week, and not the same/next day. for all our bookings, first availability was 5 days later at 9:30pm… so book them as soon as you arrive. for the other (non-bookable) restaurants you also often have to queue, 30-60min. in both cases the restaurants are half empty so it could be lack of staff or just trying to steer guests towards the buffet, i don’t know. the healthy (vegan) restaurant for lunch by the beach was refreshing, healthy & lovely atmosphere. the other spots by the beach are very hamburger-ribs-nachos heavy as you might expect. they were generally rated as very tasty by our group of friends. aside obviously from the vegan restaurant i felt like the vegetarian options were quite limited, but that’s probably the same anywhere in mexico. the food overall ranged from average/OK (buffet, à la carte) to great (daytime snacks, burritos etc). the beach: nice soft sand, a few stones when u first walk into the water but smooth after. very shallow and clear water. the cabanas get taken early but u can usually find space somewhere during the day especially if u dont need direct beach access (the non-TUI side of hotel does not have a proper beach so all the cabanas by the sea were free). the cabanas are very nice & clean overall. the sea water in december-january was 26-27c. as a minus, the beach area & especially the far end of the beach dont have enough toilet access, despite the bbq restaurant & bars so it’s slightly inconvenient. on plus side, plenty of towels available and no weird rules about acquiring them as in some hotels. pools: there’s several pools for various tastes. many of them are shady during morning and afternoon but that’s probably great in the summer when it’s too hot. in the winter the water is a bit chilly (maybe 24c) so sun was much needed. there are several swim up bars which is nice. one pool is small and square and quiet. one is “the party pool” and the busiest, then there are a couple more large chill pools, one of them in the “eldorado suites” side, 7min walk from Palms side. furthermore Premium building has its own pool & swim up bar. staff: i have to say this was some of the nicest staff on average, and ive been to many hotels. its not that everyone has a huge smile and small talk, I’m not into that, more like everyone is polite and friendly when you talk, helpful etc. most TUI reps were also super nice. so overall 10/10. wifi: generally fine but spotty in places, as it will occasionally drop for a while. especially on the beach. but good coverage for a large resort. i would say 8/10. new years eve: regular dinner and then a free event on the main square. i’ve been to many hotel NYE’s and this was among the best. unfortunately it was chilly weather but with the music, drinks etc they got the vibe going - we had a good time. christmas was less impressive but understandably more challenging too; aside from the decor i didn’t notice anything despite mentions of christmas menu on TUI app. other: mostly european guests so tipping didn’t feel mandatory nor expected which was nice. the premises host a lot of animals which we found cute, theres the cat that has its own cat house, raccoons and coatis.

Definitely not 5 stars! New year was not the best was trying to get money from you just to sit down! Not only that but you had to book a restaurant which we wasn’t told about for new year. It didn’t feel very christmassy or new year not really any Christmas music was being played. A lot of things you had to either find out for yourself or ask other guests as the concierge was a bit useless. Be aware if you want to book the Italian or Klay Talay (Asian) book on a Saturday as they don’t have any reservations available. Unless you pay $90 for wine they can fit you in 🙄. Also be aware the portions they serve up are very small so order quite a bit if you’re hungry. Staff are nice and friendly always say hello but the overall experience definitely isn’t a 5 star hotel I’d say 3 star the rooms are very dated and damp and very cold 🥶. Take a dehumidifier with you so it can take up some of the moisture in the wardrobe Be aware of the coatis and raccoons 🦝 😂 watching them was probably the best highlight of our holiday. If you don’t like wildlife this resort is definitely not for you as it’s very pretty much in a jungle.