El Dorado Casitas Royale Vacations

We stayed in El Dorado Casitas Bldg#31. We had a wonderful stay. Food and service were top notch. Resort and room were in great shape.
The only dissatisfier was during checkout. Third time in a row where I had to ask if the member discount was applied. It should be automatically applied as you know I am a member. Instead, the concierge had to take time to figure out the what to apply the discount towards. If someone forgets to ask, it's missed. That is not acceptable.
I also find it unacceptable that guest that I brought on this trip took the sales presentation and I did not receive any compensation (the guests did). This was done while here, not during the initial reservation process. There is no incentive for me to suggest this process to my guests. It should not matter when they decided to attend (ahead of time or at the resort), the point is they DID attend.

Great resort, staff is excellent, food and amenities are top shelf.
Update: While I gave my review only after a few days here we were highly disappointed with a missed opportunity. We scheduled a massage with a water therapy spa. We were told to go to the spa 1st then the massage. With that information we scheduled a tour after the spa to become members. We arrived to the spa only to be told we had to go the massage 1st. While normally this wouldn't be an issue other than a minor inconvenience. We totally missed out on our member tour and information session. When we returned to our concierge (Fatima) who was great, she told us we missed our opportunity and they were gone for the day and we wouldn't have another opportunity for a membership tour before we leave. So unfortunately we will most likely not be returning next year since we couldn't secure membership with the discount prices. So disappointing for us and our family.

This resort is impeccable! Our favorite along with Maroma. We've been to numerous 5 star resorts and this one stands out. The staff is highly attentive and really goes the extra mile. They truly care. Second to none!

Loved our Casita! We had an amazing trip. We were at El Dorado for our wedding and everything was absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to go back! Staff was so friendly and attentive. Wedding staff went above and beyond. I have nothing but amazing things to say!

I'll start with the positive things about this resort. It has very beautiful gardens. The spa staff is very pleasant and professional. Nancy's attention at the spa was excellent. Now let's look at the facilities. They are more or less lacking in maintenance. The service of the employees is not very good. They lack training, it seems that some are of good temper, others are not, food is very limited and bad, I ordered mineral water, I had to wait 2 days for the delivery not to arrive, it is very stressful waiting for the golf carts for transportation in that heat, everything is very distant, it is annoying to be makeup, hair and heels for an event if you are looking for elegance good food this is the wrong place I would never choose it for a vacation there are better places in cancun good point I love that they feed their kittens I find that part of them the security guards at the Very friendly entrance but I would not return. They are far from being 5 stars.

Good hotel . Not as good as when it was owned by Karisma

Good place

One of our favorite vacation spots to date! Lovely villas, ample pools and amenities, a variety of dining options, and lovely beach views! The outdoor shower was a favorite! Service was maybe a tad slow but was likely just due to the sheer size of resort. We will definitely be back!

Couldn't ask for a better place to vacation. All inclusive makes it even better

This private resort has a GREAT landscape! Beautiful waters, maintained plants and flowers.

These are my cons:
1) if you’re young and you’re not with a group of 4 or more you will be targeted (NOT MEANT FOR YOUNG COUPLES)
2) if you’re a person of color as myself you will be targeted and harassed
3) if you’re both young and POC and you are not accompanied with more than 4 people you will be harassed by other vacation goers that are elderly and careless
4) This is a resort for people of an older age, and not much diversity at all
5) service and food has went down drastically since last years attendance
6) rocks on the shore due to high levels of wind and angle of resort | eye sore |
7) the membership is a waste of time & money and you do not get more for being a member.. we experienced so much prejudice due to us being members and being in the members only portion of the resort
8) not worth the money we spent, could not wait to leave the resort.

Our experience at this resort was highly disappointing. We stayed here for a friend’s wedding with a group of about 50 people. The check-in process was excessively lengthy, and despite receiving our room keys at 4 pm, our rooms were still being cleaned upon arrival, forcing us to wait an additional 30 minutes. There was a lack of complimentary water bottles in the rooms, despite requesting them through room service, they were never delivered throughout our three-night stay. Attempting to contact room service was frustrating, as calls often went unanswered. Regarding the food, the rehearsal dinner dishes were served cold, and the overall service was subpar. Unfortunately, our experience mirrored the numerous negative reviews we had read prior to booking. The shuttle service was unreliable, and the staff exhibited rudeness both in person and over the phone. Considering the poor quality of food, service, and staff attitude, I strongly advise against staying here and recommend exploring other accommodation options to save both money and time.

Just returned from a 7 night vacation at the Casitas! Staff was amazing as always and I have to give a shout out to Eduardo at casita pool 31! He was great!! The grounds were beautifully kept and the food at all restaurants was so delicious! The only *small* complaint is that we only received our nightly turn down service 2 of the 7 nights and only received our morning coffee 3 of 7 mornings. But again, small potatoes!

Read all of the reviews!!Believe what you read!!
With so many other resorts to choose from, do yourself a favor a pass on these properties.

-Obviously the location is beautiful. Would’ve been nice to have a map.
- Property app was a joke.
- Even if you are a ‘member’ communication and follow through were non existent. Promises are made, but nothing gets done. Everyone blames everyone else. No one takes responsibility. Manager Alex at membership desk is no exception. Took notes on our issues and did absolutely nothing.
- Housekeeping came at all hours of the day. No ‘Do not Disturb’ signs.
- Complimentary mini bar was restocked once in 5 days. The only snack provided were 2 mini bags of chips. 2 cans of Coke, dietCoke and a couple beers. Whoop whoop.
-This is not a ‘gourmet’ experience. Food is average at best and portions are minimal.
- Making reservations for dinner, ridiculous. If I’m paying over $500 a night, the expectation is I should be able to eat dinner before 9:15pm. Don’t advertise what you can’t or won’t do.
-Good luck catching a golf cart to take you anywhere. Casitas may seem special, but being in the middle of Generations and Royale means you need to hike to where you need to go for each meal.
-Casitas. Run down. Lights burned out, shower didn’t work, TV wouldn't turn on. Left our wet swim suits out to dry on our private patio, cats pee’d on them. Good times.
-Baja beds were lovely.
-Unfortunately the beach was an eyesore with the concrete pylons protecting the shoreline.
-Were promised free massages by our personal concierge to listen to membership pitch. Nope. Disappointed yet again. It would’ve been funny, but it ended up being ridiculous.
-Bartender Randy may have been the only highlight of the trip!

DON’T waste your precious vacation time at a resort that couldn’t care less about you or your enjoyment.

The casitas are an upgrade from their regular rooms and suites. The main downfall is that they are in the middle of a very large resort. You cannot get anywhere without picking up a golf cart transfer or walking quite a ways along the boardwalk. If you do that, bring sneakers or be prepared for shin splints as I had wearing my flat sandals. The casitas do have their own private pool and swim up bar which is really lovely but if you want to have some food during the day you need to go up to your room order room service and wait for it because there is no other option. If you need a restroom, there is no public restroom so you need to go up to your room to use it and come back to the pool. We were on an upper level Casita so it was not the most convenient. When we checked into our room we noticed a dripping toilet, a leaky sink, a door falling off of the hinges over the mini bar, and shower drain that backed up so badly that our feet were covered in water by the end of the shower. The dripping toilet and broken door were fixed quickly but the shower drain was never resolved even after calling the front desk, and speaking directly with the concierge. The lighting in the bathroom is also very dark for makeup application or shaving. All that aside every morning you have the kitty cats outside meowing a very loudly and very early. Room service is included and is excellent. The delivery was very prompt and food was always hot and delicious.

I've only been to a handful of all-inclusive resorts around Mexico, but this one was by far the worst experience I've had. It probably deserves a 1-star but I'll be nice and give them an extra star for a few staff on their resort that didn't make the experience miserable. Here are things that went wrong/recommendations:
-None of the restaurants have water bottles
-Half the staff don't know how to make mocktails
-A majority of the staff are not friendly and really don't want you to interact with them at all
-Very few bartenders go around the pool to offer you a drink
-They tell you to download the app and that you can do everything on it...yet the app barely works and crashes all the time. Whenever we put through a room service request on the app it says it's completed and yet nothing happens.
-All the restaurant menu's are wrong on the app. Also, all the restaurants are almost always full and overly packed. We were told they had several GF (gluten free) options but were disappointed with what we experienced. The staff also weren't trained well on how to handle us when we told them there was a GF person in our party.
-Most of the staff are absolutely clueless on what's going on. This includes the concierge who pretty much is only there to make your dinner reservations for you.
-Housekeeping & turn down service are at completely different times every day. Most resorts try to do it around the same time everyday so you have a good idea when they will be in your room. Nope, one day it's at 1 PM and the next it's at 7 PM. They never restocked our mini fridge bar & snacks once during our trip. However, they made sure to rearrange the beer in my mini fridge every single day.
-The shuttle service here is absolutely horrible. We had to wait 20-30 minutes for a ride most of the time. If you do need a ride, you practically have to jump in front of a cart. The drivers act like they don't see you so they don't have to give you a ride. If you don't get a ride, you will have to walk endless miles to get to your destination.
-The coffee machine in my room didn't work. There is actually no to-go coffee on this resort except for a Starbucks that costs extra. I called to have coffee delivered to my room and waited over 2 hours and nothing. We tried to order room service for dinner one night when it was raining, I had to call them 7 times to check on the food. It takes 2-3 times longer than they say, and half the times you call for cleaning or room service nobody answers the phones.
-This is the first resort that didn't ask us how our experience was at checkout or have us fill out an exit-survey.
-The phone in our room pretty much didn't work
-The food was very underwhelming in terms of flavor
-I've never heard 'No' so many times on a vacation. If you make an ask or request, they don't mind saying no and moving on. Nobody really wants to go out of their way to make your stay better.
-Casitas doesn't offer enough to make it a standalone resort, so you will have to cross over into the royale. You will need a shuttle ride because it's miles long. Be warned however, royale is filled with wedding parties and people who want to party all the time and isn't as intimate for couples.
-Shower in my room was either way too hot or way too cold most days.
-Wifi wasn't working at all on the resort the last day of our trip.
-The health bar was one of my favorite places on the resort but the man who worked behind the counter there everyday made it horrible. He acted upset whenever someone would walk up to order.
-The few people who prevented this trip from being a complete disaster: Randy (Bartender), Carmen (Gift Shop), Macaroni (Luggage carrier), and Jose (Spa). Ricky/Ricardo (Resort Mixologist) made my wife's day when he was bartending at our pool and could make her mocktails. He was the best staff member on the resort. The chef at La Isla also went out of his way for our table one night. Aside from them, every other staff member we encountered was a negative experience.

The concierge service was the worst.

The resort was beautiful. Be prepared to do a LOT of walking, like 10 miles a day. For an all-inclusive resort, there was an upcharge for most everything. The personal concierge was ALWAYS busy. Restaurants required reservations but were always booked already, making it difficult to find a place to eat. Shuttles were scarce, didn't stop, or were already full. Activities that were included rarely occurred. Everything was charged in USD, not pesos, so $10 for a small bottle of Gatorade and $65 for a normal sized sunblock. One of the guards even pointed a gun at a guest in our group for being on rocks in the water. There were no signs saying not to be in the area. Some of the staff were amazing. Ask for Macaroni when you can get a shuttle, he was the best!

Beautiful location, amazing food. Mostly great service with a few exceptions.

Dorado and Dorado Casitas is now owned by Lomas, not Karisma.
There were a few small issues due to this, like their app being horrible and there being no maps available for a large resort.

This resort was absolutely lovely. For the first time ever at an all-inclusive, there were enough chairs and beachside cabanas for everyone. No claiming chairs with bags and towels, which is a major pet peeve of mine. It was very relaxing, and the included items were totally fine for the week. The rooms were large and the outdoor shower in our swim up was private and lovely. I do not think I used the indoor shower once during our stay.
The bars were very numerous, and each casita block was basically a horseshoe with a swim up bar open from 9am-5pm. Each block had probably 30 rooms max and never got crowded. Most of the restaurants were decent too. Our favorite breakfast was at Santa Fe, lunch was Chef's Table (in Generations), and dinner was the D'Italia in the main Dorado Royale resort.

The upselling can get annoying but you just have to tell them you have no interest in whatever "gift" or "free" service they are offering. If you firmly tell them no, they will leave you alone. I was there for a week and did not attend any of their presentations for membership, nor did i get any free stuff, but that is exactly what I wanted. All-inclusive to me means everything is included, and if it is not I am not paying for it.

Dorado and Dorado Casitas is now owned by Lomas, not Karisma.
There were a few small issues due to this, like their app being horrible and there being no maps available for a large resort.

This resort was absolutely lovely. For the first time ever at an all-inclusive, there were enough chairs and beachside cabanas for everyone. No claiming chairs with bags and towels, which is a major pet peeve of mine. It was very relaxing, and the included items were totally fine for the week. The rooms were large and the outdoor shower in our swim up was private and lovely. I do not think I used the indoor shower once during our stay.
The bars were very numerous, and each casita block was basically a horseshoe with a swim up bar open from 9am-5pm. Each block had probably 30 rooms max and never got crowded. Most of the restaurants were decent too. Our favorite breakfast was at Santa Fe, lunch was Chef's Table (in Generations), and dinner was the D'Italia in the main Dorado Royale resort.

The upselling can get annoying but you just have to tell them you have no interest in whatever "gift" or "free" service they are offering. If you firmly tell them no, they will leave you alone. I was there for a week and did not attend any of their presentations for membership, nor did i get any free stuff, but that is exactly what I wanted. All-inclusive to me means everything is included, and if it is not I am not paying for it.