El Dorado Casitas Royale, a Spa Resort - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9930 reviews

• 

  A great experience!

  The resort is gorgeous! The food is excellent. Everywhere you go there are little touches that create an exotic ambiance. The staff are all attentive and friendly. Adrianna was my butler, she is the best!

  Jul 06, 2025
• 

  THERE IS NO BEACH!

  I had such high hopes! The only thing I liked about the resort was the room. Clean, comfy bed, outdoor shower, and private pool. That being said, maid may have swiped some $$ out of my husbands bag. Check in was fine but they didn’t provide any sort of map, just told us to use their app. And the app is TERRIBLE, things are not marked accurately and after 6 days, still could not find all the places to eat. Saw our butler all of one time. Liked the room but you had to climb a flight of wooden stairs to get to the room. Older generations would have problems and there is no elevator Biggest complaint is the beach/ocean. As in, there is no access! There are literally cement barriers lining the ENTIRE property. We walked to the end thinking eventually we could clear them- NOPE! They don’t want you in the ocean because the waves could throw you into one of the cement hunks and kill you. You have to scale a cement border to even access the ocean. They were also in the process of putting up a chain link fence into the water to help control the seaweed. I saw hardly any employees on the resort (felt like a ghost town), all the employees were raking up seaweed. Which by the way, smells like a sewer when it’s collected Be prepared to walk! It was 0.8 miles from our room to the lobby (where the main breakfast buffet is located). There are shuttles…. when you can find one. It’s a good 25 minute wait between them. Time to wait is on digital signs so yeah…. Might as well walk. Casitas is one of three resorts on the property. So the entire property is HUGE and the restaurants are hidden and spaced out. Some of the restaurants are on the generations resort which allows kids. Not the romantic vibe we were going for Food was awful. I have been to MX many times, multiple all inclusive hotels, this place had the worst food by far. All proteins overcooked. Most meals are stews so the meats just over steam/boil. Nothing had flavor or texture. My husband and I lost weight! If you want to sit in the pool and drink, this place is for you. Lots of pools, not a lot of people. No activities, just alcohol. My friend got married here. Things were not set up by the time guests arrived and they forgot flowers for her bouquet. Who does that???? I don’t understand how this resort got such high ratings!

  Jul 06, 2025
• 

  Just OK

  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.

  Jul 03, 2025
• 

  Resort appears to be headed downhill

  I'm reading the reviews on here and seeing the 4 and 5 star reviews, and have to conclude the reviews are very outdated. Maybe at one time the hotel was substantially better, but those days seem to be gone. The impression I get is that the hotel is in some kind of managed decline. For one, I didn't see a lot of guests around at all. The restaurants, pools, and bars were often empty or had a few people in them. I would not be surprised to see this placed closed in a few years. Some of the negatives: * This hotel has no swimmable beach. I didn't see one person laying out on the beach the entire time I was there. Moreover, the hotel installed giant concrete concrete blocks that make the beach look ugly -- it looks like something the military would install to prevent an amphibious invasion. They offer a shuttle that goes to another beach that arrives at 8:30AM and picks you up at 5PM, but the question is why not just stay at another resort that has a proper beach? * The food is generally overcooked. We never had one meal there we'd say was good. Many of the other hotels we've stayed at offer much more variety and substantially higher quality. The one day we got room service the food arrived late and cold. * Pools weren't heated. * Several people our trip got diarrhea. * Maid (or someone) entered my room and stole money. * You have to make reservations at the restaurants. This is despite having mostly empty tables. Many resorts don't require you to make a reservation, which is nice because you can eat when you like for the day. * Things in general just weren't well-organized. A lot of minor things: the butler never gave us a map, the map was inaccurate, the butler said the candlelit dinner was closed when asked (even though it was a weekday), , you have to checkout twice (even if you checkout the day before). * You'd see room service trays left outside people's doors and it'd be 12 hours later and it'd still be there. * A lot of shops and services there keep bankers hours, or never opened, or it's unclear when they're supposed to be open. For instance, there was a theatre (with a stage as well), but it never was opened, nor did I ever see anyone there. I never saw any kind of schedule that showed what was being played there or who was performing. I didn't get the impression it was ever used. * At other resorts, when you arrive, you're greeted with some champagne and warmly welcomed -- never saw that here. * At other resorts, when you leave, you're given a questionnaire where you're asked to rate the hotel's services item-by-item. Never saw that here. * An oddity: Their wifi network blocks Tripadvisor. I thought that was pretty strange. * Not a big deal, but you often have to walk quite a ways to get to a restaurant, so you are dependent on the shuttles, who service can be sporadic. * Room could uses some updates. The overflow opening in our sink wasn't installed properly and almost flooded the room. The room lighting was too dark. Some of the positives: * Overall the rooms were quite nice. Comfortable bed, working AC, a shower, bath, and an outside shower, which was a very nice touch. Many of the rooms have their own private pool. * The grounds were quite nice. Again, it made me wonder if this place had a heyday years ago. * All of the employees I met were nice. My belief is that with any organization, if there's a problem, 80% of the time the issue can be tracked to leadership. * There are ample pools to swim in.

  Jul 02, 2025
• 

  Another great stay with a few improvement suggestions

  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!

  Jun 23, 2025