El Dorado Seaside Suites, aka El Dorado Resort and Spa

Note: for some reason, Tripadvisor has rejected my review which points to this writeup.

We took a week's vacation down in Mexico in early Nov 2004. Since the resort we were staying at (El Dorado) had apparently been recently renovated, I promised to document our experience for others.

Background: The El Dorado Seaside Suites are owned by Karisma Resorts. At the time we booked they were called El Dorado Resort and Spa. The El Dorado is a kind of "tweener" deal, somewhere between the mass-market all-inclusives ("party on, garth!") and the upscale Euro-style resorts. It's a comfortable fit. Very quiet, secluded, relaxing. It's between Playa del Carmen and Tulum. About 1hr south of Cancun.

The flight from Dallas to Cancun was uneventful. Flying on the bottom-dollar charters can be a bit nerve-wracking, but the Ryan Air flight was fine and the crew was nice. No food was served on flight there or back. See my notes below on the box lunch.
Sidenote: we saw Carly Patterson trotting around to her departure gate (for Colorado, maybe? I wasn't paying attention). Yes, she's that cute in person, and that serious.

The transfer from Cancun airport to the resort was an adventure. The trip itself was fine (took about an hour). The main anxiety came from the mad rush of people coming at you in the airport. Some are legit and some are not. Watch for the shirts of the folks from your package. Although we booked on Funjet our vacation was actually handled by Lomas in Mexico. And the name of the resort had changed. Filled us with a little dread, but turns out all was ok. Last time we were in Cancun we had a large bus for the transfer; this time were driven in a car (just the two of us).

When we arrived at the resort we loved the open-air lobby and the people. They a low-key upsell to a better suite, but we didn't. And we also dodged the time-share thing that was put on by the concierge. There was no real pressure on either of these.

The staff there are about 90% native Mexicans, and about 10% Europeans. We had no problem communicating with any of them. Of course, we brought smatterings of Spanish and German which may have helped at times. They were all gracious and generally good to look at. :-)

We were walked down the path to our room. It was very pretty, well kept and was a room you could imagine living in forever. The AC and room lighting were impossible to figure out.
The safe key was free, even though the online reviews indicated it might cost $4.
Water, beer, etc, were stocked in the room all the time.
The shower water was minimal. When we showered we had only the hot water on and on full blast was barely adequate. The jacuzzi water flow was hot and plentiful, though, which makes me think there was a pretty serious water restrictor on the shower plumbing. We hot tubbed it several nights; it was seriously black outside at night, and it was heavenly sitting on the dark porch in the hot water. [I answer questions about the balcony here].

The renovation was still underway, which meant there was some construction noise. It was rarely irritating though. There was something relaxing about watching people shape logs with machetes or work in simple, Third World ways. Sidewalks, for example, were being poured using huge chunks of coral inside instead of rebar. Impossibly rickety ladders stood against walls, and obscuration walls went up/down to hide building materials. Charmingly poorly translated signs up apologized for the construction. It was never intrusive, although the last couple of days I think the resort was overbooked because they sought volunteers to transfer to the much spendier El Dorado Royale.

We put our stuff away and went down for a walk on the pier. There were plenty of fish, crabs, snails, etc. I especially liked the pointy fish that appeared to be young barracuda, which I am pleased to say did not bite me. The Dear Wife liked walking on the pier more than anything else.
The south end of the resort is where the beach is; the north end is blocked off by a retaining wall.

We went for a quick drink and then ate some dinner. The food at El Dorado is handled a bit different than at other inclusives. There is no free-for-all buffet; all meals were a la carte (menus for each meal at each restaurant). There was good selection and variety; I did not repeat a meal in the 7-day stay. The food was designed and presented in a manner you might find in a good restaurant the US (a real restaurant, not a chain). Beautiful, well-presented courses made with good ingredients. Several courses (and the service that goes with them) instead of everything all at once. The portions are upscale-small which invites you to order a range of courses. I ate better this week than I had in a long time.
The pic in this paragraph is of the International restaurant. There is also a decidedly upscale Mexican and, in theory, an Italian place upstairs from the International. Italian was under heavy construction, so the Italian meals were actually served on the patio outside. The weather was so nice that whenever seating was available we ate outside anyway with the peacocks and whatever other friendly animals wandered up.
I drank the hotel's filtered water with no ill effects, and my guts are pretty danged sensitive. The Mexican red and white wines weren't bad either. The house beer is Dos Equis, but they had others if you cared. I didn't.

We spent most of our time in or near the water. We snorkeled at least 1x/day, fed the fish, laid around in the cabana-hut thingies, sipping on frosty drinks. I spent a lot of relaxing in the beach furniture staring up at the perfection of palm leaves and coconuts.

When we first got there it was mainly Canadians. By the time we left there were many people from Utah, Illinois, and Germany. Interesting mix. My wife got tired of me talking to the Germans about my love for the Fatherland (stationed in there during my Army enlistment).

Lastly, I sniffed all week for the mangrove/sewer smell some had reported. I smelled nothing like that, and nothing unpleasant. There were vegetation and ocean smells, and the smell of beer oxidizing in my liver. :-) We'd go back again today if we had too much $$$ lying around.

Do's and Don'ts

Do relax and take it easy. Things happen slowly in Mexico anyway, so don't fight it. :-)
Don't be a malcontent. As Anais Nin says, "we see things not as they are; we see them as we are."
Don't don't go to a eurostyle resort if you are offended by a bit of nudity. It was not uncommon to see topless sunbathers laying out and nekkid folks jumping into their on-porch jacuzzi tubs. There is apparently a nudist resort next door for the truly motivated.
Don't upgrade a room; get the cheapest you can find. They're all lovely. I think we would have enjoyed them all the same. Note that oceanfront and oceanview are relatively meaningless terms. You could see the ocean from our rooms in that pic, but the lovely palms obscured most of it. Perfectly fine with me. It was all beautiful.
Don't go to El Dorado expecting nonstop party action and skirt chasing. Most of the folks here were 30+, couples, and pretty calm.
Do buy the $5 in-flight sammich box. It was tasty and had gobs of food/snacks in it. I would still have bought it at $10, but maybe we were just really hungry.
Do bring whatever you need to the resort. There are two small shops but items cost about 2x what they would in the US. Emergencies only. Exception: i bought a couple of Mexican cigars (Te Amo) that cost about the same as in the US.
Do stay at an adults-only resort if you think you might like it. We remarked to ourselves many times about the absence of screaming anklebiters.
Do bring aqua socks. The sand is crumbled coral and so feels, uhh, crunchy. Rough. Not unpleasant, just not the sugar sand you may be used to. And you'll need the socks to keep from stepping on urchins, coral, rays, etc, in the shallow water.
Do bring a mesh bag to carry your beach gear in. It'll keep everything together and allow the wind to dry wet stuff.
Do bring snorkel gear. There were people snorking around any time there was daylight.
Do bring walking shoes. The resort is long/narrow, so you'll be walking around a bit. Plus, if you go to Tulum or anywhere you'll need to walk around.
Do hork bread from the restaurants and feed it to the fish. Much fun, and very relaxing.
Do bring gobs of $1 bills ($50 or so worth) and tip the resort staff. They appreciate it, and it's really not much $$$. We tipped the maids, bartenders, waiters, etc.
Do throw towels on the floor or dry your feet off in the room. The mexican tile floors are beautiful and seriously slick when wet.
Do make dinner reservations at the restaurant of your choice on the way to breakfast. The Italian and Mexican fill quickly, sometimes before 10am. This sounds like a pain but it's not; just got to get your rhythm/organization down.
Do spend the cash on the dolphin petting or whatever makes you happy. Last time we were down here the wife was obsessed with the dolphin petting. Now it's out of her system and that alone is worth the $$$.
Do spend the cash on a Chitzen Itza tour if you haven't been. The main pyramid is astounding, and, for me, terrifying to climb. It's one of the few places you can wander in ruins so hop up there and go crazy.
Do take them up on any offers for a free upgrade to the Royale. It was a great deal, but we didn't take it for some reason that seemed perfectly rational at the time. :-)
Do walk to the plant nursery up past the tennis courts. Very interesting, including many sprouting coconuts. And you'll find out the names of the plants you've been trying to ID the whole time.
Do take the Collectivo (city vans) to Tulum for $1.50 each instead of $40 for a tour. You will pay $3.80 each for admission. Bring water. Bring trunks/snorkel, as the beach is beautiful in Tulum.

My suggestions to the management of El Dorado

Here are some ideas to make a great place even better:

Make the lap pool area the quiet end and the main main swing bar area the party place. Right now the new age music is played at the party bar and the secluded and lovely lap pool bar plays techno. :-0
take the restrictors out of the shower heads.
put signs up in the resort on each building. Even with a map it is hard for newcomers to get oriented.
provide a cart to run people up to the main road. The wife and I are vigorous folks, but people in worse shape likely didn't go because of the 3/4 mile walk uphill.
once a day, have your staff pick up litter south of your resort. It's not your property, but your guests still walk up there.
Hire my wife and I to work at your resort so we can live there!

All my El Dorado digipics
All my Tulum digipics
All the wife's digipics
Coming soon: All the disposable camera pics

Some folks have commented that we don't look particularly happy in the pics. Suffice it to say that the wife and I both have stressful jobs and we were completely relaxed and at peace. Much too happy to smile. It just doesn't get any better than smoking a cigar, sitting on a swing with a beer, or sitting on the beach while the sun goes down. No screaming hellion children, no cellphone signal, and nothing to distract you from remembering why you married her in the first place. Thanks, honey.

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