Vacation to El Dorado Royale…

The pools were a great size. Even with a lot of people staying at the resort and at the pools, we didn’t feel crowded. There was one pool that was geared more towards fun activities such as pool volleyball and water polo, but another is more quieter, and both are great sizes. There’s another nice size pool which is located and allocated to those staying on the German side “Sensi mar” of the resort.The day after we arrived at the resort, we signed up for a bike tour that went for about 90 minutes (if I recall correctly) that went to a lot of areas of the resort (along with passing by the Casitas, and the Generations resorts), and areas you would not normally get a chance to see and hear about if simply staying there. We both enjoyed it!The bike tour was led by Luis. He also led most of the activities during the week we were there including beach volleyball, water polo, and pool volleyball. We played beach volleyball several of the days, and we found some outdoor showers very close to where we played which was definitely needed!

There are several reviews online about the look of the beach and ocean. I would agree with the reviews. However, what we learned on the bike tour was that it looks like it does for right now, because they are building a large reef out there, so in about 4-5 years, it will look much much better, with being able to snorkel right off the beach!

We also learned as a result of the bike tour, was that there were obviously bikes there. They were free to use during our stay there, and provided for a much easier and quicker way to get to places especially in the heat! Victoria was very helpful at the desk to get the bikes from.

Every morning at the resort, we took a free yoga class from Isis overlooking the water. They only had mats for maybe 15 people or so, so the classes are never large. Each class was outside, and a great way to start each day! Even though each class was different, she gets a variety of people taking her classes, and some for the very first time! As a result, she does need to cater each class to the ability level of the people in the class. We thought she did very well!

If you have an interest in Crossfit, there is also a Crossfit session available each day but with an added cost of $12 per session. I didn’t try it myself, but I wanted to mention it in case anyone reading this would like to know the option exists.

Each evening, they had an Entertaining Show going on. We attended 3 of them. One of the shows was a magician/comedian, and really enjoyed his performance! Another that we attended was a group of Mexican instrumentalists and dancers and they were fun to watch! And the other was an impressive (to say the least) group of dancers that put on a show to songs from Beyonce (the lead dancer was amazing!!!), Rihanna, Lady Gaga, etc… Definitely see it if you have the opportunity!

There are several restaurants there, but our favorite was the Santa Fe Grill. This one you need reservations for, and they do fill up fast. Thankfully we decided to set up a reservation the day we got there for later in the week. By Wednesday we wanted to go again, but there were no more spots left for the following 4 days.

There were many great things about the resort, but there were 3 things that bothered.

A lot of the staff get to different points on the resort via golf carts. Those are great for that in and of itself, but they do come up very fast on you if you are walking. Just be aware of them at all times, and know they are quiet, so you may not hear them until they are very close by or right behind you.

The restaurant service tended to be rather slow. True, we are on vacation and don’t really need to be at places at a given time, but sometimes we may need to make it to a scheduled activity, or want to get back to the pool, etc… In addition, sometimes side dishes would be replaced with something else that we didn’t order. Perhaps this was a forgotten or misplaced order. But if they were out of a given food they should be informing us of such beforehand and seeing if we still want it or an alternative.

The third thing was the room service. We only ordered room service once, but that one time the food came almost 2 hours later! That was very upsetting.

Overall, it was a great vacation for us, and we definitely want to return… we may try the Casitas the next time!