El Dorado Casitas Royale

Back from another wonderful vacation with my husband and friends, staying in Casita Honeymoon Suite Swim up for 8 nights. We had the best weather and fun times with our friends that came to meet us there. We enjoyed Aqua Nick one day, the wine and painting class and the cocktail class.

The trip was amazing as always and I don't like to do it but I need to point out some negatives this time. As we are members, I have also written into Exotic to let them know and I am currently awaiting a response that I hope to receive soon before we decide where to book our next trip.

Room 3132 - When we arrived, our room was missing several items, including the coffee machine (just an empty space), slippers and the fruit arrangement included with our member benefits. The room itself also had some maintenance issues, including curtain rods that were falling down (we had to use our own clips to keep them closed at night), ceiling fan was not working correctly and more concerning was our private outdoor pool. It was not properly cleaned or maintained, the surrounding area was overgrown, and some of the pool tiles were sharp enough that we ended up cutting our feet. We reported these issues during our stay. While some were addressed, unfortunately not everything was resolved.

Concierge & Dinner Reservations

We were specifically told by our concierge that we should make our dinner reservations through him rather than through our butlers. On two separate occasions, however, we arrived at restaurants with confirmation/proof of reservations the concierge had made for us, only to be told that the restaurants had no record of them. As a result, we were unable to dine at the restaurants as planned and had to go around and find something else late at night.

This happened at both D'Italia Villas and Wine Kitchen and was particularly frustrating because we had followed the instructions we were given.

Resort Communication

There also seemed to be a disconnect between the information provided in the resort app and what was actually open.

On one occasion, we followed the app to determine where we could have lunch and walked across the resort, only to discover that the information was incorrect and the restaurants were closed.

With both Pizza Cabana and La Isla closed, we eventually had to walk all the way back to our room and order room service.

We completely understand that restaurants may need to close or operate on reduced schedules when occupancy is low. Our concern is simply that the information provided to guests needs to be accurate so we can plan accordingly.

Private Dinner at D'Italia Casitas

We paid the additional charge to reserve the private dining room at D'Italia Casitas for eight of us, as we had friends and family travelling together.

Unfortunately, this experience was also disappointing.

Three members of our group received tuna carpaccio that was still frozen and had to be returned to the kitchen to defrost before it could be eaten.

The chicken parmesan was also extremely disappointing and nowhere near the quality or presentation we have experienced previously.

Considering that we paid an additional fee specifically for this private dining experience, we expected a much higher standard.

Our Wedding Anniversary

Perhaps the most disappointing part of the trip was that our anniversary was not acknowledged at all. We were married at the resort nine years ago with our friends and family and have returned every year to celebrate our anniversary at Casitas. This history is one of the main reasons the resort means so much to us.

Our anniversary was included in our pre-arrival information and was also specifically discussed with concierge during our stay.

In previous years, we have received our Ruby and anniversary banners and usually a small acknowledgement or special touch in our room. Concierge mentioned that this would happen when we checked in - there was nothing at any point during stay.

After 14 visits, and particularly given our history of being married at the resort and returning annually to celebrate, this was genuinely disappointing.

Our Overall Experience

We want to be clear that we still have a great deal of affection for Casitas, and we are considering returning again next year. However, this was at times disappointing.

Staff - the best!

Finally, I do want to end on a very positive note regarding the amazing staff.

As always, the butlers, servers, bartenders and other frontline staff were exceptional. They are wonderful people and a significant reason we have continued returning year after year. Even with the issues outlined above, the warmth and service provided by the staff remains one of the things we love most about Casitas. I especially wanted to mention Norma, our server at 31 section for lunch and for breakfast at Santa Fe. Cesar Rodriguez, the best bartender at the resort with a second shout out to Juan for being amazing also. Aketzali is a new employee at Haab and we went back to eat there a second time because she was such a ray of light and fun, mingling with guests and ensuring everyone had a wonderful experience.

Shout out to Gaby the butler for being an amazing human all around.

Omar is an amazing masseuse! Book the outdoor massage on the beach, you won't regret it.

I can update this review once I get some resolution from Exotic with Member Experience and a reply.

Thanks

Awesome experience w/ 13ppl!! We stayed in Rooms Casitas 3214, 3204 swim up pools were a nice refreshing dip every morning!! l highly recommend this resort!! Carlos, Eduardo, Brian, Cyntia, Miquel Elana Alma Chefs Breakfast Amazing!! hostesses Aimee, Sarahi Omelets Adolfo, Jose Mgr. Breakfast cook Jessica Jade Maria, Porfirio Awesome Team!! Miquel Sling bar, excellent bartender!! Jose/ Ramon Beach Butler Butlers Extraordinaire- Alondra, Paula, Xime, Luiz, Rene Manuel, Wine Kitchen Roberto, Pizza Guy🍕 Herbie, Palm Restaurant Generations Pool Martha!!

I surprised my husband while he was on a solo trip to the Casitas. I contacted Maritza Aguirre, who is someone I have worked with many times over the years, in regards to reservations and requests. I told her about the surprise, and she added a note to the reservation so no one would say anything to my husband. Everything worked out perfectly and he was totally surprised! Thank you, Maritza.
We have noticed some changes to the property since our last visit a couple of years ago. My husband arrived on 9/15 and was put in section 27. Unfortunately, that pool had no bartender/bar set up, so if he wanted something to drink he would have to get out of the pool and walk over a section to another pool. For the added expense of the Casita pricing compared to the Royale section, one of the perks is having your own pool with a bar/bartender. There was another couple at the pool and they stated that there has been no bartender/bar for the 4 days that they have been there. No one was working on it, so it was not a maintenance issue. He asked to switch rooms and the next day he was moved to section 28. We did notice that by the end of the week when it became Members week, section 27 had a fully stocked bar with bartender.
Francisco( along with Clemente ) did an excellent job throughout the week making drinks and talking with the guests. Shout out to our new friends who we met at section 28 pool….Aly/Dave, Alice/Paul, and Ann/Bill. They were part of the reason we had such a wonderful vacation.
We did notice that the overall appearance of the property seems to have gone down. Rarely did we see anyone working on keeping up the grounds. Fallen coconuts everywhere, along with fallen leaves and debris. Once Members week started, we did see a turn around in this as well. Lots of people all of a sudden sweeping and picking up coconuts. The coatis have taken over the property. They are everywhere. One had actually opened the slider to a swim out room and was going after the coffee creamers.
Food was very good, as usual. Excellent waitstaff members at restaurants to mention: Israel at the Palms, Alfredo at Cocotal, Javier and Amado at Sante Fe. We did have 1 bad experience at Sante Fe for breakfast. Did not get the waiter’s name, but once we sat down at 8:15am for breakfast, we asked for cappuccinos and were told “no cappuccinos” and asked what else we would like. We then mentioned that we had cappuccinos a couple of days before at this restaurant so we knew they could make them. He then stated “no milk for cappuccinos”. What??? 8:15 am for a breakfast restaurant and no milk??? Asked if we wanted coffee, I then replied that there is no milk. He said black coffee only. A better response would have been “ It will be about 10 minutes as I will need to get milk from another restaurant “ For the prices charged to be in the Casitas section, there should never be a no, but instead, let me see what I can do. Asking for milk at a breakfast restaurant is not an above and beyond request. Needless to say, we got up and left. Went to Cocotal and Alfredo was fabulous.
We did get to see Edgar at Bellinis Bar. He is always so happy and great to talk with. He is our favorite bartender. His partner during the week was Viridiana. She was fabulous as well. We had ordered a margarita with Grand Marnier on top and they needed another bottle of that so it was ordered. While waiting for it to arrive, Viridiana ran over to the closest bar and got a cup full it use in the meantime so we would not have to wait for the replacement bottle to arrive. Excellent service.
Letecia and Isa were our assigned representatives and were very friendly always asking if we needed something.
We still feel like this is home and we will always come back. I have always rated this as 5 stars, but this time it is a 4 star rating.