Just got back from the El Dorado Royale and I can only say that this place far surpasses any I have stayed at for: service, beauty, food, cleanliness, hospitality.
I have travelled to the carribean, Hawaii many times and I can say that I was not disappointed with the El Dorado Royale.
We stayed in the Casita's (bldg 30 right on the end of the property- although building of 31 and 32 were in progress). The room was spectacular!!! Outdoor shower, jacuzzi tub with ocean view...absolutely breathtaking! Yes if you do not like to walk it is a bit of a hike to the lobby and some restaurants but seriously after sitting on our butts all day at the pool we needed a bit of excercise.
We'd start each morning at the fitness centre where they have a large array of machines with a beautiful view of the ocean/walkway to keep your mind occupied. Then it was off to breakfast. I'd say the Cocotal had the best variety in the buffet, although we ate at Kampai and Fuentes for breakfast as well and they were all good. Also Health Bar offered some great smoothies and fruit juices that satisfied for breakfast.
Next to the pool. We stuck to the pool outside our casita -each casita section has it's own pool and there are two very large pools on the other side of the resort. The pool was cleaned daily...grounds were maintained daily and the bartender must have asked every 10 minutes if you needed a drink. They really catered! At about 11 every morning the (I'll call them cabana boys) would come by with cups of fruit and magazines/suntan lotions/ water. Oh by the way the pool was extremely refreshing on day one but got much warmer as the week wore on. They were doing work on the pool all week so I would imagine they fixed the "problem". In any case great, clean pool!
Around 1 Oclock the "cabana boys" would come by with small sandwiches and again would come by around 3:30 with icecream...awesome.
Lunches...our favourite was the pizza/burger place. Fast service...always had a full beer and the vegetarian pizza was great. Burgers were good there also and I loved their fries! The only thing I didn't like about the pizza/burger place was one of the maitre d's who would try to shoe people off if there was a line. I guess maybe he just wasn't chosing the right words and perhaps didn't want people to have to wait but he would say...go to L'Isla it's very good for lunch....in any case he even seemed to lighten up as the week went on.
Dinners...had no problems getting reservations. Did everything on the second day were were there and got 6:30 - 7:00 at every restaurant. They have made changes and have made Fuentes a buffet/no reservations required place which really helped lighten the load of the other restaurants. We made our reservations through our consierge. If you have ANY problems...Buzo is the head consierge of the Casita's and takes the job of satisfying the customer very seriously. Although there are some things he has no control over but when he can help - he does and if he can't get you exactly what you want he will work with you to make sure you are happy in the end.
Favorite dinners were Kampai and Italian...very fast service...good food...(the spring rolls at Kampai were amazing) Order more than one if you go...They are small but great!
Room service was fantastic (even delivered in the rain). The club sandwich was great! Nachos were good and the Penne Pasta and Burgers were all tastey! Again...service was quick and food was hot!
Most disappointing dinner was at JoJo's....The restaurant is very dark and the singer they had...while passionate about his craft was a little cheesey. I had a lobster medallion salad to start and there were 4 tiny pieces of lobster (less than the size of a quarter each) on a bed of lettuce with no dressing. It probably could have been passable with at least some dressing)
The house red wine at all the restaurants in Argentinian - Rocco I believe and was not a bad wine...In Cuba their house red really tasted like it was made in someone's house...so here I was pleasantly surpised.
The beach was not walkable unfortunately but it's not the resorts fault...blame God or mother nature but the area really took a beating during the hurricane. They are doing their best to bring it back but it's definitely going to take some time.
Timeshare...well I don't know but we were only told about it once by Buzo the consierge and never ever bothered by anyone to partake. We did talk to several people who bought into it...Although we didn't go to the presentation we heard enough to tell me that it doesn't really seem worth the money. 20 grand is pretty steep and then you still have to shell out money (I think the 20 grand gives you the opportunity to save 30% on your next trip) plus you never know if these places go out of business you are out a lot of money and a lot of vacations. I think I'll book as I go thank you...
What more can I say...If I was going back to Mexico I'd go back to the El Dorado...
Oh one thing...being pleasant to the people who work at the resort really goes a long way...A smile, a thank you were met with appreciation. I saw people who treated the staff terribley...you know what...we are all people and all deserve the same respect whether you are a waiter or the king of the world. Yes you have paid a large amount of money to go on vacation but remember these people live very different lives than you and I and work from 7am to 5pm 6 days a week and they don't live in nice homes and they don't have the luxury of going away on vacations. Give them a little compassion and respect.
If you have any questions email me at alphajb@hotmail.com...I'd be happy to answer them!
I'll try to post some photos at a later date.

Let me give you a quick review if you are thinking of going to Eldorado royal....
The food: everything is excellent...5 course meals, a la carte, french chef, the food is absolutely amazing....
The beach: very poor beach...rocky, little space with sand bags you can swim too but for those you like to swim a lot....not recommended....the sand is almost white, the beach is realy BIG but not realy cool for the swim...
You have MANY pools to go to...take a casita it is worth it....the swim up casaitas are great...you have a little balcony with a pool just buy your door...You have a personal concierge, great service but you are a little far from all the action, day and night....
GIVE TIPS....to everyone....all the hard worker as 5$ for a day....Thats it...poor salary so they need it and its worth it...All the staff is friendly, very friendly...
Reserve your dinners as soons as you arrive, everuthing as to be reserve and if you wait you will be sitting down at 10 ocolck to eat....the Italia is great also the cocotal....Local wine is very cheap, ask the wine list....Lunch are great at the beach restaurant and the breakfast are the same everywhere...
the gym is always full in the morning, hard to get in...
Candle light dinner are amazing, worth the 100$ extra.
OUt the resort: go swim with the dolphins at DELPHINUS...a little bit expensive but amazing and they treat the dolphin like babys.....
XCaret is Ok but not worth loosing a sunny day to visit...

Feb 2/07-Just returned from a week at the El Dorado In the Mayan Riveria. We were there for a week In December 06 and loved it so much we decided to go back for our anniversary 6 weeks later. I do not know where to even start. The service is amazing. We stayed in a Casita Suite -ocean view. I have never been in a resort anywhere where the staff thinks of things you might want or need before you even do...a pillow menu? In case our 100% goose down king size pillows were not comfy enough we had a pillow menu to choose from. The food (gourmet) was amazing. All restauraunts were al carte and all that was needed was a simple call to your personal concierage to book your reservation for the evening or for the whole week. We particularily enjoyed Kampaie for breakfast as the servers were very welcoming. Marvin the head waiter made a point to personally greet and chat with everyone every morning when we arrived and said good bye and thanked us for coming when we left. I do not know about anyone else but I have never stayed in a resort where I was made to feel so welcome! Try it for yourselves but be warned you will never want to go anywhere else! I am trying to figure out a way to go there again next month!!

We checked in at the El Dorado Hoterl and Spa on the 18th of January 2007.we were greeted by the agents from Conquest , they were polite and helpful.We were taken by golf cart to the Casita check in booth.I had called ahead two weeks pior to make sure we had a GROUND floor room with an Ocean side view.After leaving the check in we were taken to the new part of the hotel and given an UPPER room.From this point on, things just got worse.I spoke with the check in peolpe and the one girl was almost rude to the fact that I had actually called in advance for my room of choice.The next day, after upgrading, which we found out was the only way to get the room we wanted, we finally settled in.
It was near next to impossible to get more bottled water in the room, the fridge hardly kept anything cool never mind cold.When we did get more water, we got enough to bathe in.Because we had a casita suite, we had a turndown service every night, where a maid would come in , turn down the bed and light some scented oil of our choice.As it turns out the turndown service came at 6;00 pm, 7 , 8 ,, 9 :00pm.A different time every night.The maid service was horendous.They would come whenever they felt like it.If you tipped they would come early, if you didn't tip they would be in your room at 4-5:00PM.
The food was great , but just to look at.They presented it nicely, but all in all it was average to say the least.We waited at one restaurant for 1 1/2 hrs just to get fondue.When we did eat seafood , it didn't stay around very long.The hotel staff failed to warn that long distance calls out of the country were going for upwards to $5.00/minute.We got stung for over $120.00 US for 24 minutes of calls.
Then in order to cut some of our loses for the upgrade , we sat in on a time share speal.After 1-2 hours we said no.We were promised $200.00 in gift certificates to go towards our final bill, which we got., however, if I hdan't mentioned having my Lawyer look at the paperwork, we would never have gotten out of there.
With the exception of the room and the cleanliness of the resort and the bar service, this 6 star Hotel in incredible AVERAGE to say the least.If you didn't tip, you got nothing.If you wanted something, you had to tip and then tip again for getting what you wanted.We paid, between the two of us. over $5500.00 Can.For that kind of money I expected allot more.I wouldn't go back there gain and it is NOT a 6 Star resort.
To finalize the trip, we got ripped off at the airport in cancun by the airline checkin in personell.They made us weigh our carry on luggage with our check in luggage, together.We ended up 15 KG over weight and had to give them $50.00 to get out of the country.I thought to myself, they better enjoy it because I won't be going back.