El Dorado Royale -- Reservation System Trashed!!!

And from Monica:

 

"Cancun is sunny again! The hurricane passed by, we just got lots of rain and wind but no damage to the property or our people; we are safe and back in business!"

 

I must say that so far, my experience with Monica has gone smoothly - I'm glad to hear that people have been pleased with Valeria as well. Hopefully the WCs have gottten up to speed and have worked out all of their past kinks!

Started a new topic on the storm and EDR (click here)before I saw everyone posting in this thread...

Maybe we can get back to our continued critique/review of the reservation system in this one now... :-)

Decided to revisit TripAdvisor and check how the reservationless system has been going. Looks pretty good and I don't think any of us will be disappointed. I'll probably stop posting restaurant specific reviews here unless something changes or someone else has comments/concerns...


**There are no more reservations needed in any of these restaurants, our experience with the beepers/pagers for the wait was pretty good! We only had to wait for the D'Italia once or twice, max half an hour. Just walk around, take pictures with the palm trees at night as it is beauty, or go to the martini bar upstairs for one or two!

**We never really had any problems with trying to get into a restaurant except the first night we were there. We wanted to go to the Italian restaurant... They told us the wait would be about 45 minutes (and it was) so we had a drink at the Martini bar. That was the only time during the whole trip that we had to wait to be seated. We ate at the Italian restaurant a second time that week and did not have to wait.

**No restaurant reservations were necessary during our stay, except for dinner on the beach. We were pleased that we didn’t have to make dinner plans at the beginning of our stay for the entire week…just go to the restaurant we felt like at the end of the day. We preferred an earlier dinner, by 7, and never had a wait. Later diners did, but beepers were given out.

**Reservations are not required for any where, they now have a bleeper system, so you can have a drink while waiting for your table. The only times we used this service is for D'Italia and the Fondue restaurants.


I'm satisfied that the new system is working. Seems to be less people complaining about the beeper system than there were about the need to make reservations.

That makes me happy! The only thing I am worried about now is the dress code. I don't know how to explain to my guests what they can and can't wear. Valeria told me "leather" sandals were fine for the men, just no flip flops. So, I went and bought a pair of $95.00 Born Sandals, emailed her the picture, and she said they wouldn't allow him to enter the restaurants with them. I asked if it is because they go between the toes like a flip flop, and she said "not necessarily". I realize I could tell my guests all to bring a pair of dress shoes, but it being hot, and on vacation on at a beach resort, I don't think they will be very happy about that.

Here are the sandals:

Born Crouch (French Roast) - Born Men's Sandals

Trace really likes them and said they are very comfortable to walk in.. he wore them to the state fair, and we did a lot of walking!

It is so vague on their website. And then their enforcement is patchy at best. Not sure we can get a definite answer on this one before we go there. And it seems that if I tell you my experiences, it may be different for the period of time that you are down there...

I wrote Valeria to see what she tells me...

Ok, here's her reply. I think it would be great if they truly went by this...

Dress code...
(Only applies for Dinner, in ALL the restaurants)

Dress code for all restaurants is Casual
- shirts with sleeves
- dress shorts or pants
- dress shoes or sandals (no tennis shoes or beach sandals or flip flops)

Leather Sandals are ok, as long as they are not flip flops (which are the ones with the lace in between the toes) or sport sandals...


Maybe we shoudl print this out, laminate it, and carry it in our pockets there in case they give us any trouble...

good idea! So what about the women? I am assuming no flip flops, but I thought I read somewhere no capris, or even clam diggers. I wonder if a jean skirt would be ok? Tank tops?

crap, we're going to el dorado for our honeymoon and I don't think FI has any other summer shoes besides flip flops.

From Valeria...
For the ladies, same story, no sport or beach sandals (flip flops) and formal wear...


Looks like it's just the footwear that is a big problem, but I'll let you know once we've been there.

My emails to Valeria are being returned to me this morning undeliverable...

Has anyone else experienced this, or heard from her recently?