El Dorado Royale vs El Dorado Seaside

BandE2008 · December 5, 2007

Hello,

I was about 99% on the El Dorado Royale (EDR) until reading 100 reviews last night. My reluctance now is the beach (no snorkeling and rocky as well as the size of the resort being very impersonal. Also read that it is very boring and no entertainment there.

Has anyone been to both and can compare for me?

I mean these are just reviews and some people will not be happy with anything, I get that!

Our worry about seaside is it is ++ romance, which we want some of, but we will have a few single guys attending too.

HELP!

Eden

smckinney22 · October 19, 2010

I just got married at The Royal in Playa del Carmen and honeymooned at El Dorado Royale. I've never been to Dorado Seaside but I've been to El Dorado Royale twice now. We actually wanted to have our wedding at the El Dorado Royale at first because it was our first vacation together but we didn't because of the kid issue. Honestly I do like the El Dorado Royale but after having my wedding at The Royal PDC and then going to El Dorado, I wouldn't have liked a wedding at the El Dorado Royale as much, just my opinion. I'm sure many brides have had beautiful weddings there but here's some of my downsides of a wedding there, these are not downsides to the resort in my opinion just for wedding reasons.

The beach is very very rocky on about half of it. The other half is ok and on that side (near Casitas) the rocks are more into the ocean rather than all over. So yes, if my 40 guests would have showed up and had to feel crammed on one side of a resort with everyone else just to enjoy the sand, they wouldn't have been too happy. But, for vacationing there, I don't really mind it.

The resort is HUGE! While we love this aspect for a honeymoon (basically you never see the same people twice and everything feels secluded) this would not have worked for our wedding. We loved the Royal PDC because it was a bit smaller so all of our guests could easily find each other and not to mention we were constantly running into each other which was convienient since there were so many of us and we didnt use our cell phones.

The resort is SECLUDED big time! The El Dorado Royale is basically in the middle of a jungle. Again, we love this for a HM location but not for our wedding. Having 40 guests it would not have been a benefit to be all stuck in the middle of a jungle. The Royal PDC literally has 5th Ave Playa del Carmen market for shopping right outside it's doorstep. Many of our guests used the market to shop or just to give them something different to do. Also we were close to the Cozumel ferry. So 6 of our guests took a random day trip to Cozumel and rode scooters around the island and had a blast. They loved it and I loved that they had the option to make our wedding trip an actual vacation for themselves.

Thats about all I can think of for now. I do love the El Dorado and it has a special place in my heart since it was our first vacation but honestly it wouldn't have met our needs for a wedding. I tried to think of all the things I wanted in my wedding resort but also kept in mind the size or resort and it's proximity to things my guests may want to do on THEIR vacation. I hope this helps if nothing else than to just give an outsider opinion

Lizzdee · October 20, 2010

We vacationed at the EDR a few years ago. Our swim-up casita room was amazing, as was the staff and the pool. The beach is definitly the biggest downfall, our TA never told us about the sandbags and rocky beach. It was a last miniute vacay,we didnt really do any research. If you want to enjoy a nice beach, i wouldnt recomend it, which is such a shame b/c the everything else is truly wonderful and romantic. We are going to get married at beaches turks and caico b/c the beach is a major factor for us!

We did see a wedding going on there when we were there, it was in the gazebo that is more in the middle (to the side) of the grounds. It was semi-private, took place at night with lots of candle lite...super romantic!!!!!!!!!!! We also saw a reception, it was in the middle of the resort, semi-privat, and looked really nice as well.

Good luck!

KrystaRyan · January 22, 2011

I visited the smaller El Dorado Maroma... seems like it's a more intimate version of the royal with only 70 rooms. very nice!

I'm actually looking for some wedding reviews on it too as it's one of two resorts i've had experience with.

crystalwaterwed · May 22, 2012

Hey El Dorado Royale brides!

Attached is the resort map for this property, I hope you find it helpful. I attended a destination wedding trip hosted by Karisma resorts last month and I really loved this resort! The Casita suites are beautiful, the food is unbelievable, if your interested check out the greenhouse tour and see why these resorts offer the freshest fruits and veggies. I also found the service at this resorts was great, all of the staff try really hard to make sure you have a wonderful vacation. The beach is low point for this resort but I have included some photos I took of wedding ceremonies and they do look very nice regardless of the beach.

Congrats everyone and happy planning!

Victoria

Crystal Water Weddings

Calgary, AB

Beach gazebo outside of the wedding chapel. (you can see what the sand bags look like on the left in the water)

Beachfront wedding chapel.

This was my favorite location. Beach gazebo closer to the casita section to the left is the natural swimming pool and I found this area to be quite during the day, as most of the guest are at the main pool.

MAP El Dorado Royale.pdf