TUI BLUE El Dorado Seaside Suites

Wonderful resort. Everywhere is kept to a high standard. Polite and friendly staff. Many restaurants to choose from, though only 2 don't need a reservation on an evening which is easily done at your local concierge.

Wow. This is the meaning of paradise. Never in my life have I been anywhere like it(and I’m hard to please) crystal clear waters hygiene 💯% cleanliness 💯 % just over all outstanding. And the staff are amazing nothing is ever ok much.

Before we left i read a lot of the bad reviews and if you compare this resort to others in the area you will agree it is 5 star, It is not the Savoy or Ritz so don't expect that level of 5 star. I have stayed at Riu Tequila, Riu Yucatan, Grand Bahia Principe Coba, Catalonia Riviera Maya and Ocean Riviera Paradise and the Ocean Riviera Paradise is the only one that comes anywhere close to the Sensimar. There are three resorts on this site, 1 is the Sensimar Eldorado (mostly english) 2 the Seaside Suites (newer high rise mostly occupied by Americans) and 3 the Hidden Beach (totally secluded for nude bathers, upgrades available if thats your bag baby!) If you stay at the Sensimar and remind yourself this is an older well established resort you should need to realise that maintanence comes with older buildings, the damage you may have seen in puctures labelled as "falling apart" have all been repaired, they have a massive team of staff constantly working on the grounds and gardens keeping this place in good order. You can see signs of repair (new tiles in the pool amongst older faded ones) but this place is cleaned and kept in good order, if you see something that needs fixing then report it to a member of staff and it will be fixed, better than taking a photo and having a moan about it. The food at most of this resort is amazing, My wife had a 12 hour bug after eating at the buffet on seafood night but it was short lived and I put it down a to slip in hygiene, on that subject you will be given a warning on the coach to the resort about clyclospora and are advised to wash your hands, do not drink tap water and do not have ice in your drinks! Do not worry about the warnings as this resort only uses filtered water for drinking and ice, it is down to you to wash your hands before eating and as an extra measure we were offered hand sanitiser at every meal. I was ill on one day but we had been on an excursion that day so nothing to do with this resort, I am always struck down with a belly when we go to Mexico but the Sensimar is very clean so you should be okay. We ate at all of the resturants, even the buffet resturants seat you and serve drinks, they have themed nights so there is a variety, the only night we struggled was the seafood night but we are not seafood fans so we should have ordered room service. The pork with apricot and raisin was lovely. There are two italian a la carte's but they both serve vertially the same food so my advice would be to go to the one next to the oriental as the atmosphere is better. We went to the oriental a la carte twice only for the desert, food there was okay but the coconut creme brulee was delicious. The Gourmet Pub had nice food with decent portions. Waiters at all resturants were very attentive, never waiting too long for food or drinks. Room service is included 24 hours, a menu will be in your room upon arrival, the food is the same quality than the resturants. After my wife's 12 hour bug we spent a sunday in our room watching films and ordering room service for lunch and dinner. Drinks are good with lots of premium labels, only once did I ask for a label they had ran out of but by my next drink the barman Carlos had replenished it for me. The waitress staff on the beach deserve a special mention, Marth, Lisabeth and Alisia will keep you well hydrated, all the staff at this resort work very hard. Erbie was very friendly surprising us with treats like Ice towels, lollies and sliders (miniature burgers) Each block has a couple of concierges to assist you with anything you need from reporting problems to arranging something for a birthday or anything you want. You can book the a la carte resturants with them up to 3 days in advance, we never had a problem finding somehere nice to eat at a time to suit us, obviously if the have a specific time you might need to get your booking in as early as possible. Beach towels are available all over the resort, concierge blocks have them, they are strategicly placed around the resort and there is no limit to the amount you can take, this brings me to the only criticism I have of this resort ...loungers (comfort and availability) Guests would take a bunch of towels to reserve a beach bed cabana and a couple of loungers to alternate between sun and shade. I accept this adds to the luxurious feel of your holiday but we saw people do this then disappear for hours on end or to never be seen again and whilst this happens other guests were forced to sit on towels on the sand! The resort does have a no reserving policy, I think i read they will remove belongings after 30 minutes or an hour of no occupancy and we did see one member of staff enforce this but if the resort restrict the towels to one per person (not an unreasonable expectation) this might prevent this practice which is rife throughout the resort. For our first week the resort was at about 60% occupancy so sunbeds were abundant but this went up to about 80% for our second week so we found ourselves heading to the beach around 8am to get a lounger each only to sit amongst empty loungers with towels on them. You will see lots of wildlife, mostly lizards, lots of tiny little ones and a few godzillas. we also had an encounter with a harmless snake and a racoon, you will be told about the Agouti and Coati but we did not see any in this resort. You will be told about the mosquitos and you will see too many of them, i found that using the resort shower gel/shampoo resulted in fewer bites (they smell citrusy) also try taking vitamin B1 for 2 weeks before you travel and whilst you are there (apparently they mask our natural odour that attracts the little blood suckers) Also take a good repellant with high deet content and antihistamene to help with the itching when they do get you. There are 2 small man made lagoons created with huge sand bags to break the waves and create a very calm beach. The deepest these lagoons get are just over waist height with plenty of fish for you to snorkel amongst, take a bread roll, banana or even a hamburger and the fish will be your friend for life. or at least the duration of your holiday. Because of the sandbags there is no problem of seaweed along the beach and the beach that is not protected by the sandbags has 2 members of staff cleaning up the private beach to keep it imaculate. I took a small fishing rod but we were told this is a protected area so no fishing off the beach is allowed. If you have been to caribbean resorts before you will agree this feels like a 5 star resort, if you go expecting to compare it to 5 star european hotels you may be disapointed. I would happily return to the Tui Sensimar Resort.