All You Need to Know About the Gift Shop
at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
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Gift Shop review highlights
... I wish I had one (and they're very over priced in the gift shop). Make your a la carte reservations in advance (as in...
... like at the other places. Souvenirs: the resort’s gift shop was the most negative experience of our stay. We ended up...
... advice: - Make sure you bring everything you need. The gift shop is VERY expensive for essentials (e.g. sunscreen in $24...
Most popular question about the gift shop
Is there a gift shop
Answer from Glenda B
Apr 2019 |
Featured gift shop amenities
Reviews that mention gift shop
Write a reviewOverall: The place is clean and appears to be well taken care of. The resort is definitely family centered children running around everywhere including the adult only sections.
Room: I stayed in the adult select building 62. The rooms were clean and spacious not decorated much but that didn't bother me. Minibar was restocked every day. There was a large container of filtered water in the room to use. I did get spotty wifi in my room.
Food: Fair/ OK food. The a la carte restaurants were the best. There are certain times the only thing open is the snack bar which is OK but I got tired of burgers and chips.
Drinks: Good. They made them however you wanted with as much alcohol as you wanted (or as little).
Spa: Was wonderful had a great massage. No problems.
Beach: Was incredibly rocky with a lot of seaweed. The adult only beach was very small with tons of children wondering around. Random people would also be walking around trying to sell various items. Two days we went to their sister resort for a $20 cab ride ($40 round trip) and their beach is absolutely stunning. We could still eat the buffets over there too.
Grounds: Beautiful, well kept with a lot of animals running about but were never in the way (except maybe at the snack bars). It's fairly large so if you don't like walking this may not be the best place, but beautiful to explore.
Shows: Family centered. Did not attempt to watch more than one.
Yoga: Yoga class was awesome. I'd never tried it before. The instructor is wonderful.
Check in & check out were no problem. Everyone was helpful and kind. We booked an excursion while there which I'll post a separate review for but enjoyed without problems.
DEFINITELY do not forget your sunscreen or bug spray (or after sun products) it's outrageous there. Also bring a reusable water bottle or thermos so you can fill up with water (I never saw a plastic water bottle). They will definitely give you water in cups the bottle of your own seems easier. I wish I had one (and they're very over priced in the gift shop). Make your a la carte reservations in advance (as in before you get there). They were pretty booked when we got there and had to hope for cancelations. I would also recommend you get pesos to pay for your cab ride if you go anywhere. The exchange for US was the worst with the cabs, everything else was OK but places will set their own exchange rate.
If I were a family I would give this place 4 stars, but for a couple even in the adult select 3 stars. If you are going solely for the beach stay at their sister resort.
Room: I stayed in the adult select building 62. The rooms were clean and spacious not decorated much but that didn't bother me. Minibar was restocked every day. There was a large container of filtered water in the room to use. I did get spotty wifi in my room.
Food: Fair/ OK food. The a la carte restaurants were the best. There are certain times the only thing open is the snack bar which is OK but I got tired of burgers and chips.
Drinks: Good. They made them however you wanted with as much alcohol as you wanted (or as little).
Spa: Was wonderful had a great massage. No problems.
Beach: Was incredibly rocky with a lot of seaweed. The adult only beach was very small with tons of children wondering around. Random people would also be walking around trying to sell various items. Two days we went to their sister resort for a $20 cab ride ($40 round trip) and their beach is absolutely stunning. We could still eat the buffets over there too.
Grounds: Beautiful, well kept with a lot of animals running about but were never in the way (except maybe at the snack bars). It's fairly large so if you don't like walking this may not be the best place, but beautiful to explore.
Shows: Family centered. Did not attempt to watch more than one.
Yoga: Yoga class was awesome. I'd never tried it before. The instructor is wonderful.
Check in & check out were no problem. Everyone was helpful and kind. We booked an excursion while there which I'll post a separate review for but enjoyed without problems.
DEFINITELY do not forget your sunscreen or bug spray (or after sun products) it's outrageous there. Also bring a reusable water bottle or thermos so you can fill up with water (I never saw a plastic water bottle). They will definitely give you water in cups the bottle of your own seems easier. I wish I had one (and they're very over priced in the gift shop). Make your a la carte reservations in advance (as in before you get there). They were pretty booked when we got there and had to hope for cancelations. I would also recommend you get pesos to pay for your cab ride if you go anywhere. The exchange for US was the worst with the cabs, everything else was OK but places will set their own exchange rate.
If I were a family I would give this place 4 stars, but for a couple even in the adult select 3 stars. If you are going solely for the beach stay at their sister resort.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Response from Sandos_Caracol, Director General at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded May 9, 2015
Dear _Anonymous_Honest, We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for having chosen us as your holiday destination. Unfortunately, your vacation has been tarnished for to the situation you comment to us, please let me explain you that our main goal strives in having a great ambience to satisfy our guests’ requirements; we regret that we were not able to fulfill your expectations. We are taking into great consideration your observations and impressions with the aim of having better service. We do not want to stay with the wrong image of the hotel. We invite you to return to visit us the next time you decide to return to Playa del Carmen. Kind regards, Miguel Vargas General Manager Sandos Caracol Eco Resort webrelations.caracol@sandos.com
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
+1
My husband and I took a short vacation here in April. We booked through Apple Vacations, just a couple of weeks before we traveled. Because we are caretakers for my elderly mother, it is hard for us to get away at all, so this trip had to be well-planned down to the minute in order to maximize our relaxation over such a short visit.
We went with Apple Vacations because they offered the Select Club Penthouse which was *not* available through CheapCaribbean. This was a major point for us. We don't have or want kids. We haven't been away in a good long while. We were looking at a very short window of time to decompress and refresh ourselves. And Select Club is the ADULTS ONLY section. We'd have no children in the building, the pool, in the restaurant for breakfast and lunch. It seemed perfect, especially when we saw that the Select Club was way back in the jungle half of the resort, where the local spider monkeys love to climb on balconies and take fruit from guests. I really wanted to see monkeys, and corresponded with the concierge about it. We asked for a jungle-facing penthouse, jn an area with a high occurrence of monkey visits (this isn’t as crazy as it sounds; the monkeys go to the same places all the time). This was an easy request, because most people want pool views, or rooms closer to the front (beach) part of the resort. The concierge was very nice and said she'd added notes to our reservation "in order to give you the best jungle view possible."
When we arrived in Cancun and got to our shuttle (it’s well worth the extra $$ to get the express shuttle so you're FIRST drop-off), we told the driver we needed to be dropped at the Select Club check-in. He dropped us and our bags off at the front of the hotel and said someone on the hotel staff would help us get to the Select Club check-in. We knew check-in wasn’t until 3pm, but we figured it was more than likely that the Select Club penthouses would be cleaned promptly, and that we might be able to get in the room a bit earlier. Unfortunately, Select Club check-in wasn’t available in late morning when we arrived. The front desk said that we could check before 3pm, but probably we wouldn’t get the room before then. So we left our luggage and decided to wander around the grounds a bit. We got drinks at the Elephant Bar in the lobby, and a staff member promptly buttonholed us to tell us that they would take us to someone who would “explain the hotel” to us. Being forewarned, I said, “If this is the timeshare conversation, we aren’t interested and we don’t want to sit through it since our vacation time is so short.” The staff member reassured me that it wasn’t the timeshare conversation; it was just an introduction to the grounds and the hotel, showing us where things were, etc. The woman we sat down with started with a VERY brief overview of the property, which included a cursory glance at a resort map she had in her binder. (Note: there are no paper copies of the resort map to carry around.) After a very brief time she started talking about Royal Elite and the vacation club. We politely but firmly told her we that weren’t interested in a time share, that it wasn’t our style of vacation. She pushed, how could we *know* we weren’t interested until we heard what they had to offer? I replied that we knew because it was just like every other time share. She fairly rudely questioned me about that, saying, “What do you think it’s about, then? Tell me.” We should have just walked away, but we were sure this was going to lead to a tour of the grounds. Eventually we managed to ditch her — and I’ve got to mention, this was a really crummy way of beginning our vacation, we ended up angry and stressed and I have to wonder if they sell ANY timeshares with rude staff like that! — and we just wandered around the grounds, which are wild and lovely, occasionally checking on the room situation. Finally at 3pm we went to the front desk — Select Club check-in was STILL not available, the Concierge just hadn’t arrived for work all day — and to our great shock we were told that THEY DIDN’T HAVE A SELECT CLUB PENTHOUSE. I will spare you the details of the angry conversation, and skip ahead to them offering us a Royal Elite penthouse instead. And not just *a* Royal Elite penthouse; they gave us the best one at the resort, the one at the very front of the first building, right on the beach. This was a pretty nice consolation, and I’ll get to the room details themselves later in this review, but it wasn’t the 100% win that it seemed. We were in a Royal Elite room, but we did not have Royal Elite privileges, so the nearby less-crowded pool and restaurant were unavailable to us. We could of course use the main pool and eat at any of the several non-Royal Elite restaurants on the property, but those were all loaded with families with screaming, running kids. If we wanted the serene, quiet, adults-only experience THAT WE PAID FOR, we had to go all the way to the back of the resort, as far from Royal Elite as you can go. Close to half a mile in the 90º heat and high humidity. This was mostly an issue at breakfast; we’d envisioned just rolling out of bed, grabbing a coffee, and heading back up to the room to relax and enjoy it with the monkeys on the balcony. We had to be showered, dressed, and carrying all of our stuff for the day when we headed out to breakfast, since it was so far from our room. We also lost having a whirlpool tub out on the balcony; Royal Elite penthouses have it in the room.
But let’s get to the room. It is a lovely room, clean, large, and the view was spectacular. The noise and music from the main pool was significant, but only during the day. At night, when the pool was much less crowded, the sound of the ocean drowned out the noise. It was quite nice to sleep with the ocean breeze and the white noise of the waves, and to wake to those astonishing, painterly sunrises!
My only negatives about the room are minor. The closet is weirdly designed: it's a step up from the floor. You will stub your toes, repeatedly. Also, when we arrived, we had a really sweet towel swan on the bed. Reviews I read suggested we tip daily, and you'd get towel art every day. We didn’t. We got curtain art every day. The thin sheers hanging at the balcony door were tied into rudimentary flower-like knots every day, which was actually inconvenient because we had to untie it to open the balcony doors. Oh, and here’s a very weird thing: when we first arrived in the room, I used the single feminine disposal bag that was there. It was never replaced. If someone used the bag, it stands to reason they will need a more bags over the course of their stay!
Room hospitality overall was a bit weird. Thick, luxe, grey Royal Elite beach/pool towels were in our room. The rest of the property uses the regular blue towels. After our first time in the Select Club pool, we schlepped those heavy, wet, Royal Elite towels back to the room rather than put them in a 'standard' towel hamper. We left them in a heap in the tub, expecting replacements. Room was cleaned; they were still there, wet and in a heap. We called the front desk and were told, “We don’t replace those.” Huh? Apparently, if you are a Royal Elite member, you simply leave those towels at the Royal Elite pool area, and pick up more from the Royal Elite towel hut. But we couldn’t get any more gray Royal Elite towels because we weren’t Royal Elite members, and they weren’t going to replace them for us. When I started to get steamed about the stupid bureaucracy of it, how we were being punished because they didn’t have the room that we’d booked and paid for, they agreed to send us one more set of dry Royal Elite towels. After we used those, we left them in a heap on the side of the tub and just switched to blue towels from then on. Those wet towels never left the room!
The complimentary room snacks and drinks were another area of hospitality where we had some problems. I read a lot of reviews and always try to get up-to-date information. It seemed that everyone — whether Select Club, Royal Elite, or just a standard room — gets sweet and salty snacks in the room as well as soft drinks, juice and beer in the little fridge, and that they are refreshed daily or so. I also read that you get better minibar service if you tip the guy who replenishes it. Day 1, we left a tip with a note (in simple English) saying it was for the guy who replenishes the mini bar fridge. That tip, and that note, stayed in the room until we checked out, and our refrigerator was NEVER replenished, nor did we ever get any salty snacks or candy, or juice. There was a fruit plate in the room the day of our arrival, and soda in the fridge. We also read that rooms come with hotel-branded tequila, rum, and vodka bottles — I even saw photos of them here on Trip Advisor. We did have a bottle of tequila in the room when we arrived, but that was all. When we got no response to our minibar-guy tip and note, I asked the concierge about getting a bottle of rum in the room. They didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and said they don’t have rum for the rooms. Apparently that’s changed and no one on the concierge staff had any idea it was ever a thing. We did eventually get another bottle of tequila…but no rum!
The grounds are lovely, rambling, and full of beautiful, natural things to look at. Lots of wood work done with local felled wood and driftwood: railings, and benches, and natural-looking sculpture, one more beautiful than the next! Also of note: many trails go right into the jungle, so some kind of bug spray is a must. If you want to be kinder to the environment, we used a picaridin-based spray and came home completely unbitten! But do watch those trails, and always remember where the last map board was located, because they don’t have paper maps for guests! Pro tip: find the resort map on Google Images, and download it to your phone before arriving. Unfortunately, the map isn't perfect: not everything is clearly explained. We were excited to see, in the Xcalacoco section of the map, a Mayan herbalist and Mayan bees. The herbalist was an empty wooden stall, and there was simply nothing where there were supposed to be Mayan bees. It’s also worth noting that there are cenotes all over the property, not just the main, large one by the lobby. If you swim in that one, you must wear a floatation vest; the other, smaller cenotes are less monitored. We were lucky to have a private swim in the small “Sacred Cenote,” near the temazcal (sweat lodge). We’d booked the temazcal through the spa; part of the ceremony is a post-sweat cooling off in that little, off-the-beaten-path cenote. It was a beautiful ceremony; if you’re fit enough to do a sweat lodge, it’s highly recommended! The young man acting as our ‘xaman’ (“shaman” to most English speakers!) was really inspiring. Fantastic ceremony!
There are animals! A few are penned (huge pigs, donkeys, peacocks, deer), many are wild (spider monkeys, a zillion loud birds, iguanas, agoutis, and a few domestic cats). And coatimundis all over the place. They seem quite friendly, and will hang around if you’re trying to feed bananas to the monkeys, but if you DO give a banana to a coati…they will not eat it. They’ll just drop it! I guess they’re optimistic that they’ll get something other than a banana. Pro tip: if you want to feed the monkeys and don’t have a jungle-facing balcony, get an early breakfast, grab some bananas or other fruit, and head to the deer enclosure. The monkeys hang around in the trees around the perimeter, especially in the mornings, and they will sometimes come down toward (or even onto) the stone walls there. One monkey is missing an arm, and he is very people-friendly; he took bananas right out of my hand with his soft little foot!
The spa is an oasis of calm in the middle of the bustling resort, and the spa pool is VERY nice. Bonus: kids aren’t allowed in there! There are two distinct whirlpool sections; a river-pebble path that massages your feet as you walk on it; and about a dozen metal piping lounge chairs that sit right over EXTREMELY powerful whirlpool jets — NOT to be missed — all overlooked by a serene Siddartha Buddha statue.
Entertainment: We only saw one show — the Thursday evening Ceremony at the Sacred Cenote — which was very enjoyable. Get there early if you want a seat, or to be able to see. It’s not ideal for a large audience; we were leaning on the fence around the cenote, and many times we were jammed up against it as the crowd behind us surged to see better.
Food: the food was uniformly at least good, and even great a few times. Standouts were the breakfast at the Select Club restaurant, and Salvia, the vegan restaurant by the main pool. Even if you’re not vegan, this place was a wow! Everything was incredible, and a very different culinary experience from the other restaurants. The ambience was serene, as it was nearly empty. Every other restaurant we tried was pedestrian. The funny thing is that the resort’s Mexican restaurant was just…meh. Where we live in the US, we have a large community of Mexican nationals, and have some amazing taquerias nearby. We were so excited to FINALLY eat Mexican food in Mexico…but I guess you’re just not getting top-shelf Mexican cuisine at a resort since they have to accommodate many kinds of people. FYI, the best guacamole we had there was at the Select Club breakfast restaurant. Probably because it wasn’t made in vat-sized portions, like at the other places.
Souvenirs: the resort’s gift shop was the most negative experience of our stay. We ended up buying souvenirs at the shops in the airport, because we just couldn’t bear to go into that gift shop again after two attempts! A sales person will follow you around almost on top of you, and god forbid you pick anything up to look at it. When you put it down and walk away, the sales person will pick it up and play with it, kind of shove it in your face, or make noise with it, etc. I finally turned and said, “Thanks, I don’t need any help.” After a bit more uncomfortable browsing, I started to leave, and the stalker/salesperson asked if I was going to buy something, and when I’d be coming back. Specifically, what time. I said I didn’t know. The sales people will then tell you that they work on commission, if they don’t sell things they don’t get paid, that they have many/old/sick relatives at home who depend on their income. They will badger you to death about coming back, they will tell you their schedule, give you a card with their name and remind you to be sure to ask for THEM ONLY and not to let anyone else help you. And they will breathe down your neck as you shop. First I thought they were protecting against shoplifting, but it's another sales pitch like the timeshare talk. Ugh. I don’t know how they sell anything by harassing guests. It was so awkward and stressful. We avoided passing the shop whenever possible, to keep from being harangued. I've dealt with aggressive shopkeepers from the lower East Side of New York to Paris, and this was worse!
We’d gone into the gift shop was to buy Mayan honey, after not finding the bees, but they did not *have* Mayan honey, and seemed confused that I was asking for it. No one but one concierge knew what I was talking about; she SWORE there should be Mayan honey in the gift shop. We ended up buying it in the airport! Pro tip: a couple of times a week outside vendors set up stalls all along the main boulevard. They are MUCH less aggressive, and they have lovely things on display. We bought things from them, not from the gift shop. They should really reconsider their policies; the gift shop staff is not making a positive experience for guests.
Activities: we didn’t get much done because we’d come prepared to snorkel — brought all our own equipment — but the ocean was too rough and they weren’t letting snorkelers or kayaks out. We could have snorkeled on an off-resort excursion, but we had such a short time that we didn’t want to go on a long bus trip. And, there was plenty to keep us relaxed and entertained onsite. The Select Club beach was lovely and not too crowded; as rough as the ocean was, we managed to splash a bit and wade. And the Select Club beach house was the BEST Select Club benefit, by far! Lockers for your stuff you don’t want getting too sandy; a bar; snacks; an air-conditioned respite with a beautiful view of the beach and the ocean, rest rooms, plus on the beach itself there are lounges, Bali beds, and hammocks under a shady pergola. It was really great, especially for people like us who usually overdo it on a vacation; we sometimes have to be FORCED to relax. Besides enjoying the beach, we did a lot of hiking through the property, finding iguanas in the Xcalacoco area, relaxing on our own balcony, drinking, occasionally going all the way across the resort to swim in the Select Club pool, eating, did I mention drinking, and just…decompressing. We definitely found it mostly a very relaxing experience, in no small measure from the all-inclusive aspect.
As relaxing as it was for us, if you want a serene, quiet, kids-free vacation, this is probably not the best place. Even if you manage to get a room there, you really can’t just live entirely in the Select Club area; you have to venture out into the rest of the resort for variations in food, things to do, and the beach, so the large number of families with kids can’t be avoided completely. For us, it would have (obviously) been much better if we’d gotten the room we booked and paid for (and I’m not sure if the blame is with Apple for selling us a room they didn’t have, or with Sandos for offering Apple Vacations a room they didn’t have), but the resort tried to do the best by us that they could. I do think they could have allowed us to have breakfast in the Royal Elite area, however. That would have made things less inconvenient in the mornings. But, bottom line: if you truly crave an adults-only experience, even with their Select Club facilities, this isn’t the place you want to be.
A few final words: 1) Make sure you speak some Spanish, at least for the important things. (I always make sure I can say “I am allergic to shellfish” and “Where is the bathroom?” in any country where I travel). The language barrier here is more than I would have guessed it to be. There aren’t a lot of staff members who are fully fluent in English; at least not the ones walking around the property, working in the restaurants, and servicing your room. The front desk people, and the concierges, and of course the timeshare salespeople, are fluent in English. 2) If you book through an agency like Apple Vacations, make sure you understand how to set up your return shuttle to the airport. Honestly, I don’t understand why these can’t be set up IN ADVANCE, from home, before you go — it’s not like your return flight time is a secret. We were told to go to “the office behind the sports bar” to set up our return shuttle. We had to return there repeatedly before getting that done, because they also book excursions in that office. There’s just one guy behind the desk, and I assume booking expensive excursions is a priority over scheduling prepaid shuttle trips to the airport, so they spend a lot of time with people deciding what pricey day trips they want to take. Our choice was to either wait around (and again, we had a VERY short time away, and didn’t want to spend it waiting on line in an air-conditioned office), or come back another time. 3) Tip those bartenders! Every drink we got was really well made, and had a decent amount of alcohol. We always tipped the bartenders (and waitpeople, and cleaning staff). Best drinks seem to be prepared at the Elephant Bar in the lobby. Those guys were awesome! Pro tip: take an iPhone photo of the ‘fancy drinks’ menu at the bar, so you can enjoy the occasional Azul-Azul or Crazy Monkey at home. We did, and we do!
We went with Apple Vacations because they offered the Select Club Penthouse which was *not* available through CheapCaribbean. This was a major point for us. We don't have or want kids. We haven't been away in a good long while. We were looking at a very short window of time to decompress and refresh ourselves. And Select Club is the ADULTS ONLY section. We'd have no children in the building, the pool, in the restaurant for breakfast and lunch. It seemed perfect, especially when we saw that the Select Club was way back in the jungle half of the resort, where the local spider monkeys love to climb on balconies and take fruit from guests. I really wanted to see monkeys, and corresponded with the concierge about it. We asked for a jungle-facing penthouse, jn an area with a high occurrence of monkey visits (this isn’t as crazy as it sounds; the monkeys go to the same places all the time). This was an easy request, because most people want pool views, or rooms closer to the front (beach) part of the resort. The concierge was very nice and said she'd added notes to our reservation "in order to give you the best jungle view possible."
When we arrived in Cancun and got to our shuttle (it’s well worth the extra $$ to get the express shuttle so you're FIRST drop-off), we told the driver we needed to be dropped at the Select Club check-in. He dropped us and our bags off at the front of the hotel and said someone on the hotel staff would help us get to the Select Club check-in. We knew check-in wasn’t until 3pm, but we figured it was more than likely that the Select Club penthouses would be cleaned promptly, and that we might be able to get in the room a bit earlier. Unfortunately, Select Club check-in wasn’t available in late morning when we arrived. The front desk said that we could check before 3pm, but probably we wouldn’t get the room before then. So we left our luggage and decided to wander around the grounds a bit. We got drinks at the Elephant Bar in the lobby, and a staff member promptly buttonholed us to tell us that they would take us to someone who would “explain the hotel” to us. Being forewarned, I said, “If this is the timeshare conversation, we aren’t interested and we don’t want to sit through it since our vacation time is so short.” The staff member reassured me that it wasn’t the timeshare conversation; it was just an introduction to the grounds and the hotel, showing us where things were, etc. The woman we sat down with started with a VERY brief overview of the property, which included a cursory glance at a resort map she had in her binder. (Note: there are no paper copies of the resort map to carry around.) After a very brief time she started talking about Royal Elite and the vacation club. We politely but firmly told her we that weren’t interested in a time share, that it wasn’t our style of vacation. She pushed, how could we *know* we weren’t interested until we heard what they had to offer? I replied that we knew because it was just like every other time share. She fairly rudely questioned me about that, saying, “What do you think it’s about, then? Tell me.” We should have just walked away, but we were sure this was going to lead to a tour of the grounds. Eventually we managed to ditch her — and I’ve got to mention, this was a really crummy way of beginning our vacation, we ended up angry and stressed and I have to wonder if they sell ANY timeshares with rude staff like that! — and we just wandered around the grounds, which are wild and lovely, occasionally checking on the room situation. Finally at 3pm we went to the front desk — Select Club check-in was STILL not available, the Concierge just hadn’t arrived for work all day — and to our great shock we were told that THEY DIDN’T HAVE A SELECT CLUB PENTHOUSE. I will spare you the details of the angry conversation, and skip ahead to them offering us a Royal Elite penthouse instead. And not just *a* Royal Elite penthouse; they gave us the best one at the resort, the one at the very front of the first building, right on the beach. This was a pretty nice consolation, and I’ll get to the room details themselves later in this review, but it wasn’t the 100% win that it seemed. We were in a Royal Elite room, but we did not have Royal Elite privileges, so the nearby less-crowded pool and restaurant were unavailable to us. We could of course use the main pool and eat at any of the several non-Royal Elite restaurants on the property, but those were all loaded with families with screaming, running kids. If we wanted the serene, quiet, adults-only experience THAT WE PAID FOR, we had to go all the way to the back of the resort, as far from Royal Elite as you can go. Close to half a mile in the 90º heat and high humidity. This was mostly an issue at breakfast; we’d envisioned just rolling out of bed, grabbing a coffee, and heading back up to the room to relax and enjoy it with the monkeys on the balcony. We had to be showered, dressed, and carrying all of our stuff for the day when we headed out to breakfast, since it was so far from our room. We also lost having a whirlpool tub out on the balcony; Royal Elite penthouses have it in the room.
But let’s get to the room. It is a lovely room, clean, large, and the view was spectacular. The noise and music from the main pool was significant, but only during the day. At night, when the pool was much less crowded, the sound of the ocean drowned out the noise. It was quite nice to sleep with the ocean breeze and the white noise of the waves, and to wake to those astonishing, painterly sunrises!
My only negatives about the room are minor. The closet is weirdly designed: it's a step up from the floor. You will stub your toes, repeatedly. Also, when we arrived, we had a really sweet towel swan on the bed. Reviews I read suggested we tip daily, and you'd get towel art every day. We didn’t. We got curtain art every day. The thin sheers hanging at the balcony door were tied into rudimentary flower-like knots every day, which was actually inconvenient because we had to untie it to open the balcony doors. Oh, and here’s a very weird thing: when we first arrived in the room, I used the single feminine disposal bag that was there. It was never replaced. If someone used the bag, it stands to reason they will need a more bags over the course of their stay!
Room hospitality overall was a bit weird. Thick, luxe, grey Royal Elite beach/pool towels were in our room. The rest of the property uses the regular blue towels. After our first time in the Select Club pool, we schlepped those heavy, wet, Royal Elite towels back to the room rather than put them in a 'standard' towel hamper. We left them in a heap in the tub, expecting replacements. Room was cleaned; they were still there, wet and in a heap. We called the front desk and were told, “We don’t replace those.” Huh? Apparently, if you are a Royal Elite member, you simply leave those towels at the Royal Elite pool area, and pick up more from the Royal Elite towel hut. But we couldn’t get any more gray Royal Elite towels because we weren’t Royal Elite members, and they weren’t going to replace them for us. When I started to get steamed about the stupid bureaucracy of it, how we were being punished because they didn’t have the room that we’d booked and paid for, they agreed to send us one more set of dry Royal Elite towels. After we used those, we left them in a heap on the side of the tub and just switched to blue towels from then on. Those wet towels never left the room!
The complimentary room snacks and drinks were another area of hospitality where we had some problems. I read a lot of reviews and always try to get up-to-date information. It seemed that everyone — whether Select Club, Royal Elite, or just a standard room — gets sweet and salty snacks in the room as well as soft drinks, juice and beer in the little fridge, and that they are refreshed daily or so. I also read that you get better minibar service if you tip the guy who replenishes it. Day 1, we left a tip with a note (in simple English) saying it was for the guy who replenishes the mini bar fridge. That tip, and that note, stayed in the room until we checked out, and our refrigerator was NEVER replenished, nor did we ever get any salty snacks or candy, or juice. There was a fruit plate in the room the day of our arrival, and soda in the fridge. We also read that rooms come with hotel-branded tequila, rum, and vodka bottles — I even saw photos of them here on Trip Advisor. We did have a bottle of tequila in the room when we arrived, but that was all. When we got no response to our minibar-guy tip and note, I asked the concierge about getting a bottle of rum in the room. They didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and said they don’t have rum for the rooms. Apparently that’s changed and no one on the concierge staff had any idea it was ever a thing. We did eventually get another bottle of tequila…but no rum!
The grounds are lovely, rambling, and full of beautiful, natural things to look at. Lots of wood work done with local felled wood and driftwood: railings, and benches, and natural-looking sculpture, one more beautiful than the next! Also of note: many trails go right into the jungle, so some kind of bug spray is a must. If you want to be kinder to the environment, we used a picaridin-based spray and came home completely unbitten! But do watch those trails, and always remember where the last map board was located, because they don’t have paper maps for guests! Pro tip: find the resort map on Google Images, and download it to your phone before arriving. Unfortunately, the map isn't perfect: not everything is clearly explained. We were excited to see, in the Xcalacoco section of the map, a Mayan herbalist and Mayan bees. The herbalist was an empty wooden stall, and there was simply nothing where there were supposed to be Mayan bees. It’s also worth noting that there are cenotes all over the property, not just the main, large one by the lobby. If you swim in that one, you must wear a floatation vest; the other, smaller cenotes are less monitored. We were lucky to have a private swim in the small “Sacred Cenote,” near the temazcal (sweat lodge). We’d booked the temazcal through the spa; part of the ceremony is a post-sweat cooling off in that little, off-the-beaten-path cenote. It was a beautiful ceremony; if you’re fit enough to do a sweat lodge, it’s highly recommended! The young man acting as our ‘xaman’ (“shaman” to most English speakers!) was really inspiring. Fantastic ceremony!
There are animals! A few are penned (huge pigs, donkeys, peacocks, deer), many are wild (spider monkeys, a zillion loud birds, iguanas, agoutis, and a few domestic cats). And coatimundis all over the place. They seem quite friendly, and will hang around if you’re trying to feed bananas to the monkeys, but if you DO give a banana to a coati…they will not eat it. They’ll just drop it! I guess they’re optimistic that they’ll get something other than a banana. Pro tip: if you want to feed the monkeys and don’t have a jungle-facing balcony, get an early breakfast, grab some bananas or other fruit, and head to the deer enclosure. The monkeys hang around in the trees around the perimeter, especially in the mornings, and they will sometimes come down toward (or even onto) the stone walls there. One monkey is missing an arm, and he is very people-friendly; he took bananas right out of my hand with his soft little foot!
The spa is an oasis of calm in the middle of the bustling resort, and the spa pool is VERY nice. Bonus: kids aren’t allowed in there! There are two distinct whirlpool sections; a river-pebble path that massages your feet as you walk on it; and about a dozen metal piping lounge chairs that sit right over EXTREMELY powerful whirlpool jets — NOT to be missed — all overlooked by a serene Siddartha Buddha statue.
Entertainment: We only saw one show — the Thursday evening Ceremony at the Sacred Cenote — which was very enjoyable. Get there early if you want a seat, or to be able to see. It’s not ideal for a large audience; we were leaning on the fence around the cenote, and many times we were jammed up against it as the crowd behind us surged to see better.
Food: the food was uniformly at least good, and even great a few times. Standouts were the breakfast at the Select Club restaurant, and Salvia, the vegan restaurant by the main pool. Even if you’re not vegan, this place was a wow! Everything was incredible, and a very different culinary experience from the other restaurants. The ambience was serene, as it was nearly empty. Every other restaurant we tried was pedestrian. The funny thing is that the resort’s Mexican restaurant was just…meh. Where we live in the US, we have a large community of Mexican nationals, and have some amazing taquerias nearby. We were so excited to FINALLY eat Mexican food in Mexico…but I guess you’re just not getting top-shelf Mexican cuisine at a resort since they have to accommodate many kinds of people. FYI, the best guacamole we had there was at the Select Club breakfast restaurant. Probably because it wasn’t made in vat-sized portions, like at the other places.
Souvenirs: the resort’s gift shop was the most negative experience of our stay. We ended up buying souvenirs at the shops in the airport, because we just couldn’t bear to go into that gift shop again after two attempts! A sales person will follow you around almost on top of you, and god forbid you pick anything up to look at it. When you put it down and walk away, the sales person will pick it up and play with it, kind of shove it in your face, or make noise with it, etc. I finally turned and said, “Thanks, I don’t need any help.” After a bit more uncomfortable browsing, I started to leave, and the stalker/salesperson asked if I was going to buy something, and when I’d be coming back. Specifically, what time. I said I didn’t know. The sales people will then tell you that they work on commission, if they don’t sell things they don’t get paid, that they have many/old/sick relatives at home who depend on their income. They will badger you to death about coming back, they will tell you their schedule, give you a card with their name and remind you to be sure to ask for THEM ONLY and not to let anyone else help you. And they will breathe down your neck as you shop. First I thought they were protecting against shoplifting, but it's another sales pitch like the timeshare talk. Ugh. I don’t know how they sell anything by harassing guests. It was so awkward and stressful. We avoided passing the shop whenever possible, to keep from being harangued. I've dealt with aggressive shopkeepers from the lower East Side of New York to Paris, and this was worse!
We’d gone into the gift shop was to buy Mayan honey, after not finding the bees, but they did not *have* Mayan honey, and seemed confused that I was asking for it. No one but one concierge knew what I was talking about; she SWORE there should be Mayan honey in the gift shop. We ended up buying it in the airport! Pro tip: a couple of times a week outside vendors set up stalls all along the main boulevard. They are MUCH less aggressive, and they have lovely things on display. We bought things from them, not from the gift shop. They should really reconsider their policies; the gift shop staff is not making a positive experience for guests.
Activities: we didn’t get much done because we’d come prepared to snorkel — brought all our own equipment — but the ocean was too rough and they weren’t letting snorkelers or kayaks out. We could have snorkeled on an off-resort excursion, but we had such a short time that we didn’t want to go on a long bus trip. And, there was plenty to keep us relaxed and entertained onsite. The Select Club beach was lovely and not too crowded; as rough as the ocean was, we managed to splash a bit and wade. And the Select Club beach house was the BEST Select Club benefit, by far! Lockers for your stuff you don’t want getting too sandy; a bar; snacks; an air-conditioned respite with a beautiful view of the beach and the ocean, rest rooms, plus on the beach itself there are lounges, Bali beds, and hammocks under a shady pergola. It was really great, especially for people like us who usually overdo it on a vacation; we sometimes have to be FORCED to relax. Besides enjoying the beach, we did a lot of hiking through the property, finding iguanas in the Xcalacoco area, relaxing on our own balcony, drinking, occasionally going all the way across the resort to swim in the Select Club pool, eating, did I mention drinking, and just…decompressing. We definitely found it mostly a very relaxing experience, in no small measure from the all-inclusive aspect.
As relaxing as it was for us, if you want a serene, quiet, kids-free vacation, this is probably not the best place. Even if you manage to get a room there, you really can’t just live entirely in the Select Club area; you have to venture out into the rest of the resort for variations in food, things to do, and the beach, so the large number of families with kids can’t be avoided completely. For us, it would have (obviously) been much better if we’d gotten the room we booked and paid for (and I’m not sure if the blame is with Apple for selling us a room they didn’t have, or with Sandos for offering Apple Vacations a room they didn’t have), but the resort tried to do the best by us that they could. I do think they could have allowed us to have breakfast in the Royal Elite area, however. That would have made things less inconvenient in the mornings. But, bottom line: if you truly crave an adults-only experience, even with their Select Club facilities, this isn’t the place you want to be.
A few final words: 1) Make sure you speak some Spanish, at least for the important things. (I always make sure I can say “I am allergic to shellfish” and “Where is the bathroom?” in any country where I travel). The language barrier here is more than I would have guessed it to be. There aren’t a lot of staff members who are fully fluent in English; at least not the ones walking around the property, working in the restaurants, and servicing your room. The front desk people, and the concierges, and of course the timeshare salespeople, are fluent in English. 2) If you book through an agency like Apple Vacations, make sure you understand how to set up your return shuttle to the airport. Honestly, I don’t understand why these can’t be set up IN ADVANCE, from home, before you go — it’s not like your return flight time is a secret. We were told to go to “the office behind the sports bar” to set up our return shuttle. We had to return there repeatedly before getting that done, because they also book excursions in that office. There’s just one guy behind the desk, and I assume booking expensive excursions is a priority over scheduling prepaid shuttle trips to the airport, so they spend a lot of time with people deciding what pricey day trips they want to take. Our choice was to either wait around (and again, we had a VERY short time away, and didn’t want to spend it waiting on line in an air-conditioned office), or come back another time. 3) Tip those bartenders! Every drink we got was really well made, and had a decent amount of alcohol. We always tipped the bartenders (and waitpeople, and cleaning staff). Best drinks seem to be prepared at the Elephant Bar in the lobby. Those guys were awesome! Pro tip: take an iPhone photo of the ‘fancy drinks’ menu at the bar, so you can enjoy the occasional Azul-Azul or Crazy Monkey at home. We did, and we do!
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Room Tip: If you're traveling without kids and afford the upgrade, take a room in the Select Club area.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Response from Web_Sandos, Director de Relaciones con Clientes at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Jul 27, 2017
Dear Fjordstone, We appreciate the time you have taken to write this review regarding your recent experience with us. All our guest’s comments are valuable for us, as this always help us to improve. Please be certain that we are going to take your highlights into consideration, and we will take appropriate actions to prevent this from happening again. Respectfully yours,
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Hi, this review is intended for families travelling with children, since that is what our experience was (we have a 6 and an 8 year old). Here are my pros and cons about the hotel as well as some tips to make your stay more enjoyable:
Things we liked:
- White, sandy beach area with lots of palm trees for shade. The water itself is a bit rocky (bring water shoes!) but there are sandy trails you can walk in on, and there are some really interesting little tide pools along the shore, with little fish and shelled creatures.
- Hotel didn’t seem too crowded – always enough chairs, room at the buffet restaurants, etc.
- The restaurants opened for quite a wide time range if your kids like to eat early (breakfast started at 7:00 a.m., and you could get into the A la Cartes for dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. and the buffet starting at 6:00 p.m.)
- The A la Cartes didn’t require a reservation, which was great if you got there early (some of them got quite lined up later in the evening). There was always lots of empty tables in the buffet.
- The food was pretty good, although a little salty. Lots of variety and options for the kids (hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fresh fruit). Good cappuccinos at the lobby and sports bars.
- We liked the open air snack bar in the middle of the resort for lunch – there was a kids café (little picnic tables) and benches with swings you could eat at that my kids loved – but we wished there was a snack bar at the beach.
- They would often throw up a grill near the pool at lunchtime and grill something interesting – pad thai, skewers, etc. But you had to be right there when it happened and there would be a line up to get the food before it was gone.
- Lush grounds with beautiful walking paths, through mangrove forests. Small river winds through resort.
- Fun waterslide area for the kids (ideal for ages 3 – 8, but they are building a new, bigger area that looks like it will be ready in the next month or so)
- Lots of interesting animals around the property – monkeys, macaws, iguanas, peacocks, turtles, farm area
- Small mayan ruin area you can walk through at the back of the property
- Cenote (sink hole filled with fresh water) snorkeling pond was great for kids to experience snorkeling in a calmer environment than the ocean. The fish weren’t very colorful but it was still exciting fun and they were excited. There were some colorful fish in the ocean off the beach, and you could book snorkeling tours through the hotels.
- Fun little tours – Animal keeper, Cenote snorkeling tour, etc. were offered every day at no cost. (Sign up outside the sports bar)
- Water sport staff was great – we had no issues getting into a hobie cat, or a kayak or borrowing a boogie board.
- Foosball and ping pong at the sports bar
- A free safe, mini fridge stocked with beer and pop and large water dispenser in the rooms
- We were travelling for a wedding, and the wedding was beautiful and very well run
- They have vendors come in and set up tables and my kids loved the all the colorful jewelry and little toys they were selling. The prices were also good compared to Playa del Carmen
- The shows were excellent by resort standards – my daughter loved the Fantasy show on Friday evening (Disney montage), my son loved the superhero show on Monday and they both liked the fire show on Saturday. Arrive early to get good seats! Also, before the Fantasy and Superhero show, they set up a cart out front of the theatre at 7:30 p.m. that is filled with candy and balloons for the kids. If your kids want to be in the Fantasy show, you can put them in the childcare centre for the day and they will get a part in it.
- There was a cart by the main pool with different pieces of ceramics. You can paint them in beautiful, bright colors, the lady fires them overnight and you pick them up out the next day. My kids loved it! The pieces ranges from $10 - $35 USD including the painting and firing.
- Only 10 min. away from Playa del Carmen which makes a fun half day shopping trip
Things we didn’t like:
- Some of the rooms are old and dark without a lot of storage – the buildings near the ocean, seemed to be older and dingier. (We started in building 23 and really didn’t like it. We moved to 35 which was quieter and nicer – same layout but brighter and more storage).
- Really tiny balconies are almost unusable. We just used ours for hanging laundry.
- Some repairs were needed in the rooms – we called about a broken screen door in our room but no one ever came to fix it.
- There are different classes of guests – regular, signature club, royal elite – and there are a lot of limitations on beach areas, restaurants, pools etc, depending on which type of guest you are. To be Royal Elite you have to buy into their timeshare program
- Some of the staff could be very unfriendly and abrasive – e.g. reception staff when we asked to be moved because our room was too noisy (music from the bars at night was blasting at our window)
- The rooms are not very sound proof if you have a noisy neighbour
- We didn’t like the childcare centre. Apparently it used to be better, but when we dropped our kids off for an hour, the ladies working there were just checking them in. Nobody was interacting with the kids and the activity they had scheduled never seemed to happen. When we picked up our kids they had just been watching tv the whole time so we never took them back.
- One person in our group got really bad food poisoning on the last day.
- There’s no snack bar at the beach, so we would have to leave and walk up into the middle of the resort for lunch.
Tips and advice:
- Make sure you bring everything you need. The gift shop is VERY expensive for essentials (e.g. sunscreen in $24 USD for a tube of banana boat, $12 USD for a pail and shovel). I recommend packing: water shoes, sand toys, inflatable pool toys, sunscreen, bug spray, any medication you might need. We also bought our kids snorkel sets before we left that they got a lot of use out of at the cenote and in the ocean.
- We tried 3 of the a la carte restaurants – the Brazilian was the best meal we had, the Mediterranean was good and it was a lovely setting on the ocean (and the chocolate fondant dessert was amazing – like a lava cake!), we were disappointed with the Italian. The only restaurant that requires reservations is the Japanese – make sure you book right when you get there if you’re interested in going. It fills up fast. For the other restaurants, if you don’t mind eating early, arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 to avoid a long wait.
- Buy your tequila in Playa del Carmen or at duty free – also very expensive at the gift shop
- Tulum (Mayan ruins) is only an hour from the hotel and makes a good day trip. (We rented a car and it was an easy drive down the coast). Note: they only accept pesos if you’re paying your entrance and not part of a tour group (entrance fee is 64 pesos, approx. $6.00 CAD).
- Chitchen Itza and Coba are more impressive but they are 2 hours away from the hotel.
- If you’re in Playa del Carmen, visit Senor Frogs – a bar/restaurant on the beach. It’s an institution!
- Most places will accept $US or Pesos.
- The electricity is the same as Canada, so no converter needed.
- We had heard about an exit tax of $20 - $50 but we weren’t charged anything when we left. I think it depends on who you book your trip through, and most packages include this fee.
Things we liked:
- White, sandy beach area with lots of palm trees for shade. The water itself is a bit rocky (bring water shoes!) but there are sandy trails you can walk in on, and there are some really interesting little tide pools along the shore, with little fish and shelled creatures.
- Hotel didn’t seem too crowded – always enough chairs, room at the buffet restaurants, etc.
- The restaurants opened for quite a wide time range if your kids like to eat early (breakfast started at 7:00 a.m., and you could get into the A la Cartes for dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. and the buffet starting at 6:00 p.m.)
- The A la Cartes didn’t require a reservation, which was great if you got there early (some of them got quite lined up later in the evening). There was always lots of empty tables in the buffet.
- The food was pretty good, although a little salty. Lots of variety and options for the kids (hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fresh fruit). Good cappuccinos at the lobby and sports bars.
- We liked the open air snack bar in the middle of the resort for lunch – there was a kids café (little picnic tables) and benches with swings you could eat at that my kids loved – but we wished there was a snack bar at the beach.
- They would often throw up a grill near the pool at lunchtime and grill something interesting – pad thai, skewers, etc. But you had to be right there when it happened and there would be a line up to get the food before it was gone.
- Lush grounds with beautiful walking paths, through mangrove forests. Small river winds through resort.
- Fun waterslide area for the kids (ideal for ages 3 – 8, but they are building a new, bigger area that looks like it will be ready in the next month or so)
- Lots of interesting animals around the property – monkeys, macaws, iguanas, peacocks, turtles, farm area
- Small mayan ruin area you can walk through at the back of the property
- Cenote (sink hole filled with fresh water) snorkeling pond was great for kids to experience snorkeling in a calmer environment than the ocean. The fish weren’t very colorful but it was still exciting fun and they were excited. There were some colorful fish in the ocean off the beach, and you could book snorkeling tours through the hotels.
- Fun little tours – Animal keeper, Cenote snorkeling tour, etc. were offered every day at no cost. (Sign up outside the sports bar)
- Water sport staff was great – we had no issues getting into a hobie cat, or a kayak or borrowing a boogie board.
- Foosball and ping pong at the sports bar
- A free safe, mini fridge stocked with beer and pop and large water dispenser in the rooms
- We were travelling for a wedding, and the wedding was beautiful and very well run
- They have vendors come in and set up tables and my kids loved the all the colorful jewelry and little toys they were selling. The prices were also good compared to Playa del Carmen
- The shows were excellent by resort standards – my daughter loved the Fantasy show on Friday evening (Disney montage), my son loved the superhero show on Monday and they both liked the fire show on Saturday. Arrive early to get good seats! Also, before the Fantasy and Superhero show, they set up a cart out front of the theatre at 7:30 p.m. that is filled with candy and balloons for the kids. If your kids want to be in the Fantasy show, you can put them in the childcare centre for the day and they will get a part in it.
- There was a cart by the main pool with different pieces of ceramics. You can paint them in beautiful, bright colors, the lady fires them overnight and you pick them up out the next day. My kids loved it! The pieces ranges from $10 - $35 USD including the painting and firing.
- Only 10 min. away from Playa del Carmen which makes a fun half day shopping trip
Things we didn’t like:
- Some of the rooms are old and dark without a lot of storage – the buildings near the ocean, seemed to be older and dingier. (We started in building 23 and really didn’t like it. We moved to 35 which was quieter and nicer – same layout but brighter and more storage).
- Really tiny balconies are almost unusable. We just used ours for hanging laundry.
- Some repairs were needed in the rooms – we called about a broken screen door in our room but no one ever came to fix it.
- There are different classes of guests – regular, signature club, royal elite – and there are a lot of limitations on beach areas, restaurants, pools etc, depending on which type of guest you are. To be Royal Elite you have to buy into their timeshare program
- Some of the staff could be very unfriendly and abrasive – e.g. reception staff when we asked to be moved because our room was too noisy (music from the bars at night was blasting at our window)
- The rooms are not very sound proof if you have a noisy neighbour
- We didn’t like the childcare centre. Apparently it used to be better, but when we dropped our kids off for an hour, the ladies working there were just checking them in. Nobody was interacting with the kids and the activity they had scheduled never seemed to happen. When we picked up our kids they had just been watching tv the whole time so we never took them back.
- One person in our group got really bad food poisoning on the last day.
- There’s no snack bar at the beach, so we would have to leave and walk up into the middle of the resort for lunch.
Tips and advice:
- Make sure you bring everything you need. The gift shop is VERY expensive for essentials (e.g. sunscreen in $24 USD for a tube of banana boat, $12 USD for a pail and shovel). I recommend packing: water shoes, sand toys, inflatable pool toys, sunscreen, bug spray, any medication you might need. We also bought our kids snorkel sets before we left that they got a lot of use out of at the cenote and in the ocean.
- We tried 3 of the a la carte restaurants – the Brazilian was the best meal we had, the Mediterranean was good and it was a lovely setting on the ocean (and the chocolate fondant dessert was amazing – like a lava cake!), we were disappointed with the Italian. The only restaurant that requires reservations is the Japanese – make sure you book right when you get there if you’re interested in going. It fills up fast. For the other restaurants, if you don’t mind eating early, arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 to avoid a long wait.
- Buy your tequila in Playa del Carmen or at duty free – also very expensive at the gift shop
- Tulum (Mayan ruins) is only an hour from the hotel and makes a good day trip. (We rented a car and it was an easy drive down the coast). Note: they only accept pesos if you’re paying your entrance and not part of a tour group (entrance fee is 64 pesos, approx. $6.00 CAD).
- Chitchen Itza and Coba are more impressive but they are 2 hours away from the hotel.
- If you’re in Playa del Carmen, visit Senor Frogs – a bar/restaurant on the beach. It’s an institution!
- Most places will accept $US or Pesos.
- The electricity is the same as Canada, so no converter needed.
- We had heard about an exit tax of $20 - $50 but we weren’t charged anything when we left. I think it depends on who you book your trip through, and most packages include this fee.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Response from Sandos_Caracol, Gerente at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Feb 4, 2016
Dear Carolyn H, We would like to thank you for taking the time to write this review about your recent stay at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort, it sounds like you had a wonderful with us. We also would like to thank you your kind comments in regards to our services. We appreciate all forms of guest feedback, and it is through constructive comments that we are able to continually improve our services for our guests. You can be certain that we are going to take your bullet points into consideration. Once again thank you for your review and for the reccomendations to other travelers, and we hope to see you back once more at our property in a close future. Best Regards, The Management Sandos Caracol Eco Resort webrelations.caracol@sandos.com
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Just came back from a trip with wife and 2 kids (10 & 14). I'd give the resort 3.5 stars.
We arrived Sunday nite. So, no wait for checkin (denise at desk), but we ended up with a bad room (#5202) on 1st level with people literally walking by the room and looking in (I booked 4+ mo with specific request for 2nd/3rd floor) . Bookit has the room listed with 2 qn beds, but we got 2 full beds! Asked for a room chg which they couldn't accomodate until after 2nd nite. 2nd room was better (#3512).
Rooms were small overall.
Reaurants: Japannese was v.good thx to Jose. Got it tho it was booked all week1 I didn't realize I had to make reseveration a mo ahead of time!
Laguna was v.good. LaReviera nothing special. Italian was excellent. Skipped mexican (no fresh tortillas or fajitas?!!). Fogo Brazil was horrible. Waited 1+ hr. Cuts of meat are poor quality. Tried steak house but closes early at 9:30! If u want to to eat, u better do it before the 8:30p shows. Not having good mexican food was a disappointment. Snack bar was ok.
Drinks were excellent and available everywhere.
Beach & Pool: Pool was great. Beach was great for watching only. If u really want to swim, you'll see a small patch on left end. Else, go to right resort after 10 mins walk.
Beach elsewhere is better. Water shoes is a must. Too much weed.
The pool was good. Hotel should fix the bsktball ring for the kids, and add a net!
Entertainment: Plenty to do for kids. The shows were v.good. Marvel heros and Michael Jackson were superb!!! Kudos to team on that.
Water Sports Center was v.good. THX MARIO for saving my life after falling from Jet Ski!!
I wouldn't recommend 2 full sized adults on jetski tho. Waves will tip u over.
Snorkeling was fun. Thx Adulfo to taking kids thru river.
Photo shop and Carlos did a good job with pictures. but pricy!
Gift shop super overpriced. I'd stay clear of it.
Checkin/out: Something is wrong with their Computer system. Its either really slow or staff not well trained on using it. Communicating with guests would help if chck in or room chg takes long. Ck out was fast.
Landscaping & grounds were clean and very pleasant to walk thru.
Rooms were very clean. Kudos to housekeeping.
Bell boys were great. Very helpful with room chg.
We arrived Sunday nite. So, no wait for checkin (denise at desk), but we ended up with a bad room (#5202) on 1st level with people literally walking by the room and looking in (I booked 4+ mo with specific request for 2nd/3rd floor) . Bookit has the room listed with 2 qn beds, but we got 2 full beds! Asked for a room chg which they couldn't accomodate until after 2nd nite. 2nd room was better (#3512).
Rooms were small overall.
Reaurants: Japannese was v.good thx to Jose. Got it tho it was booked all week1 I didn't realize I had to make reseveration a mo ahead of time!
Laguna was v.good. LaReviera nothing special. Italian was excellent. Skipped mexican (no fresh tortillas or fajitas?!!). Fogo Brazil was horrible. Waited 1+ hr. Cuts of meat are poor quality. Tried steak house but closes early at 9:30! If u want to to eat, u better do it before the 8:30p shows. Not having good mexican food was a disappointment. Snack bar was ok.
Drinks were excellent and available everywhere.
Beach & Pool: Pool was great. Beach was great for watching only. If u really want to swim, you'll see a small patch on left end. Else, go to right resort after 10 mins walk.
Beach elsewhere is better. Water shoes is a must. Too much weed.
The pool was good. Hotel should fix the bsktball ring for the kids, and add a net!
Entertainment: Plenty to do for kids. The shows were v.good. Marvel heros and Michael Jackson were superb!!! Kudos to team on that.
Water Sports Center was v.good. THX MARIO for saving my life after falling from Jet Ski!!
I wouldn't recommend 2 full sized adults on jetski tho. Waves will tip u over.
Snorkeling was fun. Thx Adulfo to taking kids thru river.
Photo shop and Carlos did a good job with pictures. but pricy!
Gift shop super overpriced. I'd stay clear of it.
Checkin/out: Something is wrong with their Computer system. Its either really slow or staff not well trained on using it. Communicating with guests would help if chck in or room chg takes long. Ck out was fast.
Landscaping & grounds were clean and very pleasant to walk thru.
Rooms were very clean. Kudos to housekeeping.
Bell boys were great. Very helpful with room chg.
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Room Tip: Telling front desk that u want a good view mean nothing to them. Ask for 2nd/3rd floor.
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Response from Web_Sandos, Gerente at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Apr 4, 2017
Dear dbguru, Thank you for taking the time to share this review with the users of Trip Advisor. We are glad to read that your enjoyed many aspects and services in our resort, such as the included Jade river tour, night shows, and the majority of our restaurants, amongst others. Rest assured that we will take into consideration your comments and suggestions regarding the food in the ones your did not like. Thank you for mentioning the services you enjoyed the most, our staff will be glad to hear their hard work is recognized. We hope to see you soon again Best regards, Juan Carlos Herrasti Sandos Caracol Eco Resort webrelations.caracol@sandos.com
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We traveled in May with our 5 year old daughter. She was very excited about the Kids Club, about which we read many great reviews. Well, I'm not sure if we just went at a bad time (the customs officer at O'Hare said that tourism to Mexico was down 85% due to the high crime as of late) but there wasn't a single person that spoke English at the Kids Club. Yes, I realize I'm in Mexico. We go there at least twice a year. But, she's only 5. And since they couldn't communicate with her they set her in front of a tv! She was crying when we went back to check on her. All that aside. As many other reviews said, the place is enormous. Lots of walking. If your room is behind the kids pool (which is really great) you'll find that you have a long dark walk ahead of you after dinner. The path to your building cuts through the pool which closes early. The a la carte dinners were disappointing. The food was ok, the service left a lot to be desired. The menu is confusing and the staff has no interest in explaining it. They just want your order. I highly recommend the Italian restaurant. The food and service were great. Even the buffet service was awesome there. The grounds are beautiful. The donkeys were a hit with my daughter. Everything is overpriced in the gift shop. You're better off buying souvenirs at the airport. It wasn't an awful experience, but we won't be going back.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Helpful
Response from Sandos_Caracol, Manager at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Jun 9, 2012
Dear Guest, I would like to thank you for the time invested in sharing with us and this online community your personal experience perspective after staying at our hotel. While reading this review I must admit I am surprised at some of the remarks, you have stated. I thank you for highlighting the positive attributes and I am glad to know we were able to satisfy your general experience. I would like to clarify that erroneous percentages of crime rates, have nothing to do with our staff performance. Our Kids Club staff is highly capable, and most of them do speak English. If there was in fact as mishap in regard to your daughter, I am sincerely sorry; I will personally speak with our collaborators and see to it that this problem does not arise. I am sorry to see that you left the hotel with a wrong impression of our services. Rest assured that each one of your comments and observations will be given the due attention in order to implement changes and improvements where appropriate. Again, thanks a lot for your time and for the opportunity to have you and your family in our hotel. Kindest Wishes, Luís B. Ramírez Gerente General Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa Luís Bolívar Ramírez Hernández Gerente General / General Manager Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa director.caracol@sandos.com
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Questions & answers about the gift shop
Answer from Web_Sandos
Jul 2016 |
Hola, Sara M, we have no menu for virgin drinks however you can ask our barmans to preparte to you anything you wan't as long as we have the ingredientes to make it. The kids club has no cost you can sign up your kids at the moment you wish to leave them.
The gift shop does not sell distilled water unfortunately, but you can certainly find it in the local super markets, like Walmart,
which is in a 20 minute taxi drive in to town, the cost drive
is aproximately to 15 to 20 usd per ride.
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