All You Need to Know About the Shops
at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
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Shops review highlights
... for sunblock and other items are very high in the gift shops! Many vendors come in during the week but are comparable in...
... lost. It is a long walk to the beach. They have several shops on site which are very nice. The jewelry store was...
... when it got busy and we were always promptly served. The shops at the resort are overpriced, but extremely convenient and...
Most popular question about the shops
... QUESTION 2:Can anyone tell me is there any thing walking distance from the resort? Shops, restaurants, bars? QUESTION 3: must dos while we are there. QUESTION 4: you...
Answer from Sandos_Playacar
Oct 2020 |
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Great resort! We traveled with our three daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter to celebrate Christmas that was postponed due to a family death. The staff is friendly and helpful and loved the baby. Two of our rooms were in the adult section and one room was in family section. We were surprised by a few things and wanted to share so others can be prepared... 1) there is a lot of walking! First day we tracked 6 1/2 miles. Some of the paveways are bumpy and good shoes are a must. Flipflops and other sandles will make you feel the burn in your legs and back. Long way to beach every day. 2) internet is spotty - not bad since it forces you to relax, but communicating between our group was sometimes delayed 3) there are a lot of animals - they roam freely and if the kids are afraid it might alarm them. Racoons and Coaties were frequent visitors to the snack bar 4) If you are going to use the Kids place, socks are a must! We didn't think to pack socks for a beach resort and were unable to bring our granddaughter into the play area 5) Air conditioning is not prominent in the restaurants (exception is the steak house) - on humid days this can really be uncomfortable... we spent most days in water park and pool areas 6) get to pool areas early in order to get shaded space as the seats go quickly 7) Shows are great and staff is exceptionally friendly 8) You are in a jungle area so expect bugs... mosquito repellent is available at many stations so be sure to use it 9) Make reservations early for specialty restaurants - there are three seatings at 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 and they go quickly... food in the other restaurants are very good as well 10) The cribs are pack and plays - they do not have traditional cribs for children.
This was an amazing vacation and one we will talk about for years to come. As the caribbean promises the skies were gorgeous and the waters warm and blue! Food was good - ice cream machine was out of order a few of the days. Staff was great! Very accommodating - also be prepared the prices for sunblock and other items are very high in the gift shops! Many vendors come in during the week but are comparable in price to the airport and gift shop prices. Sunscreen was $22 (but we didn't get burned by the sun).
Thank you Sandos!
This was an amazing vacation and one we will talk about for years to come. As the caribbean promises the skies were gorgeous and the waters warm and blue! Food was good - ice cream machine was out of order a few of the days. Staff was great! Very accommodating - also be prepared the prices for sunblock and other items are very high in the gift shops! Many vendors come in during the week but are comparable in price to the airport and gift shop prices. Sunscreen was $22 (but we didn't get burned by the sun).
Thank you Sandos!
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Room Tip: We had 3 rooms-bldgs 71/72 and 28 - 28 was near spashpark other two close to adult pool but far...
Value
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Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Sandos_Caracol, Director General at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Aug 7, 2015
Dear Anne R, On behalf of the Sandos Caracol family, I thank you for commenting about the experiences lived while in our hotel. We are glad to know that our services exceeded your holiday expectations, thank you for recognizing our hard working staff. I am filled with pride knowing their hospitality and service made your stay the more pleasurable. Kindest wishes, we treasure your positive comments, and hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again, on your next trip. Warm 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.
We traveled to Sandos on a referral from a friend who had purchased a vacation package with them so we were fully expecting to enjoy our stay. We were there to take part in a sales presentation and possibly purchase.
Upon arrival we were placed in an old room that stank of must, cigarettes and pot. The room felt dirty and we were not comfortable to sleep there. The mini fridge, when opened, smelled as though something had died in it. The room was dark, with a small balcony with a chair and view of trees. No internet in the room, and no coffee maker. The only area that looked updated was the bathroom area, other than that we are talking a dirty room from the 80's. Very depressing.
We had decided to check out after 30 mins, only then were we given a room upgrade to the Adults section.
The adults section was much more modern, with internet & coffee maker, water dispenser.
The manager at front desk was helpful and courteous.
Very clean. However the cleaning/ maid service didn't arrive until we called them on our last day.
The food was average at the buffet and restaurant in the adults section was just food. The service in the adults section was good, servers very pleasant and welcoming.
The room service was ok, with small portions.
The property is hard to navigate at first, you feel lost. It is a long walk to the beach.
They have several shops on site which are very nice. The jewelry store was impressive.
The beach Zumba was fun, which goes on daily. The beach is nice, a bit rocky but nothing water shoes can't solve. Tours are offered onsite.
The members rooms closest to the beach, look nice and modern however they are all in 2/3 story building with no ocean view, only a direct view of the pool which is always full and noisy.
No private balcony, patios....poor designing on their part.
We are not overly fussy but sadly had more complaints on this property than positives.
There are so many options in this area of the world.. why would one pay to stay in a dark, dingy room?!
Sandos needs to do some serious over-hauling to their accommodations!!
Upon arrival we were placed in an old room that stank of must, cigarettes and pot. The room felt dirty and we were not comfortable to sleep there. The mini fridge, when opened, smelled as though something had died in it. The room was dark, with a small balcony with a chair and view of trees. No internet in the room, and no coffee maker. The only area that looked updated was the bathroom area, other than that we are talking a dirty room from the 80's. Very depressing.
We had decided to check out after 30 mins, only then were we given a room upgrade to the Adults section.
The adults section was much more modern, with internet & coffee maker, water dispenser.
The manager at front desk was helpful and courteous.
Very clean. However the cleaning/ maid service didn't arrive until we called them on our last day.
The food was average at the buffet and restaurant in the adults section was just food. The service in the adults section was good, servers very pleasant and welcoming.
The room service was ok, with small portions.
The property is hard to navigate at first, you feel lost. It is a long walk to the beach.
They have several shops on site which are very nice. The jewelry store was impressive.
The beach Zumba was fun, which goes on daily. The beach is nice, a bit rocky but nothing water shoes can't solve. Tours are offered onsite.
The members rooms closest to the beach, look nice and modern however they are all in 2/3 story building with no ocean view, only a direct view of the pool which is always full and noisy.
No private balcony, patios....poor designing on their part.
We are not overly fussy but sadly had more complaints on this property than positives.
There are so many options in this area of the world.. why would one pay to stay in a dark, dingy room?!
Sandos needs to do some serious over-hauling to their accommodations!!
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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+1
I stayed here with a large group for a wedding from Jan. 6 - 13, 2010. Overall the resort was ok - the food I found to be excellent in the ala cartes and Italian buffet, the entertainment was ok (some nights were poor) and the service very good for an all inclusive.
Location - this is the one downfall of this resort. The shuttle into Playa Del Carmen was always too full and on cooler days the line-up to get a taxi was quite long. My husband and I did walk into town on the beach and it took a good hour, but it was a nice walk. My only caution is any beaches not in front of a hotel are BAD - glass and other objects in the sand made walking in bare feet a little scary.
Resort - HUGE. The food was good, mostly luke-warm in the buffets, but excellent al acarte meals at the Steak House, japanese and Brazialian restaurants. We never tried the mediterrian since we were only allowed to go to 3. This resort has the best alcoholic drinks at it! The service was always quick at all of the bars (and we went to all of them). Tipping the waitresses helped when it got busy and we were always promptly served. The shops at the resort are overpriced, but extremely convenient and we ended up buying a couple of things there. The Spa I found very overpriced for Mexico BUT the services were great minus the pedicure/manicure. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding and it cost $80US for an up-do and the hairstylist was fantastic. My hair, normally limp and frizzy in humid climates, stayed curled ALL day. Very impressed. The staff were ALWAYS friendly and we tipped occasionally, so even if you were not tipping I think the service was still great. The entertainment staff work their butts off all day. The evening shows were not the best, even really bad on a couple of nights, but you can tell the staff try their best and they do such a good job during the day that I couldn't fault them for the evening shows. The animals around the resort are cute and add to the atmosphere. Like others have said the bugs are bad. I was only it a couple of times, even with bug spray, but my husband was eaten alive. It was very painful for him. The resort staff did spray bug spray every morning around the resort and I think this helped.
Beach - it's ok. There were plenty of chairs and we never had a problem finding a spot on the beach, even in our large group. Here's a tip though - the weather sucked while we were there, but on rainy days go snorkelling right in front of the hotel. It was amazing how clear the water is and there are tons of fish. When it was raining the water felt so warm and the waves died down. When it was sunny out, the water tended to be cloudy due to the larger waves. The big bags in the water were fun to jump off of into the large waves when snorkelling wasn't good.
Room - Darren from web relations was fantastic. Before we went I emailed him several questions and he always got back to me in a timely matter and since it was our honeymoon we received a large, standard King size bed and champagne and a fruit plate as a welcome gift. The room was always cleaned with fridge stocked everyday (we left a tip everyday and requested that the fridge be restocked, if not the fridge is only stocked once every 2 days which is ok too if you don't drink the beer/pop/water in the fridge).
Excursions: We went to Xel-Ha and it was so great. The snorkelling was good and you could spend 2 days just swimming and relaxing. Here's a tip - buy tickets from the guy on the beach. It saves you $30US/person plus a van picks you up from the resort, not a huge bus where you have to go to several resorts to pick-up and drop people off. Some people bought from the beach and the ride was way quicker for them and others, like me, bought from our travel rep and we were on the bus at least an extra hour, if not more. We also went to the Tulum Mayan Ruins. The beach here is white sand, clear water - bring your swimsuits if you are here for more than a short tour. You can also take the ADO bus directly from Playa del Carmen, so you can spend as long as you like.
Overall it was a good resort, probably great for families, and it was what I expected. I wouldn't necessary go back to this one since I love trying new hotels, but would recommend this resort.
Location - this is the one downfall of this resort. The shuttle into Playa Del Carmen was always too full and on cooler days the line-up to get a taxi was quite long. My husband and I did walk into town on the beach and it took a good hour, but it was a nice walk. My only caution is any beaches not in front of a hotel are BAD - glass and other objects in the sand made walking in bare feet a little scary.
Resort - HUGE. The food was good, mostly luke-warm in the buffets, but excellent al acarte meals at the Steak House, japanese and Brazialian restaurants. We never tried the mediterrian since we were only allowed to go to 3. This resort has the best alcoholic drinks at it! The service was always quick at all of the bars (and we went to all of them). Tipping the waitresses helped when it got busy and we were always promptly served. The shops at the resort are overpriced, but extremely convenient and we ended up buying a couple of things there. The Spa I found very overpriced for Mexico BUT the services were great minus the pedicure/manicure. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding and it cost $80US for an up-do and the hairstylist was fantastic. My hair, normally limp and frizzy in humid climates, stayed curled ALL day. Very impressed. The staff were ALWAYS friendly and we tipped occasionally, so even if you were not tipping I think the service was still great. The entertainment staff work their butts off all day. The evening shows were not the best, even really bad on a couple of nights, but you can tell the staff try their best and they do such a good job during the day that I couldn't fault them for the evening shows. The animals around the resort are cute and add to the atmosphere. Like others have said the bugs are bad. I was only it a couple of times, even with bug spray, but my husband was eaten alive. It was very painful for him. The resort staff did spray bug spray every morning around the resort and I think this helped.
Beach - it's ok. There were plenty of chairs and we never had a problem finding a spot on the beach, even in our large group. Here's a tip though - the weather sucked while we were there, but on rainy days go snorkelling right in front of the hotel. It was amazing how clear the water is and there are tons of fish. When it was raining the water felt so warm and the waves died down. When it was sunny out, the water tended to be cloudy due to the larger waves. The big bags in the water were fun to jump off of into the large waves when snorkelling wasn't good.
Room - Darren from web relations was fantastic. Before we went I emailed him several questions and he always got back to me in a timely matter and since it was our honeymoon we received a large, standard King size bed and champagne and a fruit plate as a welcome gift. The room was always cleaned with fridge stocked everyday (we left a tip everyday and requested that the fridge be restocked, if not the fridge is only stocked once every 2 days which is ok too if you don't drink the beer/pop/water in the fridge).
Excursions: We went to Xel-Ha and it was so great. The snorkelling was good and you could spend 2 days just swimming and relaxing. Here's a tip - buy tickets from the guy on the beach. It saves you $30US/person plus a van picks you up from the resort, not a huge bus where you have to go to several resorts to pick-up and drop people off. Some people bought from the beach and the ride was way quicker for them and others, like me, bought from our travel rep and we were on the bus at least an extra hour, if not more. We also went to the Tulum Mayan Ruins. The beach here is white sand, clear water - bring your swimsuits if you are here for more than a short tour. You can also take the ADO bus directly from Playa del Carmen, so you can spend as long as you like.
Overall it was a good resort, probably great for families, and it was what I expected. I wouldn't necessary go back to this one since I love trying new hotels, but would recommend this 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.
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My family and I spent 6 nights at Sandos Caracol the week of June 11 and absolutely loved it. My children are 4 and 6 and had a wonderful time. My experience at Sandos was comparable to other experiences in Playa del Carmen and we would definitely go back.
1. ROOM – We upgraded to a Select Club Jacuzzi Jr Suite for the extra space. The room (7122) was on the 3rd floor and includes a king bed (typical hard Mexican mattress) and a separate seating area that had a wicker sofa and a sleeper sofa for the two kids. Not much privacy, but good enough. Unit has a large shower inside with a Jacuzzi tub on the large private balcony. Kids used the tub once, but it took so long to fill that we didn’t use it again. Mini fridge was always stocked with beer and bottled water and the room included complimentary champagne, tequila, vodka, and brandy. These larger top floor units also include 2 air conditioners (and contrary to a previous post, the AC and the fridge continue to work when you leave the room).
2. FOOD – Resort has 3 buffets. International is the largest and is open air; Mexican and Italian are both air conditioned. The food at all three was exceptional, especially the fruit and vegetables. Besides the typical buffet food, International offers eggs and omelets to order for breakfast and cuts of fish, beef, and pork for other meals. Italian offered pasta dishes, fish and meat to order as well as typical Italian buffet food. Mexican was dinner only and had several cooking and carving stations preparing fresh plates to order. There is also a 24 hour snack bar in the center of the resort that had hamburgers, hotdogs, nachos, fruit, and ice cream
The ‘Reservation’ restaurants – Brazilian, Steak, Chinese, and Mediterranean – are all open air, but breezy and comfortable. We didn’t find the reservations to work well with our children’s schedule and we only ate at the steakhouse which was actually pretty good (I’ve paid a lot more for much worse steaks in restaurants). During the day the Brazilian serves as the a la carte restaurant exclusively for Select Club guests
3. BEACH – The beach is large and quiet. Typical Riviera Maya coarse sand, but shoes are not necessary. They have built an artificial reef about 100’ out into the ocean which creates a nice calm lagoon. The water on the other side of the reef is still shallow (3’-4’ deep) so you can easily cross it and enjoy the surf. Always plenty of palapas and loungers available. We stayed in the Select Club area (see below) which had more room between loungers and fewer people on the beach. The palapas and loungers do sit back from the water a bit, making it difficult to enjoy the shade while still keeping an eye on young children, but we managed.
4. POOLS – Shaded seats at the main pool are always a premium, but if I wanted to lay out I would rather do it on the beach – I go to the pool to swim. The main pool has an activity side – which we avoided – and a swim-up bar side. The water is about 42” deep, but there is a 5’ wide ledge around the pool that is only about 6” deep which my kids enjoyed. Since they both are great swimmers, the lack of a shallow area didn’t bother them. We did not go to the Adults Only pool or the children’s pool. We did use the Select Club pool quite a bit. It is a very large pool with plenty of nice seating and shade (shaded loungers were always available). It is a 4’ deep pool with no ledges or shallow areas. Always quiet and a great place to swim. A favorite with the kids was the new Aqua Park. A really nice facility with slides and sprays that empty into a 14” deep pool.
5. AMENITIES – On site CENOTE – open from 10 – 1 for snorkeling, but not much to see. There was plenty of WILDLIFE with signs posted giving a brief background on the animals. Animals we saw included: donkeys, mapaches, coatis, iguanas, chameleons, peacocks (and peahens), guacamayas, deer, blue crabs, and turtles. The property is heavily JUNGLED with lots of RIVERS and CREEKS to follow and explore. We did not use the GYM or SPA nor were we interested in the MOVIES and SHOWS. On-site DIVE SHOP – Scuba Libre – was professional and reasonably priced. Daily free SHUTTLE to Playa on a full size bus. Departs resort at 10, 12, 2, and 4, returns from Playa at 11, 1, 3, and 5.
6. SERVICE – Generally, service was good. Everyone was friendly, smiled a lot, and spoke English. Occasionally you would find a bartender that wasn’t as attentive as you would like, but that was the exception.
7. SELECT CLUB – For a small premium, we upgraded to the Select Club and were very glad we did. Select Club has a different section of beach with more shade, nicer loungers, beach cabanas (beds with curtains around them) and waiters. The Beach Club is an air conditioned clubhouse on the beach with a bar (with top shelf liquors), light snacks, small library, showers and restrooms, pool table, 4 computers, and free wi-fi. It is a great place to wait out a short afternoon rain shower on the beach. Members can also make dinner reservations here and avoid the lines at the main lobby. Select Club members have a private pool (with waiters), can get room service, can use the Kids Club, and have an a la carte breakfast or lunch at the Select Club restaurant. Some may complain that the Select Club is further from the beach than other rooms, but it is all relative – a 5 minute walk instead of a 3 minute walk is no big deal when you’ve got no place to be (helps to work off all the great food you are eating!).
8. OTHER – at check-in, we politely declined the thinly disguised breakfast invitation to a timeshare presentation which they were pushing hard. Since this is an eco-resort they have no paperwork – no maps, listing of restaurants and hours, etc… Although maps are posted around the resort, print the one on their website and take it with you and write down what the concierge tells you. The large on-site gift shop is actually cheaper than the shops in town and you don’t have to haggle to feel like you got a good deal. The resort brings in 2 or 3 different artisans every evening to sell their goods. While there we saw bracelet makers, spray paint artists, finger painting on ceramic tiles and others. On Wednesday night, they brought in 20 or 30 vendors and set up a little market in the resort. Same stuff they sold at the gift shop, but 3 times as expensive. I think they expected you to negotiate the price down, but it wasn’t worth the effort – gift shop has AC! We never had a problem with mosquitoes, but they had repellent available.
1. ROOM – We upgraded to a Select Club Jacuzzi Jr Suite for the extra space. The room (7122) was on the 3rd floor and includes a king bed (typical hard Mexican mattress) and a separate seating area that had a wicker sofa and a sleeper sofa for the two kids. Not much privacy, but good enough. Unit has a large shower inside with a Jacuzzi tub on the large private balcony. Kids used the tub once, but it took so long to fill that we didn’t use it again. Mini fridge was always stocked with beer and bottled water and the room included complimentary champagne, tequila, vodka, and brandy. These larger top floor units also include 2 air conditioners (and contrary to a previous post, the AC and the fridge continue to work when you leave the room).
2. FOOD – Resort has 3 buffets. International is the largest and is open air; Mexican and Italian are both air conditioned. The food at all three was exceptional, especially the fruit and vegetables. Besides the typical buffet food, International offers eggs and omelets to order for breakfast and cuts of fish, beef, and pork for other meals. Italian offered pasta dishes, fish and meat to order as well as typical Italian buffet food. Mexican was dinner only and had several cooking and carving stations preparing fresh plates to order. There is also a 24 hour snack bar in the center of the resort that had hamburgers, hotdogs, nachos, fruit, and ice cream
The ‘Reservation’ restaurants – Brazilian, Steak, Chinese, and Mediterranean – are all open air, but breezy and comfortable. We didn’t find the reservations to work well with our children’s schedule and we only ate at the steakhouse which was actually pretty good (I’ve paid a lot more for much worse steaks in restaurants). During the day the Brazilian serves as the a la carte restaurant exclusively for Select Club guests
3. BEACH – The beach is large and quiet. Typical Riviera Maya coarse sand, but shoes are not necessary. They have built an artificial reef about 100’ out into the ocean which creates a nice calm lagoon. The water on the other side of the reef is still shallow (3’-4’ deep) so you can easily cross it and enjoy the surf. Always plenty of palapas and loungers available. We stayed in the Select Club area (see below) which had more room between loungers and fewer people on the beach. The palapas and loungers do sit back from the water a bit, making it difficult to enjoy the shade while still keeping an eye on young children, but we managed.
4. POOLS – Shaded seats at the main pool are always a premium, but if I wanted to lay out I would rather do it on the beach – I go to the pool to swim. The main pool has an activity side – which we avoided – and a swim-up bar side. The water is about 42” deep, but there is a 5’ wide ledge around the pool that is only about 6” deep which my kids enjoyed. Since they both are great swimmers, the lack of a shallow area didn’t bother them. We did not go to the Adults Only pool or the children’s pool. We did use the Select Club pool quite a bit. It is a very large pool with plenty of nice seating and shade (shaded loungers were always available). It is a 4’ deep pool with no ledges or shallow areas. Always quiet and a great place to swim. A favorite with the kids was the new Aqua Park. A really nice facility with slides and sprays that empty into a 14” deep pool.
5. AMENITIES – On site CENOTE – open from 10 – 1 for snorkeling, but not much to see. There was plenty of WILDLIFE with signs posted giving a brief background on the animals. Animals we saw included: donkeys, mapaches, coatis, iguanas, chameleons, peacocks (and peahens), guacamayas, deer, blue crabs, and turtles. The property is heavily JUNGLED with lots of RIVERS and CREEKS to follow and explore. We did not use the GYM or SPA nor were we interested in the MOVIES and SHOWS. On-site DIVE SHOP – Scuba Libre – was professional and reasonably priced. Daily free SHUTTLE to Playa on a full size bus. Departs resort at 10, 12, 2, and 4, returns from Playa at 11, 1, 3, and 5.
6. SERVICE – Generally, service was good. Everyone was friendly, smiled a lot, and spoke English. Occasionally you would find a bartender that wasn’t as attentive as you would like, but that was the exception.
7. SELECT CLUB – For a small premium, we upgraded to the Select Club and were very glad we did. Select Club has a different section of beach with more shade, nicer loungers, beach cabanas (beds with curtains around them) and waiters. The Beach Club is an air conditioned clubhouse on the beach with a bar (with top shelf liquors), light snacks, small library, showers and restrooms, pool table, 4 computers, and free wi-fi. It is a great place to wait out a short afternoon rain shower on the beach. Members can also make dinner reservations here and avoid the lines at the main lobby. Select Club members have a private pool (with waiters), can get room service, can use the Kids Club, and have an a la carte breakfast or lunch at the Select Club restaurant. Some may complain that the Select Club is further from the beach than other rooms, but it is all relative – a 5 minute walk instead of a 3 minute walk is no big deal when you’ve got no place to be (helps to work off all the great food you are eating!).
8. OTHER – at check-in, we politely declined the thinly disguised breakfast invitation to a timeshare presentation which they were pushing hard. Since this is an eco-resort they have no paperwork – no maps, listing of restaurants and hours, etc… Although maps are posted around the resort, print the one on their website and take it with you and write down what the concierge tells you. The large on-site gift shop is actually cheaper than the shops in town and you don’t have to haggle to feel like you got a good deal. The resort brings in 2 or 3 different artisans every evening to sell their goods. While there we saw bracelet makers, spray paint artists, finger painting on ceramic tiles and others. On Wednesday night, they brought in 20 or 30 vendors and set up a little market in the resort. Same stuff they sold at the gift shop, but 3 times as expensive. I think they expected you to negotiate the price down, but it wasn’t worth the effort – gift shop has AC! We never had a problem with mosquitoes, but they had repellent available.
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Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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+1
I really enjoyed my vacation but I don't think it was because of the resort itself but more because of the company kept. I come from vacations that take place on a boat, customer service doesn't compare from a cruise ship to this resort. The cruise ship provides excellent customer service and everyone always greets you with a smile and on the resort, not so much. Service was really lacking at Los Lirios restaurant. The resort is located in the middle of a jungle-like environment. It's built on underground caves and cenotes. The view is absolutely beautiful. There's wildlife (raccoons, monkeys, peacocks, cats, and lots of mosquitoes) walking around freely. The water park was great. We spent one whole day there. I traveled with a 13, 9, and 3 year old and they enjoyed themselves. We did not have a Royal Elite room or Select Club room but a standard room. Based on previous reviews, those in the upgraded rooms seemed to be a bit more happier with their stay. I didn't think it would matter, but I guess it does. There are a variety of restaurants to eat at. The one we wanted to eat at, El Templo required a reservation and that requires a few days in advance. Call ahead to reserve. Out of all the restaurants, only one is air conditioned. Allllllll the other ones just have ceiling fans...needless to say, it was very hot and I would not recommend vacationing here in the summer. I read reviews prior to coming and alot of people stated that there's lots of walking. There is alot of walking. My step count varied from 15-20k steps. Take it from there. The beach was not pretty as you'd expect it to be. The water was very dirty with seaweed, verrrrrry rocky (I mean verrrrrry rocky), and murky. We walked in and decided to go to the pool instead. Instead we went to the sister hotel Sandos Playacar. It was a whole lot nicer, including the beach. You're allowed to use all their facilities but they do not have a shuttle. For 8 of us, it came out to be $26 each way via taxi. The hotel has stands in them middle section of the resort that sell trinkets. They are expensive! Instead we went via taxi to a place called 5th Avenue. It's like a giant flea market and shops. There's where we bought our souvenirs. There were previous reviews talking about food quality. It's not top class food. It was okay. Like someone else said, I never went hungry. We tried as many different restaurants as we could. There was nothing that stood out to me as being DELICIOUS. Last few words....we were here in July, very very very hot. I don't think I'd come again in the summer. Maybe in the fall or early spring. Make sure to bring lots of OFF! There are little stands with insect repellent but they leave you sticky. As it is I was already sticky due to the humidity. Also take your own cups. They use small 12oz or so cups and for me, that just isn't big enough and flagging down a waiter is kinda tough.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Sandos_Caracol, Gerente at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Aug 4, 2016
Dear Jessicadnava, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. While we wish you had a better experience, it is feedback like this that we learn from and use to improve. Sandos Caracol’s mission is to create unique experiences for our guests, which we achieve by guest service and quality service that we provide constantly to make sure you enjoy your vacations, however it's apparent in this case that we fell short. If you give us a chance to earn back your trust, we can assure you that we will do our best to give you the great hotel experience that so many of our guests have grown so fond of. Sincerely, 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.
Questions & answers about the shops
Answer from Sandos_Playacar
Oct 2020 |
Hi Crystal,
Answers to your questions:
ANSWER 1: Yes, please contact the Concierge Dept. or the Web Relations Dept.
ANSWER 2: You need to take a taxi to go to town.
ANSWER 3: Water Slide Park is a must for the kids.
ANSWER 4: Neoprene Beach Shoes for everyone and lots of OFF ( mosquito repellent ) and your own mask and snorkel.
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Answer from Web Relations C
Apr 2018 |
Dear Guest,
We understand perfectly but for safety reasons the goggles can not be used in the slides.
The nearest place will be the fifth avenue, you can get there by taxi will cost you aprox. 15 usd.
Answer from ippydippy
Apr 2018 |
Thankyou all for your replies! Very much appreciated.
Answer from Eva P
Feb 2018 |
If you want to go off the resort no it is not you need a taxi they have shops on site and markets twice a week that have adults only pool it's great and adults only beach it's beautiful but lots of coral so you need beach shoes 5 or 6 restaurants and adults only nights at them but it's family resort
Answer from Web_Sandos
Sep 2016 |
Dear Thomas K, we actually have a Scuba Shop onsite which offers all these type of services. The shop is located at the hotel´s main beach. Best regards,
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