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I just returned from a 6 night stay at Sandos Caracol. I was looking for a family friendly resort that was all inclusive. I wasn't sure what to expect because of the mixed reviews but I'd say the reviews about this property is accurate. Depending on your expectations, you may be disappointed. The property grounds are very nice - lush, natural and has less of a traditional/commercial hotel feel. You'll see animals roaming around including monkeys. The hotel has everything you need - a spa, gym, pool, beach, theatre for shows, shops, various restaurants and a water park (though better for younger kids). At least the water park wasn't as large as it seemed in the photos. I thought I was going to be walking into an amusement park full of kids. There's a jade river and a cenote for swimming. It's also nice they care about the environment.
Having said that this resort is better suited for families. I wouldn't say it's romantic per se unless you don't mind lots of kids running around, sometimes screaming or crying in the pool area or restaurants. They do have areas for adults only - this is their Royal Elite section and the pools/amenities there were quite nice but it is an upgrade. However, I would say most of the guests were families. The restaurants were not quiet (if that is what you are looking for). Not for singles or solo travelers -- it's more low key and not much of a party atmosphere.
When they say eco resort, it means rustic. While the grounds were lush, the rooms were more basic. No internet access in the rooms, no dresser. Some of the fixtures were loose. One of the lights weren't working and at night it was quite dark (you couldn't read). I'm someone who actually likes to spend some time in my room (plus I had some work to do) and I couldn't read in the evening. One guest mentioned their room did not have a peep hole and the peep hole was stuffed with toilet paper. They did have toiletries but if you're specific about the items you need in the bathroom, better bring it from home (i.e. cotton swabs, q tips, etc). They had a fridge full of cold drinks and a huge water jug which was nice. They also brought extra towels even though I didn't ask for them. Bring ear plugs if noise bothers you. You can hear crickets, birds chirping even with ear plugs on and the walls are thin.
Also, be aware that there are quite a bit of mosquitoes (not surprising given the setting) but I am someone who gets bit all the time and even with repellant, I got quite a lot of mosquito bites which made me very uncomfortable. My daughter's legs were covered in bites.
I also would have liked a few more exercise classes as that is something I enjoy. I took yoga 3x and it was nice but again, outdoors hence the mosquito bites. Water aerobics was good but only lasted 30 minutes. Jael and Diego were entertaining. I took 1 zumba class but they had problems with the sound system so it only lasted 10 minutes (It was outdoors as well in front of the pool). It would have been nice to have a couple of classes indoors such as pilates or a sculpt class. Probably not a concern for most but I prefer exercising inside a gym and it was quite hot and humid outside. Also the music selection was very limited. The same few songs playing.
The restaurants were at best average. I wasn't expecting great food as was noted in other reviews but I wasn't excited to eat either. They also didn't have air conditioning (or at least it wasn't working well) and you were sweating. The teppanyaki had the best food (you need reservations) but given the heat inside the restaurant, it was uncomfortable sitting there when they were cooking your food in front of you. A lot of times the food wasn't very warm and salty. The mediterranean and italian restaurant for dinner was ok. I wouldn't eat at the snack bar. There were quite a lot of flies and the food wasn't covered. I didn't even think the Mexican restaurant had good mexican food. Ironic since we were in Mexico. Made to order omelettes were good though.
Restaurant service was not very good. Most of the workers throughout the resort weren't too friendly. All with the exception of Felipe and Udiel at the Mediterranean restaurant. They actually were quite nice, friendly and seemed sincere. The lady at the Brazilian restaurant in particular was quite rude and would not make eye contact. Granted the restaurant was very busy (1 hour wait) but you couldn't even get her to look up to ask where you are in the queue. By the way, the food was not worth the wait there either-- overcooked and dried meat.
I used the kids club only once but my daughter did not enjoy it. It was hot with no air conditioning. Seemed better for younger kids.
The resort is quite large and spread out. Depending on where your room is you could be walking about 5-10 minutes to the restaurant/pool/beach. Not an issue for me except the humidity. They didn't have room service which would have been nice for the days you didn't want to walk out to get something to eat. The beach was nice. I saw some seaweed the first day but towards the end of the week, it seemed pretty clean. It's less packed than other resorts where you see a bunch of people on the beach. I was able to get some reading done sitting 2 steps the ocean. The main pool is busy. The lounge chairs could be more sturdy. One day they had to shut down the pool because a baby defecated (again, something that may happen when there are kids around).
I didn't go to the spa but the gym and the facilities looked nice. The front desk staff wasn't too friendly either unless they were trying to get you to sign up for the Royal Elite. They weren't pushy about it but they do try on several occasions even as we just checked in from a long flight and were clear we just wanted to get cleaned up and have dinner. Even at the travel agency desk, I couldn't just ask a quick question about my transport without having the agent try to sell me on a tour.
We took a cab one day to 5th avenue for shopping - costs $10 each way and one day to Sandos Playacar - $13 each way. That was well worth it. We really liked it there. It was more of a traditional hotel (definitely large property, more commercial) however less mosquitoes, better food, nicer beach (long stretch of white sand). We really liked the cupcake/coffee bar and the made to order burritos/tacos restaurant. We didn't get to go to the a la carte dinner because we had beach clothes on but it worked out because that evening they had a mexican themed buffet set up and it was very good and well presented. This is where I had good mexican food. Also the teen club was small but nicer for older kids with arcades, games which my daughter enjoyed. So even though it was busier and not as serene, we will consider staying there next time we come to Playa Del Carmen.
Overall we had a nice time but for me the deal breakers are the abundance of mosquitoes, lack of wifi in the room or an air conditioned area and poor lighting in the rooms, substandard food and service. Otherwise, I would have given the resort a higher rating as they do have a lot of amenities. I wouldn't expect luxury but it was still fun to be on vacation and a good value if you are on a budget. I would say the draw here is the water park and if your preference is for a quieter property with more natural surroundings. But if you're expecting more modern or luxury and good food, this is probably not the place for you.
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Date of stay: June 2017Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:No elevators so if that's an issue, choose the ground floor. Rooms farther from the...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Response from Web_Sandos, Director de Relaciones con Clientes at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Jul 16, 2017
Dear Luvshk
Thank you for taking the time to share your SandosCaracol experience. Our guests play a key role in helping us to improve our services and we truly appreciate your feedback. We would like to thank you for taking the time to highlight our hotel features down to the detail.
We have taken all your comments on board and this will be used constructively to perfect our future guest´s experience. We do our very best to ensure our guests are taken care of, from the moment they arrive until the time of departure.
Also, we hope you can give us a second chance to improve your perception about us, since We notice you like our resort but we can surpass your expectations next time.
Best regards
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
This was our first stay at Sandos Caracol as we usually prefer to discover new resorts. We enjoyed our vacation! Rhina Lantigua arranged everything for us before we arrived, rooms, restaurants and she answered all our questions. She also arranged a surprise magnificent dinner at the gazebo outside of Los Lirios for my birthday party with our friends. Rhina and Hugo went above and beyond to make it an impressive dinner. Front desk people were very helpful. To list a few are Olga, Margarita, Martin. Wiliam Ivan at the gym was very nice and always willing to help. We went to romantic boat tour on the little river that runs through the resort. Jesus – our boat sailor was so nice creating very relaxed mood and we learned so much from him about history of ancient Aztecs.
The white sand beach is nice, but rocky and not easy to access for swimming. Water shoes are a must to get over rocks. We stayed in the select club section on the beach. Here we had Wi-Fi and was able to communicate with our friends all around the world right from the beach. Service man Juan on the beach did a very good job putting on clean sheets and pillow cases every morning.
Restaurants were all good, and have quality food for every taste. We tried to take same spot every morning for breakfast and at lunch time because we liked how waitress Karina serviced us.
The only complaint is that we did not get the room cleaning regularly.
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Date of stay: December 2014Trip type: Travelled with friends
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Response from Sandos_Caracol, Director de Relaciones Públicas at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Jan 10, 2015
Dear guest,
We appreciate the time you have taken to write this positive feedback about your stay in Sandos Caracol
At Sandos Hotels we have a commitment to provide quality service beyond our guests’ expectations, and it is a real pleasure for us to know that we have achieved our goal.
This definitely strengthens our philosophy of seeking the highest level of service excellence, we are proud to know that Rhina and Hugo provided a high quality service, we will pass your kind comments to them.
We would be glad to welcome you again when visiting the Mexican Caribbean next time. Best regards,
Sandos was great , went there with 5friends , we used every facility and enjoyed the sun.
I often went on activities and i loved going there thanks to Monica(Mony) . She made it a great experience . Also the others are helpful and great , Ricardo + ... I recommend the Hotel , it has a beach , swimming pools , a gym , a spa , a lot of restaurants , animals . It also has all inclusive. A pleasure for me
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Date of stay: November 2018Trip type: Travelled with friends
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Response from Web_Sandos, Director de Relaciones con Clientes at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort
Responded Nov 28, 2018
Dear Georges,
Thank you for posting this excellent review and sharing with us the things you liked the most in Sandos Caracol Eco Resort. We are glad to know that our services exceeded your holiday expectations.
We sure will congratulate Monica and Ricardo for their great service in order to make your vacation memorable.
We hope to have the honor of serving you in the future.
Kindest Regards
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My friend and I just got back from spending a week in Sandos Caracol, we were there from 6/30/07-7/6/07, this was our first stay at the resort. I feel compel to write a review, because like most of you I had also read many good and bad reviews before I booked my trip, and I must say that I was mislead. My background: I love Mexico, and usually vacation in the Riviera Maya area twice a year, and usually stay at one of the following resort chains: Palladium, Paradisus, and Iberostar.
Here it goes:
The Room: -- Apparently there are three categories of rooms at this resort, The Select Club, The Junior Suites, and then there are the Standard Rooms.
The Select Club: -- These are the photos of the multi-color rooms with balconies that are on their website, all rooms have a balcony, roomy, in room Jacuzzi. The Select Club comes with a private beach with cushioned lounge chairs and drink services at the beach, private lunch restaurant, and snack bar (I assume it came with a price tag).
The Junior Suites: -- where most Honeymooners stay, on the third floor, with a balcony and an outdoor Jacuzzi.
The Standard Room: -- where most of us stayed, a small room barely fits two queen beds, a desk, dime lights, ceiling fan, mini fridge … hair dryer, thin walls that you can hear your neighbors conversations word by word, high counter tops in the bathroom, no where to hang and air dry bathing suites … and most of all it has no balcony even though their website indicated it has.
Bottom line, we stayed at a Standard Room right by beach and the pool, building 10, ideal location, the room could be better, but we barely spent anytime there other than to sleep (got waken up a few times by our neighbor's coughing, and snoring, the walls just got no insulations what so ever. If you read between the lines of other traveler's reviews, the Select Club & the Junior Suites people are the happiest and they usually give higher hotel ratings.
Food: -- Food was pretty good, a typical all-inclusive varieties, including fresh fruits, fresh squeeze juice, yogurts and more. I like that they have Mexicana restaurant (La Mascara) that serves Mexican specialties every night. The Italian Restaurant (La Tuscano) is not really Italian, it is just pasta and pizza that weren't even good. The main buffet is La Iguana, the warmest restaurant of all, no AC, but it has the most varieties of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh, the specialty restaurants, La Gaucho (steak house) was a joke, they use the lowest cut of meat, I didn't see anyone finish their steak when I was there; make two reservations at the La Riviera (Mediterranean) if I were you, pretty good food as long as you don't order sea food, the lamb chop someone ordered looked delicious. Restaurant services were not great at all at any of their buffet restaurants, the worst has to be the Italian Restaurant.
Bars: -- yes, they are all good; my favorite is the La Cafeteria, which serves flambé cappuccino every night under the most romantic setting on a deck with huge cushioned chairs, nice relaxing music, trees, and stars, what a nice way to enjoy a flambé (Spanish Coffee); The Piano bar is also very popular with all vacationers; The Snack bar is the most airy, they serve fast food only when all restaurants are closed.
The Beach & the Pool: -- The beach itself is pretty nice, crowded but nice. You really can't swim in the ocean due to many sharp rocks and boulders, bring your aqua socks. The main pool is shallow, max 4' deep, smaller than most other resorts, and the water was too warm to swim in.
Activities and nightly entertainment: -- The activity crew tried really hard, but they are so disorganized. The resort lack many all-inclusive activities including archery, ping pong, biking, group exercise … the nightly entertainment was also very cheesy, no table service. If you plan to take the free van shuttle to Playa Del Carmen, do ask the bellboys where the wait line is, and do arrive 15min before the departure time if you want to get on the van.
Over All: -- I like the fact the Gym (air conditioned), all restaurants, shop, lobby are closely located next to each other unlike some mega resorts I have been to. The reception people were very professional, the waiters/waitresses, bartenders, and house keeping do work very hard to make all vacationers happy (do tip them). All vacationers I came across with were very nice, Americans, Canadian, Europeans, and Mexicans. The over all services of the hotel were okay, I would stay here again only if the price is right.
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Date of stay: July 2007Trip type: Travelled with friends
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
We stayed at Sandos Caracol on 6 th Mar. 07 for two weeks via Thomsons. Like others, we were a little put off by some of the negative reviews but decided to go anyway as it fitted the location, time and budget. I must say that while I sympathise with some of the negative comments I cant say I agree with many of them. I hope to give you an un-biased review.
The original Caracol Village was severely damaged by hurricane Wilma in Oct 2005 and as a result the resort was closed for many months and virtually rebuilt, refurbished and extended. As a result everything is freshly painted and new looking. It is very well maintained. The best thing about it is that they have retained much of the original jungle. The place is about the size of a small golf course and consists of small three storey accommodation blocks all in tasteful Mexican colors. There are swamps and streams and plenty of birds, and wildlife. It is a joy to wake up every morning to the sound of the birds, and then go out for a stroll around the grounds or along the beach before breakfast. We didn’t have any problems with mosquitos.
Check-in : The airport pickup and transfer by Thomsons was faultless and check-in at Sandos Caracol was very efficient. When we booked we had requested a first floor room with a pool or ocean view. We were, however, initially put in a ground floor room with no view at all. So before we unpacked we requested a move and within minutes we were offered a choice of three other rooms. We choose one directly overlooking the main pool, close to the La Laguna buffet restaurant and our luggage transferred in a jiff. This was typical in that anything you wanted (within reason) you could have, you only had to ask. Room was good, with cable TV, stocked fridge, safe, good bathroom with shower and constant hot water.
Facilities : The gym was excellent with with no shortage of equipment, sauna was good, jacuzzi area was very popular, you can have a free scuba demo, snorkeling, diving fishing available trips (extra) internet café, and many more which we didn’t try.
Food : The buffet restaurants serve an incredible wide variety of food. Breakfasts offered traditional bacon/egg/sausage etc, plus Mexican varieties, Continental, a wide range of yoghurts and more fruit than you can imagine. Lunch offered a huge variety of hot and cold food, salads galore, fruit, and a rake of desserts. The choice for dinner was huge, and even the junk food guys were catered for with the obligatory burgers/hot dogs/ chicken nuggets - if thats what floats (or sinks) your boat. The whole point here is that you will always find something that you like at each meal time, and of course you can eat as much or as little as you like. The quality in my view was excellent.
Now the downside. There are three restaurants ( Oriental, Mediterranean and Steakhouse ) that you needed to book in advance, which had a menu and traditional waiter service. We tried them all and was very disappointed. The Steakhouse was the worse, service was like a clip from Faulty Towers, when we eventually got what we ordered my steak was virtually raw and cold. Why do Sandos do this?? is it to compete with other Hotels or to perhaps retain their star rating? We canceled the rest of our bookings because quite simply the buffet restaurants were far better in food quality and choice. There were three buffets, the La Laguna, Mexican, and Italian. La Laguna was the best, Mexican was also good, Italian was OK.
Drinks : There is a wide choice of international drinks and coffees and plenty of bars to get 24/7 service if you need it. The only problem was that the bars did get overwhealmed at peak time but you seldom waited more than 5 mins to get served. The cocktails were a joke though. The bartenders had no idea how to make a good cocktail, which consisted of rough measures of what ever they could grab hold of, chucked into a blender with lots of ice cubes and presto you have flavoured slush! delivered in a plastic cup. Still some people drank em or gave them to the kids.
Entertainment : There is entertainment every night in the main auditorium and a trio in the Piano Bar some nights. The main entertainment is put on by the animation staff and they are a very enthusiastic great bunch of guys, but it is a bit cheesy and panto in delivery, but still lots of fun. The trio were rubbish. The woman singer thinks she is doing jazz, which in her view involves wailing and improvising in every song. Bass player tries a bit, the guitarist is half asleep. Sack em and get a proper live band or alternatively a real piano and real piano player.
Day time has many excellent programmes put on by the animation team, who work really hard to keep you in trim shape after eating all the great food on offer.
Trips Out : You don’t need to leave Sandos Carocol as it has everything to make your holiday complete. BUT, it would be a crime not to get out and sample this wonderful country and meet the people, learn about the history, see the abundant sea life and generally have have fun. We took a taxi into Playa Del Carmen on a couple of nights and had a ball down 5th Ave. By day we visited Yalku, Acumal, Coba, Cozumel, Isla Mujares, Aktun Chen caves, Tulum, XhelHa and Cancun. They are all fantastic and all deserve a visit. Some were organized trips others half day explorations in a taxi.
If you like snorkeling then you MUST go to Yalku Lagoon a couple of miles up the coast north from Acumal. Also not be missed is XhelHa and Isla Mujares. Isla is a 30 minute exciting ferry ride departing from Porto Juares in Cancun. When you land on the island get a taxi ( 54 pesos ) and ask them to take you to Garrafon De Castilla Hotel at the South end of the island, where you can go snorkeling all day for 40 Pesos and there is snack bar where you can get great Max food and beer. We saw huge parrot fish, rays, barracuda, skate, a huge groper, and millions of smaller fish. Don’t confuse this with Garrafon Eco Park next door, which will rip you off mucho dollars and make you wear a lifejacket ( not good for trying to snorkel dive ) but I suppose its fine if you prefer the neat touristy package thing.
The Beach : Sure there are rocks on the beach and in the water, but if you walk a little up or down you can find a place to get in easily enough. If you snorkel a few rocks add a bit of interest anyway. Remember this place was ripped apart by hurricane Wilma in 2005, which did more damage here that it did in the USA, though I doubt it was reported much abroad. A lot of the reef was destroyed and many rocks were dislodged and washed ashore in the storm surge.
Security : There is safe in the room with a PIN number electronic lock, which is as useless as a chocolate fireguard. Staff can over-ride the combination and make off with ya dosh. This happened to a Welsh couple we met. They had over £200 pounds stolen from their safe. Sandos would do nothing about and requested that they didn’t involve the Police, however the oweness is on the couple to somehow prove their loss. They are going to sue them when they get home. Sandos really, really need to do something about this as it is a big problem.
There are security guards around the resort 24/7, for what its worth.
Staff : They are the most hard working, polite, friendliest folk you will meet. Sure you might get the odd grumpy guy who might have had his fill of difficult tourist for the day, but by and large they are the best. The buffet restaurant staff are superb and cant do enough for you, keeping you supplied with constant water, wine, coffee, wine, beer, wine and did I mention wine. Animation and dance staff are brilliant, as are the room cleaning guys, and front desk staff, but the telephone switchboard lady and the thief who nicked our friends dosh gets the big raspberry! You suck ( as our American amigos would say ).
Overall : Overall we loved our stay at SC. It was one of the best holidays we have had. Sure its not perfect, but for the money we paid you cant do better. I think it deserves its 4 star rating but it would need to lift its game slightly to get a 5 star. Mexico, and Yucatan in particular is a very interesting place, has great weather, the second longest reef in the world and above all really nice people. Weatherwise, we had great weather and came home with a good tan. Mid March to end of June is apparently the best time.
If you are considering booking Sandos Caracol don’t hesitate, you will love it. We will go again that’s for sure.
Email me if you want more info denis.robinson7@ntlworld.com
Denis and Christine Robinson
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Date of stay: March 2007Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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Business service (e.g., internet access)
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
I have seen times before where mature young adults who were under their parents supervision were allowed to get in their work out. My guess is, they don't want a bunch of rowdy little kids to interfere with mature users. Last year, in fact, a pair of young men from Spain were working out while their moms sat just outside. They were on a youth soccer team and wanted to continue their usual workout. They were 16, and well behaved. No problems there.
