El Dorado Seaside Palms, a Spa Resort - All Inclusive - Adults Only

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

14551 reviews

• 

  Avoid as 2/3 star and makes you ill

  Appallingly bad, service in restaurants non existence and everything was hard work to get the basics. First room (having paid swim up suite) broken mirror, table was damaged and the room smelly and old, 3808, having had a horrendous airport experience of just over 3 hours, no welcoming staff or drink. Bad rain and wind so having had really good flight paying for premium, why would staff check us into sub standard room? This says a lot, 3701 we accepted that same night that appeared modern, not smelly but had the inconvenience of a broken fridge, had to have the phone line rewired in, coffee machine didn’t have a plug socket in the unit so it took the whole of the onky table we had, housekeeping abysmal and inconsistent, safe had to be reopened due to problem battery and smoke detector buzzing as battery low, not good after 11pm. Stayed vegan restaurant only lunch we had in ten nights, didn’t clean tables but took our basic order and then left us nearly an hour and shrugged their shoulders, never got the mushroom tacos, Italian restaurant room the order and after 50 mins we asked where my soup was? They did bring it but cold so returned it. In both the vegan restaurant and Italian Spanish guests came in after us and received two courses before we received our first and this happened in the vegan one too! There was not 11 restaurants open, generally 4/5 but you could never turn up unless booked days in advance. Mexican restaurant open only on a Monday? Mini bar was also diabolical as only had beers x4, 4 cokes, 2 sprite and 2 Heineken. We returned the cokes and requested sprite and Heineken, his was difficult abd the staff could not provide the basics. We were able to order 18g bag of crisps via the bar service but the menu changed removing the Heineken and crisis in favour of the hidden beach guests. To buy crisps in the hotel £8 or $11 per bag. I became unwell three days before we left and took 2 Imodium in order for me to be able to return Home, I have a water infection and been on anti biotics thus week, had sample sent off as GP thinks with the pains I have and swollen stomach I have a parasite that is found in salad/fruit and water. I have suspicions about the whirlpool because one wipe of the jets I do not think is good enough to clean bacteria built up. I felt so desperate to go home as it is horrible to think I had paid over £5000 for ten nights and nothing but poor inexcusable service and Andrea the Rep is the worse and most untrustworthy I have ever dealt with in all holidays with Tui and this is basic hotel.

  Nov 01, 2026
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  Don’t go here … not a TUI blue !!

  Just returned form 20 days at this resort And feel I need to write a review , This is not a 5 star Tui blue and I feel Tui are misleading customers! No Tui staff except 1 rep how left on Tuesday 27th October . Only 3 restaurants were open and the food is the same everyday .. Asian is the best . Portions are tiny , breakfast is eggs anyway you want , food is just warm ! Even coffee you have to say hot coffee please . Pools are not as advertised they are old and dirty looking . Entertainment is ok if you like a singer every night for 30 mins , the bar run out of beer and Jack Daniel’s twice while we were there , Paid extra £330 to upgrade our room Which was better but be advised don’t bother as you get nothing else when changing to premium , the pool needs upgrading . Complaint to the rep on site who agreed wasn’t a 5 star hotel offered me £150 compensation! I don’t want anyone to go to this hotel thinking is a TUI blue 5 star it really isn’t Tui need to go out to this hotel and look to themselves what it’s like , and change the advertising . It’s more like a Canadian/American time share they seem to get better service because they pay ad they go and tip . When you pay for AL everything should be included. Don’t go to this hotel

  Oct 31, 2026
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  Don't do it, save your money and go somewhere else

  This is the first time I have ever left a review. The only reason I am is because I would hate for anyone else to spend their hard earned cash on this hotel. After spending many summers in Mexico my sister and myself were excited to visit a different part of the Country. However our excitement was short lived! There is no way that this hotel is 5*, at best it's a 3. We were promised white sandy beaches, the beach is eroded and there is very little of if left. Seaweed is an issue and I know that is is a problem all over Mexico. The workers did work really hard to move it , however nearest to the Pool area the seaweed is piled high on a wall. In the two weeks we were there it was not moved. The smell was horrific. The sun loungers were poor quality, dirty and not enough of them were available. The food was poor quality and often not very warm. The soft drinks were served out of a plastic bottle. This meant that the drinks were warm and flat. There were no premium drinks, there was however empty premium bottles on the shelves to give the illusion that the bar was well stocked. We were also offered drugs twice by the resident drug dealer, Charlie Brown. When we reported this is was completely dismissed by staff. The "entertainment" was very poor and repeated, so if you're there for two weeks you'll have to suffer it twice. However If you like watching a grown man dressed as Michael Jackson miming to his songs you're in for a real treat. Please think twice before booking this hotel, I wouldn't go back if someone paid me to go!! This has been reported to TUi and there response has been very poor as was the support from the reps. The best advice I can give you is go somewhere else.

  Oct 23, 2026
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  No where near a 5 star

  I don't know how TUI can sell this hotel as a 5 star when Thompsons have it as a 3 star (and that's pushing it). When we were there there were only 2 restaurants open at one time because of low occupancy. The food wasn't great, Luke warm and repetitive. No premium spirits until we complained. Pools were dirty as were the few sunbeds, beach is non existent with very few sun beds the smell of rotten seaweed was really bad. We have been to Mexico on many occasions and know about the seaweed but it usually gets raked up not left to rot. Entertainment was terrible.

  Oct 23, 2026
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  Extremely Disappointing — Nothing Like the Photos or Description

  We booked a seven-night vacation package through JetBlue Vacations at El Dorado Seaside Palms Spa, expecting an upscale, AAA Four Diamond resort for our 30th Wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, the reality was dramatically different from what was advertised. This was one of the most disappointing vacations we've ever taken to Mexico, and we've been vacationing there for more than 30 years. The resort was nothing like the website photos. The room, pools, and beach did not match the images we had seen when booking. We later learned that a sister property with additional restaurants, pools, and beach amenities was closed for renovations, leaving far fewer facilities available than we expected. The rooms and facilities were rundown and poorly maintained. Our original room had old, stained furniture, and the stairwell light was burned out. We had paid an additional $400 for a Premium Oceanview Junior Suite, but at check-in, the resort told us the upgrade wasn't on our reservation. We eventually got the room after complaining, but we should never have had to fight to receive something we had already paid for. The upgraded building was still run-down, with dirty linens, an overwhelming odor from a nearby water filtration system, and a diesel generator that repeatedly belched black smoke next to the building. The pools and beach were disappointing. Initially, only one small pool was available. When we arrived at the pool, all of the lounge chairs and beds were dirty and covered with either dishes or wet towels. It was also a total ghost town with hardly anyone there. When we asked the attendant whether the chairs were cleaned/reset, we were told to "put a fresh towel on top" of the wet towels. The pool in the Premium Building was also poorly maintained, with rust and stains across the bottom. The beach was effectively unusable due to massive amounts of sargassum seaweed, and the "hidden beach" and other beach amenities at the sister properties were closed. We had serious concerns about safety and guest service. On our first night, another guest near our room was screaming and shouting in a way that genuinely frightened us. When we tried to call the front desk, we discovered that our room telephone was broken. Repeated calls from our mobile phones went unanswered. We contacted our JetBlue Vacations representative for help, but even he initially had difficulty reaching the resort as well. After several hours, the resort manager offered to move us to the Premium Building the next day, but would not relocate us to another property unless we paid out of pocket. In another disturbing incident, a wild raccoon jumped onto me from behind while my husband and I were on a Balinese beach bed. Other guests told us that someone had reportedly been bitten earlier in the week and required hospital treatment. When I reported the incident to the concierge, the response was dismissive. The raccoons were running around in the restaurants as well. Dining and spa services were also far below expectations. Only three of the resort's five restaurants were open on a given evening, and we often found no tables available when trying to make reservations. Room-service food arrived ice cold the two times we ordered, and they came back 20 minutes after delivery to collect our dishes, I guess they were short on dishes? We also visited the spa as a special treat, only to find cracked windows, missing tiles in pools and hot tubs, and generally run-down facilities. We decided to make the best of it, and book excursions so we wouldn't have to be on the property. Even the off-resort excursions were problematic. Our Cozumel sailing and snorkeling excursion involved an overcrowded boat that broke down, leaving us stranded for approximately two hours while waiting to be towed. We were unable to complete the snorkeling experience we had paid for, and the staff provided little information about what was happening. After requesting a refund from the excursion company, we were told the issue was being investigated, but we never received a follow-up or refund. To make matters worse, both our outbound and return journeys between San Francisco and Cancun took nearly 24 hours due to "mechanical issues." We booked this through JetBlue Vacations using 250,000 TrueBlue points, which costs approximately $8,000 to purchase. When we complained to JetBlue Vacations, we were told that no refund or credit was available because the hotel had already been paid. Our biggest complaint is the enormous gap between what was advertised on the hotel and Jet Blue websites and what we actually experienced. They actually have photos of a room that is on a different property, which we thought we had booked, and instead got a run-down room with dirty linens, furniture, broken closets and even had to call to get soap to wash our hands. We expected a relaxing, upscale resort vacation and instead encountered poorly maintained facilities, limited amenities, safety concerns, disappointing service, and a failed excursion. We returned home exhausted and stressed rather than refreshed. Based on our experience, we would not return to this resort and would urge anyone considering booking it to carefully verify the current condition of the property, which amenities are actually available, and whether the photographs accurately represent the accommodations they will receive. This was absolutely not the vacation we paid for.

  Oct 19, 2026