TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This is our second time at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort. They still have the hounds at Guest Services trying to lure unsuspecting vacationers into becoming members of their time share program. If at all cost, avoid interaction with the folks at Guest Services. This way, you will not be lured into their program. If however, you have lots of time and money, then feel free to check it out. Upon arrival we discovered the party in front of us did not have the suite they had paid for and reserved. For some reason they were being given a suite at a lower level, but still having to pay for the suite at the higher level. During our week stay, we discovered other people as well had paid for and reserved suites but ended up staying at a suite at a lower level. You should be getting what you paid for, so not certain why that was the case for those several different groups. The dinner reservation system is accessed using an app on your phone. The "fun" part is, the reservation system is reset at midnight, so it means you have to be up at that time to try to make a dinner reservation. That is not a viable manner to reserve a dinner, but that is their system. Good luck in trying to make a reservation when the resort is at capacity and lots of other people are attempting to make dinner reservations at the same time you are. That is if you are still awake at midnight to even try. We were able to reserve dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant, near the beach. Excellent scenery, but lacklustre food. So in future maybe avoid this restaurant. Food at the Italian restaurant was really good with a mix of menu items and buffet. Breakfast was also served there. We were impressed by this restaurant and would recommend in the future. We also ate at the Teppanyaki restaurant. The food was excellent as well as the presentation each chef was performing for his/her group of guests. Also highly recommended. We knew people who ate at the Steak and Seafood restaurant in the Royal Elite area - they commented the food was really good there. We tried reserving, but with the online system, it was impossible to do and at times my phone lagged due to lots of other people trying to connect at the same time. The International buffet had long lineups for breakfast at the omelete station. However there was a good variety of food at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast buffet at the Mexican restaurant was lacklustre. My brother tried the beef - he needed a hacksaw to cut through it. Lots of wildlife are on the resort, but the animal reserve area no longer exists - before there was an area with deer, monkeys etc. which has disappeared, and somewhat disappointing. The entertainment shows we watched were really well done. The staff at all the restaurants work extremely hard, as well as those who did the housekeeping. For us, the biggest problem we saw was with the dinner reservation system, unattentive staff at check in, which for us took almost two hours. At one point we saw the check in line get close to the driveway used by vehicles to pick up and drop off vacationers. Guest Services are there only for the time share so if you have a problem, try to solve it on your own. You can find better resorts at a lower cost, and you just might end up staying in the suite that you actually paid for.

We loved the hotel and definitely want to return in future. One of the best things about the hotel is all the wildlife. There are lots of monkeys, coatis, raccoons, iguanas, turtles to name just a few. There were monkeys right outside our room on 2 days. The cenote is beautiful. I saw a turtle whilst swimming in the cenote then three monkeys came to the side, a magical unique experience. We really enjoyed the Jade river and photo safari. Also all the staff are really friendly and hardworking. It was our daughter’s 9th birthday whilst we were there and I spoke to concierge and they put up balloons and banners in our room and gave her a cuddly toy as a gift which she loved. The beach is quite rocky so we took a taxi to the sister hotel Sandos Playacar twice and the beach there is stunning. They also had 9 hole mini golf there which we enjoyed, it would be good if they could do mini golf at caracol too. We managed to eat at all the different restaurants but it was annoying having to wake up at midnight to book restaurants on the app. It would be better if they changed the booking time on the app to maybe 10pm rather than midnight. We liked Riviera, the Japanese and Brazilian restaurants the best. The turkey wrapped in bacon and the pineapple in the Brazilian were delicious, the duck and steak in Riviera was excellent and the food and entertainment in the Japanese were great. We were disappointed with Los lirios. We got chicken with saffron risotto and the risotto was just a tablespoon which did not taste of saffron and had a texture like it had been made the day before then microwaved. We enjoyed the buffet especially the omelettes at breakfast and our daughters loved the pizza. The Mexican buffet was good but involved a long queue to get in, then more queuing to get food inside. We loved Santo Taco and went 3 times but they only do certain ones each day and I was disappointed not to get to try the sweet potato one. We all got upset stomachs at various times during the holiday unfortunately. It could have just been the heat/ overindulging compared to back home though. We preferred the quieter, shadier tortuga pool to the louder main pool. On a few occasions though some inconsiderate people brought their own loud speakers to play music, one time a group of men started playing loud rap music. I think the staff should have asked them to turn this off and go to the main pool. The aqua park had a great selection of water slides, our daughters loved it. The evening shows were all really good, we especially liked Michael Jackson, the 80’s show and the Cenote show. The Fire show was good but we couldn’t see very well as our view was blocked by all the people sat on tables eating dinner which spoiled it for us and everyone else not sat at the tables. They did some special events for Easter and our daughters loved doing the piñata. There is a good selection of drinks but a lot of the cocktails tasted watered down at the pool bars. Also check in was ridiculously slow, they need to sort that out. But overall we would definitely recommend this hotel. PS watch out for the coatis. We’d seen them take food from unattended plates from around the pool, but on one occasion one of them came and stole my daughter’s hotdog right out of her hand!

Although the surroundings are beautiful service and organisation in the resort are sadly far from even an acceptable standard. Having booked a family suite, which was spacious and well appointed we were initially very happy. The grounds are teeming with wildlife - Coati’s, Racoons, Spider Monkey and others all present. However, this was as good as it got. Restaurants were almost impossible to book unless you booked at midnight and had mobile data, something which hugely benefits US and Mexican guests. The WiFi traffic would increase at midnight as everyone tries to book and freeze. The buffet had long queues at peak times and often many empty tables inside. As a vegetarian, for me the food was inedible and very carb heavy - virtually no protein. My wife who does eat meat found the food to be below standard, comparable to a cheap Benidorm resort. Our room was not cleaned at all for the final two and a half days resulting in cockroaches and spiders. All despite numerous requests. Finally the hotel did not provide enough sun loungers or shade for the number of guests. On a more positive note, we did find excellent restaurants in the central zone the Playa Del Carmen and the Xcaret park really showed what this hotel could have been with excellent management and food.

There is so much I would like to say about this all-inclusive resort. There are many reviews but I would tell those thinking about staying here to take note of the poor reviews as this was definitely our experience. After a grueling 15 hours journey from the UK we arrived at approx. 10pm. Both my husband and I and our 2 kids exhausted we were greeted with a very mild welcome. After checking my passport the receptionist disappeared into the back room for a while, she came back to very casually inform us that our booking was cancelled and there were no rooms for us! As I had all my documentation of the booking and payment receipts I knew this was an error. I was basically met with sorry not my problem... obviously I didn't accept this and ended up paying for an adult room for the night $1600 so we could sort in the morning. I contacted my travel agent who were brilliant and they did rectify the situation (owing to a misunderstanding with the booking ref) but Sandos offered zero apology for the stress and upset and we weren't able to move into a family room, which I had paid for until 3 days into our holiday. I asked to be compensated in some way but they were very indifferent stating it wasn't there fault! and never followed through with any of their promises. The next day we were asked to see the manager and was basically given a three hour hard sell of their membership scheme! it was terrible, similar to that of a time share pitch. There is a lot more to this but to long to go into. Food at the buffet is horrible, long queues . The only snacks are cheap burgers or hot dogs which are vile. We had to wait up until midnight every night to try and get a booking into one of the restaurants, I was successful a few time but I really feel for those who missed out. The beach section is small. The staff are OK but the main pool is small and dirty. Mexico is a beautiful country and I would recommend a visit but I definitely would avoid this resort.

Our family stayed for eight days, Check-in and upgrade was pretty simple, We had high expectations due to all the negativity. The rooms We’re pretty nice, But 9% of the time we had no hot water, the air conditioner was leaking from the roof, The biggest concern and was so frustrating all these amazing restaurants, and you couldn’t eat at them because the reservation system was pretty much stupid. 7 Restaurants And we only got to eat at one the whole time. The main buffet you can always get in with a major lineup. The Mexican buffet is at least an hour and a half depending on what time you get in line. Customer service and the concierge is pretty much a -10 The beaches are extremely rocky and dangerous. When we first got there, the pool water was so dirty. He couldn’t see the bottom and the pool bar closes so extremely early. Lots of activities for kids for sure, but the biggest negativity for our family was no hot water and eating options. We end up eating off the property, which was extremely disappointing. Apparently, this was an amazing resort and it’s time before Covid but then it went down dramatically. Talking to other people, you will be in one way or another disappointed at this resort. It’s not worth the price at all. Save your money and go to Nickelodeon with your family and it would I’ve been cheaper for my family.