Almost perfect. A couple of things took away from a perfect rating.

Firstly, the food was disappointing. At this price point and being in Mexico I was fully expecting a better dining experience than Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana last year. Not so. Breakfast and lunch were ok but dinners were average at best. I wasn't expecting a 3 star Michelin experience but certainly better than what we got.

Service was outstanding from ALL staff, from housekeeping to wait staff to concierge, etc. There was always a friendly 'ola' to be had. Best service I've ever received, with one glaring exception. When on vacation I look forward to waking up at my leisure and whenever I want. Instead, we were woken by new age (but not 'zen' type) music from the Sabores bar at 7:15 every morning. We complained every morning with no results. I can't understand this! There was never anyone there at that time- just the bartender! I'd can accept maybe 8:00am but 7:15!? Drove us crazy. At least if it had been Mexican music..........At the other end of the spectrum, the resort didn't have any ginger ale for my CC and ginger. No problem, Anna Lilia (concierge) had someone run out and get a few bottles for me.

Internet access was only available for a fee. Absolutely ridiculous. In this day and age, WiFi should be readily available and included in the $2100+ price. I'm not one to be checking emails every 5 minutes while on vacation but needed to make some minimal contact once or twice during the week. At minimum, it should be free in the lobby.

Everything else is wonderful. The beach and water are fantastic. Absolute privacy with no other resorts within eyesight. Towels available whenever needed. Plenty of chairs on the beach and by the pool. Drink service on the beach. Etc., etc., etc.

Be aware, however, that this resort is EXTREMELY quiet with very little night time action. We were looking for quiet but this may have been a bit much. Nevertheless, we met some wonderful people and made new friends along the way.

We won't be going back only because there are so many other places to see. Otherwise, we would highly recommend this resort.

Franc and Tara
Toronto

Just returned from my 12th visit to my favorite resort and second "home". I truly love this resort. Why do we come here so often? Well, first and foremost, it is because of the staff, and how they consistently give the very best service. The staff, over time, have become very important to me. They are like family members. There is nothing that they would not do to ensure that your vacation is absolutely perfect. After 12 visits, I never tire of the food here. Thanks so much to Chef Francisco and his staff for providing us with top notch quality food. The ingredients are fresh, the meals are delicious giving us a taste of the various spices and sauces using ingredients that are new to us. Also, Chef Francisco, thank you for providing us with our beloved authentic Mexican meals! You went over and above, no matter how busy you are, to ensure our culinary pleasure. We absolutely loved trying out the new "Tastes Around Mexico" menu. Keep up the great work! El Dorado Maroma, you rock! You can count on seeing us often!!

We had an amazing time at the El Dorado Maroma! We celebrated our honeymoon over Thanksgiving and from the moment we arrived, we were treated to special upgrades and surprises. To start off our honeymoon, they upgraded us to the Presidential Villa. In a word – WOW. This villa was incredible. As if that wasn’t enough to spoil us, they booked us a couples massage on the beach as well – completely complimentary! We highly recommend making reservations for dinner on the beach! The food was outstanding! Our favorite place to have breakfast and lunch was Papitos, but the food at every restaurant was delicious.

What we loved the most about Maroma was the gorgeous beach! We spent every moment we could on the beach and in the water. We couldn’t get enough of it. It was quite chilly some days so we didn’t get to enjoy the pools as much as we would have liked to, but the one day we did, we met some great people. Throughout the week we also got to know the incredible staff. There were too many staff members to list, but Edwin, Eduardo, Eva and Renee were the four we interacted with the most and they were fabulous!

The resort definitely has a laid back, quiet vibe, which we certainly enjoyed.

Thanks to Jennifer and Alison at VIP Vacations (travelbyvip.com) for recommending such a beautiful, romantic place to spend our honeymoon. We cannot wait to go back!

We arrived for our 7th visit to the El Dorado Maroma on Wednesday, November 21st. We headed home on December 1st and really enjoyed our 10 night visit. We were celebrating our 10th anniversary, which was on the 22nd. We are not Exotic Travel club members and just love the resort.

I had emailed with the wonderful Martina before our visit with a few items, including the room request and a dinner reservation for the first night which was Mayan night (there were a few wedding groups there and I wanted to be sure we would be able to get an earlier time after getting up early to travel). The few requests were handled perfectly – thank you Martina!!

We made it through the airport in about 45 minutes even having checked a bag, which was already off the carousel and waiting for us when we were done with immigration. There was a fairly long line for customs but it moved pretty quickly. We were out of the door and then found the Olympus desk to get our transfers. Unfortunately it took about 20 minutes for the van to come around for us but soon enough we were on our way to the EDM (we had a private transfer).

We checked in at the EDM and our request of room 207 was honored and our luggage arrived and we went to lunch so we wouldn’t miss taco day at Pepitos. We then went back to the room to get all settled and Sr. Portocarerro (the manager) came to greet us as well as Cesar (who was making sure the few requests for in room beverages were handled). After a bit of chatting we were able to get unpacked and into our swimsuits and then headed to the palapa by bar 24 that we used each day. After a few hours we decided to go to the main pool. The water was pretty cold, and I am not one who gets cold easily at all. It was pretty uncomfortable in both pools so we did not have our usual afternoon time at the swim up bars meeting fellow travelers as no one else was really in the water either.

The service that we received throughout our visit was exceptional. We were greeted by our first names by pretty much everyone on the resort and it really made us feel as if we were home. I was curious as to where Cindy was during our visit but never brought it up as I knew she was expecting another child when we were there in May so figured that she may be on maternity leave. I was shocked to find out that she had been let go just before we arrived (found this out via Facebook). She was so lovely and really made us feel special on a daily basis during our past visits. It is such a shame that they have lost a very lovely person in Cindy – she will certainly be a huge asset to her next employer!

We were lucky enough to be invited to a new special dinner which took place on the first Friday of our visit. They used to do a Dinner Around the World but had stopped doing that a bit ago. Our invitation was to the inaugural Dinner Around Mexico, 10 lucky people were asked to join on this special dinner. Chef Francisco has developed a new menu that highlights some of the wonderful aspects of Mexican dining. It was FABULOUS! I was not really a fan of the Dinner Around the World, but I did love the tomato soup (thank you Chef for surprising us with that soup on one of our nights at Kiyoko-yummy as always!); this new dinner was a huge improvement. Each course was wonderful and enabled you to explore some new tastes and combinations. Just some of my personal highlights of this dinner…There was a mole duo and one of the items was Turkey breast that had been cooked in a light mole (Chef did share that the chocolate in that was actually white chocolate and it had more tomatoes than standard mole poblano which created a lighter mole overall). I have never been a big fan of turkey but I NEVER want to eat turkey again unless it is cooked like that. I could have easily eaten a huge plate of that!  The desert was perfect, very lightly sweetened chocolate tamale; the corn flavor was still there though very subtle, with a strawberry dipping sauce. I am not a big sweet fan so the balance was perfect to me. I did keep the menu and am happy to share if anyone is interested (just don’t have it on me when writing this review).
I have seen a few comments about the beach and wanted to offer my observations. The EDM’s beach has been greatly expanded over the years and this trip it was easily the largest that we have seen. There are two main sections of chairs and umbrellas (one just off the main pool area and another just south of Pepitos) for all guests to use and it looks like there are enough chairs for everyone to have a least 2 on the beach. Just past Pepitos (south) is the newest beach area, which didn’t actually exist for our first 3-4 visits. It now has a good number of loungers and umbrellas as well as beach beds. Further south from that is the area in front of the oceanfront villas. There are not a lot of chairs down in that area but the beach is lovely (and again did not exist before as it used to have mangrove stumps and such protruding out into the water from the mangroves that are now cleared). Some may think that this area is off limits to most guests and that it is only for the villa people but anyone can be on that part of the beach and we often were.

I promised to keep a look out for how any families that were staying at the Generations would impact the EDM. There was no one booked at the EDG while we were there so some (if not all) of the staff was actually working at the EDM. That being said there was one incident with a kiddo that I want to mention. We were at our usual palapa (the one closest to the back patio of room 207, just past the hammock) one day and a couple with a toddler came over from the marina. They had been playing in the water and then wandered up to the beach bed directly in front of ‘our’ palapa. The child was having a big time, running around screeching and playing. The family were at the beach bed for over 45 minutes until I motioned to a member of staff and then finally someone came up to talk to them and they headed back to the marina. There were a few other incidents of people walking over from the marina and using loungers and even walking into the resort (one couple plopped down on the hammock right by ‘our’ palapa and were not guests at the EDM) without any of the EDM staff approaching them. While there are signs (in Spanish and very poor English) between the marina and the EDG/EDM, the lack of enforcement for people coming onto the property left something to be desired (and yes, I realize that beaches in Mexico are public). This was probably the worst I have seen in all of our visits to the EDM and of course it did not really impact our trip but it is something that I wanted to mention.

I do want to mention a few of the names of the wonderful staff who went above and beyond to make us feel so at home: Chef Francisco – you are really getting settled into your new role as head chef as the food was so much better than our last visit in May – thank you so much for everything, Gaby in Mio, Charley/Carlos in both Sabores and Kiyoko, Jonas (who should NOT be on room service as he is too much of an asset in Sabores), Maria Jesus who kept our room sparkling, Ruth our concierge, Rene (el burro) at Bar 24, Carlos at Sabores bar, Jose Luis in Bar 24 or Sabores bar, Emilio at bar 24, Alejandro at Ricks (hmmm I see a theme here), Diego and Dora as beach servers, Israel in Sabores for lunch, the lovely Caterina, Martina (though I am very sad we didn’t actually get to meet), Cesar who spoils us rotten, Agustine, Susan (we enjoyed catching up and I am waiting for those pictures) and of course Sr. Portocarrero.

So, our trip this time was MUCH better than our visit in May. The pool water being too cold to really enjoy was the only real ‘complaint’ that I have from this visit. Sr. Portocarrero did state that they would be installing heaters to the two pools in the very near future, they are currently working on the pools at the EDR and then will move to the EDSS then then EDM, so that should not be an issue for much longer. He also stated that construction should start very soon for the new bar and restaurant that will be above Sabores and will off a quieter venue for the evening. We haven’t decided when we are going back but we will certainly be visiting the EDM again soon – just not in May!  Please let me know if you have any questions.