Sandos Caracol Eco Resort

I am writing this review on behalf of my clients. This is what they had to say about this resort: To be honest, the resort was a bit disappointing. The service was lack lustre - we didnt get an intro to the resort at all when we arrived and had one of my friends not been to the resort before we would have missed out on alot.
The restaurants you had to make reservations to were INCREDIBLE - so good! but the service in the buffet restaurants was terrible - no one gave us coffee or water when we arrived, they werent very friendly, food was NOT very good and it was super noisy and overcrowded and disorganized - this was the main buffet and the lunch/beach buffet.
I would definitely not call this a 4.5-5 star resort.
The rooms were relatively clean which was nice.
The pools were pretty small.
and the whole resort was really spread out and not very userfriendly. [Details]

Incredible experience with the natural beauty, great food and excellent staff [Details]

We had a great time as a family at the Sandos Caracol Eco resort! It's a massive resort with many activities to do, and things to see/experience. Be prepared to walk a lot, and don't forget your water shoes or bug spray. [Details]

High priced resort and not worth the money. Terrible food that's served cold when it should be hot or at least warm, like tacos. Pizza was soggy and Spongy. Pasta was hard. Pancakes were cold. Waterslides are not as pictured. Can't book any Al A Carte meals due to people booking the times up solid but then they don't show up so the restaurants aren't even half full. The family pool is very small so it's packed full at all times and you can't get towels or a chair unless you go to the pool at 6-7am. Spoke to the front desk and concierge, they were rude and unwilling to assist with issues brought forward. Beer served with ice, warm water in your room. Can't pay money for things offered on resort like henna for the kids. It gets charged to your room and you pay a huge bill before you leave. The gym costs $24 every time you want to go to it. The only Good dinner you can book if you're lucky is Pure Nights, that costs not included, and it costs almost $300 for a family of 4! Do not bother booking this resort, save your money and find another place to spend time. This was the worst family Vacation ever and it was the most expensive one. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone but “recommended for” is mandatory so I put shopping. 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND [Details]

Hotel rooms were very clean and excellent room service [Details]

The stay was ok, definitely won't be going back here. The rooms were clean and tidy and staff was very pleasant. The resort seemed to be very understaffed. Kids loved the water slides and small water park, but watch for the animals, they will jump right up on your chair and take your food. [Details]

The hotel grounds are beautiful. Well kept. Staff was friendly and helpful. Food was subpar. Nightlife mediocre. Definitely a family resort. Mexican night was fun. [Details]

Really good for a family with young kids [Details]

Overall a great experience, would definitely go back. Very family friendly. [Details]

Our overall experience was favourable. The kids enjoyed the water park. The food in the Al a cart restaurants were good although the Mexican restaurant was not our favourite. The first few days there was a lot of seaweed, fortunately it cleared up for the rest of our stay. Getting into the ocean was rocky and once the seaweed cleared we could better see a path to carefully venture into the ocean with water shoes. Once in the water was great. [Details]

Le site est beau, beaucoup de choses à voir et d'activités sur le site . Beaucoup de nature, d'animaux (coatis singes araignées, pan), mini ferme, baignade dans la cenote et la riviera, la piste cyclable et sentier de ruines maya. On a fait des activités variées même sans avoir à acheter d'excursion. Il y a des piscines tranquilles et d'autres avec animation selon les goûts. Les glissades d'eau sont vraiment géniales et il y en a pour tous les âges, même pour les adultes et elles sont vaiment le fun! Les restaus et buffet sont ok. Je conseille le Mexicain. Seule déception, la plage vraiment erodée, énormément d'algues et des grosses roches dans l'eau donc peu invitant à se baigner. Mais le reste compense et on a beaucoup aimé l'endroit. [Details]

My wife and I were pretty disappointed on our first day. We had waited in line for our check-in for more than an hour only to discover that our bracelets would not open our room doors. At the lobby, we were told that we had to wait in line again. Thankfully, two employees, Esmeralda at the concierge service and Eduardo at the front desk, were very helpful in speeding up this process. The pools and the waterpark are beautiful, but the beach is a mess, with smelly algae everywhere. The food was hit and miss. In all, it was a nice experience. [Details]

The hotel staff work very hard, however the resort was short staffed. Service was very slow, often waiting for drinks and sometimes never got them. Our Son is dairy and gluten free and the resort could not guarantee this, he ended up being on medication the entire trip. We also requested a room/bed upgrade and it never happened. The manager called our room the last day we were there to try to make things right and told us he would put a bottle of tequila in our room... that also never happened. [Details]

The resort in general is great. So much free activities that u don't really need to go out for excursions and entertainments. The Resort has everything: nature activities, educational free tours, 6 beautiful cenotes, Mayan historical sites, snorkeling, water park, beach, kayak, romantic boat, all kinds of sports, fantastic unlimited ala carte restaurants, you name it they have everything. We enjoyed all they have to offer. Great vacation for all members of the family, young or old folks. [Details]

We recently returned from a lovely 7 day stay in the Eco Family section in a superior room. We had a king bed and bunk bed, in a recently renovated room. We are 2 parents and 2 kids (9 and 12). The kids loved the animals all over the resort including coatis, deer, monkeys, 2 donkeys, bunnies, etc. We enjoyed the various pools and the waterpark. We barely left the resort because there was so much to do - swim in the cenote, Jade river tour, etc. The beach is rocky, we just wore water shoes. The wifi was spotty in different areas of the resort. I didn't enjoy hearing the DJ music loudly playing from far away. [Details]

The resort is such a beautiful place. You can see many workers working around the grounds to keep it looking clean and well kept. the only downsides were that the room smelled like mold and there was some mold in out bathroom but if we left the bathroom door closed the room didnt smell as bad. the food was amazing in the restaurants however the buffet was not the greatest. [Details]

Myself, my husband and my parents stayed at this resort. Lots of eco tours that are included with your stay. The bellboys were very helpful with getting us to the restaurant that is furthest away from the main lobby (my Dad has mobility issues) by taking us on the golf cart.
We stayed in the adults only section. [Details]

We had a terrific time at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort! We stayed for 7 days but felt that we were not ready to leave and would do 10 days next time. Lots to do on the resort but everything is still very walk able. We visited Sandos Playacar as well for the day, beautiful beach bu the resort was huge and seemed that there would be a awful lot more walking than Carocol. We also loved the amount of jungle on the Carocol property. It provided for a secluded feeling and also provided reprieve from the sun when needed.
The facilities were all very clean and the kids club was top notch!! We loved all the wildlife as well. The monkeys and peacocks were favourites for sure.
My only recommendation would be to consider carefully where you put the designated smoking areas. While the people who smoked were very consider for the most part to smoke in the designated areas, the one located by the main pool near the kids section was located beach side and the breeze off the water placed the smoke directly across the kids pool.
Other than that we loved our vacation. [Details]

We all enjoyed the wildlife and vegetation on the property. There were lots of activities for the kids. The waterpark was fun for the kids.

The rooms were clean and staff were friendly and helpful. [Details]

Got upgraded to a nice room. The pool was under construction even after I emailed the hotel before my trip and they said no construction. Our daughter loved the water slides. We did a snorkel trip from the dive shop and it was really windy. My daughters snorkel was broken and the boat left no where to been seen. It was very scary to say the least. I filed a complaint but never receive anything compensation. The bartenders were great and very friendly. Kids club was fun. The romantic boat ride was nice. It was a really cool resort with lots to do. [Details]

I could not recommend this resort any more highly. It was the perfect place for the whole family, with something for everyone. It was safe, clean and felt like a home away from home. [Details]

1. Beach: the worst!
Well, we read reviews and most of the travelers were saying, beach is the worst, but we could not imagine how right they were: rocks, huge and small are everywhere. O wait, half of the beach is prohibited to use due to motor boats but I tried it once in the morning (7 am) and o God, no rocks where, so hotel cleaned the part to make sure motor boats are not damaged and left us, people struggling with it...
DON'T GO THERE IF YOU ARE BEACH LOVER (we are and we are never coming back!).

2. FOOD: just average
Buffets were OK.
A la carte: they have no idea how to cook stake or see food, period.
Mexican food was just average
Drinks? Watery everything, beer, tequila, coke, mineral water, etc.

3. STAFF: just OK
Unless you tip them in advance, machine is broken to prepare pina colada, Don Julio Tequila is not available, coffee machine is without coffee, etc.
We do tip staff all the time every time, but this was close to non sense.
Same for the room cleaning/feel in the fridge: despite the tips they barely made the bets, to feel the fridge with new set of beer/soda you had to call the reception DAILY!

4. Elite Club aka Time Share: just terrible
We made a note during the booking, please do not try to sell/give us any Time Share presentations, and yet again, after the check in (oh, by the way, lady at reception tried to sell us "upgrade" for 500 US$ in cash!!! No thank you!) the time share selling lady tried to push to listen for 2 hours presentation, we politely declined, so she literally become aggressive! We had to find the bell boy, our luggage and navigate to our room ourselves!!!

So long story short: we are never coming back! [Details]

There were a few nuisances that we were aware of prior to travelling; mosquitoes, smells and the rocky beach but we weren't bothered. We had planned to visit Sandos Beach Resort to experience the great beach but were happy enough so didn't bother.

The inconsistent quality of food was annoying (overdone hotdogs, cold nacho cheese, recycled meals) but we always found something to eat. Waiting in line to get into the buffet isn't ideal either. The staff were generally pleasant but not overly friendly. We often were kept waiting at the very busy buffet. We were reluctant to try the a la cartes as our kids are fussy so perhaps there was some better food that we missed out on. We were regularly asked about purchasing massages or braids but they were never rude when we politely declined. Same for the timeshare meeting. They asked and offered us money for a cab ride to the beach resort but were still friendly when we declined.

Overall, the stay was great though.

There were so many shows, pools, activities and kids club options so we were never bored. Our kids loved seeing cats, monkeys, birds, coati, raccoons, pigs and more!

I found the grounds and buildings/bathrooms were regularly cleaned and well maintained. We had no problems with our room. We needed bedding for the trundle bed so called reception and didn't need to wait too long.

I enjoyed a massage at the spa and was given birthday cake and champagne in my room.

We choose this resort for the variety of activities and the eco-aspects. In those areas we were not disappointed. The resort is beautiful and unique. [Details]

Beautiful resort with lots of activities for the kids and adults. Front desk check person Mary was awesome she upgraded our room to Superior room that helped us a lot with 2 kids. However, food and entertainment were bit disappointing. Would be nice to have music all the time near bar, beach and pool. Most of the time it will be quiet. I am bit disappointed by alcohol quality as well.
Still I would vote 4 because of nature experience and house keeping service. [Details]

As a whole, the resort was okay. It was decent enough and the kids had fun. I would not however book it again. [Details]

The rooms were really nice and clean. The staff was friendly and helpful. There were always beach chairs and plenty of towels. The shows were very good. I liked the water jug in the room just be sure to bring your own bottle to refill if you'd like to carry it with you. There was a lot to do right on the resort. All of the wildlife was really cool as well. [Details]

The resort is well kept and grounds are beautiful. Water park is perfect for the little ones and adults can join in on the fun too. Beach was nice, clean and not too over crowded. Pool side was not over crowded either could always get a shady lounger. The down side is the food. Very repetitive and I even got really sick. Vomiting diarrhea cramps the works! I've recently found out that this resort has had these problems in the past. [Details]

We were extremely EXTREMELY happy with our stay at the Sandos Caracol Eco resort!!!! We went as a family of three and could not have asked for better all around experience. The staff was absolutely unbelievable, the Kids club was a sure bonus and the amenities were all you can want and need. The access to room service, laundry service, night entertainment, sports bar etc. made this trip the best we have ha so far!! We regretted not having sat for the time share presentation as we will seriously be considering same as we will be back again and again !!!! I would be more than happy to speak further to how awesome this place is to anyone who will listen !!! [Details]

A true all inclusive! So many on site free activities, we did not have to do excursions as there was never a shortage of eco tours included. Food was great, was a large resort, but never felt too busy. You can visit the sister resort just a short cab ride away and enjoy a beautiful beach day. [Details]

I was traveling with my wife and 7year old daughter. If you have younger children this place is amazing. The three buffet restaurant are decent food very kid friendly the steak & seafood , Brazilian , Mediterranean & Japanese Job restaurants were amazing.The animals running around the resort was awesome my daughter especially loved the monkeys we would have to go to the bridge by the Mexican restaurant every morning to see them. The staff were great especially the lady's at the kids club. I was a little Leary of leaving my daughter by herself in a different country but after meeting the girls all I can say is wow especially Liz we hired her as a nanny for my daughter for a few hours so my wife and I could go to 5th ave. She was absolutely great with her she made my daughter feel comfortable right from the start. Lots to do and see at Sandos. All in all I would give a 4.5 star for this resort. The other half star was lost because of a little hiccup with the cleaning staff the second last morning. [Details]