Xcacel-Xcacelito Sanctuary

We visited here in 2009 and had the best experience ever, well 17 years later we hoped it would be much of the same. I can’t say our stay was horrible because it definitely was not. We were able to relax and enjoy ourselves, but it was quite a different experience this time around. A lot of restaurants closed on certain days, and even only being at 30% capacity we waited nearly 45 minutes at a restaurant the concierge made us reservations at, but they didn’t have it on the books. The seaweed made it impossible to even step foot on the beach. The clear blue water days are over, unfortunately. While we enjoyed our time, it just wasn’t what we remembered years ago. I’m not sure if they have gotten so big they are spreading themselves thin or if it truly is that they are so short staffed due to being 44% down on tourism. I don’t want be entirely negative of the resort - Kampai and Jade were our most favorite places to eat. Most of the service was excellent. Again, we can to relax after many stressful days at work, and that’s what we got.

It was great value. Clean and convenient. Food was delicious . People were friendly. A/C didn’t work well in one bedroom and we couldn’t get TV’s to connect to any streaming service and could not cast.

We had a wonderful stay at El Dorado Seaside Palms. We had a swim up room and greatly enjoyed it! The pool was wonderful, clean, cool, and we enjoyed the swim up bar. The property is beautiful and lush and well taken care of. The staff is very kind and helpful. The food was delicious. I highly recommend room service breakfast for a nice slow start to your morning. We would visit again.