Sandos Caracol Eco Resort

My husband and I have been to the Mayan Riviera area a couple of times, but this was the first time with our almost 2-year-old son. We had a great time and would love to go back. The room was nice, clean, spacious, and maintained. The only problem we had was that we requested two double beds and instead got a king bed with a sofa. We requested extra sheets so we could make a bed on the sofa for our son, and it took 4 or 5 phone calls before the sheets arrived. They apologized profusely for the mix up/delay, and we didn't have any other issues. Other than that, the housekeeping staff did a good job (Thanks Rebeca!) and brought extra towels and water when we requested it. People always complain about the beds. No, they're not the softest, but they're just like every other bed in a resort in Mexico and they're definitely not that bad. We were in building 50. Don't let the map deceive you. The map makes it look worse than it is. It is a big resort, but it's not like it takes 10 minutes to walk from the last row of buildings to the lobby. It's about a 2 1/2 minute walk. Not bad at all. And if you take the path through the jungle, it's really quick. We carried our son pretty much everywhere if he was too tired to walk, and I can say it was harder to carry him through the airport than it was through the resort. Being in that last row of buildings is really no big deal because everything is within a short walk. This resort is fantastic for kids. Our son loved the Aqua Park. Even at his age/size, he was able to ride on every slide and just kept asking to go again. I have seen a few reviews complaining about the water being cold. It was a little on the cooler side, but definitely not cold. Once you're in the water for a minute, you don't notice it being cold. It's actually refreshing on a hot day. Our son didn't mind the temperature of the water. He was too busy having fun on the slides. I was a little surprised that there wasn't a zero-depth area, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Our son is a little on the smaller side for his age, and the water level was probably about at his ribs, but he didn't have trouble walking around in the water. The Kids Club is great too. We weren't interested in dropping our son off and leaving him, but if you have a child as young as ours, you can stay with them and watch them play. They had a a large play structure with slides, stuff to crawl through, and a ball pit, a bouncey house, a trampoline, XBox, foosball, air hockey, crayons and paper, and a movie theater. Our son had a blast in the bouncey house, trampoline, and ball pit. If you are interested in dropping your child off and leaving, I think it's pretty secure. There was a woman at the front counter signing kids in and out and locking the gate, and another woman walking around in the play area watching the kids. I wouldn't say there is a lot of supervision, but it's a pretty contained area and there are at least a couple of adults nearby. The eco aspect of the resort is neat. There are recycling bins everywhere and they appreciate you sorting your trash and using the recycling bins. They left a lot of the natural jungle and just built within it instead of leveling everything and just having concrete everywhere. So it's neat that you can take a little side path through the jungle to get back to your room. You can see where they grow herbs, and do their composting, and even where they have native bees. We saw deer, iguanas, raccoons, cats, parrots, and of course the donkeys in the center of the resort. It's a neat place for kids who like animals. The beach is nice and very big. We never had trouble finding chairs and didn't feel crowded. There was a volleyball net set up and there always seemed to be a game going. We bought a bucket and shovel set in the gift shop and our son had a blast playing on the beach, digging in the sand, and trying to chase the birds. The ocean was a little rough from the wind and just being on the east side (if you want calmer water, try Cozumel) but it was still fine for wading. The food was good. We didn't have trouble finding something we liked at every meal. With our little one, we didn't even try to do a la carte and instead just stuck with the buffets. I think our favorite was actually the Mexican buffet. They made fresh fajitas and were carving fresh meat for tacos all the time. It also wasn't as busy as the La Laguna International buffet, and was easier to get a table. We ate at the international buffet several times for breakfast and it was good too. The International buffet had some good dishes for lunch and dinner too. They made a fish with chipotle sauce that was fantastic. My husband did the omelete bar every day and it was fairly quick and he seemed to enjoy it. Our least favorite was the Italian restaurant. The information book in our room said the Italian restaurant was a buffet, but at night they converted it to a la carte so you had to have a reservation. We did try the buffet one day at lunch but it wasn't anything to write home about. Having tasted the milk in Mexico before and remembering that it tasted funny, I was a little concerned before we left about whether my son would drink it. So before we left I researched it and found that it is actually "ultra pasteurized." My son drank it, and I tasted it, and it was totally fine. It tastes a little creamier than skim or 1% milk in the USA which I think is what most people are used to. If you have little kids, you're probably used to tasting whole milk - that's what it tasted like to me. If you're concerned like I was, don't be. No issues there. The only complaint we had about the restaurants was the hours they were open. They didn't open for lunch until 12:30. That's a little late when you have a little one, especially when he has completely worn himself out playing and just wants to eat and take a nap. It would have been nice if the restaurants were open at 11:30 for lunch. Instead, we had to eat at the snack bar for lunch several times, or just let our little boy fall asleep and then eat late in the afternoon. The snack bar was good for burgers, hot dogs, french fries, nachos, and ice cream. The bars did a good job with drinks. There were enough bars that there was never a long wait. This was a fantastic resort for a family with small children. We're already thinking about going back next year and perhaps taking our nephew or friends with kids because there was just so much for kids to do. I highly recommend this resort.

This was our first visit to Mexico. Overall, had a really enjoyable experience and made terrific family memories. We were impressed with Sandos. Loved our welcome of being greeting with nice drinks as we exited our taxi. All staff were very friendly and the service was fantastic. Loved our room as well as the eco-friendly portion of the resort. Loved the trails to get to our room and all around the resort. Loved the animals found in nature on the resort. Loved the beach. Did not have any trouble ever getting a lounge chair. I was glad to see the sand whales. They protect the beach from erosion, and gave a boundary for how far out to swim. I felt safer with my kids in the water because of them. However, we did want to go kayaking and we tried. They had so many rocks by the kayaks that we could not navigate around them. Next time we will bring water shoes. In the begining, we loved all of the food and staying at an all inclusive resort - a first for us. However, after a few days it would have been nice to have more of a selection. The mexican restaurant was being renovated so it was closed. Had that been open, it may have been enough of a change. Loved the shows and mexican night on the paths in the center of the resort. Did not enjoy the welcome breakfast and would recommend skipping it. It is just a timeshare ploy. Overall we loved the experience and will definitely return to Mexico. We would also be glad to return to this resort.

Ok, SO I am not that picky and I want to say at the outset that in many respects this resort is beautiful. I will give you the positive and the negatives from of course my opinion. We booked this for our 30th anniversary and I think paid to much for sure for what we received. We stayed 14 nights and out of 14 nights 5 we did NOT have any HOT water! Now I think that is one thing that is just not acceptable when I paid $4500 for this trip! It was really awful to come back from the beach and you have to take a cold shower then go out to eat still feeling grimy. I paid for an upgrade at the hotel and the upgrade was not worth it either, they gave us a room that was outdated with a Jacuzzi tub that did not work and kept turning on and off all night long for 3 nights before someone came to fix it, We were locked out of room late one night and they said they would send someone to get us in NOPE we had other guests help us get in through the glass doors the only way then my husband fixed it himself The beds are very hard but were clean and done nicely by the maid every day. The cleanliness was well done to. The ground are beautiful jungle setting and I think they are achieving that feeling really well,and mostly taken care of except our building it was pretty scraggy and another one that we passed in another area. Otherwise well done. There are no places to eat on the beach so if you were hungry you had to walk back into the front area of the resort to get food which I think is poor planning and use of the place as there IS a restaurant right on the beach only used in the evenings. The only place serving snacks was the elite club side which was good but the SAME everyday, so after 7 days straight of eating the same snacks it was getting really boring and we wished we had only stayed a week here them moved to another place. The shows were pretty good especially the Mayan one! I thought they did a great job on those and was very impressed. The restaurants were very good. The beach was very nice I loved the palm trees! The ocean was not so great BUT if you bring water shoes and a snorkel mask with you there is some good snorkeling on clam mornings beyond the berm and we enjoyed that but you have to get up early as the winds really start to pick up about 8:30am and on. The ocean was beautiful just rough. The service was very good everywhere except the front desk was so slow at check-in and they try to sucker you in to a vacation club right when you get there DON'T go with anyone if you don"t want to deal with this just tell them no you want to go to your room. That was so annoying. The spa services were VERY OVERPRICED and we went to a wonderful place on the beach just around the corner from the elite club side for our services which were GREAT! and we had full body massages for $30!!! We went 3 times and they did a great job. They wear BLUE uniforms and you can't miss them the name of the place is azulrenava on the beach the do many spa treatments for a fraction of the resort prices and I love having stuff done on the beach! So neat. So I love mexico and we will be back. Would I go again to this resort? Probably not unless it was alot better pricing and I would never go again for 14 nights. Was it beautiful YES! I would say so, So for a week away you'll probably be happy if you don't mind not having hot water once awhile oh and I forgot! electricity was often out to. It was truly weird to me for such a huge place! that is seems to be raking in the money as it was loaded with people. All in all it was an interesting vacation and we still had a good time despite those things because we wanted to have a good time! If you are a drinker they were not stingy on the drinks always offering you more and more. Hope this helps you so you have no surprises :)

Overall, Sandos is an AMAZING resort, especially if you want to be around nature as there are animals everywhere and I loved that! We got an excellent deal on CC and stayed in a Jr. Jacuzzi Suite Penthouse in the Select Club area. I recommend upgrading to Select Club because you get access to a private, adults only pool and restaurant, and a section on the beach with comfy beds! Overall food was great. We were not as impressed by the ala-carte restaurants as we were with the buffets. In the restaurants, you get one entree and one side usually and that's it. You can't get like 3 apps for a meal instead or anything. Asian Restaurant needs to have REAL sushi, we were not impressed with california rolls. Italian Restaurant was very good! But again, the buffet was our favorite due to the variety and that you can go back for seconds. This gave us the option to try different things and we liked that. Our room was AMAZING and quite and private. We overlooked the adults-only pool and were on the top (third floor). Stairs were not fun, but well worth it to keep this place eco-friendly. We got tricked into going to the timeshare presentation. NOT WORTH it! They say 90 minutes but they mean 3-4 hours! We were promised a rental car with FULL insurance coverage for 1 day and when we were finally done with the presentation, not only was it too late to do most of what we had planned for the day, but the rental car place said they didn't even offer full coverage. Sandos ended up giving us a measely $100 bucks instead for our time, but made ME run all the way across the grounds to "exchange" my gift. This barely covered our cab fare for the day and we were not pleased. Also, they are super nice on the tour and during the presentation, but when they get you to the sales table expect to be pressured. They said at the beginning that if we like it, good and if not, no worries we say goodbye and shake hands. Not the case. After we made it clear we did not want to buy, he was rude and cold to us. And left us on the completely other side of the resort, lost. We had to ask like 3 people how to get back towards our rooms. So, yeah...stay away from the timeshare presentation and you're all good. Besides, the Royal Elite rooms may be ocean front, but they're all by the loud pool with NO privacy. We liked our room MUCH better. Other than this, the bartenders and room attendants were great. Towels were always replaced and the fridge restocked every other day. We loved the towel art as well on our bed each day! The grounds are so beaufitul especially the cenote and they even have small Mayan ruins that you can go see via bikes that you can borrow for free near the front lobby. There are a ton of raccoons and caotis near the center main snack bar, and we get it that they are around because they want food. I didn't like seeing little brat kids chasing them or yelling at them nor did we like seeing employees clapping loudly to scare them away. To us, (even though a racoon stole our hotdog lol) they were to be expected and even welcomed. They are part of nature which this resort is literally built around so we enjoyed seeing them up close. Scaring them away just made me feel bad and I didn't like seeing people do it. Also, they have cats on the ground and one day we saw one who looked very old, had ticks and mites and looked like he had puncture wounds on both of his sides. Would be nice if they gave these animals MEDICAL CARE but no one seemed to notice him much...very sad. They have a gift shop and vendors various nights, but they are very overpriced. If you plan to go to Chichen Itza or Coba or Tulum, save your money for there as things are the same but much cheaper at the ruins. Also, get a massage on the beach near the Select Club chairs, only $35 for an hour as opposed to the overpriced Spa (which IS lovely, just too expensive). The beach was amazing at Sandos. A little rocky, but if you have watershoes on you are good to go. We saw lots of cool fish and the sand is so clean and soft. We would come back in a heartbeat even though there were a few negatives about our experience. The good surely outweighed the bad and we plan to go back soon!