My husband and I stayed at El Dorado Maroma April 12-17 in a swim up suite (401) and it was great.
The Room
The room was nice with a large soft bed, nice bathroom with jacuzzi tub, indoor shower and an outdoor shower which my husband used daily. We also had a flat screen tv, and a small table as well as a couch. The terrace was ,lovely with a lazy river leading to the large pool, a beach bed and a couple of chairs. Our view was magnificent with a soft breeze at all times. My husband actually slept outside the first night.

The pools
There are tow pools, an older more intimate one in front of the Mi Hotelito rooms with a swim up bar and plenty of charis and beach beds. The other larger pool had a swim up bar and a lazy river leading to our rooms. We spent most of our time at the larger pool due to it being easier access to our room.

The restaurants
Sabores is mexican and open all day with great breakfasts...the chilequiles are a favorite of mine. The lunch and dinner were also really good and the guacamole, salsa and something called ixnpec(sp?) was super good and fresh.
Mio is the Italian and also very good, the other is japanese with sushi and stir fry and it is good too. They have great spring rools.

The beach
The beach is soft and smooth and the water is shallow with little or no waves which I adored.You can walk and walk and see the most lovely beaches around.

The nightlife
Pretty non-existent except for Rick's Bar which opened at 9ish but not much happened therre...at least for us. Perhaps we are getting old or were just tired from our days at the beach.

The spa
I had a manicure and my hubby and I had a couples massage over the water at the massage hut which was really good and I am a massage gal. The massage is about $25 less at the Marina MAroma next door. $90 at the resort, $65 at the marina. Ibelieve that they use the same over the water huts though.

Excursions
We did not do any excursions. This place is so relaxing, we could not muster the energy to get our happy bootys motivated to go anywhere.

I would suggest this resort to anyone wanting rest and relaxation. If you are a loud party person, it is not for you. The resort was only at about 30% capacity so the beach chair towel game was not really an issue. However, there was one couple who would put their towels on a bali bed, charis at the beach and charis at the pool for the entire day. I do not know why that annoys me so much, but it does. One day, someone was going to move his stuff and he ran over from the pool and told them it was his bed after not being there for 2 hours or more. Ugh. Same guy who freaked when at 4:30 pm one evening, Ivan (the pool fun resort guy)let us put on some differrent music at the beach...not loud just different.

Would I go back, YES. but I may split my time between EDM and Royale or Excellence or somewhere a little more happening.

If you go, have a mango margarita for us!

First off...Trip Advisor still shows this resort as just having 24 rooms. The resort has consisted of 76 rooms since last November.

The new Cancun Airport is fantastic....until we came to the greedy Grey Line! The Mexican government has given Grey Line exclusive rights to the taxi concession at the Airport. The cost for my husband and I to go to the El Dorado Maroma was $82.00 USD. The return trip was $40.00! Making this process more unbearable was when after we paid, a lovely lady escorted us to one of 50 tall tables so that we could receive our taxi "number". We were then subjected to a time share pitch. When I kept saying that we were not interested in a time share, the gentleman then offered to reimburse my $82.00 taxi ride, if I just went to listen to the pitch. When I refused that, he offered two excursions! When I demanded my taxi number, his co-worker came and tried to give me the same pitch. I am amazed that the Mexican government is encouraging this behavior. Next time, I will arrange for my own pick up by one of the many good tour operators.

Our stay was only for two nights, as we were called away from the resort by a death in the family. We had chosen this resort because we wanted a quiet, adults only all inclusive resort. We were not disappointed! We stayed in room 215 in the Mi Holito on the second floor. This room had fantastic views of the pool and beach and we loved lying on the outdoor bed on the balcony and watching the ocean. The bed was comfortable and and the furnishings fit the tropical atmosphire. Our room was quite private. However, the first floor rooms were very much open to view from the pool area.

Of the two pools, we really enjoyed the smaller pool in the older section. The pool had shaded areas at different parts of the day and we ended up spending one afternoon lounging by the pool bar and discussing world politics. Great people, facinating discussions and amazing clear blue calm skies. While we were there it was sunny with low humidity - 82 to 85 degrees. April is a lovely time to go to the Maya.

Rick's bar was surprisingly happening for such as small resort.
All the drinks at the resort were great. When our bartender was asked to make a special Jamaican flamming drink, he tried to duplicate it with great gusto.

One of the earlier Trip Advisor reports gave this resort a very poor mark because their luggage had been stolen from outside the lobby. Management has solved this issue, by having all incoming and outgoing luggage stored inside the lobby, in plain view. Another negative report mentioned the loud music, I can tell you that the music in the older pool was delightful, very quiet background type music. My own negative was the loud weed-wackers. Not only were they loud, but they also sprayed grass clippings in the pool. When the manager saw what was happening he ran over to the worker and made him stop immediately. I also felt that the ATV riders that operatored just outside the resort were quite loud. But, it is easy to move your spot at the pool to avoid their noise.

Everyone has commented on the friendly staff. I must agree. We had just one issue when we waited for over 1 1/2 hours for our breakfast to be delivered. They had lost the order. We should have called to check on it after 30 minutes had passed. When breakfast came, it was lovely. The fruit was delicious and sliced and presented with great care from a charming huge basket.

The food was excellent. The buffet was displayed on rather small dishes which meant that they were never sitting out too long.

We look forward to going back soon!

My girlfriend and I just returned from 7 days at Maroma (April 6-13) and had a wonderful time. I won't go into too much detail about restaurants and such because most has already been discussed but I will tell you about the things we really liked.

Our Room - We had an infinity-pool suite on the 4th floor of the new side of the resort, room 441. I believe the first 2 towers are the only ones to have the pools on the 3rd and 4th floors. The rest of the towers just have large balconies. We LOVED the room because of the ocean view, the privacy and the 4th floor rooms are the only rooms to have the outdoor showers that actually open up to the sky. The rest have a thatch roof because you can look down on them from the higher floors. The only downside to these rooms is that they are on the 4th floor and…..no elevators. You're walking up and down 4 flights of stairs a LOT so keep that in mind if you're thinking about one of these rooms.

Food – We’ve stayed at a number of all-inclusives before (some small, some large) and this was by far the best food we’ve had at any resort. I can’t say that everything we ate was the best but I’d say 90% of it was very, very good. We were thinking there wouldn’t be much of a selection but there is a LOT on the menus and nice combo of both meat and fish. My girlfriend does not eat meat and was in heaven with the seafood selection at each of the restaurants. We enjoyed the Japanese restaurant the best because we both love sushi and it was good there. It’s not like your favorite sushi place at home but we thought it was great for a small all-inclusive….in Mexico. We also really enjoyed the room service for breakfast. It’s mainly omelets on the menu but they came with a nice selection of fresh fruit, bread, muffins, juice and coffee.

Pools – We spent our first ½ day at the newer pool and it’s beautiful and larger than the other one but we found that there wasn’t much of a tropical vibe over there. They were working on the new outdoor grill area, which should be complete in about a week or so, and that didn’t bother us but there was no music playing other than when they brought a speaker over for the water aerobics and then it was way too loud. We then tried the older/smaller pool, loved it and spent the rest of our days at that one. There was definitely a tropical vibe going on with all the palm trees, palapas, quieter background music and it had a much more tropical feel. It also may have been the people we met on that side who were all very friendly and a lot of fun, which I’ll talk about later.

Staff/Service – The majority of staff we encountered were extremely friendly and the majority of service we received was excellent. From the baggage guys and front desk to the maids and restaurant workers, just about everything we received was completely first class. Sure there were a few here and there who weren’t the quickest and there was a language barrier with some but the majority did everything they could to make sure you enjoyed your stay. The resort as a whole really seems to put service as a priority and tries to instill that in all of the employees. I know some of the previous reviews stated they needed to work on service but they seemed to doing a pretty good job in our opinion.

Off-site Activities – We went to Playa one evening and did a little shopping, ate/drank and mainly people watched and it was fun for a touristy destination. It was a nice change of pace from doing nothing around the pool all day but we took another trip that we really enjoyed. We heard from another couple about a retired windsurfer who has a small sailboat a little ways up the beach and takes people out on private tours. After watching the big catamarans take off from the marina with 50-60 on board, this seemed a lot more interesting to us. We walked up about 1 mile to the left of the resort where you will see a little handmade sign and a sailboat named “Eight Dwarfs”. ‘Captain Memo’ told us his normal tour consists of sailing (no motor) south for an hour to a nice reef, snorkeling for an hour and then sail back to the original spot. This is $30 per head and he can take up to 6 people, though that may be a little tight. We weren’t too interested in the snorkeling so he said we could take a sail up to Puerto Morelos (about 2 ½ hours north or 10 miles) get out, have lunch/drinks, see the small town and then sail back. This is $50 per head and a heck of a deal considering what the big charters charge. Plus it’s more intimate and much more personal considering it’s just you and Memo (May-mo). We set it up for a couple days later, did it with another couple and had a great time. You can’t set it up though the concierge, you just have to walk down the beach and see if he is there and tell him when you want to go. I would highly recommend this trip as Memo is a very interesting person, knows everything about the area and towns and treats you with the utmost respect. A couple things to consider though if you do decide to do this 1) his boat is moored about 30-50 yards off shore so you have to swim out to it, carry whatever baggage you have and climb up the back of the boat. He helps as best he can but it takes some physical ability. You then have to do this to and from the shore in Puerto Morelos. 2) You have to bring whatever beverages you want from the resort and this takes some working and planning. If you have any more questions on this, email me.

The People – I think the best part of the vacation were the people/couples we met. I know a lot of it may have to do with timing but we met some really nice/fun/interesting people from all over and spent the majority of our time hanging out with them. The resort was great but meeting these people and socializing with them really made our trip special. I have to say hello to the Kings, Adam/Kristin, Ian/Claire and the Oma family – thanks, you really made our trip great!!!

Summary (sorry to be so long winded), we really enjoyed everything about the resort – room, food, staff, service, people and the only complaint I would have is that they didn’t have an outdoor bar to have drinks at after dinner. The only real option is Rick’s and that’s ok for a night or two but the weather was so nice, it would have been great to sit outside, hear the ocean and some light background music and socialize with the people we met. I did bring this up to management and they are aware of it and looking into options. Hopefully they find one.

The only other comment I have is – it’s a VERY, VERY quiet resort. If you’re looking for a smaller version of Sandals with a party environment (we met a few couples who were), this is NOT it. Sure, you can do tequila shots with people around the pool bars and get a little loud in the afternoons but in general, it’s a very quiet place. Just know this before you book there.

That’s it. Hope you enjoy as much as we did if you go. Email if you have any questions.

Stayed at El Dorado Maroma April 7 – 13, 2008 and had a great time. We traveled with two other couples and found the resort to offer both relaxation and fun.

Sabores, the largest restaurant on the resort adjacent to the new big pool, offered a great breakfast. We also ordered in room service one morning for breakfast; which was also delicious. During the afternoon on the first couple days we hung out at the older, smaller pool. It was nice because it had a large covered area which was good for a break from the sun. From our third day onward we hung out by the new, bigger pool. We enjoyed the shallow lounging areas and the many beach beds which lined the pool and nearby beach area. Sabores restaurant had great lunches which we often ate pool side at one of the umbrella tables. Dinner was amazing at the Italian and Japanese restaurants. Karisma hotels host awesome Japanese restaurants. We preferred these two restaurants to Sabores for dinner, but overall the food is gourmet and excellent. At night we found our way to Rick’s bar for some drinks and music. It was quite busy most nights during our stay; hosting live music, a pool table, lots of places to sit and of course a fully stocked bar. One night we took the sunset lobster cruise through Lomas. It was very nice, with a fun boat staff and a great formal beach dinner upon our return to shore.

Each couple had a different room type. The older Mi Halito rooms are essentially scaled down Casita suites from El Dorado Royale. They offer vaulted ceilings, large beds, open layout bathrooms and draped wooden terraces with outdoor beach beds. The new swim-up Infinity suites are spectacular. Huge rooms finished in marble and glass with indoor/outdoor showers, jacuzzi tubs, lounge seating areas, plasma (or LCD) TV’s and large terraces with a beach bed and of course access to the swim-up lazy river…amazing. The upper floor Infinity suites are identical, difference being many have infinity pools on their terraces. Be sure to specify an infinity pool suite as some appeared to have terraces without pools.

The staff was friendly and offered excellent, quality service. They had a few events on the beach like the fresh fish bar-b-q lunch and one night a show. It was just enough activities to mix up the week, but not overwhelming where it distracted anyone from seriously chilling out.

The beach at El Dorado Maroma is the most beautiful, sugar white, powder sand beach I have seen in all of Mexico. It is simply gorgeous. I started many days by taking a long walk along the beach. It is possible to walk for miles. One day my friend and I walked to the next string of resorts (if anyone has tried you know how far that is). Point here is that the beach runs for miles and is sugar white sand and clear turquoise water for as far as the eye can see.

Overall we were very impressed and pleased with the facilities, food and service at EDM. Another satisfied stay at a Karisma resort.