Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort All Inclusive

The beach is not very nice at this resort, but I am not sure how it compares to others in the area. The pool and disco are a lot of fun, and most of the food is good. Many staff members are lovely, but there was a lot of poor communication and disorganization throughout the stay by others. We found the wedding coordinators to be particularly bad at their jobs and they did not take any accountability for all of the mistakes they made. This resort does not seem to value feedback. Would not recommend, as I believe there are better resorts in Mexico. Definitely would not recommend others to have their wedding here. Many many details of our wedding were missed, executed poorly or incorrectly, things were not organized at all, etc. etc.

We just came home from one of the most amazing vacations we've ever had. It was just my wife and I and our butlers Noah, Hugo and Luis we're fantastic! Everything that we asked for they got us and they got us quickly. Noah was the point man and made sure that every one of our needs were met.

We had a very good stay at El Cid Marina. Our friends enjoyed their stay also. With the excellent serivce by our butlers Fredy, Ricardo and Omar which added to our pleasant stay. The food and the resort facilities are excellent. Our concierge, Sergio, the people at Platinum office and all the people like waiters, room cleaners, bar tenders, musicians, entertainers, cooks and maintenance people make our stay so memorable. Special thank you to Cynthia at the Aroma cafe for making me a good cappuccino.

Our two butlers Orlando and Are were absolutely amazing! They were fast, efficient, thoughtful and caring - always with a smile. They made our experience wonderful. Thank you both!!

There’s nothing bad I can say about this resort. I’ve been to several in the Caribbean and this by far was the best resort I have ever stayed at. From the moment we arrived we were treated like royalty. We did get the platinum package, which was very well worth it. Instead of checking in at the regular desk, you are escorted to a suite with comfortable chairs and couches and a bar with a bartender. We had booked a three bedroom suite for the seven of us, but that is an understatement because it was definitely more like a large apartment. Three bedrooms all with private bath, living room, dining room, full kitchen and whirlpool bath on the patio. All the rooms had their own sliding glass doors to go outside. From our room there was a 30 foot walk to the beach and maybe a 20 foot walk to a beach bar. Room service was fast and tasty. All the venues we ate at were equally delicious. Everyone that worked there was so polite and very friendly. Housekeeping was excellent. We went into the town of Puerto Morales and had a good time shopping. $30 taxi round trip. The town seemed very safe. About a 15 minute ride into town. Be sure not to miss Urban Taco Night. There was a bar and tremendous amount of Mexican food and good entertainment. There were vendors there for the party, however, I thought the products were exceedingly expensive. Of course, everywhere has problems with the seaweed. They worked every day very hard to keep the seaweed under control. The pool at this particular resort was quite cool because it was February. However, you are welcome to use the two other sister resorts. At Ventus we were told there is a heated pool however we didn’t make it over there to check it out. It is quite a large resort so anyone with mobility problems would need to call for transportation. In summary, great resort, great people, good food. it was a great resort and I will certainly return the next time I want to visit the Mexican Riviera.

7 restaurants to choose from, great food and service. I enjoy the atmosphere of the Marina. Good variety on the menu. The staff is always attentive and very friendly. Of course some menu items are better, but that is always a personal preference. My butlers Alejandro Niembro and Ivan Garcia were wonderful. They made my dinner reservations at the times I wanted, and were punctual with cart pickup. I appreciated all the help, always eager to make sure our trip was perfect. Thank you. As per other reviews, the beach has been hit by many hurricanes and sargassum. But there are so many great pools.

We stayed here at the Marina side with a family of 5 during the February break. 3 kids ages 16, 13 and 11. We went with Westjet Vacations. Transfer was with Nexus Tours. We will do the review of this resort in categories. Room: Overall no complaints. Spacious, clean. We had 2 doubles with a Murphy bed. One of the kids made the couch/lounger into a bed also. Lots of hot water in the shower. The air conditioning doesn’t really get cooler than 21 degrees. We closed the curtains and it helped keep it cooler. The bar fridge was well stocked with drinks. But no snacks. (There is 24 hour room service) We didn't have a lightbulb on our deck.. we asked 3 times and it was not resolved. House keeping sometimes doesn’t come until after 6 PM. Food/Drinks: Drinks were great! Well blended with ice. Food was pretty good for the most part. The supper buffet our first night was terrible. However it definitely improved. Please note the posted theme nights at the buffet didn't seem to apply. Breakfasts at the buffet were great with the typical breakfast fare. We alternated lunches between the buffet at the Hacienda and the Delores on the Ventus side. Both of these were great. The burgers were great - worth standing in line for. The kids especially loved the crepes. Aromas coffee shop was great too and the line up went quickly even at 7 AM. We ate at four of the a la cartes for supper. Aakat, French, Italian and Mexican. At the Aaakat, the burger was more like a steak sandwich vs a ground beef hamburger. But it was still good. Our favorite was the French where we really liked the pork dish, French onion soup and the croque Mosiuer sandwich. Mexican was awesome too - The creamy corn soup and the Mole was delicious at the Mexican. Reservations - best to email the concierge Saturday mornings. Our reservations were at 7:30, 8:00 and 8:30. We would swing by 10-15 mins earlier and they wouldn’t seat us even though there were lots of empty tables. Thursday nights is the Urban Taco Fest outside of the Delores. The food was fabulous - authentic Mexican fare complete with Mariachi band playing. Please note nobody got sick during our stay. Pools/Beach: Marina Pool is the activity pool. It has aquasize, games, and a swim up bar complete with loud music all day. It also has the cliff jump and waterslide. The kids preferred this pool over the others on the Venus At and Ventus Ha sides. The Ventus pools are much quieter. The Ventus sides are more modern. The infinity pool at the Ventus is adults only. There are no hot tubs at the Marina side. The towel/lounger game is a real thing here. You need to have your loungers reserved early. If you want your choice of the loungers, you need to be down there by 6:45 AM. They’ll be all gone by 7:00. There are a lot of tables with chairs in front of the towel exchange. We feel some of this area could be better replaced with loungers. If you are a beach lover, this is not the place for you. Having said that, we still spent a lot of time at the beach and in the water. We didn't feel it was that bad. It is still the ocean after all!! The water is shallow and suitable for young children. The situation with the loungers applies to the beach as well. There was drink service regularly around the pool and they even came around the beach on occasion. Anthonie at the pool was the man keeping us well hydrated!! Resort Grounds: Very lush on the Marina side. Crocodiles, turtles, coati mundis, raccoons, iguanas all on site. The maintenance and cleanliness of this resort was second to none. Every evening after dark, we would see employees literally scrubbing the loungers around the pool and on the beach. They were also doing general maintenance. We were in Building 19 and it was very easy to get around. 5 minute walks to the coffee shop in the mornings. It is not as large as it may seem at first. Evening Shows: They started at 8:00. Sometimes we missed the shows due to our late dinner reservations. The Michael Jackson show was really good! There was live music in the lobbies in the evenings. There are gift shops on site but you will pay the price! There was not much selection for cigars. They were only at the gift shop near the Delores and they were hidden under a towel which one has to ask for. Sunscreen costs over $50 CDN!!!!!! Uber vs taxi. Uber is much cheaper and they will meet you on the road outside of the gate to the resort. Uber $12 US one way to Puerto Morelos. Taxi is $48 for a family of 5 one way, Taxi is $24 one way for 4 people or less. Puerto Morelos - prices for everything seem to be up here vs past years with less room to haggle. Overall, this place delivered. We would highly recommend it and would return.

Charly AKA Carlos at the hot tub Infiniti adult pool was amazing. He was friendly, service was great, efficient, and we never had to wait for a drink. The staff around the pools and the grounds area were super friendly and always greeted us when we walked by and they did a great job keeping everything clean. The restaurants were fantastic. The food was great However, the reservation system was very unfortunate. The only meal times we could arrange were 5 or 830 at night to pick from. The casino night was in an area that was overcrowded for the amount of people that showed up. It should’ve perhaps been in a more open part of the resort. We never had turned down service and several mornings we did not get maid service in the room at all. The team at the resort did a great job of trying to keep the Sargasm in control but it’s like a never-ending chore for them. El cid forgot my birthday again this year when we were to get chocolate covered strawberries and wine, but it never came. Our concierge Elizabeth L was the one to set that up, but forgot. The quality of the food was very very good , especially the seafood. The waves bar has the best smoked drinks we have tasted including the chocolate martinis. For the quality, friendliness we most likely will return but may try somewhere else in the area. It is almost always a sure bet, despite a few small letdowns this year.

We had a wonderful vacation with our besties! The resort is beautiful! Our butlers, Samuel and Celine were very helpful with navigating the ins and outs of our week. I recommend you utilize their services as they take care of everything for you. Reservations are a must at the restaurants and hard to get decent times. The butlers took care of the reservations and the latest one was 6 pm. We are in our 60s and we cannot hang all night anymore, let alone eat at 8:30 or later :( We had an amazing room with the ocean view. The bar tenders at the pools were attentive as well as the bar boys and we loved the heated pool! Thanks for another amazing vacay with our besties on the books!

Had a great time at El Cid. Fun for the whole family. Casino night was great especially Alejandro