Sandos Caracol Nature Resort & Water Park All Inclusive

The resort is very pretty, you do feel like you are having a holiday in a tropical rainforest. It does have a nice atmosphere and the best part of the resort is the Entertainment staff who do a great job looking after everyone with various games and exercise sessions in the pool all day. Our room was adequate but had a very small balcony with no outdoor table or chairs. The cleaning staff kept the room nice and clean. The main pool was very nice but quite dirty compared to others I have been to and they closed it for one day which was frustrating. The pool floor is very rough and I had painful feet for most of the holiday after shredding them playing Pool volleyball. The is a Children's pool with slides but that was closed for 2 days whilst we were there also. The beach front has artificial Gabions about 20 metres out in the sea to slow the waves which are really quite ugly and did not make the beach seem very idyllic. The restaurants are pretty good and quite easy to book, but I thought the main Buffet restaurant was quite average compared to others at different resorts that we have visited before. All of the staff onsite are absolutely fantastic and cannot do enough to help you. They all say Hello when you pass by and smile. The site overall is now rather dated and a bit tired. Though everywhere is clean and nicely painted. To Summarise, the holiday was very nice and we had a great time but there are better places than this for the money.

We spent 3 days here for a wedding and off the bat many things went wrong. Several people had issues with their rooms including our group. We often had no water to shower at all and when we did it was room temperature at best. The food and drinks were awful. Bartenders and staff look miserable being there. Your options for food are minimal even following their ridiculous reservation system (which we only found out due to our research beforehand). If you are NOT an elite club member you will be limited to buffets. The ENTIRE group that came for the wedding about 45 people had the same experience. As for the wedding itself, the staff were not helpful at all and the “wedding planner” looked like he wished he was anywhere else but there. The photographer did a good job and had great energy when we interacted with him. He seemed to be coordinating more than the actual coordinator. The ONLY redeeming quality was the nature aspect of the resort. There are many different species of animals roaming around!

We were here 10 years ago adults only section and treated like royalty. Disappointed from the start. I seemed like they didn’t have enough staff. Service was slow. Got told to go get our own cappuccino coffee in the buffet. Adults only restaurant was no better with not getting orders right. First seated at lunch only to see plate fulls of burgers delivered to pool side. An hour later to ask where our lunch was? To get it and one was hot, two medium temp and mine ice cold mangled fish tacos. Only to be told there was only one chef. Service at the beach wasn’t any better with ordering 4 of something and only three arrived. Room promoted fruit basket, wine and robes and slippers…Not!!! Took days and never did see that fruit basket. Other couples room never saw wine or fruit basket. They were given lipstick covered cups. I do want to say our room was looked after very well. Thank you for that! Cleaned every day. Jacuzzi tub taps leaked like crazy and brown particles came out when trying to use it in the room we had. They didn’t have the room we booked and gave this to us as an upgrade. Not much of an upgrade if you can’t use it.

Terrible experience, and I am not one to complain… Arrived at 1am, key for room did not work. The front desk tried twice to reprogram my bracelet the next day (waited in a 45 minute line twice) and it didn’t work. Finally they sent someone to check the door mechanism, which was the problem. The room (building 18) smelled terrible the second we walked in. A mix of mold/mildew and stale air. There were no controls for the AC unit, and the screen on the patio door was torn half off, so I couldn’t air out the room without mosquitoes getting in. We travel very light, and relay on shampoo/conditioner in the room. Neither were available in the room. Tried calling reception and guest services multiple times per day, no one ever answers. I was not willing to wait in line to request the missing items, so my son and I used the hand soap (we were only there 4 days). However for the first two days there was no water in the shower. Again tried to call guest services and reception, no answer. We are easy going, we just made do and called it an adventure. There was also no remote for the tv (not a huge deal) but again no answer when you try to call them. The whole are smelled terrible the whole time. I took my son to this resort for 4 days for his birthday), the water park did not open the whole time. The staff lied every single day, saying it would open today, in 3 hours, etc. And it never opened. My son was not big enough to go on the larger slides. But even so, only 2 of the larger slides were open. The resort was supposed to have blowup slides set up in another pool to make up for the water park, but that did not happen during our stay. The beach was ok. It smelled bad, but there was an area where you could swim (bring water shoes as it is rocky). The absolute worst part about this trip was the checkout. We tried to request a late checkout, but of course there was never an answer when you dial “32” or “34” from the resort phone, which says right in the phone reception and guest services. We had a late flight (leaving the resort around 5) so I wanted to hangout with my son at the pool. That’s what we did. No one called me, texted or emailed (they make you give your contact information upon checkin). When we grabbed our luggage and headed to the front desk to checkout around 4, they tried to charge me $400US for a late checkout. I asked them why they did not try to contact me, and they actually said they don’t use the contact information we provided. (Why ask for it then??). Long story short, I refused to pay, and they threatened to keep my son and I from leaving the resort, they refused to cut off our bracelets, and the lady was so rude that my son was crying. I offered to pay the late checkout fee, if they returned $1000 to me for the fact that the waterpark never opened and their staff lied about it every day. I also explain all of our issues with the room. In the end, I walked away from the desk, still wearing my bracelet, and sat down to calm my son. Finally another lady came over and cut our bracelets and handed me our exit passes. All in all, absolute terrible resort. I made the best of it with my son, and I honestly never would have written a review at all if it wasn’t for the late checkout experience. The rest I can handle, I’m fine going without certain things, but the absolute disgusting behaviour at checkout was my tipping point.

Un grand complexe composé de chemins dans la jungle, avec cenotes, de nombreux restaurants avec des buffets succulents, plage privé, plusieurs piscines, des bars avec de bons cocktails pas coupés à l eau comme on peut avoir dans d autres endroits all inclusive. Des animaux tout autour de nous, singes araignée, coatis... nous avons adoré pour nos derniers jours de voyage et d ailleurs nous ne sommes même pas sortis du resort tellement il y avait à faire... (20000 pas par jour ici) il y a même un aqua park. Le meilleur buffet était au Laguna restaurant selon moi. De nombreux choix.

L attente lors du check in. Apparemment c est ainsi tous les jours. L enregistrement est trop long par famille. Le paiement devrait pouvoir être effectué sur le site par exemple. La vue du balcon donne directement sur d autres appartements et je ne suis pas sure que d autres offrent une meilleure vue. Je n avais pas de choix sur booking. Un peu d attente pour arriver au buffet mais c était raisonnable.

Très jolie cadre, magnifique spectacle du soir.

L’organisation du check-in avec deux heures de retard pour la récupération de la chambre.

WEEK 1 OF 2 We booked with TUI UK family of four 2 adults 2 teenagers. Standard green wristbands no extras. Premium Superior room super king-size with bunk beds. TUI kept us informed before arrival of all construction and closures. Bit disappointing but do your homework and Sept/Oct is low season when all hotels do maintenance. This is end of week 1 we are still here and have one more week. Further review may follow for week 2. On arrival Sat 7pm reception empty. Check in took 15 mins. No Royal Elite staff around to push the "Welcome Pack/Meeting" on us so no sales pitch. For next few days we got 2 phone calls, notes under door and hung on door asking us to go to lobby meeting. We ignored these as per other reviewers recommendations. We are in block 46xx rooms lovely clean bug free and large. Everything worked. A really good modern room. Bit far from amenities until you explore and find the shortcuts!! ;) Balcony no view but jungle didn't mind. Balcony door has a net screen if you keep it closed at ALL times no bugs get in. Amazing walking round how many guest leave it open then moan about bugs in room!! We had a monkey one day come onto the balcony and try pinch the mosquito reppeller he smelt it then dropped it so be aware of jungle visitors on the balcony! Food is usual AI assortment no worse or better elsewhere. Come with that expectation and won't be disappointed. Theme nights at main buffet La Laguna. Only restaurants open at moment are El Tempo and La Riviera. Been to El Tempo twice it is brilliant food fantastic going to La Riviera tonight. Book via app for reservation. Don't have to do it at midnight like other reviewers have said plan your meals and can book during day. Sports bar reopened last night. Breakfast at La Laguna or the Italian restaurant. Food selection of English type breakfast sausage(good English type not hot dogs!) hash brown, crispy bacon, scrambled egg, omelette stations, bread station toast, continental type etc. El Nido taco bar sit down to be served 24hrs open very good too. Also one reviewers complained no lights on walkway to main buffet this is a lie it's well lit. Yesterday there was a state wide power cut we were notified about in advance by hotel. We didnt notice any difference hotel has back up generators even wifi and aircon still worked. Reviews complaining about sewer smell it's not sewege it's jungle smell!! Hardly notice it now. Beach is good. Rocky near adults only bit but further down where us norm green bands are it's not rocky at all. No seaweed. Plenty of beds. See my pics. Main pool disappointing as half shut off. Can get busy. TUI rep is most days at the entertainment area if you need advice or book an excursion. She is very good and helpful. Cenote Cristalino fantastic. Given a life jacket and swim/snorkel in cool clear water. Free. Our 2nd day we went exploring there is a lot to do. We found a "I'm a celebrity style suspension bridge" which is a little scary to cross in a good way and also an underground lit and well maintained tunnel which goes from this bridge all the way to the select bar!! See pic. Water park good for kids here now whilst writing this. Snack and drink bar. No alcohol served tho. Staff are amazing and tip them if you feel they have offered extra service. Mosquitos were a problem 2nd 3rd day but now leave us alone. Be prepared with bug spray, bug cream and buy a insect healer pen from Amazon. Instant relief from itching they burn the bite. Honestly they are a miracle. The animals we have seen all sorts up close and personal. Coatis are everywhere and will pinch your drink if not careful one just drunk my sons Sprite! All adds to the experience treat them with respect. See pics. To conclude it's a different type of hotel. Do your homework, check the good Facebook fan groups. Set your expectations it's not a home away from home which some seem to expect. It's a hotel in a jungle setting with a beach. We came in 2007 and it's changed a lot since then. Looking forward to week 2!

Spent 2 weeks here and it was fantastic. Hotel was beautiful, staff are fantastic and so welcoming. Trips- Xcaret 8/10 expensive Cozumel snorkelling 10/10 Food- 10/10 ate at buffet hall great choice Location 10/10 we will be back