We have just returned from a two week Christmas and new year break and will begin by saying that we got exactly what we wanted, i.e. two weeks of sun, sea and relaxation. However, having experience of Riu hotels world-wide we possibly have been spoiled because in no way can EDSS be classed as five star.

Yes, there are several restaurants and no buffet but the food is nothing out of the ordinary and the service is abysmal and on average a meal would take two hours to get through (because of inordinate delays between courses) meaning that we only ever saw the back end of two shows, no matter what time we went to eat. Further, the whole place lacks the element of sophistication in numerous ways.

As has been previously mentioned, the dress code is a joke and you wonder why you bothered when you look around at the numerous men in shorts (not dress shorts and usually cut off jeans, surf shorts, etc) and sandals, and some of the ladies aren't much better. The Vida restaurant is very dark and you have a job to read the menu and the candles on the tables (and in the Italian) are fake ones, meaning there is no pleasant ambiance and they shed no light at all. Unless you are seated in the central aisle of the Italian restaurant, you have a job to see the menu in there also and on one occasion, we were freezing cold from the draft caused every time someone left to go to the outside toilet.

Our major bugbear though was the lack of a pleasant place to sit, relax and converse in the evenings. The only place on offer is the 'African hut' as my husband called it, where you are open to the elements (possibly very pleasant in the summer) and also exposed to the constant drone of the stuff that the resident DJ plays. He takes no notice of whether anyone is actually enjoying it or dancing but just appears to play it for his own satisfaction.

There are very few seats around the bar area and the remainder of the seats in this area are hard wooden chairs or very low chairs/stools, which makes it impossible to feel comfortable and relaxed and actually hear yourself speak. Anyone under 30 reading this will probably wonder what the complaint is but having got dressed up to go out and eat, it would have been nice to have then moved to a comfortable lobby area, possibly with soft music in the background, to meet and enjoy an evening of conversation or just do a bit of people watching.

There were insufficient beach beds when we were there and this isn't helped by the fact that the place is crammed with cabanas, which to my mind are a waste of valuable space and just make the place look tacky. Let's face it, if you want to lie in bed all day, why leave your room? It seemed as if a lot of people reserved the cabana and then the two sunbeds directly in front of it, thereby taking up four spaces but as long as people are allowed to get away with it, they'll do so. I would have thought the whole beach area, which isn't huge, would be vastly improved by getting rid of all the cabanas (they were building more when we left) and investing in some decent sunbeds (the present ones are uncomfortable and several were broken) and there would then be more space to place these at decent intervals.

There is an area of sea where it is possible to go in if you take care of the rocks but you have to walk quite a way to get beyond your chest and it isn't an ideal swimming area.

The beach is supposedly a private one but this also is a joke in that there is a constant promenade of people from the hotel round the bay and nothing is done to stop them, other than one day when I saw the beachguard turn back a family with children. They wear wristbands and so are easy to identify and as I say, their constant to-ing and fro-ing is very annoying when there is very little space in front of the sunbeds to walk anyway.

Finally, just a small point but we thought it odd that the only way to get an icecream on the complex was to wait for a table at the outside cafe and then place an order for one, meaning a possible wait of half an hour or so for something which could have been readily accessible.

Anyway, roll on our next Riu trip (Morocco) where satisfaction is guaranteed.

Our second time vacationing here. This time flew with Sun Wing. Won't do that again. The flight was delayed by over 2 hours going there and one returning. Once on the plane where we were crammed like sardines, the airline attendant said she did not want more than two people in the aisle at a time for the carts could not pass through. The seats were unbearably uncomfortable for the length of the journey. They couldn't pass even with one person as the plane was so tiny and stuffy. Arrived at the airport and again Sun Wing couldn't pull it off. We got in a van to the hotel which took 2 1/2 hours. The guy kept putting on the light flickering to the tip sign.
Once at the hotel, our personal requests and returning customers meant nothing to those who assigned our room. We were given whatever at 11:30 p.m.!
Our room, a swim up, was beautiful. What we did miss was the turn down service from our previous visit. Our maid never came by at night and this was a service we really enjoyed last time. We put our do not disturb sign up as the maid would come by at 8:30 a.m. and want to clean the room. Crazy. We ordered room service each morning and Migel was good at taking our order. The guys who delivered our breakfast were very efficient in reviewing what we had ordered. We did experience a problem as we did two years ago. We ordered a taxi well in advance to arrive at the front area and the bell boys had not even bothered. This of course meant an additional 40 minute wait. Fortunately for us the General Manager overheard our displeasure and got us a cab right away. The bell boys were pretty useless 2 years ago and nothing has changed - they want their tip and are sure to say they are doing their job, not. Their comment was, "I am doing my job lady." The General Manager, Paula, a very personable young lady is around the resort all the time. Her personal presence is a positive to International Travellers. We spent each morning at our swim up and the p.m. at the beach. We found great difficulty in seeking beach beds around noon each day. More are recommended. As experienced in our previous vacation, we noticed that patrons would put towels on the beds and would retrieve them at the end of the day. The beds remained empty all day. The food at the Italian restaurant and the service of Alfonso was wonderful as it was two years ago. We appreciated Hiram's personal service, friendly smile and hellos at the swim up bar. All of the staff, with the exception of the front desk and bell boys were great. Elizabeth at the white gazebo, greeting everyone with her lovely smile and asking after us each day was a delight. Would we return? Yes, but hire Lomas Travel to transport us and not take Sun Wing. I believe I would go up to the desk and request a taxi to Playa in person and then let the bell boys be more accountable. The beach and snorkelling were great and it is wonderful to do this right from the shore.

I would agree totally with the last traveller as i agree totally with all his opinions ! The only thing that made our holiday was the friends we made ! The hotel is basic and needs major refurb! And urgently needs an inside upmarket bar area !!!! Eg new years the celebration started at the beach bar from 5.00 for the european guests to fetch the new year in , we as were other guests had to share the bar area with people in their beach wear covered in sand and cream !!! This also happened on other nights ! The dress code forget it ! Does not exist so dont expect to dress up you will feel overdressed !!! The steak and lobster is only available for an extra £15 per person and pinot grigio is £45 !!!! The sunbed need replacing they are old ! The hotel could be fantastic but needs major changes !! For me they would be simple to achieve ! The only thing that made our stay enjoyable was the friends we made while there ! One couple have their own exclusive restaurant and were very disapointed especially the seafood as this is suppost to be gourmet dining ! The other couple booked loads of trips and unfortunatly had to cancel towards the end of the week as they could not keep up with the pace !! Conga boga ( his words not mine) is not for over 30s say no more ! All in all had good holiday as tried not to dwell on things too much ! Made the most of it but would not return ! Spa forget it £90 for basic massage most staff fantastic ! Bosses take note make improvements !!!!! Urgent

We used this hotel resort for our Christmas and New Year break and as we had stayed with the El Dorado group before we were looking forward to the stay-- we had previously stayed at the Royale before.
We had a top floor garden view room with the tops of the coconut trees as our only view,we did have some great bird life as our visitors so there was some compensation.
We had a very restful time and as the evening - night entertainment was in our opinion quite awful we did use our room more often than we have in the past on holiday.
The room was very spacious, the bathroom room needed updating and the toilet smelled like urinal despite our complaints and some extra cleaning. The curtains around the bed needed updating as there was signs of wear and as someone else has stated there was nothing to protect the mattress when the badly fitting sheets moved away .
The TV was old fashioned for todays 5 star and the programming was appalling.
The room was often still not cleaned by 3.30 pm most days despite complaints and when we sat on the balcony the maid always seemed rushed and did not clean as one would expect.
Our personal consierge, well there is a title that needs to be sorted, lazy and useless could be a new one, I could go on but the thoughts only bring anger.
The restaurants are alleged to be of gourmet standard, the Italian was pretentious to say the least with a waiting staff to match. I ate there on three occasions and all I think the phrase could do better springs to mind.
The Asian was OK, The Arricife was OK for breakfast but definately not dinner. The only restaurant for us that constantly performed to a good standard was the Vida Garden . This restaurant had lovely hostess service and very good waiting staff that really were a credit to their managers.
The spa was very pleasant and to a very good standard with the usual over the top pricing that we all expect from spa service. We did have a good experience with this service.
The beach , well this was very small and very rocky but very clean and we even had one female who decided to go topless in a couples resort!!!!!!
The beach part of this resort is not up to the standard of a 5 star rating.
We hired a car from the desk in the reception and when we arrived at the desk at the appointed time to collect we found not only was there no car but the hire rep had been sacked but no one had informed the hotel !!!!!!
We have been to Mexico a number of times and last year we also did an independant trip driving around and down to Belize, we stayed in Cancun. Playa del carmen, Tulum and Chetemal. We had our own hire car which was a very good and not expensive VW firefox, we booked our own accommodatiion ranging from 5 star all in in Cancun to 4 star on the the wonderful beach in Tulum. We had great food, service,entertainment and the accommodation was always very good and most of all when we felt a little bored we knew we were on the move again very soon. We had no security problems and loads of help and advise from all of the lovely and very friendly Mexican people we met. We even went to lunch and dinner as very surprised invited guests.
We will never travel again in Mexico staying in over priced and under performing resorts, the internet is a great tool and time well spent in its use is very rewarding' I wish all who read this a good holiday.