My husband and I were looking for a totally relaxing vacation and that is exactly what we had. We stayed in the older section on the ground floor (excellent choice). We loved the beach bed and the beautiful view of the sea. The service was excellent. The restaurants were all good, but our favorite was Sabores, the Mexican restaurant. Breakfast was fantastic. I had the sky massage which was awesome (my husband doesn't like massages). We had planned to visit the ruins, but were just too relaxed to leave this beautiful resort.

Loved it! We will return.

WOW. The El Dorado Maroma was perfect for us. We wanted a small hotel, all-inclusive, luxury, and great food. We got it! And, while the beach is small, it is lovely and peaceful. If you are in need of a serious escape, this hotel is perfect for you. Everyone there is looking for r&r...this is not a party resort. Great mix of honeymooners, runaway parents and retirees. Easy to get a cab into Playa del Carmen, should you want to shop. Room was very comfy and everyone on staff was so helpful and professional. We will recommend this place to anyone looking for a really wonderful Mexico experience.

NOTE: We used Spirit Airlines to book our trip. Started out fine, then Spirit cancelled our flight home and we had to stay an extra day. Then, after customs in FL, we missed our homebound flight by one minute and the Spirit folks were simply indifferent and rude to us...didn't help us find our luggage, didn't help us figure out how to get home, nada. We spent and extra $800 to get back to Texas on American. We won't use Spirit again. Naturally, it's not their fault we missed our flight. However, they certainly could have been friendly and offered to help two weary travelers figure out how to get home, especially since we spent quite a bit of money with them in the first place.

We stayed the first half our week at Azul beach and the second half at EDM as these were our top two contenders for our destination wedding. Our review of the first half of the week can be found under the Azul reviews.

EDM used to be called Mi Hotelito before it was bought by Karisma hotels. The old side of the hotel is still referred to as Mi Hotelito. This side is romantic with Mexican charm and flavor. Every room has an outside bed on a balcony or patio and is tastefully if a bit sparsely decorated. The roofs of the old side buildings are all thatched and give the appearance of two story palapas. The new side has better rooms but has none of the charm of the older side. It could be a block of hotel rooms anywhere. Each room in the new side does have a jacuzzi tub and some are swim-up.

The first room we were put in was 201. The moment we walked in we were overwhelmed by some strange smell. Not such a great start. My fiancee spent the next 45 minutes trying to figure out what it was and where on earth it was coming from. Well it turns out that smell was raw sewage and it was coming from the malfunctioning toilet. Now things happen and they are newly opened so fine. But clearly they knew there was an issue as a large amount of incense had been place in the room (most of it in the bathroom) in an attempt to mask the smell. We called the front desk and were immediately moved to an upstairs room 111. Keep in mind that if you have knee problems or any type of mobility issue there are no elevators and you will need a room on the first floor. The second room was gorgeous and smelled fine. Now this wasn't such a big deal to us but I would not have been happy had they done this to our wedding guests. Later in the week we passed the old room to see a work crew jack hammering up the bathroom floor. They told us the problem was known and the room was scheduled to be fixed. Oye. My only complaint with the older side rooms besides the potential for a sewage issue was that the shower fixtures were old and creaky and the shower had no real curtain. This meant you had to be really careful about the spray of the water or it ended up all over the floor. Not a big deal but annoying. If you are going to stay in the older section I would request a second floor room if you don't mind the stairs.

The beach is expansive and the only other thing you see when walking for miles is a house being built to the right of the hotel. The beach is good but if you have tender feet water shoes would be best. There is a lot of coral and little rocks. Now this may be close to Maroma beach but Maroma beach it ain't. You can walk to Maroma beach from here but if this is not sugary soft white sand. The water was nice and shallow for a good ways out and clear as a bell. There were lots of little fish if you were up for a little snorkeling. A five minute boat ride gets you the reef and some excellent snorkeling.

The beach beds were heaven absolute heaven. We had no problem getting a beach bed. Now the beach butler could use a little work as she was hard to find most of the time. The beach butler at Azul beach was so fantastic that perhaps we were expecting the same. But nonetheless she would bring you whatever you fancied. We had a simple lunch of sandwhiches brought to our bed and for a beach bum this is heaven. I've attached a photo.

Just behind the last few beach beds is a beautiful white stone chapel. It's just lovely and when you open the doors you are looking at the caribbean. Oh and it's air conditioned! It can seat 65 people.

The wedding coordinators here are Gilberto and Rafaela. They both were great but Gilberto won my trust right away. He was very sweet, clearly cares about his work and was very honest. I'd recommend him in a heart beat.

The food was good at all 3 restaurants but really I think Azul wins in this category. The Italian was better than I expected and the fresh fish was superb. The Asian was just okay. The sushi was supermarket sushi not nice restaurant sushi. I admit, I love sushi and have eaten at the best of the best. Overall in the food category Azul is better. From decor to service to quality of food they have EDM beat.

While the service was fine overall they definately have some new hotel kinks to work through and I imagine the service will get better with time. The servers tried their best but several times we got things we didn't order and more than once two separate servers brought our meal twice. Whoops. Good thing my honey can eat.

There is a marina next door that didn't bother me a bit. Yes they have jet skiis but I didn't find them annoying and for a wedding it will be nice for guests to walk next door for activities.

So with hopes that the service will only improve and kinks worked out we are going to book our wedding here. The beach beds, the beach itself and chapel won me over. Not to mention I truly trust Gilberto to do a fabulous job.

One last note. If you are up for it they also offer a blessing for weddings performed by a Mayan shaman that seems quite authentic and unique. We're going to go for it after the chapel on the beach :)

Upon arrival we were greeted with lavander infused hand towels and a glass of champagne. Our rooms were spacious and the air conditioner worked GREAT!! Very attentive staff. The food was as good as any I have had in Mexico too. Very good ambience in the Asian resturant as well as the Italian- don't be expecting traditional spagetti and meatballs either! Over all I would say that this was a nice relaxing vacation. Diego was the best at tending to our needs. Never a wait, never a worry- Plenty of beach and pool chairs as well as beachfront beds and beds on our patios.The only thing that could have been better would have been an better selection of premium liquors. No Grey Goose,Crown, Herradura, Patron...Lots of weddings, anniversaries and honeymooners too.

ps: very secluded 25 minuted to the closest town