Sandos Caracol Beach Resort Playa del Carmen Mexico. Best Hotel Deals & Reviews

	Date of Stay: December, 2008
I like it was all inclusive. Location was not in Playa Del Carmen but a 10 minute taxi ride out of the city. I really enjoyed the evening entertainment as well as the staff. They were extremely friendly and accommodating.

	Date of Stay: January, 2009
food was horrible. rooms were less than clean. not a classy place.

Date of Stay: July, 2008

The only positives for this property were that the rooms were clean, and we met a lot of nice people from around the globe. Beyond that, this place had the worst food options we've ever experienced. Yes, there were multiple restaraunts on the property, but the quality and options was horrible. The steak house had really bad , chewy cuts of meat. The service was poor. Of the four orders we placed, the staff delivered one correctly. The Asian restaraunt served Chinese & Japanese food, but it was lukewarm, and soggy with no flavor. The Italian buffet was a viable option, but served ice, cold red wine. The red wine in the bottles were topped with bubbles; a sure sign of poor quality. The swimming pools were warm to hot and filthy. The main pool was almost as hot as the 88 degree plus temperature outside, and the bottom coated with dirt. The "select" pool was the same - warm, cloudy and dirty. I stopped getting in the pool after the second day because of what I saw floating in the water through my goggles; it made my stomach churn. Though we were able to avoid the timeshare sales pitch, we were often given conflicting instructions from many staff memebers on amenities, perks for staying and offers. Finally, I don't blame the resort for mosquito's but they didn't do enough to eliminate them. Our first night at the resort we were eaten alive. After spending 14 on a bottle of "OFF", we were able to survive the rest of our trip with the purchase of an additional bottle of repellent and lotion to ease the sting and itch. For those of you with children - the Kids Club was filthy and we did not leave our child there.

Date of Stay: June, 2008

The hotel staff were polite and helpful. The "concierge" must work on commission, they were most aggressive and repeatedly hounded me regardless of how many times I said, "no thank you." Upon arrival, we were swarmed by the "concierge." In reality, they are the sales team and apparently work on commission. They were quite aggressive and time consuming because if you need a cab, the bellhop is given a signal to wait until the sales person has a word with you, making you a captive audience. You're told, "it's going to take awhile," and then comes the hard sell; excursions, a 40%-50% savings on future stays, etc. The truth is, there are about 25-30 cabs waiting only steps away, but out of sight, of the hotel entrance and those cabs aren't called until the bellhop is told to do so. Had we eaten at a hospital cafeteria, it would have far surpassed what was offered. The food was bland at best and frankly, the worst food I'd ever eaten in a hotel, and I travel a lot. This was a most unpleasant experience, unless you like to drink to excess, I can't see the appeal of this place whatsoever and certainly won't be back. Furthermore, as a travel writer, I'm making sure to include this bit in any future articles. Thank you for the chance to leave comments.

Date of Stay: January, 2009

First "warm" winter vacation for my husband & I. We absolutely loved this resort. Our room was huge, spotless & overlooked one of the pools. We were along the back-side up against the jungle. Our fridge was re-stocked everyday, we drank a lot of bottle water but only a few of the beer & pop. Did our drinking at the bars. This resort is kept clean, well groomed landscape, no garbage laying around, beach clean, staff constanly picking up drink cups because so many people are to lazy to take them back inside or back to the bar where they got their drink from. The food was great even for a picky person like me. The buffet was the best bet for choice of food, easy to eat a huge breakfast and a great dinner, everything and anything you could think of was there to eat. We did all the reservation resturants, all were great, food very tasty, Oriental the best, food was fresh, hot & tasty. In January, the ocean is perfect for a swim. Beach is not rocky compared to further up the beach, just a few large rocks that you can walk around. I was told this resort suffered hurricane damage two years ago but you'd never notice it. We did a 5 kl walk along the beach just to check out the other resorts, one on the point they don't recommend swimming, undertow is bad. This is the only Eco-friendly resort. To bad water has to be bottled, it looks like they don't recycle bottles or cans anywhere in Mexico. We would diffently go again to this resort but we would request a third floor room in the same building we were in this past January 2009, walking around the resort was fun for us.

Date of Stay: July, 2008

The only positives for this property were that the rooms were clean, and we met a lot of nice people from around the globe. Beyond that, this place had the worst food options we've ever experienced. Yes, there were multiple restaraunts on the property, but the quality and options was horrible. The service was poor. Of the four orders we placed, the staff delivered one correctly. The Asian restaraunt served Chinese & Japanese food, but it was lukewarm, and soggy with no flavor. The Italian buffet was a viable option, but served ice, cold red wine. The red wine in the bottles were topped with bubbles; a sure sign of poor quality. The swimming pools were warm to hot and filthy. The main pool was almost as hot as the 88 degree plus temperature outside, and the bottom coated with dirt. The "select" pool was the same - warm, cloudy and dirty. I stopped getting in the pool after the second day because of what I saw floating in the water through my goggles; it made my stomach churn. Though we were able to avoid the timeshare sales pitch, we were often given conflicting instructions from many staff memebers on amenities, perks for staying and offers. Finally, I don't blame the resort for mosquito's but they didn't do enough to eliminate them. Our first night at the resort we were eaten alive. After spending * on a bottle of "OFF", we were able to survive the rest of our trip with the purchase of an additional bottle of repellent and lotion to ease the sting and itch. For those of you with children - the Kids Club was filthy and we did not leave our child there.

	Date of Stay: February, 2008
Worth the price. It was very clean & beautiful atmosphere. Oriental restaurant was not very good food. It was a wonderful 5 days and we would & plan to return.

Date of Stay: January, 2009

1. Service and customer services. No room service, water is delivered every other day, older women had to carry their own luggage from second floor and off to check out they dragged themselves (front desk had no one to assist, WOW) 2. Reservation to restaurant (6 am get in line) oh and then food (oh my) I?d rather get slice of pizza then have their sit down dinner 3. Food Buffet, people stood in lines from severing station all the way to outside of the restaurant 4. Bus to city, once every 2 hours. SO be there 2 hours before your bus get there 5. Beach, is too small and not much of sand 6. Entertainment, he he what a joke

	Date of Stay: July, 2008
would not go back! not worth the money. lot's i mean lot's of" mosquitos". never able to eat dinner at cousines by 8:00 a.m. reservations were full. tried earlier and still no luck. only 1 snack bar remains open. there is no room service. ocean access was man made lots of rocks. this hotel is good for those who are looking for pools and do not want to leave the resort,

	Date of Stay: January, 2008
I liked the pool and Jacuzzi. I thought the food sucked. They need more vegetarian options. Overall, my experience at the hotel was positive. The only major complaint that I have is the food. As a vegetarian, there weren't that many options for me, they should be more accommodating. The food was not that healthy.

Date of Stay: December, 2008

Good expierience! I have been to Mexico several times, brought my girlfriend and her sister along with me. Their first time to Mexico, they loved it. Hotel grounds were nice and well groomed, beach was nice. Lots of rocks in the water, but I have seen worse. Food was average at the buffets, better at the Resturaunts. Drinks were O.K. I will say this is the first time I have done all inclusive I don't think I will do it again, not worth it. But we did frquent the snack bar constantly that was open 24 / 7. It was nice. Lots of activities on sight and friendly staff took care of any needs we had. Was really nice on Wednesday, several local venders set up little shops around the side walks, they only do this on Wednesday. Excellent security also, all in all I have been to better places but for the money you can't beat it.

Date of Stay: May, 2008

After an 6 hour flight. You're made to sit and schedule a tour for Timeshare deal. Not enough towels in room (didn't washed enough was over heard in spanish) Pillows were way over stuffed. Bed was hard. Jacuzzi tub 1/2 the jets worked, low water pressure took forever to fill. Breakfast was decent. Skip the over rated attempts to fine cuisine in evening. Wait staff was either poorly staffed and/or poorly trained to manage speciality restaurants with reservations. Tempura at asian bistro was like a sponge and tasteless. Walked out after deal with a combative staff. I saw 3 people walk out when food was served to them. We complained to Manager who wrote it on a 2" piece of paper. Nothing was ever resolved. If you like to spend money and get nothing in return -this is your place. I'll go else where.

Date of Stay: January, 2008

It was centrally located. It was dirty, poorly maintained, smelly, bad food and bad service. This hotel almost ruined our vacation. Sheets were dirty but were never changed despite our request. Toilet seat and lid fell off numerous times but we were not given a new room, just fixed poorly each time. Restaurants were dirty, and the food was recycled from meal to meal and not good. The beach was poorly maintained. We did not receive the number of towels we requested despite our requests.

Date of Stay: August, 2008

We stayed in August 2008. The food was great. There were different selections of food each day/nite in the buffet style restaurants. A snack bar was open all nite. The hotel employees were friendly, as were all the guests we met. You do have to avoid the timeshare spiel, which we did. Yes, the pools were warm, but what do you expect when it's in the upper 90s all summer long. When the main pool was crowded, we just went to the Adult Pool. The main pool had music and a dj all day long. We enjoyed the nightly entertainment that the staff put on. There were bars at each pool which was convenient. Our room was clean and the room was cleaned each day. We happened to get a room just steps from the beach and a pool view. We would go again.

Date of Stay: January, 2008

Me and my husband went on vacation to Sandos Caracol, this January. We stayed there for a week. I'm the kind of person that always reads reviews before actually traveling. The reviews were both good and bad and so i didn't know what to expect. After i came back from Sandos Carcol, i can honestly say, that 1) Their food is amazing( especially La Riviera, and El Gaucho) Those are the 2 of the 3 ala catre restaurants. Besides all of their restaurants have an amazing variety of food and deserts. Ther are like 9 bars, 4 swiming pools, that is inlcuding the select club pool. The territory is huge, and amazingly they do an excellent job keeping it clean. The rooms are great, some even have jacuzzi inside or on the balcony. Every night there is a live entertainment shows. During the day, this same entertainment team creates activities on the beach and around pool area. The only negative is the beach, because its rather rocky.... but this resort does provide a FREE shuttle to Playa Del Carmen, every day almost every hour. THe ride is literally 7 minutes in an air conditioned bus. They drop you off and then pick you up. THere the beack is amazing, the sand is silky and the water is aqua blue. The Spa in the resort is great. We enjoyed this resort and we recommend it to others. Great deal, money wise and a great vacation overall!!!!!

Date of Stay: January, 2008

Great value. Large, comfortable room. Tasteful decor. Dirty tables at buffets and adult pool with children allowed. We were wowed by this hotel. Large grounds with several pools and bars to choose from, yet felt small and easy to Navigate. The food was very good for mass produced fare. Service was excellent. Our room was large and comfortable with marble on the floors and in the bathroom. This allowed parents with small children to "play dumb" and frequent this pool anyway. Fortunately most people respected the rule but considering there were about 4 or 5 other pools for parents to choose from- the resort really needed to work harder on ensuring the comfort of those who chose to travel without their kids and enforce this policy at this one pool. The only other negative would be the lack of cleanliness at the tables in the buffet restaurants. These had white tablecloths that got very dirty throughout the meal times and weren't changed. What are tablecloths doing on tables that are, by Nature, going to be used several times in one hour by different parties.

Date of Stay: July, 2007

Exceptionally friendly and helpful staff. All inclusive food buffets ranged from poor to good - good value but not great. Nice beach, facilities, entertainment and exceptional staff. Clean everywhere. Not a super luxury resort but definitely one for families and people on a budget who want a very good overall experience. The only reason to avoid this resort is if you expect a Four Seasons experience and would be disappointed with anything less. For the rest of the vacationing public it's fantastic.

	Date of Stay: July, 2007
Rooms were huge. Drinks were on the small size. For my first exp. at a all inclusive resort, this was a great deal.

	Date of Stay: May, 2008
We went here in May for 4 days, was told when we made reservations that no time share pitch was needed. Yet they tried to bully us into giving up a morning to do one. Food was average but 2 days after getting home my husband and I both became ill. Took 3 weeks to feel ok again. Great way to lose weight though. Pools very disgusting, greenish in color. Stay away from 3 star places!

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See 26 Photos	User Rating 3.0 out of 5 See 19 reviews Sandos Caracol Beach Resort Playa del Carmen [] Carretera Cancún, Chetumal, Km.295 Playa del Carmen, Mexico
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Sandos Caracol Beach Resort Playa del Carmen

Rating out of 5