Palafitos Overwater Bungalows — Hotel in undefined

We arrived home on Friday from spending 11 days here , and I would not recommend. For the price of the holiday, to get the 'maldives experience' you are better going to the Maldives. I have NEVER been so looking forward to leaving a resort when I was on holiday. We are still waiting for Miguel to send me an incident report, from where I cut my finger from retrieving glass from my mouth which was in my gin and tonic , even though I have asked multiple times and he assured me it would be sent by the EOD on Friday. We are now on Monday , and still have not received it. Another few points as to why I would not recommend these bungalows, and why my husband and I gave it 1 star

There is no consistency in the service for both food and drinks. One day you would have a Pina Colada with a nice garnish , and next you might not even get a straw. Drinks served in different glasses the entire time. Different ways of serving the same menu, Service was poor in the restaurant. staff need training as to how to run a service. This did get better throughout the time, after feedback was given, but was definitely not the 5 stars or worth the $2200 a night stay Option to use the restaurants of El Dorada in an 'unlimited way' as per the website, which makes you think there are 4 other high quality restaurants you can use whilst you stay. Think again , the food in the main resort restaurants is inedible and the service is even worse. T Wine, when you are spending the amount you are on a premium experience, you expect the wine they serve as the 'house wine' to be of a certain standard. NOT $4.25 per bottle (if you buy one, goodness knows what they pay for it in bulk) It was like paint stripper and made my husband very sick, even after 2 glasses with acid. . The manager Miguel , will tell you the resorts are separate when it suits him, however, if they are separate, we should not have to listen to the loud music from the pool / beach parties whilst we are trying to relax. The music and person on the mic was AWFUL The bungalows inside are nice, and housekeeping is good, most of the time . They did have a habit of not collecting the glasses, but that was OK. Outside is another matter. I made Miguel aware of the barrier by the infinity pool being loose, and he smiled and laughed, it is an accident waiting to happen. How they have been designed offers zero privacy when on the sundeck, and we had the CCTV camera over us as well. Maybe take a look at how the Maldives resorts stagger their accommodations to optimise the privacy you are saying you give. Incident with glass in my drink. I ordered a Gin and Tonic and took a sip and a 1 inch piece of glass was in the drink. When I retrieved this I cut my finger. The staff did handle it well, bringing iodine and a plaster, however this is NOT acceptable, and if I had swallowed it , could have been a lot worse. Dress Code, if you are going to push a dress code on the restaurants, it needs to be policed. When everyone is looking elegant and dressed up for dinner, and then someone ruins the ambiance, wearing a baseball hat, vest and flip flops, it does not give the same vibe There was one positive, Enrique and Aldo the butlers, did a great job, and if it were not for them, we would have left on day 2. They are being let down by the wider service team and the management. Its such a shame when they work so hard, to make your trip memorable. We did find out from Miguel ,had we asked to leave on day 2 to move to another resort, they would have refunded the rest of the stay , if only we were told this... seems to only be told once the stay is done . We did get offered 4 nights free in an elite bungalow as compensation for all the issues ,with no flights. Frankly, why would we pay to fly 10.5 hours , to come back and stay at a resort where...

This was a Once In a Lifetime Experience for us! For our 20th Wedding Anniversary, we wanted to find a special place… a special accommodation that we had not experienced, and being almost 70… A young and active 70, I might add… but nonetheless, a realest to know we wouldn’t be celebrating our 50th… so we wanted our 20th to be special! We have traveled the world and stayed in some very nice places with excellent service but none of them come close to the accommodations and service we received at Palifitos El Dorado Maroma! We wanted an over the water bungalow without the 18 hour flights each way to the Maldives or the cost of the flights, so we looked a little closer to home and being a fan of Cancun, we found the ONLY Over the water Bungalow’s in Cancun or Riviera Mia! After researching all the reviews we decided this was the place we wanted to come and we made our reservations. We had seen the layout of the bungalows and read the reviews and we knew what bungalows would be nice to have, and we also knew that there was not any way to reserve a certain bungalow other than paying for the Elite - Ocean view or the Standard- Beach view. We chose the Beach view option as we wanted to see the sunrise view from one side or the sunset view from the other side of the “T” shaped configuration of the bungalows! We landed in Cancun, acquired our transportation and headed to what we hoped would be an experience of a lifetime and for what this week cost compared to other weeks at a resort we had stayed in, the expectation was high! When we arrived we were immediately greeted by Alberto, who took our luggage and asked us if we’d like something to drink. We saw and were helped by Alberto several times during the week, which was very appreciated! The complex had several resorts, so once we told him we wished to go to Palifitos El Dorado Overwater Bungalows, he asked us to join him in his golf cart and he drove us to our resort… The complex is probably the most beautiful resort we have ever seen. Once we got to the Palafitos check in office we were greeted at the front door by the General Manager, Miguel Camarero - who welcomed us to his resort and told us that he was personally at our service along with his staff, should we need anything! We walked inside and check in was a breeze. We were given a beautiful Bungalow on the Sunset side. The staff: From the Manager Miguel, who was a manager that commanded excellence, respect, and loyalty… and he received it from his staff for one reason - and you could see it each and everyday… because He gave it right back to them!!! We were assigned two of the best Butler’s that we have ever had at any other resort!!! Aldo had the day shift and was on our deck greeting us every morning with fresh deck chair covers, fresh towels, itinerary for the day and he made sure that we had any needs we might have, met. And Awesome just doesn’t give this man justice! From 3 in the afternoon til 11 at night, Pilar would take over and she was the twin of Aldo… There could not of been a better “tag team” butler team that complimented each other to care for us… We always received soft drinks replenished everyday and a fresh ice bucket in the morning and one in the afternoon. Aldo and Pilar took it upon themselves to go over and above to make our Anniversary day so special with an Anniversary lunch on our deck and a candlelight Sunset dinner that was even more special! We just can’t say enough about the service… and it just doesn’t stop… and it’s not just our two wonderful butlers… but it’s everyone including our housekeeper Flor, who showed up daily with a smile on her face and the meticulous “white gljove I” cleaning, she did everyday was awesome and so appreciated and our “Turndown service was done by Liz so graciously...

The most incredible Honeymoon!!!

My wife and I searched high and low for the perfect honeymoon spot, and we found it! We had the trip of an absolute lifetime without a single negative thing to say. We stayed at Palafitos overwater bungalows February 28, 2025 - March 7, 2025. I’ll break my review down into multiple areas, but I’m starting with service. I’ve stayed in many nice places, but they are nothing without great service.

SERVICE: When I tell you the service at Palifitos is incredible, I’m still underselling it. It was truly like a family here. Every single staff greeted you and took care of every need you could possibly have. And that was on top of 24/7 butler service. All the staff we interacted with were so friendly and accommodating, but we wanted to say thank you to a few special staff members that made our trip so memorable! Alberto the golf cart driver/bell desk who was such a great time, Bertin who brought us some of the most amazing meals to our balcony almost daily, Lazaro who served us multiple times at the overwater restaurant, Marleen for taking such good care of us at the spa, Shrem and Javier for organizing multiple aspects of our stay, a few others such as the worker who ran the Bali beds and our housekeeper, and last but certainly not least our amazing butlers, William/Yasser/Pilar and Fernando! They took such great care of us throughout, making dinner reservations, ordering our food and drinks to our room, providing us with activity information and arranging as we chose, and so much more. Special shoutout to Yasser for going above and beyond having the chefs make some special soup on a hangover day as well as on our last night conducted a special turndown/celebration for us to celebrate our honeymoon.

ROOM: I can’t get over this room. It has glass bottom floors throughout, a huge jet tub, and indoor and outdoor shower, a private plunge pool, a deck with table/chairs and lounger, lower deck with sun chairs, and stairs directly into the ocean! On top of that it included snorkeling gear in the room, a stocked mini fridge, ample storage, and much more. Plus it was incredibly clean.

FOOD: This was the best food we have ever had. You had access to the main resort’s restaurants, and also had full access to the over water restaurant. Every meal we had was immaculate. Room service came direct from Palifitos Over water restaurant and was therefore still just as phenomenal and super quick service. We will forever remember having room service breakfast and drinks out on our patio every morning. Every drink we ordered was also great with beautiful garnishes.

RESORT: We loved how peaceful this resort was. This is definitely a relaxed and quiet resort, not a huge party resort - Which is exactly what we were looking for. The main grounds was very tranquil and had a GREAT spa. There was also many perks included such as a catamaran ride, jet skis, paddle boarding, kayaking, Bali beds with picnic lunch, etc.

TRAVEL: We couldn’t believe that such a great place was only a 3.5 hour flight from the Midwest. Much better than multi day travel to Maldives, etc. private transport was included to and from the airport (about 35-45 min from Cancun airport). It felt very secure, clean, and efficient. On the way back home Lomas travel even walked you into the airport with your checked bags, printed your bag tags, put them on, and walked you to the agent for checking in.

We made memories of a lifetime and hope to be...