Hotel Marina El Cid Spa and Beach Resort - All Inclusive

Guest Reviews from Our Customers

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10804 reviews

• 

  Rest and relaxation

  I have been to El CID on many occasions. The food is delicious, the staff is very friendly and helpful. The rooms and the resort itself are spotless. We enjoy it here so much we’re heading back in November.

  Sep 04, 2026
• 

  Great Vacation

  This was the third time we have been at this resort, and we had a wonderful vacation. Our special request for rooms has always been accommodated, the rooms are clean, beds are comfortable and towel supply and refreshments are well stocked. The staff are all friendly and willing to help in anyway. The gyms are spotless and well equipped. The food is excellent and there are many restaurants to choose from and the service to wonderful. I highly recommend this resort and plan to return this fall.

  Sep 03, 2026
• 

  Great Pools and Activities, Platinum Club Disappoints — Not Vegan-Friendly

  We stayed in a one-bedroom suite, and overall there were some things we really enjoyed about the resort, but also several significant disappointments that are worth knowing about before booking. One of the biggest positives was how clean the property was. The resort was generally very well maintained, and our suite was spacious, with a particularly large balcony that we really enjoyed. The pool areas were another highlight. There are many pools throughout the property, and they rarely felt overcrowded. Guests also have access to the facilities at the two neighbouring resorts, which is a great perk because it gives you even more choices for pools, restaurants and entertainment. The sleeping areas are well spaced out so noise was not an issue for us. We visited during an extremely hot period, so one Platinum Club benefit that we did appreciate was having access to air-conditioned spaces close to the pool where we could step inside and cool off. That said, overall I still do not think the Platinum Club was worth the additional cost. The butlers were not particularly responsive, and some of the advertised features seemed to exist more on paper than in reality. For example, there is supposedly an aroma menu and pillow menu, but these did not seem genuinely available during our stay. One legitimate Platinum Club benefit is access to premium liquor, so that may be worthwhile if that is important to you. However, the beer selection in general was not particularly impressive. There were also no non-alcoholic beers available anywhere that we found, which was surprising. Non-alcoholic beer is widely available now, and I think it would be an easy addition that many guests would appreciate. The daily entertainment was generally fun. One evening they held a taco festival, which was a great time, and although the disco was not open every night, the nights we went were a blast. The resort also offers free daily bike tours, which I highly recommend. They were a lot of fun and a great way to explore Puerto Morelos. The town itself is a cute little beach town and definitely worth spending some time wandering around. If you want to explore the area independently, I would strongly recommend renting a car at the airport rather than at the resort. The rental prices offered at the resort were extremely expensive compared with what you can arrange elsewhere. This also applies to the excursions, it is convenient that they offer excursion bookings at the hotel but it is quite expensive and one can get better deals on Expedia. There are also free kayaks available for guests to use. Unfortunately, because of the condition of the water during our stay, we did not use them. The water around the resort was very brown from the seaweed, smelled unpleasant and generally did not look inviting. This leads to one of the biggest negatives: the beach and ocean experience. There was essentially no real opportunity to enjoy swimming in the ocean during our stay. The seaweed situation was significant, and the water around the resort was brown and grimy. If having a beautiful, swimmable Caribbean beach is one of the main reasons you are travelling to Mexico, this is something to seriously consider. Families may find quite a lot to like here. There is a kids program as well as a dedicated centre for teenagers, which is a great feature for people travelling with children of different ages. Another issue with our one-bedroom suite was the lack of electrical outlets. There were plugs available on only one side of the bed, which is inconvenient when two people need to charge phones or other devices overnight. There were also very few easily accessible outlets in the living room. I needed to use my laptop for work during the trip and even finding somewhere convenient to plug it in was unnecessarily difficult. For a modern resort, especially one with suites where guests may occasionally need to work, more accessible outlets and USB charging points should really be standard. My strongest warning, however, is for vegan travellers. If you are vegan, I would seriously reconsider booking this resort. The resort says that it can accommodate vegan guests, but our experience was that there is very little understanding of what vegan actually means. Options are extremely limited, and many of the available choices amount to large quantities of carbohydrates rather than complete meals. Even something as basic as ordering a salad can be difficult because many of the salads automatically come with cheese. It becomes frustrating when a resort markets itself as being able to accommodate dietary requirements but the actual experience does not match that promise. The major exception was the Japanese restaurant. We had a much better experience there, and they had genuinely good vegan options. If you are vegan and decide to stay here despite the limited choices elsewhere, definitely make a point of eating at the Japanese restaurant. Overall, there is a lot to like about the resort. It is clean, the balconies are spacious, the pools are excellent, there are lots of activities, the entertainment is fun, and having access to the neighbouring resorts adds a lot of variety. The bike tours and proximity to Puerto Morelos were also highlights for us. However, there are enough shortcomings that I would hesitate to recommend it without some significant qualifications. The Platinum Club did not provide enough value for what we paid, the beach and ocean experience was poor, and the resort needs to seriously improve how it accommodates vegan guests. For someone who mainly wants to relax around nice pools, enjoys resort entertainment and does not have dietary restrictions, the experience may be very different. Families may also appreciate the kids and teen programming. But if you are vegan, value good beach swimming, or are considering paying extra for Platinum Club, I would go in with realistic expectations.

  Sep 01, 2026
• 

  Returning customers

  Great service, delicious food and spacious rooms with ocean view. Being celiac I have to rely on staff to accommodate my dietary restrictions and I have never had any issues in the three times we’ve been there. Planning another visit in November.

  Aug 28, 2026
• 

  Great hotel

  Great hotel! The service is outstanding, and the food better than we expected. The People who work there really makes your stay worthwhile.

  Aug 27, 2026