I can’t believe how fast our wedding week went and I am now writing my review. Anyway, please feel free to ask any questions. I am going to try and cover everything. Overall everything was great, but I’ll include the good and the not perfect.
FLIGHT - Grade A
We flew from Denver on United and it was a direct flight to Cancun. We upgraded ourselves to First class, which was very nice as we were able to hang our dress and suit on the coat rack, as the plane was very full and there was no room in the overhead bin.
CUSTOMS- Grade C
Everything went smoothly through customs considering the mass number of people. At one point they quit inspecting bags and let everyone pass through as there were too many people in the luggage area, and I think they were at maximum occupancy. It took us a little more than an hour.
AIRPORT TO RESORT TRANSFER - Grade B+
Our transfer was fine and it was just ourselves and one other lady who we had to drop off in Playa. They driver was nice and spoke English. We could have paid for a private transfer, but just didn’t feel like it was worth the money
CHECK-IN/CHECK-OUT – Grade B
Check in was quick and easy. We had a room very close to the pool and were happy with it most of the time. We will say though if you ever think you will get some peace and quiet or a nap, this is not the room for you, as they are on the pools and there are very few hours a day that the poolside rooms are actually quiet. Even though we loved the location, some days when we needed a 30 minute break we questioned if this was the room for us. Some of our guests were way back in the back and had a long walk everywhere, but did comment with as much as they were eating it was probably for the best, so that they could walk off all of their food.
They one reason we were very unhappy with the check in is that it took about 3 hours, as our travel agent had told us she could get us an upgrade to a suite, and when we arrived, we only received an upgrade to club premium, which is really no big deal (you do get free internet and free drinks there with club premium) and no suite upgrade. We brought 63 people with us and they would not upgrade. So unless you pay for a suite, don’t expect an upgrade. Several guests said the travel agent told them “NOT TO WORRYâ€, you can upgrade once you get there, and that was NOT TRUE.
ROOM- Grade A
We were in the Michoacán building and had room 8047. It was a short walk and was on the third floor. The rooms are amazing, let me rephrase . . . the bathrooms are amazing. The shower and tub area were really nice to have. All of our guests commented on how nice the rooms were.
Our room was cleaned everyday and our fridge was completely restocked. We did tip the maid every day and left between $1-2 dollars. Towards the end of the week, when things got quite messy due to lack of time between the wedding events, we left $5 (on the last two days). We did also receive turn down service, every other night, we couldn’t figure why some times we received and some times we did not, but it was no big deal.
RESORT - Grade A
I have stayed at Riu, Club Med, and about 4 other Mexico resorts…. I was expecting the Barceló Maya Palace to be nice, but not as nice as those. I was wrong. It was beautiful and very clean. Everyone in the group kept talking about how beautiful the grounds were, how clean everything was, and especially about the superior quality of the food (the gourmet food was ONLY available at the Barceló Palace, not the other 4 Barceló properties adjacent to the Barceló Palace. Also the free non-motorized watersports and all the activities around the resort were a huge hit!
The resort also does a great job of making a very large resort feel smaller. I was expecting much more walking, but the way they break the resorts up, you don’t have a need to go to the other 4 adjacent Barceló resorts, unless you want to. They also have a shuttle that runs very frequently between the other Barceló Maya resorts.
The food at the resort was excellent. There are lots of choices, and they are very accommodating. If alcohol is important to you this resort has top shelf everything. We did have 4 men on the trip get sick, but I am not convinced it was the food, and think it may have been a stomach bug.
We had a problem getting large group reservations at the ala carte restaurants. We should have taken care of this they day we arrived. Before we arrived we worked with our WC (Wedding Coordinator) to set up a couple for us, but we did scramble on a couple of nights. While the buffets are excellent and vary from day to day, it is not something that you want to eat 3 times a day.
SPA – Grade B- or C
As part of our wedding package we received massages. We did those the day after the wedding, and they were awesome. The reason they received such a low grade though is I had a scheduled pedicure and due to the rain monsoon I was running late. They cancelled my appointment, even though I was told at the front desk (not by the spa) that it would be no problem. My WC Claudia was able to get it fixed, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. We did not do our hair and makeup there and if you can bring someone in to do your hair and makeup in your room, I would suggest it. The women who came to do our hair and makeup were FABULOUS and less expensive that the spa. (See below)
HAIR AND MAKEUP- Grade A+++
ILKA MONFORTE
She and her sister and their team did my hair and makeup along with 6 bridesmaids. So many people liked the trial makeup and hair I did Friday night about 7 guests, besides the bridesmaids, ended up having their hair done on Saturday. She and her team did an excellent job. Even though it is extra money to have them come in the night before for a trial, I would highly recommend this, as we were able to try many styles this way, and on the wedding day they were just able to do their magic.
WEDDING COORDINATOR – Grade A
I will say before the wedding I didn’t love Claudia. She was sometimes slow to respond and the language barrier on email I think made us both frustrated sometimes. Once we arrived Claudia was outstanding at listening to what we wanted and finding a good location for us. She was so attentive and truly did want to make us happy. She also showed up at every event we were having and the resort apparently expects a lot of these wedding coordinators. I would venture to say she works 70-80 hours a week.
If I have one piece of advice for future brides it is not to worry about lack of communication before the wedding. These ladies work very long days with the brides that are there so I still can’t figure out when they have time to respond to e-mails. Rest assured, once you arrive, everything will go as planned.
One thing I did that made our meeting going much smoother is I typed out a master events list about a month before the wedding with dates, times, places, and prices and the WC and I went back and forth (before we arrived on property) until we agreed upon everything. That way when we were meeting we were discussing the details and not arguing about things. She even told me this was very helpful.
After you go back to the office and finalize all the details you need to be prepared to pay as they expect payment then and will take you to the front desk to pay.
OUTSIDE WEDDING COORDINATOR:
Tere Espinosa
It was very helpful to have someone who did not work for the resort helping me. She helped me negioate with many of the outside vendors that we brought in and was also able to get the maracas for me. She speaks perfect English, was easy to work with, and the week before our wedding came through with a videographer. If you use her just for your vendor services she is much more affordable than full WC services. She also will put together welcome bags and in hindsight it would have been much cheaper than the shipping or dealing with all the luggage. Call her she is great!
WEDDING CEREMONY – A++
Our wedding was at 6 pm. It had been raining for two days straight, and I was really worried that we were going to have to have an indoor wedding. Luckily the skies cleared and Claudia called in the team to dry off the outdoor gazebo so we could have the outdoor wedding that we had dreamed of.
We choose to have a violin play for the march and it was perfect. If you are wavering between the wedding packages I can tell you that the live music added a lot. We had the chairs with pink bows, since that was our color.
The part of the wedding that really surprised me was how great the minister was. We did a symbolic ceremony and were not expecting a lot out of the actual ceremony, but it was really good.
RECEPTION – Grade A++
We choose to have our reception in the Banquet Room. The week we were there was very rainy! The set up was perfect. When we walked in it felt magical. This was a decision that I worried about for almost a year, as I felt like being at the beach you needed to have an outdoor wedding. The only downfall was due to the weather since the cocktail party had to be moved inside, and with the band playing it was a pretty tight area. But overall it was still amazing!
I would say if you didn’t do a cocktail hour you would be more than fine. We wanted to have a break for a our guests, though, while we took some pictures and when we came up about 45 minutes later, almost all the food was eaten, so we felt like that was a good decision.
At the reception the food was plenty and any more would have been way too much! Dinner was served around 8:30.
The food at the reception was amazing. We choose the surf and turf. The lobster was great and I was say the turf was ok. The Salad and soup were also awesome!! I also sent ahead a picture of two cakes, our cake and the groom’s cake, and they matched them perfectly. It was magical when they came out.
The reception was wonderful and all the worrying was for nothing!
BAND- Grade A+++++
KIKO AND CARLOS
My guests were raving about them! They were honestly the best live band ever! Totally recommend them ten times over! They made the party!
Photography and Videographer: Grade A++
Craig Wolfrom
So even though I have not seen the pictures yet I am confident Craig Wolfrom did an amazing job. Everyone at the wedding was commenting about how he was all over the place…. in the pool, in the bushes, in the rain, rolling around on the floor trying to get the perfect shot. He is from Sun Valley, Idaho and does destination weddings often. I would highly suggest you pay the money to bring someone down for the weekend. You have to pay for a photographer’s room anyway, so the only additional cost is the flight. It is so worth it to have them there for the rehearsal dinner, TTD, and all day for the wedding. I can’t wait to see our wedding pictures. Craig took the most awesome engagement pictures so I know our wedding photos will be equally awesome!
OVERALL: Grade A
I really enjoyed the trip and so did my guests. I tried to be as organized as possible and had a schedule of events emailed out to everyone in advance, along with a 15 page welcome packet. Once they arrived the guests also received another schedule of events and a welcome bag. We also had maracas at each place setting at the reception, and they were a huge hit! We also tipped at each event. SO I would make sure you have cash on you or have someone carrying cash to take care of this job. It goes a long way.
When it rains REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR GUESTS the tile is very very slick.
I would pick this resort again!
The only person I would say this resort is not good for is someone looking for a small resort or someone that would care that multiple people get married there each day.
Email me with any questions. I could not have planned this wedding without the help of all the ladies on this site!!!
Our pictures are up at pictage. Search under Laura and Kevin...let me know if you have questions. Thanks ladies