ReidCapote

Hi Ladies - It took me a while, but I finally finished my wedding review for the Royal! It's posted on the Royal review page. Scroll all the way down - it's near the bottom. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/the-royal-in-playa-del-carmen-all-inclusive-spa-resort/reviews#4089

Congratulations RunningBride! It sounds like it was amazing. I can't wait to see your pictures!!

I would ask them to take it off then. Are you really set on the champagne toast? If not, then I'm sure they'd remove the charge. Who's your WC? I was working with Maritza. She didn't even question me when I told her the prices on the spreadsheet were incorrect. I told her what the prices were when I signed my contract and she fixed it and sent it back to me. No questions asked.

Hi Lisa, I have the luxury package and my WC never quoted an additional charge for the cake/champagne toast, but I never specifically requested a champagne toast. I wonder if the extra price is because of the champagne. We're not going to have a champagne toast. It doesn't seem worth it when some people don't drink champagne and there's an open bar so people will already have drinks in their hands! I signed my contract in January, so I got the rates from last year. I'm paying $20 pp for the cocktail and $60 pp for the reception for our non-resort guests. We have 11 so far! When I got my final bill they were trying to charge me a higher rate for non-resort guests, but I asked the WC to change it back to the prices that were quoted when I signed my contract. It was not a problem at all. You should double check the prices that were posted when you signed your contract and make sure they give you those prices. Don't let them get away with increasing the prices on you!

I order my chair sashes from http://www.weddinglinensdirect.com/. They came in super fast and they were a great price. I'd recommend them if you need an alternative. Good luck!

Great advice! Thanks for posting. Congrats to all the ladies getting married this weekend!!

Great idea!! I think ours will say "We survived the Mexicana Bankruptcy"

I'm doing DIY luminaries for our table decorations at the reception. I found a vendor on etsy that can make custom designs. Here's the link to her website. http://www.illumienate.com/ I'm doing a mix of different sizes, including the table number lumies, some with love poems, some personalized with our names and wedding date and some with accent flowers and butterflies attached. We'll have 6-7 per table. I'm super excited about how all the soft lighting is going to look for our evening beach reception!

My FI and I were thinking about doing a group block, but the prices we were quoted were only $20-30 cheaper than the online prices, so we decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. I'm glad we didn't go that route. We've had several people book at the last minute and others who we thought were definites decide not to go. If you can't fill the rooms then you're on the hook for the money. I think that's the problem that Natalie's been having. It's not worth the headache! I found that a lot of people like to make their own arrangements anyway. Also, if you book through expedia you can get a lower room rate than what's listed on the Royal website. Expedia gives a discount for booking flights and hotel together. When we priced it out those prices were actually cheaper than what the hotel was offering us as a group rate. Â I think someone already answered this, but if some of your guests are staying at the Gran Porto they are still considered resort guests. They can arrive for the wedding 30 minutes before the ceremony. I'm also having a private welcome cocktail the day before our wedding and my WC told me that Gran Porto guests can arrive for that 20 minutes before. Â I'm so sorry that everyone is having such horrible experiences with Sand N Sun! I wonder if that's why they're not a vendor on this website anymore. I have to say that I was quite surprised we've all been having these problems. I decided to use Sand N Sun because I had read good reviews for them on this site. Â

I also went through Sun and Sand Vacations and had Jill as my TA. I completely agree with jesmcan's review. The TA was slow to respond and wasn't very helpful when we needed her the most. I was also booked on Mexicana and so were my parents. I ended up rebooking myself on another flight and am disputing the charges from Mexicana myself. My parents were able to rebook through the TA, but I understand that the travel agency did not offer this option to everyone in the same situation. If I could go back and do it again I wouldn't use this company. I've been telling my guests who haven't booked yet to go ahead and do it themselves through the website. I'm not sure if another travel agency would have been better. I've never used one before this time. Â

Oh no! They're not going to do anything for you now?! What the heck is the point of having a travel agent if they can't help you in situations like this?! I'm so sorry this happened to you! I can't imagine what it's like to tell all your guests that they have to shell out for another ticket. Â I made the decision to book myself on another flight as soon as I heard about Mexicana canceling flights. I didn't want to wait around to see what the TA was going to be able to do and run the risk of flights getting more expensive. She wasn't able to offer better rates on flights anyway, so I figured I would just handle it myself and then try to get the money back through my credit card company. On the bright side, my CC was very easy to work with and they said I would see a credit on my statement in the next 1 to 2 billing cycles. Â

Yay! I'm so glad to hear this. I've heard great reviews about him! Â

Does anyone know who the DJ that the resort contracts with is? I've asked my WC who the DJ will be, but she hasn't gotten back to me on this question. Have you girls heard anything (good or bad) about the DJ that the resort uses? Thanks!

I'm glad everything worked out for you Jess! I also got a response from the TA yesterday. She's going to rebook my mom's flights and then she'll only have to pay the difference in ticket prices. I was also very frustrated with the lack of a response or notification from the TA. She seems to be a lot more responsive and helpful since yesterday. Maybe your complaint to the Travel Agency got her moving! Luckily we didn't have any other guests booked on Mexicana, so we didn't have to deal with a lot of angry guests. Thank God for that! Good luck with all the rebooking! I hope everything else works out for you! Â

I also booked my flights on Mexicana. When I found out that they had cancelled all flights I went ahead and booked myself on another airline. I didn't even wait to hear back from my TA (I think she must be the same as some of your girls on here - she was on vacation all last week). I was afraid that the prices would keep going up before things got worked out with Mexicana and my TA got back to me. My mom is also booked on Mexicana and she's freaking out!!

Hi Risa, Â I also have Maritza as my WC. She quoted me $700 for the light up dance floor and $850 for a DJ! I have the luxury package too. So if I read your post correctly I should either be getting the light up dance floor for free with my package or it should come with the DJ. I guess I better email Maritza and ask her to give me the same deal! Â Has anyone else been given different information about the dance floor? I want to get my facts straight before I email Maritza. Thanks ladies! Â

I wouldn't wait until the week of you wedding to do highlights. I got highlights done a couple weeks ago and I'm still trying to "undo" what the hairdresser did. Ugh! And luckily my wedding isn't until the end of October. Definitely give yourself enough time to fix your hair in case something goes wrong.

It shouldn't be a problem for the Gran Porto folks to get their hair and make up done at the Spa in the Royal. I think there is an entrance to the spa from the street (ave. constitituentes). If not then they should be able to enter through the Weddings Office, which I know definitely has as entrance from the street, and then have someone escort them to the spa. However, I don't think it would be a problem anyway if they come through the front door of the hotel. All they should have to do is say that they're going to the spa. If you're still concerned and your WC isn't responding, you could call the hotel and ask them directly.

Does anyone have pictures of the lounge furniture that the Royal provides? I've seen pics from outside vendors and their stuff is beautiful, but I can't afford to pay over $1,000. The hotel's lounge furniture is much cheaper, but I'm afraid this is one of those situations where you get what you pay for. Has anyone used it or seen it? Is it nice? Thanks!

Heidi, I found a picture of the ballroom set up for a reception. It looks really nice! http://assets.bestdestinationwedding.com/c/c0/c06e4d10_Dan_Ana_Wedding-0631.jpg

Hello Heidi, Congrats on your upcoming wedding! I'm getting married Oct. 24 at the Royal. My FI and I visited the resort when we were in Playa del Carmen for another wedding in January. We didn't stay at the resort, but had no problem poking around the property. We even got to see some other weddings while we were there. We set up a meeting with a wedding coordinator at the Royal the week before and just showed up on the scheduled day. The wedding coordinator showed us around and we got to see all the potential locations. We even scheduled a tasting ($100) so that we could decide on a menu. The food was delicious!! After we got back from that trip we reserved the wedding date. Then we booked our rooms. We decided to use a travel agent to book our trip and a few of our guests have used her too. It didn't make sense for us to do a block of rooms because the discount rates they quoted us weren't very good (only $10-20 cheaper than the listed rate) and we weren't sure how long people would want to stay. I think that was one of the best decisions we've made yet. Since we were able to watch a couple of other ceremonies while we were there we made the decision to have our ceremony in the gazebo. It's more private. The beach can be pretty crowded, especially if you're planning for an earlier ceremony. We're doing the cocktail hour on the patio/garden adjacent to the gazebo and then the reception on the beach. We figured most of the beach traffic would clear out by 6:00 or 7:00. One other thing, the beachside by pelicanos is right next to the pier. So you could have a lot of traffic walking by if a ferry is returning. That's a pretty busy area. Remember, the beaches are public, so there could be lots of people hanging around. I thought the ballrooms were really nice. Much nicer than what I was expecting. If we got rained out I wouldn't be totally devastated. And depending on the time of year it could be much more comfortable inside. It gets pretty hot down there during the summer. Another option is the garden. It's a pretty big space and I've seen it set up and it looks really nice. My only issue with the garden was privacy. It's right in the middle of the resort, so there's not much privacy. I hope this helps. Sorry I can't answer the rest of your questions. Good luck with the planning!

I just got my contract today, so I'm adding myself to the list! Yay! Playa2009 - February 5, 2010 diana&steve0304 - April 3, 2010 kimmy44 - April 21, 2010 jcooper79 - April 22, 2010 aerazo - April 23, 2010 llm78 - April 25, 2010 kimmy44 - April 28, 2010 AprilandRyan - May 1, 2010 jennie.lewis - May 7, 2010 SDbeachgirl - May 7, 2010 LynnieS - May 14, 2010 Lexibride - May 15, 2010 tutti1299 - May 15, 2010 dianep - May 15, 2010 (gran) astreit - May 16, 2010 boolo318 - May 28, 2010 Denisema00 - May 29, 2010 Lady_Di - May 29, 2010 candicemarie - June 5, 2010 kenlyn8984 - June 10, 2010 ~Stephanie~ - June 11, 2010 super19 - June 21, 2010 louise_pernell - June 25, 2010 2mckee- June 27, 2010 cinny726 - June 2010 Pattie - June 2010 Jamk32179- September 18, 2010 smckinney22 - October 9, 2010 ReidCapote - October 24, 2010 Shirley_Ken - October 28, 2010 Celine- November 5, 2010 bmlynch - November 6, 2010 Randi - November 11, 2010 jesmcan - November 12, 2010 futuremrs1113-November 13, 2010 giraffexx - November 19, 2010 mslisaaragon - November 22, 2010 Trinas79 - November 2010 MichaelandAraceli- December 18, 2010 Lisa DSO- January 1, 2011 FutureMrsYak- January 11,2011 pineapplebride - *maybe* April 2011 vlynnw - May 6, 2011 speedy130 - May 7, 2011 stevensfiance - 2010 -Royal, Cancun

Quote: Originally Posted by randi.renstrom to be honest...my TA has done all the work. I haven't worked directly with the Royal. My TA has done many weddings/honeymoons/vacations with the Royal and always works with one coordinator in the states that she trusts. I am kind of trusting her (and my mom has used her for all her vacations and has had no problems) to make sure all the contacts are legit. But I have heard a lot of people having problems with communication I wish I could help! Randi, Who is your TA? I could use some help! I'm also having a difficult time dealing with the US-based WCs. They don't respond to my emails or phone messages. Thanks!!

Thanks for the recommendations Ladies!!