Becks' Paradisus RM Site Visit Notes (Lotsa Pics)

[becks]

(Part 1)
Hello Ladies:

We got back on Monday night after spending the weekend at the Paradisus RM. Had a wonderful time and loved the resort. Elisa and Perla (WCs) are WONDERFUL.

So, some notes and some picks.

Arrived in Cancun around 11:30, grabbed a cab to the hotel - CUN airport has a sole-sourced taxi service which way overcharges. If you go, have Perla or Elisa book you a car - its about 1/2 price.

Arrived at the resort - went to check in, but our room wasn't ready until about 3:30. However, the desk rang Elisa and she immediately came and spent nearly two hours with us, just showing us around and sharing anecdotes. (We had an appointment to discuss specifics with Perla on Sunday morning.) She did this despite the fact that they had a wedding that night for about 90 people. She also made sure we had reservations for dinner at the restaurants we wanted.

Spent the afternoon by the main pool - it's big and lovely - but we didn't see much in the way of waiter service - we got up to get our own drinks at the bar. Not my idea of fun, but totally manageable.

At 5:00 went over to the "Tequila Terrace" to see the wedding (we hid discretely in the corner). The set up is beautiful, and about as private as you could hope for - it's off to the side of the resort, beyond where sunbathers and beach chairs are. The Gazebo is stick construction, with white fabric (or in this case, white and blue, per the bride's request).



There is quite a bit of sea grass that washes up from the reef offshore (you can see the dark line in the background, but a tractor comes along and rakes it up. Actually, that night the tractor didn't show, so the hotel staff raked it up so it wouldn't interfere with photos.



They put a white runner down the center aisle, but guests walked on it to get to their chairs, so by the time the bride made her entrance, it was all sandy. I plan to go without.

The reception is held on the terrace just above the beach:


The table settings were all done by the hotel - including the really adorable shell centerpiece vases. The hotel has all of the decorations, linens, etc. on site, so if you like this, you don't have to bring a thing!











The dinner tables used up most of the space on the terrace, so they did cocktails on the dance floor and on the beach. They had an open bar, as well:

[becks]

(Part II)

The hotel at night is magical - all of the walkways are marble, and are done like bridges over ponds and pools. At night they set little lanterns out on the edges of the walkways and they just glow. I tried to catch the feel of it.





FI and I tried a lot of the food. Generally, it was really good. The ala carte restaurants were outstanding. The buffet was... a buffet. The pastries were out of this world. At lunch, the outdoor patio restaurant is a mob scene, and the waiters are running around all over - our food was a bit cool when it finally arrived. They offered to replace it, but we didn't want to wait.

On Sunday we met with Perla to discuss specifics and possible pricing. She was actually very good about making sure that we didn't over-spend, helped us to customize a cocktail hour menu that was within budget, and helped us find places where we could save a bit by using different things. We want to have dinner in one of the restaurants, because it's going to be so warm out. In August they frequently close one due to lower occupancy, they are looking to see if they can confirm that the one we really want (the French restaurant, L'Hermitage) could be used. If not, they offered us the Mediterranean restaurant, which isn't as nice, and has a fountain-thing in the middle which would break up our group.

Here's a (bad) photo of L'Hermitage:


So, all in, we're figuring a wedding for 40-50 people, including the ceremony, a cocktail hour with DJ, open bar, cold seafood buffet and appetizers, dinner in the restaurants, and a 2-3 hour post-dinner party on the terrace with open bar and a DJ will run us just about $9,000. (That number doesn't include the rooms or the travel.) If we were to have dinner elsewhere, a plated meal runs $70 per person, which is one of the reasons we're so interested in the restaurants.

The bad-weather locations are okay. There's an interior gazebo that we could have the ceremony, and a large porticoed area just off the conference rooms where we could have the reception if it rains.

Here's the gazebo, the seats would be set up on the walkway that runs across the front (not in the photo):



Also, for our welcome event, we are thinking of using the Hacienda patio, and just hiring a waiter to pop around the corner and grab drinks from the lobby bar. Then we're all going to the Mexican restaurant for dinner where they will block off a section by the windows for us.


Oh, the other thing Perla did was walk us around to all the places that was really great was to wander us around and show us some of the floral arrangments they had - and what each might cost. The tables at L'Hermitage aren't big, and have really cute little tea-lamp lights, so we thought we might do something like this, which Perla tells us would be about $8 each:


So, I guess that's about it. If you have any questions, let me know. And keep your fingers crossed that they come back and let us use L'Hermitage.

[Maura]

oh becca so glad your trip went great! everything looks wonderful. too bad my calendar is booked with my own wedding that day or i'd be crashing yours haha

[LadyP]

looks great. is that what you want to use

[neen]

YAY! So glad you had a good trip! I've been waiting since you left for you to get back and hear what you thought!!!

Your plans sound so exciting! Do you know what you're going to do about music for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception?

Since you're hoping to have your reception at the french rest I'm guessing that was your favorite for atmosphere...was it your fav for food, too?

We're probably going to have a 2-3 hour reception/dancing after dinner, too. Afterwards, I know our guests are going to want to continue partying...anywhere for that to happen that you noticed? Is the main lobby bar open late? Any music?

Last question (sorry!) - other than the seagrass that washes up, is the water itself pretty? FI really wants that caribbean blue ocean and I'm afraid he's going to be disappointed...

Thanks for posting pics!!!

[becks]

Hi Neen!

We priced it with the very basic package and then have tacked on everything we want. Ultimately, its saving us money even though we have a greater per person fee. But the bigger packages had too much we just didn't need or want.

As for music - we're debating between a DJ and just hooking up an iPod to the sound system. There's a significant price difference ($1700 vs. $450). Personally I want a DJ, but I'm not sure its going to make much difference, so ultimately I'll let FI decide.

We want to have the cocktail hour on the terrace - we're working from their asian menu (sushi, tempura, spring rolls and something else) and adding on cold seafood - shrimp and something else, plus a few other things I wanted. We're also doing the open bar which is included in the base price for the asian menu ($18 pp), with everything we added it comes to about $35 pp.

The reception (dinner) we're hoping to have at L'Hermitage - we'll pare down the menu a bit to make it easier, and just go from there. We're not asking them to move furniture, change linens, make room for a musician, etc., so we'll make it as easy for them to grant this request as we can. However, if we won't have exclusive use of the restaurant, we'll do something else altogether. The food at L'Hermitage was AMAZING. We'll have the cake here too.

After that, we're back to the terrace, where we'll have little dessert things, and an open bar for a couple of hours.

After hours, the lobby bar is open late (at least midnight, but I think 2:00AM) and the disco is open until 2:00. The lobby bar is really pretty, the disco is nice, too, but it's enclosed and has a very subtle stale cigarette smell - of course, by then I probably wouldn't notice a cigarette right under my nose, so who cares.

The sea grass isn't that big of a deal. But it bothered FI more than it did me. The water is a beautiful blue - you can totally see the depth changes as it goes from pale to deep blue. Out several hundred yards you can see the dark of the reef. It's gorgeous!

[MissyR]

So glad that the site visit was great and thanks for all the pictures! The details you provided were amazing too - I am excited thinking about it - Have you guys set a date?

[neen]

Sounds amazing, Becks! Thanks for all the additional info! You're the best!!!

[nenamono]

Glad you had a great time Becks! Seems like you accomplished a lot. Perla is very nice and was so helpful when we went to visit. Thanks so much for the great review and you were lucky to catch a wedding while you were there.

Did you get to do any dessert/cake taste tests?? I think we are going for the tres leches cake (we are both huge fans).

[riviera]

Wow, such a thorough review!! THANKS! I am debating between the royal playa del carmen, and Paradisus, and haven't made a decisions yet. This review really helps! Would you mind sharing why you chose this resort over your second choice perhaps?

THANKS!!

anna