Execllence Riviera Cancun Review by Denise (dee1978)

[DEE1978]

Ok,my AHR was Sunday so I am now officially done with all the wedding stuff!

 

Here is my ERC review:

 

ERC: The grounds, rooms, food, and service were all EXCELLENT! From the moment, Mark and I stepped foot onto the resort and were greeted with a glass of champagne and cold towel-we could tell this was only the beginning:) We arrived at around noon and checkin is not until 3:30 pm so be prepared to wait. Not a big deal, get some lunch or keep your swimsuits in your carryon bags and go to the pool (concerige gives your a beeper that alerts you when your room is ready) and relax! The food was soo good-my fave restaurants was CHEZ IZABELLE (french) and AGAVE (mexican). Try to go to the french place as soon as you arrive that why if you can't get in then you could try to get in later inthe week:) THIS restaurant is THE restaurant to go to at ERC! All rooms have similar layout (not sure about the ERC Club side) but try to get a room in building 6 (or swimout-more on that later)-it is alot closer to everything! The Excellence Club side was not that great-it had a view of a side street with ugly buildings and a barbed wire fence. I say save your $ and just book one the standard ERC buildings. My inlaws were in that building and I think the hotel thought they were the bride and groom. Mark and I were in building 4 which had a partial ocean view on the top floor which was fine cause after all the eating I did, I needed the excercise. One of our guest booked a swimout and I would highly recommend this! A swimout has a jacuzzi inside the room and outside as well as pool chairs so there is no walking around looking for empty chairs or worrying if you leave to get something you chair will be taken. The pool wrapped around the resort and was like a lazy river. All day long, I would see women laying on rafts being pushed by their men! The beach was ok-there is definately seaweed which is something ERC tries to control by having a tractor rake it up every morning. I would go in the ocean and come out with seaweed hanging on me so needless to day I used the pool the entire time we were there! The staff is very quick to serve all your needs so please bring lots of tip $$$.

ERC lost power one night (3 other neighbor resorts lost power as well) and it was kind of wierd that there was no backup generator. Mark and I sat on our balcony and watched the lights flicker on and off throughout the resort thinking what if this happens on our wedding night...it didn't:)

 

Wedding: The WC at ERC is very good about communicating via emails throughout my planning process! However, my bouquet was confirmed prior to my arrival at ERC but the day before my wedding, I got a call saying the peonies could not be shipped in time. I kinda had a nervous breakdown cause everything she suggested or showed my was not what I had envisioned. So after agonizing over it for like 15 minutes, I told her just try to get something that has light pinks and white and the final result was beautful! I think the flowers were lisathanius (?). My wedding was planned for outside under the ERC's huge chuppah but it rained like 20/30 minutes before my ceremony so everything that was outside got wet and there was a mad dash to decorate the inside foyer area which turned out to be beautiful and intimate. The foyer is very private and overlooks the ocean:)

The wedding dinner food was so good especially the cake! Everyone was stuffed by the time the main course arrived due to the hor douerves, salad, soup and sorbet. I got the vanilla cake, I have never had such a YUMMY plain vanilla cake-it was as if they soaked the cake in vanilla and milk cause it was so moist and flavorful.

 

Spa: I did not have a great experience at the spa. First off all, it looks amazing like the Taj Mahal but technican need more training in regards to their services. Mark & I booked the Execellene couples massage which comes with the marine therapy (pool circuit that has h20 shoot out to massage various body parts). Due to time constraints, we were told our massages would follow with the marine therapy. Do the the marine therapy prior to your massage!!! This preps you for your massage which will be more benficial to your relaxing process. Our massages were ok-I had a guy whom was very gentle. I do not like hard massages but he was too gentle. Mark had a woman and she was not great but fine.

So that was ok part of the spa here is the not so good: My wedding package comes with hair and makeup so I was told that I needed to be inthe spa at 1:30 pm for that as well as a manicure. My wedding was at 6pm so I was kinda shocked about the timing but figure they want some cushion time..now I know why. The manicure was so so-bring your own nail polish unless you want green or orange polish. They have a very limited selection of OPI colors but not suitable for weddings. Next came my hair, I wanted it half up with loose waves-the girl (manicurist is your stylist and makeup artist)

proceeded to give me Shirley Temple tendrils so I put an end to that. At that point things were not going and makeup was next...urgh. She asked if I wanted a natural look which i said yes to as she applied my foundation which btw did not seem to match my skintone. She then applied my eye makeup which did not seem right especially since she was using silver and white...so when I was able to sneak a peek in the mirror-I gasped in horror! My mother in law was in the next chair having her hair done and she said I looked like a giesha doll with my white eyemakeup! I told the girl (very nicely) to please take all the makeup off and I will do it myself. So inclusion, I did my own hair and makeup and I would highly recommend any future brides have a friend do your hair and makeup or hire someone else! After my ordeal at the spa, I was tired so did not put alot of effort into my own hair and makeup. My nerves were also kicking in BIG TIME!

 

Photography: I booked Elizabeth Medina and she IS AMAZING Elizabeth is VERY good about email communications cause I am an email queen! I booked EM one night at ERC so she was kind to split up my wedding package-4 hours on wedding day and 2 hours for trash the dress. I gotta say that beach wedding brides should do a trash the dress cause since it rained on my wedding day and I have always wanted a beach wedding but was able to have beach photos due to my trash the dress. It is kind of like a backup plan:) Elizabeth is so laidback and talented cause Mark and I are not into being photographed and thank the heavens that we booked her after seeing our slideshow:smile03

 

Hmmm...what else? I will post again if I think of anything else:)

 

~Denise