The Grand Maya Hotel in Riviera Maya

Hi doing my search and wondering if anyone has stayed and the Grand Maya and if so… how is it…

 

Thinking of doing my wedding at the Maya… I was recommended Jazmin De La Mora for wedding coordination… So far I have received very helpful information from her…

 

I'm doing a catholic and civil wedding....

 

Has anyone used her service….

 

Any information helps....

Are you talking about the Grand Mayan? If so, I stayed there this past June for a week, and also spent a week in 2006 at its sister resort, the Mayan Palace, which shares the same grounds as the Grand Mayan.

Initially I wanted to have my wedding there, but the wedding packages didn't provide a buffet reception, which was important to me. But from what I've seen, the place would be spectacular for a wedding. Instead we will be spending our second week of relaxation after the wedding at the Mayan resorts.

The resort is HUGE, basically a city of its own, and the grounds are beautiful. However, because the place is so huge, they buildings are built perpendicular to the ocean so there are no oceanview rooms. Also because of the resorts' size, there are trams that will take you from your building to the main areas (pools, restaurants, beach).

The beach unfortunately is rocky and not swimmable, but I did hear they are trying to improve it by installing some sort of man-made reef structures. The poor beach however is supplemented by an amazing array of pools. There are two major pool areas, and they are both amazing. My family especially likes the fact that the pools are open 24-hours, there's nothing like a dip at 3 a.m.

The rooms at the Grand Mayan are very modern and fully furnished, we stayed in a two-bedroom unit that fit up to 10 people. If you've got a timeshare, this is the way to go! The Mayan Palace rooms are older, but still very nice and huge. The housekeeping service is great, and the resorts' staff is fantastic all around.

Overall, I think the Grand Mayan/Mayan Palace is a great place to spend a vacation, and would be a really nice place to have a wedding. One thing I would definitely check on are their vendor policies, and whether they allow you to bring in your own vendors or if you must use theirs. Also check their wedding package prices, they always seem to fluctuate. Their reception menus always seem to change too because of a change of chefs. Hope this helps!

I just got married at the Grand Mayan on November 9th. It was absolutely amazing! I was a little concerned because I had never been there. My MIL suggested it as they are owners there and have been there before so I went with it.

 

1. Yazmin is absolutely amazing to work with. Very quick to respond and attentive to details. When I met with her a few days before the wedding she had every single one of our emails (which was a lot) and was on top of everything. She has a great assistant that works with her as well.

 

2. The beach is a little rocky but that didn't stop us from getting in and swimming while we were there. The beach, pier and wedding set up made for gorgeous wedding pictures. PM me if you'd like to see a few that I have so far.

 

3. While they don't have a buffet - the food we had was AMAZING. Seriously people were saying it was the best wedding food they've ever had. We got the smoked salmon salad, lobster soup and filet for dinner. Everything was great.

 

4. One thing I loved too was that you could have the reception (if you buy the expensive package - which really wasn't that expensive compared to others) on the beach. I loved having one long table of our guests - 18 of us total - all together secluded on the beach. The illuminated decorations that are included are gorgeous.

 

5. We did the mariachi band as well and they were awesome. We had them come during cocktail hour (while we were taking pictures) and our guests paid them extra money to stay and do more songs because they were having so much fun with them.

 

6. If you end up there, I would highly suggest having your guests stay at the Grand Mayan properties vs. Mayan Palace. They are more expensive, but definitely worth the extra fee. We stayed one week at Mayan Palace and one at Grand Mayan and the Grand Mayan was MUCH nicer!

 

7. One thing I liked is that this resort seems secluded. Its not like in Cancun where there is one hotel on top of another. You have to walk about a 1/2 mile or a mile each way just to hit another resort. We did rent a car for the entire time were there and only ate at the hotel probably 2 times - we went into Playa del Carmen most nights and was only a 20 minute drive away.

 

As you can tell I'd highly recommend the Grand Mayan. My SIL used to be a party and wedding planner and said that this was by far the best wedding she's been to and she couldn't have done it better herself (which she would NOT say if it wasn't true). And honestly Yazmin does the majority of it. It was pretty stressfree on our end.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!