Azul Fives

[daisymable]

I cannot find any recent information on this resort.  Has anyone stayed here or been married here recently? There are a few recent reviews on Trip Advisor that make it sound great.  We are considering this location but I am very worried about the fact that I cannot find any information on this place.

[JetsettinBride]

I looked at Azul Five as well as a possible destination but could not find much info. :-/

[murmel]

We looked into the Azul Fives for our wedding, but when we checked it was not officially open as a hotel. People who own the timeshare rooms are free to use it, but I still don't know that it's open as a hotel, even though they keep advertising it. I would maybe check Trip Advisor to see if there are reviews. Other than that I would use caution.

[taylorwd]

I'm pretty sure it's open as a hotel now.  I just checked Karisma's website and I'm able to book a reservation.

 

You're probably having trouble finding much info because it's so new.  If it helps you decide, all the other Karisma resorts are top notch!

[daisymable]

I did check Trip Advisor and it's officially open now.  It looks beauthiful! This is a possiblity for sure. It sure would be nice to see some wedding reviews though!

[~Melanie~]

We're heading there on Nov.28 and the wedding is on Dec.3. We were originally at the Grand Riviera Princess, but with the explosion and then the closing we were moved here. So far, i'm extremely impressed. The wedding coordinators are so hands on and extremely helpful and accommodating - a much different experience than the Riviera. One thing you may not know is all the restaurants are al a carte - which means no buffets! I will post a review and pics when we get back.

[daisymable]

Good Luck on your wedding! I cannot wait to hear your review.  We really want to book this place but still considering/weighing options.  I know Karisma is very, very good at making everything about "you".  I have a feeling you will have a really beautiful wedding!

[budgetingbride]

Hello Melanie,

 

I was a GRP bride as well my date is May 7, 2011. We have changed to Azul Fives as well. Can you give me some reviews/possibly pics of how your wedding turned out. I have read some reviews on the resort and everything seemed to be good. They do offer more additional options than the GRP, i'm so nervous. Did you do your own hair or did you use their facilities if so, how was it? Did you have a rehearsal dinner the night before? or a cocktail party after the ceremony? We were having a beach reception at GRP, hopefully we can do the same here. Can you please post any reviews or message me privately at [email protected]. Thanks alot in advance for all your assistance.

 

Originally Posted by ~Melanie~ 

We're heading there on Nov.28 and the wedding is on Dec.3. We were originally at the Grand Riviera Princess, but with the explosion and then the closing we were moved here. So far, i'm extremely impressed. The wedding coordinators are so hands on and extremely helpful and accommodating - a much different experience than the Riviera. One thing you may not know is all the restaurants are al a carte - which means no buffets! I will post a review and pics when we get back.

[daisymable]

Hi,

 

I am also hunting for info and reviews on this place.  We are planning to book here for July.  Here is some information I just got from another bride that just had her wedding there:

 

"We chose the Silver package and it was worth every penny - but actually was cheaper for us than the Princess! (We were supposed to do the private beach reception at the Princess so our wedding was looking to be very expensive there).

Our ceremony was on the beach and it was a beautiful setup. We also had a beach reception with the family style dinner and a DJ. It was great fun and I would definitely recommend it. We moved into the bar afterwards to continue dancing.

The resort was not full or very busy so you never had to jockey around for a beach chair, which we loved. The staff is fantastic. The wedding itself went very well - the wedding coordinators there are super attentive and helpful - they made things easy.

The explosion happened two weeks before we were set to leave, and then they closed it one week before we were set to leave. It was so stressful - but the Azul Fives was really beautiful. And it's only 5 min away on the beach from the Princess! I didn't make it over there myself, but some of our guests did and all said they were happy we were where we were.
 

The beach was amazing - the sand was SO soft. I was told that right into the water there are some rocks right away, but I also heard that if you go down a little bit there aren't any rocks. Or if you have water shoes its fine. I was all over the pools. I was worried that there are only 2 pools too - but the infinity pool is gorgeous and the winding river pool is ridiculously huge - you don't even notice, trust me.

We had a DJ for our reception - complete with fog machine, bubble machine, light show, balloons, neon bracelets - it was hilarious. We had that till about 10 and then heading into the Zky Bar nearby. We were going to do a cocktail reception, but decided to scrap it. Our guests just went to Zky Bar or freshened up. It worked well. No idea if they have a donkey option!!

My stylist is a good friend and she and her BF came to our wedding. I paid for half her ticket and she did all of our hair! I did my own makeup - went to a couple places here in Calgary and got makeovers and took notes. I toyed with the idea of getting it done, but decided to stick with what i know. I love doing makeup. One thing i didn't like about the resort was the lighting in the room - its not great - especially for putting on makeup! Must have been designed by a man. But it worked fine - i didn't look clownish!! So I don't have any info on hair/makeup at the resort - the spa is gorgeous and I heard great things from our guests who had some services there.
 

All of our guests were moved into the Deluxe Room category. We were refugees from the Riviera Princess so Air Canada Vacations moved us all there. Its weird, the deluxe rooms only come with 2 beds, you can't get a single king in them. The rooms are lovely, and noone complained - i just thought it was odd. As the bridal couple, we were upgraded for free to the 1BDR suite which is HUGE and gorgeous. You will likely get that too". 

 

Hope that helps.  I think this place is a great pick and we are super excited to book our wedding here!

 

Originally Posted by budgetingbride 

Hello Melanie,

 

I was a GRP bride as well my date is May 7, 2011. We have changed to Azul Fives as well. Can you give me some reviews/possibly pics of how your wedding turned out. I have read some reviews on the resort and everything seemed to be good. They do offer more additional options than the GRP, i'm so nervous. Did you do your own hair or did you use their facilities if so, how was it? Did you have a rehearsal dinner the night before? or a cocktail party after the ceremony? We were having a beach reception at GRP, hopefully we can do the same here. Can you please post any reviews or message me privately at [email protected]. Thanks alot in advance for all your assistance.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Melanie~ 

We're heading there on Nov.28 and the wedding is on Dec.3. We were originally at the Grand Riviera Princess, but with the explosion and then the closing we were moved here. So far, i'm extremely impressed. The wedding coordinators are so hands on and extremely helpful and accommodating - a much different experience than the Riviera. One thing you may not know is all the restaurants are al a carte - which means no buffets! I will post a review and pics when we get back.

 

[~Melanie~]

Hi there,

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. Daisymable posted my email above. The wedding and the resort was fantastic. We were thrilled to be there and I think they did a fantastic job with our wedding day. We just got some of our professional photos back, and I'll post some as well here.

 

The wedding coordinators were fantastic - and more so when you consider that we were moved to this resort 5 days before we were set to leave and we organized the entire wedding before we left. We got married on the beach and had a beach reception. We had a DJ - and it was great - he had a bubble machine, fog machine, LED lights, balloons... it was pretty hilarious. I did not use the facilities for my hair or makeup - my stylist is a good friend and she and her boyfriend came to our wedding and did our hair. We chose not to do a cocktail party, we decided to just let everyone do their own thing for a couple hours, and most people went to the Zky Bar. We went with the family style dinner which was great - all the sides and salads were in the middle of the tables and they came around with different meat options - much better than buffet!

 

We did have a rehearsal dinner the night before - you have about 6 menus to choose from, everyone eats the same thing - we chose pork tenderloin and it was great. My husband and I got breakfast in bed the next day and it was huge. We also had a romantic dinner for any night and we chose to do it on the last night - but gave it to my parents and went into Playa with a bunch of people instead - but my parents said it was great.

 

I found the coordinators so accessible and fantastic and able to accommodate basically every request for us - much better than I found the coordinators at the GRP actually.

 

If anyone has specific questions for me - feel free to email me at [email protected] and I'll do my best to help. It really is beautiful - as you will see from the pictures. We used Claudia Rodriguez as our photographer and I can't say enough good things about her.