Below is my review of my experience at azul sensatori for our wedding October 17th. Sam and I went there the Sunday before the wedding and to get ready for our guests. I setup my review by day/event type for easy reference if anybody does not want to read the whole review. Enjoy!
Sunday/checking into the honeymoon suite;
When we first arrived we immediately checked in with the concierge since this was recommended by my ta. For some reason the concierge did not have record that we were suppose to have the honeymoon suite starting on Wednesday which was due to our ta not communicating that. Well I showed all the documents that we were guaranteed the honeymoon suite so they offered us to move into the suite starting on Sunday rather than waiting. They told us we could move in if we wanted to wait an hour, and we were definitely fine with since it was wait an hour to move into the suite or move into one room then move into the suite on Wednesday. We were perfectly fine with starting our drinking and waiting an hour, hah who wouldn't be.
So 45 minutes passed and we were moved into the honeymoon suite. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! The balcony was awesome, literally as big as the honeymoon suite. We were greeted with rose petals and a swan towel with bubbles. That night we went to tapas restaurant! We ordered one apps each and one entree each. They are gourmet style so small but very rich and filling. The service was very fast as well. (We ended visiting this place two more times). After this we partied the rest of the night at mojito lounge, great music and great mojito drinks.
Monday/meeting day/breakfast in bed/massage/candlelit beach dinner:
We were greeted with breakfast in bed T 9:05am. Scheduled it at 9:00am, so basically they were on time. The breakfast was EXTREMELY filling and delicious. The whole time we kept on saying are we dreaming are we going to wake up soon. We had the guy setup on our balcony so we enjoyed the morning on the patio. We even had mimosas too. It was gorgeous. So after that I got ready for the meeting, let's just say that I had many details and events so it took 3 hours! We meet with the chef and went over every food detail with him. A few details about allergies were missing that my WC did not let the onsite WC know. I had a very detailed print out she's for every event for the food details so that was taken care of immediately. I believe it was @linaco that her WC dos not send down in food details and she had to go around asking for food request from everyone so that is the main reason why I had the print outs of food request and allergies.
After meeting with the chef we went through each event and went through my detail sheet and they checked off on my detail sheet each decor piece that was present. Ingrid was the lead on my wedding.
Once the meeting was over with we met Katie down in playa to pick up the decor. She was super nice and impressively organized with all the suitcases. I had 7 suitcases from her since she supplies most of my decor, def recommend her. After picking everything up we went back to the hotel and got ready for our massages.
We opted to have our massages on the beach, because who wouldn't, it's on the fricken beach. The massage was more of a Swedish massage not a deep tissue, but the waves crashing in and the birds chirping was so relaxing and after I did feel relaxed. I would recommend the couples 2 for 1. It was worth it. After the massages we went and hung out at the swim up for awhile before getting ready for the candlelit dinner.
CANDLELIT dinner was very romantic. It was nice that night so not very humid due to the wind. There were at least 3 other couples having the candlelit dinner so it was super private but we were under the canopy so it still felt somewhat secluded. We got a bottle of wine and used our $50 credit so we only paid $10 for a very good bottle of wine from Napa valley. As a side note the $250 credit might be split up but on the bottle of wines it is def worth it and I think worth it on the candlelit dinner and even the massages. Of course you have to use them separately but you are still saving money if you are already goi g to get any of those services. Back to the dinner, I think it was four courses and all four were so good and the food was so fresh! Def recommend this.
After this we met up with some of his friends that had arrived and went to the mojito lounge and once again partied.
This was a busy day but we are both busy bodies so we were completely fine with it.
Tuesday/cenote session/cobra/Le Chique on the beach:
I had a trial for my hair and makeup for our cenote session. Since we had to leave the hotel at 730 I had to start at 5:00am! Super early but I was so excited that I popped right out of bed. I can't remember the girl that did my hair but I think idina or something similar. Regardless she did very well and actually changed up the hair/makeup with the original trials I had at home. Since it was the trial I let her and sure enough I was so thrilled. She gave me a bigger braiding the right side of my hair which I liked better and made my makeup much brighter and "happier" she described. I loved it so much more than my trials at home. The only thing that Sam noticed was my face makeup was not blended in very well so the day of the wedding I asked her to blend in more. Problem solved it looked better the day of the wedding. Overall the ladies in the spa did very well and know what they are doing, all you have to is communicate, bring pics with and let them know what you are looking for and listen to their suggestions and you will be happy. No complaints here. Prices of hair are pretty comparable to the states, maybe the makeup is slightly more. Another suggestion, I brought blush, lipstick, mascara and eyebrow pencil I used in my trials so if there is a specific color you want be sure to bring and they will be happy to use it. They do use Mac which I never use but had two trials at home and now I'm hooked. It made the $91 easier to manage since they are using product that has been used for tv shows dating back to I love Lucy. Just a side note.
At 730 we left and meet up with Samuel Lina near the cenote. I think we started around 9 maybe or sooner. We went to azul cenote/cenote azul, it was actually somewhat chilly in the air so it was very comfortable since I was in a long sleeve dress. Everyone else was comfortable to slightly warm. We first started outside the water and the weather was really nice. Then as soon as we started getting into the water it started to rain, couldn't have been better timing. So we waited it out which was only 20 mins and started taking pics in the water. The water was pretty cold since in the cenote the sun never touches the water. It still felt great tho. Samuel directed us the whole time so the session was super easy but I still felt awkward. Samuel was very positive the whole time and kept encouraging me and saying we were doing great the whole time. I felt super awkward in the dress but seeing the pics and how felt were completely different. If you can do this session I would recommend it!
So the session ended and we headed further south to coba. Coba you head south towards to Tulum then inland. It was hot but it was fun since there were not many people there. We rented bikes and rode around to the different ruins. One ruin you can climb to the top and see all of the jungle. After climbing the ruin we headed back since it was just to hot.
When we got back we headed to the adult swim up bar. (We hung out there a lot)
Later that night we ate out on the beach BBQ which is the Le Chique restaurant while the main Le Chique is under construction. Sam and I were disappointments because we knew how great it was but our friends were still impressed with the 6 course wine pairing. This menu was $50 per person. Still a good deal since the club I work at is charging $80 for a six course wine pairing and they are serving all 2011 which was a horrible year for wine.
It was very beautiful out and they had a saxophone playing which made the setting very romantic. Still bummed that our friends didn't get to experience the 16 course but our friends kept on raving about the dinner so made us happy.
Once again we headed up to the mojito lounge and partied till 2am this time. We were surprised how busy mojito lounge was each night, compared to when we were there in March.
Wednesday/2nd meeting/everyone arrived/welcome party:
My mom and I had another meeting with the WC since my mom had the majority of the decor besides Katy's as well. It was very similar to the first meeting, we went through the detail sheets and they checked off and organized all the decor. Here we decided on the layout of the tables. We didn't have a set plan except which tables we want next to each other and just let them pick where the tables went based on which tables we wanted next to each other. Since thu setup so many a day I thought it was better they decide where the tables went. Again they paid attention to all the details and asked any questions they had and made recommendations. Based on what other brides have said about the WC making good recommendation on decor I asked their opinion on many things and left decisions open to discussion. I'm glad I did that
My welcome party was later that night and I had to make a decision on whether or not to have it outside or inside. First we went with outside since it was nice at 10am. Then around 3 pm it started looking bad and luckily I ran into the WC and they convinced me before rhey started setting up to move it inside. I was extremely sad because it was the first event and I desperately wanted it outside but I got over it it slightly. So the time of the party rolled around and I arrived early to put up some decor I wanted to put up myself, the WC were there so they started helping help without even asking them, super nice and sweet of them to do. Since this was the first event I was so NERVOUS because one it was moved inside and i was in charge of hosting all these people. After putting the last decor together o started slamming drinks down to relax me, indeed it helped and the first started arriving. I greeted guest as they came since I had a sticker station for an ice breaker and so it was easy for people to meet and mingle. The decor the WC and the staff out together was so adorable and naturally amazing. The staff truly is so creative with their decorating skills. And as you can guess we all hit up the mojito lounge!
Thursday/Tulum/bachelorette party:
We treated our guest to an all day excursion to Tulum for the day. The bus wa very clean and our tour guide talked the whole time about the area and the Mayan culture. It was very nice and super informative. Omer told our guest to bring beer since only was provided on the bus, so we had a little on the way down there. Nothing like a morning Booz party. Yes we are impressive adults. It sprinkled off and on down in Tulum which kept it cool but the weather kept us from going down on the beach. Super bummed once again since Tulum has the best beaches in Mexico, but our tour guide said we were very lucky since this time of the year most tours he gives the temps range in the 90s and not as pleasant. I guess you can't have it all. The ruins were pretty big and it was so beautiful. The mall area was nice with different tourist shops and good restaurants. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and maybe paid $10 for three tacos rice and beans and two beers each, def worth it. By the time we toured the ruins, toured the mail ate dinner it was am time to go. Originally the tour guide wanted is to leave at 2 but I requested 3 and everyone was very happy. Just to let you know what the trip included: bus, tour guide on the bus and around the ruins, ticket on the train to the ruins, umbrella and water was $54/ person. $52 without paying for everyone's ticket.
There was an option to pay $12 for a packed lunch but we decided not to do that since there was restaurants there which was better than having cold sandwiches. Plus food there was cheaper as you can see where stated above. As a side note this was all arranged by our ta with lomas travel. When we arrived my mom checked in with lomas and we got our confirmation.
For the bachelorette party we ate at tapaz, again everyone ordered an app and entree and we were all full. Drank tons of wine since they come over right away when they see your glass is only half full.
I had to go check in with the concierge to confirm the transfers my ta had arranged with the concierge and as expected there was no record that my ta had arranged the transfer. I was so infuriated with my ta since I knew to expect this since she had not been following through towards the end. Luckily I had my sister in law work with the bell hop so we arranged for $180 for two taxis to take us down there and one of he cars would be four girls back early and the rest of us back when the show was over. We tipped the bell hop about $40-$50 to make sure everything went exactly as he promised and it did. So once again the hotel pulled through when my ta did not deliver.
The drive to coco bongo was about 30 mins and we were dropped off by coco bongo. Because there was such a fiasco with our transfers we weren't able to walk around 5th street. We walked around 5th street in March and loved it, so many restaurants, bars and cigar bars. Bummed we didn't get to do that.
Coco bongo was quite the experience and exactly what i expected. Here is the site www.cocobongo.com. We went in after 11 since it was all inclusive at that point. There more impersonations and a few acrobatic performances. We somehow made our ways onto one of the bars and danced on the bar most of the time. None of us fell off!
Would recommend taking friends down to coco bongo for a bachelorette party or wanting to just take friends down there.
When we got back one of the girls and I got the munchies so we ordered room service and I guess since it was raining initially when we ordered and there were other deliveries it took 1.5 hours. Sam's buddies ordered room service every night and it took 45 minutes each time and they didn't just order one plate each, they would order 4-5 plates a person. Sam's friends are slightly on the bigger side, lol.
Friday/bridal luncheon(complimentary reservation)/catamaran cruise/rehearsal dinner:
I used my complimentary reservation on my bridal luncheon at the zavaz restaurant. I requested this with the WC manager before Berenice and she changed it for me. The WC in Miami would not allow this. I had 30 guest plus two hi chairs for babies and they put everyone at one table. We brought flower arrangements for the table and we used the flower arrangements from the restaurant to do the table look beautiful. We had candle filled gift bags that had everyone ms name on the tag for the seating chart which we put out. The service for the meal was very good and all the servers were very attentive and kept our mimosas full the whole time. It was a four course meal and I took seconds on the first and second course. The first and second were served then the third was family style for the meat. The fourth was served as well, dessert was tres leche which was very refreshing for tres leche. All guest were happy so it was a success. I didn't want to take the flower arrangements home so I had to right a note and sign off the hotel could take them and give to the employees.
I still had another suitcase and the servers offered to take to my moms room which they did once I came back after 30 minutes to ask for the suitcases.
During the luncheon I learned the weather was to bad for the catamaran cruise so that was canceled, very bummed since I really wanted to take all my guest out on the cruise for a snorkeling trip. It turned out to be ok since most pple that we're going ended up using their credit at the spa. I think half of our group ended up going to the spa and using their credit. Most of our guest came up to me at the rehearsal dinner and was raving about the spa. I'm giving major kudos to the spa. Most of the day we spent in the pool at the swim up bar even tho it was raining.
Finally the rehearsal dinner rolled around and that too was moved from the beach at beach building #3 to the terrace at the Mexican restaurant. This is the location I originally wanted but my WC was not giving it to me so when the onsite WC told me this was the back up location I immediately changed it!!! We didn't have much decoration except lights, basket of bread with basil and table numbers. The location itself didn't need much since the walls are beautifully decorated. We had passed hordouerves for the first hour then we sat down for the three course pick and choose. My mother in law wanted it Italian themed we had a Italian style salad and guest picked btwn a lasagne or shrimp pasta then we had tiramisu. Again the service was so good and they got everyone's meals right. My mother in law color coded the place cards so the servers knew who got what.
After the meal a few of us started getting up and dancing and soon enough others started joining in. We rented speakers from the hotel and Sam put together a mix using Spotify and just let the playlist play on its own. Because the pArty went longer than expected he had to start picking music from his other playlist which no one could tell the list went out. There was another group hanging out at the bar and I guess they loved our music so much that they joined in on the party. When the music stopped they tried to pay off the servers to keep the music going and to get Sam to stay. After the rehearsal we went up to mojito lounge. Before going into the lounge there was entertainment in the lobby and all our guest were out dancing in the lobby. The music ended around 1130 so we made our way into the mojito lounge. There was a dj so most of us danced some more then we moved to the patio since it was just getting so hot with all the bodies in the lounge. Most of us ended up there since we were all danced out from the rehearsal dinner and the lobby. I called it quits around 1230-1 since I was waking up early to get ready for the wedding day.
Saturday/wedding day!!!
Woke up early for breakfast at spoons with the moms and bridesmaids. I felt like a complete zombie at breakfast but with about two or three cups of coffee I was up and ready. Before our makeup appts I had to make the decision on the back up locations, first I moved the ceremony to he back up location which was the terrace. They suggested to stay at the plaza zocalo was good since it was the backup. I made it to my appointment and the lady that did my trial was there do to the hair and makeup for the wedding. We used the bridal suite and it was spacious enough to fit myself, three bride AIDS and my mom comfortably. There was champagne in there for us to sip on while getting our hair and makeup done which helped me relaxed as I was starting to get nervous. All my girls and mom had their makeup and hair done in the spa and I had mine done in the bridal suite. It was very private and relaxing. Ina (I think that's her name) did my hair and makeup exactly as she did for my rehearsal. I still brought pics in from the rehearsal on Tuesday and she said that helped her to remember since she had already done some weddings since Tuesday.
Samuel arrived at 1230 as planned and started taking photos immediately.
As I was getting my hair done Ingrid came in to tell me that the weather was looking worse than expected and recommended moving the reception to the ballroom. I reluctantly moved it as at this point all of our events had been moved inside. I went ahead and moved the reception inside but it was the smaller ballroom so my mom had to rearrange the seating to go from 8 tables to either6 or 7 since the other ballroom had been taken. Finally after two hours of trying to disperse and squeeze our guests into 6 tables Ingrid came back and said we now had the large ballroom and could keep the tables as is. Not sure how they pulled that off and Ingrid was like I have no clue how we just did that but somehow we managed it. Not sure if they bribed the other group or not but they ended up having the smaller ballroom, maybe they were given a credit or something, who knows.
After everyone was ready we stayed in the bridal suite for all of us to get into our dresses.
I'm not sure exactly when the closes were delivered except they arrived at the time I requested. I was very happy and pleased with the way the flowers turned out, the only thing that didn't make my arrangements was the star of Jerusalem flower due to the quality of the shipment their florists received. Ingrid told me this on Friday and I gave the go ahead to leave it out. My arrangement still looked beautiful.
Once I was dressed and ready I left to meet Sam for our first look. (This was about the only picture that went to plan since the remaining time it was just a complete downpour). Because it started raining we were limited to just taking picture around the lobby so pictures went very fast and we ended up just standing around a lot. Looking back at the time frame I probably could have started maybe N hour or two later and had been fine.
Since we were having a Jewish wedding we had a traditional ketubah signing ceremony. Ingrid set us up in the computer room which was completely private and also very quite since that room seals off most noise. Once this was over the wedding party took their places and the ceremony started. Everything was running smoothly and I was actually starting to feel some sort of emotion since I hadn't felt most of the day due to the complete chaos of all plans being changed every 5 minutes due to the rain including the photography locations then trying to relay all the info to those involved, needless to say up to the ceremony was extremely exhausting. So it's time for me to walk down the aisle after my niece walks down the aisle. She wasn't able to walk due to a melt down, then I see my rabbi coming out and he is running around every asking where is my book. My jaw just dropped in complete shock, how on earth do you loose the book. The violinists had finished the song for the wedding party and she is looking around wondering what the hell to do, luckily Ingrid was there to save the day and told her to play the song over again. In the meantime 2-3 minutes had passed which in wedding ceremony time that is a lot. So this unprofessional fiasco put on by our rabbi wiped any emotion I had right away. So after 5 minutes of searching he finally found his book, my parents and I were just flabbergasted. My friends that gave me advice on weddings always said things will go wrong at the ceremony and no one will notice, well I'm pretty sure if you missed this fiasco your completely obvious to what's going on around you. Most of my friends that had things go wrong with their ceremonies had to do with small decor, which that was all perfect with mine just my rabbi delayed me coming down the aisle and had everyone wondering why the hell it took me so long to start walking.
Finally I started to walk down the aisle to "can you feel the love tonight" by Elton John. The violinists did an excellent job and played on other songs very well by the comments our guests made to me.
The ceremony turned out to be so wonderful and despite the earlier fiasco our rabbi did a beautiful job with the ceremony. He gave detailed description of all aspects of every Jewish tradition that was involved in the wedding. We filled out forms asking for general information about our background and he incorporated those answers into the ceremony which made it very personal considering we had only spoke to him via Skype.
As for the weather I'm happy we had it in the terrace since it no sooner throughout our ceremony. Our guest came up to us after the ceremony and said it was so beautiful with the rain, lightening and thunder. It was described as a very unique ceremony. After a 20-25 mi ute ceremony we were announced as husband and wife.
Reception: Since our reception didn't start at 7 all of our guest had to wait outside the doors until 7 but most just headed over to he mojito lounge and got drinks. Before entering the reception the dj approached me and asked several questions about songs even though most of the questions had been answered on the sheet I sent in. We were slightly annoyed. After going over all the important songs again, finally we entered to thunderstruck by acdc and danced to our first song "to be loved" Jackie Wilson. Both of those went well except no bubbles or anything which I know is super cheesy but would had been nice and something different. After the first dance the hora was suppose to happen and instead the dj announced the blessing of the bread and Sam signal it was suppose to be the hora then she said the hora but still rated playing the wrong music. Sam was starting to get annoyed and at this point I was horrified and so embarrassed so finally Sam went over talked to the dj and then told her to announce the blessing then to go to the hora. After the blessing the dj announced the hora and all was well. The crowd was really into so the dj followed me request to play song twice which was the the first thing they followed without any of us telling her how to do her job. From then on everything else was announced on Thursday me and correctly. The dj had balloons and glow in the dark necklaces which our guest had fun with.
For the food we did pick and choose, we had Mexican can Caesar salad, enter choice of lobster/filet, salmon/chicken or vegetarian and a style sable cookie for dessert and was sooo tasty. Again the servers got all the food right and we used stickers to denote who got what. The only problem we had was one of our guest couldn't remember the meal he chose, so he was telling the waiter he got something different. Once I caught glimpse of this sure enough the server was right, so I immediately told the server he was right and to give him the meal that was on his card. After the server left Sam started yelling at him for being a complete ass. You could say we were a little on edge with all the fiascos going on before the ceremony then with the d.j. Turns out why he couldn't remember what he ordered because his sister filled out his RSVP because she never heard from him re: the food he wanted.
The WC stayed most of the time for the reception and were good about grabbing us for things such as the cake cutting, anniversary dance and the garter toss. The anniversary dance the dj botched. I had to step in and guide the whole process since our guest were confused as to what was going on since it was never announced that they were dancing for the anniversary dance. Once I explained to most couples on the dance floor then they all understood. The only thing the dj was good at was playing the music, that's about it. Yes I know that is what they are there for but a wedding dj should be knowledgeable on making important announcements.
The cake: Ingrid explained to me what happened to the cake but I'm not exactly sure what happened except I think it was due to the cake being transferred and also due to the extremes humidity from all the rain. Part of the cake was melted and some areas you really could tell but to me it still looked gorgeous and colorful. Because the cake was slightly ruined Ingrid told me that we would receive a partial refund. We haven't received the refund yet since we have the go through the Miami office. We also have t received a refund for the catamaran cruise as well since we have to go through our ta as well. Maybe sometime we will eventually get it.
Cake flavored: I did vanilla rum on the bottom layer, hazelnut for the middle and chocolate for our top layer. They were able to take my logo and print it into the icing in the exact locations I wanted plus replicated the flower on the middle layer. I ended up going with yellow sugar flowers on the top layer which I am so happy I went with, they looked stunning and lastly I brought my own cake topper I bought from David's bridal. Overall I was extremely happy and impressed with the replica cake they made for us from the picture I sent. Thinking about it now I am pretty impressed with the cake they came up with, it was stunning.
The party: After all the announcements speeches and other things the party finally got started and we had two hours for the dance party so everything stayed on schedule even with the few hiccups. We did however have them roll out an ice cream bar and unfortunately we only had 5 pple touch it since it was never announced that there was an ice cream bar. My mom thinks it is because there was no bowls but I think it's just was no announcement and most were having to much fun on the dance floor and were just fool from dinner. I wouldn't recommend the ice cream bar, it was a fun idea but since my goal was to get to the party as soon as possible the ice cream was not doable since most pple wanted to stay on the dance floor.
Overall I was so happy with the reception since it met my vision. Only thing I wouldn't recommend is our dj and the ice cream bar. We used dj all music, the dj was inexperienced and messed up on many important dj. There were a few outside djs that cost an extra $600-$70 including the vendor fee or go with the cheaper dj to save a few bucks.
We hit up the mojito lounge and there was a dj playing and it was again busy. We went on the patio smoked a few Cubans to celebrate the night then went in and danced for awhile but I had to call it quits about 130, I was so exhausted!!!
When we returned from our room we were greeted with rose petals throughout our room and swan towels again and a bubbly bath covered with led tea lights. This was so sweet after our long ass day.
Looking back on our wedding day with all the changes the hotel and WC really pulled through and made all the events so lucky Velho and everything was made out to be so personalized.
The day after a the wedding we had an unhosted brunch at spoons. The food is good there especially for being a buffet. Sam and I didn't eat there to much since there was always kids there and we aren't anywhere near that point plus we hung out with our friends most of the time that didn't have kids. I was really impressed with the servers there since its buffet and it just seemed so hectic and Chaotic with the huge crowds there at the time we were eating.
It was time for us to go back and pack and catch our flight so headed back to our room packed and had one of the bell boys pick our stuff up.
We were greeted by Ingrid to send us off and thanked us and of course we thanked them for all their hard work and they even gave us a gift from the dos. It was a sample from their chocolate line including a body scrub, lotion, air freshener and a scented candle.
I did not find this out til later but the only hiccup the WC had was the day after with the organization of the decor. My parents spent an hour of their time organizing the decor since none of Katy's stuff had been put back in her suitcases. They were working on this up to the time they needed to leave so they didn't get to see some people off which they were slightly upset by. I'm not sure if this could have been avoided if not. This is somethings to think about tho.
So long review but I had many events so there was a lot to talk about. Overall I was very happy with the service and attention we received at azul sensatori. Most stress throughout this process came from the loam office which seems to be the theme here on the blog. Also our ta at the end caused slight problems as she let our room block run out causing a few of our guest to stay at another hotel the night of our wedding. We wanted to add rooms but she insisted not to then the hotel sold out the night of our wedding. So I would defiantly recommend the hotel over other places just did to the service we received.
One last note which many girls on here ask about is the seaweed. Evidently the Mexican government paid at least 250 million to clean up the seaweed issue on all coasts. This was very evident as the seaweed had drastically improved from March which it was actually pretty bad. To the left of the resort there is empty land the hotel was using to dump the seaweed that was moved in the morning. These piles were at least 6 ft high when we were there in March. This time we went there was no walls of seaweed and the seaweed washed up on the beach was minimal and so was the smell. Practically no smell at all. So I guess the 250 million clean really paid off even tho that seems like a lot.
Someone on here asked me to post about our honeymoon to Belize, I will post mainly website and try to briefly talk about it since my review is already so long.
We flew directly to Belize city flying with tropic air. The plan was a small single propeller plan, exactly as expected. I had been stoked about this all week since the thought of flying in a small propeller plan over the ocean was N adventure in itself. So the plan ride was really smooth except a few bumps through the rain. It took about 1.5 hours even tho the flight said 1 hour. Soon enough we found out that the airline was completely relaxed and the time written down didn't necessarily mean that was when your flight was leaving, they pilot simply flew when they were ready. First experience with Belize was everything moved slower. Sam was slightly irritated but I was in heaven since I was constantly on the go in Mexico. Website for tropic air www.tropicair.com
First stop on the honeymoon was caye caulker, one of many islands off Belize's coast. Www.cayecaulker.com we took a flight to caye caulker instead of the ferry. Second adventure the flights to the islands work more as a taxi but in the air. The first stop was caye caulker and once we were dropped off the airplane turned around and took off for San Pedro to drop off the remaining passengers. First experience with that kind of flight. So caye caulker I would say is not the most glamorous island but has its own sort of charm. There are no motor vehicles so it's either bike or golf car. So we had a golf car taxi waiting for us that took our hotel. I will admit driving through the island I was thinking was this a mistake coming here but I started to finally relax and just take in the surrounding for what they were. Finally we arrived at our hotel iguana reef inn, the nicest hotel on the island and best location. We were on the other side of the island from the main drag so it was very quite and private. The walk wasn't bad since the island is only 1/10 of a mile wide. Www.ivuanareefinn.com
We unpacked and made our way to the Main Street to grab dinner. First dinner consisted of large lobster two sides , fruity drink and a bucket of beers all for about $25 usd per person. I was in complete paradise, no where in states can you get that. We ended up getting a golf car for the remaining two days just because we didn't want to walk and it was our honeymoon. I think we paid $50 usd each day so def worth it. Other things we did was eat much more lobster snorkels twice and one of those times we fished. If anybody wants to know which bars we went to specifically pm me and I can go into more details. We loved the island and desperately want to go back again someday, great spot for a vacation.
On Wednesday we traveled back to main land via ferry and had a driver from our hotel pick us up at the ferry. We stayed just outside Belmopan in the sleeping giant. Www.sleepinggiant.com. It took about 1.5 hours to get there. Sam and I were blown away with this hotel. The staff was super personable and immediately the staff made us feel right at home. There was an option to make the stay all inclusive so we went with that option and were very happy with our decision. It included all meals, domestic alcohol and beer. The only thing it didn't include was wine so we just stuck with beer and rum. The all inclusive did include three adventures. We did atm cave tour, this was a your of the caves the Mayans used for human sacrificing. Yes there were human remains but it wasn't as gruesome as I thought it could have been, just very informative. Second day we went on a cave waterfall tour, here we climbed waterfalls then on the way back we jumped from the waterfalls. Slightly extreme for me so I scaled down. After the tour was over and realized me and another girl scaled down I realized Sam and I were the oldest averaging 4-5 years older than most. Only time I have felt my before and we aren't even that old either. Our ladies excursion was a relaxing one, cave tubing and zip lining. We floated through caves that were atleast 3/4 mile long then the last part we floated down to the river where we met our tour guide for the zip lining. That was an awesome way to end our adventures in Belize.
Afte every adventure we had enough time to hang out by the pool with a few drinks and hangout on our porch and in the hammock, then take our time to get ready for dinner.
The rooms at the sleeping giant were all individual casitas. We read a review to request casita four since it was close t the main building and the closes to the pool . Very happy we listened.
The room: these casitas were unreal, they were the size of a studio apartment. We had a kin size bed, two couches for a seating area, breakfast nook, huge bathroom with with walk in shower and best of all an outside jacuzzi. We spent every night out there in the bubble bath we were given from one of our guest. The rooms were the best I have ever stayed in, we were so impressed and felt every penny was worth it, because it wasn't cheap:)
Overall I would recommend both hotels we stayed at since the service was beyond perfect and met all our expectations plus more.
I tried to keep it short but we did so much in a week and enjoyed our experience enough to say we are completely in love with Belize right now. The people there and the safety factor make the country so attractive. Just some info on Belize. It just received its full independence from Britain in 1986, so the British still have a strong presence there which we think is the main reason for sense of safety there plus the belizeans are super chill with a laid back attitude which we think contributes to the lack of crime. Also everyone speaks English, it's the official language then Spanish then creole. Most natives to Belize I heard speak creole to each other, I don't hear much Spanish.
Whoever said they were thinking about going there for the one year anniversary def do it. Another place we heard about that many Americans go to is placencia. Only thing to avoid is San Pedro island, super touristy and over run and soda lame. That is what we were told by residents of Belize and some friends we had visit San Pedro. They said it was too crowded and touristy and wish they had stayed longer on caye caulker.
Good luck to all future brides, please let me know if anyone has questions as I am happy to help!
Hi Again! I recently just started an etsy shop full of customized signage for weddings. I created all my signage for my wedding and since I really enjoyed creating it all for my wedding I thought I would start an etsy shop full of customized signage that I can create for Brides and they are able to print however they would like, ie: different paper, sizes and however many times they want to print the digital copy. Please let me know if anybody needs help with this side of the planning side. Here is my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/aWonderlustSIGNbyCLM?ref=hdr_shop_menu
