So sorry this took a while to complete! It’s been non-stop trying to move, catch up on work and enjoy the (finally) nice weather in Vancouver. To make it up, I’ll try to be very detailed. (i sure hope all the photos come out ok, an not giant or tiny...sorry in advance if it does)

 

Flight

Most of our group flew American Airlines down. It was relatively uneventful (which isn’t a bad thing), no one took my dress, but I asked when I first stepped on the plane if there was somewhere I could hang it. They pointed to the closet right at the entrance. So I just hung it there (+ remembered to get it before leaving). Also did that on the connection. It was annoying to lug it everywhere, but putting it into my checked luggage was not an option. Thankfully my friends and bridesmaids were a big help.

 

One downside on this flight was the arrival time. We didn’t arrive until about 7pm, so we didn’t arrive at the resort until close to 9pm.

 

Transport

Transportation to the Royal was included with our booking. It was through American Express / Travel Impressions and it was well organized. We also had an Amex rep available daily from 8am – 12pm in the resort to help us with any excursions or feedback about the resort.

 

Resort

The resort it beautiful and the staff are friendly. We’ve stayed at The Royal several years ago and loved it so it was a no-brainer choice for us. After searching and pricing out other resorts, we just kept coming back to it.

 

Our friends that arrived earlier in the day were waiting for us at the lobby already; check-in went smoothly for most…..(all our guests stayed at The Royal)

 

 

• We had booked a Master Suite Oceanview for 9 nights – when we checked in at the front, they pulled our file and took us to the other side to check-in “privately”
  • Explained to us that they wanted us to “start our vacation right” and because they didn’t have our room available yet we would be put into an Oceanfront room for the first night so we could wake up facing the beach in the morning and give us a resort credit of $150 USD
  • After the long day of travel, and having booked many many many months in advanced, we were choked. How could they not have the room we booked and paid for available?
• A couple ended up with 2 doubles instead of 1 king, was supposed to move after 2 nights, but they decided to leave because they’d already unpacked
• A single occupant went into his assigned room, but the room was already occupied!

 

Here’s our Master Suite, excuse the mess, I remembered to take photos the last day for my review.

 

 

 

Pool

We never had a problem locating a chair, on the beach or by the pool but people do put their towels down on chairs without returning. Some people had said the pool is not heated and the water was too cold, but we didn’t find that a problem. Instead, we found it waas quite refreshing to jump in since it was so hot. **note, the chairs in the pool may not be wet to the touch, but it you sit on it you butt will get wet because that part will dip into the water…. so many people thought they could just sit and dangle their feet in, but slowly you will realize you butt is wet…..

 

 

Beaches

We had a beach bed assigned to us but really only used it after everyone left since it was closer to the gazebo and everyone preferred to be closer to the pool/swim-up bar and walk down the beach to get into the water. The sand is like baby powder and the water is just the right temperature. If you plan to go into the water to play, the best part to enter is from the side closer to the gazebo. The areas directly out from the swim-up bar / Pelicano’s is quite rocky. Love love love the beach, pictures to not do it justice.

 

 

 

Welcome Dinner

We didn’t plan anything because we knew we would be arriving late so after checking in we just told whoever wanted to eat to meet at Spice (buffet). The staff there was so great to accommodate us (19 people) with 2 tables of 8. We had a good round of mango tangos and mojitos. Then the guys headed to the Lobby Bar while the girls walked around the resort and over to the Gran Porto.

 

 

Food

Great food. Staying at The Royal gives you access to the restaurants at the Gran Porto across the street but we only ended up going to one Il Pastoro (spelling is probably wrong).  My favourite restaurants were Asiana, Pelicano’s and Maria Marie. Spice and El Mediterrano were good buffets for breakfast + lunch but we liked El Mediterrano better as it was air conditioned. We looked here and there at Chef’s Plate menu but both hubby and I thought the menu was too interesting for us so we decided to pass. The chicken nuggets, chicken strips, nachos + guacamole in the 24-Hour Lounge were so yummy! I don’t usually like avocado but think I ate my weight in guacamole this trip.  (24-Hour Lounge also has the best air conditioning – made a good meet-up place)

 

Steak @ Marie Maria

 

One of my favourites, mixed teriyaki at Asiana

 

My next favourite, butterfly shrimps at Marie Maria

 

We actually ate dinners and some lunches as a group on most days and the restaurant staff were always accommodating. Typically 10-20 minute wait for our 2-3 tables.

 

Wedding Coordinator

Our on-site coordinator was Michelle. We met with her the morning after we arrived. She was very pleasant and nice to deal with. She had all the information I had sent previously to the off-site coordinator Ana. I gave her all the knick-knacks I had brought with me…sand ceremony stuff, tears of joy packets, fans, bubbles, chair sashes, table runners, cake topper (which I made and a part fell off during transport, but she helped me repaired), luminaries, mint match books….and she had them all put out for me. She was there to oversee the ceremony + reception.

 

Morning Of

FI / Hubby went to sleep in the same room as our single occupant guest and arrive around 2pm to the room to “pick me up”. The girls arrived around 1:30pm to prepare their torture.  It’s a Chinese custom that the groom (and his boys) be tested on various things before the groom is allowed to “take” the bride. Usually, generosity (money to be given before even get into the room/house), strength, romance….and whatever else the girls feel like doing to them…...LOL it sounded very bizarre through the door and looked hiliarious on the video clips after. The bride it usually in her room, or in this case, the door to the bedroom section of the suite was locked. It went on a lot longer than we thought because we ended up not doing “First Look” photos on our own. Housekeeping received a very nice tip as the place was quite messy after the mayhem.

 

punishment for not doing a task right

 

digging for grapes in strawberry yoghurt by doing push-ups

 

 

 

Ceremony

We had the ceremony on the beach, and my legs were like jell-o walking down the aisle. It was amazing. In hindsight the tulle I brought was really light in the bright sunshine but oh well. We didn’t spring for flowers or anything as we both feel it would be a bit of a waste. I did splurge a bit for those rose petals on the aisle though ($40 ouch). The minister used the script I had previously provided and it was short and sweet. I got a bit choked up during the vows….which I didn’t think I would too much since it was me that wrote them, but it was amazing. We used the resort’s sound system and it worked out great.

 

 

Michelle spread them out right before the ceremony in case they blew away.

 

 

Cake and Champagne

We did cake and champagne toast right after the ceremony and let everyone go relax and cool off before dinner. Took some photos with everyone then the 2 of us went off to take photos.

 

 

Reception

Our reception was in the Central Garden, I’m so glad we changed it from a semi-private. It was amazing, dinner was delicious. We had the avocado stuff with crab, beef tornado with mashed potatoes and paris chocolate shell. (2 guests had the shrimp jambalaya). We used the regular dance floor + sound system which was fine, because I had brought some glow things for fun and our friends had some awesome playlists. It was so much fun we saw people dancing with us from their balcony. For the amount of people we had, we felt this was perfect. I thought the location would seem very “exposed” but I think you’re just so wrapped up in the eating, speeches and partying, you forgot you’re in the middle of the garden.

 

(Flowers on left side is the toss one we trimmed before throwing .... and my DIY mr. + mrs. sign!)

 

 

 

 

Cake

We had the chocolate cake and it was amazing, hubby loves chocolate and thought it was good (but wanted it to be “more chocolatey”….I thought it was enough). Exactly like everyone said - there was so much leftover, because everyone was too busy drinking + dancing. Which was perfectly fine, they save it for us and we had it sent to Maria Marie for dessert after dinner the next night…..but there was still some left after.

  

 

The night of the wedding, they decorated our room with rose petals. So pretty! Lol, don’t turn on the ceiling fan though because the ones on the bed will blow away!

 

 

Photographer

We didn’t use the resort photographer, instead I found Nora Bohanon through BDW and she came out to shoot our wedding. She was lovely to work with and very professional. I arranged to go to Hidden Worlds the next day to take TTD photos at this private beach and cenote. It was a lot of fun and Nora was a pleasure to work with. We didn’t use a videographer but our friends took clips with their cameras and another brought their camcorder.

 

Room Service

Usually came within 20-30 minutes of ordering. I love the salmon omelette with added mushrooms along with their “energy” juice was a great breakfast. And burgers and fries were a nice late night snack. Most of our guests couldn’t get up in the morning in time for breakfast, so they ordered room service, 1 couple tried everything on the entire breakfast menu.

 

Gym

The gym is quite nice, well-equipped including Stott Pilates reformers. I had every intention of going however found there was not enough time in a day especially when the sun was shining and the beach was calling. Some people went. There was also yoga in the gazebo.

 

Shows
While waiting for people, we caught bits and pieces of some of the shows. Some seemed quite interesting, one day had singing + dancing, another had some acrobatics which was quite impressive. But we never actually sat down to watch an entire show. The shows are in the area right down the steps from the lobby.

 

5th Avenue

Lots of shops, clubs, restaurants and bars on 5th Ave, The Royal is at such a great location. We went to Coco Bongo one night; it was so much fun, a club and show all in one! We went with through the guys on resort’s entertainment group afterwards, ate some really awesome tacos at the little place on the side street where Coco Bongo was…..but maybe it was because we were drunk and hungry. You’ll notice there are lots of massage places on 5th, but having been there previously, we took our friends to Veronica’s. It’s rated highly on Tripadvisor, and with good reason. Clean, no-frills kinda place, but $30 for an hour can’t be beat. Since we had a lot of people we got a deal for $25 each. Some people went 3 times during the week!

 

 

Since it’s the NHL playoffs, we were in search of hockey. The resort didn’t have the game on so went online and found the Sandbox by the resort (not on 5th Ave), the next game was on in the 24-Hour Lounge and the one after that the guys found a place on 5th Ave (End Zone / EZ).

 

Aldo’s had really yummy gelato and a nice way to cool off. Lots of souvenir shops with maracas if you’re looking for them, BUT DON’T buy from the ones right by the resort. We asked and they wanted almost $5 USD each when the same ones are $1 each in the middle of 5th Ave. Duty free stores has brands like MAC, Dior, La Prairie, Tiffany’s, Cartier.. etc.etc. Items priced in pesos are more predominate that a few years ago, however USD is still widely accepted, just converted so you may not receive change back in USD.

 

 

Xplor!

Most our guests went to Xplor, it’s about 10-15 minutes from the resort and Alex from American Express/Travel Impressions (the company we booked with) got us a pretty good deal. (There is also Best Day at the resort with a board posting their rates). There’s zip-lining, swimming, this paddle raft thing and these buggy cars, was so much fun. The zip-lining was so worth it, incredible views made all the stairs worth it. It’s all inclusive with a buffet and snacks/drinks around. We went to Xcaret last time we were in Playa and found Xplor to be more fun….just depends on what sort of things you like to do I guess.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, we wouldn’t have done it any other way! The Resort staff will try their best to satisfy your requests (the girls asked for grapes with whipped cream, 7 rolls of toilet paper, 4 unpeeled bananas to torture the guys with and the staff brought them all, except no whipped cream so they got strawberry yogurt), the beach is beautiful and the rooms are incredible. Your wedding will be amazing, just remember not to stress. It WILL go by really fast so enjoy every moment and soak it in; the days after the wedding went by the fastest (we arrived Thursday, wedding Sunday). Everyone says it was the best wedding they’ve ever been too and they loved my DIY projects. It made all the planning and stressing worth it.

 

 

Hope I haven’t gone on for too long or missed anything and this helps anyone on the fence about this resort.