Overall our experience at this resort was absolutely amazing!  We had a few kinks along the way but we didn't let it ruin our trip or wedding.  I would highly recommend it for a wedding with an adult guest list or a honeymoon/couples escape. It is a huge resort with tons of lush greenery, pools, fountains and beautiful buildings.  You really feel like your in an island getaway!

 

A Quick Overview: We stayed from Nov 28-Dec 5, 2010 on the Royale side and were joined by 24 wedding guests ages 19-72!  We stayed a second week on the Casitas side for our Honeymoon once all of our guests had left.  We were married on Dec 1 at Gazebo #55 followed by a Mexican Donkey Cocktail Hour at the Health Bar and Reception at Tucannes Bar. We hired Claudia Photo(Citlalli Rico was our photographer) and then had the Free Sweet Wedding Package with some add ons: a ipod stereo rental for reception($250), 4 bouquets($205), 2 boutonnieres($50), coloured fabrics for gazebo and aisle($190), gazebo flowers($120), rental vases for bouquets($60) and donkey rental for groom to ride($150).  All these extras along with food for the cocktail hour, BBQ deluxe dinner and photographer added up to about $4500.  (We were never charged extra for our extra ceremony chairs!)

My bouquets:

 

Rooms/Checking In:

-When we checked in, some guests had been given rooms with king beds rather than 2 double beds.  It was something that we booked months before, but the reception staff said their records didn't show.  I blame it on Sun Wing Vacations, the company we booked our packages through, but it would have been nice for the reception staff to offer a solution. The bell boys/shuttle drivers are awesome and take you and your luggage to your rooms and seem to be driving by to give us a lift all the time.  We tipped them often, so maybe that's why! ;)

-Moving from the Royale side to the Casitas side turned out to be a nightmare for us.  It was a combination of our terrible vacation company-Sun wing Vacations-and some reception staff that were unwilling to make any exceptions.  All of our guests were leaving at 2pm on the same day we were to move rooms so we wanted to plan out our last day with them. We called our concierge, front desk, casitas front desk, and no one seemed to know how or when we went about switching rooms. We decided to check out of the Royale side at noon, with the rest of our guests, and go from there. After checking out we were told our Casitas room would be ready at 2:30.  So we went for lunch with our family then walked them back to the lobby at 2pm to catch their airport shuttle.  By this time our room was ready so we went with the bell boy to our new room. We had booked and paid for a swim up suite as part of our package, and he took us to a regular Casitas room on the second floor(my husband was on crutches at the time, so this would really not work).  After stopping at the Casitas reception and the Royale reception to try and figure out the mix up, we were told our room was booked as a regular Casitas by Sun Wing, and because it was Sunday, they couldn't call Sun wing. They suggested we just take the regular room for the night and they would call us the next day after they talked to Sun wing.  I'm sorry, but we had paid for that room and we wanted to stay in a swim up suite, so I put my foot down.  The front desk guy said we could only stay in a swim up suite if we signed a bill for $1120-the difference in price from a regular room to a swim up suite for the week-oh, and wait 2 hours while they cleaned one for us!  We reluctantly signed the paper, figuring we would never get a refund from Sun Wing if we stayed in the regular room. By 4pm we finally had a room...after 4 HOURS of waiting! For the next two days we called the front desk and our travel agent to sort it all out.  I was really stressed because we really couldn't afford to pay another $1200 on top of every other wedding expense.  Finally, a girl at the front desk that had seen us there to check many times, told us to just enjoy our honeymoon and stop worrying as she tore up the bill for $1200 I had signed!!  We loved her!!   And we were never charged the extra amount when we checked out.  It worked out in the end, but I really wish our first honeymoon day wasn't wasted like that.  I don't know who's mistake it really was, but I think the resort could have handled it better from before I even checked out of my Royale room and we wouldn't have been dealing with it all day long. 

-Try and stay in the swim up suite blocks as they are the newest suites.  Our guests in other blocks had some issues with rock hard beds.  We stayed in room 5307 and it was a quiet area of the resort and the room was beautiful with double sinks in the bathroom, a separate toilet room and a very comfortable, big bed with fabric draped around it. Our patio had a hammock and a little table and chair which was nice for room service breakfasts in the sun.  Also we were very close to Gazebo #55 which was great for the wedding day. 

-Oceanfront rooms are NOT worth the extra money.  There isn't a single room that touches the beach in the entire resort(except the Presidential Suites) so really your just getting a room close to the beach, not on the beach. 

 

Beach:

-We felt the sandbags were a necessity as it keeps the huge waves from eroding the beach and makes the water swim able.  The fish tend to flock to the sandbags so snorkel ling around there was great. Snorkel equipment is free to use too. 

-Beach beds and chairs were never an issue to find at anytime of day, even for our large group.

-The shoreline is a combo of rocky areas and sandy areas, but the beach loungers are all in the nice white sand area so no need for water shoes. 

Entertainment:

-There is a large disco/swing bar were we met almost every night for drinks and live music, karaoke, dance performances, etc. 

-During the day there are lots of activities and the activity staff are really nice people that we became friends with. Fuentes pool has most of the activities, we had a half hour long water ballon fight there one day which was so much fun! Beach volley ball, air rifle shooting and beach boccie ball were favorites among our group!

 

Pools:

-There are lots of pools which was a huge bonus as the last resort I stayed at had only 2. We never had a problem finding a chair in a quiet spot or at a fun, active pool. The saltwater pool is a bit gross as it is just trapped, stagnant ocean water, but it does look pretty!  I wouldn't recommend getting married at the white gazebo right beside the saltwater pool as it does smell pretty strong! 

-Our swim up suite pool was pretty cool to have during our honeymoon since we could just order room service for breakfast or lunch and hop in the water without ever leaving our room. 

Food: 

-Kampai was our groups favorite restaurant, amazing Asian food for all meals!  It is built over a walkway and has floor to ceiling windows with stunning ocean views.

-El Cocotal had the best breakfast buffet. Also our free group dinner was there which we used as a welcome dinner the first night. The food was great too, but they did not let all 26 of sit together which really bummed us out as we thought that was the idea of a "group" dinner! 

-Dinner on the Beach was ok, ours was free with the honeymoon package but I would never pay extra for it. 

-Pool side pizza parlour was a great idea with good food, but the sit down approach was time consuming when you just wanted a quick lunch and they wouln't allow us to take food to go(same for the health bar-great smoothies and wraps though as well as a elk up frozen yogurt dispenser, my fave!!!!). 

- Room service was a great treat for all of our guests and once we convinced everyone to try it, they were hooked!  When I got home I missed that the most!

-LaFondue wasn't always opened but we did manage to hit it up on an open night.  You order as a pair and get a starter salad or soup and one fondue pot for dinner and another for dessert(chocolate or caramel).  It was really rich, flavorful food but we both felt a bit ill after.  Probably just the quantity of cheese consumed!!

-Jo Jo's(right on the beach) and La Isla(poolside) had fast service, good variety and nacho buffets...need I say more!

-I have celiac's disease so I have to eat gluten free.  Gluten free foods were available on the room service menu(as were vegetarian) and most restaurants had some staff member who knew what gluten was or had an english speaking person who could help me out.  I even got gluten free bread at D'Italia and at our dinner on the beach.

Our first night there, our waiter brough us this for dessert!  The staff are amazing!!

 

 

Wedding: We used the assistance of the wedding coordinator(Priscila was ours) provided with our wedding package.  She was great, except for a bit of a time issue(her responses did get faster as our wedding approached) and some confusion with booking certain amenities, but it was all minor and sorted out before the big day.  I pre booked and paid for everything through her including our photographer and my and my bridesmaids hair/make up appointments.  Once we arrived at the hotel we were given our wedding info letter and attended our meeting the next day with the on site coordinators.  The meeting was a bit redundant as she basically printed out the spreadsheet I had made with Priscila then rewrote it all on another chart while we looked through fabric samples and picked the exact shades of blue for our gazebo fabric(I guess I'm just not that bridezilla about colours as I thought blue meant blue!  There were 8 shades of blue!!)  We did make a "bad weather plan" though which was good as it was supposed to rain on our wedding day.  

 

Day of the Wedding...

 -Noon: You cannot book shuttles, so we left really early for our spa appointments as the spa is in the Casitas(other end of resort).  We had a great relaxing experience there, but just know that if you have more than one bridesmaid getting hair/makeup done, you will be separated into different areas of the spa.  While I did get to have a great day with my one friend, I missed out spending the day with my two sisters who were in the other salon area.  The stylists were amazing and so sweet!  Rafa was my stylist, and she was very calm and timely and I loved the whole look she created.  I brought along some photos and let her do the rest!  Even when the WC came to the spa all frantic to tell me it was raining and they wanted to switch the ceremony site to the carpel, which my FI and I were dead set against(we are NOT religious at all), Rafa calmed everyone down and told them the rain will stop before the ceremony, plan on going ahead with it on the beach. So we went ahead as planned, and she was right, no rain at all by 4pm!

Here is the back of my hair:

-4pm: The ceremony location was decorated exactly as we had envisioned and the music was perfectly timed. We brought our ipod with a playlist titled "ceremony songs" and gave a guest instructions to pass along to the staff. We had 4 songs: Groom/GM/BM entrance, Bride/ Father of the Bride entrance, signing of certificate and everyone walking back up the aisle.  My FI's dream was to ride a donkey up the aisle, so for $150 his dream came true and we surprised our guests as he made his "entrance"!  Lol!!  We had my mom officiate our ceremony which was one of the best decisions we made about our wedding.  She made it really personal and everyone was brought to tears!

After the ceremony and photos the WC took our gazebo flowers down and took them to our reception location as decoration there.

 

-5pm: Our Cocktail hour had to be moved from Gazebo #55 to the Health Bar due to the weather, which actually turned out better as there is a bar and washrooms there as well as a pool and lighting. We used our own i pod and apple i pod speakers for music(I didn't want to pay for the stereo rental twice) and it was fine since it is a small area. The wait staff were great, popping champagne and circulating our Mexican appetizers, which our guests loved!!  The donkey came back, as he was part of the cocktail package, and he was the photo op of the hour! 

 

-7pm: Our reception was at the Tucannes Pool/Bar area.  There were tiki torches lighting the path up to the guest book table(decorated with the gazebo flowers) and 4 round tables under the palapa for our guests.  The resort charges $5/guests to put out decorations or favors, so we had our friends put out our sea shell candles(TIP: bring the battery operated candles, it's too windy for real ones!!), shot glasses that said "if you want the bride and groom to kiss, take a shot from this!", our favors/name tags(organicisland lipbalms and cigars), and guest book postcards. The only things we rented from the resort were aqua table runners and 4 vases to put our bouquets in as centerpieces. The BBQ Deluxe buffet was also under the palapa and 3 chefs had char col BBQ's with meat on the "dance floor" area.  The food and service was great and I was brought out special gluten free dessert also! After dinner we had speeches and a slideshow.  The resort charged $250 for the ipod stereo equipment which came with a microphone and the WC runs it for you.  We had our guests each pick 3 songs and we incorporated them into our dance playlist so everyone was up and dancing!  The projector equipment was $650 to rent and I just couldn't pay that, so thankfully I have wonderful parents who borrowed a projector from their work and used it as their carry on so I didn't have to pay to rent one! Our MC made us the slideshow and she brought her laptop and then the wait staff helped us make a "screen" out of white table cloths(it was $300 to rent a screen! Crazy!)  It turned out so good for being a little last minute! After a tequila boom boom congo line started by our waiter and hours of dancing, it all had to end at 11pm :(  We couldn't bribe the staff to stay any longer, so we all moved to La Guacamayas bar to finish the night!  When we went back to our room we had rose petals and towel swans and a bath drawn for us!! 

Casitas:  Our swim up suite was pretty amazing with an outdoor shower, huge bathroom, bed on the deck and pool steps away.  The moment we sat in our pool loungers our bartender was there to see if we wanted a drink and in the afternoons staff came by with popsicles, frozen fruit kabobs and boxed lunches, all perks not available in the Royale side.  We could swim to the main pool and swim up bar from our suite and the ocean was just steps away from that.  Restaurants were never that busy during our stay so we didn't use the Casitas perk of making dinner reservations.  We did ask though, and it was only available if you called before 4pm the day of your meal.

Our patio in our Casitas wim up suite:

 

Canadian Travelers-BEWARE of SUN WING 

We booked our flights from Edmonton and Montreal for our guests through the Sun Wing Vacations Company since they offer a package price for hotel, airport transfers and flights.  They were by far the most disappointing part of our wedding trip.  Their customer service is terrible from flight attendants to resort representatives. Our group was a pretty laid back, low maintain acne group, thank goodness, but it could have spelled disaster had our friends and family not been so amazing. 

Flight Staff-I have flown with Signature Vacations before and had a great experience with their cheerful and helpful flight staff.  Sun wing was the exact opposite.  We had zero drink service and I never got my pre ordered gluten free meal as promised.  Just a remark from the flight attendant that "their catering company sucks!"-how professional! Everyone was yelled at every time they lined up to use the washroom(you were to wait in your seats and then dash up when it was free!) The whole experience on the plane made our guests feel like children on a school bus and it was not the fun start we had hoped for our Wedding week.

Transfers-A 20 minute ordeal at the airport that involved them yelling at us and ripping luggage out of every ones hands.  They were very disorganized and abrupt.  My sister flew in by herself late at night and they said her name was not on their transfer paperwork so they wouldn't let her on the shuttle.  She showed them her paperwork proving she had paid as part of the package, but they didn't care.  So at 11pm she had to take a 30 minute taxi ride, by herself, to the resort for $50US.  After much arguing over the course of the week, we got her money reimbursed by the Sun Wing Rep at El Dorado Royale, only to have her shuttle back to the airport a week later not show up at all!  We had get the front desk to get her another shuttle and she finally made it to the airport an hour before her flight. 

Sun Wing Resort Representative-He was very helpful at first, telling us all about the excursions and trips available to be booked through him and Sun Wing.  But once we went to book with him he was never at his office when he said he would be.  We called the cell number he gave us to contact him and he yelled at us saying he was "off duty now" Our friends ended up booking their Xel-Ha trip through the Lomas people at the hotel for a cheaper price too. He even called all of my guests rooms to get them to book a dolphin trip just because one couple had mentioned they may want to do.  He also cleary failed on his job to ensure all of our transfers were arranged too as in the case of my sister!

DO NOT book with Sun Wing or if you must, just be warned you will not get the service advertised on their website.  Do a quick internet search and you will see lots of other poor customer service reviews on them.  I wish I had.

Any questions or if you want to see more photos PM me!!