Occidental Grand Xcaret Wedding Review

[Jackie]

Saw this on trip advisor and thought I should post it!

 

Dec 1st 2006

We just got back from a two week stay at the Grand Xcaret. We went down to get married and our families came for one week. There were 10 of us that went down all together.

 

This hotel is located about 60 mins from the airport. The ride was good and there were Corona's and waters to purchase on the bus.

 

Check in was not so smooth. They did not have my sister as a regisitered guest!!!! My husbands famliy needed a room with 2 beds and they were booked into one with a king bed. Because they needed the room with the 2 beds they were separated from the group. This might of been a mistake of Air Canada Vacations, but the hotel was very good in making sure that it was taken care of.

 

The room was good. The beds are a bit hard, but that is something that you have to deal with when you go to Mexico. We had fresh flowers on the bed and towel animals every day. Since we were getting married we also had a small package of goodies and some rum in the room when we arrived!!! The mini bar was always stocked and the room was clean.

 

We stayed in building 20 near the fun club. There was always something going on. We really liked the aqua areobics at 12:00!!!! The pool was clean and we spent most of our time lounging around there the first week with our famlies.

 

The food was good. We found the beach club the best for breakfast. It was very relaxing to sit down by the ocean and have your coffee!!!! The buffet always had a theme night and there was alway a great selection. Paco Taco and the pizza place were good if you wanted something quick in the evening. The steak house, Mexican, and the Oriental were our favorite resturants out of the a la carts. Out of the 10 of us only one person got sick!!!!

 

The service was great!!!! The staff were very friendly. The drinks were good. We tipped the staff and we always got great service.

 

We loved laying down at the beach. The staff was freindly down there and the drinks were good. There is a guy down there that does ceramics and you can paint a ceramic to pass time. He will then take it home and touch it up and bring it back to you the next day. I found this to be a blast!!!!!

 

In the evening we went to a few shows. They were okay, but not great. We loved sitting in the lobby during the evening having peanuts and popcorn!!!!

 

We got married on Thursday of the first week that we were there. If you are going to get married here and are having trouble with the wedding coordinator getting back to you over e-mail I can reassure you that it will all go fine once you get there. We meant with the wedding coordinator on Monday and we pick out our flowers (bright orange and yellow gerber daisys), the resturant that we wanted to have supper at, and a cake. Edith (the wedding coordinator)made our appointments at the spa to have my hair and make up done. Cancun Studios did our pictures and they were awesome. Halberto took some great pictures and if you are going to get married here I would definantly get them to do your wedding photographs. If you are having your hair done at the spa come with a picture. I had to pick on out of a book. I was a bit scared at the beginning, but my hair and makeup turned out good. The wedding got pushed up from 6:00 to 5:00 as it was dark at 6:00. The wedding was beautiful!!!!! It took place down by the beach club in a small gazebo. The wedding was short, but good. We had champane when the ceremony was finished and Edith drove us in our wedding car(a decorated golf cart) to supper. We ate at the Los Olives for our wedding supper. The food was good and there were 3 Mexican singers that came into the resturant. We had our first dance in the resturant while they sang for us!!!! We had chocolate cake for wedding cake and it was great!!!! We had a beautiful wedding, but you have to remember to go with the flow. You can't organize your wedding before you get to the resort. Once you get there everything will go smooth.

 

The xcaret park is great, but big with lots of walking!!!!! There is so much to see and do over there. My favorite thing was the turtles!!!!!! The evening show is spactacular!!!!! If you are going to this resort I would recommend using you free passes as you will not be dissapointed.

 

As for tours there is one that I would recommend. It is the Formula One boat tour. It was great and we got to snorkle at Akumal bay with the sea turtles!!!!

 

Cons:

There are people in all of the buildings trying to sell you time shares. Just be firm and say no to their offer.

 

The wedding was beautiful, but expensive for what you get. If you pay for a wedding package you have to pay extra on top of that for the minister to do the wedding. They are all about making money. All of the little things are not included (steaming by wedding dress cost $35 US.) So whatever you see on the wedding package is what you will get and you have to remember that all of the other little things are extra.

 

Overall we had a great time at the Grand Xcaret. Our wedding was beautiful and the service was great. This is a great resort to go to if you want to get way and have a relaxing vacation!!!!!