Gran Bahia Principe Akumal/Tulum/Coba - POST HERE!

[nikki&owen]

We are having our reception and dinner poolside. I wanted to have a private dinner for speeches etc. and it looks really beautiful. We were quoted $50 per person for the dinner which includes 3 hours of bar, then we would have to pay something like $5per person per hour for the extra hours of bar (depending on what you want on the bar).

We are staying in Mexico for two weeks, but for the second week we are moving to a different resort. We are still trying to decide which one right now though. It is hard! The Eldorado Royal looks nice, but so does Secrets Maroma and many others. Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on where they stayed?

[nhedderson]

for your second week i would recommend the El Dorado Royale. Both of my sister in laws went there and said it was INCREDIBLE!! i would too, but we have two kids and it is adults only!!!!

[TATrisha]

The pictures are from the Akumal side.  I had 36 guests, and it was one of the best decisions I made for my wedding.  Worth every single penny!

[kitchenwitch]

Hi Ladies,

 

I accidentally created a new post on the general Riviera May, Cancun forum.  But it should have gone here.

 

I've been back in Toronto for just over a week now.  I was so sad to leave the resort everyone was amazing!

 

I thought I'd share with you a quick run down of what my wedding week was like. Sorry if it's toolong!

 

We arrived in Cancun after 6:45PM local time.  After going through customs, I got a green light. Whoo!  We were off to the buses for Nolitours.  At first it seemed like mayhem with everyone's luggage all over the  place but every piece made it onto our bus.  The majority of the passengers were all going to the Gran Bahia's.  We did a quick drop off for a few folks and finally arrived to Gran Bahia Akumal just before 9.  We were taken to the Main Akumal lobby and were told to take the tram to the Royal Golden lobby for check in. Checkin was fast and smooth.  We chose all our a la carte, you get 4 + the wedding dinner.  After putting on our bracelets (hubby and i got gold ones, this made me really giddy) we headed to our building #68 and had Room 6821 right at the top right corner of the building. 

 

They bring your luggage right outside the door so no worries there.  Once we got opur bearings we headed over to the 24 hour snack bar and filled up on beer and nachos.  We were in bed by 1.

 

Monday, October 25th:  Our fist full day in sunny Mexico!  We wook up to a beautiful golden sky and a pretty good view of the beach.  We met our room attendant Iver.  If you get Building 68 you'll probably see him. We gorged at the Akumal buffet and headed over to the Akumal beach side for the majority if the day.  I made sure to bring mostly bandeau bikini's so I wouldn't get any ridiculous tan lines before the ceremony on Thursday.  We took a cab with 2 other couples toPlaya del Carmen so we could buy our mmaraca giveaways for the wedding.  It was nice.  Lots of the same shops, they have a MAC store here with a cop with an AK47 in the lobby area, Hagendaz and other greatlittle stores.  We were offered drugs on numerous occassions, no biggie just say no gracias! This day was pure chill afterwards.

 

Tuesday, October 26th:  We tried the Tulum buffet for breakfast. Not too bad.   Better selection than Akumal but I'm not really picky. I'm a chef so I'll basically eat anything!  We had decided to book our excursion at the resort.  Marian and Cristelle were vgreat.  We decided to go to Xel-Ha and Tulum for Wednesday.  It cost $125USD per person.  My bff's son who is 8 was half price. 

 

With that out of the way, we finally got to meet Eugenia at 4.  She had our file and notes all in order.  She was definately on the ball.  She knew everything I had requested in all my many months of emails off the top of her head. I had previously sent her a picture of the flowers I wanted and she confirmed she could get them. We confirmed our dinner at Frutos del Mar and a private poolside reception.  We gave her the ceremony music (4 songs) and taht was pretty ,uch it.  She sent us to the doctor at the Hacienda to get our blood test done.  ($90 USD) They only accept cash.  We were in the waiting room for over an hour as there were 3 other couples there. Once we got there we signed the waiver got our "butterfly" needle and were done.

 

We had our first a la carte at Mikado for 8PM.  The restaurant was hot.  And let me tewll you I know hot!  It was actually cooler outside than in the restaurant. The food was not as good as the Tripadvisor posts would lead you to believe.  But the service was great!  Our waiter brought out the drink cart during desert and all was well!  Later that night the 8 couples that came down with us including ourselves got into our swimwear and smoked cigars atthe Akumal pool.  Perfect night chilling with friends.

 

Wednesday, October 27th:  We were lazy and had breakfast at the Akumal buffet.  We met at the lobby before 10.  You get a pink wristband when you get on the bus and the tour guide tells you the schedule of the day.  Basically 10:30- 2:30 at Xel-Ha and the remainder of the day till 5 at the Tulum ruins.

 

Xel-Ha is huge!  If you don't like to snorkel there is still alot to do for both adults and kids.  A $20 US deposit gets you snorkel gear for the day. I got tired of snorkeling and the not-so-lazy river after the first 1 1/2.  I walked around for a while, met some manatees, cheked out cenotes and wlaked across the floating bridge.  This bridge is on the border of the nature reserve and the ocean. It felt like it was going to flip right over.  Your admission gets you lunch at the buffet.  It was open air, very clean and much needed after all that swiming.

 

The bus came for us after 2:30 and we were on our way to the ruins at Tulum.  The first thing you do when you get off the bus is get ushered into the jewelry store where you can purchase your name in Mayan, other silver pieces, etcc all from the area.  It was a bit suprising at first as it felt like it was forced on you.  After 15 minutes our tour guide took us through the 10 minute walk to the mouth of the ruins.  He was a great tour guide and you really learn a Cliff notes version of Mayan history.  After the initial tour, you can wander about and go to the beach below.  The waves are mental over here!  I was knocked back by a wave, the pressure pulled off my bikini bottom so naturally I bent down to grab the and lost my new Coach sunglasses in the process.   Alas, a sacrifice to the Mayan gods for allowing me to trample on their land.  Great day overall.  Since this was our excursion day, I din't get to see Patty's (Patourn) ceremony at the gazebo.  CONGRATS Patty to you and your new hubby!  Since the next day was W-Day, we just came back to the resort and chilled at the Hacienda and walked around.

 

Thursday, October 28th: YAY!

We asked to have our honeymoon breakfast on this morning. We hung out, watched some tv and were generally lazy until Ikicked him out at 11.  Fernando and Gama from themakeupros came promptly at 11:45 and did a beautiful job.  Fernado loved my hot pink Barbie shoes from Town Shoes so much that he took pictures of them.  LOL!  They were so worth the $350 US.  After they left me and my maid of honor just relaxed until 4.  AFter pictures of me gettining into my dress, etc... My Dad, maid of honor and I wee taken by tram just in front of the snack bar just before 5PM.  Eugenia quickly lined us up, ripped offmy resort bracelet with her teeth and off we went.  I was so nervous to see what the decor at the beach looke dlike.  When my Dad and I stepped out I was in awe it was so beautiful. Simple and pink! Teh ceremony itself goes so fast, even though we wrote our own vows.  Teh wedding party walked down to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I walked down to Se of Love (Cat Power version), we signe dthe certificate to Kiss The Girl and the reessional was Just Like Heaven (The Cure).  We had a champagen toast right at the beach afterwards.  The photographer provided by the resort, Antonio was great.  Your package includes 10 free pictures.  We weren't originally going to buy more but loved them somuch and ended up getting some extras.  It ended up being $700 for a cd of all the pictures he took and 2 huge portraits of our choice.

 

Wedding dinner was amazing.  I honestly didn't expect it to be that yummy.  Salad, Three pepper soup and Chicken Supreme = Yum!  We chose the 3 milk cake, which was to die for.  Just before 8, Eugenia walked us over to our private reception.  It was beautifullly lit and DJ Bijan was smiling and ready to go.  We partied till 11PM.  So worth it!  We ordered shutter shades from Oriental Trading Co. and handed these out along with our OOT bags on the first day.  Everyone had a greta time, expecially my 1 year old nephew who was hypnotized by DJ Bijan's lights.

 

The next day I had a deep tissue massage with Waldo by the beach.  The rest of our stay here was amazing.  I wish we had booked a 2nd week for our honeymoon.  This was the best all-inclusive I have ever been to.  It kicks Jamaica, Dom. Rep., Cuba and Costa Rica's butt!   The staff here work so so hard and do not make alot  They truly made this wedding/vacation stress free. From an emergency dress steaming to fixing our clogged (hubby's did it!) toilets they are fast and friendly. So remember to tip, tip, tip!

 

My advice to those planning their wedding.  It was all worth it!  Don't stress too much, the wc's really know there stuff. Just remember to have a great time! We had 34 guests come from all over the world and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding!  I can't wait to go back!

 

If anyone has any questions, please pm me!  

[sunnyee]

Welcome back and congrats! So happy to hear everything went well and you had such a great time! I had every intention of coming down the beach to discreetly watch your wedding but as it was our last day, I stayed by the Tulum pool with my 13 girlfriends and partied. Ariel at the pool bar brought us rounds and rounds of beverages and it was so hot, we just stayed in the pool.

 

I love that Eugenia ripped your bracelet off with her teeth before going down the "aisle"!! The wedding coordinators really do go above and beyond to make everything perfect! I remember Karla standing there holding practically all of my wedding party's shoes...

 

Can't wait to see some pics!

 

Congrats again and may you have many happy years as a Mrs!

 

Cheers,

Sunnyee

[waybuloo]

Welcome back Kitchenwitch so happy that your wedding was so amazing for you......I get all excited & want to scream when I read how wonderful all your weddings went....I just want to be there NOW!!!!

 

I am sure I will have tons more questions for you but for now enjoy being missus's!x

[abbie32]

Congratulations Kitchenwitch! I can't wait to see your pics! I'm so happy to hear you had an amazing time. It makes me excited to think about my wedding and gives me a sigh of relief when I hear how great it was.

 

Trish - thanks for posting some pics of the poolside reception. It looks like there is lots of room. I was worried because we have a big group and I wanted room for dancing too. Can't wait!!  Did the resort give you the glow in the dark ice cubes? Those are great. 

 

[Patourn]

Sunnyee if you were at the Tulum pool you must have seen me and my crew of 60...we were the loud ones going crazy when they played Down with Webster (Ariel ws on the bar dancing) and my girlfriends 6 year old son heloed run the Water Areobics and water Polo. I was I had known you were there!! 

[Patourn]

Hey my friend I went looking for you at Akumal the day of your wedding but thought I had missed it and went back to the Tulum side!!! I thought you were getting amrried at 3! Wasn't it just amazing!!!! I'm currently working on my review now!! But I swear it was the trip of a lifetime!!

 

Originally Posted by kitchenwitch 

Hi Ladies,

 

I accidentally created a new post on the general Riviera May, Cancun forum.  But it should have gone here.

 

I've been back in Toronto for just over a week now.  I was so sad to leave the resort everyone was amazing!

 

I thought I'd share with you a quick run down of what my wedding week was like. Sorry if it's toolong!

 

We arrived in Cancun after 6:45PM local time.  After going through customs, I got a green light. Whoo!  We were off to the buses for Nolitours.  At first it seemed like mayhem with everyone's luggage all over the  place but every piece made it onto our bus.  The majority of the passengers were all going to the Gran Bahia's.  We did a quick drop off for a few folks and finally arrived to Gran Bahia Akumal just before 9.  We were taken to the Main Akumal lobby and were told to take the tram to the Royal Golden lobby for check in. Checkin was fast and smooth.  We chose all our a la carte, you get 4 + the wedding dinner.  After putting on our bracelets (hubby and i got gold ones, this made me really giddy) we headed to our building #68 and had Room 6821 right at the top right corner of the building. 

 

They bring your luggage right outside the door so no worries there.  Once we got opur bearings we headed over to the 24 hour snack bar and filled up on beer and nachos.  We were in bed by 1.

 

Monday, October 25th:  Our fist full day in sunny Mexico!  We wook up to a beautiful golden sky and a pretty good view of the beach.  We met our room attendant Iver.  If you get Building 68 you'll probably see him. We gorged at the Akumal buffet and headed over to the Akumal beach side for the majority if the day.  I made sure to bring mostly bandeau bikini's so I wouldn't get any ridiculous tan lines before the ceremony on Thursday.  We took a cab with 2 other couples toPlaya del Carmen so we could buy our mmaraca giveaways for the wedding.  It was nice.  Lots of the same shops, they have a MAC store here with a cop with an AK47 in the lobby area, Hagendaz and other greatlittle stores.  We were offered drugs on numerous occassions, no biggie just say no gracias! This day was pure chill afterwards.

 

Tuesday, October 26th:  We tried the Tulum buffet for breakfast. Not too bad.   Better selection than Akumal but I'm not really picky. I'm a chef so I'll basically eat anything!  We had decided to book our excursion at the resort.  Marian and Cristelle were vgreat.  We decided to go to Xel-Ha and Tulum for Wednesday.  It cost $125USD per person.  My bff's son who is 8 was half price. 

 

With that out of the way, we finally got to meet Eugenia at 4.  She had our file and notes all in order.  She was definately on the ball.  She knew everything I had requested in all my many months of emails off the top of her head. I had previously sent her a picture of the flowers I wanted and she confirmed she could get them. We confirmed our dinner at Frutos del Mar and a private poolside reception.  We gave her the ceremony music (4 songs) and taht was pretty ,uch it.  She sent us to the doctor at the Hacienda to get our blood test done.  ($90 USD) They only accept cash.  We were in the waiting room for over an hour as there were 3 other couples there. Once we got there we signed the waiver got our "butterfly" needle and were done.

 

We had our first a la carte at Mikado for 8PM.  The restaurant was hot.  And let me tewll you I know hot!  It was actually cooler outside than in the restaurant. The food was not as good as the Tripadvisor posts would lead you to believe.  But the service was great!  Our waiter brought out the drink cart during desert and all was well!  Later that night the 8 couples that came down with us including ourselves got into our swimwear and smoked cigars atthe Akumal pool.  Perfect night chilling with friends.

 

Wednesday, October 27th:  We were lazy and had breakfast at the Akumal buffet.  We met at the lobby before 10.  You get a pink wristband when you get on the bus and the tour guide tells you the schedule of the day.  Basically 10:30- 2:30 at Xel-Ha and the remainder of the day till 5 at the Tulum ruins.

 

Xel-Ha is huge!  If you don't like to snorkel there is still alot to do for both adults and kids.  A $20 US deposit gets you snorkel gear for the day. I got tired of snorkeling and the not-so-lazy river after the first 1 1/2.  I walked around for a while, met some manatees, cheked out cenotes and wlaked across the floating bridge.  This bridge is on the border of the nature reserve and the ocean. It felt like it was going to flip right over.  Your admission gets you lunch at the buffet.  It was open air, very clean and much needed after all that swiming.

 

The bus came for us after 2:30 and we were on our way to the ruins at Tulum.  The first thing you do when you get off the bus is get ushered into the jewelry store where you can purchase your name in Mayan, other silver pieces, etcc all from the area.  It was a bit suprising at first as it felt like it was forced on you.  After 15 minutes our tour guide took us through the 10 minute walk to the mouth of the ruins.  He was a great tour guide and you really learn a Cliff notes version of Mayan history.  After the initial tour, you can wander about and go to the beach below.  The waves are mental over here!  I was knocked back by a wave, the pressure pulled off my bikini bottom so naturally I bent down to grab the and lost my new Coach sunglasses in the process.   Alas, a sacrifice to the Mayan gods for allowing me to trample on their land.  Great day overall.  Since this was our excursion day, I din't get to see Patty's (Patourn) ceremony at the gazebo.  CONGRATS Patty to you and your new hubby!  Since the next day was W-Day, we just came back to the resort and chilled at the Hacienda and walked around.

 

Thursday, October 28th: YAY!

We asked to have our honeymoon breakfast on this morning. We hung out, watched some tv and were generally lazy until Ikicked him out at 11.  Fernando and Gama from themakeupros came promptly at 11:45 and did a beautiful job.  Fernado loved my hot pink Barbie shoes from Town Shoes so much that he took pictures of them.  LOL!  They were so worth the $350 US.  After they left me and my maid of honor just relaxed until 4.  AFter pictures of me gettining into my dress, etc... My Dad, maid of honor and I wee taken by tram just in front of the snack bar just before 5PM.  Eugenia quickly lined us up, ripped offmy resort bracelet with her teeth and off we went.  I was so nervous to see what the decor at the beach looke dlike.  When my Dad and I stepped out I was in awe it was so beautiful. Simple and pink! Teh ceremony itself goes so fast, even though we wrote our own vows.  Teh wedding party walked down to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I walked down to Se of Love (Cat Power version), we signe dthe certificate to Kiss The Girl and the reessional was Just Like Heaven (The Cure).  We had a champagen toast right at the beach afterwards.  The photographer provided by the resort, Antonio was great.  Your package includes 10 free pictures.  We weren't originally going to buy more but loved them somuch and ended up getting some extras.  It ended up being $700 for a cd of all the pictures he took and 2 huge portraits of our choice.

 

Wedding dinner was amazing.  I honestly didn't expect it to be that yummy.  Salad, Three pepper soup and Chicken Supreme = Yum!  We chose the 3 milk cake, which was to die for.  Just before 8, Eugenia walked us over to our private reception.  It was beautifullly lit and DJ Bijan was smiling and ready to go.  We partied till 11PM.  So worth it!  We ordered shutter shades from Oriental Trading Co. and handed these out along with our OOT bags on the first day.  Everyone had a greta time, expecially my 1 year old nephew who was hypnotized by DJ Bijan's lights.

 

The next day I had a deep tissue massage with Waldo by the beach.  The rest of our stay here was amazing.  I wish we had booked a 2nd week for our honeymoon.  This was the best all-inclusive I have ever been to.  It kicks Jamaica, Dom. Rep., Cuba and Costa Rica's butt!   The staff here work so so hard and do not make alot  They truly made this wedding/vacation stress free. From an emergency dress steaming to fixing our clogged (hubby's did it!) toilets they are fast and friendly. So remember to tip, tip, tip!

 

My advice to those planning their wedding.  It was all worth it!  Don't stress too much, the wc's really know there stuff. Just remember to have a great time! We had 34 guests come from all over the world and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding!  I can't wait to go back!

 

If anyone has any questions, please pm me!  

[sunnyee]

Hey Patourn!

 

We were on the upper level of the pool and had our own tunes going so we wouldn't necessarily have heard you. Ariel was a scream! He served our drinks on a tray and then did some "dancing" for us too! He kept saying over and over, "I love my job, I love my job!"

 

Crazy that we were so close on the Thursday! Had we only known...can't wait to read your review!

 

Cheers,

Sunnyee