Barcelo Maya

[tata2]

Please make sure everyone is taking apples and apples Sandra. Some sound like individual prices, some might include the wedding they want and it also depends on time of year.

We are at the Tropical so no sense giving our rates but check with a travel agent also before booking direct to see if you are getting the best deal!

Good luck I think you made a great choice!

Tamasin

[Shannond4156]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparkles I am getting married on July 10th at the Barcelo. Does anyone have any information on activities? We are having about 25 guest and some of the guys are going golfing - any good golf courses around? Has anyone used their Salon or Spa Services?

I just got back from our wedding at the Barcelo last week. We had about 10 guys that went golfing twice. I know they played in Playacar one day and a little farther north another. The Barcelo was able to set both tee times up for them. The arranged it all once they arrived. They opted to play twighlight hours (golf after 3pm) to save some money and they were back both times around 8 pm.

As for the spa, they are good, but I wansn't blown away by the hair for the wedding, but all the other services were great. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

[harv0136]

Does anyone know how many business days in advance we need to be there if our ceremony is not legal? Thanks!

[hmj]

Hi All

I just wanted to write a review of the wedding.

Darin and I stayed at the Barcelo Maya Beach resort. We were supposed to stay at the Caribe (just a few years newer than the Beach), but it was closed! We did not find that out until we got there to check in, but really, it was no big deal.

 

Check-In: We did not get drinks handed to us when we first got there, but some of our guests did. I think it just depends on how busy they are. There are some drinks to the right of the front desk if you want to help yourself. Check in when pretty smooth, EXCEPT for the fact that we paid for a jr. suite and were put in a normal room. The room we were originally put in was decorated very nicely and had chapmpgne, a fruit tray, beach towels and the towel decorations. The bellman moved all of it to our room as soon as they got it all figured out. It took probably 15 minutes. Slightly annoying because we were so excited to get to the beach and start hanging out with everyone, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.

 

The Room: The Jr. Suite had a kind sized bed and a couch and a balcony (they all have balconies). It was nice to have the extra space when we were all getting ready the day of the wedding. All the rooms have mini-firdges and they are all restocked daily. They are all cleaned daily (although the time the room was cleaned seemed to get later and later each day). I mean, it's a hotel room, if you're spending THAT much time in it, what kind of a vacation are you really having?

 

The Grounds: Beautiful. They really were gorgeous. The resort is HUGE and everything was well maintained.

 

The Beach: FANTASTIC. I walked the whole beach--from the Beach resort to the Palace and I really thought the Beach resort had one of the nicest and biggest beaches, if not the nicest. There were TONS of chairs and no one really played the towel game where you put out your towel at 7am to make sure you get a chair. The water was warm and beautiful. You can walk out really far in the Carribbean and still not be over your head (I'm 5'4").

 

The Pool: I didn't get to see all the pools, but from what I've read, the Beach has the biggest pool. I really don't know. But the pool is very large and there are tons of chairs and hammocks (in the shade) and it was GREAT! The pool is where my friends and family spent most of their time.

 

The Food: Well, I have to say, the buffet did get a little old by day 6, but really, it was pretty good. I was sick until the day before the wedding (I got the flu the day before we left for Mexico), so I'm probably not a good judge of food, honestly. All I can say is to USE YOUR RESTAURANT TICKETS and MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS EARLY (like the day you get there or the day after)!

 

The Drinks: The drinks were good! Most of them had a decent amount of alcohol in them, some didn't and some had WAY too much. But overall, they were pretty good. Most of the time, we were at the beach bar connected to the Beach pool. In the grills for lunch, the alcohol and mixers and beer are all out in the open for your taking. It's cool!

 

The Wedding Coordinator: My WC was Claudia Vasquez. She really was wonderful. Darin and I got to the resort on Monday and we met with Claudia on Tuesday at 10am. She had remembered most of what I had emailed her about and was basically just clarifying everything. She really was great. We brought all our decorations down to her the next day and she again went over everything and organized everything so it was correct in the suitcases for when she and her co-workers needed to decorate. I brought my own centerpieces and chair decorations b/c the bows they had to choose from did not match anything. They did a WONDERFUL job. We got our blood tests done right after meeting with Claudia and it was probably the best blood draw I've ever had. No bruise, no pain and no bleeding afterward! I think we got lucky!! Oh, and FYI--we went with the Sea Breeze package.

 

The Wedding: Darin and I got married on the beach outside the Captain Morgan Grill at 3pm. We had a violin playing a slow song for the wedding party to walk in to (I don't know what song it was) and Cannon D was playing for me. It was GREAT (until the amplifier went out, oh well!). Everything looked WONDERFUL. The judge was wonderful and did a great job. We did a sand ceremony that we had our usher read and after that, the judge told us we could kiss! Oh, and we also wrote our own vows. That was nerve-wrecking, but I'm glad we did it. Darin put all of his on his iPhone--it was hilarious! We did decide it was OK to write them down b/c that's just WAY too much pressure to memorize them (for us, anyway). After we walked down the aisle, married, the were wait staff there to hand out champagne to everyone. We didn't do a toast, but it was nice to have something to drink!

 

The Reception Hall: The reception was held inside the Beach hotel in a banquet room. I know that if we had had our reception outside it would have been wonderful, but really, I was SO happy to get inside, out of the heat and wind! I had a traditional wedding dress, so I was VERY HOT and the guys were dying!!! I will post wedding pictures, but just so you know, everything we had at the wedding, we brought down with us, except for the flowers--those were the bridesmaid bouquets. Oh, and when we walked into the reception, the waiters handed everyone a drink, which got the party started off right!

 

The Reception Food: We chose from "El Agave" menu. We chose: Vegetarian Quesadillas, Chicken "mixiote", steamed in cactus leaf & served with rice and guacamole and creamy pie with almonds & raspberry flavors, vanilla sauce. We did have 2 vegetarian guests and were able to order vegetarian fajitas for them for the entree. Anyway, the food was EXCELLENT. Everyone commented on how great it was. I thought the dessert was a little heavy and I wish I would have picked something a little lighter (I thought it would be lighter, obviously) but it was still very good. We decided NOT to do cake for everyone and I'm glad we didn't. No one would have eaten it. Besides the dessert, the wait staff also brought out mini desserts during the dance. I think they were a chocolate cup with some filling? Maybe like a truffle? I don't know. A lot of people had them and liked them, but I was too busy dancing to notice!

 

The Wait Staff: SOOO fun. We really had a GREAT time with us and you could tell they were there to make sure we had fun. We had a total of 8 wait staff (including the bartender). We had a total of 40 people there. That's one waiter to every 5 guests and that was AWESOME. They provided EXCELLENT service.

 

The Music: Darin and I decided to do our own music playlist. It was a lot of fun, but I would have done less hip hop if I redid it! However, that being said, pretty much everyone danced the entire time. Our reception lasted from 5-10:30. It was supposed to go til 10, but my friends wouldn't leave and the wait staff kept encouraging them. But it was fun!!

 

The Photographer/Videographer: We had an outside photographer, Cecilia Dumas. I have yet to see my pictures and wedding video (we also hired a guy who works with Cecilia, Benjamin, to do the wedding video). From what I can tell, she was WONDERFUL to work with, and Benjamin was great also, but like I said, I haven't seen the finished product yet. We SHOULD be getting them on Saturday or Monday. We had to pay $300 to the resort to have Cecilia, Benjamin and the assistant. They showed up at 2pm and stayed until 6pm.

 

I really don't think I would have done anything differently--besides be healthy the entire time! :-) Let me know if you have any questions, but like I said, I was sick for so much of the time, I don't know as much as I normally would if I was healthy and able to wander around, look at the other resorts more, etc.

[hmj]

In the hotel room before the ceremony

 

The Bridesmaids and Myself Pre-Ceremony

 

Ceremony Set Up

 

Darin and the Moms

 

One of the Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

 

Bridesmaids

 

Me and My Dad

 

Exchanging of the Rings

 

Vows

 

Me on the beach--Darin snapped this one, but I was working with the photographer

[hmj]

Banquet Hall

 

View of the Tables

 

Bridesmaids Flowers--only at "head" table

 

First Dance--My Favorite Part. It was GREAT to be able to TALK to him!!! We danced to "Then" by Brad Paisley

 

Bar and Bartender

 

Waiter--they were FUN

[joie1987]

Hi ladies

i am a Jan 2010 Barcelo Bride!! I chose the Sea breeze package but an now a bit worried... I can't decide if i want to have my reception in one of the open air grills? I am looking at the pictures above me and the banquet hall does look very sweet as well. any advice which to go with? if i do want to switch to a grill, do i have to upgrade my package, or can i just pay a fee? Also, is it too late to upgrade my package, do i have to stick with what i chose? please help, any info would be great, thanks!!

[harv0136]

Hali, How many people did you have at your reception? I've heard the banquet rooms can be small, and am worried because I might have 60 people.

 

Also, did they hang something from the ceiling of the room or did you bring your own decorations? What did they include for the set-up in the room? Should I bring my own centerpieces and candles? Thanks!

[harv0136]

One more question, did you get to pick how you wanted your tables set up? Do you know if you can have a head table with round tables too? Thanks!

[IndianBride]

Hi ladies - just got back from being married at Barcelo Maya Palace. Will try to do a review soon - but everything was amazing and gorgeous! We had 61 people and chose the banquet room which was nice and we were able to choose how we wanted the tables setup. Also, they provided centerpieces but if you want to bring your own stuff, they'll set that up for you too!