aventura spa palace

[ddiinnyyeell]

Yeah I'd like to know about the lounge and night club as well. We aren't having a private reception after, just the dinner, so I'm trying to figure out what we will do after the dinner.

[Jena0609]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohiobride15 Jena0609: We had our reception by one of the coves on the north side. We chose not to do the mundaca rooftop becuase it was just way too big. I loved our location. We were right on the ocean and we were away from everything so it felt like it was just us. Below is a picture of the location during the day and at night. Its kind of hard to see at night.

How long were you able to stay out at the inlet? My WC just informed me that we can only be outside until 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was that the case for you?

[Jena0609]

Ohiobride-I just re-read your review and saw that you were out there until 10:30. So I guess that is the case for all outside venues. That sucks!!! Our wedding is at 6 and after pics, dinner, we won't have a lot of time for our reception (unless we have it inside) which I don't want. That would the defeat the whole purpose of us have a DW (for us anyway). I am thinking that I might have to change our wedding time to 3:00. That way we can do all of our stuff and then have a private reception from 7-10. OH BROTHER!!

[kellywinter1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jena0609 That is disappointing that she didn't mention that to you. We are also getting married at 6:00, and I am a little worried about the lighting as well. Yazmin said that the sun sets around 7:30...but we are hiring another photographer and he is going to get there around 4:00 so at least we can get the shots of me and my BM's, mom, etc. That way right after the wedding we can just do our wedding shots. Did you go to the lounge and night club there? How was it?

We are a little disappointed in Yazmin. But we spoke with our travel agent on this matter and we are going to see if we can get a refund of some sort. Yeah the $180 difference in price didn't kill us but every little bit adds up. If nothing comes of it oh well....

Maybe if you can move your ceremony up an hour if you are really concerned? Since it was just my hubby and me at our wedding it was important for us to get the best and as many pictures as possible to show our friends and family. But I didn't realize how much light/time would be an issue. The resort is HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!! There are so many places on both sides of the resort that would offer great back drops to photos. I really wanted to get pictures by the water falls and then in this little jungle area that had a hut. I thought both those places would exemplify the tropical exotic feel we were going for. Plus I haven't seen one wedding picture taken in the jungle/hut area so I really wanted to get some there. Granted I am sure that location may not appeal to every one or be at the top of their list with so many other beautiful locations on the resort but it was something different. Any way both these places are on the north side of the resort and our ceremony was on the south side. Traveling from side to side would have been too timely. But if we would have had our ceremony earlier we could have traveled to the other side via golf cart/walking took our pictures and then made it back to the "beach" setting to have our sunset pictures that we ended up with any way.

So I bring some disapponting news they do not have the martini/lounge bar any longer!!!! The lounge was one of the places I was looking forward to visiting while down there and was upset to hear it was done away with. According to several people we spoke with the lounge was on the south side (now the family side) and it was taken out to be used now for a family area. Boo!!! While down there we met a few couples that are in the time share program Palace resorts offer so they had been to ASP numerous times and they said the lounge was the best bar to go to and they were upset it was taken out.

The night club/disco was used for one of the shows while we were there and that is the only time I went there. The night club/disco is also on the south side. As I had said before we found ourselve traveling down to the south (family) side frequently for dinner and other activities so I saw the disco several times. But besides the evening when the show was being held there I did not see many if any people in the disco. And I imagine since the disco was on the family side children would be allowed to enter it.

In my oppinion I am not really sure why ASP made the south side the family side. The only reason I could see why is because of the Spa being on the north side. Most of the entertainment/activities were located at the south end. I think the changes have irritated some of the resorts more frequent guest, but I think if you never knew the difference it wouldn't bother you too much. Although taking out the lounge did make me a little disappointed. Also in previous reviews I saw how most people said the south side was the louder end due to the activities and the north was more relaxing, well now since the south has been made for families ASP has made one of the pools areas on the north side for activities for adults making it pretty loud and obnoxious at times but all in good fun! And there is still an area for relaxing by the pools that is pretty tranquil.

[ohiobride15]

We had our reception from 6-10:30. Then after that we went to the disco till like 3. The disco is a lot of fun if there are people there. Some days it was busy and some days it wasnt. The wedding day it was packed so it was a lot of fun.

[kellywinter1]

So I went on ASP web site to see if I could figure out what the lounge was turned into and I discovered that the lounge is now the kids lounge where there is a dance machine, XBox, pool table and juice/virgin drink bar. While we were there they were putting the finishing touches on the room so I guess they will post pictures when it is complete. I will look through my pictures tonight and see if I have any of the new kid lounge.

[rbarzu]

I was also worried about the "nightlife" after our reception. We are getting married at 3 p.m., but in November the sun sets at 5 p.m. in Mexico so we will barely be making it with photos and all. But then I thought...our 30 guests are tons of fun. If the disco is empty, more room for us to dance and party up a storm! :-) And when it's just the two of us, during our honeymoon stay, Playa del Carmen is just 12 miles away....We stayed at the Fairmont Mayakoba this spring and loved Playa Del Carmen's nightlife...

[Jena0609]

KellyWinter1-Did you go on any of the free tours? If so, how were they?

[kellywinter1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jena0609 KellyWinter1-Did you go on any of the free tours? If so, how were they?

Jena- We did go on the Tulum Express Tour. We would have def took advantage of the free tours by doing more if we were there longer but we just didn't have enough time. So the Tulum Express Tour worked great for us since it wasn't an all day thing.

The only thing we didn't like about the tour was stopping at this store on the side of the road and being made to get out and walk around. But reading trip advisor I expected the stop so I just sucked it up. Two things I would suggest if you choose to do this tour is bringing lots of bug spray for the tour because we were still being attacked by bugs even after we put on the spray and also bring your bathing suit so you can take advantage of the beautiful beach/ocean Tulum. I will go more into the tour once I post my review which I should have up by the end of next week. My internet at home is down and wont be ready until Wed of next week.

We spoke with several other couples who took advantage of the free tours and they all suggest the dolphin swim. We didn't meet any one who went to Chichen-Itza or Ek-Balam/Valladolid. They all said the same thing we did that it was just too long of a drive to the site and they didn't want to use a whole day for one trip. We saw a lot of families waiting for the bus for Xpu-Ha and Wet N Wild so I am sure those two are other nice places to visit as well.

[Jena0609]

Thanks for the info. I just want our guests to get all they can out of the trip without having to pay a whole lot. My FI plan on doing a lot of stuff after our guests leave like swim with dolphins, parasailing (I can't wait), underwater diving....or something like that. All of which cost extra.