Review: Gran Caribe Real in Cancun

[melnickovich]

Thanks for your response! I did call the number and talked to my new coordinator, Elsa, for over an hour! She is magnificent, lol! She went over everything, and answered all my questions that were either ignored or they were unable to answer from the Michigan office. She is even going to set up my private catamaran charter for me (we are doing this instead of gifts for the wedding party). So, I encourage everyone that has been having communication difficulty to call the 1-866 number on the real weddings website and speak with someone at the new office in Mexico.

[Soon-to-be-McRae]

Hi Amber

 

Your pictures are lovely looks like you all had a wonderful time.

 

What time did you get married at? We have been given 10am, 1pm or 4pm and we are getting married in November but not sure what the best time to chose is.

 

What time was your evening reception? I haven't decided on where we are having our evening reception yet was thinking of the terrace but worried about wind, what other places were available for the reception?

 

Sorry for all the questions hun, thank you for letting me look at your pics :-)

 

Vicki x

[Vanessa C]

Thank you for your review! My wedding is at the Gran Caribe Real on 11/11/11!! Can't wait to see your pictures as I'm still considering whether we should use their photographers or not...

[Norma83]

Thank you for posting your review! It's very helpful It sounds like your wedding went perfectly! I'd love to see your photos; I'll have to find you on Facebook.

 

I too have had communications issues with the coordinators in the US. Ugh! I was first working with Angie and in the beginning she was answering all of my questions and then all of a sudden she just stopped. I sent her our booking form and she never got back to me. I followed up with her several times to make sure she got it and still no response. I would call up there and she would say that she would call me and she never would. Finally, Rebekah emailed me and helped me out with booking our date. We fianlly got the contract signed and our date is officially set for May 5, 2012. I know, I'm a little early with planning but we wanted to start telling our families to start planning for the trip because some have kids and of course, it's a little more for them to be spending. Although, Rebekah has booked and reserved our date and we have signed the contract, I'm still not 100% convinced with her. I feel like she's a little sketchy. When I called her to talk to her about the contract, I was rerouted to the Cancun office. That's when I found out they were closing the US office. The lady told me that Rebekah was only going to be with the company for one more month and that everything was going to transferred to Cancun. Well, when I spoke to Rebekah I asked her about that and she said no, that she was still going to be my coordinator. I have idea if she's just telling me that or what but I find it a little sketchy. I hope and pray that all goes well in the end. Sometimes I feel like calling the Cancun office and requesting a new coordinator.

[Sweetthang247]

Hi Ahorton314! Thanks for all the helpful info!! I wanted to get your opinion on just staying at the hotel for our honeymoon as well We are leaning towards Gran Caribe Real for our wedding and I have read that lots of couples go else where after the wedding for the honeymoon...

[ejlucero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahorton314 I wanted to write a review for those of you getting married at either the Gran Caribe or Royal in Cancun, because I wish I could have found a decent review for the Gran Caribe before the wedding. However, everything went great so no worries! Here it goes... Service before the wedding The worst part of the wedding planning process was the communication with the wedding "planners" here in the US. Luckily for you newbies, they have closed the US offices and now all communication is going through the coordinators at the resort, which is so much better. I had Angie Hayes and she was extremely frustrating to have as a planner and I could have done everything she had to do in half the time and in a better fashion. However, once I got handed over to my coordinator at the Gran Caribe, everything (for the most part) was corrected and communication was much better. Wedding coordinator My WC at the Gran Caribe was Diana and she was the cutest thing ever. She was so nice, made sure everything was going to be the way I wanted it, and she was just a sweetheart. My mom gave her a gift before the wedding for helping out when everything with the US coordinator got crazy, and she was floored and gave both my mom and me a huge hug and told us not to worry about anything. She really did a great job and she's an awesome woman Ceremony We had a ceremony on the beach at 6 pm. I was a little worried because while getting my hair done I found out that another bride getting her hair done at the same time was having her wedding at 6 also, and at the gazebo which was pretty close to our beach location. However, it worked out fine and my wedding actually started first, so it didn't even matter and I didn't even notice the other wedding! We just had a judge, nothing religious, along with a sand ceremony. The ceremony was pretty quick and after we walked down the aisle we were greeted with champagne (in the toasting flutes I gave to Diana prior to the wedding of course!) and all of our guests got drinks as well. We decided to then cut the cake, since our reception was outside at night and the pictures would come out better in the day. The cake was pretty tasty (we got hazelnut), but the colors I had asked for were a little off, but I honestly didn't care that much and no one said anything. We then sent our guests off to the cocktail hour while my wedding party and us did our pictures on the beach. Cocktail hour While I didn't really get to spend but 10 minutes at the cocktail hour after pictures were done, everyone that was up there said it was a good time. We did it up on the terrace which had a great view of the beach and ocean. We had a mexican trio play and they serenaded us when we came up, and they were great. I got to taste a little bit of the food and it was pretty good. We upgraded to hot food which was $5 a person and I thought it was worth it. Reception After the cocktail hour we headed to the reception which was right below the terrace on the beach. We had DJ Doremixx, Ivan Gomez, for the reception. He was nice and accommodating since much of our music plans changed due to time and whatnot (we had to be off the beach by 10 but we had music planned until 10:30). He got all of our songs right and the songs I didn't pick that he played were great choices. The fireworks during our first dance was awesome The food was pretty great also. We had the caribbean salad with shrimp, countryside soup, beef fillet with dijon, and this strawberry cake/pie stuff lol. Everyone loved the food and I think my husband and I were the only ones who didn't really like the main course, but that's okay! The reception seemed to go by fast, but we got to do everything we wanted (dances, bouquet and garter toss, all of that) and by the end we were ready to just head back to the room! Diana had all of our boxes for our flutes, cake cutter, sand vases, etc. already in our room when we got back so that we could pack it all up. Photography We just went with the photographer included in the package, Funever Photos (the photographers name was Caesar) but we upgraded to a 4 hour package. He came around 5:30 to my suite to take pictures of us getting ready and all that and left the reception about 20 minutes before it was over. He was really nice and kept telling me how great I was in the pictures and all of that and he never made anyone feel uncomfortable or anything. I can't wait to see all of the pictures! He was also very accommodating because we originally decided to have 5 hours, but when we realized we had to be off the beach by 10 we decided it was pointless to have him there for 5, and he called his boss and got us a $150 refund for the extra hour. Overall The Gran Caribe was awesome! We had 30 people come down, ranging in age from 8-70's, and everyone said they had a great time and that this was a great vacation and the best wedding they'd been to. The service at the hotel was amazing, and we were floored with gifts and VIP service when we arrived. Our suite upgrade was stunning and I couldn't even believe it when we first walked in. I was sad to leave the resort to go on our honeymoon it was so great! I will definitely be back again one day to visit where we got married If there's anything I left out or anything you want to know about just let me know and I'd love to help you out because I know how it feels to not be in the loop on some things and be worried as to how your wedding will go! My advice: whatever isn't going right now will go perfect on your big day and don't let those little things get to you. Phew, that was long!

Okay, so I have some questions regarding the resort if you could help me out that would be great! Does the resort have a bunch of rules you have to follow? I heard from someone that honeymooned there that they couldn't just go get beer anytime they wanted, that the resturants all closed early, and the pool area as well...Did you run into any of these issues? I'm getting married there in a month and I'm starting to feel a little worried that it won't be what I have pictured it to be...oh, also did you have any issues as far as safety? We have a few guests that want to do excursions but are a little uneasy about all the violence that is going on..

Thank you again for your review!!!

~Erica

[andreabrazil]

Thank you for posting your review. I am getting married in April at the Royal in Cancun. I have a question about your DJ. Did you go through the resort for a DJ or did you hire an outside vendor?

[Jackie439]

Your wedding pictures look amazing! I am getting married at the Gran Caribe Real in September 2010. I was wondering if you had a rehearsal with your guests. The hotel is wanting to charge $300 to have a rehearsal the day before and I am not sure this is necessary. I was thinking about just having my bridal party meet at the Gazebo sometime in the morning and letting the kids practice walking down. Is the Gazebo accessible without the coordinator? Also, do you remember any nearby restaurants that would be nice for a rehearsal dinner?

 

Thanks so much...your review was really helpful:)

[atrott]

Thanks for sharing your review!

[ejlucero]

I just got married at the Gran Caribe Real Resort on August 7th, and I didn't do the rehearsal but I did a dinner for all of my guest at one of the resturants..The Gazebo is accessible but the Spa also uses the area for massages, so you just have to go and check out to see if you could use it..I wouldn't worry too much if you are not able to do it...It all works out no matter what!