Future Gran Caribe Real & Royal Cancun Brides... Unhappy Bride

ssantos78 · January 25, 2011

I returned from my wedding at the Gran Caribe Real Chapel & The Royal Cancun reception today. The location is awesome, chapel is beautiful and the reception had to be changed indoors because it started to rain but still was very nicely decorated.

The people there are horrible, I am not sure how this location received a 5 star diamond award. I have traveled all around the world and have been treated better at a 2 star hotel. The food is excellent at The Royal but all the troubles they cause during this special process makes it not worth my time and money.

1. From the very beginning I was told certain things by the wedding coordinators in Michigan that later were not fulfilled. At some point they closed down the Michigan location and my account was transferred to someone in Mexico. Initially, I was happy and upset at the same time. Happy because the new coordinator Ana, was a lot more responsive then my old coordinator Aja but unhappy because many of the initial statements e.g. price, food options, room upgrades were changed and not honored. More sadly was that this unbalance between coordinators continued until I arrived in Cancun. I was told that I could have 4 of my girls arrive at the resort the day of the wedding to help me get ready and take pictures. Upon arrival I was told that no they could not come to my room but could go to the spa. The day before I inquire about the Spa and they said this was not possible. The day of my wedding I had to put on my own dress and asked the photographers to help button my dress.

2. At check in I asked about the upgrade that was included in my wedding package, initially I was told I could have two upgrades but when I was there they said I could only have one but of course nothing was available the only availability was the presidential suite we agreed to upgrade since I was still thinking that 4 of my girls would be able to come to my suite the day of and get ready. What really upset me about this issue was that the people at the hotel make it seem like you are lying as if no one said that and they say it with confidence so imagine arriving as a happy bride to be and not only are they not honoring what they said via email but they make you feel that you are a lying!

3. At check it I was told that we had the room until 6pm the day of check out. I called that morning to ask if we could have dinner at the resort after our 6pm check out. The concierge said that my check out was not at 6pm but 3pm, I was so upset again they failed to stick to their word. I called my wedding coordinator she looked into it when she called me back she said that I had to be out by 12:30 and 30 minutes past the check out time. I was so furious and asked to speak to the supervisor on site. When I asked if he spoke English he rudely answered, Miss...I speak four languages!... SO SO rude!

4. The reception inside was ok you can't do anything about the rain but the ballrooms are not well ventilated, it was super hot and nothing could be done.

5. Most of the time people/wedding party did not know what to do as the coordinator did not do a good job of letting people know what was needed and what to expect. The whole time we were going based on our own assumptions.

6. We had a welcome dinner the night before the wedding. The food was decent but at the end the supervisors were making faces, looking at each other as we took a couple of pictures. It was sad as we spent over 13,000 dollars on this event you would think they would treat us with a little more respect.

7. We decided to extend the party for another hour at the end of the night. We had family who traveled as far as NYC and people were having a good time. Well they needed us to pay them the $960 there and then, imagine you have already spent all this $$ and they can't trust you to pay $960??? Since no one was allowed into our room my husband had to run up to our suite to get his card and pay the coordinator! I'm sorry but I think that's RUDE!

It's difficult to make any initial comments there because your event is on these peoples hands but I am so unhappy with them. I usually stay at the Moon Palace or Dreams resort I wish I would have had my reception at another location where I am always treated with respect.

But I had it at a real resort because of the chapel which is definately beautiful, looking back I wish I would have had the ceremony there and the wedding at a seperate location.

My lasting impression of this place: I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THESE RESORTS.

Hope this helps any future real resort brides; make sure you get everything that was promised in writing!!!!