Making A Decision With Resort- How Did You Pick ?

[Victoriabride]

Hello everyone!

I am in desperate need of some advice and any tips anyone would be willing to share with me. I have been researching resorts in Mexico since November 2014 (specifically the Caribbean side and even resorts in Cabo). I'm having a hard time finding something affordable as all my quotes have been over 1800$ in Jan/Feb 2016. I just can't ask my guests to pay this as a lot of them have kids that they will be bringing. I want people to be able to afford to come without breaking the bank. I was hoping to find something closer to 1500$ per person. Does anyone know if this is possible or am I being unrealistic? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you

 

 

Oh, we are from Vancouver Island so will be either flying from Victoria, Vancouver, some from Toronto, and some from Edmonton!

[calgarybride2015]

Welcome and congrats.

 

What specific areas are you looking at? And how fancy of resorts?

 

I got married in January 2015 and for the Mayan we paid $1565 out of Calgary and $1465 out of Toronto. It was classified as a 5* but not as fancy as some like Azul and Palace resorts.

 

Our cheapest quote was out of Puerto Vallarta. From my experience Cabo is fairly expensive.

 

I think you can hit your price but you may have to be willing to adjust your location and be flexible on the week you choose.

 

Have you been speaking to a TA? They are your best bet to help find reasonable pricing for different areas of Mexico.

 

For 2015 prices somewhat shocked me and I was told prices are going up. Also remember the dollar sucks right now which I am sure playa a role in it.

 

Good luck.

 

 

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[Wafflesmom]

Hi @@Victoriabride, I'm also a 2016 BC bride congrats on your engagement! January and February are popular months for travel and you'll get high season rates. As @@calgarybride2015 mentioned, to get the price range you're looking for, you may have to go during low season. My sister and mom traveled to Riviera Maya in July and got great rates. If you're set on traveling during January or February, your best bet would be to speak to a TA. They can try to get you great rates and can get comparable rates from the different air carriers. The Toronto pricing should be cheaper given that they're on the same side as riviera Maya. Another tip would to consider air carriers like Air Canada who have connecting flights. These can get cheaper than the direct flights out of Sunwing or Air Transat.

 

Our wedding is in January 2016 and we were quoted $2030 for 7 nights at Moon Palace. This was the best rate we could get, we initially received a quote for $2300! But keep in mind that Palace resorts are pricier so I'm sure you can get a better rate by choosing a different resort

[Victoriabride]

Thanks for the reply!! And congratulations on your engagement too!! I am having a lot of fun so far with the planning, but am sure it will get even better once we have our resort booked! We are pretty set on Jan/Feb, but I may have to look into other times of the year if it will save us! Do you know what April is like? I would think it may be slightly cheaper?! I have talked to about 4 different TA's and they all give me roughly the same prices. I will just keep on looking and hopefully find something that can accommodate us for that price!

Moon palace looks gorgeous! We looked at that resort too, but was a bit pricey for us. Thanks for the tip on contacting air Canada.. I'm going to get on that right away! 

 

Nice to see a Vancouver bride on here!

And thank you calgarybride2015! That is encouraging hearing from you that those rates are possible. Thanks for the info! I

[Cablelove11]

Browse around in different threads, I know I saw a few ppl talk about a resort (sorry can't remember) it's name where kids were free. Good luck on your search!!! Hopefully you'll find something amazing!

[calgarybride2015]

Another thing I would recommend is going on Expedia and searching packages for each week - you know at the top it shows you the cheaper days to travel.   Then see what week is the cheapest and start looking at those resorts to see if any peak your interest.  This is what I did before I had my TA price stuff out - I somewhat knew what the cheapest week was going to be!!  Our group rate was cheaper than Expedia - actually no one could ever find one better!

 

Air Canada doesn't have a direct flight to Cancun out of Vancouver so if you did use them it would be a connector.

 

I personally feel you can get your price point but you have to be flexible on the dates and the resort.

 

I married at the Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya.   Listed as a 5* but more a very strong 4.5*.  The wedding packages are super reasonable and the extras aren't overpriced.  And no silly fees for decor set up, or chairs being moved between locations, or electricity fees some other brides talk about!

 

EDIT: I went onto Expedia myself and it seems you can't even search for most of January yet on your own!  I booked in May for our January wedding, so maybe in another month or two more stuff will be up.

Edited February 12, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[Victoriabride]

Thank you!!! I feel way less stressed about this now! I was feeling so pressured to book ASAP as everyone keeps asking me. The grand Sirenis looks really nice... and affordable. How was the food at that resort? Was there good snorkeling? Is there lots of entertainment? Thanks again!

I checked out your pictures... gorgeous!!!! did you get your own photographer? or was it included in the wedding package?!

[TinkerSofi]

Congrats on your engagement and welcome to the forums! 

 

I think you can probably find what you're looking for in Mexico on the Caribbean side. Usually Cancun will be the most expensive area, then Playa del Carmen and the most affordable will be the Riviera Maya (the corridor between Cancun and Playa). 

 

The Now resorts are beautiful and they are quite affordable, same with their weddings. I also really like the resort that @@calgarybride2015 got married at, at least from what I've seen on pictures  

 

Maybe also, if you're not too picky about this, try playing around with your dates and talking with a travel agent. Depending on the time of the year you can save $200-300, which is a lot!

[Victoriabride]

unfortunately December is out as my fiancees brother wont be able to attend before January. I was thinking of looking in April/May but would prefer the weather in Jan/Feb!

[jsparrow10]

Congrats! When we were looking that's what we wanted to stay under for our guests as well including flight. Options we looked at that were around 1500 w/o flight were Hard Rock, Moon Palace, Azul Sensatori, Iberostar Cancun-Lindo/Paraiso-Tucan/Quetzal. We have also stayed at the Riu Yucatan and our whole trip was 12 or 13k with flight. Our date is in July so in those other months you'll probably be able to get it cheaper.