Any Recent Feedback About Hotel Marina El Cid

[racht33]

So when I finally thought i found the resort and was going to move forward with the contract i had a few guest decide to speak up and state the price of the current resort i wanted was not reasonable for their budgets to travel. In a way i kinda didnt care.. but then I didn't want to only have 4 people show to our wedding if this was the only reason they weren't attending.

 

So my TA decided to start a hunt again for me. He sent me the link and TripAdvisor reviews on Hotel Marina El Cid. Now for the price this place looks amazing. But i saw the last wedding reviews there were from 2010. EEEKkk.. makes me super worried. Anyone have any recent reviews or feedback on this resort? I would appreciate it so much!!!

[ecl]

Hey there!  We are leaving for our wedding at the Marina el Cid in  29 days!  We went there in November to check out the resort and it was fabulous!  

 

We met the WC, the DJ, (our photographer, but we're going external), we tried out the wedding menu and got to watch 2 wedding ceremonies held on the jetty and we are so excited for our wedding to be there and I am so confident that its going to be awesome!  The resort itself had a beautiful beach, great food, strong drinks, awesome pool & nice rooms.  We also really liked the close proximity to Cancun (its only 25 mins from the airport) and playa del Carmen (35 mins), and its a smaller resort, so it feels a bit more intimate that a mega resort.

 

Anyway, I know how hard it is picking a resort and trying to stay within a budget your guests will be ok with (honestly that was the hardest part of this whole process).  I will try to post a review of our wedding shortly after we get back.

 

Good luck!

[racht33]

@@ecl congratulations! So exciting the time is getting closer for you!! Im excited to hear someone actually knowing some details on the location. I love the Jetty and that's what is drawing me to the place. The price seems so amazing for everything they offer. Are you aware of any planning threads or other brides on here having their wedding there? Would you be able to share any of their information for the actual wedding. I couldn't locate prices on packages and locations etc.

[marinah84]

This resort was recommended to me as well - it was my second choice!  I haven't been yet, but plan to in the future.  

[racht33]

This resort was recommended to me as well - it was my second choice!  I haven't been yet, but plan to in the future.  

 any reason in particular you didnt go with it? Was it the price ? DId you get a better deal with Crown ? Your wedding pics are beautiful by the way!! Congrats!!

[marinah84]

 any reason in particular you didnt go with it? Was it the price ? DId you get a better deal with Crown ? Your wedding pics are beautiful by the way!! Congrats!!

 

Thanks!  We have two kids under 4, and CPC had the kids club with buzzers for the parents (which we actually didn't use because our daughter was between baby & kid, so couldn't be left, and our son was too young).  Prices for travel were fairly similar when we looked, actually.  CPC has very reasonable wedding packages and Evelyn (the wedding coordinator) was awesome to work with, so that made it a better choice for us from that standpoint.

 

El Cid was recommended by a friend who went (on vacation) and by our photographer.  It had a lot more options than CPC for weddings, too, so it depends what you are looking for!

 

I also liked it because my first name IS Marina  If we didn't have the kids, we probably would have chosen it over CPC.

 

If you plan to do any of the day parks, the closer to Playa Del Carmen/Riviera Maya you are, the better.  It was 70 miles from our resort to Xel-Ha/Tulum area, and that was a LONG bus ride.  

[ecl]

@racht33 Thanks!   Yes, I found this thread helpful: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/66702-hotel-marina-el-cid-brides/page-10  I poured over all the pages and even a lot of the older posts seemed to have correct information as I gained it from the WC.  I had one bride respond to me once or twice, but seems like after the weddings are over, posters just lose interest in replying.  Oh well!

 

Anyway, we loved the Jetty for the ceremony its long and has more privacy that the beach.  We are having our reception on the beach as well.  We saw them set up a wedding for approx 70 people and its very similar to what we are going with.  The jetty while it may look skinny had plenty of room for the 2 chairs per side and a large aisle down the middle.  The Jetty is also steps from the spa (if you get ready there) and very close to the rooms as well. 

 

We have decided to go with external vendors for hair & makeup (Styling Trio) and photographer (Dean Sanderson - check out his website, he has tones of advice for DW http://deansandersonweddings.com/wedding-photographer-advice-2/).  I believe its $300 USD for each external vendor.  We are using the DJ recommended by the resort and we met them and they seemed great.  They asked us for ideas of a playlist (and a do not play list) about 2 weeks before hand.  We are going with the light up dance floor because lots of previous brides said while it was pricey it was such a blast and when we saw it there, we knew it was the only time we'd ever get to do anything like that...  We are also going with the resort for flowers and Melina (the WC) gave me the lists with pictures but basically told me if I want something different, send a photo and she'll find out if they can get that type of flower and if it ends up being more than the included price, we just pay the extra fee.

 

We picked Dean for photography as I fell in love with his photos and I liked that he was a professional photographer trained in North america (he is actually from a town not far from where I live) and his style is comparable to the photos you'd see at a traditional wedding here (in Canada anyway) and the pics were so important to us that we didn't want to end up with someting mediocre.  When we met him, he asked about hair/makeup and I was originally going to go with the resort, but he highly recommended not using the resort as the type of makeup is not quite up to par with north american standards.  He said he had worked with styling Trio a lot and would recommend them, so after I looked into them I decided, might as well just book it and not worry over it.

 

We are going with the Elite wedding package and among our group we have 4 rooms booked in platinum for 7 nights so we are getting the reception included.  I was told there is no limit to the number of guests that can attend the dinner/reception.  We are having a symbolic ceremony, with my future sister in law as the officiant as it was easier to get legally married here than in Mexico (and I feel like it'll be more personal too).

 

The resort itself is actually really compact but never felt crowded.  We always found spots on the beach or by the pool.  I liked that we could easily walk from our room to the lobby in 5 mins or less and the lobby to the pool & beach are also 5 mins.  Our room was almost on the beach it was so close!  I've been to mega resorts and it was so nice to be at a resort that wasn't a 10 mins hike everywhere.  There are some great spots for small children right at the main pool (a wading pool that looks like a mini beach), the kids club is right there as well and for older kids (and kids at heart) there is the cliff jumping and water slide (look out its super slippery & fast)!

 

Anyway, I have a lot more information and lots of pics from when were there in Nov (including some of the weddings we saw), so if you want to send me a private message, it might be better to exchange emails  & I can attach stuff.

 

-Erin

Edited March 24, 2015 by ecl

[DinaQtobe]

My husband and I were at MEC in February.  We were married at the Now Sapphire in Nov 2013.  The grounds of the resort are very nice.  The newer rooms are beautiful and the new infinity pool is gorgeous.  If you want a private ceremony the jetty would be the most fantastic place.  What's nice about MEC is that there are different room categories - rooms with kitchens and separate living areas.  So if your guests have children they could have their own bedroom while the kids sleep on the couch or murphy bed.  We actually stayed in a 1 bedroom suite with a kitchen.  The room was dated, but served the purpose.

 

The beach is sandy at MEC, but the water is not really for swimming.  It is very rocky, which was a big disappointment for us.  The food at the resort was very good.

 

MEC was our second choice.  We went with NS because the package had more of what we wanted - live musician, cocktail hour, photography package included.  Not sure about the packages now.  I am happy that we chose the NS.  It had more updated rooms, an adults only pool, and I think the food was better.

If you have any questions, let me know.