Chosing A Resort April 2017 - Must Have Waterpark

[AdamnJenn17]

Hello everyone

I may be the only groom on this site - I am away at sea with the Canadian Navy and my wife-to-be is busy with our son so I thought I'd do a little research.

We live in Halifax, but have guests coming from Toronto, Ottawa, Winnepeg and of course Halifax.

We have a 2 year old son (3 at the time of travel) and may of our guests have chlildren ages 2-10 so we would like something fun for them.
We want our wedding to be something our son thinks of (at least for a while since he will be 3) and remembers as a really fun experience.

We have decided a little kids water park is a must.

Our options so far:

 

Grand Bahia Principe Coba/Tulum

Grand Bahia Principe Torquesa

Memories Splash Punta Cana

Barcelo Maya Colonial

*Moon Palace and Iberostar Cancun*

 

I star the last two off because although we adore them they are much outside our guests price range - if we go to expensive our son will be the only kid their and then it isnt really worth it to be so extravagent for kids.

 

We have been working with a TA for 2 months now and things have started to go smoother but she is on a trip to the Rockies and then RIviera Maya (not any resorts we want though) and hasnt been responding - she did say that would happen though.

 

Our budget for guests was approx 1600 and although some already fit that bill - we are still having trouble deciding (the more expensive ones always seem nicer)

 

We want to book Barcelo but it is 1800 and our hoping our one time price adjustment plus the free adults( every 8th form our TA) can bring the price down but we dont want to rely on the price adjustment - i know we are going in the high season but from Halifax there isnt much other options and it is the day we started dating so we wanted to keep it an ongoing anniversary.

 

Any help please.... Groom in need here...

[calgarybride2015]

Welcome and congrats. Have you considered the Sandos Caracol? Their water park and kids club are fantastic.

 

The GBP attracts a lot of weddings and the Coba has the water park (although not beach front resort) so it's another good option.

 

I agree. I wouldn't bank on discounts for numbers booked etc. as sometimes we feel everyone will come but it's just not the way it goes -- every bride or groom on here has their story.

 

Have you considered,aside from the kid aspect and the price aspect of these resorts, the wedding packages that are offered. Thinking of 1. Do they Suit your desires/dreams for your wedding 2. Are within your budget. 3. Handle your group size etc etc That's a big thing -- they aren't all the same. I'd start (if you haven't already) looking at that aspect and it may help knock some off your list. I always felt I found a great price and then the wedding packages fell short and I was back at square one.

 

Good luck

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 11, 2016 by calgarybride2015

[AdamnJenn17]

omg i cant believe i forgot Sandos in the list - Yes we have looked at Sandos - from Halifax it is still looking sitting at about 1650 problem with is that kids are so expensive - they said in their defense that since there is so much for kids to do there that they dont give much discounts - still 1100 - even for a 3 year old. This makes a family of 4 pay 5500 and that is too much for some of my guests.

Also the only wedding package they offer that allows us to get married on the beach is Caribbean Fantasy and that is their most expensive one at 3750US.  Vanessa - one of their reps - said we could tailor the package (remove what we didnt need for some small savings) but we havent heard anything back from either our TA or Sandos wedding group when we asked this.

[jsalazarmtz]

I stayed at Sandos Caracol but actually got married off-resort.  Yes, it is a bit expensive but I can tell you that every kid on my wedding group had a blast because they have so much going on for them.  Maybe worth trying one more time? 

 

April is still expensive but if you are willing to move it to a different month you will get some really good prices (this is for all resorts in general).

[AdamnJenn17]

I would love to move to another month - end May - but flights from Halifax and Winnepeg stop April 30th to most sun destinations. My guests (and my family) would have to pay for seperate flights to Toronto to travel. I know you are thinking "then why not February" - I have some very important guests that cannot travel until at least Mid March - and its is more expsensive(and busy) at that time due to March/Spring break

[calgarybride2015]

I understand your feelings. You have to decide what works for you and go with it - time and price wise - because you will never ever make everyone happy! And some people no matter how hard you bend over backwards to please them won't come anyways (annoyed me immensely)

 

Our resort didn't have the half of what the Sandos did for kids and we paid $950 Ish for child one and close to $1100 for child two

 

Not sure what $3750 includes but it's not an awful price. But again depends what it includes. We had 45 guests and tonnes of upgrades for around $5500-6500 Canadian.

 

I understand feeling bad on the cost - we had families pay that and more for their week. But it's also a week long vacation for them. And you don't want to skimp to much on resort so that you get a crappy place. It's a tough fine line.

 

Have you considered maybe the Puerto Vallarta side?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 12, 2016 by calgarybride2015

[AdamnJenn17]

yes we looked into some of the PV locations and they seemed about the same price and value wise.  Not enought to justify the extra 3+ hours of flight time with a 3 year old lol

We are hoping to go direct as well to hopefully let out son(and other kid) sleep on the way there and not have to keep wrangling them in for lack of a better term.

Our son is an angel but less take offs and landings the better

[Moments That Matter]

Welcome to our forum community AdamnJenn17, and Congrats on your upcoming Mayan Riviera wedding next year!!!

 

Here's a link to some images of the Barcelo Maya Colonial water park - in case you haven't already seen them.

 

Here's a link to some Sandos water park images. with a sample here:

 

Wishing you happy research, and all the best with your plans - cheers! team MTM

Edited May 12, 2016 by Moments That Matter

[vancouverpetunia]

@@AdamnJenn17 I don't have kids, so I can't speak from personal experience as a parent. But we just had our wedding near Cancun and we had 8 kids in attendance, ranging in age from 2 - 13. There was no waterpark, but there was a kids club and kids pool.

 

The kids LOVED it. They couldn't get enough of playing in the pool and on the beach. And they also loved the kids club. Begging their parents to go. Especially the older kids, mind you, but they are the ones who will really remember their amazing vacation.

 

Would they have enjoyed a water park? I'm sure they would have, but I don't think they missed out at all by not having one. If you are really struggling with budget, I would urge you to consider other options. I think the kids will love it, no matter what, and they will have wonderful memories of playing with their friends & family.

Edited May 14, 2016 by vancouverpetunia

[AdamnJenn17]

@@vancouverpetunia I wish it was possible - but we are set on it and at this point reopening all research options is out of the question.  We know what we want - we just wish others could afford it too.

 

Does anyone have any pictures from GBP beach weddings ?  Jean is wanting to take it off our list but it is our least expensive option

She doesn't like how most of the pictures show a rocky beach - she thinks they ruin the beach's appeal.