Grand Sirenis - Resort and Wedding Review

[MissyR]

We arrived at Grand Sirenis on Saturday November 23. I will try to provide a review of the resort and the wedding but as I am sure I will leave things out, please feel free to ask me questions!

 

There were about 18 of us from Toronto, another 20 that arrived from Calgary the following day. Flight etc. was fine. The bus ride to the resort itself was almost 1.5 hours which was a little long for my liking but nonetheless there was beer for sale so really it wasn’t all that bad. We arrived at the resort and check-in was a breeze.

 

Overall perception of the resort is that this place is massive. I am guessing it has more than 1200 rooms spread out over a huge amount of space. It reminded me of a hotel you might find in New York or Chicago, clean lines, modern and very little (or none of Mexico). There was very little in terms of tram activity so we pretty much walked everywhere.

 

Food – We only ate at the main buffet twice. The food was fairly good with a good selection but frankly given the size of the resort we preferred to eat at the smaller pool buffets as they were closer to our room. The a la cartes were fantastic, we ate at the Japanese, Brazilian and French (which we had to pay extra for) and the Mexican for the wedding reception which I will talk more about later.

 

Rooms – Not much to say – nice, clean, large, good water pressure, always restocked the mini fridge. The AC didn’t work one day and we called and they had someone there to fix it within 15 minutes.

 

Pools and Beach – Pools were great – three huge pools, two with swim up bars which is where we spent the majority of our time. This was a huge change for us as we are beach people and in all honesty I was unhappy with the beach. It’s sort of set in a cove area (there is tons of scuba diving and a dive shop on site!) The sand is rocky and the rocky entrance to the water out to the sand bar was uncomfortable. It was alright but certainly no where near as nice as the beaches we visited at Riu, Paradisus and etc.

 

 

Wedding Review

 

The wedding took place on Wednesday. I will preface this by saying that the bride is the most laid back, hands off person I have seen. When we arrived at the resort they met with the WC and the witnesses (including my FI) signed all the docs, blood work etc. which was extremely smooth. Once that occurred, there was really nothing else until the Wednesday. I didn’t even see the WC much at all.

 

Wednesday the bride went to get her hair done in the salon at 11:00. Her hair turned out surprisingly well since she didn’t even have a picture or anything to go by. We all got ready in a friend’s room and then the wedding was at 3:00 so we all headed down to the beach at about 2:30.

 

The ceremony spot was off near the ruins that are actually one on spot of the beach. The bride was picked up by a golf cart and brought (with her mom and friends) to the beach. There was no walkway/isle for the bride to walk up.

 

Things I liked – the set up, arch etc. was beautiful. They had the area roped off which was nice and the WC was there and they also had security. The Justice was sweet and performed the ceremony in English which was nice. Bridal bouquet was quite nice.. will post pics…

 

Things I didn’t like – the roped off area was small and there were a TON of on lookers. There were literally people tanning right outside the ropes. And the walkway for the bridge was essentially navigating some chairs.

 

After the ceremony, we had some champagne on the beach and a few snacks (appetizers were mediocre) had a couple pics (they did not have a photog). The reception wasn’t starting until 6:30 so a bunch of us went to the beach bar for a couple drinks.

 

The dinner was at the Mexican restaurant. We had the entire place to ourselves. While it had the potential to be nice, I don’t think that the bride had thought to ask/bring a lot of things. There was a last minute scramble to rearrange the tables, there was no microphone etc. The bride has food allergies so the dinner was appetizer (buffet) which was good, tortilla soup which was good, and then a chicken with cheese which I didn’t care for. Service was excellent although with the exhaust fans running in the place and the grill area out in the open it was really hard to hear.

 

After some drinks and speeches we all walked down to the beach bar where they had reserved the space for the night. (Pics coming) – It is essentially the snack bar during the day. They had a DJ set up and cake in the corner (which was actually quite delicious) and another friend brought her ipod which was great. There was a bar there (Cause it was a snack bar) and they had the high tables set up around the perimeter. They did the first dance etc. there and we partied til almost 1:00am.

 

All in all was a great trip and the wedding was nice – not my style but stress free. Personally the resort was way too big for me and not “Mexican†enough but I spose that’s personal preference.

 

Any questions Ask away!

[starchild]

Nice review! I'm guessing the bride is a friend of yours and you were a guest? That place sounds huge! I wouldn't like the onlookers but I would think that happens at many resort weddings, although they are probably not so close...lol Overall it sounds like it was a success. Thanks for sharing )

[Varia]

Melissa, I already created a thread (in main forum for Mayan Riviera) with some pictures from Grand Sirenis wedding, that happened two days after your friends wedding.

 

Here is the link to that thread:

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t12557

 

 

Aslo, here is the link to my site where I posted the pictures as well:

 

Destination Wedding in Mayan Riviera. Hotel: Grand Sirenis, Photographer: destination photographer from Toronto - Varia Lebiadzenka

 

 

Enjoy! ;-))

[kckimber1982]

I am unable to view any of the pictures. I am considering the Grand Sirenis would you please send any pictures of the wedding and reception to me.

 

Thanks

[ChristieG]

Thanks for posting such a great review. Its really hard to find information on the Grand Sirenis. I am getting married there is February 2011.

[ChristieG]

Thanks for posting such a great review. Its really hard to find information on the Grand Sirenis. I am getting married there is February 2011.

[amandasalways]

Thanks so much for the detailed review. Very helpful!

[corbeil]

Thanks!

[Kbodchill]

Thanks for posting!

[DianaKeelon]

Thanks for posting this review.. 80 days and counting!