Phenomenal wedding

From Dana

Review Time!!
Reviews were HUGE for me as I was planning my wedding at Grand Palladium Riviera Maya for the last several years so I wanted to be sure to leave a review in hopes that it will help others who are also looking for honest reviews.
We FINALLY made it to the resort on June 15, 2022 as a group of 43 after postponing our wedding due to Covid!
First impressions were incredible! The resort is large and beautiful when we pulled up at the Colonial lobby. We booked a private transfer through VIP Riviera Maya which was fantastic. Would definitely go through Dan again.
Check-In:
After a long day of travel, and severe delays at the airport waiting for luggage, we were tired and hungry. Our friends and family were the best and let us skip the line once our shuttle arrived since we were the bride and groom and after feeling guilty, we finally took them up on it. Check in was extremely slow. Even for us at the front of the line, it took a bit but we were fine chatting with friends. Unfortunately some of our other friends and family were in line a couple of hours as there were a lot of us that showed up at once.
Room: We were carted off to our room by Edwin who was amazing the entire trip! We had 7 luggages so we made sure to tip him well. He gave us a little tour of the area before he brought us to our room, a Romance Villa – Room 3108. The room was huge and cool! We had no issues with the room temperature at all. At night it was cold but I didn’t want to mess up a good thing so I just put on a long sleeve shirt. Everything seemed nice though! Was it the cleanest hotel room? Nope. But it most certainly wasn’t filthy. There was definitely wear & tear as the curtains and drapes were holding on for dear life but it didn’t ruin anything for us. Bathroom could have been a little cleaner but I didn’t feel gross in it, so I didn’t let it bother me. The outdoor shower was the BEST! Loved it so much! Bedding was clean and we did have our sheets changed twice during our stay and left tips each time. We also left tips in the fridge for it to be stocked with extra beers . The room service was fantastic as far as fresh new towels every day! Our other guests weren’t so lucky with this. Some couldn’t get a clean dry towel for a few days. One family had to share a bathroom towel because they called several times and nobody showed up . We personally didn’t have that issue though. The patio with the hammock was also great and beautiful but we didn’t use it since mosquitoes were pretty bad.
Food: It was ok! There are lots of reviews saying how the food I’m not edible or how awful it is. I disagree!
Buffets – The buffets were ok and the temperature was fine. Nothing was super cold. Things weren’t labeled well so sometimes I didn’t know what I was eating. Our first night we are at the buffet and it did make me nervous for the food for the week because it was just ok. But the few other times it was better. Drinks are a little hard to get. White Sands buffet is much better than the buffets at Colonial.
A la carte – Portofino was really good! We had our wedding rehearsal dinner here. I had to choose a specific menu for everyone and we all really enjoyed it! Japanese (Sumptuori) show table was our favorite! Fun little show and food was amazing. Mexican (La Adelita) restaurant was good but not everyone loved it. The Brazilian steak house was good, not a lot of options and they don’t come around often. I didn’t leave hungry but I definitely could have had a bit more. The steak house, El Dorado was my least favorite meal. I had the filet and it just wasn’t good. Overcooked and not much flavor. But others in our group really liked it. Overall, food was ok! Some was really good and some was ok! We hit up the sports bar for late night quesadillas and the Colonial Las Olas for lunch which we always enjoyed. If food is your major driving in picking this resort, I’d recommend staying in the TRS side instead. But the food wasn’t a deal breaker for us.
Pools were great! We went between the main pool at Colonial and White Sands. Had good drink service (we tipped very well!) pool side! Swim up at Colonial was a longer wait for us but again, we didn’t mind. We had our own bartender at the adults only White Sands pool which was amazing! We loved that pool. Our kids were allowed in the pool (13 & 17) without issue.
We hung out a LOT at the colonial lobby in the evenings and enjoyed the night entertainment. White Party, 80’s party, silent disco! It was all so fun! We all loved it! We were bummed we didn’t try Churchill’s sooner though! Their drinks were AMAZING! The drinks at all the bars and pools weren’t as delicious as I thought they would be because of the heavy fake syrups but I did find drinks I loved and stuck with those (strawberry mojito, passion fruit margarita and beer). But others loved them. Again, we tipped well and always got great service!
Beach:
Not great because of the sargassum. It truly does change from day to day. We went to look at our wedding location on Kantenah beach in Friday and by the next day for our wedding, it was icky. I wanted to not let this bother me but it definitely put a ugly damper in many wedding pictures and we weren’t able to take any beach pictures as husband and wife. I did step in the water for a swim close to the main pool but it was a bit rocky and I didn’t have water shoes so I just splashed around at the shore.
The wedding itself was phenomenal and I’d choose GP again in a heartbeat if I had to do it all over again. The wedding staff don’t miss a beat. A few things weren’t as I asked them to be but again, didn’t ruined anything for us and everything was still incredible. Because we booked our wedding there we received VIP bracelets that gave us access to TRS and it also allowed us to get rides in the TRS and Travel Club carts! That was a cool perk! We only headed over to TRS the day after the wedding though because of our friends, family and our kids being back at Colonial. Food there was a big step up for sure! We had lunch at Helios which was fantastic and later on we had dinner at La Boheme which was also fantastic! Wish we ate on this side more often!
I think that covers all the major things for this review. Would I return? Absolutely! Loved it there! The staff really are great and work hard! The grounds are amazing, the resort is huge, the wild life is awesome. Loved it!
If you have questions, I’m happy to answer! We are now looking forward to booking our honeymoon at TRS Turquesa to try that out!