Mexico- Karisma GI University

The GI University training and fam trip was excellent.  I’ve sold these resorts for years, but had only seen Azul Beach and Le Blanc in the past.  The resorts are gorgeous.  They tend to be higher in price, but definitely offer a full gourmet experience.  Not just in food, but in service and amenities as well.  The El Dorado resorts offer top shelf liquor brands along with the local labels and the Azul Resorts have partnered with Fisher-Price and My Gym to enhance the experience of their guests.

 

El Dorado Seaside Suites (Adult Only) –

El Dorado Seaside Suites was our host hotel.  The food was fabulous, the accommodations were spacious and beautifully decorated (light, airy and very organic).  More important, the overall service was exceptional!  My turndown service had a bubble bath drawn for me every night of my stay.  It was an incredible way to end those very hot days of resort inspections. 

 

Seaside Suites is an extremely quiet and romantic resort.  It’s a perfect location for weddings, honeymoons and for couples looking for a place to escape.  There are double size beach beds everywhere!  It would not be a good location for couples who want night life. 

 

Water sports are available on site.  The snorkeling is extremely good as the resort sits right on a coral reef!  The motorized sports are operated a bit away from the resort in order to protect the reef.

 

Azul Fives –

Azul Fives is a good possibility for larger or extended families.  They offer lots of room options.  The rooms are all quite large as well.

 

This was my least favorite of all the resorts.  All of the rooms sit back from the Caribbean, so none of them offers an ocean view.  The pool is quite small and their main wedding site is right next to it.  The beach area is small as well.  Also, all but one of the restaurant is located in the building by beach.  So not always convenient.

 

Azul Fives is adding a Sky Wedding location that’s going to beautiful!  They also have a dry cenote on site that is apparently home to some monkeys.  (The monkeys were out and about while we were there, so we didn’t get to see them.)

 

El Dorado Royale / El Dorado Casitas Royale (Adult Only) –

We didn’t get to see as much for the El Dorado Royale as I would have liked.  It was raining, so we were limited to a tour of a restaurant that was setting up for a cooking demonstration with wine pairing, two rooms (one in the Royale and the other in the Casitas Royale), and then the restaurant we dined in.  Transportation between these locations was provided by golf carts with roll-down plastic sides.  Overall, I liked the feel of the resort.  It didn’t seem as large as I had always imagined.  The rooms looked very much like my room at the Seaside Suites.  They were very generous in size and beautifully decorated.  The biggest difference between the accommodations in Royale and Casitas were in the amenities and the outdoor showers (located in some of the Casitas rooms).

 

We didn’t get to see it, but El Dorado Royale is home to the greenhouse that provides all of the El Dorado resorts with their fresh vegetables, spices and herbs.

 

Side note - Special activities are offered at the El Dorado Royale the first week of every month.

 

El Dorado Maroma (Adult Only)  –

El Dorado Maroma is a small, boutique style resort.  It’s incredible!  Even the lead in room category is beautiful and just a few steps away from the beach.  All of the rooms are again light and airy, and generous in size. 

 

A special note about this resort is that is has an incredibly cute wedding chapel on site.  It’s located between El Dorado Maroma (adult only) and Generations Maroma (family resort), so can be used by either resort.

 

This resort sits directly on Maroma Beach, voted by Travel Channel as one of the ten best beaches in the world.  The sand is sugar soft!  It’s also located next to the marina, offering water sports and deep sea fishing.   The marina has recently added Dolphin Discovery.  We were given the opportunity to meet and touch all of the dolphins!

 

Generations Maroma –

Generations Marona is located between El Dorado Maroma and the marina.  It’s a smaller resort like El Dorado Maroma and shares that incredible beach.  It is an upscale resort that offers both butler and nanny services to all room categories.  They can accommodate a family of any size due to their amazing room configuration options.   I thought the rooms were very large as well.

 

Side note - Adults staying at Generations Maroma may use the facilities at the El Dorado Maroma.  There’s a simply chain link fence dividing the two properties.

 

Azul Beach –

I have always liked Azul Beach.  It’s a smaller resort and there’s water everywhere.  The beach is nice and there’s a lazy river that seems to run throughout the resort.  There are numerous restaurants on site, many of them fine dining.  I don’t recall that any of them required reservations. 

 

I think Azul Beach is a great fit for families with smaller children.   They have the “Azulitos” kids club and are able to provide any amenity a young family would need.  This includes Fisher-Price toys, baby cribs, monitors, bottles, formula, baby food, diapers, etc…

 

Azul Sensatori –

Azul Sensatori is the largest of the Azul resorts and became my new favorite.  It’s a rather large resort, but golf carts aren’t needed to get around.  The rooms here aren’t overly large, but can accommodate a family very comfortably.  There are lots of restaurants to choose from.  The beach is long and wide, and extremely nice.

 

Sensatori offers the usual “Azulitos” kids club, but also has a very nice water park.  I think my favorite part of Sensatori  was their teen’s club though.  It’s very hip and cool, offering anything and everything that teens like to do.  I can easily see this hard to please age group, totally enjoying time hangjng out there and making friends! 

 

From the Karisma resorts, Suzie and I went on to visit some of the Palace Resorts.  Quinn Rand (our local rep) did a great job getting us set up, but Marisol (Sales) at the Moon Palace really helped cement our site inspection at Le Blanc.

 

Moon Palace –

Moon Palace is an extremely large resort, located about 20 minutes south of Cancun.  It is comprised of three separate resort areas – Nizuc, Sunrise, and Grand.  Suzie and I shared an incredible two bedroom, presidential suite in Grand.  Nizuc and Grand are the quieter resort areas.  There are signs posted throughout all of the resort to watch for the iguanas and crocodiles.  Marisol said the crocs usually aren’t around, but guess what we saw!!  He was about 5 feet long and was hanging out in the mangrove just past the pool we were swimming in.

 

The happening area of Moon Palace is definitely Sunrise.  It’s where you’ll find the majority of bars, restaurants, and pools.  It also has the kids club (which is incredibly large) and a water park.

 

Just a few of the many amenities offered by Moon Palace include:  golf, a FlowRider and dolphins.  The beach is very long, but I now understand what people have meant when they say it’s “weedy”.  There’s usually a line of seaweed floating in the surf that’s lapping the beach.  Because of this, most guests apparently tend to swim more in the pools.

 

Le Blanc (Adult Only) -

Le Blanc is white!!  I had always thought that it was bland and sterile, with no personality.  I have a completely different impression of it after this recent visit.  Yes, it’s white - white everywhere.  But now I think of it as Sheer and Chic.  I found the staff to be extremely warm and friendly.  The agent from their sales department graciously took us on a site inspection, well outside of the normal time schedule. 

 

The rooms are average size, but nicely appointed in both decoration and amenities.  Butler service is offered.  There are a number of pools on the property and they offer some beautiful wedding locations.  Honeymooners leave with embroidered bathrobes as an amenity.

 

A side note – the spa at Le Blanc offers a fish spa.

 

Sun Palace (Adult Only)  -

Sun Palace is a smaller, quieter, more intimate property.  It sits on a really nice stretch of beach.  The pool is quite small as well.  We weren’t able to schedule a site inspection here, so we wandered the public areas on our own and met a young couple at the who graciously showed us their junior suite.  The room itself was of average size and nice, but I was disappointed with the balcony area.  There was peeling paint in very prominent areas.

 

Beach Palace –

We were not able to schedule a site inspection here either, but still wandered around the public areas.  This resort is extremely active!!  There were kids everywhere and everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time on a hot day.  The beach here is really nice and the resort itself enjoys a great location in the hotel zone.   We also wandered up to their rooftop Sky Wedding location.  What a view!

 

Palace Resorts provides shuttle service between the Moon, Sun and Beach resorts twice a day.  There is no service to Le Blanc, but the city bus we took from the Beach Palace to Le Blanc and then back to Sun Palace was cheap, clean, convenient, and it felt extremely safe.  I have absolutely no qualms about using Cancun’s public transportation!  Palace Resorts does not offer complimentary shuttle service to Playa del Carmen either.

 

Suzie and I also included quick stops at both the Gran Caribe Real and Royal Cancun.  We weren’t able to see any rooms, but someone from their sales departments walked us around the public areas and pointed out wedding locations.  I have always likes the REAL resorts and have stayed at the Royal Playa del Carmen.  I’m looking forward to learning more about all four of their resorts and their wedding program next month.