Dream Destination Wedding Beach Options

Destination Weddings at El Dorado Resorts and Azul Resorts in Riviera Maya, Mexico

Not only is Fox World Travel offering free suite upgrades, free beachfront candlelight dinners and free massage credits to consumers looking to stay at El Dorado Resorts (adults-only) or Azul Hotels (family-friendly) in Riviera Maya, Mexico, but we're also offering amazing vow renewal and destination wedding packages too! Our destination wedding coordinator is amazing and can walk you through the whole exciting process of planning a wedding.

Below are just some of the options at El Dorado and Azul Hotels:

New vow renewal and wedding packages, as well as augmented packages, at El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels are designed to provide brides-to-be an enchanting, customized destination wedding during which they receive personal attention and are able to tailor their celebrations with special touches that exceed even their wildest dreams. The Free Morning Wedding Package is ideal for couples that desire a morning ceremony when the weather is warm and the sun begins to glisten on the water. Couples can relax on the white powder sand before their big day or take a few days after the wedding to honeymoon in paradise. Regardless, the Free Morning Wedding Package is available complimentary with a seven-night visit
and includes all services and amenities.

Available for only $295 or complimentary with a five-night qualifying stay, the Vow Renewal Celebration Package invites husbands and wives to honor their love with a spiritual sand ceremony on the beach, beachfront dinner for two, sunrise breakfast basket, keepsake photo of their renewal, and romantically decorated suite. This newly unveiled package provides couples the opportunity to celebrate their love with a touching and unforgettable ceremony that is sure to create priceless memories at a minimal cost.

In addition to the personal bridal attendant, guest concierge and groom's room, all wedding packages include an on-site wedding coordinator, online bridal registry and wedding website, Justice of the Peace or non-denominational minister, translation of ceremony, filing of all documents, Mexican or symbolic wedding certificate, beachfront ceremony location; an aisle runner, table with white linen and ceremony chairs; and romantically decorated suite on the wedding night with rose petals, aromatherapy and candles. Dream destination wedding packages available at El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels include:

* Free Morning Wedding Package - available complimentary Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. with a seven-night stay for bride and groom, and includes brunch reservations with personalized menu cards for the group. Valid at El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Maroma, which offer seaside wedding chapels; El Dorado Seaside Suites; and Azul Sensatori Hotel, home of the
exclusive Sky Wedding location.

* Free Sweet Wedding Package - available complimentary with a seven-night stay for bride and groom plus 15 additional room nights, and includes dinner reservations with personalized menu cards for the group. Valid at El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Maroma, which offer seaside wedding chapels; El Dorado Seaside Suites; and Azul Sensatori Hotel, home of the exclusive Sky Wedding location.

* Pearl Wedding Package - available for $950 and includes dinner reservations with personalized menu cards for the group, bride's fresh floral bouquet, groom's matching boutonniere, and framed 5x7" picture of wedding couple. Valid at all El Dorado and Azul properties including El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Maroma, which offer seaside wedding chapels; El Dorado Seaside Suites; Azul Beach Hotel; and Azul Sensatori Hotel, home of the exclusive Sky Wedding location.

* Silver Wedding Package - available for $2,500 and includes Pearl Wedding Package elements plus in-room mannequin with cover to display wedding dress for three days prior to the wedding, bride's spa manicure and special spa gift, spiritual sand ceremony with keepsake souvenir, heart-shaped petite wedding cake for two, post wedding day brunch reservations for group, and late check-out for the bride and groom. Valid at all El Dorado and Azul properties including El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Maroma, which offer seaside wedding chapels; El Dorado Seaside Suites; Azul Beach Hotel; and Azul Sensatori Hotel, home of the exclusive Sky Wedding location.

* Gold Wedding Package - available for $3,500 and includes Silver Wedding Package elements plus blood test, Mexican wedding certificate translated to English and delivered after ceremony via Fed Ex, spa hairstyle for bride and haircut for groom, spa gift, logo beach bag, romantic sunset dinner cruise for bride and groom including transfers at Maroma Beach, and professional wedding photographer, 36 color picture package plus negatives and handmade wedding album - wedding photography typically costs thousands of dollars separately, making the Gold Wedding Package a truly unbelievable deal. Valid at all El Dorado and Azul properties including El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casitas Royale and El Dorado Maroma, which offer seaside wedding chapels; El Dorado Seaside Suites; Azul Beach Hotel; and Azul Sensatori Hotel, home of the exclusive Sky Wedding location.

Call a Fox World Travel travel agent today at 888-369-8785.

New Mexican Law on Accepting U.S. Dollars

Source: Funjet Vacations

The Mexican Government passed a new law which goes into effect in Mexico beginning September 14, 2010. With this new law, the use of American Dollars (CASH) to make purchases in Mexico will not be as free as it has been in the past.

Other payment methods such as credit cards of all types and all issuing banks, Travelers Checks, Mexican pesos and non-American foreign currencies (such as Euros or Canadian Dollars) are not affected in any way by this new law.

The most noticeable differences to Fox World Travel and Funjet Vacations' customers will be:

• Hotels and Exchange Booths, and Local Banks will only be able to change a maximum of $1,500 USD CASH per person per month into Mexican Pesos. Previously there was no limit.
• Businesses (including restaurants, shops, and Destination Management Companys) will only be able to accept a maximum of $100 USD CASH per transaction - but the number of transactions per customer is not restricted. Certain businesses may not be able to, or may choose not to accept American Dollars for any purchase at all (this may include shops, etc), however still accepting Mexican Pesos.

If a customer wants to purchase an excursion (for example) that costs $150 US dollars per person, customers will only be able to pay $100 of this amount in USD CASH and the remainder will need to be in another form of payment (credit card, Mexican pesos, etc).

Airlines are advising they will only accept Mexican Pesos and credit cards for any fees (including baggage fees).

Vacationers should never carry large amounts of American dollars with them to Mexico, but instead they should consider either using a Credit Card, taking or locally withdrawing Mexican Pesos, or use Travelers Check's (of any currency).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact your travel agent at Fox World Travel.

Article on Mexico by Linda Ellerbee

Linda Ellerbee (born August 15, 1944) is an American journalist who is most known for several jobs at NBC News, including Washington (DC) correspondent, host of the Nickelodeon network's Nick News, and reporter and co-anchor of NBC News Overnight, which was recognized by the jurors of the duPont Columbia Awards as "possibly the best written and most intelligent news program ever."[1]

One Journalist's View
By Linda Ellerbee

Sometimes I've been called a maverick because I don't always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The stream here is Mexico.

You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it's true drug wars have escalated violence in Mexico, causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that's not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.

I'm a journalist who lives in New York City, but has spent considerable time in Mexico , specifically Puerto Vallarta , for the last four years. I'm in Vallarta now. And despite what I'm getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York, possibly safer. I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don't live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico.. Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don't wave money around, I don't act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I'm aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.

I've not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically-locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?

No, it was a local police officer, the "beat cop" for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans , and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood - house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows).

There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it's not just the lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel.. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna's attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Angelina Jolie. And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but- in general - Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and birth - and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman - with the same joy.Too much of the noise you're hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that - noise. But the media love noise, and too many journalists currently making it don't live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.

Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, "Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?" or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.
It would be nice if we could put what's going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn't be going on if people in the United States didn't want the drugs, or if other people in the United States weren't selling Mexican drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico is also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.

So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you'll like it here. Especially the people!

This article was highly recommended by one our travel agents in Oshkosh who wanted to share it with all of you!