Amara Cay Resort Reviews

Amara Cay Resort was absolutely stunning. We had the best weather and under the tiki hut there was an ocean breeze that kept it perfect. Allison and her team did a great job! her communication over the past 3 months was incredible and meeting us to walk the property. She was always answering our questions and exceeded our expectations. Out by the cabanas we had Alton and he did a fantastic job serving all our wedding guests. We highly recommend planning your wedding at Amara Cay Resort!

Shout out to Amanda, Danielle, Juan, Katherine, and the rest of the Amara Cay team for making our wedding turn out perfectly. Our venue was originally supposed to be at Postcard Inn but due to construction, we were able to be accommodated at Amara Cay. I couldn't of asked for a bigger blessing in disguise. This TEAM was PHENOMENAL. They were extremely responsive during a really challenging, stressful time for them as a group and for us during a big moment in our lives. They MADE IT ALL HAPPEN though! I was sooooo happy with Amara Cay. It's a beautiful resort and I wouldn't change a thing about it. If you're looking for a beautiful beach wedding and tiki hut, this is your spot! Beautiful oceanside views! Thank you so much to this team!!!!

Amazing resort and beautiful slice of paradise! I scouted this place out 6 years ago for our wedding ceremony but things fell through for various reasons. We planned our 5 year anniversary party and it was spectacular. Boh the event (Andrea) and banquet (Tamisha) coordinators were amazing to work with. This was a destination event for us so where were several people that waited until the last minute to decide if they could come and this team was very flexible. I loved the decor and the laid back atmosphere. Everyone there was so nice and helpful. I did not hire/rent decorations and brought my own. This was not necessary as their "basic" centerpiece set up was beautiful and surpassed my expectations. I did customized my decorations a little but overall everything was perfect! I inspired other people to have their own anniversary parties. I will definitely be coming back to relax and maybe host future events there.

If you want a wedding in Florida keys I highly recommend the Amara Cay! The resort was beautiful, laid back, and exactly what I wanted. I had the reception in the Tiki hut and it was beautiful with all the twinkly lights! The staff was super nice and made me feel like a princess!

We wanted a small beach resort for our 30-person wedding and Amara Cay was perfect for it. Dawn and Amanda were great to work with, too. We didn’t see the site ahead of time but Amanda helped us get a sense of the property and we were not disappointed! The palm aisle is a perfect backdrop to the ceremony and the tiki pavilion was plenty big for our reception (roomy in fact). It’s a bit tricky to plan a destination wedding but we were happy with our choice.

We chose to have our destination wedding at the beautiful Amara Cay resort. Our ceremony was under the palm trees and reception was under the Tiki on site. Our guest were so impressed with how everything turned out. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!

When we started wedding planning, my now husband and I knew we wanted to get married on a beach, but where. We found Amara Cay through Instagram and quickly decided to do a site tour in early March 2020. We immediately fell in love with the resort and knew this was where we wanted to start our lives as husband and wife, and what a great decision that was. From original contract planning and all the little details in between, Andrea and her team at Amara Cay were so professional and responsive and easy to work with! We felt so supported in our wedding planning from afar and everything was a dream come true on our wedding day. Over our wedding weekend, everyone at Amara cay were so welcoming to us and our guest and we felt right at home. We can’t wait to visit again soon!

Having our wedding at Amara Cay was the best decision we made! It was literally a dream wedding! All the staff were SO nice and helpful! The hotel itself is absolutely beautiful! We will only be staying here from now on!

Amara cay was the best wedding venue we could have asked for. It was exactly what I dreamed of. Having the ceremony right in the sand between the most beautiful palms was amazing. The large tiki on the beach for the party was amazing. Amara cay had the best set up for us, and the bartenders were amazing. Thank you for giving us the perfect wedding weekend!!!

Andrea was very helpful and everything was gorgeous. The resort was very detailed with the food. They treated us like VIPs the entire week!

Check this space out!! Andrea and her team were on point from the venue sell and night of event. We had 100 guest for a rehearsal dinner (rented out the lobby), loved the venue, view, and team!

This place was absolutely fantastic. From the Event planners a year before to the front desk staff, cleaning staff, pool bar, ALL catering staff and especially the Chief "Bravo". Every person that attended my wedding weekend could not stop raving about this place. ALL food was incredible. We spent 6 days and 5 nights and only ate off property once and that was to a sister property. Chef Cash and his staff are geniuses when it comes to GREAT food. All of my three events were just perfect. Kenneth the front desk manager deserves a huge raise. We had 35 rooms with people checking in at different times and he made it extremely smooth for everyone. Jenn Weiden your staff is absolutely amazing.

Having a destination wedding can be so stressful, but not if you have it at Amara Cay!
This venue was absolutely perfect – It is beautiful, the staff is the BEST I’ve experienced in the Keys, and WOW – Was the food TO DIE FOR!
Our event manager, Andrea H., was simply amazing! From our initial tour, to the day-of, she was hands-on and ready to help!
She has the patience of a saint – Was always so quick to respond to my many requests, and she was able to make sure our day was everything we dreamed it would be!
Our Day-Of Coordinator, Andrea R., worked so well with my planner, and as the Bride, I thought it was PERFECT!
To Miguel and staff – We thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We can’t wait to come back to our home-away-from-home!

It was such a beautiful venue and Andrea and the staff at the resort did a wonderful job! We would recommend it!

The venue, the resort, the service, the whole vibe of Amara cay is absolutely amazing and the most perfect place to host a wedding!

This was such a great choice for our wedding venue! We had about 50 guests attending our wedding, at least 1/3 of who stayed on property and it was perfect. The pool bar and fire pits were so nice for us to have a gathering location at night and the hotel is so convenient to local restaurants and attractions for the travelers to explore.

As for the wedding venue, the private beach was perfect and although (unfortunately) it rained right after the cocktail hour, the staff did an amazing job setting up an indoor option which ended up working great. Andrea was wonderful to work with and the staff was just amazing. My guests RAVED about all aspects and we are really happy we hosted our wedding there.

What a great experience! I want to relive my wedding week all over again. With every wedding there were hiccups that was not even the hotels responsibility (ex: flowers for rehearsal dinner) but they were able to give us lanterns for the rehearsal dinner centerpieces. Brittany went over and beyond. Our original wedding date was May 12th at Post Card Inn but with the hurricane renovations it was not done in time and was moved to Amara Cay for June 16th. This felt like an upgrade and we were very happy with everything that was done for our special day. We are planning to come back for our 1st anniversary and order the same cake we did :)

Amara Cay is a beautiful resort! Our wedding could not have turned out any better. Everything went so smooth and we did not have to stress about anything from the moment we got there. The location we picked on the grounds of Amara Cay was perfect. It was right on the resort but was still private feeling for our ceremony and reception. The staff was wonderful as well. Can't wait to come back for a vacation in the future!

Our wedding at amara cay was AMAZING! I was so happy with how everything turned out! Andrea was so great and helped us so much! It was the most perfect day and we will definitely be back for our anniversaries in the future!

We had the wedding of our dreams at Amara Cay Resort! Andrea and the staff were extremely helpful during the entire process, which included a venue and date change due to Hurricane Irma. The resort is beautiful and you cannot tell that there was ever a hurricane that came through at all! Amara Cay is the perfect place to have a beach wedding in paradise!

YAAAAAAASSS!!!! The absolute perfect backdrop to a most phenomenal day. The rooms were perfect, updated and gorgeous. The food outstanding (guests couldn't get enough). Tiki bar staff was wonderful and the drinks tropical and delicious. The pictures were stunning. They have such great staff and great customer service. Samantha was a dream to work with. After hurricane Irma she made the transition from a previous venue to amara cay seamless. Nobody wanted to leave after the weekend was over and begged us to renew our vows next year and do it all over. Cannot wait to come back year after year for our anniversary!

Although we decided to stay home in NJ for our wedding due to family complications but I would ABSOLUTELY recommend Amara Cay. Brittany Norton is the director of events and was who I spoke to for everything, she is amazing. She was super accommodating with our budget and date. If there was anything I needed she was there. She answered all the little and big questions and always got back to me in a timely manner. The resort is beautiful and has everything you could possible need or want. The accommodations the resort provided were amazing and is very flexible to make it work for bride and groom. If you want to get married in Islamorada, this is the place to go!!! I have nothing but positive things to say about Amara Cay!

Amara Cay is the perfect wedding location. The beach and scenery are absolutely gorgeous and the staff is wonderful to work with. Highly recommended !

We absolutely loved our wedding at Amara Cay and Amy was so great. We planned it all in 4 months, all through email correspondence from Minnesota and it was so perfect. We only had seven guests and having such an intimate setting was perfect, we got to talk to everyone and the day of was very low stress. The dinner and dinner staff was fantastic, we sat by the pool on a beautiful December night and the staff was able to incorporate our decore and flowers into the setting. We then spent our honeymoon at the hotel and had an absolute blast. The pool and beach are gorgeous and the staff is super friendly; with really clean and updated rooms. Plus, there's a ton of fun restaurants and bars around within walking or shuttle distance. We orginially planned on doing a traditional wedding with 250 people in a large banquet room in MN that would cost us $35K but are so happy we did it the way we did. Definitely the way to go, we are still talking about how perfect it was.

We had an intimate wedding on the beach. Just immediate family in attendance. The staff treated our small wedding as importantly as if we were a larger wedding party- they knew this was our wedding and a life event even though we did not have a big extravagant wedding. We chose this setting based on the beauty and color of the water. The palm trees were also in a perfect location for the ceremony. The staff was wonderful! They calmed our nerves when the weather took a turn for the worse and made it a wonderful experience. The rooms are beautiful, the décor awesome! The food was great as well! With several options to choose from, we know we made the right choice.

Amara Cay was more than I had imagined when we booked this resort as the destination for our destination wedding. We gathered informally on New Years Eve at the pool/beach bar as our guests arrived by planes and automobiles. They were exceptionally friendly and welcoming - Kara the general manager could not have been better! When the limos couldn't arrive at the hotel due to a fatal accident that shut down route 1, the Concierge (who is also a DJ as it turns out) drove the wedding party down to the venue. It took a really long time to go that 1.5 miles from Amara Cay to Morada Bay but we wouldn't have made it without them.
The hotel rooms and lobby were clean, comfortable and beautiful. Very spacious rooms. The only recommendation would be that it would be great if there was room service and some simpler fare on the menu.

Our wedding at Amara Cay Resort was perfect! We wanted to get married on the beach in the Florida Keys and Amara Cay Resort was an idyllic venue to have our wedding. It was a small, intimate wedding but this place is an absolutely beautiful setting for a wedding! We had our rehearsal dinner the night before at their Tiki Bar and it was amazing! The food was delicious and the staff is very accommodating and delightful. I wouldn't change one thing and we can't wait to go back to Amara Cay Resort. We've received nothing but glowing feedback from our guests about our wedding! We are so happy we had it at Amara Cay Resort!

We had an amazing time here with our family and friends. Resort facilities and service is great! The upgrade to the Lanai suite right on the beach was in incredible as we were right on the beach and able to see the sunrise every morning. Appetizers were great but the main meal not so much.

Brittany Norton is the director of events at Amara Cay and other surrounding venues and she was a dream come true. She helped us move our whole wedding to Amara Cay when we found out The Postcard Inn wasn't going to be open for our wedding. She moved every single person who to comparable rooms from The Postcard Inn to Amara Cay and even waived some fees due to the inconvenience. I can't say enough about her willingness to help us during that crazy time and she was always available to answer any questions we had.
We were treated exceptionally by the staff at Amara Cay. The wedding was beautiful even though we had an intense rain shower as soon as I walked down the aisle and had to run inside the lobby. The staff made sure they wiped down the chairs, changed the linens on the reception tables, etc so we could have a "do-over". They were fantastic. The only negative aspect I can think of for this one particular resort is the professionalism after asking if someone could come to our room and remove the food we had ordered for the wedding party since it had been left out and the room was beginning to smell. The response was a flat "No" until my mom was talking about it at the Tiki Bar and one of the bartenders walked with us up to our room and called someone to bring her a cart so she could take the food for us. It wasn't her job but she made sure we were taken care of.
Linda and Joseph, the bartenders at our ceremony, were AMAZING. They were so much fun and talkative with our guests. I also need to give a shoutout to Daniel, who works at the front desk at Amara Cay. We were constantly asking him questions and he was always so willing to call the wedding coordinator if he didn't know the answer to a question we were asking. He was great!

For anyone over the age of 50 and looking for small, fairly inexpensive venue to say 'I do", we could not have asked for anything more. Loralei, Peggy & Lauren were the best! They were very responsive to all of our questions and helped me thru the complete process. And at the end of the day, we were married in a non stress free environment, that was absolutely beautiful. It was really just 'perfect'!! Thanks again Loralei, Peggy & Lauren & Amara Cay Resort. It was the best day ever!!

From beginning to end this resort made the destination wedding amazing I have all positive things to day. The coordinating venue food rooms hospitality and management. Were exceptional. Chris and Samantha were amazing

I hope the ceremony is worth every penny. This beach was too beautiful to pass up.

Amara Cay was a beautiful venue for our June 2023 wedding. Amanda K and her team (despite a last minute administrative leave) went above and beyond to make sure our day was nothing short of perfect from the moment we checked into the hotel. When we brought up concerns with catering after our tasting, Amanda made sure that our needs were met and stayed in communication with us since we were planning our wedding from out of state. We appreciated all her efforts and the Amara Cay team!

Amara Cay Resort was such a beautiful location for our wedding. We loved working with Andrea. She worked with us to customize our wedding package to meet our needs and budget. We also loved that the pool and tiki bar were kept open for us as an after party location. Our complaints are that the preparation of the drinks at the open bar was only adequate and not the best prepared for us, a 3rd party needed to catch a problem with our scheduled timeline, some of our guest favors were cleaned up and thrown out with the dishes while they were enjoying themselves in the dance floor, and none of the plastic cups or straws were biodegradable.

We just got married at AC and it turned out great. Overall, we are definitely glad we went with this venue.

VENUE: Nice setup and a great place for a beach wedding. We had string lights, danced on the sand, all those things you think of when you hear "beach wedding". They re-modeled after the hurricane, so it's got a pretty new feel inside. The lobby is large and a little funky, with the Reel Burger restaurant, which serves a lot more than just burgers (and it's pretty good). Our guests (and their kids, especially) enjoyed playing the games (cornhole, ping pong, jenga, etc.) on the little green area b/w the lobby and tiki bar. After our reception ended, the after party continued in this area (by the fire pits, which are great, as long as it's not too windy, in which case they can't be on; also, they turn off at 11, which is slightly annoying) and the Tiki Bar. The beach area is scenic and the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception were all literally just a few steps from each other (on the beach.), which is convenient.

ROOM: We got the wedding package suite and it was spacious, had a wonderful view (toward the end of their beach, overlooking the ocean and the dock), and the bed/pillows were very comfortable. The hotel included a nice welcome package just for us (including prosecco and beers), and this was a nice surprise for sure. I saw a few of our guests' room and they seemed fine.

STAFF: Julia, one of the onsite managers, was great. She was able to accommodate most (if not all) of my requests, some of which were non-standard. Note: the hotel's coordinator / planner can be hard to reach on weekends, as they are usually busy with events - just keep in mind. Several times, my (then) fiancée asked for lists of guests who had booked - and they provided those. Strongly recommend making it very clear to your guests how to book, as we initially had several problems (people answering the phone weren't aware of who we were or our wedding at all).

WEDDING FOOD: We had pretty high hopes for the wedding food after our tasting. The coconut shrimp was solid but the I was a bit disappointed with the filet - just thought it was under-seasoned, but I'm no food authority, so perhaps it's just me. My wife was a bit underwhelmed with the Mahi. They were able to accommodate the few vegan guests that we had, and that was nice.

BARTENDING: This is the ONE area that several of my guests has complaints about. First, apparently they don't serve shots - odd. We weren't aware of this. While my guests were enjoying themselves, no one was totally drunk (most of us are well past this stage), but the bartenders apparently thought they would selectively serve drinks. If someone is obviously drunk, I can understand, but that was not the case. So, the bartenders need to let people ENJOY themselves and let whoever is throwing the party get their money's worth.

MISC: They offer a free shuttle that goes anywhere in a 4 mile radius. This was really nice for our guests for our Friday night welcome reception, as that was about a mile away and some people didn't want to drive, as they knew they'd be drinking. It's first come, first serve. Apparently, it was quite a party --on the shuttle-- on the way back (from the reception).

3 areas for improvement:

1. AC needs to ***immediately ensure that ALL of their rental equipment is safe. The bicycles, in particular, need immediate safety checks (hopefully this has already been done). One of my groomsmen was riding one and made a slight half turn and the actual wheel (not the tire) bent and he was thrown off the bike. In addition to a possible serious injury, this happened several hours before the wedding. It is not at all acceptable for the hotel to let guests rent equipment that is not safe. Additionally, I strongly recommend that the hotel at least issue bike helmets (they didn't); if guests don't want to wear them, then that's their choice.

2. Payment system / options needs to be modernized. Credit cards can't be taken over the phone or online, which is sort of weak. We wanted to split payment up over several cards and each card requires a sheet to be filled out, along with a driver's license. Need to upgrade this payment system.

3. Hotel should offer welcome bag distribution (directly to guests as they check in or in their rooms) for free. They wanted to charge us $5 / guest. They did eventually agree to help us distribute free of charge, but apparently it's not their policy.

If I could give 0 stars I would!!! I am not one to post reviews, however, Amara Cay was a let down in every way!

I originally planned to have my wedding there on 2/25/22. The end of June, I found out I was pregnant and contacted Andrea via phone about postponing the wedding. I was reassured it wasn’t an issue. After leaving multiple voicemails with out a response over the span of 2 weeks, I finally got a hold of Andrea. We set a date and she was supposed to email me over the addendum to the contract. After waiting over a week for the addendum, I made multiple phone calls that were not returned so I switched to email. Finally, I reached out to my wedding coordinator. She was eventually able to get a hold of Andrea and was told that there would be no issues pushing the wedding back to the date Andrea and I agreed to in July and that Andrea would be emailing me the addendum. Apparently, Andrea’s email had been changed so she hadn’t received any of my emails. Neither, my wedding planner nor myself was notified about this change.

I received an email from accounting saying they were going to run my card for the 3rd installment for the wedding and it had Andrea’s new email. I responded with there was a new date and was waiting for Andrea to send over the addendum but I would assume the payment dates would change.
I finally get a response from Andrea. I was told that I had a 50% cancellation fee but they would use 50% of the cancellation fee to put towards the new date. I was confused about this for 2 reasons. 1. I wasn’t technically canceling the wedding, I needed to push the date back as my due date was the same exact day 2. when I had originally reached out numerous phone calls and emails about postponing I fell in the 25% cancellation fee range.

After numerous emails back and forth, I was informed I would not be charged the cancellation fee but I would need to pay 100% of the wedding and rehearsal dinner by the original wedding date. I had a wedding venue that could not respond to my phone calls or emails when they had 50% of the money. Now I’m expected to pay 100% of the wedding a year before the date not to keep the pricing originally agreed on but “to ensure the hotel’s expected revenue is collected.” At this point, I was more comfortable walking away from my hard earned money than moving forward to Amara Cay as my wedding venue.

I signed my cancellation form and got my expected refund. I moved on with a giant weight of Amara Cay off my shoulders. All of this took place from July 1, 2021 to October 6, 2021.

If you’ve made it this far you may be asking why am I writing a review 4 1/2 months later? Well today multiple of my guests who booked their rooms for the wedding received a confirmation email for their visit. Well this was supposed to be canceled per my cancellation letter. I was told that there must have been a “glitch” in their system and that the rooms have been canceled. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if the rooms were actually canceled or if my guests will be charged. I will update later.

Our wedding at Amara Cay was beyond disappointing with everyone we dealt with along the way. Brides beware. You feel like a second rate guest for your special day. Months in advance I requested a certain room, we didn’t get it. I asked for a steamer to be in our room when we checked in (to steam my dress) it wasn’t. After many phone calls the day of check in and the next day finally the next day (day of the event) they brought it up. I asked for our room to be cleaned after getting ready for my wedding with my bridesmaids in our room, they assured us they would. We came back to our room after our wedding to a dirty room and clean towels in a trash bag that were thrown on the couch. The tiki bar service was terrible and under staffed. Expect to wait 20 mins for a drink if you’re staying during the weekend. We waited 20 mins to get checked in because the front was understaffed (no wonder no one ever answered the phone when our guests we’re trying to book rooms) We were suppose to have our wedding rehearsal on the beach at a set time that was reserved. We had to ask guests to move as they were eating and sitting in chairs in the part of the beach that was suppose to be cleared. Andrea, our “Event Coordinator” we could never get a hold of her. I had to resend numerous emails multiple times to get her to respond. I think I had about 3 phone conversations with her total through our whole wedding process. Thank god we had a wedding planner that she seemed to respond to. After addressing these things with Lauren the General manager she wrote us an email that basically said we could really care less about your experience. We treat our guests well. We got your money hope you decide to stay with us again in the future. We chose this place to have one of our most memorable days, and they wrote us off and treated us like second rate guests. Amara Cay isn’t a resort. I’ve stayed at holiday Inns that treat their guests better. There’s no spa, no one helps you with your bags. There were no towels at the pool. I’m not sure other than serving food what resort experience they provide. It’s not the customer service. If you’re just going to stay, it’s not worth the prices they charge. It’s on the water. There’s your one perk. Most of our guests complained their rooms were damp and very humid. If you’re looking into having your wedding here and expecting great service, look elsewhere. It’s far too expensive for what they provide.

Amara Cay was the worst place to have our wedding at. They screwed up virtually every single detail, weren’t available to discuss, fix or improve anything they messed up - worst of all - no apologies or attempts to remedy any of it. They messed up the dates we were supposed to stay there, gave us the wrong room even after numerous guarantees to make sure we had the right room. Overcharged for our block of rooms we set aside, outright lied about what rooms we could use and for what purposes, and that they only had one event per weekend. A.H. (Director of events) in particular told this, among many other outright lies. She also messed up our arrangement for the reception, didn’t have the beach cleared for our rehearsal, mislead us regarding the food for the reception and was magically unavailable any time we tried to call her. She also refused to allow us a food tasting for the event “due to covid”, however when we showed up to sign our contract, she was literally too busy doing a tasting for another group.

The GM, L.C. basically told us tough luck when we brought all the issues to her attention. Not to mention the front desk staff whom was rude, the kayak rental attendants who yelled at guests asking to leave their shoes onshore, the bartenders who were seemingly drunk and couldn’t fill drink or food orders, or - the brunch we spent thousands on for Friday that was missing agreed to items and also set up incorrectly. This was a sh&t show from start to finish. This wasn’t an isolated incident, if you see a reply down below its BS as they have already replied telling us to basically too bad, thanks for spending $40k with us. They have also actively tried to hide our reviews online by contacting websites directly.

Amara Cay is no resort either. It’s a churched up holiday inn. No spa, no real restaurant, smelly old small rooms, and horrid customer service form the top all the way down. A.H. (in charge of events) and GM L.C. are both awful in their career roles, with no care for their customers basic happiness or accountability. If you can’t do what you agree to, or we pay for - don’t agree to it then. Oh! A.H. also told us we could use sparklers as a send off as long as it wasn’t near the tiki. That was also a lie. And an expense we incurred that couldn’t be refunded. We are currently considering legal actions for fraud as well. This was abhorrent.

We were planning our wedding for fall 2020 with Andrea and it typically took her days to a week to respond. We had to basically pry and bother her to get information. We were told we would receive an estimate for the day we requested that was available but never did. Left messages and emailed and took a week to get a response. Once we did we were told she forgot to put in the estimate and that someone else had booked for that day. She said sorry but didn’t take responsibility for her mistake. When we asked what she could do to accommodate us like give us the deal we were supposed to get for that weekend at a later date she said “can’t do that.” So basically this whole last month that we have been trying to secure our wedding date and spot was a waste of time. I would not recommend any of these resorts in this collection.