La Barcaza - Opinion

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True! My post is referring to brides who did not book before that. I would be a new client. I'm just warning the folks who are reading this thread and planning to request pricing, etc.

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Originally Posted by Team Brinkman 

 

If you made prior arrangements and booked before it was turned over to new owners, your previous pricing and everything discussed is still being honored.

 

True! My post is referring to brides who did not book before that. I would be a new client. I'm just warning the folks who are reading this thread and planning to request pricing, etc.

[sdj327]

Hello, I used barcaza as a thank you to our guests at the end of march. we had the best time! the boat is the best looking one there! our group loved the top lounge area until we got the dance party started. the dj was amazing and kept us dancing the whole time. we had fruit and sandwiches-some better than others but the food was gone by the time we got back. drinks were great and free flowing. we did rum and beer and let guests know before hand if they wanted anything else it would be cash bar. daniel was great and i would highly recommend barcaza!

[luckyxx3]

I just got back from Punta Cana, where my husband and I left pour ceremony and reception in the very capable hands of the La Barcaza staff.  We had planned to get married on the private beach at the natural pool, but of course with my luck it POURED at the exact time we were supposed to head to the island and have the ceremony (mind you it was the ONLY time in rained the entire 12 days we were there!!!!)  The staff was incredible in quickly rearranging everything to accommodate a ceremony on board which turned out to be perfect.

 

The food was fantastic- we offered guests a choice of the grill or seafood grill and everyone raved about how delicious everything was. There drinks were also great.  The bar tender (I wish I could remember her name) was so sweet, and made fantastic drinks all night long.  Jorge was phenomenal and made our experience one we won't ever forget.  He came out dressed in a bridesmaids dress when he knew I needed a pick-me-up because of the rain, and he and the captain kept a good eye on the weather for us.

 

We met with Daniel at our resort a few days before the wedding to finalize everything and make the final payment.  He was extremely professional and easy to deal with.. he had all of the details of our day noted based on our emails, and I'd trust him to coordinate my wedding all over again.

 

I was skeptical when La Barcaza switched hands that I wasn't going to get the wedding of my dreams, but I'm SO glad I stuck it out through the transition, because it was the BEST decision we could have made and we wouldn't have changed a thing (well, except for the rain!).  

 

We also used the photographer recommended by La Barcaza, Martin Ameztoy & Sebastian Ambrogetti and they were PHENOMENAL!!! Our pictures perfectly captured the day and look like something right out of a magazine.  They took over 1,700 pictures on Friday, the day of our wedding, and we had 220 edited pictures plus all of the originals by Monday!  They delivered them to us in person at our resort- who could ask for anything better?  I highly recommend any bride consider using them- spectacular results for a totally reasonable price.  The La Barcaza photo package is totally, totally worth it

 

To any brides who were nervous based on bad reviews early in the transition, don't be!! You will not regret having your reception on board- our friends and family are STILL raving about all the fun they had and how they will never forget what an amazing experience we had.  If anyone has any questions, just let me know- I'd be more than happy to answer!

 

- Lori

[Wayne]

In spring of 2013, we made arrangements for a sunset cruise for spring 2014 for our wedding party with La Barcaza. We communicated a copule of times about our visiting to see the boat, etc. In October, we made an appointment with the manager, Mr Gyorgy, for late afternoon on a particular date in November to see the boat and make the final arrangements. Our plane was running a bit late so I e-mailed him before leaving the states and as soon as we arrived. We got a cab and got to Jellyfish beach (the location where we were to meet) with 2 minutes to spare. He was nowhere to be found and when we called we got a message which our cab driver told us meant that the number was out of service. Our cab driver was able to find someone who knew Mr. Gyorgy and got us his father's phone number. We called, and the gentlemen said that he was out on his boat for a wedding but that he would ask Mr. Gyorgy to call me. About an hour later I did get a call. Mr. Gyorgy said that he had car trouble and asked if we could reschedule; I advised that I had to check the schedule of our other meetings with the hotel vendors and that I would have to call him back. He gave me another phone number which I called about an hour later. It was someone else's phone and she did not speak any English and did not know where Mr. Gyorgy was. When arranging the meeting, we advised Mr. Gyorgy that were in Punta Cana only for 3 days to make the arrangements for the wedding. When we were at the airport for our return 2 days later we received an e-mail asking if we could meet. We advised him that we had made alternate arrangements and wanted the deposit back. He said he would return our deposit (never mind the cab fare and the time wasted). Six weeks later, no returned deposit. We posted about our experience on another website. Now we will only get our deposit back if we take down the post. Think about whether you want to do business with a company that behaves this way.

[jwalsh]

We're having our reception on la barcaza after our beach wedding at majestic colonial in May 2014 hoping it goes well..happy to see some good reviews

 

 

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[Dave Cochrane]

Good evening,

 

I saw this post and decided I should weigh in. I had a similar experience to Wayne, but jwalsh, don't let this worry you too much.

 

So in summary, we were in DR for our wedding, from Nov 23-30, 2013. The wedding was on Tuesday (Nov 26), and as a gift/thank you to our wedding party and their spouses, we decided to book a boat ride on Le Barcaza on the Monday (Nov 25). Our total guest number including us for this boat ride was 24.

 

The easiest way to describe Daniel Gyorgy was "disorganized."

 

Please note that the actual excursion was absolutely incredible, but there were a few negative experiences that would make us look into other companies that may offer the same adventure if we were to do it again. If you have a lot of patience, and don’t mind spending a lot of time organizing, this trip is worth it. Otherwise…look around for another one!

 

From the beginning, I had emailed Daniel close to a month before we left. His responses would be 4-5 days apart, even when I would reply to him right away. Often his responses didn’t fully answer my emails. In the end, I refused to pay a deposit ahead, which he wanted through Western Union, not paypal or credit card. 

 

The day we arrived at the resort (Saturday), Daniel contacted me, so it made me start to think everything would be ok. He could only meet at 2pm on Sunday, so we met in the lobby. We waited around and he arrived around 230pm. It's minor, but we ended up spending an hour in the middle of the sunshine and heat of the day to meet with him. We did end up choosing to add the option of 15 people snorkeling on our trip, which had to be paid up front, even though we weren't positive that many would want to do it. It was $15/person.

 

Our trip was scheduled as expected and hoped for, to be 1pm-4pm. We would be picked up in the lobby at 1230pm by their bus, which was included. The bus was on time, although the driver did not speak an ounce of English, and we arrived at the beach to catch the boat around 1250pm. This was where we had our first uneasy experience. The boat wasn’t there, so our group of 24 was standing on the beach waiting. Our group was harassed non-stop by owners of the shops next door, insisting we go buy items from them right now. There was no less than 10 shop owners there, and they refused to leave our group alone until the boat arrived.

 

Our actual boat excursion started around 130pm, and the main entertainer, Jorge, was awesome. He danced, and laughed and sang keeping everyone on their feet and having a great time! We also hired the Dominican Trio to play for an hour, and I’m pretty sure they played much longer than that. They walked around the two levels of the boat, playing wherever the guests were. We had also paid for a snack food option, and the food tasted like it had been sitting out on the table for a couple hours. Most guests felt the same way, and it wasn't worth the risk of having stomach or gastro issues later on. Almost all of the food and snacks remained untouched.

 

The first stop was for snorkeling. A guide goes into the water with you, and the experience was incredible, and well worth the $15. They pick a spot with some reefs, lots of variety of fish, etc.

 

Later, we had a scheduled stop at a Natural pool, where everyone could get out and go for a swim. The water was about 5 feet deep, and very calm.

 

We returned to the beach around 445pm, so although we started late, we got our full amount of time expected and paid for. This was again, where the experience was a bit odd. The bus driver refused to open the doors to the bus, and said we couldn’t leave for 10 minutes. At the same time, shop owners began leading people inside the stores, almost dragging people in. Now, we realize this is the culture, but it was disappointing for some of our guests who did not feel comfortable, and did not need any souvenirs from here. After about 15 minutes, and our group clearly angry, standing beside a locked bus, the driver came back out and let us on.

 

I ended up contacting Daniel by email, and telling him about our overall experience. Part of the reason I emailed him was that I had paid for 15 snorkelling rentals, and only received 14. Despite him having been told we were only in DR for a week (leaving Saturday), I didn’t get a response for 4 days, and called him on Friday. He was very surprised and caught off guard when he realized I was on the other end of that phone call! He claimed he was really busy. Luckily, we were staying a second week at another resort, so Daniel agreed to meet that week.

 

He chose around 3pm, and showed up at 330pm. Again this meant an hour was lost of sunshine and enjoying our trip. He brought a friend with him who insisted on selling us on other excursions, but we told him we just wanted to go enjoy our resort. They wouldn't take no for an answer, and we pretty much had to stand up and start to walk away.

 

Because he only owed us $15, I hadn’t checked the envelope he gave us when we met up. We went back to the beach for a couple hours. When I returned to the room, we had 3 voice messages, and two emails saying to contact him right away. He had actually given us an envelope with $401! Oops! His messages all said to meet him at 6pm in the lobby. We already had a dinner scheduled, and decided instead to make it on our time, and didn’t return to the lobby to meet him. When we returned later on, there was a note on our door, and two more voicemails, along with another email.

 

At this point we were frustrated with the disorganization, and were not going to work on his time. I emailed him back the next day, and scheduled a meeting for a day later, so he had to wait two days for his money. Shockingly, he was very quick to respond to EVERY email now, and seemd to reply within 5 minutes each time! Funny how that happens. In the end, we met up, and I made sure he knew how frustrated we were with his disorganization.

 

All that to say, the overall boat excursion was awesome. Our guests still talk about it! I'm not convinced another company couldn't offer the same experience, without the accompanying hassles. Given how easily Daniel disappears at his convenience and slow responses, I would not recommend sending a deposit through Western Union ahead of time. We also did not see him at all the day of the excursion. In the event that the boat had never shown up, there would have been no way to reach him. The only people around were shop owners.

 

Any more questions, please feel free to contact me.

Dave

[AR-DreamWedding]

Like Wayne, I had a similar experience with La Barcaza and now that my wedding is over I am free to write reviews as I see fit without being bullied by them. When the change over of ownership was made I decided to write and welcome the new owners and find out if they would be upholding everything that was already agreed upon with the previous owners. Please not I had already sent over my $1000 deposit via Western Union and my invites with all the information for my wedding were already sent out. I was having a hard time hearing back from Daniel so I decided to just call him and when I did, I was very upset to find out that he (and his parents the owners) would not hold up things that were already agreed upon. Needless to say I asked for my deposit back and after two months of arguing with them they agreed to send me back half. In the end they sent me less than half and I had to change my entire wedding.... including venue and the date I was to be married.

 

Because of Daniel (and his parents) I had many complications to my wedding planning process and with 6 months left before my date I had to change every single thing!!!

 

Despite the beauty of having a boating excursion I would strongly recommend not using their services, as they are sub-par to what La Barcaza was previously upholding. To top it off Daniel's father is a crude man with very little people skills. Daniel is ok but he makes no decisions independently and is very disorganized.

 

I thought I would share seeing as someone else had a similar experience and was being bullied into removing their post because they wanted to help prevent others from making a big mistake.

 

There are many other wonderful boating companies in Punta Cana and again I strongly recommend you do your research and choose another boating company who has a better reputation.

 

Warmest Regards,

AR-DreamWedding

[jwalsh]

Thanks for all the details on your experiences any information I can get I'll take! I actually sent my deposit through western union it cost like 40 bucks to do a wire transfer! My wedding is in May so I really don't have time to change and have my reception at the resort I'm just going to pray things go well and that the food is good. We purchased the mixed grill option and it's not cheap so if I feel it's been sitting long or is just gross I'll be really irritated and disappointed. So far Daniel has been alright to deal with although like u said his answers to questions can be really short. At this point I'm not even going to let this stress me out I'm just gonna hope for the best I'll be sure to post a review hopefully a good one!

 

 

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[Dave Cochrane]

jwalsh,

 

Everything will be fine I am sure! This forum just means you'll be prepared and plan ahead! As I said, the actual excursion for us was fantastic, it was more the logistics before and after. Of course, ours wasn't a wedding so it's a bit different! How many do you have going on the boat?

 

Keep in mind other people have posted recently saying there's went well as well. It could have to do with him being overly busy certain weeks, or just plain life getting in the way and making him not give clients as much attention as they wish.

 

It'll be great! Good luck!