The Royalton Resort
Upon arrival...
The front of the resort is a little shabby, in need of some landscaping. Once inside it's absolutely beautiful! Staff greets you with a cold drink and cold towels. Your bags are taken as you await check-in. We were upgraded to diamond club so check-in for us was a breeze. Can't say the same for our guests though.
CHECK-IN...
A total nightmare! We arrived early, our room was ready, none of our guests rooms were. That's fine because check-in isn't until 3pm. Our guest were allowed to explore the resort, restaurants and beach until rooms were ready...unfortunately that wasn't until 6 pm for some of our guest. It was 2:51and I remember one of the girls at the counter very rudely telling one of my guest that she still had 9 minutes until check-in and needed to wait. Really? It's been 4 hours since our arrival. If the rooms aren't ready yet, I'm sure they won't be in 9 minutes. There were not.
When our guest finally got to their room they found that not only were the rooms very small but the double occupancy rooms consisted of two twin beds. We were told that our travel agent should've informed us of this (NOT). After a few room changes, after guest were already unpacked, that was settled. My Hubby and I were originally upgraded to the honeymoon suite in the diamond club which was beautiful. Then we found out that the resort didn't have a room for one of my guest so they were given the Chairman's suite....wasn't happy about that. We complained and they switched it (before my guest knew anything about it lol). We then has to repack our room to be moved downstairs to the chairman suite....AMAZING! Private plunge pool, walks right out to the beach, duplex apartment style, with a living room, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. Some of my guests complained that the bathrooms leaked and some of the AC's didn't work (they fixed that right away).
The Restaurants...
Nothing to write home about but good for resort food. We had a group of 56 guest, 48 stayed at the resort. The restaurants were unaccommodating to large groups. Many of the restaurants were empty which makes me think that they're understaffed. We wanted to have dinner as a group and we had to separate. My hubby said that Zen was really good. I ate at Grazie with the ladies. It was ok but they only seat 6 at a table. We begged them to fit all 15 of us together and the best they were able to do was 12 at one table. Again, the restaurant was practically empty. Only 3 other tables (couples) in there. The manager explained that a group of 15 would be too large to accommodate at once. The buffet was decent.
The beach...
Small but nice. Only saw one beach server at a time so be prepared to walk to the bar for your drinks and food orders.
BRING TONS OF BUG SPRAY! Very buggy
The wedding...
1.) as stated in our contract, we paid for the Jamaica experience, inclusive of a 1 hour cocktail party (beef patties, chicken patties, codfish and ackee canapés) 2 traditional cocktails (we chose rum punch and blue lava) and 45 minutes of steel drum band.
All my guests received was 1 tuna fish canapé (not codfish) for each person, which sat wrapped in plastic wrap until one of my guests unwrapped it and passed it around to our other guests (which I can verify via video) and a few bottles of champagne. Once the champagne ran out, they were told that there was nothing else to be given. It's an all inclusive resort, how can there be no more drinks or alcohol? Even if it wasn't, what happened to the cocktails? There was no steel drum band as our contract states. There was only a guy playing a guitar. As I speak to a few of my guest, they all have the same consensus, there were only 2 hors d'oeuvres and champagne and they felt unguided. Many of my guest still had to go to the resort bar for drinks because they weren't served more than 1 glass of champagne at the cocktail hour.
Our guest were left to cluelessly linger around the resort in between cocktail hour and the reception because they were not done setting up for the reception.
Also, we paid for a private event however resort guest were still allowed to walk through the cocktail hour to take pictures and board the boat that's docked at the gazebo....that's not very private.
2.) rehearsal dinner/welcome dinner...we were told that we had to choose one meal choice. It puzzled me because I couldn't understand why this was the case at an all inclusive resort but I figured that it had something to do with our group size and timing. We sat for an hour and a half waiting for pre-selected food to be brought out to us. My guest were falling asleep. Usually, there's a pre-selection to help cut down on time but it seems as though no one was prepared for our dinner, not staff or the kitchen. When the steak came out it was very fatty and tough. Again, unacceptable.
3.) I found out that the same DJ who screwed up the previous brides' wedding would be DJ'ing my wedding. I requested Phillip and was assured that it would be up to him because he usually doesn't do weddings, just resort parties (like the sports bar). I agreed to have him and he agreed to take on my wedding. No one EVER said that he was also the back-up manager and would possibly be pulled away from our wedding to handle managerial duties. This is exactly what happened. I understand that there was an emergency situation but that should have nothing to do with my wedding. There should be plan A, B and C's for things like this. There were periods of time during the reception when there was absolutely no music playing at all. On another occasion, the same slow R&B song looped three times before someone stopped it. Totally unacceptable. Once things were settled, Phillip and the other DJ he had with him did get the party going and did a great job but those are things that we should not have had to experience. Maybe I could've been a little more understanding if not for the fact that I met a bride at the bar after her wedding (the night before mine) who had puffy eyes from crying all night just because they too messed up her wedding "from start to finish" her own words.
4.) also stated in the contract was 2 hours of rum tasting at the reception...that didn't happen.
5.) as per the contract, there was supposed to be dessert (pudding, assorted seasonal fruits) that was not available to us.
6.) lastly, it's been brought to our attention that one of the bartenders threw a drink on one of bridesmaids. The thought of someone in our family being so greatly disrespected is extremely upsetting. This is not an issue that we will let go of.
Overall, the staff at the resort is very kind and hospitable. Many of the issues we had were due to management. Thanks to our family and friends we had a great time but if we had to redo it we would not choose this resort for our wedding or for vacation.
Hope this helps!
