Dreams Cancun - Questions for those married here!

[Gwen]

You should be alright getting married in Oct as far as having the Gazebo available. However, all brides should be warned of the poor treatment we received by the wedding planning staff as well as poor and accomodations to half of our guests.

I agree, one shouldnt sweat the small stuff on any wedding, we are actually extremely laid back....but our experience at Dreams was far from "small stuff" and was completely unacceptable. If you have an upcoming wedding there and cant bear the thought of cancelling your plans, you should contact them to find out what options they have to provide your wedding elsewhere as they did for us.

Again, we want all the brides to be excited for your special day and dont want to rain on your parade. But perhaps your experience will be better having this knowledge prior to arriving at your planned wedding spot. Good luck to all.

[chipotle99]

Gwen, that sounds like a horrendous experience and my heart really goes out to you for having to put up with all that when you're already stressed enough being a destination bride! And the way they treated you is so unprofessional, especially the dishonesty.

 

Can I ask how your guests booked rooms? Was it through an online ticket seller or through the hotel directly or through a travel agent? I've heard of that happening a few times.

 

Again, sorry your experience was so horrible and I hope you will be able to look back on this as a funny little glitch in your otherwise happiest day of your life

[Gwen]

It totally sucked the way they treated us, but in the end we had a great memorable wedding with phenomenal pictures!! Tony and Alex were great. Our 650+ pics all look like they came from a magazine. We got pics not only at the lighthouse and boat but also at the NOW resort.

Some of our guests booked directly through the hotel and a good portion booked through travel companies such as Orbitz. Orbitz had better deals than Dreams would give us as a group package.

It is all over and we are happily married, so that is the important thing. But it certainly could have been easier and handled much better. To all the brides with upcoming weddings at Dreams, a new Gazebo will be up soon and i'm sure things will be fine. To future brides who havent yet selected a site, I would recommend a different locale due to the unprofessionalism alone. Their sister site Now Resort had very good wedding management we felt. Only problem is that its much more remote. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news. Again, we are still happily married! Better luck to everyone else.

[MrsLewistobe]

Gwen,

 

First of all, I am very sorry you had to go thru this terrible incident and for it to be a damper on your wedding week. I GREATLY appreciate your coming on the site and explaining the situation to us.

 

Did you think the location at the NOW resort was better than what Dreams Cancun was able to offer without the main gazebo? My wedding is in 12 days, they are telling me it will be ready by then. I have never been to this resort. But I am trying to figure out a back-up plan if it is not ready.

 

I can't see the photo you posted on the other link. It is because I am still considered new, so I couldn't see what the temporary gazebo looks like. But from the comments and they way yours was handled, I am sure it was not nice.

 

Was that the only option they provided you with-the NOW resort? I was thinking maybe Dreams Rivieria if it was not booked for a wedding on my night. So this is why I am wondering if they gave you several options and you chose the NOW resort. Did they just bus your group out there for the wedding and back that night or how long did you stay at the NOW resort?

 

Now more than even the gazebo, I am worried about them trying to send our guests to other hotels. This will not be acceptable to me! All of our friends and family are spending this money to spend time with us and have dinners with us, etc. So if this is the case, they better be prepared to put us all on a bus and send us to another resort. The only problem is we are coming in on all different days and some for only the weekend. So I am afraid it will get hectic the day before our wedding.

 

I really don't know what else to do at this point. I don't even know if our travel agent can help. Most of our guests booked used our agent and booked thru Apple Vacations.

 

As soon as I read the first post about this incident on here, I emailed the hotel directly and received a response from the manager you referred to. He assured me that everything will be ready for my day, but now that you say you felt he was dishonest with you, I don't know if I should trust this and feel better or not?

 

I think this is just a terrible way for them to do business. They should know better than messing with brides. I am usually pretty laid back too, but I will go CRAZY on them when I show up if they try to pull this stuff. Although, I don't know how much it will help. And I would rather spend my time with a drink in hand and getting a massage with my fiance, not fighting with them over something that we should not be dealing with days before our wedding!!!

 

And I don't think you should have had to pay for much after this treatment! Maybe tangible things like dinner, photos, music. But not for the location, etc., since it was not what you were promised or agreed to when signing their "contract" and plannig your big day! Sorry if I am rambling, just really upset about this!! My email is [email protected] if you want to email me directly. THANKS for your time and input!

 

Amy

[*JillD*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwen It totally sucked the way they treated us, but in the end we had a great memorable wedding with phenomenal pictures!! Tony and Alex were great. Our 650+ pics all look like they came from a magazine. We got pics not only at the lighthouse and boat but also at the NOW resort. Some of our guests booked directly through the hotel and a good portion booked through travel companies such as Orbitz. Orbitz had better deals than Dreams would give us as a group package. It is all over and we are happily married, so that is the important thing. But it certainly could have been easier and handled much better. To all the brides with upcoming weddings at Dreams, a new Gazebo will be up soon and i'm sure things will be fine. To future brides who havent yet selected a site, I would recommend a different locale due to the unprofessionalism alone. Their sister site Now Resort had very good wedding management we felt. Only problem is that its much more remote. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news. Again, we are still happily married! Better luck to everyone else.

I'm sorry for all of the troubles you had. The TA's on this site, myself included, try very hard to stress to brides that booking through sites such as orbitz, does not guarantee you a room at this resort. And there is a VERY good possibility of being bumped. I would think you would have preferred that the guests pay a little bit more and not be bumped, right? I hope you don't take what I'm saying as being rude or unsympathetic, but this is something that we can't stress enough to brides.

[KelZavs20]

Wow, i am nearly speechless about this gazebo and beach situation. Ive been following this thread for the past couple days on this situation and i just cant believe it. I really really hope they get their crap together for the weddings coming up in the next few weeks, and i also pray that they have learned from this mistake of not being upfront and honest. The funny thing is - they are very well aware of this website - i even remember talking about this forum with Cecilia when i met with her - so rest assured, the publicity is being read, and you are being heard. And even though some hearts were already broken due to the stupidity of the resorts planning, i have to say thanks to the brides that are making it all known so the brides with upcoming weddings can be more careful and suspicious....so, THANKS! Ill be asking and communicating much more with Dreams from now until August for sure.

[**~Jenn~**]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KelZavs20 what about during the day? arent they suposed to have activities going on like volleyball in the pool or yoga or something?

I apologize, I thought youwere talking about the night life before and that's what i was referring too. There is definitely alot going on during the day and there are things to keep you bus...
Volleyball, Water Aerobics, Dance lessons, & ETC......
Oh One night there was a movie on the beach. That was pretty cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meldal101010 They are just talking about the entertainment at night. I'm preety sure they have alot of activities throughout the day...beach volleyball, yoga, snorkeling etc. I believe the resort sends out a schedule of daily activities the night before so you'll be aware of whats happening the following day I am spending the majority of my days tanning and sipping on some drinks!!!

Yes I was & yes, I will say, the Swim up bar in the big pool is a Fabulous spot and can get pretty crowded during the day. Grab a blue Floaty, grab a drink and enjoy your day! (go for the Mango Tango for sure!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwen Attention April/May Dreams Cancun Brides!!!!! You may be in for a surprise if you have an upcoming wedding at this resort. We have just returned from our wedding on Apr 10. Let us start by saying our friends and family would all consider us very laid back people and very low maintenance. We picked this wedding site a year ago, and even traveled to Dreams 6 months ago to check the locale out. We specifically asked at that time if there would be and construction/changes planned. Answer was no. When we arrived at the resort, we were upgraded to a towers room. However, the room overlooked the disastrous construction site where our special day was to take place. Our gazebo had been torn down!! Yes, the beautiful gazebo that is still up on the website is now gone. There was a huge blue tarp covering the now construction zone known as our wedding site. In addition, the beautiful surrounding area had changed. There were several hundred yards of huge concrete blocks with rebar sticking out, forming a new jetty that was quite unnatural appearing. The private adjacent beach where our reception was to be held was completely redone and built up so that it was not quite so private and communicated with the other resorts. Again, no planned changes as they told us. We immediately had a meeting with several managers (bride in tears of course). When I asked why they had withheld all of this information, they claimed it had all been done only 5 days prior. This was later found to be a complete lie as the local photographer who is at the resort 3-4 days weekly told me positively that it had been 25-26 days for the gazebo, much longer for the new jetty. We demanded that other arrangements be made as the bride would be wearing high heels and a beach wedding was not what we had been planning for a year. We ultimately decided to have our wedding at a sister resort (Now Resort) which was about a 45 min drive south. They provided a charter bus to transport our 50 guests. The wedding was nice there, although not what we had planned for so long and not what we were planning to bring our family/friends from another country to see. We proceeded to have meetings every other day or so with the wedding planner (Cecilia who was pretty good) and her boss (Rafael who was not so honest about timing of gazebo construction). As one can imagine, this made for a pretty stressful week prior to our wedding. One of the meetings was the day of the wedding, and finally another several days after. At each meeting was what we considered an insulting small discount on our botched wedding. In the meantime as our guests arrived, almost every guest was told at the desk that there were no rooms available for them. Some of them were upgraded after putting up a fuss in order to get a room. Many of them were not so fortunate and had to be put up in other hotels. The grooms own mother was not even staying at Dreams on our wedding day! We finally had our room relocated away from the construction site reminder and were placed back near the dolphins. In the end, we paid a portion of our initial wedding bill. We were not offered a return voucher stay in the future even though we inquired about it several times. Overall the experience was quite traumatic. We felt they were intentionally deceitful before we arrived, then lied to our faces directly, and ultimately gave very little to zero effort to attempt to make up for it or try to make us feel happy or special in any way. It also rained the last 3 days of our 12 day trip resulting in several leaks in our room and many other across the property including the world cafe (only place open for breakfast) causing it to be closed down. We do not plan a trip back at this point, nor do we recommend to others for vacation or especially for a wedding. We are happy we are married but quite happy that our experience at Dreams Cancun is over. On a positive note, the food was overall pretty good across the resort. Also, the photographer and videographer were awesome and provided a great video and over 600 great pictures. But if you are expecting more than pictures and food for that special day of your life, you may rethink your options as it’s not too late.

Wow....I am sure everyone is grateful for your info here. I think alot of the brides were waiting for someone to get back.
It sounds like they are not handling this situation very well & that is unfortunate because as a past Dreams Bride, I can tell you that my Wedding there was just about Flawless. They couldn't do enough for me and I just can
t say enough about how wonderful they were
It seems to be that they may have bitten off a little more than they can chew with this construction..Or..maybe they had a delay and didn't think it would take up so much time. Whatever the deal is, it's definitely wrong to put brides through that kind of stress.
Again, I am so sorry for everything that you just went through...But Also, I think that you should have specified that most of your guests whose rooms were not there, booked through Oribitz or an online vendor & not a TA. Everyone wants a good deal, but that deal def isn't worth it if you have to be moved to another hotel, so going through a TA would be everyone's best/safest bet (in my opinion). I say this, because there are alot of stressed out brides on this thread and to say something like that without all of the specifics is just adding to that stress.
I hope that through all of your stress you managed to have a good time. I really feel for you and all that you went through with the gazebo and having to move your wedding. I have no idea how I would have handled that, but it sounds like you did get compensated in the end as far as your Wedding bill?

Last but not least, Congrats!! Your a Mrs! I would love to see some of your pictures as i am sure you looked beautiful on your wedding day~ )

[meldal101010]

Mango Tango...I'll have to remember that one!! thanks PhillyBride!!

[JT3]

All I can say is wow. I emailed Cecilia and got a responce that the gazebo should be done on April 30th. I am extremely worried after I read what Gwyn went through. all I coulde do is hope for the best and well I will see what happens when i get there....

[shae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meldal101010 Sorry to hear about your troubles Gwen Its really unfortunate that they did the renovations without letting you know that it was happening. Alot of the girls on here already have found out about this and are stressing. Fortunatley, for a few bad reviews there have been LOTS of brides who sucessfully had their weddings at Dreams. I feel for the brides that have to go through this, but I am definitley looking forward to my wedding there...besides everyone is already booked and I can't let myself get all nervous about crappy things happening on my wedding day...a day which is supposed to be one of the happiest days in your life. To all the other brides to be....please don't sweat the small stuff & just keep happily planning!!!

i second that proactive attitude!