How did you choose the resort?

[jemmccar]

Hiiii there.

 

I have heard great things about many of the resorts in Jamaica.

 

Why did YOU chose the place you did?... Was it the appeal of 7 mile beach? The Martha Stewart weddings of Sandals resorts? The child-friendly resort? Price? location? Activities? Service? Other?

 

Reason I ask....

I fell in love with Negril after seeing many sunset photos on seven mile beach. We're leaning toward Couples Negril... simply because the resort looks very nice, the price is cheaper than a few other all-inclusives, and their basic wedding package fits our needs well.

 

Before we book, I would like to hear some other input on Jamaican destination weddings... What was your thinking/reasoning that lead to choosing your resort over another?

 

Looking forward to your responses!

[Heaterfan15]

Welcome!

 

For me, I am still deciding.

First thing I did was look at the costs involved for my guests to travel. It was VERY important for us that this be affordable for them as many have had their hours/pay reduced due to the recession. With that I narrowed it down to:

 

RIU Ocho Rios

RIU Montego Bay

Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay

Grand Palladium Jamaica

 

I then emailed all the wedding co-ordinators to get the package pricing, read ALOT of wedding reviews on here, read alot of reiews on Trip Advisor, and looked at alot of pictures. We eliminated RIU Montego Bay due to the close proximity to the airport, and FH eliminated Gran Bahia, because he didn't like the looks of their rooms

 

So we are down to Grand Palladium and RIU Ocho Rios. I personally change my mind every day/hour. I am VERY indecisive.

 

Grand Palladium has this going for it for me:

Beautiful rooms

No lining up for a-la-cartes at 7-8am

Cheaper than ROR

closer to the airport

 

RIU ocho Rios has this going for it

WAy better beach

Wedding package WAY more affordable

Much better reviews for the resort

Closer to tourist stuff

 

I will have to make up my mind soon though! I have also looked into offsite wedding planners to see what they offer and their pricing. Choosing adults only was not an option as we may have a couple of little ones coming. Choosing Negril was also not an option due to the pricing. If it had been just the 2 of us we would definitely be choosing Couples!

[sweetluna]

I have been working with my travel agent to determine best price for us & our guests. We narrowed it down to 2 resorts - Breezes Runaway Bay and RIU Ocho Rios. I spent many weeks going between the two and we finally choose ROR. Why? Many of our guests wanted to bring their kids (which surprised me) so that ruled out BRB because they only allow kids under 14 for the ceremony otherwise they are not allowed on the resort. Plus I had a really hard time getting information from them. I emailed them and I tried calling but their 1-800# directed me to a another number that wanted to charge me $2.00 a minute - no thank you.

The ROR has great reviews on here and on Tripadvisor plus my TA visited the resort over the summer and said it looked like a fantastic place to have a wedding. So we're planning to get married at the ROR in November.

 

Good luck with choosing and remember to have fun!

[Mikababe]

Hello, Currently I'm getting married in Montego Bay, Jamaica @ Rose Hall Resort & Spa on June 19,2010. If you are having guest attend, please make sure your hotel does not charge for guest attending your wedding if they do not stay @ your hotel. Most hotels charge a fee for a one day pass for guest up to $100. If no one is attending choose a location where the wedding is free if you stay for 5 days on their property. There are so many different factors. After 2 months I finally made a decision. Hopefully this helps.

[jemmccar]

Thanks for the responses, ladies!

 

I forgot to mention in my original posting that my wedding is VERY small. Just the immediate family- parents, grandparents, and 2 best friends. So there will be less than 10 guests total, no children. I'm sure a big deterrent to a Couples wedding for many people is the no-children policy.

 

I'm still checking into the details and "fine print" before deciding for sure.

 

Thanks for the input!!

[Pandabride6]

Quote:

Hello, Currently I'm getting married in Montego Bay, Jamaica @ Rose Hall Resort & Spa on June 19,2010. If you are having guest attend, please make sure your hotel does not charge for guest attending your wedding if they do not stay @ your hotel. Most hotels charge a fee for a one day pass for guest up to $100. If no one is attending choose a location where the wedding is free if you stay for 5 days on their property. There are so many different factors. After 2 months I finally made a decision. Hopefully this helps.

I agree. I'm also getting married at Rose Hall and the no day pass thing was huge on my list. We have a number of guests who live on the island so it works for us to have a resort not charge for folks not staying there. I just feel like that's not fair but it's just my two cents. Also, I don't like policies that called for a certain percentage of guests to stay on property, which also wouldn't work for my group.

Me and FI looked for a place that was family friendly and fairly close to the airport. Also, the location gave us a number of venues to choose from for the ceremony.

Oh yea, I wanted a place that allowed outside vendors. I was NOT planning on using the hotel photographer so make sure to check the resort's policy about this one.

[QueenDiva]

Well even though I'm trying to decide between 2 resorts now, when I thought previously that I had my mind made up, they are the same type of resort. We will be getting married in Negril at either Tensing Pen or Rockhouse. I chose these because FI and I stayed at Rockhouse last September and loved it! While there, we toured Tensing too, and FI loved it as well. It was VERY important to us that the location be unique and not "touristy". We definitely wanted someplace more intimate, with natural beauty... and Rockhouse Hotel and Tensing Pen fit the bill

[Meitra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenDiva Well even though I'm trying to decide between 2 resorts now, when I thought previously that I had my mind made up, they are the same type of resort. We will be getting married in Negril at either Tensing Pen or Rockhouse. I chose these because FI and I stayed at Rockhouse last September and loved it! While there, we toured Tensing too, and FI loved it as well. It was VERY important to us that the location be unique and not "touristy". We definitely wanted someplace more intimate, with natural beauty... and Rockhouse Hotel and Tensing Pen fit the bill

If you like those two, you should also check out Moon Dance CLiffs

[CHAKLIT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandabride6 I agree. I'm also getting married at Rose Hall and the no day pass thing was huge on my list. We have a number of guests who live on the island so it works for us to have a resort not charge for folks not staying there. I just feel like that's not fair but it's just my two cents. Also, I don't like policies that called for a certain percentage of guests to stay on property, which also wouldn't work for my group. Me and FI looked for a place that was family friendly and fairly close to the airport. Also, the location gave us a number of venues to choose from for the ceremony. Oh yea, I wanted a place that allowed outside vendors. I was NOT planning on using the hotel photographer so make sure to check the resort's policy about this one.

O goodness...Rose Hall doesn't have the day pass policy?? I thought most if not all of them do! I'm going to look into that. I was set on the Coyaba garden in Ochi...b/c we were running from that very issue.

[Jenna in Jamaica]

Price, ease to get to, and good reviews are the things we looked at. Oh yeah and it had to be all-inclusive...we like our cocktails :-) Also I looked at tons of pictures, trip advisor is a good site to do that. Good luck!