45 replies to this topic

[Jerzzygirl]

Hi Everyone were back and Everything was great!! I couldn’t wait to share with you all our experience. It was perfect, and I couldn’t have asked for more!! We arrived around 3pm and I told them at the front desk we booked the Royal package and I was looking forward to our upgrade. Suzzane, I believe she is 1 of the managers, put us in room 1261 and my children were across the hall in a Jr. suite 1260. Our Full suite was PERFECT in everyway. It had the most wonderful balcony over looking the ocean and the pool. It had a huge bed, a walk in closet, a Jacuzzi right next to the bed, a sitting area, and a huge bathroom. I could not get over this room. It was really nice. I will work on getting our pictures up tomorrow. Our guests were all in Jr. suites 1229, 1230, 1231, 1243, 1245. My travel agent emailed the hotel for me to request rooms close together. They all had great rooms, and fantastic views. Everyone loved there rooms and were happy to be in the JR suites. They LOVED hanging out on our balcony though, since it had the BEST view of all. Wait till you see the pics You will know what I mean.
I emailed Chandlyn before we left to make an appointment with her and she told me 9am. She was ready right on time and she was WONDERFUL to work with. She is so nice and anything we wanted she arranged. She went step by step and asked us what we wanted and our total package , Royal, steel drums, extra flowers for our girls, cocktail hour with hor dourves, 2 guest day passes came to 1209.00 US. After our meeting she told us to go to the photo shop to talk to them and this is where I got a little upset. The photo shop is no longer offering ANY free pictures with the Royal package. They changed to 10 free pics with the purchase of 24. Well I was upset that I wasn’t going to receive my 6 or 8 free pics with my package. The cheapest picture package was 240.00 and I wasn’t happy with that. My aunt took me back to speak to Chandlyn who then went with us to the photo shop, because she had NO idea that they changed the royal package offer. Well Chandlyn made everything better. She changed my package to the free package, told me I would still get everything in the royal package except the spa offer and she would give me back 475.00!!!!!! This way I could buy the photo shop package I wanted. The “free” wedding now was 200.00 for fees, 250.00 steel drums, 48.00 for flowers for my 2 daughters and 2 groomsmen, 136.00 for the cocktail hour, and 100.00 for the 2 guest passes. For a total price of 734.00!!!! I gave her 1209.00 cash earlier that day so she just gave me back the difference and I bought that “free” picture package for 150.00 that includes 10 pictures. I bought 2 more @ 8.00 each and they gave me the 198 pictures on a cd to look at, at home and I could order them online. They told me that the 198 proof pictures just cant be printed. I have not looked at the cd yet to see the quality, but I will let you know. I could not thank Chandlyn enough because she saved us a nice amount of money for offering us that. Onto the wedding day.
In the morning we spent time in the pool and on the beach and at 11am I had an appointment to get an Up-do. She did my hair just how I wanted, put in my vail, and Tiara. It cost 75.00 with tip. For being a bride I got 10% off. They were all so nice. At noon I went to the pool bar for a drink, then off to my room to get dressed with my daughters. The wedding was supposed to be at 2pm. Chandlyns assistant did not get me until about 2:10. I just walked down the steps of my room and out onto the beach. We had reverend Anderson and he was so nice, and did such a nice ceremony. He pronounced us man and wife in “ this no problem, island of Jamaica” everyone laughed and it was great! We then had him read our sand ceremony vows at the table set up right next to the gazebo. That was beautiful, and the look on my childrens faces say it all. We are a family, and we are 1. It was perfect!! Then we started to get annoyed, After the traditional greeting our guests. The band is still playing we are having cocktails served, food served the photgrapher wanted to take us away from this, Ok I will give them a few mins but we just wanted to party with our guests and enjoy our party. So we rushed him away. 198 pics in the end though and that’s damn plenty!! LOL After the hour that the band played was over we had the food brought up to our room to party alittle more on the balcony, and rest for a few . Then we were all off to the Blue mountain lobby bar. It was fine for us and we stayed about an hour and 15 mins then off to dinner. The table was set very pretty with flowers and candles. They had provided some I provided the rest. White table clothes and white napkins. Very, very pretty and secluded from another wedding dinner and other dining guests. The dinner was delicious and guess what… so was the cake!! I did NOT get the rum cake I got the plain. Everyone loved it!! Our plan was to go to the beach party for our after dinner party but for some reason it was switched to sat night and here it was Friday. So we just went back to the outdoor lobby bar and drank and danced and had an awesome time. My day was perfect just as I had envisioned and I was in 7th heaven…lol
The next morning we received breakfast in bed. It was alittle of everything off the buffet. Way to much food for just the 2 of us we called the kids to see if they wanted to join us but they were down at the beach all ready.
Everything else….. For the most part our week at the Riu was better this time then our 1st time last year. The food has improved lots and lots. There was always something on the buffet or menu that we found to enjoy. We ate and ate…and drank and drank…lol The bars are so much fun, the people are so much fun, and the workers are fantastic. Not 1 employee mis treated me or my family and we did not throw lots of money around. We tipped here and there. But regardless we were treated with respect! They were so friendly. The smell of the rooms are funny, so the air fresheners came in handy, they were in our welcomebags that we handed out. There were some ants in the rooms. We asked the maid for bug spray and she left it in the room. Not a big problem at all!! I only asked for the spray because my youngest daughter was getting worried and I didn’t want her to have any reason to say she didn’t want to stay in her own room and try to get me to let her stay in my room….lol But it’s the tropics, there are ants all over OUTSIDE, some are bound to get into the rooms. I am happy that I only saw ants…lol Oh and lots and lots of mosquitoes outside at night. They bothered my daughter not me, guess cause she is so sweet. I also put those “OFF” wipes in the welcome bags so again they were useful. The dollar tree store by me had a box so I split them between all the bags. If you get a chance get a group of your family and friends together to go to margaritaville in island village. It was a blast!! My guests LOVED it. It was 8.00 per person for the shuttle ride. Make sure you specify Island village or they will drop you off at the flee market down the street,Not a very nice place. But Island village is a must for anyone that wants to shop and go to margaritaville. Fun Fun Fun!!! And VERY safe!! Sorry this is so long, any questions just ask. And I will post the link for my pictures as soon as I get them up!! 1 Word sum up. PERFECT!!!

[BrittneyD]

I'm glad to hear that you had such a nice time. It's very comforting to hear other brides with great reviews. Congratulations! I can't wait to see the pictures.

[Lizzy]

It sounds like a perfect wedding and perfect surroundings for your family and friends. Congratulations on your wedding and the blending of two families!

[starchild]

Oh I'm soooo happy it was perfect. The ROR is so freakin pretty and the staff was as awesome to us as they were to you...I can't wait to see your pics. Welcome back...to reality... )

[DreamsTulumBride]

I am happy your trip was perfect!

Can't wait for the pictures

[MsShelley]

Congrats, I am so glad you had a wonderful time, can't wait to see pictures!

[Spazz]

Yay! Welcome back and congrats!!!! I'm so happy that you had such a great experience at ROR. Thanks for such a detailed review. I can't wait to see your pics. I'm also so glad to hear how helpful Chandlyn is, that's a huge relief. Congrats again!

[TammyB]

Congrats and welcome back. Can't wait to see some pictures

[PaulaV]

That's wonderful!
Hurry up with the pictures girl!

[Heidi]

CONGRATS! Welcome back! I'm so glad you had such a wonderful experience. I hope the rest of us don't bombard you with too many questions now that you're home! haha!

And YES, you got the room upgrade!!!! That's awesome!!!