Dave Cochrane

bncandi, Please go look at http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/69390-la-barcaza-opinion/page-6 . It's the thread for La Barcaza, and I posted a lengthy review of my experience. Summary: The excursion itself is awesome if you have the patience for the lack of organization. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Dave

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!

We got married at Majestic Elegance Nov 26, 2013 and were there from nov 23-30. We had 52 total guests, and no one got sick...or at least not to blame solely on food/water. Like the other person who replied said, there aren't a lot of differences. Elegance I believe is 4 years old, and Colonial is about 8. From my understanding, they basically took everything that they liked about Colonial, and replicated it into Elegance, making improvements were needed. They share the disco (I think), and the casino is on the Colonial side, but accessible to both sides guests. **The Elegance side does allow children, and they can use the kids area which is also on Colonial side. Just don't choose the Elegance Club or Colonial club**

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

Hi folks, Just wondering what the possible upgrade is in terms of room for the Bride and groom (pending availability) at Majestic Elegance? We are debating going with the Elegance Club, but not sure if the upgraded room will be enough without paying for extra. Anyone have experience with what to expect? We get married in November 2013.