Royal/Gran Porto PDC LOONG review!! W/ Pics!

Shannon....GREAT review!!! My FI and I are so close to booking the Royal for our wedding. We are also planning on staying at Gran Porto due to the many kids that will be attending. 3 of the kids are our niece and nephews, so we don't want to split the family apart. A few questions...did you have full access to all services at Royal? Why did you decide on having the reception at Gran rather than Royal? Would you recommend beach or gazebo wedding? Did you have kids at your wedding? Was the entertainment cheesy? I've been to an all-inclusive where the entertainment was super super cheesy. How's the night-life for 20-30 year olds? Did you spend much time around 5th ave? Thanks for all your help!!!! Can we see more pictures?

Hi -
If you stay at the Gran, you DO NOT have access to the Royal. BUT having your wedding there, I was allowed to book my services at their Spa ( highly recommend ) our private dinner and massage -which were inlcuded in our package - were all at the Royal. We decided to have our reception at the Gran because it was A LOT cheaper and just as nice!!!!!!!
The entertainment at the resort was ok ( i think you are referring to the nightly shows etc). The stuff during the day rocked! The night Shows were good, but I have nothing to compare it to since this was my first all inclusive - my husband who has stayed at AI's before, said he's seen better. My family all enjoyed it though. Sometimes we weren't around when the shows started.
The night life was ok - they have a few bars that we went to. The night life off the resort is AWESOME!! 5th ave is FILLLLED With tons and tons and tons of bars and restaurants that really seem to come alive at like 1am! We went to a bar just a few doors down the beach (next to the Blue Parrot) we went there b/c girls drank free from 9-12mid. Blue Parrot was trying to charge $20 entry fee! I could have hung out on 5th every night - but since we were staying at an AI it was silly to spend $ when our drinks were free!!! Also on Cinco de Mayo we went to Senor Frogs which was just ok ( but i think normally its packed - being that it was only 10pm and during the swine flu the place was empty.) It was so sad to see what the swine flu was doing to these poor businesses!
We did a few shopping trips on 5th ave but its much hotter there than at the resort so we limited it. My husband and i went to the local MEGA grocery store for stuff for our OOT bags bags (we went to Wal-mart too but it was smaller than Mega, urther away, more $$ and dirty) MEGA ROCKED! :-) It's only 3 blocks north of the resort right on the same street!! I will post more pics!!!

great review cant wait for more pics!

Great review, I am looking at the Gran Porto Real for April 2010, but there hasn't been a ton of information on it. Do you think the Gazebo was a better idea than getting married barefoot on the beach? Was there a lot of gawkers on the beach?

Shannon...did you have the new luxury package or the old one? You spoke about paying for a few things that seem to be included in the new packages...

Great review, thanks!

Congrats! Your wedding looks like it was beautiful. Glad to hear everything was great, even with the swine flu!

I'm so glad your dreams were fulfilled! Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lengthy and thorough review! It was very helpful. Congratulations!!!

hey Shannon! Everything about your wedding sounds great!! We just booked our wedding at RPDC for 11/2010. I have been working with Michelle thus far and I love how available she is; we actually met with her on a trip down there in March as well.

 

Would love to see more pics once you get them! Congrats!

 

Kerri

Very pretty wedding. Congrats!