JenniferSS

Andre will be your onsite coordinator and as stated above he is fantastic!

Quote: Originally Posted by JODEY I have already booked for November 2009, I booked in Jan this year but I did struggle with some TA's you just have to be a bit pushy, if they want your business then they will give you the quotes, out TA has also let us have the 2008 prices which is really good, so my advice is keep on at them, good luck ! In the states we have to wait until our suppliers have finished negotiating their contracts- this is usually accomplished for the more popular resorts anywhere from 14 months to 11 months out, the less popular or boutique style resorts usually get worked out at 12 months to 10 months. Group rates can sometimes come in a little sooner but can be more expensive than if you waited. Of course each resort chain is a bit different so there are no hard and fast rules!

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Can do- well at least try! You guys have any ideas on how to get more Sandals brides to the forum? It'd be great for everyone to have a lot of brides to share information with! TA Jennifer

I am between Grand Rapids & Kalamazoo Michigan and we've gotten about 7 inches already from 11am this afternoon, I'd take a picture but I don't want to look at anymore snow! Thanks goodness I am going to Jamaica in a couple of weeks-sunshine!

Welcome home! That's a tough choice! Personally, I would recommend the Moon Palace as they tend not to nickel & dime you and they do a fantastic job! Plus, the bonus excursions are a great value add for your guests that stay longer than 3 days! Feel free to Pm with any questions! TA Jennifer

Hello Ladies & Gents! I am so excited to be going back to Jamaica in a couple of weeks. I am going courtesy of Sandals on a DW specific trip! We'll be meeting with the wedding coordinators & vendors. Our tentative itinerary is : Beaches Sanday Bay Sandals Whitehouse Sandals Grande Ocho Rios While at each of these properties we will be visiting the others- in Negril, Montego Bay & Ocho Rios! For those of you considering a Sandals DW do you have any specific questions or photo's that you would like taken? Just feel free to post in this thread and when I get back I'll answer hear also! TA Jennifer

Yes, lower room cats still get the free wedding inclusons- they just have to pay the two hundred dollars goverment fee. No swim with dolphins in Negril but you can in Momtego Bay which will be about an hour and a half drive. If you need any assistance with planning and your guests travel arrangements just let me know! I will be going to Sandals and speaking with the wedding staff from April 7-12. Any questions or sites that you would like for me to ask/take pics of? Post here or Pm me! Ta Jennifer

Quote: Originally Posted by MorganD My fiance and I have a 3 year old daughter who will be with us. It seems as though all of the resorts that have what I am looking for, are couples only! This is so frustrating because I love a lot of the Sandals resorts. That is one of the hardest aspects of a DW- finding a resort that won't break the bank, is still very classy and allows children! Beaches Turks & Caicos may fit the bill nicely take a peek at them! TA Jennifer

If you won't have children try Couples Swept Away in Negril. Amazing grounds, beautiful beach and they have a pool area on the new side that is very classy looking and in the evening it's quiet and private where you can have receptions and events ! TA Jennifer

Quote: Originally Posted by MikkiStreak Ok, I know I've posted these before, but they're still the favorite ones I've done in the past.... we had this one lady who was really sweet in the office I worked in several years back- but lets just say she had a serious "dimmer switch" on her light bulbs. So here are the two things I did (not even waiting for April Fools Day). 1) She came to work one day commenting she had taken the tollway for the first time, but never saw where to put the tickets in and just kept hearing all the bells & whistles going off when she drove thru the tollway lanes. So I faked a letter from the North Texas Trollway Association (yes, deliberate misspelling that was never caught by her) and had the receptionist stamp it and hand it to her. The letter said she was caught violating the toll booths and had to pay $900 in fines within 24 hours or she'd be arrested. BUT- for the month of May, the NTTA was offering a special: if she used a black marker and wrote "tolltag" on a piece of 8x11 paper and affixed this to the upper part of her front passenger window, the NTTA would take a picture of her car when she drove thru the toll booths and would just bill her monthly. But she had to act immediately to avoid arrest. Signed, Shaquita/The Imprisonment Specialist. My field technicians sent me pics of that damn paper taped to her car window. I had to call her at the end of the day and tell her to remove it so she wouldn't get busted. 2) Several months later, I decided to mess around with her again. at the time, Nextel was just starting the 2-way radio/cell phone service, and caller ID wasn't available on the text messages. So I sent her a text message that said, "low battery. remove battery and rub on hand three times." Once she did that and had the battery put back into the 2-way, I texted her again with "mmmm.... that felt good." She never did figure that one out.... Those are just wrong-Lol !! It's a good thing I work by myself as I am laughing out loud Mikki-I have tears!

Logorman- I will just miss your wedding when I go down! can't wait to see the pics though - Royal Caribbean is a nice resort! TA Jennifer

By activities do you mean water sports or land activities? For water sports I would recommend Sandals Negril, complete with banana boat rides (that would make for an interesting TTD photoshoot!) , water skiing, kyaks, hobie cats adf so on - plus the beach there is to die for and the most amazing sunsets. The nightlife while not out of control is entertaining. Sandals Dunns River Villagio is a beautiful resort and in a great location for land based activities! The pictures I have also heard you can purchase seperately. I am going to Jamaica and sitting down with the WC's so I will ask ( I will also ask at the photoshop ! ) Now St. Lucia Sandals Grande will provide both amazing land & water activities! I love that resort- it's georgeous! TA Jennifer

Typically when you are looking at prices this far out from your wedding date (especially for groups) they will be higher than what you will find for the same time period this year. There are several reasons- The hotel is generally the ones setting the price, not your TA- when providing a price the resort is trying to get as much of an ROI for the rooms as possible. Think about it- if you are doing a group this far out you are tying up inventory that they otherwise could sell to others groups, suppliers individuals ect. To have that priveledge, (and yes the resorts consider it a priveledge- that may change if the economy takes enough of a dump and people stop traveling but so far occupancy rates are in the high 90 percentages for shoulder seasons and sold out in high season) the resort will charge a higher price just in case you need to cancel (it happens enough for it to be an issue) and the resort needs to resell that inventory later. To get the price you are quoted,whether for groups or individual rates, they are guestimating what the rooms will price out at that time period (and keep in mind the Riu Ocho Rios is becoming a very popular resort and will command higher prices in general each year), and adding in inflation. The resorts do not want to quote themselves too low, have a contract signed(whether with a supplier or group) and end up losing money. I also would like to address the prices provided in this thread with flights- they may be contracted or bulk fares which usually makes for a lower packaged price. You guys are not comparing apples to apples. To truly find out if the price is above & beyond you would need to price the exact same dates & room categories with other suppliers. Hope that this helped a bit to explain why things are the way they are! TA Jennifer

I am going to Jamaica April 6-14 and have an appoinment to do a site tour and speak with Colleta Collins, the Romance supervisor at Half Moon. Anything in particular that any of you would like me to ask or to take pictures of? TA Jennifer

Awww...poor guy- with her response he too should fly away. It may end up that the $12,000 was a cheap way to get out of that relationship as divorce can be much more expensive!

Thank you! I am also adding a BDW bride I've been working with! Riu Ocho Rios Brides January 2008 Brides Cherie: wedding January 17th, there January 12th-26th Becky: wedding January 23; there 1/19 - 1/26 Becky (bex1975): wedding Jan 26; there 1/23-2/1 Ktownbride - wedding Jan 31; there 1/27 - 2/10 February 2008 Brides Natasha (pouchie) wedding Feb 7th JamaicaBride08: wedding Feb 8th, there 2/3-2/10 Janelle (Jmhein): wedding February 12, there 2/9 - 2/16, then off to Sandals Royal Caribbean until 2/23 Therese (chicago88 ): wedding Feb 15th, there 2/12 - 2/20 Mopher: wedding Feb 20th Flowerchic2323: wedding Feb 26 March 2008 Brides nancylou7: wedding on March 3 Hez43: Wedding March 8 RIU from 5-11, Negril 11-15 Crawford2B: Wedding on March 13, there 3/10-3/17 Anna: Wedding on 14th March, there from 6th March - 21st March Octavia: March 15, dates there 3/12-3/19 Becky(Olivia): Wedding March 21, there 3/17 - 3/27 Kimmykatbride: March 26, 2008-there from 22-29, then in Negril for 1 week April 2008 Brides Heidi: wedding on April 4; there from 4/1-4/8 misstoya: wedding on April 5, there from 4/2-4/9 Ange: wedding on April 8; there from 4/5 -4/12 Jen (J&M): wedding on April 9 Marlon(Ilandking): wedding on April 10' there from 4/7-4/14 Jocelyn: wedding on April 10; there from 4/5-4/12 yboone98: wedding on April 11; there 4/9-1/13 Mandie (pook2b) wedding on April 11; there from 4/8 - 4/22 Jenn (jenanmag) Wedding on 4/12 there from 4/9 to 4/15 Twelve Piece: wedding on April 12; there from 4/9-4/19 Amanda: wedding on April 17; there from 4/12-4/19 Ochoriobride: wedding on April 22nd May 2008 Brides Alexandra (geology_rocks): wedding day May 5, there May 2-9 md_ocr: wedding on May 10 Amandalovesryan: wedding day on May 12th, there May 8th-16th amandatheo: wedding on 13th May leslie: wedding day on May 14th; there May 10th-24th Lizz: wedding on May 16; there from May 10-19 AlmostMrsForbes: wedding on May 19th; there from May 14th-20th (then off to Couples)! Jenn08: wedding on May 23, there from 19-26 Davina: wedding on May 29, /Guests btw 25-35 2BMOSLEY: Wedding on May 31. Arrive: May 28. June 2008 Brides Sara (cantwattobemrs): wedding June 10, there June 6-14 FutureMrsButler08: wedding on June 14 JuneBride2B: wedding on June 14 Bobbi-Francis: wedding June 28; there 6/25-7/3 July 2008 Brides Juanslake: Wedding on July 3; there 6/30 - 7/6 Brittney: Wedding on July 12; there from July 9-14 MrsInTraining: wedding on July 19; there from July 16-23 RiuBride2B: wedding on July 26; there from July 23-28 August 2008 Melissa (Shenmaat): wedding Aug 8th, there Aug 4th - 10th Asha: Wedding Aug 2, there Aug July 31- Aug -4 /98 Guests October 2008 Brides Kishalee: wedding Oct 4th, there Oct 1-8 Msklee: wedding Oct 25, there Oct 23-27 November 2008 Brides Dara: wedding on November 1st: there from October 27 to November 3 Kater: wedding on November 7th GeminiLibra: wedding on November 15 January 2009 Brides Becky (naga0066): wedding on Jan 5th, there Dec 31-Jan10 jen&tyler: wedding on Jan 14th Lindsay (Linzibella): Wedding on Jan 20th Christene: wedding Jan 22nd April 2009 Brides MoKe0506: wedding on April 4th kitty_kat_uk: wedding on April 8th, there 2-16 April ladam10854: wedding on April 29th May 2009 Brides drbrainfreeze: wedding on may 9th September 2009 Brides: KHarrod: wedding on Sept 12th

Hey Kristen ! I answered your Pm! TA Jennifer

Would you ladies mind adding to your date how many guests are going to your DW? For those that aren't married yet- how many are booked / how many you expect. I am writing an article about Jamaica DW's and the trend(s) associated with it! I really appreciate it! Thanks TA Jennifer

I guess I had better learn to use the search function better! Mods would you mind deleting?!

Hey ladies ( and gents!) I thought it would be great to have a roll call of all the Riu Ocho Rios DW's- Past (not pat LOL), Present & Future! Just copy and paste then add yourself in! Please put your Wedding date- Name -# of guests 2007 2008 August 2nd- Asha - 98 guests 2009 Thanks! Jennifer

Quote: Originally Posted by nde062010 I have heard that you can get cheaper rates at resorts that are just opening because they haven't had time to build up they're reputation ... that might be something to consider. The rates are definately cheaper but it's because they haven't yet worked out all of the service issues, usually there are areas that are still being built, landscaping , if it's in, is not yet mature and all around the resort is not yet up to par. My rule of thumb is to not book my clients at a resort that has been open less than 6 months- preferably a year! I would never consider booking a DW at one that has been open less than a year. Secrets & Dreams resorts are some of my favorites along with Sandals! I am really excited about the many properties that they will be opening in the next couple of years but unless a client insisit I still will not book until they've been operational for at the minimum of 6 months. TA Jennifer

I'd love to be able to help! Each of the resorts you mentioned has a completely different ambience, amenities and price point. There are several others that are wonderful for honeymooners-just depends on what you want! What I do for honeymoons is find out exactly what YOU are looking for and your budget then make a recommendation. What one couple may find as amazing anther may think ho-hum! If you are already working with a travel agent please continue to work with them but if your not please consider using me or Tammy (host) or TA Dina. The bookings support the forum and with the amazing growth this forum has been having the expenses are growing also! You'll receive great service, pricing comparable (and maybe less than booking online) and you'll be supporting the community thats here for all DW brides! Off my soap box and hope to hear from you! TA Jennifer

I have to say that I have seen a huge upswing in the amount of weddings at the Riu Ocho Rios! That being said the advice from jmhein was right on the money! Weekends are booked quickly, mid week is usually much slower. If you want to be an only bride I would try a Monday or Tuesday- with the two business days prior to the wedding you'd have to get their the Wednesday or Thursday before and not many would be willing to do that! If you have your heart set on one of the restaurants book quickly! TA Jennifer

Welcome Brandie ! We're glad to have you hear- enjoy looking around and getting some fantastic ideas! By using one of the TA's on the forum it goes to financially support the forum and keep it running!