christenew

I has taken me two months and many letters to get a response from Riu. I got it last Wednesday. The haven't offered to give me money for seagrape. I haven't responded to them as I want my marriage certificate first. They are so frustrating.

chicklet...when did you get your certificate...I still havent gotten mine. I am soooo mad at RIU!

I have no idea how to get my pictures up on here. I have jpgs and I dont know how to convert them. So anywhoo if anyone would like to see pictures of the pool setup PM me and I can send some to you.

Welcome noobie! You don't know what you have gotten yourself into. It is still not to late to run! These ladies are crazy (except me, of course) I would like to change the subject. Have any of you ladies tried to change your name yet? Do I need to wait for the real one? Someone please figure it out and then tell me how to do it.

Quote: Originally Posted by BachataBride Nope...I got the rain (a whole 48 hours of it starting the night before the wedding!!). So, no wedding at the gazebo, but it was a nice ceremony on the dining room terrace. (I still want a do-over wedding!!) Anyway, I'm slowing getting over the less than ideal wedding - the main thing is that we are married - and we still had fun regardless of the rain! That sucks about the rain. It rained for us too but at least it stopped. It is good luck though! Quote: Originally Posted by BachataBride Oh...I wanted to find out from everyone if they are still good for Feb.21st?? Can we all check in again for a final count?? Right now I have myself, Tanya, Angela & Kayte. Is there anyone else DH actually suggested having everyone over at the house, so it looks like we're hot tubbing ladies!! WOOHOO!! I'll have to double check with him again to make sure he can still make plans to be out of the house, but I don't think it will be a problem! YAY girls night!! I am out. I have to work!

Quote: Originally Posted by chicklet You guys totally got the shaft. The rest of our group was on your flight back and there was absolutely NO reason why you guys couldn't have stayed at the resort for the delay. According to people in our group, they knew about the delay the night before. Is anyone in your group going to complain and try to get some of their money back Wow that's nice. We asked the sunquest lady before we got on the bus and she said nothing. There were at least 75 people from ROR who got on the two shuttles and no one knew until we got to the airport. I told my travel agent about it and is looking into it with sunquest which apparently takes 8 weeks. Great customers service eh.

I don't recommend Tai Flowers. I used them. I ordered my flowers two months before the wedding. I sent them pictures with what I wanted. I ordered white roses. They looked three days old. They were white with brown spots and they were wilted. I was not impressed.

Quote: Originally Posted by chicklet Holy toot girl. You did awesome with your bags....we ended up 6kg over on the way there totalling $120 and 11 on the way home!!! BAhhhh!!! paying $220 going home. We were very unhappy and will be discussing this with the TA Everyone from our group thought the scales were off in Jamaica. I didn't have to pay but a lot of people from our group did. One said she didn't take anything more back and she was over coming back and under going down. With our 6 hour delay and the charges of over $200/couple for some of our guests they were pissed.

Yes there was one right on the gazebo. Don't know if it works though.

Quote: Originally Posted by hulahooty I am sorry that your experience was not the best. We did meet your husband-well our bestman invited him to stay with us during stampede if you ever came...don't ask, long story. We had bkft beside your husband on the morning of your wedding as well! I was praying for the rain to stop for you! I did see you on your day and you looked beautiful. I have to aggree with you on the booking policy for the restaurants...they were horrible. A lot of our guests just found that if they went to the restaurant, they would be able to get in because people just don't show up for their reservations. Hopefully you can take the good memories out of your trip and make them really special for you and your husband. LOL. I have never heard this story before. My husband is just telling me now. I hear your husbands best man met one of our guests. I heard our guest invited himself to stay with you guys. Oh fun times. Those are the parts of the trip I enjoyed.

Quote: Originally Posted by geology_rocks I'm sorry your big day (or trip) didn't turn out as expected. I know how disapointing that can be. Chandlyn treated us pretty horribly actually. She pawned us off on her (at the time) new assistant who didn't know anything. She told us the wrong restaurant for dinner! My flowers too were brown and wilted when they were delivered just minutes before the ceremony and Chandlyn never came to get us in the room as we had arranged at our meeting! We just wandered down on our own because I didn't want to be late for my own wedding! And speaking of weddings, we also ordered the civil ceremony but didn't write our own vows. Be happy you did because our ceremony was ladden with religion and neither of us are religious, it felt awkward really. The biggest snub though, was when Nikki ran past us at our reception saying she had to go to a rehearsal but would be back shortly to talk to us and then we didn't see her the rest of the night! The servers at the restaurant knew nothing about our cake or champagne. Luckily my husband's brother went a little best-manzilla and found us cake and champagne but that was something the wedding coordinator definitely should have had under control. I was also disapointed because we didn't get an upgrade or see any of the surprise gifts that other brides talk about. And like you, our guests got better rooms and flowers and towel animals and we got ants. I did insist they switch us from our original room though because it over looked the show stage and was really darn noisy all night, but even that was a hassle! All in all, we did enjoy our trip though. Luckily we werent' expecting perfection with a destination wedding. The way I see it, it's still better than anything we could have put together at home! I think every resort will have it's quirks but it sounds like you really got the short end of the stick. It sounds like the service at ROR has been really inconsistent. Sorry! That sounds exactly like what happens to us. You are right I wasn't expecting perfection. I didn't expect to pay for things I didn't get. I did expect dinner to run long. I did expect my flowers not to be exactly what I wanted. I didn't think they would be 3 days old and brown. My travel agent even spoke to Riu about how we were a group and try and put our group together, except for my husband and I. We were actually quite lucky because my MOH and her husband were headboard to headboard with us. LOL. His parents were on the other side of the wall, which would have made for a very unhappy bride. I agree from the reviews I read the ROR is inconsistent.

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott-Pierre Even though u had some bad moments, it seems like overall your wedding went great! Your pics look wonderful! Did Chandlyn ever give a reason as to why they would not reimburse you your money for the reception since they basically didn't even give u one? If I were u, I would send a letter to management about that. I honestly don't think Chandlyn could care less. I think she is too busy to. I went to her office the day after the wedding to speak to her. She said she knew we weren't there until 10pm as our dinner was late and said she would look into a refund and get back to us. She didn't before we left. My dad stayed until Monday. He went to her office, she told him the same thing. She never got back to him. So we went to her manager. I think it is ridiculous that I should pay for a reception that I never got (at the fault of the resort). The manager told my dad to speak to Chandlyn. He told the manager that Chandlyn hasn't fulfilled her commitment to get back to either one of us so now the manager gets to deal with it. My dad is since home. He says he will give them a couple more days and work up the food chain. What makes me even madder is that I never received an apology.

Quote: Originally Posted by jmhein Sorry you were disappointed with your experience Christine! Your pictures look beautiful though and I hope you do have a lot of happy memories to look back on! Just wondering - have they changed the restaurant reservation policy? We were able to get reservations to the Japanese, Chinese, etc, by just phoning from our room? I never stood in any lines...? Oh no you had to stand in line. The table opened at 9am. I was down one morning at 8:15 and was 5th in line. I didn't get out of there until close to 10am and didn't get the reservation I wanted for 4 people. It was a joke. My dad actually called one of the ladies "Miss "$%@$ING congeniality" to her face because she wouldn't cancel his dinner reservation. The manager came up to him and he explained the situation. The manager apologized on how rude the staff member had been. My dad encouraged them to recommend further customer service to their staff.

Quote: Originally Posted by divadivine25 It opened for me... I just finished the review and it didn't sound that bad to me. Bad customer service is always a kill joy but overall, sounds like you had a good time. Thanks for the excursion tips. Question: Did you get the day tour for 50 bucks total or pp? That was $50 unlimited for 5 of US around ROR. Our group was I think $15/pp

Hey All, I am back from my ROR wedding on Jan 22/09. I had a blast with my family and friends, no thanks to ROR or Sunquest/Skyservice. I have added my review and some pictures. I have more pictures and will provide any help or questions that anyone has. Just PM me. My review is negative review of ROR. If you are booked you may not want to read my review. I dont have my photographers photos yet, but I will add some as I get them. Congratulations to all the other ROR brides. Ang and Lindsay it was nice to meet you! Christene Wedding pictures by christenew - Photobucket ___________________________________________ Here is the review that she attached ___________________________________________ Let me start this by saying I would not return to ROR or recommend it to any of my friends or family. If you don’t want to hear the negatives, or you feel it may upset you, I would stop reading now. Please excuse my grammar as I am not proof reading this. It has taken me so long to write it. Flight/Skyservice We flew out of Toronto flying Skyservice. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:25am. We started in Toronto sitting at the gate with a three hour delay because the sewage and water system was frozen. We then headed out of the gate and onto the runway where an electrical problem caused us to return us the gate. They then refuelled us while we were all on board, which felt very unsafe. We were then able to depart. There were 9 brides on our flight. It was tight to try and get my dress in the overhead bin. I was able to get it in and didn’t have any issues with needing to have my dressed pressed. I just let it hang in the room and the humidity took care of the rest. Resort/Rooms We arrived at ROR without any difficulties. Sunquest provided the transfers. It was an 1.5 hour tip to the resort. They did stop on the way for a washroom break and grab a beer. When we arrived at the resort the check in process was quick and easy. Our room was ready when we arrived. We checked into our room. My FI and I had two double beds pushed together with a semi-ocean view. The two singles in our group ended up with the most central views of the ocean and both had king sized beds. This just made us laugh. I didn't laugh though when the majority of the people in our group ended up with flowers and towel decorations on their bed. We barely got towels. The beds are on the hard size, but we didn’t have any problems sleeping. Restaurants The resort is beautiful and quite large. The hotel rooms and the junior suites are in different buildings which meant for long walks to visit friends or families. We had difficult times booking dinner. You have to line up in one of two lines, depending on which area of the resort you are staying in. They would only book reservations for the day of. They would only allow a max of 10 people to book together. The restaurants were only half filled for each sitting. At one point I was 4th in line and could only get the late sitting. It was BS. We tried all of the restaurants. The Japanese restaurant (Tushima) was fantastic. The Asian restaurant (Mandalay Bay) was horrible. We ended up at the buffet after because we couldn’t find anything to eat. There is a Italian restaurant, which is open most of the day. There was little food available when we would go. The main restaurant was St Ann’s. It had a very good selection. One night they had jerk pork, chicken, etc. Another night there was lobster tail. There was also shrimp, muscles, crab. Breakfast was good. We ate at the steak house. It was good but the portions were small. We ate at the Jerk hut. It was great. I don’t like spicy and I enjoyed it. The most frustrating and maddening time I had was at the gourmet restaurant. We were originally going to go off the resort for dinner the night before the wedding. My FI and I wanted some time alone. We made reservations for Sir Richard. We arrived and asked for a seat in the corner which the waiter was able to give us. I couldn’t believe it when two toddles arrived with their parents without shirts on. They screamed. They threw fits. The parents would take them in and out of the restaurant. The staff never said anything. It was so loud I could barely hear my FI. One couple walked out before appetizers were served. Beaches/Pools The beaches were lovely. There were enough chairs any time I went down. Sometimes we would have to look for some. There were always people on the beach selling weed, etc. Some were quite pushy. Security was always visible on the beach. The pools were great. Loved the swim up bars. The bartenders were great and made a number of fantastic drinks. I do recommend taking a big cup as the portions are quite small. It does allow for you to try every drink available. Wedding We had to stalk Chandlyn despite leaving messages at the front desk and calling the number provided. We ended up finding out from Lindsay where her office was and sat there until she arrived two days before the wedding. We met with her and went through all the setup, which was easy. She was very nice and helpful. We ended up having the reception location moved to plantation because of the number of brides getting married that day (3). We booked the beach gazebo, seagrape, steel drum band, plantation, and the civil ceremony. We brought all the our decorations etc to the meeting and she put them out for us. The day of the wedding it was pouring rain the morning I woke up. The ceremony was at 3pm. It didn’t stop raining until just before 1pm. I am pretty sure the 11am bride had to be inside. My MOH and I went to the spa for a massage and pedicure at 10:30am. It was a great price. It came to $75US/pp. It also gave me the opportunity to talk to Ang and her MOH. He stylist did a fantastic job on Ang’s hair and makeup. I wouldn’t recommend the mani or pedi. It didn’t seem to be too sanitary. We got out of the spa at 1pm. On the day of the wedding they brought my flowers up to the room 5 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, after I had to call to inquire where they were. I had ordered white roses ahead of time through Tai Flowers. These were old with brown spots, nor were the number that I had requested. Nikki came and picked me up and walked me to the beach front. 4 of our guests were late and went running in a head of me between my MOH and myself coming down the aisle. I put my two songs on a CD and put a guest in change of supervising the person from the resort. I recommend your song being over 3 minutes because it is a long walk up the aisle. They do hook your music up to a sound system. I used a CD so I can’t speak to the IPOD setup. The ceremony was lovely. The minister was accommodating with our vows. We wrote all our own vows. He edited some of the vows to make them legal. We did ask for a civil ceremony and he did a prayer in the middle of it. My FI and I just looked at each other and said hey lets go with it. After we were pronounced man and wife the steel drum played. They were fantastic. We were served rum punch and champagne after which was great. We actually ran out because my group is a bunch of alcoholics. We brought our own photographer from Toronto. We presented him as my FI’s cousin. We never had a hassle from the photoshop. They did however hang around. We did pictures which turned out lovely, even though it rained the day of the wedding. We shot photos from 3pm-6pm. It worked out well because the beach cleared out by 5 or so. Our reception was moved to Plantation where the other two brides had their receptions. Our dinner service was so slow. They served my husband and I our appetizers before they even took our guests orders. Grant and I were done dinner before anyone else had been served. Our dinner was supposed to be from 6:30-8:30pm. We got out of there at 10pm. We went to our reception and was told by both the bartender and the dj that they would be done in 30minutes. We had to bribe them both and get them to stay. We got less than a 1 hour reception, which I had to pay the entire cost despite speaking to Chandlyn. I did not receive a refund for the time from 8:30-10pm. We had the bonfire set up, which I wouldn’t pay for again. We used the dj and brought a CD of what we wanted him to play. He played 4 songs. Staff at the Resort We found that the staff of the resort were rude and didn't seem to care about customer satisfaction. One example - My husband asked multiple times to buy a bottle of champagne to bring back for our one year anniversary. He was told to come back because the manager, who had the key wasn't available. When he was available they were sold out. He told the lady of the importance and her response was "sorry that's too bad". He asked her if he could get one the next morning. She said no. He asked if she could ship one to him. She said no. He asked if my dad could pick one up on Tuesday, she said no. He said to her "look I am not leaving here until you find one". She after some foot stamping she went to the bar and came back with one in under 2 minutes. This was just one little thing that didn't make the week an enjoyable one. One time I saw a woman ask where she could get coffee. The woman didn’t turn around and look at her and said “over thereâ€. The woman said “I am sorry, whereâ€. The woman’s response was “I said over thereâ€. Excursions/Activities We booked horseback riding with Chukka Tours which was very good. We just took a pool towel from the resort to prevent chaffing. I was a virgin and had fun. They take you around some flat areas, then a little hill. They then take the horses into water which was cool. We also booked snorkelling through the resort for $16US. I highly recommend this. My husband did it twice he had so much fun. Don’t worry if you can’t swim. They give you a life jacket. It was the best excursion for the money. On Tuesday the dolphin swim offered an upgrade to the next price level. A couple of people in our group went and loved it. Others went on the zip line and enjoyed that. I am going to sound like a geek but I found the hidden gem of ROR. Every day there was Bingo at the main stage. The one day there were 9 people who played and 6 were from my group. You can win tshirts, mugs, and rum. Lee’s Tours I cannot say enough about Lee’s tours. I called and spoke to Norma and booked a private excursion for our group. It was our gift to our guests. She arranged a private van to Dunn’s River Falls, which was beautiful. We went at 8:30 am and there was barely anyone there. It was so busy when we left. It was nice because we left all our stuff on the bus so it was safe. I recommend that you bring water shoes and don’t take anything you would want to loose. My mom who didn’t climb the falls wore my engagement ring. We then went into Ocho Rios and went shopping. Our driver Richard was accommodating and took us anywhere we wanted to go. She supplied us with water, beer and rum punch. We rebooked Lee’s tours for the day after the wedding. We went with our photographer around OchoRios and area for $50US. Our time was unlimited and he worked with the locals to get us into areas we would normally pay for. I would highly recommend booking Norma. My only thing that drove me crazy was with Riu. Norma left a phone at the front desk for us. We asked over 15 times to pick it up and everyone said they knew nothing about it. We got a hold of Norma and she sent one of her drivers (Michael). He asked and they brought it out immediately. It was so frustrating. Return to Toronto On Saturday we were picked up at the hotel at 7am by sunquest. There was a notice in the hotel lobby stating that a skyservice flight to Regina was delayed indefinitely and that sunquest would keep them updated. We got to the airport in Montego Bay and were told our 10:30 am flight would be leaving at 3:30. By the time I got to the check in desk the flight had been moved to 4:30. I learned on the flight home that the people staying at the Riu Montego Bay with sunquest were not picked up at their hotel until 2pm and were told of the delay. We were not. So we sat in the airport for 6 hours. The gave out $15 vouchers for food. By the end of the line they had changed them to $10 vouchers. The singles in the group were told they were only entitled to $10 because they were on their own, yet some of the couples got $15 ones. It was ridiculous. When we finally made the flight the captain apologized once and nothing from the "customer service representative" on the flight. Not one single person in our group will ever fly skyservice again. There service was horrible. It made for a bitter ending to our trip as many of the people we travelled with ended up with a respiratory infection. I am very happy that in the end we planned a destination wedding. We had a fantastic time with our friends and family. I can't complain about the weather. I would however never recommend skyservice or Riu to any of my friends/family. My Review.doc