Gran Bahia Principe Akumal/Tulum/Coba - POST HERE!

[Corvette79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calchik i'm officially canceled although jazmin hasn't replied to me yet. no photography with claudia, no group excursion to coba with cancunvista tours, no poolside reception with DJ bob. no gazebo, no xel ha. nothing. i couldn't even move my wedding date to sometime in june when i get back from my honeymoon cuz a lot of my guests said they wouldn't go. which i think is ridiculous because the cancunvista guy told me it's so sad that there isn't a single case in cancun but everyone is canceling. there are more confirmed cases of swine flu in the USA than in mexico. mexico has more deaths and was the start of it all but still. the world health organization raised the pandemic phase to 5 which is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent. i'm trying to move the whole thing to jamaica now. found 2 resorts that have wedding openings for the same week i was going to mexico...in 8 days. one of them is the bahia principe there, unfortunately it's looking more expensive for the wedding part. now we'll see if my TA can work it so nobody pays extra...which is highly unlikely since we're not getting refunds. wish me luck i still get a wedding somehow

Nyssa, I am so sad for you. I too had to postpone my wedding we are now getting married june 10th but now my dad is not wanting to change his travel stuff yet cause he says well what if they still wont fly in june? WTF?!?! so i said whatever! if you wait and all the seats are full well too bad for you because either way Keith and I and the rest of our guests are going. Oh what a nightmare!!!!!! I am so lost right now, I cant concentrate at work this is all I think about. Best of luck to everyone and thanks for all the support and positive thoughts.

[heidi_lk]

Well, I am sad to say I am no longer a Bahia Bride But to you other girls I encourage you to follow through with this resort. I received what I thought to be a wonderful email from the resort and was nothing but pleased about how they handled everything...prior to and after this incident... wish I could go (Airtransat on the other hand, that is a very different story... not impressed)

 

My only positive is that it looks like we may get to go to Cuba the same dates, but lets hope I can plan a wedding in 3 weeks, if it is even an option... so sad. But I wanted to thank you girls for all your help and hope nothing but the best for the rest of you... If anyone has any scoop or advise for Cuba please PM me. I've attached the letter we received from the bahia. Hopefully I can honeymoon here next year!

 

Quote:

Dears Heidi & Darcy,     While sending you a warm greeting on behalf of everyone at the Gran Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Resort, I would like to express how profoundly sorry I am for the current situation which has coincided with the time you have chosen for the celebration of your so much awaited wedding.   I can perfectly imagine the big disappointment you, your family and friends, must be going through at this very moment.   It is well understood that as a precautionary measure, some governments have issued an alert to their citizens with respect to traveling to Mexico, particularly countries in Europe, Canada and the Unite States. In fact some flights have been cancelled, most of them, to the capital of the nation.   Unfortunately although we understand the fear and panic which currently predominates among citizens of the world with respect to the sweine flu, the world media has reported the current events or news in a way which is little reflective of the true reach of the sweine flu. As of today, Quitana Roo which is the state in which we are located, has remain until this point, virus free and no a single case have been identified.   Authorities in our state are taking very effective and strong actions aimed at keeping the people well informed on how to prevent or minimize getting infected and are monitoring very closely any signs which may suggest of possible individuals presenting symptoms of the flu. We are hopeful and confident that sooner rather than later this situation will be fully controlled.   Although we understand that given the fact that your wedding celebration may have coincided with the vacation time for you, your fiancé and some of the members who were suppose to come with you, we would have not problem in offering you the possibility to reschedule the wedding date in the event that this idea was ever entertained by you. Just let us know please if you will proceed with other destination in order to close your file, although we very much hope to be your host for such a special occasion in your lives.   I really want to meet you personally and enjoy with you this special moment!!   Hopefully things will work fine and your plans will no be fully disrupted as a result of this much unwelcome unprecedented situation.   Receive my very best wishes,

[Jananaz]

I feel so so badly for all you ladies that had your weddings cancelled because imo the Canadian airlines overreacted. When heidi broke the news, I couldn't even believe it! You put all that time and hard work into planning wonderful ceremonies and making sure the location was great for you and your guests, and this whole swine flu things comes out of nowhere. I'm really glad to hear that the Bahia Principe is working with you and offering other dates and accomodating changes. Is there any way you could fly to the US and then to Mexico and still go ahead with your plans? Or is Canada just not cool with that? I kind of see why the Canadian airlines were more worried than over here - I'm from London, Ontario originally, but live in Houston now, and when SARS hit I worked at a hospital, and everything went so badly I don't think Canada wants to risk it again. Whereas over here in Houston, we're so close to Mexico that we know there really isn't as much we can do and there is no point in restricting access to and from Mexico over here.

 

Anyways, for those who are wanting to reschedule later in the summer at the Bahia Principe, I wouldn't let hurricane season throw you off much. I'm booked for August 15th, and I was worried about that too. But I checked the statistics, and they're really pretty low. There are people in my group who were worried about hurricane season, and then there were others who were like, heck yea for lower prices! Oh, and a word on lower prices... if anyone thought the swine flu was lowering ticket prices, they're mistaken bc prices for my date have been the same for a month despite news of drug cartels and swine flu.

 

Nyssa, Jamaica sounds awesome!! Corvette, that is so great that you got a new date... I'm sure flights will be back to normal by then bc the Canadian airlines will come to their senses. Best of luck to all of you... keep us posted!!

[Corvette79]

Hi guys, just wanted to say hello. just been obsessing about the news OMG I cant take it anymore. Then today i got a lovely email from our TA saying that now that we have re-booked for June 7th departure each couple or room has to pay an extra $288 for the week WTF First I am asking them hey wanna risk getting violently ill? YES? ok then change your original vacation days to 2 weeks later tell your boss too bad so sad...still ok....then now comes oh ya I need you to pay $288 for this hassle and flu by the way! OMG why us??

[calchik]

update for you girls

heidi i hope moving your wedding works out for you

 

my canceled mexico wedding is now in punta cana at the same resort chain so bahia principe bavaro instead of tulum now. our guests have had to pay an extra $300-500 to fly from where ever they are in canada to toronto so we can get the package to punta cana.

 

i think cuz we're legally getting married this weekend it makes getting a wedding there easier cuz it's just a renewal of vows. still leaving the same date and getting the same wedding date.

 

surprisingly there might only be 4 or 6 people out of 26 that won't be able to make it. everyone else has fronted the extra money and will still be there for my wedding. i love my family and friends!! finally i can stop crying. now i can go back to being stressed cuz i have a week to plan my wedding...again.

[1kpaine]

I can't believe this is all happening. I too had to cancel my wedding, which was scheduled for next weekend. We were still going to move foward but more then half my guests decided to cancel, including my WHOLE family. This has been one of the worst weeks of my life. We've been looking forward to this for over a year and a half and now it's gone. We were going to move it into June, but a lot of my guests couldn't make that date either.

We are going to move it to September. SO FAR AWAY it seems!!! I think at this stage we're both numb to what's happening and to think it's all because the news media yet again blew something way out of perportion. Do you think we could sue for pain and suffering

I'm sorry to all you other brides out there who have had to cancel. Lets keep our heads up - because in the end we're still going to get married to wonderful men and are going to have a great wedding!

We're heading to Jamaica next week to unwind from all this chaos. I was so looking forward to laying on the beach with a drink in my hand, I'm not letting that go....

[Jules]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heidi_lk Well, I am sad to say I am no longer a Bahia Bride But to you other girls I encourage you to follow through with this resort. I received what I thought to be a wonderful email from the resort and was nothing but pleased about how they handled everything...prior to and after this incident... wish I could go (Airtransat on the other hand, that is a very different story... not impressed) My only positive is that it looks like we may get to go to Cuba the same dates, but lets hope I can plan a wedding in 3 weeks, if it is even an option... so sad. But I wanted to thank you girls for all your help and hope nothing but the best for the rest of you... If anyone has any scoop or advise for Cuba please PM me. I've attached the letter we received from the bahia. Hopefully I can honeymoon here next year! [/color]

Heidi I'm so sad for you. I've only just begun my planning and would be devastated to know all that work is not going to pay off now. I was looking forward to seeing your pictures and review too! Keep positive about Cuba, I'm sure you will be able to pull it off and have just as amazing a wedding as your Coba one would have been!
Hang in there,
Jules

[darya12]

I really like this forum

[heidi_lk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jules Heidi I'm so sad for you. I've only just begun my planning and would be devastated to know all that work is not going to pay off now. I was looking forward to seeing your pictures and review too! Keep positive about Cuba, I'm sure you will be able to pull it off and have just as amazing a wedding as your Coba one would have been! Hang in there, Jules

Thanks Jules, and everyone else who has supported us!

Happy to say I got a May 20th wedding date in Cuba, all but 2 guests rebooked... which isn't too bad. If I can find a photographer I promise to post a link of our photos... lol. It has taught me one thing though, I spent nine months stressing and planning and planning, and now I have (hopefully) just as beautiful of a wedding planned in just under 3 days! Amazing how quick you can make a decision when you are pressed for time Wish all you girls the same luck, and remember its marrying the one we love that really counts!!!

Heidi

[JoLo908]

I just wanted to give a big shout out to the media for freaking out, blowing things out of proportion, and screwing with people's weddings... seriously... I have been saying it all along, so many more people die from the regular flu, AND Tamiflu is now ineffective on this years flu strain.... but I didn't hear that being reported on the news?? Maybe they should report of things that are really messed up like how Gov. Paterson of New York didn't pay his taxes for five years because he was "depressed." That one got swept under the rug REAL quick.... sorry, had to vent...