Official Azul Fives Bride

[tot98]

Mysti,

 

Who is your TA? We love Grand Velas, but the online rates are so expensive. We saw it in December before it opened. Our wedding is on June 11, 2009 at Azul Fives, but we're considering changing hotels.

 

-Ashley

[D&ESept2009]

I'm panicking. This doesn't look too good. I'm booking my guest and I'm having issues with my TA. She has given us incorrect information, and my biggest problem was the fact that I felt she was pushing Azul Fives on us. Now I feel that just might be the case and we may not be getting the best deals. Any suggestions?

[all4jj2]

Congrats to you on securing your location? Have you been on a site visit? Is it a good place to have a honeymoon?

[bigpapaq]

Yo, bad news to anyone who has an event coming up before Feb 24th, the doors are closed.

 

I just got a call this afternoon (about 36 hrs before I leave) telling me that while fives is up and running, they don't feel like they can handle the weddings and all the guests. For completely putting us in a bind, they did a decent job (so far, still negotiating) of taking care of us. We are all at Sensatori, all with room upgrades, plus comps and other stuff. Karisma is doing a lot to fix it, but I'm pretty put off by the 36 hr notice.

 

My poor bride is heartbroken, not that there is any more planning, just that the image she had in her head is totally changed and she doesn't know what Sensatori will bring. If Karisma follows though on all of thier promises to us and our guests (plus the other pieces we are negotiating) I think I can confidently say they went out of thier way to fix it. And that will be comforting to us both.

 

Sorry for the premature celebration everyone, I was duped by the Karisma guys.

[Hoosierfan]

I'm so sorry to hear that. The Sensatori looks beautiful though, so hopefully everything will work out. As my fiance reminds me, as long as your friends, family and you & the bride are well taken care of, it'll be a great event for everyone. Best of luck!

[bigpapaq]

Just a quick update. I spend almost the entire day on the phone with Fabio. He's been absolutely wonderful. I've seen glimers of this, then he fell off in early december and seemed back on his game this month. However he worked his butt off for us today. We got nailed by horrible planning and communication by Karisma reps, but they are continuing to do quite a bit to fix the mistakes.

 

Luckily we were totally ready to go on Monday, so this big snag didn't destroy us, just stopped out hearts for about 24 hours.

 

I think they said about 8 weddings will be effected by this delay (Feb 24th is the new opening date, but I think they are moving the weddings on the 27th as well). Best of luck to everyone with those dates. Based on my experience over the last day, i feel Karisma will do everything they can to make it right.

 

I might ask for a tour of Fives, if so I'll shoot an update when I return.

[D&ESept2009]

Any Azul Fives Brides still on board? If so, how is your planning going? I haven't heard anything from the wedding coordinators. I am really considering switching the resort but I have 14 people booked already and don't want to rock the boat. What are your thoughts and suggestions? I am also having room issues because they only allow two people in a deluxe room. My guest are paying 1120.03 for 3 nights, and this is the basic room with no amenities. I'm concerned they may not be getting their monies worth.

Maybe I'm over reacting! Someone help!!!

[bigpapaq]

While I guess I turned into a Azul Sensatori groom, I'm still here and staying in contact with them as we still have some unfinished business. From what I am being told, Feb 24th is the new Fives opening date. Having spent a week at Sensatori, 3 months after it opened, I would suggest not being a guinea pig for Fives if you are planning a Feb, March or even April wedding.

 

Everyone has different prices (if airfare is included) but that seemed kind of high to me.

 

My suggestion if you have a Fives wedding soon would be to ask to have it moved to Sensatori. It's not as intimate as Fives, but it's already open, almost at 5 star status (should be up to speed soon), and it will take stress off your plate.

 

I know Fabio and the Miami crew are working to fix the guests and 4 or 5 weddings that got bumped from late Jan to Feb 24th, so stick with it. Presending my case to Karisma got me, my wedding and all 49 of my guests a lot. They are doing whatever they can to make people happy, so make sure to get your piece of that pie.

[tot98]

I decided to stay at Fives for my wedding on June 11. We have almost 50 people booked. My fiance and I reserved the 2 bedroom penthouse suite. We can't wait to see it!

 

We were able to book 3 adults in a deluxe room, but the rates were much higher for 3 adults to cover the all-inclusive fees for the 3rd person. It's basically the same amount per person as it would be if you only had 2 adults in the room except it's just more crowded. Now that you said that though, we are definitely going to double check this. If they didn't allow 3 adults in the deluxe room, I don't why they would have given us the rates for a 3 person deluxe room Interesting... I'll let you know if I find out anything.

 

I've been working with Jo'Zeen Edmonson as my wedding coordinator. She usually responds the next business day. We have not been able to confirm many of the details yet. She said she usually doesn't get into the details until about 90 days prior to the wedding. But, so far so good.

 

bigpapaq-- You said that Fives is more intimate. Have you toured the property? I'd love to hear details. We toured Sensatori in December and loved it, but didn't have Fives on our list to tour at the time since it wasn't open. We decided to change to the Fives later due to the location (much closer to Playa) and because we decided to move the wedding date back to accomodate our guests (which would give time for Fives to open and get their feet wet). I also love the oceanside pool with swim up bar in the pictures and the thought of it being smaller and hopefully, more intimate.

 

I'm preparing myself for some hiccups with Fives, it being such a new property, but I'm also hoping that they are delaying the opening due to some of the issues that Sensatori had which were probably a result of opening too soon. At least the Fives staff is getting to practice on the owners of the property too. (Fives sells ownership in its condos and some of the owners are already staying there.)

 

Well, good luck to everyone and thanks for sharing your stories!

[D&ESept2009]

tot98 - you said you were able to book 3 to a deluxe room. This is crazy i just talked to my TA yesterday and she said there was no way they would do this. I have chilled out a bit since yesterday and I do believe we made the right choice. I think I've been overreacting and stressing way too much. This is a destination wedding so I have to chill out.