Dreams Puerto Aventuras Brides - POST HERE!

[Jenna20]

GinalynL, Did you receive any perks when booking a certain amount of rooms? Curious to know how group bookings work with Dreams. I know there has been mention of other resorts comping a one guests stay per so many room blocks being booked. Did you have children attend, if so how were amenities for them? Your pictures are awesome btw!

[Ginalyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by echo2_62 Did most of you just go for a week long trip? I'm trying to juggle my dates with what works best for the marriage requirements in Mexico (arrival 4 business days ahead). Do the four witnesses also have to be there 4 business days ahead, or just any 4 days ahead - I was a little confused on that one. Also, who did the legal marriage in Mexico vs. the civil/symbolic option? I'm just wondering if it would be less frustration dealing with all the translations and stuff. And I'd love to read more reviews so hopefully the new posts work!

My trip was 10 days. My wedding was on a Thursday and I got there the Sunday before. We stayed until the Tuesday after the wedding. Unfortunately I did not do the legal marriage in Mexico so I'm not sure about the witness requirements. I got legally married in the U.S. before I left for Mexico.

[Ginalyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenna20 GinalynL, Did you receive any perks when booking a certain amount of rooms? Curious to know how group bookings work with Dreams. I know there has been mention of other resorts comping a one guests stay per so many room blocks being booked. Did you have children attend, if so how were amenities for them? Your pictures are awesome btw!

Hi Jenna20, thanks for the sweet comments on my pics!

I am not sure that I received perks when booking a certain amount of rooms as I did not do group bookings. Each of our guests booked their stay individually through our TA or through other online reservation systems. Do you have a travel agent? If so I think you may be able to get perks based on what connections or strings your travel agent has.

I'm not sure if we would call this a perk but the Ultimate Package offers a free room for the groom the night before the wedding...we talked with the WC and instead of the free room we wanted an upgrade to our reserved room and we were able to get that.

The only child we had in our group was our flower girl/junior bridesmaid. She was 9 years old. She liked hanging out with the adults and doing grown up things so she never really did any of the kiddy stuff. As far as amenities Dreams PA has the Explorer's Club for kids (I saw lots of younger kids in there...a playground type thing with planned activities) and I heard that kids love it. One day on the resort they did a fashion show by the pool..it was adorable. They also have tons of kid activities outsdie the Explorer's Club during the day..many of which involve pool games. Overall I think if you bring kids DPA is a great resort for them!

[Jenna20]

Thanks SO much GinalynL! I was just going through the Dreams Riviera Cancun thread and had read that DRC is offering perks such as if you book 12 guests, you get the next guest free, as well as upgrades to ocean view rooms for all guests and kids stay free (I think the kids stay free is a standard Dreams offering, but not certain?)

 

I'm hoping to do a site visit in September to get a better idea of the resorts. So I'm hoping to narrow down final choices before then.

 

I think I would have done the same thing, upgraded the room rather than giving my FI a private room...not sure that its really needed as we have lived together for years!

 

Thanks again for all the info!

[echo2_62]

Thx Ginalyn!!

[echo2_62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenna20 Congrats Meghan...I'm also an Alberta Bride! We are considering DPA as well. There is lots of information on many resorts as well as site inspections etc. I noticed a great posting today from a BDW member from Vancouver that booked her hotel separate from flights. She booked her flights through westjet who now has a groups department and offers a 10% discount to wedding parties! Great news for us out west. It might be something to consider. She has seen significant saving due to booking the wedding this way, $700 pp savings!! Why did you choose DPA over other Dreams resorts? Happy Planning!

Hey Jenna! Although we haven't done any bookings yet, I have also found that WestJet has shown considerable savings for some of their vacations! P.S. I LOVE westjet! I currently have a request in through their groups department to find out what group rate I can get, so when they get back to me I will for sure post and let you know! The only drawback so far - they told me it can take anywhere from 72hrs to a week for someone to get back to me (www.westjetvacations.com). I'd been working with one travel agent but sadly the prices that she was coming back with were continually higher than others I'd been seeing - and by a couple hundred dollars or more sometimes! When are you thinking of getting married? You should check out the westjet vacations site because they've got some good prices listed right now!

As for why I chose DPA instead of the other dreams resorts, it honestly had to do a lot with location. My FH and I were at another resort just a couple minutes north of Playa del Carmen last year and we really liked the area so when it came time to looking at resorts, that was where we started. Neither of us wanted to be up near Cancun and Tulum was a bit far south. So the DPA was a happy medium!

[Jenna20]

Hey Echo! This should be interesting...I have been working with a TA as well and had noticed the same thing with pricing being much higher than what I was seeing online. She has since looked into and requested a group rate from WJ and said the same thing about response time. So I will let you know what I hear from her. Your quote is direct fr WJ, so I'll be interested to see how much diff pricing will be.

 

We are currently looking at April 2010, we are pretty flexible with the date. Do you have a particular date in mind? For us price is going to dictate more of when/how we book.

 

Have a great weekend, chat soon!

[echo2_62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenna20 Hey Echo! This should be interesting...I have been working with a TA as well and had noticed the same thing with pricing being much higher than what I was seeing online. She has since looked into and requested a group rate from WJ and said the same thing about response time. So I will let you know what I hear from her. Your quote is direct fr WJ, so I'll be interested to see how much diff pricing will be. We are currently looking at April 2010, we are pretty flexible with the date. Do you have a particular date in mind? For us price is going to dictate more of when/how we book. Have a great weekend, chat soon!

Hi Jenna!!

Well it looks like both of us are going to be at the DPA in April then!! And at least with both of us getting quotes from WJ, we'll be more likely to get the best rate since we'll be able to bounce prices off each other. What airports are you leaving from? We have guests from Calgary, Winnipeg (maybe) and Toronto so I'm hoping they can coordinate all those for me. I'm already at a weeks wait to get a quote, so I'd really like to hear from them soon!

The last I'd checked, most of April after the 4th was about the same pricing so I think you'll have lots of option. We'll likely lean towards the last couple weeks of the month since we have lots of birthday celebrations early on in the month.

On another note, I started my dress shopping today. It seemed that there were so many different features that I liked, but not often a lot all on one dress!! Definitely a few candidates but I'm not sure if I've found 'the one' just yet :S

[2010wedding]

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Originally Posted by GinalynL Good question badrianne! Here's the list again! lyales - February 28, 2009 patsah - April 9, 2009 lp579 - May 7, 2009 (moved wedding to Punta Cana) Reluctant Beach Bride - May 16, 2009 (moved wedding to Bahamas) smashingbp311 - May 18, 2009 Bianca - May 23, 2009 jgomez3838 - June 3, 2009 adnil - June 5, 2009 (moved wedding to Hawaii??) AndreaJane2000 - June 9, 2009 Erika(RoryS) - June 12, 2009 GinalynL - June 18, 2009 MonicaC - June 24, 2009 aaronsgirl - July 2, 2009 tara5258 July 9, 2009 AlliMay - July 14, 2009 kimmaranto - July 17, 2009 jlizabethm - September 18, 2009 kim08 - October 7, 2009 marryinghimagain - October 15, 2009 Jesdinan - October 29, 2009 aug0208 - November 6, 2009 Elizabeth - November 7, 2009 Beautiful Bride - November 26, 2009 Rainfall - January 22, 2010 2010wedding - February 27, 2010 emaya77 - May 7, 2010 Badrianne - May 15, 2010 Tara, Alli, and kim...congrats to you ladies! If you are still around this forum let us know how your wedding days went!!

Hi all-
My date is Feb 27th. The 18th didnt work with some family. Looks so far that I am the only DPA bride on our forum in Feb. 6 months or so away!!! Can't wait. I hope you are still around then....this forum and you gals are really great.

Janna

Janna

[Ginalyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by echo2_62 On another note, I started my dress shopping today. It seemed that there were so many different features that I liked, but not often a lot all on one dress!! Definitely a few candidates but I'm not sure if I've found 'the one' just yet :S

Dress shopping is so fun! I wish I can do it again...can I come with you? JK!! Good luck, I am sure you will find THE ONE soon!