DREAMS PUERTO VALLARTA "thread"

[missjaclyn]

Well I am back from my Dreams trip and we did not book a date for 2010 but we are still considering it! I know that the pics have to be really small to post on here so I will attach my link to my facebook and you can check out my vacation pics!

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I think that should work I am not very PC clever, lol... I am pretty pooped but all in all we had a great time. One big complaint is that I was expecting the food to be really good since so many ppl on trip advisor etc. hyped it up (as well as other guests who were at Dreams while we were there, felt the food was so great compared to other AI places) but we were not very pleased We had our favorites (the chicken fajitas and the guacamole is great, so are the curly fries as Sea Side Grill, the omeletes at the world cafe buffet place, the asparagus soup at Portofino, the brocolli cheddar soup at Oceana, and the club sandwich and flautas ordered from room service). I was shocked with the lack of Mexican food! The drinks were great, they just melted fast because of the heat! There were several weddings while I was there and I was able to chat with many of the brides. Everyone was really happy and seemed to have no regrets! I was so suprised at the hotels nightly events/entertainment, ie. fiesta night on Tuesday's, fire dancing on Wednesday's, circus night on Thursdays, Rock & Roll Beach night Saturdays, I am forgetting the rest... but each night there is a huge event/show with entertainment. While it was GREAT I may be more likely to have my wedding on a Monday night since I think it may be the only night that (Casino Night) where there is no loud show going on. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that the shows occur simultaneously with perhaps the ceremony and for sure the reception. I just felt that the music would be competing with each other a bit But I could be totally wrong? All in all the staff was great and very respectful, resourceful, and super friendly! My FI couldn't sleep the first night and found mold in our Junior Suite located on the 5th floor of the new tower and when he notified management the next day, they moved us to a suite with a jacuzzi but only after I told them that I was planning to have my wedding there and wouldn't allow my guests to sleep in the molded rooms. Initially they offered moving us to a 1st floor room in the same tower and that would eliminate our great view! So nevertheless they upgraded us to the 18th floor. Oh yeah... one other sketch note: MANTA RAYS LIKE CRAZY! So many of these manta rays which steered many people clear of the ocean! My FI is nutz and was snorkeling trying to find the manta rays and he wasn't able to see even one up close! From our balcony we could see schools of 20 or so riding in with the waves almost all the way onto the shore! There were no incidence of any one stung who entered the water! Aghhhh I didn't mean for this review to be so long... I guess I am trying to mention anything anyone may have been wondering and the things I was suprised to find! I have never been to an AI before nor have I been to Cancun (or any other place in Mexico/Caribbean) and really didn't know what to expect from the trip, besides what info I learned from this site and trip advisor! Overall I think that the main thing that caused me to pause before setting an official date was the lack of "adult" activities and night life. The sports bar there is fun but could get old fast and some may fear going into town to go to the clubs. Although the resort does take a group nightly into town and they stay to ensure their safety, etc. Also the employees are given "breathilizer" tests at the end of every shift and apparently they only make $6 US dollars a day and cannot risk lossing their jobs to take shots with guests. My FI made friends with many of the staff and found all of this intersting info out... Okay that concludes my input and please feel free to ask more detail or clarity on anything I mentioned! It's 12:30am California time and 2:30 am PV time and I am EXHAUSTED! I am not even going to proof read, I am too sleepy! Sweet "Dreams" ladies! xoxo

[missjaclyn]

sorry that didn't work... I can give you my email address if you can go onto FB and search for my profile using my email...

[email protected] Hope that works !

[Jess]

thanks for the review Jaclyn!!

[J&MWedding]

Oh, I'm glad to know that Dreams has all those events at night! That sounds fun! I guess looking into resorts, I was assuming to hear positive and negative things - I figure no location can be absolutely perfect in each person's perspective, but it's good to hear everything! Thanks for sharing!

[missjaclyn]

A few things I thought I should add: it was the beef, to be specific, that we didn't care for at all at the resort as far as food goes. If possible I would create my own menu with the things that we loved! lol... Also their juice is very different than what we are used to. And the #1 thing that I would look into if we were going to have our wedding at Dreams would be making sure all of our guests were given an upgraded pillow! I remembered seeing on here that you can call and get a new one but you have to physically go down to concierge spelling) and put a holding deposit down and then one is sent to you (or something like that) my FI called but we both had our pillows folded 3x's to get any firmness and decided not to go down and do the song and dance to get a new pillow. I would probably get there and put a deposit down for all of my guests and ensure that they didn't have to sleep on the pillows in the room! Also I would have my wedding the 2nd night there (since we are planning on legally marrying in Napa or SF to avoid the shots and 4 business day thing). I am a mega planner and would be waaaaay too tense to enjoy myself if we did the wedding toward the end of our trip. Also I felt like I gained 20lbs from all of the calorie filled/delicious blended drinks I consumed and that amazing guacamole which I loved! In actuality I just checked and only gained 2lbs but we also didn't work out once there so, figures. Oh yeah, Rebecca (the WC) is great! She is so mellow and relaxing which is good for me since I am super tense and need to be surrounded with mellow folks! She showed me photo albums of the flowers and location set ups and answered the list of questions I had, lol. I also ran around and picked up all of the brochures for the activities, spa, resort "welcoming kit" since FI and I are planning on introducing our friends and family to the DW idea at our engagement party and I will have all of the info I collected out for everyone to see as well as our pictures from the trip. I think that the resort would have been a lot more fun if it wasn't soooo dead (from the swine flu) and was filled with our friends, family and interesting vacationers! I also ran around the resort on the last day and asked the cleaning ladies for as much "Dreams" items ie. these cute Dreams drink coasters, Dreams logo stickers they put on the toilet paper roll, these cute Dreams logo drink stir things, etc. all of which we would have out at our engagement party if we were to book our wedding at dreams! Also I saved the daily activities guide from each day which they put under your door every night and it tells you all of the restaurants that will be open the following day as well as what activities will occur ( spanish lessons, cooking lessons, beach volley ball, yoga, etc) for those who like participating in that kind of stuff. We were all about R & R and stayed at the "Relax" adult pool or on the beach lounge chairs but I know my mom and her friends like to do all of the activities or atleast people watch them!

While we were there I thought of many ideas for our engagement party and reception and wanted to begin looking for things while there and found they were $$$!

Side note: I live in the Bay Area and the Hispanic population is huge so I chose to not get any of the (in my opinion) over priced items they were selling at the resort, which we would want to decorate our party with. (Mexican candies, shot glasses, sombreros, maraca's. etc.) Again sorry for my spelling errors We are going to do a "Nacho bar/Mexican fiesta" themed engagement party....

 

And J & M: the events are great! I would say they last a little over an hour and they are very entertaining! The Fiesta night was a huge event where they put out tables on the sand and spent hours decorating for the event. I originally thought that it was for a wedding! They put the dance floor/stage thing up and have these amazing dancers perform for a little over an hour and they also serve food out there! It is really great! Casino night was mega fun and when it was over a wedding group arrived after their reception and danced etc. They keep the sportsbar open late (until 1 or 2) every night and there is music, drinking, etc. Again it would be really fun with a big group of close friends and family!!!

Last thing I wanted to add, I remembered the website advertising the tequila tasting bar with X amount of tequila’s... well when we asked about this, the staff was very confused! I am assuming it doesn't actually exist although the Rendezvous bar does sell bottles of tequila and Cuban cigars; we were upset that we were never formally introduced to the tequila tasting bar! Perhaps we were already too drunk to find it! lol!

[Jess]

wow thanks! I'm glad I didnt pick the beef for our reception food then! I did chicken and fish so hopefully it will taste okay

[dmbfanliz]

Jaclyn,

 

Thank you SO much for your review!!! I'll be adding you to facebook too so I can check out your pics. :0)

 

I have read more than one negative review on the PV Dreams food. Seems very silly to create such a wonderful getaway spot and not have at least "great" food...I mean, amazing, wonderful, perfect food is a LOT to hope for, but you shouldn't have any major complaints like "the beef tasted funny." That just seems strange to me, like does the resort not receive any feedback from couples after the fact? Anyway, I know its not all about the food but its pretty important. I think its part of the whole experience and if your family and friends is flying that far, the least they can have waiting is an awesome meal.

 

Thanks again for your review. I'm still VERY early in my research but I'm liking the pictures I've seen of Turks & Caicos very much...any thoughts?

[dmbfanliz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashey063009 Attachment 3647 I miss this thread. The Cuba thread is so uneventful.

Aww, you poor thing. I'm sure it will be beautiful. You seem like such a sweetie, don't let this change get you down. Remember it really is about the marriage, not the wedding. Focus on that love. Hang in there!!

[autjo]

Jaclyn - Thanks for the review! It's great to hear unbiased opinions.

 

Personally, the food is not why I picked an all-inclusive. We travel quite a bit and I don't really care for the food in most foreign countries. Don't get me wrong, I try almost everything and I'm sure if I lived somewhere else I would grow to love food there. I have been to several all-inclusives in Mexico (Riu in Cabo, Royal in Playa, Sun Palace in Cancun & Oasis in Cancun) and didn't really like the food at any of them, but the concept is way convenient and my guests that are scared of the drugs lords/swine flu getting them never have to leave the resort....LOL.

 

Something else to remember is that regardless of what people pick for their reception food, there is always something else for your guests to eat!

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by J&MWedding I think guests will start booking after they get the invitation. I had a lot of verbal commitments, but people are lagging - we are totally in the same boat! I just sent out an email today that was very polite and just to let everyone know. We'll see what happens! I didn't even think about it, we will totally be able to meet up! We are arriving on Nov 29th and leaving on the 6th for our "honeymoon" portion of our trip. How many people are you inviting? How many do you think will come? When we first started, we had an idea of about 50-60 ppl total coming, but now I think it might be more around 35-40 ppl - which I would be ok with.

Jill - I think my email to people worked

The families are booked and now my best friend and her hubby too! We invited about 110 people and our first estimates were 50-75. But will probably be closer to 30-40 which I am totally cool with as well. Especially because our AHR is getting out of control and lord only knows how many people my mom will convince to show up... we are sending about 160 invitations to that!

 

We come in on 12/2 and leave on 12/12 (doing our honeymoon summer 2010). Let't plan a pool bar meet up on wed/thur when it gets closer to Dec Hope your peeps start booking soon too!!!

[smith3576]

Has anyone tasted any of the wedding menu options? We are having a hard time picking from their vague descriptions and translations!