Help! Moon Palace Punta Cana or Paradisus Palma Real?

[starfish007]

Hey there ladies! Looking for a little help. I am just learning how to navigate this site so I apologize if I'm posting in the wrong place but I need help! We are getting married in November 2009 and I still have not booked a resort yet. I have been holding out for the Moon Palace Punta Cana which originally was set to open Fall 2008 but as you may know, opened January 2009. The resort is still under construction. My original date was June 20, 2009 but we moved it to the fall since the resort would not have the golf course or casino by June. Anyways, I was notified by email of the changes to the wedding packages MP has to offer this week. I was surprised they no longer include spa services for the bride such as hair style/mani/pedi etc. Does anyone know what they charge at the spa for a wedding day up-do? With the changes to the wedding packages I have begun to consider going with Paradisus Palma Real. The WC emailed me the packages and the prices for each but after reading some of the posts, I am wondering if they hit you for extra charges? If anyone can provide any info, I would appreciate it. I know price is taboo to discuss but the main reason for us to do a DW was to avoid the astronomical costs associated with a traditional wedding. With regards to Paradisus, I am liking the "Chill Out Chic" package but would want to swap the informal buffet dinner for a sit down dinner on the beach. If you have any info, I would love to hear back from you! Thanks in advance!

[mrsbancroft2be]

starfish 007- I dont know anything about the Paradisus Palma Real but my husband and I just got back from our honeymoon at the Moon Palace Punta Cana so maybe my feedback can help. Obviously it had just opened 3 weeks before we arrived so everything was under construction. The hotel is very nice and the staff is extremely willing to help but we did run into a few things that we did not like. Our plane arrived late to into Punta Cana and we did not get to the MP until 1 am. At that time they checked us in and we went to our room, to find we had 2 double beds (on our honeymoon with 2 double beds and we are not small people ) The next day we went to change and since they only had 300 of the 1500 rooms open and they were all full we were not able to change rooms until the next day.The grounds were under construction everywhere you looked. Everything looked like they threw it together to open the hotel in January and then they just left it without watering it for 3 weeks. There were only 4 pools open during our visit and unfortunately you had to get to the pools early (I am talking 9:00am) to get a chair or you would had to lay on the ground because they did not have enough chairs for all of the guests.We did go to the spa and it is very nice (the staff is great) I did not get the price list but for a pedicure / manicure it cost 45 usd, so I can not imagine it is very expensive to get your hair done. Obviously the golf course was not done when we were there but there are two golf courses within 15 minutes of the hotel that are very nice and they come and pick you up so that was great!As for the Casino, since it was not done they had two different shuttles that took you to a Casino that was in Barbaro (about 20 mins. away) But I have to say it would have been way better it if were right in the hotel.Most of the restaurants had really good food. We have been to AI's that had horrible food but they really did have a great selection and the drinks are really good they dont water down anything! All in all the hotel is nice and by the way they were moving to get things done quickly I would assume by November they should have it pretty much done (maybe not the golf course but other than that) and the beach is to die for, you can really take some beautiful pictures.I hope that helped!

[DanielleNDerek]

Hi i got married at the Palma Real last November. I did the aqua package and had the sitdown dinner on the olympic terrace. I would check with the WC to make sure you can do a sitdown dinner on the beach because i talked to another bride who got married a couple of days after me and they had to do a buffet on the beach since they had 50 guests it was too many for a sitdown dinner on the beach. I can understand why too. dh and i had dinner on the beach one night and the waiters had a pretty long walk to get our food and there was a lot of going back and forth and that was for just 2 people.

[O'Driscoll Photography]

Congrats and welcome!

 

Best wishes,

Tod

[michellepicksbrent]

Welcome to the forum! Good luck and happy planning!

[*Casey*]

to the forum and CONGRATS!!!

[Mishi]

I didn't get married at the Palma Real but we stayed there for two weeks for the first part of our honeymoon and loved it! So I would be happy to help you with any basic info about the resort and I have tons of pics!

Welcome to the board and congrats ;0)

[starfish007]

Mrs.Bancrofttobe: Thank you for your review, it was really helpful! I think we are going to go ahead with this resort. All of the reviews I've read so far say that once it is complete, it will be beautiful. Many of the travelers mentioned that during their stay, lots of progress had been made. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the food. My to-be hubby is a chef and good food is a must!

 

Danielle: Thanks for the response! I read your review and loved how detailed it was, it really helped!

 

I think we are going to go with MP PC, I just love how the rooms look and the amenities (once they are complete) will be killer. Any other brides that are planning on that resort, I would love to hear from you!

[Sascha Gluck Photography]

Hi, welcome to the Forum and good luck with everything...

[dinogomez.com]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations!! You've come to the right place; here you can find all the info you need for a fun, smooth and successful planning!! Enjoy!!!