Thoughts on RMB?

[nicole8]

We have been around and around in circles on what resort to go to.... And now because of the constrictionson times and dates we are now thinking about the RMB. What are peoples thoughts pros and cons? Comparsion to ROR? ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

[Perplexy]

I have been wondering the same thing for a while, despite the fact that we have already chosen RMB.

 

There seem to be a lot of brides getting married at ROR, but our TA gave us an incredible deal of 1 person free for every 11 booked. We never thought of ROR because of the wrath of a crazy bridezilla who got married there previously. (not on these forums, of course...). I have only heard great things though.

 

RMB on the other hand...aside from the few reviews from brides on here, there's nothing really to go on. It's a brand new resort, so it's all trial and error until more of us get back!

[amber792002]

I picked the RMB after much back and forth. I don't know what package you are thinking about or how many people attending or when, but I did see that in order to get the free package, you have to have 10 rooms booked at ROR, whereas you only have to have 5 booked at RMB. In looking at information I got when I recieved my confirmation code it looks like maybe the free pkg isn't available in 2010 for RIU Negril or ROR. Here is what it said at bottom of email.

 

* Weddings by Riu kindly reminds you our policies state that 80% of the total wedding guests must stay at the same Riu hotel where the ceremony will be performed. They also require the booking of at least 5 rooms on the chosen wedding destination resort in order to qualify to receive a Free Package. Please note that our Free Package is only available at Riu Montego Bay and Riu Palace Tropical Bay.

[YoursTruly]

I would recommend doing a search on RMB. There are at least 5- 7 brides that have written a review as well as other threads on RMB related questions. Best of luck to you both.

[drucky14]

From the research I've done and my contact with all the wedding people (sales, coordinator, etc...) it seems like a wonderful place. Also, of the few reviews on the site, no one really had anything bad to say. My advice would be to email them with any questions you have, they were more than happy to answer all of my questions, and I imagine they would do the same for you.

[srobins15]

Hey all of you brides,

I got married on June 13, 2009 at RMB and everything turned out wonderful! I was skepitcal as most of you are at first but I was more than pleased on how everything turned out. We had 65 guests attend our wedding and at first we had the Royal package but you can only have up to 50 guests and we didn't ecxpect to but we exceeded that number! So we did hte math and ended up going with the free wedding and adding on our options. We didn't really feel it was worth upgrading to the next package, after all it was an extra $1000 and we didn't really care about the extra spa services and decorations. On the actual wedding which we included, the minister, flower decorations for the gazebo and bouquets and boutinarres for the wedding party, and photograpy, we spent approx. $1500. I wanted to have a sand ceremony so we brought our own vases and colored sand for the sand ceremony. Tulle is cheap and easy to pack so I brought my own tulle to add to the decor at the ceremony. So it depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

 

Our wedding was at 4pm and our dinner reception wasn't until 6:30pm at MoBay. So after the wedding we took pictures and our guests just mingled and went to the bar. Some went to their room to rest or change. I was a little concerned about what to do with them, should I have a cocktail hour or some appetizers served, but I decided against it and I am glad. The time goes by fast. The dinner reception turned out great as well. The food was not bad, our guests had options to choose from 3 entrees. We didn't upgrade our cake. It didn't look like much but it wasn't bad either, nothing extravagant. It just depends on what you want. We didn't lose sight on the real reason why we were there, we were there to be married and have our friends and family their to share in our day....and it was wonderful. I mean it's Jamaica, so it will be great! All the other little details, like cake, decor are just that small details so I didn't let that consume me too much.

 

I really wanted pictures on the beach and I got my pictures on the beach as I wanted. The photographer was great. I used the photographer the resort recommended. Michael and his staff were very professional and took great pics.

 

I am very happy with my choice. The only slight issues I would say was our room. I read this before on other reviews and some of the rooms have a musty smell, kind of like dirt. My girlfriend said that is how oak smells...I don't know but some rooms had the smell and others did not or it was faint. But if that is the only complaint then, I can live with that!

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will answer the best I can. I will try to post pictures later (I have never attached anything to any of my posts so bare with me!)

 

Happy Planning!

[montegobay09]

I won't write as much since I've already posted my review but I'm very happy with my choice of RMB and I was skeptical at first too! I havn't regreted my decision one bit!! and there's only a 5 min drive to the airport so it's well worth it to get there so quickly after your flight!!!!

[Jamaica0619]

I got married at RMB on June 19th. I have not gotten my review posted yet - I promise to do it very soon. I have my AHR this weekend - so as soon as that is over, I'll get it posted. But, I can say I do not regret my choice of resorts. I second montegobay09 - the location relative to the airport makes travel easy. It is friendly for couples, families and people of all ages - which was important to us. We were happy with our choice on our site visit in January and we continued to be happy with our choice in June. Our guests also liked the resort, and were happy with thier vacations.

[Mother of Bride]

My daughter got married the week of June 21st at RMB. We had some WC issues prior to the wedding (due to the change of personnel ) but once we got there, Sherika took care of the details & escorted the FOB & bride to the beach & Roxiana was at the wedding site to help with the music. (the bride & grooms choice of music on RMB sound system) Marie got married on the far end of the beach (had champagne right after the ceremony) & we liked that location due to its privacy (compared to the gazebos which had some "gawkers") They qualified for the "free package" (we had 25 people--13 rooms) and just added a few extra bouquets for the wedding party. The cost of the minister was $350 & the extra flowers only cost $100

 

She just had the palm leaf archway (w/ fresh flowers attached) and that was just fine & looked really nice on the photos. Her wedding was at 2pm & then we hung out at the Exodus Bar until the dinner at Mahoe Bay. (some guests went swimming or back to room to rest) We were fortunate enough to have the upstairs all to ourselves (there were no other weddings that day) so we used an Ipod dock for mood music & had the family & wedding party toasts prior to the meal & they had a "first dance" afterwards. The two waiters were very attentive & the meal was very good...we had choice of several meats: chicken, ribs, steak, fish, etc. with potatoes, vegetables & the salad bar (which is downstairs)

 

The cake was what we ordered, w/white frosting & decorated w/ silk flowers we had brought along. We also had some chiffon & colored stones on cake table & we brought simple table favors for each place setting & were satified with the plates, glasses, and table linens they provided. We were especially happy that Mahoe Bay Steakhouse has the open-air concept & we got to see a beautiful sunset just prior to our meal. Marie did not want to stress out with all sorts of complicated details so we kept things very simple & really the only thing that went wrong was that instead of the "free" yellow & white daisy bouquet she ordered, she got pink carnations. We never really got an explanation or apology, but there was nothing that could be done, (flowers were delivered to room, 5 minutes prior to wedding) so she just moved ahead & didn't "freak out" The funny part is now that we look at the pictures, the pink flowers really "popped" in the photos & definitely lasted longer than the daisies would have. We just laugh out loud about it now....all in all everything went very well.....I would recommend the RMB to anyone & we had a WONDERFUL family vacation in addition to a beautiful wedding day for our daughter.

 

My comment to most brides would be just to chill out, get the basic things figured out before-hand, but really, most things can be finalized once you get there. And DON'T sweat the small stuff !! Just keep remembering you are marrying the love of your life & you need to enjoy the experience and not fret about the few things that could go wrong.

 

A VERY happy Mother of the Bride....KAY