SGOR wedding review part 1

ltwillia · July 17, 2009

1. Everything is NO PROBLEM MON!!! We had a great time from the time we landed until we landed back in Houston, TX. Don't worry about anything. If you need anything just ask. They almost wait on you hand and foot and don't want you to handle anything...not even your luggage.

2. The bus ride from the airport to the hotel is 2 hours longs. They usually make one 10 minute rest stop. They do blow the horn a lot but we could not seem to understand what they were blowing at so much. Our driver was Chris on the way there and I can't remember the drivers name coming back. Both drivers let us know about places that we were passing and interesting information.

3. When you arrive at the airport and make it through customs you will be directed to the Sandals lounge which is very nice to get soft drinks and Red Stripe beer to take with you on the ride there. They will have you to give your luggage to the porters who will take you to the bus and put your luggage under the bus. BE CAREFUL...EVERYBODY WANTS A TIP!!! They advertise for tips and will let you know that the tipping fee for the porters is $1.00 per bag. You give what you want and walk away after that. Even the bus driver will ask you for a tip. They will also inform you that they are not Sandals employees so they would like tips. So just make sure you take plenty of one dollar bills and seperate it from the rest of the money that you plan on taking so they will not see what you have and try to harass you for more.

4. Your baggage will be taken off the bus by Sandals employees and you will be sent to the main waiting area on the Manor side. There you will be greeted by great people, offered a drink and cold towel, and told to sit back, enjoy yourself and let them do the rest. Here you will receive your room keys, instructions, and given there wedding book which will have your names on it with the date and time of the meeting with your wedding coordinator. There is a page that they ask you to fill out prior to your meeting but if you don't get to it...NO PROBLEM MON!!! The coordinator will go over the information with you. You will be taken to your rooms and your luggage will be delivered about 5 minutes after you get there. One thing...they will ask for your credit card imprint for the room. Debit cards will be charged and not just authorized, credit cards will just be authorized for $400.00, and cash deposit, if you choose, is $400.00. Once you get to this point put your money away and enjoy your self in all the ways you can.

5. We did not have a Butler but overheard some people saying that they could not think of ways to keep there Butler busy. We did not see a need for one because we were not in our rooms enough to ask them to do something for us. There are bars everywhere you look. I don't dring but my husband does. His only problem with the drinks was they will only put a little alcohol and lots of mix or juice. He even specified just a splash of cranberry but was still overloaded with cranberry juice in his vodka. Try to be as specific as possible and that will make your drinks better.

6. We did not get a chance to get off the resort but did enjoy doing all we could there. The orientation was not worth going to for us because after a day of just wondering around we found our way around all 3 sides of the resort with no problem. We did the party boat to Dunn's River Falls. That was a lot of fun but the down falls are:

a. the boat leaves at 8:30am. We were out kind of late so partying at 8:30 in the morning was not what we had in mind.

b. the cost is 80.00 per person which includes Dunn's River access, snorkling, and partying with an open bar on the way there and back.

c. the people on the boat will ask for tips and they try really hard to get you to party after you have done all the water activites. At this point just relaxing and drinking was all we needed to be happy. they kind of force you to pary because they want other people to see what fun the trip was.

After the fact...we found out we should have caught a cab over to the falls with 15.00 access and just snorkel with the resort (which is one of there included activities). Don't have the resort to call you a cab because that is 28.00 for the ride. Just go outside the gate and get your own cab. Someone told us that they paid 1.00 for the ride there and back. Another person said they paid 15.00 per person (they had 10 people) for the cab for the ride there and back. All this to say there are cheaper ways and you can also go to the open market for shopping which may have more and be cheaper than the prices at the gift shop. Use the gift shop as your last resort. They sometimes will have specials for certain days on certain things so don't buy all at one time and you will get a 10% off coupon for the gift shop.

7. Take a water proof camara to the falls with you. They will have people there who will make a video of you as you go throughout the falls for 40.00 plus tips. We just took pictures and did not go for the video. Do not pay them there if you want the video, just give them your hotel and room number and when you get the video pay them then.

8. The food there was great. Our favorites were Valentino's with Craig as our waiter and the Manor place restaurant overlooking the pool. The nights we went we made sure Wayne was our waiter because he was great. He will bring your dessert on his head for you to remove. He is always smiling and laughing which makes dinner a great pleasure. We also had a lady singing that night and she was absolutley fabolous!!! She set the mood for a nice romantic dinner. You do not have to dress up for this restaurant just the men have to wear a shirt with sleeves. The only dress up restaurants are Valentino's and the Orchid.

9. I am african-american and I went to have my hair done at the beauty shop.My hair is not long. Donetta ( my stylist) did a great job but she did my hair exactly the way I do it everyday... but she did place my tierra for me which is something that I did not even think about.

More to come as soon as I have a chance to complete my long review.

islandbride317 · July 18, 2009

THANKS SO MUCH for your review so far, ltwillia! I am getting married there next May, so I have been looking forward to some more recent reviews to be posted!

Can't wait to hear how your ceremony went...and where you decided to get married on the resort! CONGRATULATIONS, Mrs!

Paul'sSoulMate · July 18, 2009

Hi,

I'm confused about the credit card thing. We've paid for everything, so why do they want 400.00? Also, if you give a cash deposit do they give it back b4 u leave?

jamaicabride09 · July 20, 2009

Congrats on becoming a Mrs.!! Thanks for posting the review. Please post pics when you get a moment.

Did you add any extras to the basic wedding package?

ltwillia · July 21, 2009

I am sure that you have already paid for the room and flight. The deposit is for the extra excursions that you book through the hotel like the party boat, calling back to the states from your room, items from the gift shop, the extra things that you select for your wedding package, and so on. For all these things they simply ask for your room number, charge it to the room, and before you leave you can pay however you choose. I am not sure how they handle the cash deposit at the end of your trip.

I did not add any extras to my wedding package because it was just he and I going. We had no need for the all out extras because 1. they were expensive and 2. who was going to be there to enjoy them other than he and I.

They did offer some tulle and flower peices to kind of decorate the reef terrace at a cost of 100.00 per peice. Of course we did not want that because the tulle may have cost about 5.00 and the flowers about 20.00 in the states. We felt for just me and him that was way to expensive for no reason.

I will complete my review along with pics hopefully today. If you have anymore questions you can email me at [email protected] and I will send whatever you would like.