Scott-Pierre's ROR Review 9.18.09

[Scott-Pierre]

Alright... it's a long one! Hope this can help someone the way so many of you have helped me!

 

FLIGHTS/TRAVEL

 

We used TA Maureen for our travel. She was very helpful with answering questions about the resort since she had been married there herself. She sent cute little travel bags with all of our flight info. Two of my guests really loved them! It was a great way to keep everything organized. We flew American Airlines out of Savannah, Ga and connected in Miami. No issues in or out of Jamaica.

 

One bit of advice for the customs form going into Jamaica: On the US flights, they will tell you that only one head of household needs to fill out the second side of the customs form per family. This is true for arrival into the US, but in Jamaica they want each individual to fill it out. Save yourself the time and fill it out before you arrive.

 

We used the transfers provided by our travel company, Jamaica Tours Limited. They went fine and only made one other hotel stop before we got off. We did stop for the rest room and a snack. Maureen set up private transfers for my family through Lee’s Tours. They were a little hard to get in contact with to confirm the return time as they are not on the resort all the time like the other tour companies. I had prepaid, so it was no big deal. They arrived at the right time.

 

Some of our family flew Air Jamaica… AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!!! Their return flight was suddenly cancelled and they sat at the airport for hours. They were finally offered rooms at a bug infested holiday inn. Their flight left 12 hours later at 2 am! They had booked this on their own and did not use Maureen, she had suggested that we not use them.

 

ROR

 

We were greeted with rum punch and check in was smooth. We were the only ones to arrive at that time so it was quick. The bell hop that took us to our room was awesome! He explained everything around the resort and remembered our names when he saw us days later. Some of the bell hops that helped our families were not so helpful.

We booked an ocean view suite…. AMAZING!!! Room 1361… PERFECT! It is on the corner so you see all of the resort, the pool, and of course the ocean. The room overlooks the beach ceremony site so we got to see some weddings before ours. If you can, get this room!!!

 

There are ants in all of the rooms, but we have been to the Caribbean before so it really didn’t bother us. The only issue we had with the room was the fridge. We had to ask 3 different times for it to be fixed. Other than that, it was great. Leaving a dollar or two did get a better cleaning job from the housekeeper.

 

FOOD

 

I thought the food was okay. Before I give my opinions I have to say that I was completely spoiled last year when I stayed at the all-inclusive Excellence Riviera Maya. So I think I was unconsciously comparing the food to that place. St Ann’s buffet is the best bet b/c there is a greater variety. Breakfast was always good… I LOVED the potato croquettes and the cinnamon French toast! They also have yummy freshly squeezed fruit juices and smoothies. Mammee Bay wasn’t so great, I am guessing we just ate there on an off night since everyone else has given it good reviews. Tushima, the Japanese place, was our favorite. Who would have thought sushi in Jamaica would be so good! Our waiter even hooked us up with a to-go plate!! Yum! You can skip Sir Richard’s … salty and not good. The 3 of us that ate the crab bisque all paid for it the next day…. :x! I was a little disappointed by the lack of variety in the Jamaican food. I did not see any oxtail the entire time I was there. The curry goat was very fatty. Most of the meats were really fatty in the plantation. I am funny about meats so if its too fatty, its not good.

 

The drinks were good. The French Kiss and Dirty Banana seemed to be the faves among my guests.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

The shows were ok. The best parts seemed to be the contests they held among the guests before the shows started. Our best man and his girlfriend won the Ideal Couple contest…. HILARIOUS! We have them on videotape! My husband also won a contest the last night we were there!  I was surprised by some of the dancing during the shows. Some of the moves were pretty sexual, which did not bother me, but there were some families in the audience. The entertainers work really hard and they are there from sun up to sun down! They were really friendly and always made you feel welcome.

 

RENOVA SPA

 

I had a polish change done the day before my wedding. I can’t remember the lady’s name but she did a great job. I got a French manicure and I have never had one last so long. It just started chipping today… a week after! I got a chance to meet AnnaC from this forum in the spa. It was nice to actually meet someone from the forum.

 

The day of the wedding my mom, my MOH and myself all got our hair done. Rose did all 3 of us. She did a great job on my mom’s hair… it still looked perfect the next day after she slept on it. My MOH was not so happy with her hair. Rose took a little liberty with the style and my MOH was not a fan. I thought it looked fine. It was a very humid day so my MOH’s curls were droopy before the ceremony. My sister touched them up. My hair came out ok, I had the same problem with the curls. If I had to do it over I would have done my own hair and had my sister do my MOH’s. AnnaC’s husband was in their getting his mani/pedi so I got to meet him too. He was so relaxed… I

was sooo nervous!

 

NIKKI – WEDDING COORDINATOR

 

We worked with Nikki for our wedding. The day after we arrived we went to the front desk to see if Chandlyn was available. They gave us a time to return and we met with Nikki. The meeting took less than 20 mins and we planned everything. We bought a sand ceremony, fans, cake topper, table number cards, reception place cards, and a guestbook. Nikki took care of everything. Since I had my fiasco with Bittersweet and did not have any flowers, we used Tai Flower. They were perfect! The flowers matched my MOH’s dress better than what the Bittersweet ones would have! Everything happens for a reason!  I got a bridal bouquet, MOH bouquet, 4 bouts, 2 corsages, a hair flower and upgraded the ceremony décor. We upgraded the ceremony chairs to white for $5/each and got the aisle runner for $45. All well worth it! I am glad AnnaC got to use the chairs as well. They look so much better in pics!

 

WELCOME DINNER

 

The night before the wedding we did a welcome dinner in St Ann’s . Our families had not met each other so we wanted to introduce everyone. Nikki had them set up some tables for us. We handed out our OOT bags here. We also decided not to use the free wedding cake so instead we asked if we could use it as a birthday cake since we had 5 friends with birthdays around our wedding date. It was no problem! They gave us a yummy guava cake. It was different but good!  We were so loud singing happy birthday! LOL! A lot of the people in that room helped us sing. It was great!

 

WEDDING CEREMONY

 

I have a friend that is an awesome photographer so she took pics of us getting ready and also of the guys arriving to the ceremony site. Nikki came to the room at a little before 2 pm. She forgot the hair flower so had to run back down to get it so it started our ceremony a little late. No problem! It gave me a little extra time and gave my husband a little more time to sweat! Since my room overlooked the ceremony site we got to watch set up and saw when my husband arrived. Nikki and her staff did an amazing job! Everything was set up just right with the fans placed on the chairs. We gave her a CD with the 3 songs we wanted for the MOH and best man, my song, and then the end of the ceremony song. Each song was played at just the right time. I was so nervous about my husband seeing me since he kept turning towards the direction I was walking in! Nikki called her staff on her cell to tell him to turn the other way and one of my friends yelled at him to make sure he didn’t peek! LOL! The weather for that day had been overcast in the morning but the sun came out just in time for our ceremony! Everything was perfect! The best feeling is when I stepped on that aisle runner and my husband and I made eye contact for the first time! What an amazing feeling! I just stared at him the whole time I walked. My nerves were gone once I saw him. My daddy helped me too by talking to me the entire walk from the pool to the aisle runner.

 

The ceremony was great! We had Sheldon and had given him a script with the vows that we wanted. The resort vows are 5 mins long and seemed so quick for all the anticipation leading up to the wedding. I actually used bits and pieces from some of the girls on this forum! Sheldon did a great job and he was really friendly. We did a hand ceremony and a sand ceremony. He cued us through certain things and added some nice parts to the vows. We did have a religious ceremony.

 

After the ceremony we took photos on the beach. The sky started to turn overcast so we took a few and then decided to try later for sunset pics. We used the Photoshop and had originally booked Michael. He had an out of town emergency so we got Lincoln instead. He did a great job! I think my group frustrated him! There were over 40 of us and it was hard to direct everyone with it being so hot and the kids started getting grouchy. I am glad we got him and we saved money! They compensated us with some free pics on our disc since we had booked Michael and he wasn’t available. Karen, the manager of the photoshop was awesome. She was really friendly and guided us through what we needed and didn’t really need. On Monday after the wedding we did a shoot at Dunn’s River Falls. She drove us there in her own car so we wouldn’t have to waste money on a taxi. She also took us to a convenience store to save money on some things we needed to buy. We were really impressed with the photoshop. O’Neill is also great. He walks around at night and takes shots in the resort that you can later purchase. He has a great eye and we got a great sunset pic. The pics are a little pricey for the candid shots… but worth it!

 

POOLSIDE RECEPTION

 

The poolside reception was the BEST DECISION we made!!!! We took some shots with Lincoln at 6 pm and then headed to the reception. They did a great job setting it up. They moved my fans and centerpieces to the tables for décor. The lights in the pool also added to the ambience. We had great waiters and 3 bartenders since we had 41 people at our reception. It was buffet style and the food was some of the best we had during our stay. They provided plenty and most people had 2 or 3 plates. Everyone raved about the sausage which I unfortunately didn’t try. The ribs were amazing! And the cinnamon corn on the cob was yummy! I did not hear one complaint about the food!

 

We used our IPOD for the music and rented the DJ equipment for $90/hr (much better than the $150/hr for a DJ). We made playlists for dinner and dancing and my husband’s cousin was MC. The equipment included a microphone.

 

We got a cake from Sheila’s Bakery. It was YUMMY!!!!!! We got the vanilla with the strawberry filling. The cake was huge! We ended up giving a lot to the wait staff at the end of the night.

 

Everyone had a great time! Me and my girlfriends ended up dancing on the poolside swim up bar and on the little round tabletops in the pool. We had a great time! The waiters poured shots in our mouths and gave us bottles to give each other shots. The wait staff definitely got some entertainment from us! LOL!

 

We had such a good time and it went by so fast! The wait staff was great and helped us carry our things back to our room. They hooked us up with some extra bottles of champagne to take to our room. They told us we were the first wedding party to dance on the swim up bar and gave our reception an “11†out of “10â€.

 

Lincoln came back to the ceremony for an hour to take pics of the cake cutting and some dancing shots. My friend took pics the rest of the time.

 

EXCURSIONS

 

We were so busy hanging out with all of our guests that we really didn’t have time to leave the resort. We did go to Margaritaville on Saturday night. We had a great time. A bunch of us piled into the free shuttle. Admission is free for ladies on Saturday and $15 for the men. The music was great and I definitely sweated my hair out! LOL! AnnaC’s mom went with us… I can’t believe how young her mom looks! She was fun!

 

We did Dunn’s River falls on Monday but just for pics. It was hard maneuvering on those rocks in my dress! But we got some awesome pics!

Several of our guests went snorkeling, rode the jet skis, went shopping in town, etc. Everyone had a great time. You can haggle with any price. NEVER settle for the first price offered. Vendors do set up in the lobby every other day so you don’t need to spend money if you don’t want to pay for a taxi.

 

Overall we had a great experience. It was fun to be on vacation with both of our families and all of our friends. I was sad when everyone left! Our wedding day couldn’t have been more perfect… I have NO complaints!

Let me know if you have a any questions!

[Scott-Pierre]

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/LSC_5084.jpg

 

[Scott-Pierre]

I LOVE the minister's face in the previous pic! LOL!

 

 

[Vikki]

Congratulations! Your trip sounds like it was perfect and I'm glad the flowers worked out.

[*Nadine*]

congrats, great review!!! more pics more pics

[Flasong]

OMG I love his face too! That is priceless. Looks and sounds like you had an amazing time! I have a question about your ttd session at Dunns River Falls..was there alot of peopel there when you went? Did you feel safe going there on your own as opposed to going with a travel company? My friend/photographer is traveling with us and is very hesitant about us doing a ttd dress offsite being that we are tourists and he will have expensive travel equipment with him.

[autjo]

Congrats and great review!! You looked so beautiful

[drbrainfreeze]

Congrats!! I cannot wait to see more pics

[Scott-Pierre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flasong OMG I love his face too! That is priceless. Looks and sounds like you had an amazing time! I have a question about your ttd session at Dunns River Falls..was there alot of peopel there when you went? Did you feel safe going there on your own as opposed to going with a travel company? My friend/photographer is traveling with us and is very hesitant about us doing a ttd dress offsite being that we are tourists and he will have expensive travel equipment with him.

We went to Dunn's on Monday morning at 9 am. There weren't that many people when we started b/c there weren't any cruise ships docked. We spent 2 hrs there and closer to the end there were more people. They tend to stay on one side of the falls b/c the rocks are less slippery, so we stayed to the other side. I would just take another person with you to stay with the equipment. The photoshop manager went with us and kept our bag and the equipment so we wouldn't have to use a locker. It worked out fine. No one bothered us. Several people tried to sell us stuff but we just said "no thanks" and moved on. People see you are in your wedding attire so they try to stay out of the pics. I would say go and do it.. you will regret it if you don't. It is literally right down the road from the ROR, less than a 10 min taxi ride.

[ClintsGurl09]

Congrats, great review!