Jump to content

My Beaches Boscobel review (long)

michelle6114
 Share

Recommended Posts

michelle6114

michelle6114

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone, we're back, and what an awesome time we had! Thanks so much for all the advice and suggestions from this board, I would have been lost in Jamaica without all the tips I learned from here.

It took about 90 minutes from the airport on a bus that wasn't too comfortable, but I saw a ton of buses so I think it is luck of the draw. Looking out the window at everything was a little upsetting, most residents live in shacks and it seems like a third world country. I saw dozens of emaciated dogs and goats on the sidewalks. Yet sprinkled throughout this poverty are sparkling resorts, each one more beautiful than the next. Plus, our bus driver barely said a word to us, so this trip from the airport was not the highlight of my trip.

When we got to the resort (around 7pm) Elmo and friends along with a bunch of staff came out to greet our bus. Everybody was extremely friendly. The WC, Kamehsa met us in the lobby with "you must be one of my brides", a big hug and gave my mom an room upgrade when I mentioned that she had health conditions. This woman is a doll and did all she could to make our wedding perfect.

We had an oceanfront one bedroom suite that overlooked the beach and Arizonas deck. It was huge and had 2 bathrooms which I wasn't expecting. The furnishings were a little run down but no big deal. The rooms and corridors I think could have been a little cleaner but again, no big deal. It must be hard to upkeep when there are always tons of kids there.

The food-simply put..AMAZING!!! We were a fan of the Bayside buffet which was most convinient, it had a huge array of food and everything was cooked perfectly. We all went to Arizona's one night, whic was nice with the table service and a live steel drum band. My daughter got up and played the maracas with them. We had 12 people and everyone loved all the food, everywhere. The drinks at all the bars were great and there are not stingy with the alcohol by any means. The night before the wedding, we ate at the Venetian which was gorgeous. We did the basic weddingmoon package that was free with the 7 nights. I got married on the venetian terrace, there is a gazebo there but I got married against the wall overlooking the ocean. I had my own flowers made so we had asked Kamesha if I could have a 'credit' for my free bouquet to get 2 extra boutoniers and 2 wristlets for the parents. We had to pay a difference of $27.00 which was fine. I also told her I was concerned about not having decor, since we were not paying those atrocious decor prices, so she had someone drag 2 flowery potted plants up there for us to stand between. We paid $300 for a violin player who played 20 min during the ceremony and the remaining 40 min at the reception.

Reception details- we hemmed and hawed over having the $75.00 pp 4 hour reception, which we could not justify since it was an all inclusive resort. We did pay $25.00 pp for a private 1 hr cocktail reception. I am glad we did. It was at the Piano Bar and everything was perfect. They even let us stay an exta 45 min. They had an open bar and a huge table full of scrumptious ho'dervs and fresh fruit. Our families were in there eating drinking and listening to the violinist until we were done with our pics. When we came to the door they made a grand entrance for us and we did the cake cutting and champagne toast. The WC was there making sure everything ran smoothly and it did. I had no worries and our families says it was the best wedding they ever went to. Afterward we had reservation at Elenor's, which is the fanciest restaurant on property only for adults and kids over 12. The atmosphere was gorgeous, everyone was fawning over me since I still had my dress on. They made us feel like the most important couple in the world at that moment. In fact, we saw another private wedding reception on Elenors balcony (the $75 pp one) and all their guests looked hot and bored.

The photography- yes, I did sneak a photographer team in. I was determined to do so and only feel a little guilty for Kameshas sake. I told her I had 2 outside guests coming and we pre-paid their passes ($85.00 each) plus the $50.00 for the reception. They had no problems getting in and they met us in the hotel room to do some photos before the wedding. During the wedding one photographer sat in the chair like a guest while the other snapped photos. There was also a resort photographer there taking them as well. It took about 5 minutes for the staff to catch on but nobody was confronted or asked to leave. We saw them grumbling after a while but it went smoothly. I did go to the photography shop the next day to look at the few the resort photographer took. there were a few that I did like so we bought 6 plus the free pose on a cd, each negative on disc is $20.00. Since everyone at the resort was so sweet and accommodating, I do feel badly lying to them about my intentions but they still made money from the day passes and the cd I did buy. After getting home and comparing the discs, the ones my photographer took by far exceed color and quality compared to the resorts cd, even though they were taken exactly the same time. The Beaches photography rules and prices did not make any sense to me, nor could they tell me who would be shooting my wedding beforehand or show me their work. If picking your own photograper is important to you, then consider a resort that has no "outside vendors prohibited" rule. I was not aware of this until after we booked.

 

Ok, here are the minor cons of the resort-

Bees- All around the bottles of alcohol and soda machines, trying to climb inside spouts. Although I am sure they are cleaned, it still grossed me out.

Floating Ganga Jo-Jo and the outside vendors right outside beach- these people are agressive as heck and if you buy something, they claim "not to have change" and tell you to grab a bracelet, shirt, whatever in order to justify not giving your money back (this is not affiliated with the resort though)

Lack of towels- there never seemed to be clean ones. But that is because guests will leave them on the chairs all day.

All in all, considering the price we and our guests paid, we are thrilled that we did it this way and at this resort. The staff really is wonderful and we had an awesome wedding and vacation. If there is any questions, ask me, I can go on but this is getting long lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 9 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...