Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[Tekeya Thompson]

Just to let everyone know...it's not the dressing on the salads that is the issue.  It's the actual lettuce that has a very bitter taste.  It's not just at Gran Bahia, but in a few places throughout Jamaica.  Gran Bahia is was very bitter but when we went to Negril and Montego bay, the salads still had the funny taste but it wasn't as bad.  I am guessing because its is a 3rd world country, pestisides and stuff like is used differently than in US or maybe they import their lettuce from somewhere else.  Anywho...dressing won't help ;-(.  We had the caprese salad and it was basically lettuce, tomato, and cheese.  It was still bad. 

 

The standard cake is 2 layers. 

 

Originally Posted by monarch 

What is in the mixed grill at the grill restaurant?  We have a menu list but it doesn't seem to be so complete.  I wonder why I've heard 2 people mention to avoid the cesar salad.  It seems like it would be very difficult to mess up a cesar salad.  Doe it have anchovies or something?  Smell fishy?

 

On our menu, the cesar salad is only offered at the grill and not at the italian restaurant. 

 

How was the tiramisu?

 

Has anyone had the caprese salad?

 

Also, does anyone know if the standart cake is one or two layers?  They indicate that you can purchase an extra layer and I'm wondering if that would make 2 or 3 layers with the extra one.

 

 

 

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

I got them from an Ebay buyer...and was able to negotiate the price.  They turned out really nice.  Here's the info:

 

http://stores.ebay.com/Oasis-Promotional-Products

 

Seller: Cupman19

 

I got 50 of the 22oz stadium cups (purple transluc.) with our logo in orange

 

Originally Posted by monarch 

Has anyone figured out the best place to order personalized stadium cups (approximately 35?)

 

Thanks

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

Personally I think the reason why this is so big of an issue is because of the bartender (there is a minimum).  Donnalee AND Chandlyn were MIA as soon as we left dinner and headed over to the gazebo so I don't know how she would be tracking how many people you will have at your gazebo because they aren't counting.  I was actually very upset with that because when we got to the gazebo, there were NO chairs and I couldn't find her to let her know I needed them.  We didn't do the bartender, my hubby made friends with the bartenders there (tipped them) to mix up 2 gallons of rum punch and 2 gallons of another alcoholic drink.  The groomsmen went to pick it up prior to us walking over to the gazebo.  I asked Chandlyn to have ice and cups setup for us(which it was).  She never asked me how many people (but maybe because I had 51 guests in attendence at the wedding, she assumed they were all coming)...which wasn't the case.  By that time, most people were tired, so we lost a lot of people at that time. 

 

Originally Posted by BusyBee123 

So I managed to get a response in record time from Donnalee.  Please see below my email and her responses:  

 

"I am exceptionally concerned about your email from this morning.  We have had the gazebo confirmed for our reception since March 2011 and at no time

has it been mentioned that there is a minimum number of guests!  This is not documented in any of our previous emails in which I clearly documented that our group would be between 10-20 people! I also submitted all of our formal documents months ago, and this has never been brought up.  

The information with your request to have your after party dance at the Gazebo, has been noted in the system from the initial stage of your request. All guest privatizing the Gazebo has to have a minimum amount of 25 persons and upwards. We will still go ahead with the plan. I will inform the hotel Manager also. However, if you would like an open bar service, the minimum as to be from 25 persons and upwards. 

 

It is unfair that you would try to cancel our wedding reception at the gazebo less than two months away from our wedding.  As this has not been

mentioned previously, I expect that our reception will go on as stated in countless prior emails.

Given the small amount, we will go ahead as plan. Please note that the information given is the norm. All information given to all guest is the information both chandlyn and myself is informed of and is the norm and procedures of the hotel.  We will do our utmost best to ensure that your happy, as customer satisfaction is what we cater too."

 

So it sounds to me like she is going to go ahead and let us have the gazebo but will not allow us to have a private bartender which we wanted.  In the end, I guess there are worse things as we'll save around $500.  I guess we'll try to get some jugs of rum punch from the bartenders and bring beer from our mini fridges.  

That being said, this is extremely frustrating that this was not brought up sooner or documented anywhere!  I'm sure there are several other brides who are under the impression that they have this booked despite groups smaller than 25 people!  For those of you who do, I would suggest contacting Chandlyn and Donnalee ASAP to arrange that your reception not be cancelled!  

 

Good luck and thanks for letting me vent about all this!  

 

[jenandmark]

I’m back from our wedding on 11/11/11!  The wedding was amazing, no complaints at all!  Everything went just as previous brides have described, so I am just going to add a few things that I ran into during the wedding and our stay that people might find helpful!

 

• If you bring one cd with music for the ceremony and reception, make sure to have someone get it back after the ceremony.  We forgot to grab it, so later at the gazebo for dancing, our music was missing.  Luckily the dj got ahold of Chandlyn (who had left for the day) and someone from the resort brought the music out to us!  Big bonus points since it had a few must hear songs of ours on it that the dj did not have!  If I had it to do over, I would of made 2 separate discs to avoid this…
• Dancing at the gazebo was perfect!  We did pay for the dj and bartender and didn’t regret it either.  The bar is too far away to go and get drinks during your dancing time…  The dj did a good job.  He had a hook up and played stuff right off our phones, cd and an ipod.  Worked out well for us so we didn’t need to worry about getting things set up.
• So glad my husband tried this, since everything I read on here made me think it wasn’t possible and I had told him not to bother…!  MONEY TALKS!!!  We tipped the dj and bartender at the gazebo and ended up with an extra hour of time.  Yes, we stayed at the gazebo until 11:30pm (we were scheduled 8:30-10:30)!  I don’t know if it just wasn’t the dj’s night to work at the disco or what.  We went to the disco straight from there and it was open, and someone else was playing.   I didn’t care, I was so thrilled it worked that it didn’t matter!
• Money seems to talk everywhere… ! We had several of our guests that went every night to a sit down restaurant.  They found slipping the guy at the door $10 would get them in early if they had reservations, or just in period if they didn’t have reservations there to begin with!  I don’t know if this was just bc the resort wasn’t full when we were there, or if it will always work.  It would be worth trying in my opinion though, we liked all the places we ate (buffet got boring).  The only place we didn’t go was Don Pablo, so I’m not sure about that. 
• We also tipped our housekeeper daily.  We never once ran out of towels or wash clothes.  Our fridge was always full of water and beer as requested, and the room was really clean!  (Actually she went so far as to get us a case of beer for the guys to take with them on their fishing trip!)  A few others complained they did not receive the same service, but, they had also not tipped.  I know some people don’t like too since it’s ‘all inclusive’, but we found here it really made a difference and was worth it to us personally. 
• We handed out survival kits as gifts…  If I had it to do again, I would of added more pepto to them.  Between the trip down (picking up the flu), food and alcohol we had around ¼ of our group eating them like candy and looking for more!  We also gave out cups which were really the big hit!  They were nice not only for drinking since the cups are tiny there, but they held your table, and it helped everyone know who was part of the group…  Really nice since the place is huge and we had people that didn’t know each other!
• Get the room safe.  It’s worth the money for the peace of mind.  We had one room that did not use it and their phones and $40 in cash were stolen (nothing else).   It was the only incident among our group of 45.  Overall security was great, and we felt safe the whole time.  That was really the only negative thing we had happen the whole time there...

 

I really would not change anything from our wedding and our choice to go to GBP!  We couldn’t be happier with how the day turned out, or the rest of our stay for that matter!  Everyone was super friendly and made sure you had a fabulous time! 

 

A big thank you to all the previous brides and all the info I got from them over the past year!  I don’t know how much I will be on here to answer questions about the rest of our experience, but hopefully this info will help all you future brides! 

 

 

[Kim Deslippe]

Hey pask454, could you let me know when they get back to you about booking for January 2013.  I received an email from Donnalee about a week ago saying that they only book a year out (FYI it took a couple wks for her to get back too!) and I really wanna book my date ASAP.  Thanks a bunch...Happy planning

[JayKay]

I would email Chandlyn about that, because I booked my wedding well about 14 months in advance, so they do book in advance. 

Here is Chandlyns email address: [email protected]

 

Originally Posted by Kim Deslippe 

Hey pask454, could you let me know when they get back to you about booking for January 2013.  I received an email from Donnalee about a week ago saying that they only book a year out (FYI it took a couple wks for her to get back too!) and I really wanna book my date ASAP.  Thanks a bunch...Happy planning

 

[JayKay]

Congrats Mrs!!  Glad to hear everything went well!

I want to see some pictures!

Originally Posted by jenandmark 

I’m back from our wedding on 11/11/11!  The wedding was amazing, no complaints at all!  Everything went just as previous brides have described, so I am just going to add a few things that I ran into during the wedding and our stay that people might find helpful!

 

• If you bring one cd with music for the ceremony and reception, make sure to have someone get it back after the ceremony.  We forgot to grab it, so later at the gazebo for dancing, our music was missing.  Luckily the dj got ahold of Chandlyn (who had left for the day) and someone from the resort brought the music out to us!  Big bonus points since it had a few must hear songs of ours on it that the dj did not have!  If I had it to do over, I would of made 2 separate discs to avoid this…
• Dancing at the gazebo was perfect!  We did pay for the dj and bartender and didn’t regret it either.  The bar is too far away to go and get drinks during your dancing time…  The dj did a good job.  He had a hook up and played stuff right off our phones, cd and an ipod.  Worked out well for us so we didn’t need to worry about getting things set up.
• So glad my husband tried this, since everything I read on here made me think it wasn’t possible and I had told him not to bother…!  MONEY TALKS!!!  We tipped the dj and bartender at the gazebo and ended up with an extra hour of time.  Yes, we stayed at the gazebo until 11:30pm (we were scheduled 8:30-10:30)!  I don’t know if it just wasn’t the dj’s night to work at the disco or what.  We went to the disco straight from there and it was open, and someone else was playing.   I didn’t care, I was so thrilled it worked that it didn’t matter!
• Money seems to talk everywhere… ! We had several of our guests that went every night to a sit down restaurant.  They found slipping the guy at the door $10 would get them in early if they had reservations, or just in period if they didn’t have reservations there to begin with!  I don’t know if this was just bc the resort wasn’t full when we were there, or if it will always work.  It would be worth trying in my opinion though, we liked all the places we ate (buffet got boring).  The only place we didn’t go was Don Pablo, so I’m not sure about that. 
• We also tipped our housekeeper daily.  We never once ran out of towels or wash clothes.  Our fridge was always full of water and beer as requested, and the room was really clean!  (Actually she went so far as to get us a case of beer for the guys to take with them on their fishing trip!)  A few others complained they did not receive the same service, but, they had also not tipped.  I know some people don’t like too since it’s ‘all inclusive’, but we found here it really made a difference and was worth it to us personally. 
• We handed out survival kits as gifts…  If I had it to do again, I would of added more pepto to them.  Between the trip down (picking up the flu), food and alcohol we had around ¼ of our group eating them like candy and looking for more!  We also gave out cups which were really the big hit!  They were nice not only for drinking since the cups are tiny there, but they held your table, and it helped everyone know who was part of the group…  Really nice since the place is huge and we had people that didn’t know each other!
• Get the room safe.  It’s worth the money for the peace of mind.  We had one room that did not use it and their phones and $40 in cash were stolen (nothing else).   It was the only incident among our group of 45.  Overall security was great, and we felt safe the whole time.  That was really the only negative thing we had happen the whole time there...

 

I really would not change anything from our wedding and our choice to go to GBP!  We couldn’t be happier with how the day turned out, or the rest of our stay for that matter!  Everyone was super friendly and made sure you had a fabulous time! 

 

A big thank you to all the previous brides and all the info I got from them over the past year!  I don’t know how much I will be on here to answer questions about the rest of our experience, but hopefully this info will help all you future brides! 

 

 

 

[Kim Deslippe]

Thanks JayKay, I will definitely do that!!

[acw271011]

Congrats! Glad everything went well.  Hope you get some pics soon to post! Would love to see some!!
 

Originally Posted by jenandmark 

I’m back from our wedding on 11/11/11!  The wedding was amazing, no complaints at all!  Everything went just as previous brides have described, so I am just going to add a few things that I ran into during the wedding and our stay that people might find helpful!

 

• If you bring one cd with music for the ceremony and reception, make sure to have someone get it back after the ceremony.  We forgot to grab it, so later at the gazebo for dancing, our music was missing.  Luckily the dj got ahold of Chandlyn (who had left for the day) and someone from the resort brought the music out to us!  Big bonus points since it had a few must hear songs of ours on it that the dj did not have!  If I had it to do over, I would of made 2 separate discs to avoid this…
• Dancing at the gazebo was perfect!  We did pay for the dj and bartender and didn’t regret it either.  The bar is too far away to go and get drinks during your dancing time…  The dj did a good job.  He had a hook up and played stuff right off our phones, cd and an ipod.  Worked out well for us so we didn’t need to worry about getting things set up.
• So glad my husband tried this, since everything I read on here made me think it wasn’t possible and I had told him not to bother…!  MONEY TALKS!!!  We tipped the dj and bartender at the gazebo and ended up with an extra hour of time.  Yes, we stayed at the gazebo until 11:30pm (we were scheduled 8:30-10:30)!  I don’t know if it just wasn’t the dj’s night to work at the disco or what.  We went to the disco straight from there and it was open, and someone else was playing.   I didn’t care, I was so thrilled it worked that it didn’t matter!
• Money seems to talk everywhere… ! We had several of our guests that went every night to a sit down restaurant.  They found slipping the guy at the door $10 would get them in early if they had reservations, or just in period if they didn’t have reservations there to begin with!  I don’t know if this was just bc the resort wasn’t full when we were there, or if it will always work.  It would be worth trying in my opinion though, we liked all the places we ate (buffet got boring).  The only place we didn’t go was Don Pablo, so I’m not sure about that. 
• We also tipped our housekeeper daily.  We never once ran out of towels or wash clothes.  Our fridge was always full of water and beer as requested, and the room was really clean!  (Actually she went so far as to get us a case of beer for the guys to take with them on their fishing trip!)  A few others complained they did not receive the same service, but, they had also not tipped.  I know some people don’t like too since it’s ‘all inclusive’, but we found here it really made a difference and was worth it to us personally. 
• We handed out survival kits as gifts…  If I had it to do again, I would of added more pepto to them.  Between the trip down (picking up the flu), food and alcohol we had around ¼ of our group eating them like candy and looking for more!  We also gave out cups which were really the big hit!  They were nice not only for drinking since the cups are tiny there, but they held your table, and it helped everyone know who was part of the group…  Really nice since the place is huge and we had people that didn’t know each other!
• Get the room safe.  It’s worth the money for the peace of mind.  We had one room that did not use it and their phones and $40 in cash were stolen (nothing else).   It was the only incident among our group of 45.  Overall security was great, and we felt safe the whole time.  That was really the only negative thing we had happen the whole time there...

 

I really would not change anything from our wedding and our choice to go to GBP!  We couldn’t be happier with how the day turned out, or the rest of our stay for that matter!  Everyone was super friendly and made sure you had a fabulous time! 

 

A big thank you to all the previous brides and all the info I got from them over the past year!  I don’t know how much I will be on here to answer questions about the rest of our experience, but hopefully this info will help all you future brides! 

 

 

 

[pask454]

Hey Kim Deslippe, I received an email back from the WC the next day. Told me that my date was available, I emailed back right away and told her I wanted to book! I'm still waiting the for the reply.

Does anyone know if the couples bring their own CD to play at the ceremony for entry and exit walk, if it is well heard? Is it just a small CD player at the front...or are there speakers? Thanks!