Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[missy&eric2011]

Here's some good info ladies...sorry its kinda lengthy, but I found another girl from Wisconsin (small world) that just got married at the resort...here's what she sent to me about her recent experience...

 

Hi Missy, That's ok, you didn't creep me out, this is the world of facebook!! I was just surpised to hear that we were on the website! Everyone there treated us like we were royalty. It was amazing! However, some of the staff wasn't as friendly as we normally see in Jamaica. Apprarently, the staff striked a week before we got there so they were, I think, all walking on egg shells. I was surprised too that they let Beverly go! They actually let her go the night before we left! We talked to her on a Friday night and she mentioned that she was going to be there the next morning. Went to see her the next morning before we left and we asked for her and they said she wasn't in. We were puzzled because she said she was going to be there??? So I emailed her when I got home to thank her for what she has done for us and a couple days later I received an e mail from Chandlyn. I asked her about and she said that she no longer is with the company. We went with a huge group of 60 people! I did all the planning with Beverly the day after we arrived.

 

There really is nothing to do/plan until you get down there. She had a book for flowers, menu choices (cuz you get a sit down meal for at least 16 for free), cake, she set up my hairstyle in the spa, delivered all of the girls flowers and coordinated everything. Anything that you want extra, you'll need to book in advance. I ordered the steel drum band ($400) and she had that booked for me. That was awesome!!!! Did she give you a sheet of options etc??? Also, make sure that you have all documents faxed to them at least 2 months before your wedding date. IE, birth certificates, wedding date & time confirmed, passports etc. Bring notarized copies of them too. They need proof when you arrive. Also, big deal for us......they wanted $400.00 CASH for the minister and document fees. I thought they were going to take credit card for that but they needed cash so bring extra if you want spending cash! THey only filled the ATM's on Monday so we needed to borrow some from everyone else until we went to town to get some. CRAZY. But everything else went so smooth, it was unbelievable. The gazebo was decorated beautifully and we had Champagne toast after! She arranged our dinner for 60 of us and it was great! I wouldn't worry about Chandlyn. She should have documentation on everything. Otherwise, make sure she has all the information that you and Beverly have discussed or arranged. We had a big wedding party of 7 each so I made my own programs for the guests. Otherwise, they charge you $5.00 each.

 

This was a fabulous resort and you will absolutely love it!! Definately a 5 star!!!!! Oh, one other thing....they don't stock wash cloths in your room. This is a spanish resort and apparently they don't use wash cloths so you need to request. We just made friends with our maid, tipped her generously and we had wash cloths everyday! She also decorated our room beautifully with rose petals all over. Can't say enought about my wonderful experience! I hope that you have a great time as well and congratulations to you!!

[ChrisBC25]

Hello, thank you for this post!

 I was wondering what package did you go with? I ask because i thought minister fees were included, At least thats what Bev told me when I chose the Blissful package.. I am so freaking out about this whole thing about Bev now, not so much about the wedding details but because i was in the middle of asking her when is my deposit going to go through? We sent her our credit card information a month-two months ago and although she confirmed she received this information, she never processed it for the 25% down... My last two emails I have CC'd the assistant and nothing yet :/ What if because of this our wedding date isnt truly on hold ....

 

Did you ever leave your deposit? 

[soontobemrsdow]

I got married on the 11th and while we were getting married it was windy and we weren't hot at all, but afterwards the wind stopped and it did get a bit warm but nothing unbearable because it was almost 5 and the sun sets pretty early like 630ish. Also if your getting married under the gazebo you will be out of the sun so that makes it even cooler

 

Originally Posted by erindegagne 

Hey ladies,Has anyone had their wedding in Jan? if so, was it fairly hot during the ceremony? I was thinking of maybe getting parasols if it is going to be too hot, but in some pictures it looks pretty windy so i wasn't sure.

thanks!

 the resort doesn't have a steamer on site so basically you're renting it from tai floral and they come and do it for you. I was quoted prices start at $90 like everyone else and then when i got there they wanted $120 for my dress,25 each dress, 20 for each suit and 10 each dres shirt!! It was gonna be like $200....Totally didn't happen so the guys ironed their stuff and our dresses honestly weren't even wrinkled that bad. We just put the shower on high and shut the bathroom door and used our own makeshift steamer to get the tiny wrinkles that were in it lol

 

the long form stuff confused me a lot too because i was told they needed it because it has your fathers name on it which is on the copy of your marriage lisnce you sign during the cermeony. the short form doesn't have that info so thats why i sent the long one.

 

Originally Posted by Cassierose 

Omgosh, i've been sitting on the edge of my seat reading the last couple pages of this thread. I haven't been on for a few days and this is the first i've heard of Beverly leaving and the strike. Hopefully the strike really IS over and wont affect us at all. Also Tris, Chandlyn was always the one who replied to my emails from Beverly, so after i while i just started sending them straight to her. I've been emailing the resort since September and i don't think i've actually heard from Beverly herself at all. I'm a little bummed that i won't get a chance to meet her, from the sounds of it she did a wonderful job ( except for keeping up with her emails obviously). But, Chandlyn seems very competent and i don't think any of us have anything to worry about.

 

On another note- I would also REALLY like to know if the resort has a steamer. I assumed they did, but now i'm concerned. I really really don't want to have to buy one and pack it with me. They aren't cheap. And the small ones don't necessarily work all that well.

 

 I wonder what the deal is about the long form birth certificates. I asked Chandlyn and she said we don't need them. So, why do the forms say we do? Who exactly does need them? Is it a matter of where you're from maybe? I've always thought this was weird and its not explained very well at all.

 

Lastly, I went for my final dress fitting today!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED!!  56 days to go!!!

A friend of mine is staying at the resort right now. If she has anything noteworthy to say about it i'll be sure to post it when she gets back

 about the paying the minister (and whoever gets the steel drum band as well) in cash bev bascailly told me that they are outside vendors and need to make sure that their funds are recived before the wedding. Thats why you cant pay with visa. if say it didnt go through they wouldnt know until it was too late and then you got your stuff for free. how it works is she takes it off the price of your package..when she hands you the invoice just make sure its done because she didnt do it at first for me and i noticed so she cahnged it. i got blissful love so it was 1350 but minus the 400 i was only charged 950 on the hotels invoice and there was a side note that the other 400 was taken in cash for the minister.

Originally Posted by ChrisBC25 

Hello, thank you for this post!

 I was wondering what package did you go with? I ask because i thought minister fees were included, At least thats what Bev told me when I chose the Blissful package.. I am so freaking out about this whole thing about Bev now, not so much about the wedding details but because i was in the middle of asking her when is my deposit going to go through? We sent her our credit card information a month-two months ago and although she confirmed she received this information, she never processed it for the 25% down... My last two emails I have CC'd the assistant and nothing yet :/ What if because of this our wedding date isnt truly on hold ....

 

Did you ever leave your deposit? 

 

 

I couldnt believe when i read that beverly left!! how sad you ladies wont be able to meet her! but chandlyn did an amazing job helping my husband on the day of the wedding (bev helped the brides and chandlyn the grooms) and he said any probelms he had he brought to her attention and she fixed them right away so she will do an amazing job. She does every wedding there as well so its not like she sat in an office and wasn't out seeing how the wedding works. shes super nice and will take care of you all very well im sure!

 

[cupcake1382]

I was just totally freaked out reading the last couple of pages. Our wedding is 9-10-11 and I haven't heard a word from anyone in 3 weeks! I guess I need to call Chandlyn and figure out what my next steps are! Ugggh, how stressful!

[acw271011]

I have a question maybe someone can answer??  soontobemrsdow - you may be the resident expert now! lol  one of the people that is planning to attend our wedding in november read some really negative comments about the beach at GBPJ. I looked up the site she was on and sure enough - there are some comments that are pretty awful. some about the food and a few about how the beach is rocky and full of seaweed and ugly, etc  now I'm worried. I really want the people that attend our wedding to have a good time, but if the beach sucks then that doesn't work. same deal about the food. any comments from anyone???  thanks a ton!!

[TMwedding2011]

I haven't been there myself yet, a little over a month until I go to get married. I read those reviews too but when I looked at the alternatives in the area, they were not much better. I took my advice from family and friends who had been there. My cousin told me it was the best place he had been between dominican and jamaica and he stayed at 4.5- 5 stars, My inlaws have been to 5 star bahai's in dominican and by far this was their favorite, they said it was more upscale and the food was better. Our friends went there and they loved it as well. They were all there in the last 2 yrs.  There is a rocky beach but this is not the main beach that is rocky, the snorkelling beach is rocky.  I originally wanted a Sandals resort but with the prices this year this was the more affordable alternative for my friends and family. I don't think we have anything to worry about !

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by acw271011 

I have a question maybe someone can answer??  soontobemrsdow - you may be the resident expert now! lol  one of the people that is planning to attend our wedding in november read some really negative comments about the beach at GBPJ. I looked up the site she was on and sure enough - there are some comments that are pretty awful. some about the food and a few about how the beach is rocky and full of seaweed and ugly, etc  now I'm worried. I really want the people that attend our wedding to have a good time, but if the beach sucks then that doesn't work. same deal about the food. any comments from anyone???  thanks a ton!!

[StephAli]

Hey!

 

The beach where you get married is not very good. It's man made and pretty rocky. I had wanted to go barefoot but that wasnt an option. The beach where your guest are going to go for swimming is really nice and nothing to worry about. Pretty much everyone for my group of 60 hung out there everyday and nobody had any complaints! I really didnt notice much seaweed and I went snorkeling and had an underwater camera. Not gonna say there wasnt ANY, but I am not a seaweed fan, and there definitely was not enough to bother me. Everyone also really loved the food! There was great variety, and I had some people who just couldnt be bothered to go a book A LA CARTE restaurants so they ate at the buffet everyday and loved the variety. Dont worry about a thing! The resort is so super amazing!! 

Originally Posted by acw271011 

I have a question maybe someone can answer??  soontobemrsdow - you may be the resident expert now! lol  one of the people that is planning to attend our wedding in november read some really negative comments about the beach at GBPJ. I looked up the site she was on and sure enough - there are some comments that are pretty awful. some about the food and a few about how the beach is rocky and full of seaweed and ugly, etc  now I'm worried. I really want the people that attend our wedding to have a good time, but if the beach sucks then that doesn't work. same deal about the food. any comments from anyone???  thanks a ton!!

[ChrisBC25]

I have to reply to this as well  That is not true I visited before and it was beautiful, no seaweed. Yes by the gazebo there is rocks but it wasnt bad at all because the real beach is all the way on the other end of the resort. It is a beautiful resort no worries !

[ashley490]

Hi Ladies,

I just received an email back from Chandlyn with answers to a few of my questions.  I know some of these answers have already been posted on the thread but it's just easier to post the whole email   I'm pretty disappointed to hear that even if you pay the $2500 to rent out the whole restaurant you still have to pay the extra $15 per person per hour for the bar.  I'm also really sad that they won't substitute the photographer in the paid packages for something else.  I think I'm going to express my disappointment to my travel agent and see if she can help get me a substitution.  I'll keep you all posted if it works.

 

1) What exactly is the "mixed grill" from the Garden Grill menu option number 1?  The rest of option #1's contents sound delicious but I'd like to know more about the "mixed grill".  The mix grill is bits of pork, chicken and beef
2) Is it possible for the wedding cake to have different flavoured tiers (for example, bottom tier chocolate, middle tier vanilla, top tier coconut)? This is possible
3) Does the resort have a steamer for me and my bridal party to use? We have a vendor that comes in to do so at a cost of US90 for wedding dresses
4) I will be bringing my own photographers, is there a vendor's fee or anything that we would need to pay to bring these folks onto the property? You may purchase a day pass at a cost of US75 per person
5) I think we'll be getting either the sunshine or blissful love wedding package and see that there is photography included with those packages. Since we are bringing our own photographers can we get some type of discount/compensation for not using the resort's photographer? Unfortunately we will not be able to make any substitution to the packages
6) I'd like to arrange a group excursion.  Do you have any tour operators you could recommend and any excursions you could recommend that are good for a group?Once you get here we do have  tour room where you will be able to make plans for excursions.
7)  Do you have any information about Jamaican wedding favors that you can provide? We have available jamaican rum at a cost of US8 each.
8) We'd like to include a sand unity ceremony during the wedding.  Is this something the resort can provide or will I need to bring my own kit?You may bring your own or purchase from us at a cost of US50
9) Will the chair covers and colored ties be included in the decorations?  If not, what is the additional cost per chair? Chairs covers are included in the Blissful love and Sunshine packages. chair ties are US2.50
10) Do you use paper lanterns in any of the decorating? This is usually requested a private dinner and are sourced at an additional cost.
11) I've heard from other brides that the dancing after dinner can be done 2 ways, either at the restaurant if we reserve the whole restaurant or in the wedding gazebo.  Can you please let me know how much each option is?  Dinner at the restaurant is US2500 to close it for your group only. The gazebo is at a cost of US500 inclusive of DJ. Open bar for either locations is US15 per person per hour.
12) If we went with the wedding gazebo for the dance party are there tables and chairs set up for people to sit down if they want? We have chairs available
 

[lmarie]

ashley490, what email address is Chandlyn using? I would like to write her just to make sure everything is ok and that Bev passed along all of my wedding info to her. Thanks