Riu Ochos Rio (ROR) wedding review - Dec 10, 2009

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ROR Riu Ochos Review – Dec 5 – Dec 12, 2009

 

Hi everyone,

 

I am back from our beautiful wedding, and wanted to share my true experience at this resort. I had so many help on this website that I want to return the favour. I’ll try to be as detailed as possible but if you have any further questions, I’d be happy to answer them.

 

Travel Dates – Dec 5, 2009 t0 Dec 10, 2009

Wedding Day – Dec 10, 2009

 

Cost of trip per person (tax incl) based on double occupancy - $1445 (from Toronto, Canada) – We had a deal: the 8th person flies free so when we divided the discount between everyone, this was the final cost.

 

Check-in – They were late on check-in. We were supposed to check in at 3pm but instead we were not checked until 4:30pm. Once you receive the envelope with the resort information, ensure you receive the 2 swipe cards for your room, 2 towel cards, one lock with key for the safe box, and a sheet with the activity and restaurant schedule for the resort. When we checked in, they did not include the towel cards or lock so we had to travel to the reception desk twice to obtain these items since they never answer their phones.

 

Rooms – Junior suites facing pool / partial ocean view – Our guest stayed between room 1248 – 1258 and all 8 rooms faced the pool with some partial ocean view. Between the rooms, the best view was 1258. It had a better ocean view and the balcony was twice the size of other rooms. These rooms were big and clean, and had a small living area. We had LCD flat screen tvs, instead of the tube tvs in standard rooms. Tip the maid $1 a day for better service.

 

Security – Make sure you secure all personal belongings as soon as you enter your room. Secure passport, money, jewellery in the safe, and lock each of your luggage. One of our guest had her hand luggage in the room and when she returned after dinner, her ‘cheap’ jewellery that looked like real diamonds were stolen from her carry-on bag. A few of our guest did not lose anything but they knew that there were intruders because items/bags were shifted. After the first day, it was okay. It seems like these intruders only target guests on the first day of the trip when they are the least attentive to their belongings so beware!

 

Wedding package – free wedding package (total cost = $350 for legal stuff), and added the aisle runner for an additional $45. I did not take the free bouquet as it was ugly (carnation flowers!) so I’ve asked for rose pedals to be filled on the aisle runner and the reception table. Tipped wedding planner’s assistant (Nikki) $20. Note: Tip her at the end of your wedding because when we tipped her after the ceremony, we got no service for the dinner reception. I’ve repeatedly asked prior to our wedding for our seating arrangement to be like a U-shape instead of a T-shape and yet, it was still a T-shape. Luckily, I noticed it an hour prior to the dinner reception (Mammee Bay)so was able to get our waiter to rearrange the tables prior to dinner. (Maybe the tip was too little so she didn’t care after our ceremony).You will receive a gift from the wedding planner and it is a mini size rum cream and a coffee mug that says Jamaica. Our waiter was excellent (Steve) so we tipped him $30.

 

Renova spa – selected Beauty Time package for $199 that included hair and make-up on the wedding day with mani and pedi that was booked for the day before our wedding. Added $10 to upgrade to French pedicure. Nikki did my hair and make-up and she was amazing. I rate her a 9 out of 10 and the one point deduction was because a prank she pulled on me on the wedding day. Tipped her $30. The wedding planner will give you a voucher for a surprise gift to be obtained at the spa. It is a body butter cream, nothing as special as it sounds online. Note: If you get the RIU class card at the reception desk when you arrive, you can save 15% instead of the 10% that you get booking online. Speak to the supervisor “Brenda†at the spa and she will do the price adjustment. Other ladies will not honour it and will tell you that they cannot do the price adjustment once it is paid.

 

Flowers – I did not order them through the resort as they were awful looking. I could have upgraded and paid the difference to get better flowers but it cost too much to know that I won’t be able to bring them back home. They quoted me about $250 for only one bridal bouquet. Instead, I ordered my silk bouquets through this website called Designs by Jan - Silk Wedding Flowers. I just ordered the ready-made bouquets under the ‘close-out sale’ section as they were cheap and looked pleasantly beautiful. I spent about $110 US incl. shipping cost for 2 bouquets and 2 boutonnieres. The delivery took about a week, and the bouquets were beautiful. I wish I could attach pictures here but I seem to be getting errors when I try to so PM me if you want to see pics.

 

 

Cake – We only took the cake offered from the free wedding package. It looks decent but taste awful. If you don’t care about the taste, just stick with it as there are other desserts after dinner. If you do care, you should order the cake outside. Looking at the forum, it seems like Sheila’s bakery sounds good. Again, PMl me if you want to see pics. We brought the cake topper and added the petals onto the cake.

 

Oot bags – As a thank-you to our guest, we gathered a goodie bag for each guest. It was a tote bag purchased at Old Navy for a dollar (our guest used these bags as a beach bag). Here is a list of what was included in the bag:

The Agenda for the our wedding day

The menu at our dinner reception

A list of all the guests (where you can record their room # and extensions)

An inflatable floater bed

Sun block – could always use an extra one!

Travel size Axe spray (males) or Lip balm(females)

Vanilla scented candle for your room (with matches)

A pair of slippers to use in your cozy suite

A body puff

 

Welcome Letter – I had trouble creating a welcome letter but eventually did create one. I thought I shared this to you to save the trouble of creating one yourself. Maybe you can use this as a template for your welcome letter.

 

Dear Family and Friends,

The waiting is finally over!! Welcome to sun, sand, and relaxation. Welcome to Riu Ochos Rio! We are both so happy and feel very blessed to be able to have you here at our wedding. We are especially honoured that you have traveled this far to be a part of our marriage celebration.

Marriage is not a culmination, it is a beginning; the beginning of a life that will grow and change in ways more wonderful than we can imagine. Many years from now when we look back upon our life, love, and this day, we will remember that it was not the flowers, music, nor food that made our day so special. It was our memories of sharing the beginning of our life as husband and wife with you, our friends and family, will be what we cherish most. Having you here for our celebration has made our wedding truly wonderful and we thank you for sharing in one of our happiest occasions.

Included in your bag are some "goodies" to help make your trip a more enjoyable experience. In it you will find:

The Agenda for the our wedding day

The menu at our dinner reception

A list of all the guests (where you can record their room # and extensions)

An inflatable floater bed

Sun block – could always use an extra one!

Travel size Axe spray (males) or Lip balm(females)

Vanilla scented candle for your room (with matches)

A pair of slippers to use in your cozy suite

A body puff

Last but not least, the bag itself is a beach bag where you can bring around the resort

 

We hope this week will be as memorable for you as it will be for us. If there is anything you need or have a question about, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Thanks for being here. Your presence is our greatest gift!!

With Love and Appreciation,

Ellen and Thomas

 

Itinerary template – If you need this, I can send this to you. It’s just a timeline for the wedding day for the guest.

 

Restaurant review – We were all really disappointed about the food served at the resort. We think the best foods were the jerk chicken, Jamaican patties, and curry chicken/goat. Everything else was “blahâ€. If you were to book restaurants, try the Sir Richard or Sir John first, and then everything else afterwards. If I were you, I would try to book Sir Richard twice because the food there was a lot better than others. We were very disappointed at the Japanese restaurant as we’ve heard great reviews about this restaurant. We should have known better. How good can the food be if Japanese is being served in Jamaica? If anything, stay away from Mandalay, the Asian restaurant. We asked the staff at the resort, and they even told us that the restaurant was not good. If you really want to try it, book it as the last restaurant to try. Plantation for lunch was the best. I found the food better than St.Anns. Be sure to check what St.Anns was serving prior to heading to the speciality restaurant for dinner. They served lobster, crab legs, and tiger shrimps one evening, and we were lucky that we couldn’t book a speciality restaurant that night. You certainly do not want to miss out on that. The lobster was amazing! Note: If you are unable to book a specialty restaurant for that evening, book for the next evening. They don’t advertise this but it is allowed. The lady at the desk said that you can only make one booking for the day, and it could be for today or the next day, and you can book up to a maximum of 10 guest (at least that is what she told us but they change the rules all the time).

 

That’s all I can think of for now. If you have any additional questions, I’d be happy to answer you.

Good luck on your wedding!

 

Ellen

[latoya1908]

How did you like the food at Mammee Bay? That is where I want to do our wedding dinner. I had just planned to make reservations for ourselves and our guests.

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To be quite honest, I didn't enjoy the food. The steak was dry even when we ask for rare. The fish was alright, and the chicken was very dry. We went there for the beach so I didn't care much about the food there anyways. Good luck with wedding planning.

[latoya1908]

Does the Plantation serve dinner?

[latoya1908]

Does the Plantation serve dinner?

[latoya1908]

Does the Plantation serve dinner?