Riu's in jamaica

[booschmit]

I'm just starting to plan my july 2011 wedding in jamaica and am looking at the Riu Palace tropical bay in Negril. I have some questions re: their packages though.I see there is a free package, a royal pkg, and caprice pkg. I dont need any of the extras like a tshirt, hair, massage etc however I will have about 60 guests at the wedding. does anyone know if I can do the free package but have a semi-private dinner for the 60 people or does this cost extra. ?? And does anyone know the cost if I have 60 people at the Steakhouse (outside) and have it "reserved" for just my wedding/guests I just dont quite understand how all the costs work. Any help would be appreciated!!!! thank you. I have found so much inform. on this site. Thanks to everyone for their posts.

[NegrilLB]

I got some info from them back in May for a private reception for 100+ at the Steakhouse...they told me it was $1200 to reserve the steakhouse restaurant for a 4 hour reception (not dependent on the # of people you have). That was a while ago, so one of the RIU TP brides on this board can probably give you more detailed and current info. Happy Planning!

[KGraham27]

I am getting married at the Riu Montego Bay in June 2011. I also got the free package and will have around 50 people. When you do the semi-private dinner they just block off one area of the restaurant for your group. It doesn't matter how many people you have, it doesn't cost extra. I don't know what the price is for the private dinner though. I think the free package also includes cake and a champagne toast for up to 10 people. You can upgrade those for an additional cost without going up to the next wedding package level.

[Lgorm11]

KGraham, Are you already booked for June 2011. We are also looking at june 2011. I am trying to narrow down resorts, but it's difficult not knowing what the prices are. Are you all using a TA? I feel overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin!! UGH!?!

[aelliott]

Hey guys,

Can someone clarify:

I thought if you had over 50 people, you couldn't book at the semi-private restaurants. Does this mean you would have to book a private area and pay $55/person? What are the free dinner options for over 50 guests?

[sweetluna]

Yes, I believe that if you have over 50 guests you have to go with a private dinner and that costs more. If you review many of the current posts, you'll find the details on cost - at least for 2010.

About cost, you can use 2010 prices for budgeting purposes and just pad it a little. My wedding is in 2010 but I used 2009 pricing when I first started the planning process and found the prices only increased by a little.

As for packages, my suggestion is to book with the free wedding for now because you can always go up to one of the other packages when you get there but it's harder to drop down a package (you have to make the arrangements with the RIU headoffice rather than the WC)

Good luck!! Enjoy the planning, it will go by faster than you think.

[KGraham27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lgorm11 KGraham, Are you already booked for June 2011. We are also looking at june 2011. I am trying to narrow down resorts, but it's difficult not knowing what the prices are. Are you all using a TA? I feel overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin!! UGH!?!

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you! We are already booked for June 25, 2011. All of the resorts should have the room rates available now. I know that airfare rates for June 2011 don't come out until August though. We are all using a TA. It's much easier that way because they will take care of a lot of it for you.