My Riu Palace Tropical Bay Review

[CamLovesJA]

Congratulations and thanks for the review! Pics are great. I think the Sandals in Montego Bay are better even though i love the Negril beach. Will definitely need to check out Riu

[corbeil]

Congrats.

[jgrizzel]

Hello...

 

I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the blog that you wrote about your experience at RPTB. We are looking at the same property to get married this September and your blog helped us SO MUCH. And, the pictures were wonderful. Nowhere else have we been able to see the "true" experience. THANK YOU for sharing...

 

Cheers,

Jody

[Ngim Ly]

Hi riunegrilbride2010 ,

 

I know I'm 2 years behing but congrats on your wedding! Thank you for the detailed review you posted it was very helpful and raised a lot of (detailed) questions.  My big day is in November 2012 at RTB in Negril and I'm starting to stress. I've been to the resort before but I still have so many questions and I was hoping you could give me some pointers. Did you use the photographer they suggested or did you have to pay the one day vendor fee? How many guests did you have at your wedding and how many bridesmaids/groomsmen did you have, how was the setup during ceremony? Did they decorate the reception area: slips covers on chairs, flowers on tables and where there center pieces and did you bring anything to place on tables to add a personal touch and did you assign seating for your guests and how were the tables set up (a couple big tables or lots of small tables)? One of my main concerns is privacy; during the ceremony were there people walking around in the backround or in the water? Even though my wedding isn't going to be very formal I still want some privacy and I'm not sure if the resort does much to keep from having an audience during the ceremony. Also we were planning on having a steel drim band for one hour, not sure if this would be before the ceremony or during the reception but it sounds like you wouldn't recommend it and that our playlist and Bose stereo would be better - you think? Oh and how/where was the dance floor set up in the steakhouse?

Any tips or suggestions would be GREATLEY appreciated!! I wasn't able to open the pics you posted, can you repost if it's not too much trouble?

Thanks,

Ngim!

[Ryves]

congrats

[eweisz]

First - AWESOME REVIEW!!

I love the layout of it where you describe every different thing in a different paragraph, i do that in all my reviews-so easy to read and SO helpful!! I am HIGHLY thinking about getting married here in December 2013. I am between this and Sandals Grande Riviera in Ocho Rios, but i'm the same as you! I have ALWAYS wanted to get married/honeymoon at a Sandals resort and i'm not even that impressed with their resorts on TripAdvisor. I will be doing the free wedding as well, so that was great to hear from someone else that did it to see what was/wasn't included. I do have a few questions for you:

 

1)Do you have another link to those pictures? It's saying that link is invalid, maybe it's just my computer

 

2)You said you got a room upgrade, did you pay to upgrade? Trying to cut costs where we can, but the Trip Advisor pictures of the rooms look kind of lame ha so we will definitely want to upgrade i'm sure.

 

3)I was really hoping to get on 7 mile beach, as i went there last time and LOVED it (I was staying at the Grand Pallidium in Luccea, but we took a day trip to Ricks Cafe) but Bloody Bay i hear is awesome. Was the beach large? I love that you all partied down there until 3am, some hotels won't let you do that-GREAT to know!

 

4) Do you know if they had the free shuttles that went over to Ricks Cafe and Margaritaville?

 

5) How kid-friendly is it? I know it says they cater to adults, but i don't think that means adults only since you mentioned kids at the swim up bar?

 

I know i had a lot of questions, but thank you so much!!

[eweisz]

You should post your review!! I'd love to hear of a wedding that was more recent. I'm highly considering getting married here December 2013
 

[KriC1221]

Hello! my fiance and I are looking to book our wedding for December 28, 2013 at the Riu Palace Tropical Bay. We spent this past Christmas there and loved it! So peaceful and with such a beautiful beach. Reading these forums has been so helpful but I'm curious about how you presented the options to your guests. If you have gotten married here (or any where else really - I suppose this applies universally to destination weddings), did you have your guests handle their own hotel bookings? I ask because the Riu Website quotes the rooms as almost double the price of the rooms on travel websites (i.e. Priceline, Apple Vacations, etc). I'm just wondering if, in your invitation, you make some recommendations? I want to make it as easy and inexpensive as possible for those who are able to afford to come and celebrate with us. 

 

Thanks!

[KriC1221]

Hello! my fiance and I are looking to book our wedding for December 28, 2013 at the Riu Palace Tropical Bay. We spent this past Christmas there and loved it! So peaceful and with such a beautiful beach. Reading these forums has been so helpful but I'm curious about how you presented the options to your guests. If you have gotten married here (or any where else really - I suppose this applies universally to destination weddings), did you have your guests handle their own hotel bookings? I ask because the Riu Website quotes the rooms as almost double the price of the rooms on travel websites (i.e. Priceline, Apple Vacations, etc). I'm just wondering if, in your invitation, you make some recommendations? I want to make it as easy and inexpensive as possible for those who are able to afford to come and celebrate with us. 

 

Thanks!

[eweisz]

Absolutely use a travel agent! I have the best gal - Julie Lanham. Her email is [email protected] and she would be happy to book your guests! I'm looking to get married at the Riu PTB on Dec 7, 2013-so good luck! The thing i love most about it is that you can get group rates and other perks, possible room upgrades, etc. And she's FREE! That way, she can get you the best prices AND you don't have to worry about getting your guests $$, you can just have everyone go separately through her. usually there's just a $100-200 per person deposit, then the rest is due 60ish days before the trip. That takes the pressure of payments off you. Hope this helps!