"New Resort Opening May 1 2011" NOW LARIMAR ~ PUNTA CANA

[kitvb28]

Hi Girls - I have experienced a lot of the same issues and this website has been very helpful to ensure I'm not going crazy so I hope I can help other not go crazy either.  As many have mentioned Claribel is no longer at the NOW resort, but Cristina who is based out of the Secrets resort is handling both resorts.  For those of you who are not farmiliar with the property, the Sercerts resort is connected to the NOW resort and the WC are all based out of the same office.  I actually recently had the same experiences where I saw the website and the calendar looks like my date is 100% avaliable eventhough I put a deposit down 3 months ago.  My TA did talk to a couple people and found out that the website calendar isn't updated properly.  The resort actually does 3 weddings a day, I'm not sure the times anymore but when I went down in Dec they had mentioned they did weddings at 3pm, 4pm & 5pm.  Hopefully this helps a little bit.

[AcutieRN]

What a mess this is.  I went in yesterday and spoke with my travel agent who is also very upset with this entire process. She said she will no longer be recommending NOW Larimar to her future brides.  She also requested that I write a letter that she will send to her supplier, the GM of NOW as well as the wedding planning staff. 

Amy, I can't believe they are asking you to change your date.  I would refuse. It is way too late in the game for you to have to change everything.  Did you have anything made with the previous date on it?  What is wrong with them?  So frustrating.  Claribel really left a mess, I wonder if she just left for another resort or if she was fired. 

Does anyone know if the 3 day rule is for legal ceremonies only?  We are doing a symbolic ceremony and Claribel had told my TA that we didn't need the three days.  We are arriving late on Saturday and getting "married" on Tuesday.  I am now starting to worry that the information Claribel told me was wrong since everything else she said was mumbo jumbo! Does anyone know?

Skygirl, I think if you have a confirmation letter from Claribel you should be fine. That was the only thing that saved me. I sent it to them about a million times showing them I had proof, finally they figures it out.

Amy, I don't know much about reception venues.  That is why I was hoping they would get ahold of me to get this all figured out.  Hang in there girls.

[jbmarch2012]

Acutie,

 

The 3 day rule is definitely for legal weddings only so you don't have anything to worry about there!

 

[Skygirl]

Ok here i am ladies venting. The air just came out for jetblue non stop flight that i was waiting for a long time. Its so expensive, more than its normally is. its $650round trip, and usually for this time of the year its under $450. im so shocked and dont know what to do, ofcourse ill be calling Jet blue group booking tomorrow and see what they say. I know for regular non group rates if the price goes down then they can credit you account(but to be used with jetblue)i dont want ppl getting credits for jet blue, i want them to refund their credit cards, any suggestion...

[AcutieRN]

Skygirl:When is your wedding?  My recomendation is to wait a bit.  I know it is hard to sit back and watch the prices every day but I bet they go down.  I started looking at prices right around a year out and they were around $950 per person. (I live in Colorado).  I was really worried for a long time.  We continued to watch prices based on advice given by our travel agent, it was soooo hard!  We ended up getting our tickets 6 months out and they were only $600 per person. That is awesome price for flying from Denver!  Some family members just recently purchased tickets at about 3 months out and they paid $500!  Wait a bit a see what happens, don't stress!

 

Question, does anyone know if NOW requires real/freeze dried rose petals on the aisle or can we do silk?

[Skygirl]

@Acutie, i know thats what i end up doing, wait. but do u you think i should at least book the resort?because i havent yet.

About the flowers, i have no clue. I may just bring real touch flowers...

[suzzMF]

Hey guys,

 

could someone please give me Cristina's (Secret Resort) email address. I've been waiting for a week now to get a response from Mercy at NOW, but no success.

 

Also i found this wedding review on Tripadvisor. I think if your wedding isnt 1 month away, you shouldnt be worried at all.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147293-d897108-r124642352-Now_Larimar-Punta_Cana_Dominican_Republic.html

 

 

 

 

[AcutieRN]

Skygirl: I would go ahead and reserve your rooms now.  I found that the rates really didn't go up or down much throughout the year.  Of course it is always higher at peak times, but I felt it stayed about the same over the last 12 months.  Also, I feel like it is getting busier for them and I wouldn't want your date/time to reserved if you were to wait.  Good luck.

 

Suzz:As I am sure you read I have also been frustrated with hearing back from anyone.  Apparently from what Mercy has told my TA, Christina will no longer be communicating with NOW brides that she has not already been in contact with.  I therefore don't even have an email address for her.  Mercy stated that they are working on sorting things out and that a new wedding coordinator was to be assigned last week to all of the NOW brides with future wedding dates.  I was supposed to hear from the new person last week but did not. I think they are just overwhelmed with the transition.  Good luck!

[suzzMF]

@AcutieRN - thank you so much and its ok, I'm just going to email Mercy again.

 

And I've been messaging with some 2 brides that had their wedding at NOW within the past month and both of them said it was amazing. Things went really smooth. The ceremony, as well as the reception were perfect. Both brides changed either the location of the ceremony or the location of the reception while their were there, without a problem. 

Its probably a good thing if you arrive a couple days before your actual wedding.  

 

With my wedding not being until November, I'm just going to relax for the next 8 month.

[Skygirl]

suzzMF

here is the email that i use      [email protected]

Originally Posted by suzzMF 

Hey guys,

 

could someone please give me Cristina's (Secret Resort) email address. I've been waiting for a week now to get a response from Mercy at NOW, but no success.

 

Also i found this wedding review on Tripadvisor. I think if your wedding isnt 1 month away, you shouldnt be worried at all.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147293-d897108-r124642352-Now_Larimar-Punta_Cana_Dominican_Republic.html