2013 Paradisus Palma Real

[AmyMai]

Originally Posted by angelnjewels 

 

Hi amy, 

 

Well Royal service is the adults only portion of the resort. with royals service you are able to access gabi and palazzo along with other private areas of the resort for adults only. The reserve is the family area of the resort (but many people stay there). You would have to take a golf cart from there to get to the main resort and beach areas.  

 

I love the reserve but my fiance and i are thinking of staying in the main building since we have our families and friends staying there. We are going to do royal service instead but may ask to do a few days after at the reserve. 

Thank you angelnjewels! That's what I was thinking but wanted to make sure!

[AmyMai]

Originally Posted by Kel123073 

 

Okay so here is our review.......

 

We chose to spend more money on the room and airfare than a lot of upgrades to the wedding itself... just a personal choice. 

 

We stayed in the Reserve....worth every penny!  Upon check in the majority of my guests rooms were upgraded including ours.  We were upgraded to a Master Suite with my parents across the hall in a master suite as well.  This worked our perfect since we didn't rent the bridal suite.... guys got ready in my parents rooms and girls in our room.  We flew first/buisness class since I was bringing two extra bags worth of welcome bags, programs, placecards, table numbers and holders, wedding activity books for the kids, cake knife and server, cake topper, menus, thank you cards, and of course my wedding dress as well.  The groom also had a garment bag for his suit, his son's and his linens for the week, lol!  Also the kids have only flown once before and they were super nervous so we wanted them to relax and be comfortable flying. (  I used miles to upgrade my ticket, and we purchased their tickets early so the price was reasonable )

 

 Funny little side note, we ordered a limousine and they confirmed with us the night before, pickup price time etc.... We were scheduled for a 6 10 am pick up and they never showed and  no one answered the phone!  We had seven suitcases, my dress, his garment bag, two adults and two children.  My fiance is divorced and his two children!  We have a PRIUS!  Can u seriously imagine!!!  We somehow managed to pack it all in and get to the airport and not miss our flight!!!! So if anyone is from the north jersey area DO NOT USE BERGEN LIMO!  I emailed them and got no response and no phone call back! 

 

Also we used Suntransfers and they were not at the airport to meet us, even though I spoke with them the night before... took about a half hour to get someone there to meet us and I had ordered a ten passenger vehicle and that isn't what we got....but we got to the resort our room was ready and we started enjoying ourselves!

 

We had arranged several dinners before arriving with Massiel from the onsite Romance Dept.  Definitely take advantage of this.... I didn't realize at first that you could make multiple group dinner requests until I saw another bride had!  We arranged for dinner with our parents the first the night and a large group dinner the second night!  Our rehearsal dinner didn't work out but that was just a little miscommunication!  

 

We arrived on Tuesday, had a meeting with Massiel on Wed morning to go over the ceremony and all the details....and the photographer Wed afternoon!  She was wonderful, we brought everything up to her office including my IPOD for the music to be played when I walked down the aisle etc....

 

The day of the wedding, I went out to the beach relaxed and when I came back to the room, houskeeping hadn't cleaned yet and it was 1pm.... advise them the night before that you need the room cleaned early.  When I called they were great and they sent two girls up immediately and whipped the room into shape!  We headed to the spa for my 3 pm appointment for hair and makeup for myself, my mom and my sister.  They did them fast but they took their time with me!  My sister also had to go back to room she did the younger girls hair which by the way came out amazing!  They gave us 15% off my mom and sister as well!  Carmen did my hair and makeup and she was AMAZING!!! I showed her a pic and she copied it exactly.  I am very picky with my hair and makeup and she blew me away!  I even brought MAC #7 eyelashes with the glue which I told her I would put on if she couldn't at the end and she did them for me!  They looked amazing...  The only issue was they took so long that I was late getting back to room.  Everyone was waiting for me and I had no time for pictures in the room because I was later for 6pm ceremony and was losing the light for beach photos!  I had a couple of quick shots in the room and the photographer gave me the choice but i wanted the pics on the beach.....

 

The beach was all set and cleared of people in that area! Everything was amazing!!!!!  The minister was lovely from the resort, only issue was they hadn't given her my cousin's reading so she just said we would come back to it. She handled it like a pro and we just laughed!  They sand ceremony I had printed wasn't given to her either.... the coordinators ran back to the office to get it while the ceremony continued... The minister winged the sand ceremony and it was beautiful...guess she has done them before...lol

 

They whole ceremony was beautiful and my family members couldnt get over how beautiful it was... they didn't know what to expect and said it was just like a wedding at home.

 

We then began group photos at the beach which were great!  Our photographer was a bit new I think and my dad stepped in to help him.... My dad was a wedding photographer for years so that definitely helped!  Everybody just laughed and enjoyed the photos as you can see!  

 

The guests were taken to cocktail hour which was at Olympus Terrace as well..... we paid for an extra hour for the DJ so  we would have music for the cockail hour and it was lovely!  In hindsight I would add a couple more appetizers..... 

 

The reception started and the DJ was good but didn't play some of the songs we requested I guess he didn't have them.... not sure  but overall he was great..... soundsystem and lighting great as well.  Menu was awesome... our family was glad we chose buffet.... lots of options and my cousins girlfriend I found out has a lot of food allergies,  Massiel handled it very well and went to main buffet to get her food, since she was unsure of some ingredients used in preparation of our food.

 

Cake was delicious!!!!  

 

Everyone was up dancing the whole  night and we had a lot of onlookers wishing they could join the party.   In fact our bartender as well as servers hit the dance floor a couple of times with us!  Even the wedding coordinators were hanging out enjoying themselves.... we are a pretty fun laid back bunch! They really do make it a private event. We did have one beligerent woman walk right thru and they tried to stop her and she refused!  lol  

 

To sum it all up we had the wedding of our dreams.  It meant more to us that our family traveled so far to celebrate with us and our day was more than I ever imagined it to be!  

 

Post wedding we had a lot of trouble getting dinner reservations, also the hotel was at full capacity..... we never met our concierge she called once and wanted to come up but we were on our way to meeting with photographer.  The desk helped me as well as our old concierge from previous stay... Dalmy.  She remembered us and was gracious enough to get us one of o ur dinners.  We also tipped a lot so when we mentioned to one of the hostess's at lunch we had no dinner reservation we just got married here and it was our last night she immediately got us one!  

 

With the photographer our package included 50 photos for $600 for getting ready, ceremony, and the beach shots.  We had family taking pics at reception so we didn't add that on.  We ended up getting 94 photos for $750.... my fiance negotiated.... Originally they wanted $900 ( just a tip to negotiate for extra photos)

 

We did an amazing excursion our last day if anybody is curious about excursions.  Mike and I took the two kids on the private speedboat snorkeling adventure... they picked us up right on the beach in front of hotel and it was a 2 hour excursion....we road the coast, went to an amaziing snorel spot, were I saw the most tropical fish I have ever seen and then headed to the natural beach area to hang out have some drinks and relax, they drive the coast back to the hotel.... We paid $210 it was amazing!!!

 

Hope my review helps.... any questions feel free to ask!

 

Kelly and Mike

Thank you Kelly for your review! I'm definitely putting your negotiating tip to use! I have read in the past that the in-house photography/videography service waives the tax fee if paid in cash.. I emailed Marisol to see if they are still honoring that deal.  I also have a question about the buffet?  Did they allow you to swap out certain things on the buffet options? If so, did they charge you? 

 

Amy

[AmyMai]

@luza87,

 

You looked amazing! Beautiful dress! Very similar to mine! I am waiting for it to come in from CC Boutique! I can't wait! And your wedding looked like it was so much fun!  

[Kel123073]

Here is my perspective on the reserve vs. royal service.... Hope it helps! I stayed in royal service at paradisus punta cana a couple of years ago! I loved it at the time, but then I stayed at the reserve at the palma real and hands down wouldn't stay anywhere else! I think it is a personal choice though..... For us we loved the room.... It was like having a condo! We loved the hydro grill for lunch in the reserve and also the breakfast buffet there as well! Then there is gabi beach! Amazing for lunch or dinner and right off the beach! We took the golf carts as well as walked.... It was about a 7 minute walk to the beach! The whole atmosphere is super chill and relaxing even though kids club is in that area! My sister was the only one of our group staying at the main hotel. I asked before arriving if it was possible to forgo our upgrade and if they would possibly upgrade her and her family to the reserve with the rest of us. Massiel was great she explained she would try and get back to me. Unfortunately they couldn't. She explained they consider it two separate hotels and they do upgrade but to the next level room in the hotel u booked it. Also the hotel was really full compared to a previous stay.... So maybe if it was less crowded they might have! She had a rough check in. She was 7 months pregnant and they gave her a room on the third floor! They asked for another room and it took several hours. My brothers law works in the hotel industry and emailed the resort in regards to the rough check in... Not only did they wait several hours they told him to go find his bags himself.... The hotel was very apologetic and actually comped them the fee to eat at Passion restaurant and she said it was phenomenal! They had an amazing time and the room was nice. Only downside was no privacy in the bathroom....there are shutters that u can see thru from the bedroom area. For a couple it would be fine but with kids it lacked privacy! The rest of my group was upgraded to all kinds of rooms in the reserve.... Master suites...swim up suites, master suites with private gardens etc! As far as the photography we paid cash and avoided the taxes! For the buffet we requested they swap quite a few items.... They agreed to all our swaps! Also with the table linens I was able to choose from the brown with swirls, white or ivory with no charge. They really were very accommodating and a pleasure to deal with! The best advice I could give after all the planning would be to enjoy every minute of it! Don't stress and have fun! For me I totally relaxed once I got there and had my meeting with Massiel because then it was just time to celebrate and enjoy every moment with my family that traveled so far to be with us!

[Vspb1213]

Hello previous PPR brides-

 

Is there any stylist you would recommend at the spa to do the bride's hair??

 

Thanks!

[EVKnowsitall]

Originally Posted by Vspb1213 

 

Hello previous PPR brides-

 

Is there any stylist you would recommend at the spa to do the bride's hair??

 

Thanks!

Eudice did my hair and makeup and she was amazing. I was so nervouse because I didn't bring any physical pictures, nly pics I had stored in my phone. And I googled them the night before my wedding when I was in bed with a stomach ache because in all the chaos I hadn't thought of how to style my hair lol! Thank god she had an idea. 

 

She also did my makeup very natural. It wasn't over the top- subtle and just right.

[AmyMai]

Hi ladies,

To any past brides that had your reception on the beach terrace, how was it?!?! I requested the Olympus Terrace but it is not available. Just wondering if we should go with the beach terrace by default or pay the $1000 fee for a ballroom?? 

Amy

[engaged1230]

HI Ladies

 

So I am going to be working with Eudis for my bridal hair and makeup. I wanted to know if any of you had brought clip on extensions for your updos and if so were the stylists at the resort able to work with the clip on extensions successfully. Thanks

 

R
 

[shaeshae18]

Hey ladies!

 

Just decided on PPR for my June 30, 2014, wedding. We're doing it at the Jellyfish that day, but we're all staying at the PPR for the weekend (most of my guests are extending).

 

So excited!!

[shaeshae18]

Originally Posted by shaeshae18 

 

Hey ladies!

 

Just decided on PPR for my June 30, 2014, wedding. We're doing it at the Jellyfish that day, but we're all staying at the PPR for the weekend (most of my guests are extending).

 

So excited!!

 

So excited that I submitted before I was done lol

 

What is/did everyone do for the welcome dinner/cocktail hour? Where was it? How much did it cost? How long was it? Thanks!