Reviewed by Mark & Yolan, 2009
Hi Maria,
The weddingmoon was fantastic! Here is some feedback on our trip:
Flight to Jamaica was great, club class is worth the money. Arrival at Montego Bay was a gong show when you went to customs, there was a huge line with only two or three people at the custom counter, it took some people 2 hours to get through. Yo and I were close to the front so we were through in 20-30 min. Went to get our luggage which was easy to find although I was surprised to see how beat up our luggage was (actually everyone’s luggage got pretty bashed up). Yolan and I decided not to take the free transfer but rather take the 15 min flight with Timair (private plane that was $100 each one way), well worth it as it leaves when you are ready, we were at the resort with a red stripe in our hands before the rest of our group had cleared customs!
Riu Tropical Bay:
Room: We were upgraded to the honeymoon suit which was great (actually they upgraded almost all of our group to ocean front).
Beach: Best beach we or our guest have been to, was awesome.
Service: Service was great, fridge was stocked every day, staff were very friendly, unable to change large bills ($20 and over) at the resort as you need to tip a lot so smaller bills are needed, also credit card and debit cards machines were out of service so cash is needed.
Food: Making reservations was a pain as you are only allowed to make reservations every second day and at 8 in the morning. There was always a huge line up as well. I found that if you just knock on the restaurant door during the day and slip the guy $5-10 he would get you a reservation for that night, so that is what most people started to do.
Krystal Fusion restaurant – Excellent food
Italian restaurant – Food was good, small portions. Felt you could get the same food at the buffet without the presentation.
Grill and steakhouse – we had our wedding reception here which was awesome. We rented out the steakhouse for two hours. Food was excellent.
Night time snack- At the top bar they have a big fridge with all leftovers from the buffet (hamburgers, hotdogs, ect) that you can microwave, was like eating at 7-11, not the best.
Buffet – the buffet was really good, lots to choose from.
Sir Andrew" gourmet restaurant – This is at the Riu Negril, Yolan and I walked around the resort and had dinner, not as nice as the tropical bay, nor the service, the food was good but I would not have gone back to the Riu Negril.
Wedding: We meet with Keneika the wedding coordinator the day before the wedding to fill out info, decide on location, ect, she was very good. The wedding itself was fantastic!
Flowers: Yolan had pre ordered her flowers as she wanted a special type of flower and colour, the flowers she got on the day of the wedding were not what she ordered or the right colour.
Photographer: We opted not to use the hotel photographer (someone told us it was just one of the entertainers from the resort that really did not have any photography experience) and booked Michael Saab from Montego Bay, he was awesome, here is his website with some pictures of our wedding http://www.saabwedding.com/blog/category/riu-weddings/ highly recommend him.
Spa: Yo had booked and paid for all the girls to go to the spa a month before, when they arrived at the spa the day before the wedding, they could not take everyone even though we had made the reservations, so they moved a bunch of appointment to other days. When the girls went for the other days the spa had run out of supplies for the services they booked, the girls just said to refund Yolan’s credit card, which the spa said it would not do which I felt was kind of a joke.
Activities: Very basic activities at the resort (wind surfing, kayaks, ect). We did take all our guests on the Wild thing sunset cruise to Ricks which was a blast, 12 of us played golf at Negril Hills, not the best course but was a good time and only course in Negril, Yo and four other people went scuba diving which was lots of fun.. Resort entertainment was very good most nights and they did a lot of interaction with the crowed which was great. On Tuesday nights they have a beach party which we used as our wedding party as we got married on the Tuesday which was great, it was a lot of fun. They also had water aerobics which lots of people did every morning which was fun.
Overall: The resort was great and everyone had a fantastic time. Great for wedding groups, and groups with kids as they were very good with kids, food was great, beach was awesome. I would recommend the Riu Tropical bay. I would go back to Negril but would probably stay at a different resort like the Caves or something to try something different.
We used Timair to fly from Negril to Ocho Rios, was a 45 min flight that was well worth it (around $300 each one way), especially after we found out that the transfer to and from the airport was not very good, a number of people got sick or were not felling well after. A number of our guests (not on our flight) used Clive transportation as there transfer which they highly recommended.
Royal Plantation:
Great hotel (no kids which was nice), only 70 rooms, we were on the royal plan and did not have to wear a wrist band which was nice, just give your room number.
Room: Rooms were very nice and clean, bathroom was not the greatest.
Beach: Not as nice as beach in Negril, more rocky.
Service: Great service although they only restocked our fridge once over the five days. At the beach they provided you with a flag which you would wave when you needed a drink or something which was great.
Food: Reservations were required for all restaurants but could be made at any time, great food at Le Papillon although we were disappointed to learn that the C/Bar is not included in the all inclusive plan, La Terrace was average and I expected it to be better for this resort, never got to eat at the Royal Grill for dinner but during the day it is the Royal café on the beach where we did eat for lunch which was good. We did eat out of the hotel at two restaurants that were fantastic: Toscanini’s which was awesome, and Coconuts which was pretty good.
Activities: Golf and scuba is included in the plan that we were interested in but never got to do because the weather was not that great. We did book a number of tours with the resort including Dunn’s Falls, Swim with the dolphins at Dolphin cove and Mystic mountain and all were great (you could do all in one day if you wanted). Not sure if I would book the tours through the hotel again as I think they were over priced and you could get a better deal, also they want you to use the hotel taxis which cost us a fortune, round trip anywhere in Ocho was $25, even if it was less than five min.
Overall: Great hotel, don’t think we would go back to Ocho Rios though seeing as we have done all the tourist things and the beach is not as nice. Not sure if it was worth staying at an all inclusive as we were away from the hotel most of the time anyway.
Half Moon: The Half Moon is huge and was probably our favourite resort as there was so much to do that was included in the all inclusive plan (platinum plan I think, no wrist band you had a card that you showed or gave room number).
Room: We were upgraded (can’t remember to what), room was great with big patio, bathroom was huge, fridge was stocked with 3 types of beers, pop, Champaign, and 10 types of mini alcohol bottles. Also had chips, peanuts, and chocolate bars for snacks which was great as the other hotels did not provide this.
Beach: Not as nice as Negril but better than Royal Plantation
Service: Fantastic service, went out of their way.
Food: Reservations are required at the restaurants but can be made at any time.
Sugar Mill: Amazing food and atmosphere, (wine by the bottle is not included in the plan)
Royal Stocks English Pub: Terrible service, drinks are not included in the plan only food, would not go back.
Seagrape Terrace: Excellent food
Il Giardino: Excellent food
They also have a little grocery store (seeing as the resort is so big) which we went to that had lots of good stuff
Activities: Yolan had a private polo lesson and beach ride (both included in the plan) which she loved, we both played a round of golf (fees were included) which was awesome (there are also 4 other golf courses that you have to pay for). We did a tour of the Great house which was interesting ($15 each).
Overall: Close to the airport, lots of activities, great food, we will go back to Half moon as it was a great resort.
The airport for our flight home was just as much of a gong show as coming, they only had three check in people working and it took us close to an hour and some over two hours to check in, needless to say that the flight was pushed back an hour and half. We sat in the emergency exit row which I probably would not do again as you are not able to store anything so it has to be put up top, people stood in line for the bathroom and blocked the TV, and you got the smell from the bathroom.
Overall we had a great time in Jamaica and glad we decided to get married there (thanks for your help)!! Would recommend it to anyone looking to get married. We were glad that we did tour around the Island and stay at three different resorts and had a blast doing it.
Thanks,
Mark & Yolan
