To whom it may concern: We would like to take some time and describe our wedding / honeymoon in Jamaica. We stayed at The Grand Palladium for six days and five nights.August 31, 2011 to Sept 5, 2011.
Day 1, we arrived to Jamaica around 1:00 pm. From a distance the resort looks beautiful, up close there are numerous things that are not very appealing about the resort. The walkways were in horrible conditions that need repairing. When we arrived to our room, the room had a horrible musty smell to it. The air conditioning did not work, the refrigerator did not keep anything cold or even cool, the bathroom was dirty, the bathtub was dirty and one of our glasses from the mini bar had not been replaced with a new one. After calling the front desk to have to someone come clean we went to grab some lunch. Our first stop was Mo Bay buffet. Everything was cold. We had a positive outlook on this and said well the great thing about this is that its all inclusive so we can go try somewhere else. We walked down to the Jerk Hut that was highly recommended. They did have great chicken, but we did not like the rice that was served. So we ventured to Sunset Cove. First, my husband asked if they served any Vodka and we were told yes. He asked for Grey Goose and the server said he would be right back. The server came back and said they not only had no Grey Goose, but no vodka period. So my husband ordered something else. Next, we ordered our food. My husband ordered a Jerk chicken sandwich with fries and I ordered the jerk pork chop with fries. A few minutes later the server came back and said they did not have anymore pork chops. Ok, no big deal I said. What do you have, I asked. The server assured us that they had everything else. So I decided on the jerk chicken. My husband order did not change. About 20 minutes later, maybe longer. The server comes back with two plates of food. Neither plate has any fries, the server tells us he is sorry but they are out of fries. He proceeds to put our dishes in front us and they both are the exact same thing! Jerk chicken, rice and beans and some type of pasta. My husband had no bread for a sandwich and the server said to us…..sorry mon….maybe you come back earlier tomorrow. So we were not even given a option at that point what we were going eat.
Arrival: I have a nut allergy and we could not get a answer on how to proceed with it. The front desk told us that the wedding coordinator should give us something, the wedding coordinator said the front desk should give us something. We had no idea who to listen too. We had to meet with the wedding coordinator so we called for a cart to come get us from our room. We waited about a half hour and no one came, we called again. About another half hour went by and still no one to pick us up. Finally, our wedding coordinator called and requested a cart pick us up. A hour later, she called our room and she asked why we were still in our room, we explained no one came to pick us up yet. She called again. Finally, my husband and I walked all the way to her office even though my husband has MS and bad knees. We met with the wedding coordinator, after we were there about ten minutes, the bell man called the wedding office to say he was at our room to pick us up. She explained to him we were already there and how long we waited. We were so frustrated at this point we went to guest services to complain. We were upgraded to the honeymoon suite which was on the second floor. We had already expressed numerous times we needed first floor because of my husbands medical condition. But we decided to not complain. Upon arrival to our new room the floor was dirty and we had guests. Several ants everywhere! Again, we decided to not complain at that moment. The refrigerator was not cold and the room was cooler then the other room however not cool enough. Outside of our door we had a fire extinguisher box with no fire extinguisher in it! We went to bed hoping the next day would be better. I have a nut allergy and we could not get a answer on how to proceed with it. The front desk told us that the wedding coordinator should give us something, the wedding coordinator said the front desk should give us something. We had no idea who to listen too. We had to meet with the wedding coordinator so we called for a cart to come get us from our room. We waited about a half hour and no one came, we called again. About another half hour went by and still no one to pick us up. Finally, our wedding coordinator called and requested a cart pick us up. A hour later, she called our room and she asked why we were still in our room, we explained no one came to pick us up yet. She called again. Finally, my husband and I walked all the way to her office even though my husband has MS and bad knees. We met with the wedding coordinator, after we were there about ten minutes, the bell man called the wedding office to say he was at our room to pick us up. She explained to him we were already there and how long we waited. We were so frustrated at this point we went to guest services to complain.
Rooms: We were upgraded to the honeymoon suite which was on the second floor. We had already expressed numerous times we needed first floor because of my husbands medical condition. But we decided to not complain. Upon arrival to our new room the floor was dirty and we had guests. Several ants everywhere! Again, we decided to not complain at that moment. The refrigerator was not cold and the room was cooler then the other room however not cool enough. Outside of our door we had a fire extinguisher box with no fire extinguisher in it! We went to bed hoping the next day would be better. The next morning my husband was up about 6:30 am on the porch enjoying the view when he realized there were ants everywhere on the porch. He came to wake me up and saw a ant on the bed where I was sleeping. Also, there were ants on every table, both sinks, inside the mini bar and other places. Our refrigerator still was not cold, so my husband called the front desk to complain. They sent someone to spray. And the maintenence guy came to fix the refrigerator. We left a note for the staff to restock the mini bar with diet coke, water and orange pop with a tip next to the letter. We left to start our day. We met with guest services and they gave me a allergy card to show at the different restaurants. Our family arrived and everyone went to their rooms to change before lunch. We get back to our room, our mini bar was not stocked right, but the tip and letter were gone. They did spray for ants, but they left the dead ants everywhere. We called to ask the desk to send someone to clean up the dead ants, no one was ever sent. We went to meet our family for lunch. At Mo Bay I asked the chef if there were any nuts in any of the desserts and showed him my allergy card. He told me there were no nuts. I go to my table with my dessert plate and my husband stops me and says that I cannot eat the dessert. I explained to him that I asked the chef and he said I could. My husband said no you cannot there is nuts in it. A couple minutes later, the chef comes up to the table and tells me I cannot eat the dessert he just told I could because there are in fact nuts in it. We made reservations for dinner, and told them there was 16 of us and we would like to sit together. When we arrived to dinner they told us we could not sit together, even though there was a whole section open. After a 10 minute debate and speaking with management we were able to sit together. While at dinner and talking to our family we found out that several of their rooms were not cleaned, their refrigerators and air conditioning did not work either. We also learned that they all got fruit baskets and a bottle of rum upon their arrival. My husband and I had not gotten either.
Restaurants and Bars:
Day 3 still hoping for a better day in Jamaica. We did get our fruit plate, but no rum. Called and explained this to the front desk who assured us we would get our rum the following day. Ants are back everywhere in our room. This is the day before our wedding and the power has gone gone out a few times leaving our phones not NOT working. The phones not working continues until Saturday ( day 4 ) sometime ( after our wedding ). Saturday the power went out a few times also. We were charging our video camera when the electric went out and it surged our video camera, that we had recorded our wedding on. After the wedding we had lunch at Mo Bay. Everything went ok until they never brought our wedding cake out to us. When we asked where our wedding cake was, the staff had no idea about our wedding cake or if it was even in the back. So, we agreed to have it at dinner . We had reservations for the steakhouse. We arrive at the steakhouse to find two tables for our reservation. We had specifically asked to be seated together for dinner, since we had just got married earlier that day! Of course this became a big ordeal as usual, but finally after a debate, the tables were moved together. Next problem, we had three flower arrangements from the wedding. They were setup at Mo Bay for lunch and then they were suppose to be at the steakhouse for dinner. There were two big floral arrangements and a smaller one. The steakhouse only had the two big floral arrangements. When I asked where my small one was, they had no idea or explanation. Next, when I made the reservation I reminded the woman that I had a nut allergy. The reservation consisted of 16 orders. 15 orders were steak orders and 1 chicken. I had to tell the woman how I wanted the steaks cooked before hand. And I was told the dinner would include the salad bar. Also, I had to pick a dessert. I picked strawberry cheesecake because it is my husbands favorite. While at dinner we learned that we did not get the salad bar with our dinner. At this point, not even worth the argument! When dinner arrives to the table eleven out fifteen steaks were undercooked! Now, I ask what is the point of having me tell you how to cook the steaks if they are still going to be wrong? So now we have a couple guests eating while the rest are returning food. Not a ideal dinner for our wedding night. While all of this is going on, my husband is trying to speak with management. He continually asked for the person in charge over and over again. The staff continues to bring him every supervisor in the building. He continues to explain that he wants the highest manager possible. This went on for at least a hour during our dinner. Finally, he spoke with the guest service manager who really could offer no help!
Beach/Pools/Grounds: Now the wedding cake has been brought out and it looks horrible. The letters were uneven and spaced terrible. At this point in time we were not even in the mood for cake so we asked them to box it up so we could take it back to the room. The strawberry cheesecake was brought out and it had nuts in it! Unsure why anyone would let me pick a dessert with nuts in it when I had a allergy card and told the woman I made the reservation with. The cake was delivered to our room and was not covered / wrapped completely. Well since we had ants in our room we could not keep it there in fear the ants would begin to eat our wedding cake. Someone came and picked up the cake and held it in the refrigerator in the lobby or somewhere. The next morning, our last day in Jamaica. We started our day with a meeting with guest services. We made reservations for dinner. This time we agreed to having two tables for our reservation. We were told this would unsure the best possible service to us and our guests if we sat seperately. We just wanted to have a good last night with our family. Dinner started out fairly well. We had two tables and two waiters. Our waiter at our table was wonderful. However the table was not too happy with their service. The waiter was not keeping up with their drinks and we had begun eating at least 20 minutes before the other table even started to get their food. My mom and daughter ordered the pork chop. It was pink throughout and red towards the bone! Not safe at all. We experienced one nightmare after another on our trip! We asks for the general mgr to call us on Monday or Tuesday. One week later we have heard nothing from anyone. This was suppose to be perfect! We did get married after all. We are asking for a full refund. Thanks for your time, Russell & Tasha Wilson