I had the rehearsal dinner for my wedding at the Blue Parrot in November 2007. I could not be more pleased. We rented the VIP terrace for our small group of 25 guests. The location was perfect for our group. We had a private bar/bartender and served plated fajitas. The food and drinks were fairly average, but the location and the service were absolutely excellent. The wedding itself was not on the beach, so it was nice to have this event right on the water.
I made all the arrangements over email with Paula, the events manager. She was promt with replies and provided everything we needed (menus, contracts, etc.). They were able to meet our budget, which was about $40/person. We met Paula at the hotel a few days before the event to look at the location, the final menu, and final payment.
We decided to use the free wooden furniture/chairs rather than rent fancy white ones. The free ones are just fine. They are very rustic and look great in the candlelight.
Paula reserved the entire group ring-side seats at the fireshow which occurs every Friday. The only thing that I think could be improved, was that we were told the fireshow started at 10:30, so we moved everyone from our private area to the public beach area at 10:30 and the show itself did not start until after midnight which was a little hard on the old folks. But, it was definately worth the wait. The fire show is one of the highlights of my entire week in Playa.
Immediately after the event, my fiance and I went to the hotel office to settle the bill. Everything was as we had agreed upon - there were no extra charges, or charges which we doubted (unlike at the actual wedding!).
I would highly recommend planning an event at the Blue Parrot (there was another group celebrating the actual wedding there and it looked very nice). The planning is up to American standards in terms of response time and all charges being on the table at the beginning (another big difference from my hotel wedding!).