Designing Daryl The Saucy Review!

I have been acquainted with Designing Daryl for some time, first becoming aware of him through the work he does with custom decorated Carnival Boots and then with the costumes he has designed for his own band Island Pride as well as work he has done for Caribana.

We communicate frequently and I have always been impressed with the talent he displayed. It was unfortunate that a customer last Carnival (2010) gave a bad review of service she experienced for custom ordered boots. Having heard both sides of the story, and subsequent positive reviews, this did not deter my decision to work with Daryl for Carnival 2011.

Once I registered for my costume  of choice I decided to do some upgrades to my frontline option, as I always do each year, and contacted my band Bliss first asking them if what I wanted could be done. A few emails back and forth  ended with no confirmation so I decided to go ahead and get what I wanted on my own.

In the past I have done upgrades myself but when it comes to the complicated designs I would normally turn to Richard of Richard and Anthony productions, however they were filled with doing production work for YUMA. I chose to work with Daryl for several reasons, the primary one being that we had a very good rapport and communication and he understood what it is I wanted done. Having also seen his work I was confident to give him creative license to execute what I had in mind.

Daryl secured all the feathers, gems and other items  I needed in advance and when he arrived in Trinidad we both went to Samaroos to pick up the rest of supplies. To tell you the truth the actual cost  for my "upgrade" priced less than the difference in price between the backline version of my costume and the frontline! I am now very well aware of the cost of a pound of feathers and what that looks like.

After meeting with Daryl in  Trinidad he was able to do almost 100% of the work that first day and once I confirmed that I was pleased it was ready to pick up the following day. There was no drawn out wait, I was serviced and done with in record time. To tell you I was pleased is an understatement I absolutely LOVED Daryl's work and when he was done with my backpack it was so huge I could not see around either side of me and it blocked the sun!  

Consequently, I would whole heartedly recommend Daryl's services and in future I am definitely going to work with him again . You all know I demand great service and I never had a problem or issue with Daryl. We had excellent communication, he was fair with me in all the pricing of supplies as well as his own fee for labour, I trusted his creative talent and not to mention he is  pretty cute! 

I would include a photograph of the work Daryl did for me, and I deliberated long and hard about doing it, but since I do want to hold on to my "incognito" status a while longer you can surely be able to pick it out if you are observant ! 

Here are some more of Daryl's custom work for other clients for Carnival; corsets, bras, collars, back packs and boots. 

To contact Daryl :coxdaryl@hotmail.com or http://islandprider.blogspot.com/

Beach House Carnival 2011 Review #2

TICKET COLLECTION

A few of my colleagues may no doubt submit a separate review or posibly comment so I wont spend too much time here on it. I will simply say that Trinidad Fete Tickets will have a HARD TIME redeeming themselves in the future after the fiasco this year and their unprofessionalism with offering a resolve. I know they won't be getting my money again! I was fortunate to have my tickets reserved at the Beach House location in Trinidad when I first learnt of the TFT fiasco and I collected on time as stipulated in my email to the Beach House committee. I collected my tickets and began to notify my colleagues who had requested tickets through me that their quota was CUT by a significant amount and that had to do with the overall Beach House Management situation.

BEACH HOUSE - THE COMMUTE

There was unnecessary traffic on the road to Beach House, the highway was cool smooth sailing but as you get to the turn-off for Beachhouse, traffic ensued. Kudos to the ever so reliable and present Beach House signs.

BEACH HOUSE - THE FETE

Arriving at the venue around the same time in 2010 proved to be futile. The crowd at this point (2:30pm - 2:45PM) was at capacity in my opinion. Beach House was PACKED!!! The lines at the bar could be seen as soon as you clear the hill to enter the venue and the lines for the food, deceiving at first BUT EVER PRESENT once you got closer. The menu while it definitely was different from 2010 was tasty and the service was patient and courteous but also vigilant and made sure you got "just enough". Now let me clarify, just so that its not ALL disconcerting - rewind to 2010, enter Beach House, everyone dressed casual but certainly styled to the max, the bar service GREAT and the food lines, non-existent. WHY?, mainly because everything at Beach House in 2010 was buffet style and while you had to line up, the lines were not as bad as they were this year.

Now in events leading up to Beach House 2011 one could assimilate that overcrowding was going to be an issue, BEACH HOUSE 2011 certainly bypassed ISSUE status, it passed it on the Uriah Butler Highway. This event had gone to the dogs! And they were feeding you as such too. One trip to the "appetizer" line to walk out with a hulking piece of wild meat on your plate so big it couldn't hold anything else. And its the prettiest chicks you seeing walking out with these monstrous "appetizers". I know I wont have to tell you about the couple fights that broke out in "said" area in "said" line. You will no doubt know the reason: of course "miss thing" will choose to wait till she reach in front the WHOLE LINE to text she pals to tell them she reach in front and then them swarm in... Well the Brooklyn posse was not having that and they got REAL FLATBUSH ON THEM REAL FAST!!!!

The bathrooms were nice and neat as it always is, we could have done without the million cans of after shave that was stacked next to the pipes. I mean come on, shaving cream? Really?

Fast forward to the music which was sweet and the overall ambience of the night which was sobering at best I know I wont rate Beach House this year because had management been able to exercise the control they wanted to - it would have turned out into another wonderful fete. Beach House to you I say DONT CHANGE THE 2010 FORMULA, and pay particularly close attention to those who support you in 2012 because THEY will be your stalwarts! Your hiccup this year is only a growing pain, but alas, there will be those who wont easily forgive you - after all $800TT converted to ANY CURRENCY is a lot to ask of people to put up with sub-par service and broken promises....

Beach House Carnival 2011 Review

I’ve attended BH fete previously and absolutely love it, the vibes, the food, the music, the drinks were usually an A+. I’m not sure what went wrong this year but it was the most unorganized all inclusive event I ever attended.

Lawd, where do I start, first off trying to get tickets for this event was a pain, but finally, a friend was able to secure two tickets for me. The day of the fete, talk about traffic; it took us about 3 hours to get there, so we arrived around 5pm. At the entrance we were greeted with this horrendous line to get in, if you see the length of this line, took us a good 20 minutes to get inside the fete.

Then got inside to discover another set side of lines to get food, I mean every single food line was extremely long. For $800 people standing in line for more than 30 mins, at one point two people starting fighting because one person cut the line, talk about disgruntled patrons, you know things bad when even the doubles line long, a 15 minute wait for a doubles…really? The food booths at Machel Monday was more organized, I had my KFC in 5 mins…steups

I thought BH Management said that the reason for the price increase this year was because they were reducing the numbers by at least 1,500 this year? Didn't look so to me, seems like the crowd doubled. More people means you need to hire more staff for the entrance and food tents.

The event was schedule to end at 8 but they went way pass that time, I guess that was one way to make up for the bad management. I was already there and spent my money so I decided to make the best of it, but not again.

SHADES Breakfast Party - Review

Hi Saucy,

I really wanted to go to Vale Breakfast Party because everyone talked it up and like I said in a previous review this was my first Carnival in years; so I was going all out - only the BEST would do. So by the time I linked with my people in Trinidad tickets were sold out and they were like I could pay the scalpers price if I wanted. That didn't sound good to me so I looked around and found SHADES. Let me tell you, that was the BEST decision I made for the season!!!! This is going to become a staple for me... I just hope too many people don't decide to go and spoil it for everyone like other carnival fetes I can name.. LOL!.

We were the first to arrive!!! Literally!! LOL We got a ride and they dropped us off about 45 mins before the start of the fete. The promoters were cool about it tho; they came and made us comfortable and we waited while they got everything together and allowed me to pay for our tickets that they had held for us. Let me tell you, this is one of the best organized events I've ever seen!!! The party was advertised to start at 4:00 a.m.; well the DJ started playing at 4:00 a.m. on the dot!!!!!! It was like a well-oiled machine; everyone knew their job and they did it to ensure a smooth and flawless event. A++++ on the organization!

Breakfast was great! The choices were custom-made personal omelettes with whatever you wanted on it, fruit (lots and lots), waffles & syrup, bake and buljol, sada roti with melongene chohka, bread with sausages, etc. I mean this was just to start!!!! They kept bringing out food ALL morning long... there was corn soup, doubles, different types of flavored coffee, juice, sno cones. Lord, just about anything you can think of, I can't even remember everything... and drinks flowed CONTINUOUSLY!!! I'm not a heavy drinker like my fellow trinis so I don't know about Johnnie Walker and all that stuff but I'm sure they had it; didn't hear anyone complain about anything! Food & Drinks A++++!!!

Vibes! A++++++++++ Vibes was nice!!!! Nice crowd, everybody just having fun.. no stress! My American visitors said this was the best party they had been to so far!! And I had had them going nonstop since Carnival Thursday so I think they knew what they were talking about by then.. LOL!

When the sun came out they distributed shades and straw hats; even hosed people down with water.... party was nice!!!!!!! LOL Music was off da chain!!!!!!! They had about 3 or 4 DJ's and each and every one of them came on and did their thing and kept the party going. We weren't even tired! Busy Signal showed up and sang about 4-5 songs... The venue is beautiful!!! And totally suited the event... I was surprised at how many people were there; but it was never over crowded or a mess.

We had to leave early (around 11:30) to go pick up a costume for my friend *sniff* but trust me we would have partied till the police stopped the fete!!!! LOL! All in all there isn't anything I would change about this fete.... maybe less mosquitoes, LOL, but I walked with my OFF so I was fine....

Overall A+ for SHADES.. *prays that too many people don't start wanting to go and spoil it* LOLOL!

Trinidad Fete Tickets Review

Saucy,

Please allow me to share my 2011 experience with Trinidad Fete Tickets…

In October 2010 I ordered 6 Beach House tickets from TFT, I paid a deposit of $50US on each ticket. On January 9, 2011 TFT sent an email saying that the BH committee decided to drastically reduce the numbers they will be catering to for 2011 and as a result many of their ticket providers will be affected and that they have sold their quota and will not be providing additional tickets and there could be a possibility of ticket reduction.

After several inquiries and emails back and forth to TFT they send another email on February 3rd saying that they are in the process of sending balance payment request and asking customers to be patient as BH Management is slowly rolling out ticket allocations on a day to day basis and can at any time in the upcoming days inform us that they have reached a maximum. On February 5 I received my balance payment request for the 6 tickets, I was delighted that my tickets were being honored so yes I was hype and ready to party so I sent the balance of my payment within 24 hours.

On February 19 another email was sent by TFT saying that due to BH Management lack of communication it’s a possibility that they will not be able to provide the tickets and they will inform everyone by Feb 22 if the tickets will be available. On Feb 23 which is a few days before I leave for Trinidad I received an email saying that BH management did not honor the tickets and refunds will begin from February 28. By this time it’s definitely too late trying to secure tickets in Trinidad because at this point tickets were completely sold out. Each ticket final cost was $152US each (this includes a $22US convenience fee for each ticket). As of today I still haven’t received my refund for all 6 tickets.

Email sent on February 23
From: Trinidad Fete Tickets - ADMIN <trinidadfetetickets@gmail.com>
Date: February 23, 2011 4:10:42 AM EST
Subject: BEACH HOUSE -2011 UPDATED information
For 2011, Trinidad Fete Tickets and other ticketing organisations have been disappointed by the Beach House Management.
TFT personnel was finally able to speak with Beach House Management last evening after many attempts to get feedback on the on going situation.
As we thought, BEACH HOUSE MANAGEMENT is unable to deliver on an order we placed with them in 2010, securing TFT's ticket quota for our CK11 patrons.
We have been told that due to 'someone's mis-management' in sales procedures approximately 3 weeks ago in the absence of BH Management and their failure to keep check on the walk in sales, which we gather they were not supposed to distribute either, they now have no tickets available for pre-orders and are completely sold out.
As to your payments /deposits, we are in the process of receiving our payments to them and REFUNDS to all affected customers via PAY PAL will begin from 4pm Monday 28th February 2011. We ask that you bear with us through this procedure as it is going to be a very lengthy and detailed one.
Also, we are in the process of sending out final invoices to patrons who have made purchases other than BH, this will be with you during the course of this week and will be adjusted to reflect the BH outcome.
The Trinidad Fete Tickets team thanks you for your immense patience in this matter and can only continue to apologise (sic) to our customers for the outcome as we have no control over the situation.
Please feel free to contact us via email should you require any information or to inform us otherwise.

Sincerely
TFT Communication Team

Carnival Divas - Boots, Bras, Bling - The Review

After signing up to play in Taurus in YUMA, I also fell in love with the purple of Oracle. Never playing in a purple before, I decided to wear purple for my Monday wear. I contact Carnival Divaz to do the job for me. I sent my bra and boots to Carnival Divaz via USPS. At the last minute, A friend also wanted a pair of boots decorated. I contact CDz who said it was fine, and she would take the last minute order. When I attempted to purchase the pair of boots for my friend from an online site based in Canada, it kept giving me an error and would not process the order. In my frustration, I complained to CDz that the order may be even later, because I would have to search more online sites in order to find the boots. CDz told me, "no worries", and she ordered the boots for me with no problem.

Two weeks later, my friend's boots had reached CDz from Canada, but my order, mailed with in the US had not yet reached CDz. I was concerned, and my mind started to think on "Plan B". Upon mentioning this to CDz, she told me not to panic. That if the package did not show up by that coming Friday, that there were other options, and she would make sure that I was, "taken care of" for my carnival Monday purple. Fortunately, the package did arrive to her before the Friday, but the fact that she was ready to go the extra mile, spring into action, and offer other options to a solve a problem (that was not caused by her) spoke volumes about her level of dedication to her customers and her work.

Before I was due to travel to Trinidad, CDz contacted me to ask me if would be ok if to deliver my order to me in Trinidad, which I did not have a problem with. As things would be, she was an easy 5 minute walk around the corner from me. The location worked out perfectly, because little did I know that I would need her for last minute adjustments on my Tuesday costume. Upon receiving my Taurus FL costume (which I was extremely pleased with), I had only one complaint. The costume included a jeweled overlay, which hung from the neck, over the bra, and was suppose to fastened under the bra band line. I am short woman, with a short torso. So while this piece fit lovely on tall, long torso'ed women, it did not look so hot on me. It was way to long. It hung below my waist, even covering up my belt. Talk about a blinged out nightshirt! LOL The overall look was messy, ill fitting, and just not polished.

CARNIVAL DIVAZ TO THE RESCUE!!!

She measured where the over lay was suppose to fit on me, and did some quick nipping, tucking, altering. VOILE!! The over lay fit like a glove. I was very happy, because when one pays so much for a costume, you want it to look like it was made to fit. I had already paid her for the Monday bra, and the two pairs of boots, (her prices were SUPER reasonable and she is very communicative about exactly what you will get for what amount of money). Upon asking her how much for the alteration on my Tuesday costume, she blew me off and said, "nothing". I am a big advocate of paying people for the work they do, especially when they do a good job, but she absolutely refused payment for the alterations.

On Monday, I got MUCHO compliments on my blinged and feathered purple boots and bra. On Tuesday, several of the ladies in Taurus asked me how did I get my over lay to fit me so well. On all counts, "CARNIVAL DIVAZ" was my response.

If you are looking for efficient service, where your input as a paying customer is valued, great communication, reasonable prices, and someone who will go the extra mile because of their own passion for carnival..... then Carnival Divas is your woman.