Alaskan Cruise Wedding

[CoPilotRay]

Hi, everyone!

There's so much information here that I've been overwhelmed. A topic I'd like to ask about is on planning a HAL Wedding Cruise. We're looking at the Alaskan Cruise on the ms Zuiderdam RT out of Vancouver for some time in 2007. We've already made inquiries with the wedding planner/consultants for partnered with HAL and are excited about the prospects. Here are a couple of questions:

We may have around 24 people or more coming with us on the cruise and have been told we can get a good group discount. I've read from various threads that HAL isn't particularly good about dropping/matching rates if/when they drop after final payment. So... should we have all our folks book early with their group booking or should we hold off and just book our own stateroom?
Has anyone else had a wedding on board and how did that go?
I've cruised twice before (NCL and RCCL) and hear that the HAL Alaskan Cruises are apart from anything else - how true is this really? (Looking for some support for HAL since we're still considering other cruise lines...)I guess this is just the beginning of my questions, so if anyone has any other tips/suggestions/thoughts, they'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Ray

[Scrumpy]

This sounds terribly romantic and I hope you find the perfect cruise for your wedding!

I'm sorry I can't answer your wedding-related questions and I hope someone else here can help you, but you could also try to post this question under "Special Interest Cruising". There's a sub-section called "Honeymoon & Wedding Cruises". You might also have a look at the Alaska section in ports of call, especially if there is not a big response on the HAL board. There are some posts there about which cruise lines people think is best for Alaska. Sailing out of Vancouver is wonderful, btw. Are you comparing only ships leaving from there?

If it were me, I think I'd take the group discount. I've spoken with several TAs about a few of the CC member cruises and no one could match the prices on the ones that interested us. They could get close, but without the perks of a group cruise and a few hundred dollars is a few hundred dollars... Whether the price goes down is an open question. Often, I think it does, but availability can be spotty and if you want to reserve cabins in certain locations it is generally safer to do so in advance. We have just gotten very lucky in getting what we think is great cabin in a prime location, but I absolutely never expected that when we booked less than 2 months before departure. It may cost you more money and you'll need to prioritize whether having certain cabins or cabins that are near each other, etc., is worth the risk of paying more in the long run. I believe (and I could be wrong) that a lot of group cruise rates are truly better than what the majority of people on the ship end up paying. No doubt, someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

I cannot compare other lines, but we went to Alaska on Maasdam in 2003 and are going back in May on Oosterdam. It is so beautiful. Our first HAL experience in Alaska was wonderful. The ship was gorgeous, the service attentive and friendly, and we got fantastic commentary from the people onboard - one was a naturalist and once, I think it's in Glacier Bay, Park Rangers come aboard to educate everyone. We loved the cruise and it sold us on HAL. My 70-something MIL was with us. She said it was the trip of a lifetime. Her opinion carried a lot of weight because she's seen a lot in her life. This cruise dazzled her.

As an aside - we were on Zui last year and enjoyed ourselves a lot. There is a nice spa and you and/or your beloved may enjoy some treatments and/or massages there. If I were getting married onboard, I reckon I'd spend time in the spa beforehand. I haven't used the hair salon, but again, if I were getting married onboard, someone else would definitely be doing my hair - and possibly giving DH some last-minute polish. I'd look into these things on other ships if they are important to you - and you can get Ship Services to send you a price list so you can compare. The little things inevitably add up when you get married. I remember it well!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and I hope you find a great cruise for a reasonable price!!! May you have many happy years together.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to the boards.

Congratulations on your up-coming wedding.

Prices right now now do not appear to be going down for any cruises. Alaska is very popular and many category cabins sell out quickly. So if you can get a good group cruise rate now, take it. Just keep in mind that if HAL does give you a good rate, and should the price go down (which I doubt very seriously), they won't lower your rate. We have taken several Alaskan cruises and never has the price gone down. We booked up up-coming one in June last May 2005.

[CoPilotRay]

Thanks for the reinforcement on the taking the group rates. We're extremely excited about the prospect of a HAL wedding cruise - we're just hoping they announce they're pricing for next year before we need to go with a different cruise line so we can have all our other plans finalized. Thankfully, we're still a ways out and doing having the wedding on the cruise takes care of a lot of the details we won't have to run around to take care of.

We'll be sure to check out the Special Interests section to see if we can get more info!

Thanks a bunch!