Planning wedding on RCCL Freedom of the Seas

Due to the lack of information about planning a wedding on RCCL, I decided to start a thread to document and review the process.

My fiancé and I will wed on Freedom of the Seas during the May 29, 2016 sailing to the Eastern Caribbean. We have already booked our group with our TA. So far we have 33 people confirmed to sail with us. We will get married on the first at sea day since its a 7 day cruise. The cost including the marriage license is $4795 just for the ceremony not including the reception. We thought about getting married on St Thomas ($3600) but with only three port stops we didn't want to take time away from our guests who are paying a small fortune to attend the ceremony and taking precious vacation time off work. RCCL is more expensive than Carnival but we love RCCL's laid back vibe. The plan is to have a reception, 2 cocktail parties, and dinner in a speciality restaurant for our guests. We will see how it goes.

I emailed Royal Romance almost 2 weeks ago and did not receive a reply, so I called today. The person I spoke with was really nice. She answered all my questions and forwarded me the contract to fill out and return. Also, I will deal directly with RR and EC on the ship instead of my TA, mainly because I like to get information firsthand not through a middle person.

I will warn you now, the Royal Romance group at RCCL are really, really bad at timely communication. They take forever to return phone calls and emails. They also have a habit of rescheduling calls at the last minute (or just missing them and then apologizing later).

The apparent lack of organization can be frustrating but things DO get done eventually.

We got engaged on Freedom of the Seas in April 2014 and decided at that time that we would get married on the same ship so we talked to the coordinator on-board and got a tour of the chapel, etc.

11 days from today, we'll be getting married on Freedom of the Seas. Like you, we're having the ceremony on the first at-sea day. I'll post a follow-up after we get back to let you know how it went and what to expect.

Thanks for your response!!! So far I have had a good experience with communication. But I'm sure the closer we get to the actual date that could change. I am still deciding on the actual details for the reception. We decided to get married on the first sea day so that our guests may enjoy the islands. If you have time could you tell some of the things you decided on like the venue and what you are having for the reception and activities. Are you doing oot bags? I look forward to hearing about your experience and seeing Pics!!!

Congrats!!!!!!!

We're not really having a reception on board. In fact, there will only be 4 guests with us on the ship. Our reception will be back home a few weeks later.

That said, we're also having the wedding on our first at-sea day. That way we can enjoy the rest of the cruise without worrying about eating too much and not being able to fit in our outfits for the ceremony. Heh.

So far we have 36 people who are signed up to attend. I am thinking we will end up with maybe 50 people. My fiance really wants all the bells and whistles so we will have a reception and first dance and such. I am totally against paying extra for food but marriage is about compromise so I am willing and its an opportunity for all of our family and friends to gather in a private area. Where will your ceremony be held?

We have it scheduled for the chapel but they said we could move it outside if we want to. We'll talk to the coordinator when we're on board to see what she thinks.

I'm looking forward to having the captain perform the ceremony. Captain Ron Holmes is currently on rotation. We met him on our last FoS cruise and really liked him.

I cant wait to hear all about it!!

I hope that your special day was as awesome as you believed it would be!!

It was great.

The on-board Cruise Program Administrator, Ninah, was really good. Much better than the on-shore people we had to deal with beforehand who, as I said before, were really bad at timely responses to emails and phone calls and often rescheduled calls or just missed them completely.

One snag was the fact that the Chapel on Freedom of the Seas is currently out of service due to the fire they had a few months ago. The on-shore people were supposed to tell us about that but, of course, completely failed to do so.

It was okay, though, since we held the ceremony in the Cloud 9 lounge instead which had a beautiful view.

After the ceremony, we took a few pictures in the lounge with Captain Ron and some with our guests and the cake and us signing the paperwork. Then we walked around the ship with the photographer taking other pictures. We thought it would be fun to take pictures in the arcade which turned out great... the bride and groom playing skee ball. Since Johnny Rockets is right next to the arcade, Ninah said we should go in there and get a picture sharing a shake. That was great, too.

Next, we went to take pictures outside. Unfortunately, it was REALLY sunny and REALLY windy so most of those didn't turn out very well but it was all worth it because we were walking past the pool area where the "Sexiest Man on Earth" contest was just starting. I half-jokingly said to Ninah that I thought we should take pictures with the contestants. She loved it and went an extra step... she had me added as a last-minute "contestant". It was hilarious and the footage was shown on stateroom TVs for the rest of the cruise.

The rest of the photos were in the Promenade and were pretty good. Once that was done, the photographer left and Ninah was escorting us back to our stateroom (she was carrying the bride's train) when she spotted Puss in Boots taking photos with passengers. I ran to our stateroom to grab my own camera and came back so we could take pictures of the bride with Puss in Boots. Those were fantastic.

On the last day, we received an envelope in our stateroom with copies of the paperwork we had signed as well as a card from Ninah attached to a DVD with our names and the wedding date written on it. The DVD was footage from the Sexiest Man on Earth contest. I felt that was pretty nice of her to do that since it definitely wasn't expected.

Sounds like everything was perfect. I have heard that once on board everything is great. But I agree that the shore side reps should be more knowledgeable and provide correct info to its customers. I mean RCCL cost a fortune when compared to Carnival. Congrats to you and your spouse!!! May you experience years of love. I would like to see your pics if possible. I think this is my biggest concern and source of anxiety. my email is sfavors2@me.com