RCCL coordinator and planner recommendation

My husband and I are planning a vow renewal ceremony on Freedom of the Seas in October this year. When I started searching for reviews I saw generally bad ones but they seem to become more positive this year. I read from previous posts that Stephanie Nicoll was good. I called Royal Romance a couple of times and talked to three different coordinators, unfortunately Stephanie wasn't one of them. The coordinators I spoke with give me mixed feelings so I wonder if there any coordinator and/or planners you would recommend to have or to avoid? I'm sure the process of wedding planning will accompany a lot of frustrations so I'd like to find a coordinator/planner that are good and responsive so I don't have to deal with avoidable issues such as bad communications etc. :)

The RR coordinators I've spoke to:

Vanessa Hurst - she gave me the impression that she doesn't care much about helping me, kept indicating that I just need to fill out the survey before real communication starts.

Madeline Ochoa - she was helpful and tried to accommodate my request, such as willing to seek the list of planners for me to choose from. However, she might have forgotten about it and even didn't follow up with me at all after the phone conversation.

Katherine Angel - very nice and eager to help, fairly helpful. Sounded like she's new to the job and many questions I have she would ask me to hold on while she ask someone about the answer.

From the survey sheet drop-down menu, it looks like both Madeline and Katherine are relatively new: the survey listed a bunch of coordinators and then "Have not talked to anyone yet", then some more coordinator names. Clearly the person in charge of updating the survey simply added the new names without sorting or organizing it.

Any insights or experiences would be of great help!!

I am one of the people that has raved about Stephanie Nicoll. I started planning my September 2016 Freedom of the Seas wedding in December 2015.It started out great. At the time Stephanie was a wedding coordinator, she was the first person I spoke to and she was very helpful. I was assigned to a wedding planner and had a scheduled call in February. The day of the call I was informed that she was no longer there. I believe her name was Aislinn. Then I was assigned to Ingrid. I asked for someone else because I heard bad things about her. I was then assigned to Desirae. I had my call with her in March and she was wonderful. We exchanged some emails back and forth and then I never got a response. I waited about a month and emailed again. Waited a week, no answer. I forwarded the email to Stephanie. A few days later I received an email from Stephanie saying that Desirae was no longer there and now Stephanie was promoted and she was going to be my planner. So, this was my 3rd wedding planner since December.

Stephanie is wonderful and she tries super hard. The problem with the Royal Wedding Department isn't so much the staff but how understaffed they seem to be. Fast forward to about a month ago. All final decisions were made months ago and I finally received my invoice. I emailed to ask how I could pay it. No response. Two weeks after that I sent a "semi" irritated email asking for a response. Finally, I received a call. I paid the invoice and received my wedding "timeline" that evening. It is all wrong! The wedding is at the wrong time. The music is wrong. I emailed immediately after receiving it. That was a week ago, no response. I am 42 days away from my wedding. A response saying "I am working on it" would make you feel somewhat better but I haven't received that.

Our wedding is "Just you and me". Just the two of us, some flowers, music and photography. How hard can this be? We decided to go this route because it seemed so easy and non stressful. I have a hard time understanding why it has taken 8 months to plan such a small event.

I think originally things started to improve over there but there seems to be a very high turnover. It's unfortunate because every time you have a new planner, you essentially have to start over with them.

Best of luck to you! I hope your experience is better than mine has been.

I can definitely chime in here. My first planner was Desirae. She was really good and attentive. A few months ago, I emailed her but quickly found out that she no longer for RC. Stephanie Nicoll had taken over as my planner. After finally figuring out who my planner was after countless phone calls and emails, I became a little more comfortable.

Fast forward a few months, I emailed and called Stephanie countless times to attempt to complete my information/selection sheet for the ceremony and reception. Less than 30 days out, I ended up speaking with Madeline to determine a supervisor's contact info. Although I didn't receive a number, I was provided with an email. I emailed her and copied Stephanie because I knew I had a deadline to submit information. A few days later, Stephanie emailed me to set up a telephone call. She didn't seem the least bit worried about the time crunch.

Well, Our ceremony is 12 days out and we have yet to have our discussion to review the timeline and last minute details. We are supposed to have that today. It was originally set for yesterday, but she claimed that she called and left a message. That didn't happen; my phone never rang and I did not have a voicemail.

I heard things get better once you meet and work with the onboard coordinator. I'm praying things go smooth. We have 50 guest attending with 37 of them sailing. 12 days!!!!!

Woah, thank you so much for sharing your experiences! This gets me a little worried I think. Looks like some of them are both the coordinator and planners? Stephanie Nicoll is definitely still on the coordinator list, and so is Ingrid Gil..

Keeping my fingers crossed that the process will be less stressful.

I can definitely chime in here. My first planner was Desirae. She was really good and attentive. A few months ago, I emailed her but quickly found out that she no longer for RC. Stephanie Nicoll had taken over as my planner. After finally figuring out who my planner was after countless phone calls and emails, I became a little more comfortable.

 

Fast forward a few months, I emailed and called Stephanie countless times to attempt to complete my information/selection sheet for the ceremony and reception. Less than 30 days out, I ended up speaking with Madeline to determine a supervisor's contact info. Although I didn't receive a number, I was provided with an email. I emailed her and copied Stephanie because I knew I had a deadline to submit information. A few days later, Stephanie emailed me to set up a telephone call. She didn't seem the least bit worried about the time crunch.

 

Well, Our ceremony is 12 days out and we have yet to have our discussion to review the timeline and last minute details. We are supposed to have that today. It was originally set for yesterday, but she claimed that she called and left a message. That didn't happen; my phone never rang and I did not have a voicemail.

 

I heard things get better once you meet and work with the onboard coordinator. I'm praying things go smooth. We have 50 guest attending with 37 of them sailing. 12 days!!!!!

Wow, only 12 days to go! Best of luck!! Looking forward to hearing your experience on the ship and hope everything goes smoothly!!:)

MelissaNDave, sorry to hear that you had to switch planner three times! Best luck with your planning too!! Looking forward to hearing your experience on the ship and I'm sure it'll be a lovely and memorable moment for you two!!

Woah, thank you so much for sharing your experiences! This gets me a little worried I think. Looks like some of them are both the coordinator and planners? Stephanie Nicoll is definitely still on the coordinator list, and so is Ingrid Gil..

 

Keeping my fingers crossed that the process will be less stressful.

I'm hoping things go well for you. I know for a fact that Ingrid is no longer working as a coordinator because I was mistakenly sent an email from Stephanie stating so.

I can definitely chime in here. My first planner was Desirae. She was really good and attentive. A few months ago, I emailed her but quickly found out that she no longer for RC. Stephanie Nicoll had taken over as my planner. After finally figuring out who my planner was after countless phone calls and emails, I became a little more comfortable.

 

Fast forward a few months, I emailed and called Stephanie countless times to attempt to complete my information/selection sheet for the ceremony and reception. Less than 30 days out, I ended up speaking with Madeline to determine a supervisor's contact info. Although I didn't receive a number, I was provided with an email. I emailed her and copied Stephanie because I knew I had a deadline to submit information. A few days later, Stephanie emailed me to set up a telephone call. She didn't seem the least bit worried about the time crunch.

 

Well, Our ceremony is 12 days out and we have yet to have our discussion to review the timeline and last minute details. We are supposed to have that today. It was originally set for yesterday, but she claimed that she called and left a message. That didn't happen; my phone never rang and I did not have a voicemail.

 

I heard things get better once you meet and work with the onboard coordinator. I'm praying things go smooth. We have 50 guest attending with 37 of them sailing. 12 days!!!!!

Did you have your call? I sure hope they get their act together over there so you can relax and enjoy!

MelissaNDave, sorry to hear that you had to switch planner three times! Best luck with your planning too!! Looking forward to hearing your experience on the ship and I'm sure it'll be a lovely and memorable moment for you two!!

We can't wait to go! We are so excited. I hope to receive my corrected timeline soon so the only thing I have to do is watch my countdown. :). I will update when we get back and let you know how it went.

Did you have your call? I sure hope they get their act together over there so you can relax and enjoy!

Yes, we finally had our call yesterday. Everything went well. I spoke with my day of coordinator too. She was really nice. Now, to finish gathering things and making sure we have everything done. Are you having extra decorations? I'm thinking of keeping it simple and not doing so. My reception is only an hour and we have an 11.5 hour ride. I don't want a lot of extra stuff.

I have Stephanie. She's pleasant. The difficulty for me has been getting her on the phone. I find she's very responsive to e-mails and gets back to me quickly. However, if you miss your call appointment time or try to call back and ask follow-up questions, it's hard to catch her and often I'm left with her voicemail and she doesn't call back. However she does answer e-mails so that's good.

Yes, we finally had our call yesterday. Everything went well. I spoke with my day of coordinator too. She was really nice. Now, to finish gathering things and making sure we have everything done. Are you having extra decorations? I'm thinking of keeping it simple and not doing so. My reception is only an hour and we have an 11.5 hour ride. I don't want a lot of extra stuff.

I am so happy to hear that things went well. I am still waiting for a reply to my email from a week a half ago. I don't expect a lot but at least an acknowledgement that she received my email and I haven't been forgotten.

I am not having any extra decorations. I am coming from Chicago and didn't want to have to pack a lot of extra stuff. We are already packing for 10 days. Please let me know how everything goes. Congratulations!

We can't wait to go! We are so excited. I hope to receive my corrected timeline soon so the only thing I have to do is watch my countdown. :). I will update when we get back and let you know how it went.

That's exciting!! I sent my questionnaire in with Katherine Angel and she's very patient and has been super responsive- we could even have a couple of email exchanges in a day! Now we've decided on the venue- the chapel on Freedom of the Seas, and she's sending the time for approval as well as the contract :D

Right now Stephanie is the planner, ive emailed her at least 6 times in the last month and called with no response. We get married October 8 on Harmony of the Seas, we have yet to pick a venue, even see pictures of the venue, or talk to anyone about the day or whats going to happen. All in all im not too impressed with customer service, its VERY frustrating.

Right now Stephanie is the planner, ive emailed her at least 6 times in the last month and called with no response. We get married October 8 on Harmony of the Seas, we have yet to pick a venue, even see pictures of the venue, or talk to anyone about the day or whats going to happen. All in all im not too impressed with customer service, its VERY frustrating.

I took advise from other threads and asked venue photos with the coordinator and made sure the venue location is on the contract we are signing. So far so good. After sending our contract for approval, two weeks later, we are now assigned to Jillian Dees as our planner and will have a first phone call with her on Wednesday!

I think the name of the game is to be persistent. I believe they are overwhelmed and very understaffed at Royal Weddings. Stephanie has been great although hard to reach at times. I had to send another email to get my corrected timeline. Everything seems to be in order now. I will report back when I return about how things go once we are on the ship.