Photo Review Renewal of Vows on Ruby Princess

Hey Everyone!

We are back from our cruise, and wanted to do a review to help others planning an ROV on Princess. Will do the written review, followed by images from the event.

At the current time (Jan 2017) you can prebook the date that you want for the renewal, but not the time. We chose the second formal night, which coincided with a 7am-2pm port stop. When we arrived at our cabin, there was an envelope with the time, and details outlined. There was also a paper to fill out with some basic questions (how many years married, exchanging rings, etc) and also a confirmation of how names would be written on the certificate, and what you wanted to be called during the ceremony. My husband uses a nickname -- which we chose for the ceremony, but had his full first name on the certificate. We also had a phone message from the coordinator, Gregory. He is the Customer Relations Manager.

It took some doing, to reach him to go over some details. I tried via phone, but was only offered a call back. Tough, because sitting in my stateroom wasn't a part of my vacation plan. Took two trips to the Passenger Services desk to finally get to talk to him. Every time I asked (either phone or in person) I was kind of treated oddly, that I was asking for him. Definitely the staff acted as if they were supposed to be the wall preventing people from reaching him. BUT, when he came out to talk to us, he was great. Really personable and helpful. He agreed to handle all of our requests, and the actual execution of the requests was flawless.

Our requests were:

1. Would like flowers at 5pm instead of five minutes before our 6:45 ceremony, so that we could do some photos outside during the sunset period, as well as some of the photo op set ups in the atrium. He offered to have them delivered to our cabin, and that happened right on time. He also offered a ships photographer to come at five, but we declined.

2. Preferred to have the champagne delivered to our table for dinner, to celebrate with friends.

3. Dinner reservations for our party of six, after the renewal. They even arranged for a window table, which was a nice added touch.

As I said, the flowers arrived on schedule, and the boutonniere was a white rose, with a white orchid bouquet. It included a single white rose and baby's breath. We did our personal photos, hit a couple of the photo ops, and then went to the Wheelhouse for happy hour (made it just before it ended at 6pm) and enjoyed some champagne. (Apparently we were at Explorers, at the exact same time, ordering three cocktails which neither of us drink -- but that is another issue related to bar staff mixup and failure of Passenger Services to properly fix when we went to the desk -- will be following up with corporate)

At 6:30, we went off to the Chapel. The fragrance of the fresh floral arrangements was incredible -- I expected them to be silk flowers, but they were fresh. Just gorgeous. The photographer came and took a few pre-renewal photos, and then Gregory arrived to go over the procedure. Before long the Captain arrived and greeted us.

The ceremony was very nice, and we both really enjoyed it. It was just as meaningful as our original vows almost 24 years ago, but without the anxiety. I found myself having a lot more fun with it than I expected. We took a few more pictures with the Captain, as a couple, and with friends. I was wished a very happy birthday by the staff and Captain (my 50th was the next day) and we were off for more champagne, and then dinner.

At Da Vinci, I was able to quickly place my centerpiece, and add my bouquet to it, and place the napkins with jeweled starfish napkin rings. I also brought sets of the napkin rings to gift to the other ladies in our group. Wait staff was really good, and we enjoyed our included bottle of champagne. Dinner was Lobster Tails :-) Perfect!

Our certificate, Vows, champagne flutes and chocolate covered strawberries were waiting in our cabin. We were able to view the photos the next day, and received our framed portrait the next evening. The photographer was quite personable and did a nice job on the photos.

While walking around the ship, we received loads of congratulations -- everyone thought we had just gotten married and for some reason were surprised we were actually celebrating 24 years, just a tad early.

I loved the dress I chose, as did my husband. Ended up being way more cleavage than I anticipated. Ordered it online, and apparently I'm a different figure type than the model. Oh well, the bouquet and my long hair came in handy ;-)

Overall, I think the value for the price was excellent. I wish they did a pre-cruise consultation because I really didn't want to spend so much of my vacation time trying to get things arranged, but that is my only negative critique. If you are considering doing this -- go for it! It is a much better value than anything one could plan locally, outside of doing it in your home.

pinning on boutonniere

Perfect

On our balcony

In the short hallway between Share and Adagio

Champagne at the Wheelhouse happy hour

At one of the Photo Op stations

Pre-renewal goofing off

One of the fresh flower arrangements in the Chapel

Down the aisle

He makes me smile

I guess I do the same

Mr and Mrs -- still

Chapel Flowers

Bouquet

Table

Rhinestone starfish -- these were very sparkly

The champagne is actually from our Balcony Breakfast -- the renewal comes with a full bottle. I didn't get a photo of the strawberries, but there were four.

Norman Love Chocolates

Framed photo

A lovely evening

I can see why people didn't believe you were married for 24 years, you don't look a day over that! Beautiful!!!

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That's so sweet of you to say! I definitely look older in person -- at least two of the photos are from the ship photographer, who used a heavy hand with the skin smoothing filter. I actually asked him to scale it back after seeing the proofs, but I don't think he did. But, I'll take the compliment. I did feel amazing, and being lit up from the inside does wonders :-)

What a beautiful couple

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Beautiful!

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So nice!!!!!

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What gorgeous photos! Congratulations! Such fun to do this on the Love Boat!

Congratulation! You both look gorgeous.

We will be doing the same at the end of this month and we were wondering about the photos price. Did they offer like a package for a certain price or the photos were sold separately? Can we have the pictures on a CD or USB?

Did they take video for the ceremony? Can you please share the cost of the video?

Thank you.

Congratulation! You both look gorgeous.

 

We will be doing the same at the end of this month and we were wondering about the photos price. Did they offer like a package for a certain price or the photos were sold separately? Can we have the pictures on a CD or USB?

 

Did they take video for the ceremony? Can you please share the cost of the video?

 

Thank you.

I didn't buy any of the photos -- I had prepurchased the "all-inclusive" photo package before the cruise that stated I would get ALL photos from the cruise, but there were undisclosed terms and conditions that excluded the renewal photos. I was irked, but since we had a friend there taking pics for us, it wasn't a big deal. I wish I had noted what the prices were -- they weren't cheap -- hundreds is what is coming to mind, for just a small selection. I seem to recall that there were package options. We really didn't get too far into that, given I had already spent a lot on the "all inclusive" package, I wasn't spending anymore. Plus, we did 3-4 of the photo op stations, which were included in the photo package I prepurchased. The video shown to us was just a slide show of the images the photographer took. I think there was a place on the paperwork I filled out that asked if we wanted a videographer, and I checked "no". I knew I wasn't going to spend more $$, so didn't want to fall in love with a video that wasn't in the budget.

This was sort of a trial run for us, before our 25th next year. So I didn't plan as much, or choose to invest as much as I might otherwise have. I would say if this is a "big" event for you, and you have the means, get the photos. But plan at least $300-500 for the photos alone. Video would be a lot more, I'm guessing. Or have a good photographer friend along for the cruise!