Allure Wedding May 12 2013

Royal Romance really only gets fully engaged about 1 month prior to the wedding. That's just how it goes. There are other weddings to plan before yours, which is why the operate in this manner.

 

Now in terms of the 100 days out thing - that's complete BS because I booked in July for a December wedding, more than 100 days out. They confirmed the date within a day once I placed the deposit.

 

It's frustrated to not have details, for sure, but be assured - it will all come together. Mine went off with a few minor glitches (the cabin wasn't ready for me to get ready and i basically had to barge in and gave the steward 0 choice lol) and at one point, they forgot to bring me and my guests who were sailing with me, onto the ship. They had, however, already brought non-sailing guests on lol.

 

Those were my two blips. Other than that - can't complain. We were married on the Oasis on 12/7/13. If anyone has questions - feel free. Oh and if you need a hair/makeup recommendation if you're doing an embarkation wedding, i'd suggest Hair and Makeup I Do if you're in fort launderdale. They did a fantastic job.

The wedding was confirmed in October 2013 for our sailing of 12th October 2014, but we only got our confirmed wedding date/time at the start of May 2014. As we're getting married at sea it could have taken place on any sea day. I fully appreciated that they weren't going to be planning our wedding until 30 days out (and we weren't ready to even start those discussions then! :) ) but we had to book Chops at least 100 days out. It was just very frustrating that no one seemed able to add something to the diary when we were committing to spending an additional $7k.

Luckily for us it was resolved quite quickly with an email to Adam Goldstein :).

Other than that small hiccup I haven't had any problems with Royal Romance. They've answered all the questions I've asked, and the people that have been dealing with our wedding license and planning the event have been very helpful. I think it helps to not expect a huge amount of interaction until the 60-30 day mark which I was fully prepared for after reading this thread :)

Message for Soulfish....how did your reception in Chops go??? I am doing this exact same thing, however, they are telling me I can not have a DJ?! 2 small speakers only. I know that it has been done before.

What was the room setup like, do you have any tips for me? I'm slightly panicking...

Thanks!

Message for Soulfish....how did your reception in Chops go??? I am doing this exact same thing, however, they are telling me I can not have a DJ?! 2 small speakers only. I know that it has been done before.

 

What was the room setup like, do you have any tips for me? I'm slightly panicking...

 

 

Thanks!

I do have a massive long list of things I keep meaning to write about, and this is one of them. I've started but just never seem to find the time to finish!

To answer your question Chops was amazing. The staff were brilliant and they couldn't have been more helpful. We'd arranged for some speakers with an iPod connection (they just provided a 3.5mm jack for the headphone socket) and a microphone - we'd also asked for some disco lights if possible. We ended up paying I think $250 for the setup - the disco lights actually came from a member of staff that does the staff discos rather than Royal themselves. We didn't have a DJ as we didn't see the need. We setup our playlist in advance and anyone was free to go play with the iPad that we'd left with the music.

We met up with the Chops Manager and the Speciality Dinning manager at lunch on embarkation day (they knew we'd pre-booked Giovanni's via the suite concierge for the 26 in our party so were waiting to speak with me) where we went through how we wanted the room setup, the food order (we'd pre-ordered everyones food via the executive chef in Miami) and what wine/champagne we'd like. They were very very helpful and were willing to setup the room however we wanted.

As there were only 26 of us we went for a large square table (with the centre filled in) that basically took up the entire left hand section (furthest from the kitchen) of Chops as you walk in. Immediately in front of the entrance we had the cake, guest book and some other decorations setup and then on the right hand side we had all the tables/chairs cleared to leave empty space for a dance floor.

We ended up pre-ordering 30 bottles of wine and 10 bottles of Champagne (Gosset which I definitely recommend) which more than covered the $2k minimum drink spend. As everyone else had drinks packages they took care of any other drinks.

I've got some great pictures from the photographer we brought with us (don't tell Royal ;) ) that I can send to you - let me know your email :)

I also forgot to say that our bridesmaids co-ordinated with the Chops and Speciality dinning managers and were free to do what they wanted (within reason!) to decorate the restaurant from about midday on the day of the wedding.

I think they actually started decorating around 4:30pm (our wedding was 1pm and we'd finished group pictures with both the Royal ship photographer and our own photographer that we'd smuggled onboard at about 3:30-4pm). We'd arranged with Chops for everyone to arrive from 6pm and for Champagne to be served to everyone - we decided to get the speaches out the way and done with before we all sat down for dinner which worked quite well for us. As we'd pre-ordered we'd given the Chops staff several lists of what everyone had ordered, and as everyone had name place card's at their table seat positions they were able to use that to serve everyone their meals.

In the end we had food from about 6:30pm until around 9:30pm, when they provided a knife to enable us to cut the cake. We then stayed in Chops until around 12:30am - like I said they were absolutely brilliant. I thought we'd have to be out by 10/10:30pm at the latest but the staff essentially said that we could stay as long as we wanted as we'd paid for it and for them it was a pretty easy day with only 26 covers to serve! They got a very very big tip for that :D

Thank you!!! You have eased my mind. My email is kerri_power@hotmail.com

I have a few more questions if you don't mind as well :)

Were you allowed to bring your wedding cake in to chops??

Was there a microphone setup for speeches?

Did you do a slideshow?

Thank you!!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Only 25 days out!!!

Speaking by phone with our wedding specialist Desirae today, and still trying to find out if we can have a slideshow in Chops. At this point I'm guessing that I should just let it all go until we get on board!! We were told we could have our ceremony at 1pm, but haven't been given a venue yet.

We are having a set menu (3 choices of each item) for our meal, but I have no idea what the set up of the restaurant will be. I have asked for a head table of 8, then 4 tables of 10, 1 of 6 and one of 8. Hopefully this will look nice. Then we will have our cake cutting and dance there. PS - if you book Chops its for 5:30-11! I don't know if we will utilize the whole time, but we figure people can start gathering at 5:30 and get a drink , then maybe we will arrive at 6.

I certainly don't need pictures from 2pm - 6pm though haha.

I'm worried about music, but sounds like an ipod is just our best option. I just know that if anyone wants a certain song played it screws up the list, I wish a DJ wasn't so much money and trouble lol

Would still love to see your pictures Soulfish!!! I provided my email above :)

Only 25 days out!!!

 

Speaking by phone with our wedding specialist Desirae today, and still trying to find out if we can have a slideshow in Chops. At this point I'm guessing that I should just let it all go until we get on board!! We were told we could have our ceremony at 1pm, but haven't been given a venue yet.

We are having a set menu (3 choices of each item) for our meal, but I have no idea what the set up of the restaurant will be. I have asked for a head table of 8, then 4 tables of 10, 1 of 6 and one of 8. Hopefully this will look nice. Then we will have our cake cutting and dance there. PS - if you book Chops its for 5:30-11! I don't know if we will utilize the whole time, but we figure people can start gathering at 5:30 and get a drink , then maybe we will arrive at 6.

I certainly don't need pictures from 2pm - 6pm though haha.

 

I'm worried about music, but sounds like an ipod is just our best option. I just know that if anyone wants a certain song played it screws up the list, I wish a DJ wasn't so much money and trouble lol

 

Would still love to see your pictures Soulfish!!! I provided my email above :)

You will probably do photos from about 1:30-3:30... then you probably have the muster drill at around 4pm. That only leaves you about 1-1.5 hours to fill. At my wedding, we ran out of time to do photos before the muster drill, so we did them afterward. But, that left us with about an hour before the drill. DH and I went back to our room and just took some time to lay down and relax in the middle of all the excitement. It was really nice to have that opportunity together to let it sink in that we just got married. And with such a busy day, you will likely cherish any chance to just slow down and absorb everything... and those moments go fast.

Oh I forgot to mention we are doing at Sea wedding - so we will have the whole morning to get ready before our ceremony at 1. we just booked an additional 3 hours of photography as well :)

I also forgot to say that our bridesmaids co-ordinated with the Chops and Speciality dinning managers and were free to do what they wanted (within reason!) to decorate the restaurant from about midday on the day of the wedding.

 

I think they actually started decorating around 4:30pm (our wedding was 1pm and we'd finished group pictures with both the Royal ship photographer and our own photographer that we'd smuggled onboard at about 3:30-4pm). We'd arranged with Chops for everyone to arrive from 6pm and for Champagne to be served to everyone - we decided to get the speaches out the way and done with before we all sat down for dinner which worked quite well for us. As we'd pre-ordered we'd given the Chops staff several lists of what everyone had ordered, and as everyone had name place card's at their table seat positions they were able to use that to serve everyone their meals.

 

In the end we had food from about 6:30pm until around 9:30pm, when they provided a knife to enable us to cut the cake. We then stayed in Chops until around 12:30am - like I said they were absolutely brilliant. I thought we'd have to be out by 10/10:30pm at the latest but the staff essentially said that we could stay as long as we wanted as we'd paid for it and for them it was a pretty easy day with only 26 covers to serve! They got a very very big tip for that :D

Hi Soulfish,

Thanks for all your info. It is relevant to me as I am a B2B doing an Out at Sea wedding on board Rhapsody in March!! RCL Out at Sea Wedding reviews and experiences are hard to come by. Our sail date is the 29th March, Wedding day 30th, approximately 60 guests (includes 8 kids from 3yrs - 16yrs of age). :)

We are wanting to buy-out Giovanni's Table and decided this when we did a 2night sampler cruise on board Rhapsody in October 2014, to check her out as we had never cruised on her before. We met with the on board events administration coordinator, and enquired about buying out Chops. Upon looking at the layout of Chops, Giovanni's was more suitable for what we were looking for (and also cheaper!). We were given a copy of the set menu while we were there too.

Also, when we were deciding on what ship & sailing to book for our wedding, we also looked at Radiance. Now, when we view both Radiance & Rhapsody, we were told we could have an open bar which would be more than likely subject to a minimum spend (which is expected), where we could put (as an example) $2k on the bar, and increase the limit should we need too.

I just spoke with my RR specialist 3nights ago, who I have spoken/emailed about wanting to buy out Giovanni's multiple times. And she asked me if I had booked it? I said no because my online reservation only allows a limited number of bookings. I thought that was silly of her to ask, because I have been told to communicate our requirements through her.

Also, she tells me that for there to be alcoholic drinks at our reception dinner, we need to purchase a cocktail hour of $20/person for the 1st hour, and $15/person for every hour after that. This includes us having to pay for non-drinkers?

We actually wanted to carry on the party and good times after Giovanni's closed (OMG you are so lucky they allowed you guys in there until 12:30am. Well done!). And asked to go to the Viking Crown Lounge and continue or set up another bar tab for open bar, up there. When I said we were wanting an open bar, she said we could have a bar person ASWELL as the cocktail hour(s) to allow those people not being attended to by waitstaff to go and order drinks at the bar. And one bar person would cost us $300 for the first hour, then $150 for every hour after that?!? :eek:

I will admit, I am located in Western Australia, the call was after 10pm here due to the time difference (and that was the only time that really suits me), and the phone connection wasn't that great. :confused: I asked her to send me a breakdown of what we had spoken about due to it being so late and the less than ideal phone connection, so I will see if my hearing was right.

How did you get the $2k minimum spend for your reception?

Also, what did the bridal party do for hair and make-up on board?

My apologies for the rant folks, but my questions are genuine. And I would like to mention a HUGE thanks those on this thread sharing their info. I'm pretty sure we willing be avoiding the DJ as we were considering this but not with that price tag. And we are definitely considering purchasing the CD of photos :D

So THANK YOU ALL!

Hi Baybee,

You are right that there are not much information on here for the at sea bride. I am getting married on the Quantum on 3.14.15 (the ultimate pi day), but we do not get back home until 3-22, which I fear is not enough time be useful with information for you.

I have started working with Romance as well, and I have the additional unknowns of being the first bride/wedding for the Quantum, but apparently the captain is really excited. We are the guinea pigs and with no chapel on this ship our big question is where will the ceremony be held. Desirae, had made the original suggestion of the Via, but as pretty as it is, it is just a walk through area and more public than we wanted things to be. She is working on seeing what other areas will be appropriate and more private.

If anyone is interested in a reception idea that is not one of the restaurant, here is our game plan at the moment. This of course is based on final confirmation of the ceremony location and scheduling for the captain and other areas.

We have 20 adults including ourselves and one 18 month old.

3:30pm Photos begin with getting ready, first look and family, etc.

5:00pm Ceremony - Location TBD

5:30-7:30pm Reception

We ballroom dance and have a choreographed first dance that required a request of suitable dance floor

7:30-8:30pm Chance to change or freshen up

8:30pm Formal Dinner in the Grande Dining Room

Hi Soulfish,

 

Thanks for all your info. It is relevant to me as I am a B2B doing an Out at Sea wedding on board Rhapsody in March!! RCL Out at Sea Wedding reviews and experiences are hard to come by. Our sail date is the 29th March, Wedding day 30th, approximately 60 guests (includes 8 kids from 3yrs - 16yrs of age). :)

 

We are wanting to buy-out Giovanni's Table and decided this when we did a 2night sampler cruise on board Rhapsody in October 2014, to check her out as we had never cruised on her before. We met with the on board events administration coordinator, and enquired about buying out Chops. Upon looking at the layout of Chops, Giovanni's was more suitable for what we were looking for (and also cheaper!). We were given a copy of the set menu while we were there too.

Also, when we were deciding on what ship & sailing to book for our wedding, we also looked at Radiance. Now, when we view both Radiance & Rhapsody, we were told we could have an open bar which would be more than likely subject to a minimum spend (which is expected), where we could put (as an example) $2k on the bar, and increase the limit should we need too.

 

I just spoke with my RR specialist 3nights ago, who I have spoken/emailed about wanting to buy out Giovanni's multiple times. And she asked me if I had booked it? I said no because my online reservation only allows a limited number of bookings. I thought that was silly of her to ask, because I have been told to communicate our requirements through her.

Also, she tells me that for there to be alcoholic drinks at our reception dinner, we need to purchase a cocktail hour of $20/person for the 1st hour, and $15/person for every hour after that. This includes us having to pay for non-drinkers?

We actually wanted to carry on the party and good times after Giovanni's closed (OMG you are so lucky they allowed you guys in there until 12:30am. Well done!). And asked to go to the Viking Crown Lounge and continue or set up another bar tab for open bar, up there. When I said we were wanting an open bar, she said we could have a bar person ASWELL as the cocktail hour(s) to allow those people not being attended to by waitstaff to go and order drinks at the bar. And one bar person would cost us $300 for the first hour, then $150 for every hour after that?!? :eek:

I will admit, I am located in Western Australia, the call was after 10pm here due to the time difference (and that was the only time that really suits me), and the phone connection wasn't that great. :confused: I asked her to send me a breakdown of what we had spoken about due to it being so late and the less than ideal phone connection, so I will see if my hearing was right.

 

How did you get the $2k minimum spend for your reception?

Also, what did the bridal party do for hair and make-up on board?

 

My apologies for the rant folks, but my questions are genuine. And I would like to mention a HUGE thanks those on this thread sharing their info. I'm pretty sure we willing be avoiding the DJ as we were considering this but not with that price tag. And we are definitely considering purchasing the CD of photos :D

So THANK YOU ALL!

Hi Baybee,

You are right that there is not much information on here for the at sea bride. I am getting married on the Quantum on 3.14.15 (the ultimate pi day), but we do not get back home until 3-22, which I fear is not enough time be useful with information for you.

I have started working with Romance as well, and I have the additional unknowns of being the first bride/wedding for the Quantum, but apparently the captain is really excited. We are the guinea pigs and with no chapel on this ship our big question is where will the ceremony be held. Desirae, had made the original suggestion of the Via, but as pretty as it is, it is just a walk through area and more public than we wanted things to be. She is working on seeing what other areas will be appropriate and more private.

If anyone is interested in a reception idea that is not one of the restaurants, here is our game plan at the moment. This of course is based on final confirmation of the ceremony location and scheduling for the captain and Boleros.

We have 20 adults including ourselves and one 18 month old.

3:30 - 7:30 Photos begin with getting ready, first look, couple shots around ship, then family portraits, ceremony and into reception.

We are getting the CD with all the pictures. There was 1 hour included in our wedding package, a 2nd hour comes with CD package, we purchased 2 additional hours at $150 and hour to cover the amount of time we felt would be needed to capture most of our day.

5:00pm Ceremony - Location TBD

This will likely be short, simple and to the point for us. We are not religious and do not plan on having any sort of additional items like readings or little side things like a unity candle. When we purchased our package it came with soloist. We are waiting to find out which instrument it will be so that we can provide sheet music for the songs that we want. We are not into classic wedding music.

5:30-7:30pm Private Reception in Boleros

We ballroom dance and have a choreographed first dance that required a request of suitable dance floor.

We did not see the point in paying to feed people on a cruise ship, frankly if you are hungry go to the Windjammer, and leave me alone. However, we are having the premium cocktail reception for two hours, booze we can see paying for. We opted to have the DJ, we do not want to worry about who is playing DJ with an ipod, or what if the speakers we bring do not work well with the space. Then everyone can enjoy those couple of hours with out worry.

We are getting married on Pi(e) day, and we were able to request pie in lieu of the cake that is normally served with the wedding packages. With the number of guests we were able to select 4 different pies to be served.

7:30-8:30pm Chance to change and freshen up

We told our guests that dress for the ceremony and reception should be things like sun dresses/sandals for the women and khakis with a polo or button down for the guys. We originally were told that the ceremony would be in the late morning to early afternoon. As it stands now that has shifted to the late afternoon/early evening.

8:30-10:30pm Formal Dinner in the Grande Dining Room

The Quantum offers a free venue that is Formal every evening and we opted to have dinner the night of our wedding at this venue. Since we have told our guests the ceremony/reception was more casual, our guests will have a chance to change for dinner before hand.

From there, knowing the younger part of our group we will change out of the formal duds and into the party clothes to head to club to finish out the night.

We are not planning on paying for drinks at dinner or after words, our guests will get two hours to hit the premium stuff hard and that is it, any more than that is on them.

Hair and Makeup -

I did not request hair since I have curly hair and plan on wearing it natural. I do not have any bridal party members that will require hair either.

Makeup - I was told that they do not normally offer makeup service. Occasionally there is someone working in the spa that will offer it, but it is not guaranteed and you will not be able to find out until you are aboard the ship. I am not a makeup person and this was a scary idea to me. I have purchased a bunch of makeup and been practicing and trying different looks so that at the very least I can just take care of it myself.

As for your question about the non drinkers - I believe the charge will be based on your total head count regardless of their personal preference of imbibing. I am not sure if they charge a lower rate for children. You also have to pay for people that have already purchased an alcohol package. The charges are more about the staffing than what is actually being consumed.

Best of Luck to you,

Genevieve

PS Dining on the Quantum is a disaster to book and every person working at RC knows it. I eventually had to take a rotation of the 4 main free venues at 8:30 to have my entire group accommodated. Groups dept totally dropped the ball when I made the request in April, and it took me literally crying with the Resolution person a couple of weeks ago to finally get something taken care of. This thing lingered for so long that what I had originally requested could no longer be accommodated and I had to settle for the late dinner rotation.

My big thing for "things I wish I had known" would be that make sure all of your guests book directly with RC, if they go through a travel agent, it will make everything harder to take care of and you will be told over and over again that they can not help you with the people booked with a travel agent (and the travel agent will not release the booking because they lose the commission). And yes I asked/told people to book directly with RC, but they just did what ever the hell that wanted to save a few bucks here or there. What do they care about the grief and aggravation I go through every time I try and take care of something.... now that is how your rant, yet provide valuable information. :p

Hi Soulfish,

 

Thanks for all your info. It is relevant to me as I am a B2B doing an Out at Sea wedding on board Rhapsody in March!! RCL Out at Sea Wedding reviews and experiences are hard to come by. Our sail date is the 29th March, Wedding day 30th, approximately 60 guests (includes 8 kids from 3yrs - 16yrs of age). :)

 

We are wanting to buy-out Giovanni's Table and decided this when we did a 2night sampler cruise on board Rhapsody in October 2014, to check her out as we had never cruised on her before. We met with the on board events administration coordinator, and enquired about buying out Chops. Upon looking at the layout of Chops, Giovanni's was more suitable for what we were looking for (and also cheaper!). We were given a copy of the set menu while we were there too.

Also, when we were deciding on what ship & sailing to book for our wedding, we also looked at Radiance. Now, when we view both Radiance & Rhapsody, we were told we could have an open bar which would be more than likely subject to a minimum spend (which is expected), where we could put (as an example) $2k on the bar, and increase the limit should we need too.

 

I just spoke with my RR specialist 3nights ago, who I have spoken/emailed about wanting to buy out Giovanni's multiple times. And she asked me if I had booked it? I said no because my online reservation only allows a limited number of bookings. I thought that was silly of her to ask, because I have been told to communicate our requirements through her.

Also, she tells me that for there to be alcoholic drinks at our reception dinner, we need to purchase a cocktail hour of $20/person for the 1st hour, and $15/person for every hour after that. This includes us having to pay for non-drinkers?

We actually wanted to carry on the party and good times after Giovanni's closed (OMG you are so lucky they allowed you guys in there until 12:30am. Well done!). And asked to go to the Viking Crown Lounge and continue or set up another bar tab for open bar, up there. When I said we were wanting an open bar, she said we could have a bar person ASWELL as the cocktail hour(s) to allow those people not being attended to by waitstaff to go and order drinks at the bar. And one bar person would cost us $300 for the first hour, then $150 for every hour after that?!? :eek:

I will admit, I am located in Western Australia, the call was after 10pm here due to the time difference (and that was the only time that really suits me), and the phone connection wasn't that great. :confused: I asked her to send me a breakdown of what we had spoken about due to it being so late and the less than ideal phone connection, so I will see if my hearing was right.

 

How did you get the $2k minimum spend for your reception?

Also, what did the bridal party do for hair and make-up on board?

 

My apologies for the rant folks, but my questions are genuine. And I would like to mention a HUGE thanks those on this thread sharing their info. I'm pretty sure we willing be avoiding the DJ as we were considering this but not with that price tag. And we are definitely considering purchasing the CD of photos :D

So THANK YOU ALL!

Hello everyone. I decided to start my review now. There is not a lot of information out there for cruise weddings and especially for RCCL weddings. I thought by posting my experiences it could help people in the process and maybe others can chime in and help. It is long so I will post a little at a time.

 

Cruise review

My wedding on board the Allure May 12, 2013

This review is from the stand point of a bride AKA me. Once I get thru the planning phase and the actual wedding, it will be a general Allure review. But for anyone looking to have a celebration on Allure I hope this will help. I found it very hard to find the answers I was looking for as a bride.

I have sailed RCCL a few times and my fiance has never cruised before. But he loves the water and was all for a cruise. YEA, my dream come true. My favorite person in the world and my favorite way to travel.

My journey begins on July 24, 2012 when my boyfriend proposed to me. We already had a cruise planned in Sept for vacation. We decided this would make the perfect location for our wedding. In order to allow family members to cruise with us, we moved our cruise to the summer so kids would not have to miss school.

The first thing I did was call Royal to schedule our wedding. I was told someone would have to call me back and it could take a few weeks. A few days passed and I was very nervous. What if I did not get my date? How many people are booking that they are this busy they can not call back? I REALLY want this ship and this day….And I like to book my cruise a year in advance so I get the room I want. I am very particular about my room!!! I called them back. I was very nice and said that I really needed to book our wedding because we had people who wanted to book their cruises. They actually put me thru to someone. The problem was I could barley understand their accent. But I got thru the conversation and they emailed me everything so I could reread. Except now I had more questions….Well, that night I received a call. This person did not known I had already spoken to someone. So my guess is, if I had not called, I would have had a call that night any ways. I got my questions answered. We signed and faxed the contract and the next day received an email confirmation.

Buyer Beware- see my OP March 2015- Carnival does a much better job!! RCCL should be ashamed of how they rip you off!! Loyalty has no meaning with RCCCL!!