RiaTheOutlander

I’m in the process of planning my wedding at sea on NCL Escape. We’re sailing on 10/21 and getting married the first sea day (10/22). So I’ll answer any questions you have the best that I can!

 

I decided not to do save the dates and skipped right to formal invitations that I sent out a little over a year in advance to give people time to save money and book the cruise. We sent out about 50 invites and have 30 sailing with us. I set up a wedding website, which I included the link on the invite (I can send you our invites if you’re interested) and now that it’s getting closer and we have a guest list, we set up a Facebook page so we can all communicate as a group.

 

I told family and friends about us doing a cruise wedding and got mixed responses. Some were VERY excited and even booked it before I did. Some were not excited and I heard a lot of comments such as “why a cruise, you can have a bigger and better ceremony here.” This did not affect our decision at all, we were set on this and are happy we decided to keep it like this. Of course, there’s family that can’t make it or afford to come but overall we’re happy.

 

So far, planning has been simple and my wedding coordinator is amazing. We booked as a group and received perks for that. My wedding coordinator answers my emails very promptly and answers every question I have (which I had a lot of).

 

There’s not a lot you can do for planning too far in advance. I just found out this week the time and place that my ceremony will be at and booked my photographer and cake but they handle everything really well.

 

Any questions you have with planning feel free to ask!

Wow that's great info! I'm in the beginning stages of planning as well. Thank you for the info!

Hello all!

So, our date is set for June 2020, haven't booked yet though but will ASAP. I have a question for you all though. Wedding Officiants, can you bring your own, or do I have to use the one that they provide? We will be on RCL if that helps. :D Also, what about the photographers? Can I bring my own videographer?

I'm doing an embarkation day wedding, on NCL Escape. We're getting married over Memorial Day Weekend, so we're just over 90 days away.

 

I think RCCL and NCL use the same wedding planner company, Royal Ocean Events. I've been working with Tiffany there, and so far she has been great at replying to emails and answering any of our questions as they come up.

 

Some basic details: We're getting married while the ship is docked in NYC, before it sails to Bermuda. Currently, we're at about 55 guests, with 12-14 of those sailing on the cruise. We booked a hotel block in Queens the night before the wedding and we're having a little welcome party there since most people are coming in from out of town and the wedding reception is very short for embarkation day weddings. (Why Queens? Because booking event space in Manhattan was SUPER expensive. It was more cost effective to book the hotel in queens and hire a shuttle bus to bring everyone from the hotel to the cruise terminal)

 

I'll be posting a full recap after the wedding. Let me know if you have any questions in the meanwhile!

Can't wait to hear about your wedding and your experience!!!

I'm happy to share what I have! The brochure on their site is quite different than the actual offerings. They only give you the official option book once you put a deposit down, but I can send it to you and share my experience and learnings. Shoot me an email. My address is my full name (First name is on my user name) Erin Miller at GMail, no spaces between my first middle and last name.

Would you mind if I emailed you as well?! My fiance and I are looking at a 2020 wedding but online it doesn't say much on their brochure. It would be a great if you could hep us out as well a little bit. I would truly appreciate it. :*

I was married onboard Freedom (docked in Port Canaveral) in 2010. The only complaint I have was dealing with their “planners” (‘Royal Romance”) was stressful, but it looks like they changed companies? I was very much a “go with the flow” kind of bride and found that a cruise wedding was a perfect fit. I didn’t want to stress about flowers and place settings and venues. The only thing I really cared about was selecting our own music which my husband recorded. That was no problem.

 

We had an amazing, carefree wedding and had a blast sailing with our families after (we did a separate short trip after as a honeymoon). It was like a weeklong party. They helped us board first, made sure there were no problems, had our stateroom ready so we could relax/get dressed before the ceremony and then ushered us up to the chapel. It was a really special week. I’m still happy with our decision because I would’ve been a ball of nerves the entire day if I went the traditional route.

Thank you sooooo much,,,

My wife and I got married on embarkation day out of Bayonne. It was definitely an enjoyable experience and a unique wedding but you need to have the right set of expectations.

 

Royal Romance was who we dealt with and they will not talk to you very much until about six to eight weeks away. I would have to look back to see when the communication picked up, but once it did their full attention was on you and the communication was frequent.

 

The wedding itself is pretty paint by numbers and a boilerplate contract. They give you a list of options to choose from for each part of the wedding and reception. There are different options depending on the number of guests. We were bringing our own priest to officiate and we wanted the wedding in the Viking Crown Lounge. Since we made that clear up front, it was accommodated and all necessary paperwork was taken care of. While it was paint by numbers, we were allowed to do all the reasonable things we asked for both in advance and on the ship.

 

 

There is a bit of work required on your end. We had to get driver's license or passport numbers for all of our guest whether they were sailing or not. I believe that was a US Customs thing and not Royal.

 

 

They had staff waiting for us at the pier and they did not leave our side until the end of the wedding. The ship staff could not be more helpful and it seemed like they were enjoying themselves as well. We personally brought an iPod with dedicated playlists for each event of the wedding/reception to make things go smooth. The food was a buffet and it was plentiful. The cake is a standard but you can use you own topper or ribbon to elevate it. A recommendation would be to pay extra to have waiters working the room taking drink orders in addition to the bar tenders. It was well worth the cost.

 

Even though on paper the time seems limited, we did not feel rushed and we pushed it right up until the very end. It was nice to have the wedding and the ceremony back to back as it kept the day moving. Even though we were in the Viking Crown Lounge, we had a few guests go off exploring the ship. Some may or may not have visited the Windjammer.

 

 

Bottom line is that it is all what you make of it. The main two things are you have to put a little work into tweaking the event to your liking and be willing to be patient for those months when Royal Romance does not want to talk with you that often.

 

 

If you have any questions,please feel free to ask .

Wow!! Thank you for all the info!! Truly appreciate it!

Thank you everyone!

Hello everyone!! I am new to this board in hopes of finding some answers!

My fiancé and I have been looking at cruise weddings for a long time, I think since we first got engaged because we both have large families, lol. We don't want everyone there but there are some we do want there that we know won't be able to cruise with us for a week. It's a lot to ask for.

We live in NJ so we can do the Embarkation Day Wedding with RCCL right at Cape Liberty. It won't be until 2020 so we have a lot of time but I just needed to start doing some research before I make my final decision. I am not a planner and don't even wan't to plan my own wedding, is that terrible? I've seen a lot of pros and cons about it but not really any actual stories from people who have done it. Is there anyone here that would like to share with me their experiences, prices, and maybe some photos?! It would truly help us out. Thanks in advanced everyone! ❤️

Hello everyone!! I am new to this board in hopes of finding some answers! :)

My fiancé and I have been looking at cruise weddings for a long time, I think since we first got engaged because we both have large families, lol. We don't want everyone there but there are some we do want there that we know won't be able to cruise with us for a week. It's a lot to ask for.

We live in NJ so we can do the Embarkation Day Wedding right at Cape Liberty. It won't be until 2020 so we have a lot of time but I just needed to start doing some research before I make my final decision. I am not a planner and don't even wan't to plan my own wedding, is that terrible? I've seen a lot of pros and cons about it but not really any actual stories from people who have done it. Is there anyone here that would like to share with me their experiences, prices, and maybe some photos?! It would truly help us out. Thanks in advanced everyone! ❤️