beachmonkey

We were allowed to take some of the cake home. Arrange it with the group coordinators (I sound like a broken record) and they will freeze a section for you to take at the end of the trip.

Another idea would be to plan something around the white hot party (I think that is still on the Sky). Matching shirts, get glow sticks/necklaces from the dollar store..

On our last cruise, we attended a wedding on the ship (someone we met here on CC!). The family all had white outfits for the big party. The pictures were great.

The group department took our gift bags and delivered them to each cabin. We found beach bags at Target that had a clear pocket on one side. We put a welcome with their names, an itinerary of any things planned during the week (dinner, shows, etc), a list of the other guests and their cabin numbers. IN the bags we included a "Oh $%#% Kit" that had bandaids, lip balm, hand sanitizer, Tylenol, gum/mints (with our wedding date on them)...), we had t-shirts made up that everyone wore the day we were at the NCL island (group picture).

I am sure the crew can help you and your groom board the ship without seeing each other. You can't be the first person to make that request!

We arranged to have three rooms ready when we boarded. One for us, one for the Best Man and Best Diva and one for the priest who was marrying us.

We requested approval early to bring food on the ship. Normally that is not allowed. We brought the decorated cookies on with us (each was individually wrapped). We arranged for Buddy Valastro (The Cake Boss) to make our wedding cake. The cake was not made on the ship so that also had to be arranged and approved ahead of time.

I am so excited for you! Your wedding is going to be amazing and one that your guests will never forget!

While our situation was a bit different...2 grooms. It was a great wedding and everything worked very well. NCL, the wedding vendor, and the NCL group department really work hard to ensure that everything goes well.

In regards to your questions:

We had the wedding and reception (90+ guests with 25 sailing), said good-bye to our guests who were not sailing, and then quickly changed (again 2 grooms are much easier) for the muster drill and afternoon. We asked our sailing guests to put their wedding clothes back on for dinner that night. We then took some additional pictures around the ship.

Boarding:

We boarded together. When we arrived at the pier, our guests were already gathered in a separate area with the NCL group coordinators. We said a quick hello and then ran off to the wedding (Manhattan Room on the Breakaway) and reception (the Bliss lounge) locations to take care of a few last minute details, direct our friends on set-up etc. We then went to our cabin to get dressed. Your NCL contacts have done this all before...they can answer your questions and put your mind at ease.

We would be happy to answer any questions, provide ideas, or helpful tips. Some other things we did: gift beach bags in each stateroom, VIP badges to make our guests feel special, souvenir cookies that looked like the Breakaway, signature drink for the reception (designed to help speed up the service for our guests...they could order anything, but this was very helpful)...also check out Lipz review in the Honeymoon/wedding section. They also got married on NCL.

You can reach us at reryan24 gmail.com

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

Robert and Ralph

Headed to Mexico for Thanksgiving. This is the first time we have ever cruised over a major holiday. Anyone joining us?

Congratulations to you and your bride to be!

My DH and I have been a few times and love Bermuda. We took one of the sunset catamaran tours and it was very romantic. The crew pointed out some interesting sites and answered questions about the island area. Of course, the sunset can't be beat!

Bon Voyage and congratulations again!

In addition to our Celebrity Reflection Mediterranean cruise, we have just added another for 2016 on the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas (Bahamas) for Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving cruise is one we are putting together for our friends and families.

Go to the Honeymoon/Wedding forum here on Cruise Critic. There are a number of people who have worked with Celebrity and they may have some first hand advice. We never encountered anyone on the forum who had an issue with us being a gay couple so no need to be shy.

We got married on the Norwegian Breakaway and there is a lot to plan and arrange on your own. We found NCL and their Royal Ocean Events (their wedding vendor) to be very helpful. The forum here on CC had some great ideas too.

Let me know if there is any way we can help too.

Our "next" booking will be with NCL, but we have 2 other cruises on other lines. This will be our first time trying other cruise lines in many years. We are not really unhappy with NCL, but want to see what we might be missing.

At the risk of sounding aloof, any help on the following would be appreciated:

 

1) I have heard that with the recent promotions several of the specialty restaurants are getting difficult to book. On past cruises our Haven concierge has gotten us into anything we wanted. Has this changed? Or were we simply lucky?

 

2) We also used to get a notice about a pre-cruise concierge line we could call to reserve certain items. Does this still exist? Do i care?

 

3) Does the new room service fee apply to the Haven?

 

Many thanks!

We just got off the Getaway a couple of weeks ago.

We had no trouble booking specialty restaurants when onboard. In fact, we were surprised that they were not busier given the dining package. The exception would be Teppanyaki since they have limited seating available. We did it on this cruise and it was one of the best on any NCL ship.

We had room service for breakfast one morning (eggs bacon etc.) and there was no room service charge.

We did get a letter, luggage tags and number for the pre-cruise concierge. Called the number and everything was ready when we arrived at our cabin the first day.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Bon Voyage!

We were on the Getaway a couple of weeks ago and did the Cat sail and snorkel with the turtles. It was a great trip. They also have an option to use the power snorkel.

We try to make it a few times during each cruise. This last one (NCL Getaway), we only made it one night and even then we could only stay 15-20 minutes because we were meeting friends for dinner.

The gatherings change from cruise to cruise. We have had some where there was not much interaction or low attendance. Other times, it was a pretty active group with lots of interaction, dinners, and excursions during the entire cruise.

Gay couple living in the Boise, Idaho area. We are originally from New York City/New Jersey area. Love cruises and decided it was the perfect way for us to get married.

15 days 16 hours...but who's counting!

That was one reason why we got married on the ship while in port. 90+ guests attended the wedding. 24 guests sailed with us after the ceremony and reception.

We were married on the Breakaway before leaving port. They do weddings during the sailing, but I think you may have to bring your own officiant.

We were married in the Manhattan Room (Tropicana Room on Getaway) and then our reception was in the Bliss Lounge.

The space worked well for us because we had a large number of guests at the wedding. The Tropicana room might seem too big if you only have a small number of guests. It does have a nice view with the large windows and they already have a piano there if you wanted some music.

For our reception, we supplied the dance music and even a short video as we were introduced. The Group Staff on the ship even put our names in the lights on the wall (I was so excited that I did not even notice until seeing the pictures and video later.).

NCL did a great job. You start by working with their wedding vendor and then the Group Staff on the ship take over closer to the date.

My experience with the pre-cruise concierge desk is that they are not an indicator of the Haven experience. Rest assured that once onboard, the experience is top notch. The onboard concierge staff is highly trained and strong advocates to ensure that you are feeling pampered.

Have a great trip.

MSC did a great job of working with local authorities to enhance security and care for their passengers. I can only imagine what the mood of the ship is like right now. Knowing cruisers, they will likely be a great source of comfort for each other.

Praying for the victims, passengers, crew, other tourists, and the community.

We have LOVED our aft balconies. You get wonderful views, the sound of the water is soothing...you have a 50/50 chance of going the right direction to find your cabin too! Don't laugh...some days it is harder than you think! #ultimatebeveragepackage

The Breakaway is a great ship. They post the LGBT in the daily. It is usually 7pm at the martini bar (right next to the ice bar). It is a non-hosted event.

Have a great trip!

We are on the same cruise! How did you book this? Was it through NCL or through the hotel?

 

We were thinking of just staying on the ship given everything I have heard about Nassau, but this seems like a nice way to spend the morning and early afternoon.

 

Thanks!!

I don't know if we can share that information, but you can reach me at

reryan24 at gmail.com

We have it booked for Getaway cruise in April/May. The reviews, pictures, and videos I saw looked like it would be a nice place to check out. Especially for the price.

Roll Calls and M&G do not always seem to relate. The roll call and be quite chatty and fun, but the M&G is dull and people hardly talk (or vice versa). I think these things are what you make them.

Our upcoming cruise has some fun interactive events planned. Some of the standard stuff, but also a pre-cruise dinner in Miami. I would love to take credit for arranging it.

Congratulations Cruising_Mickey and GARich74!!!!

Be sure to check out the information in the weddings and honeymoons forum. There are a lot of great ideas, tools, and "good to know" about getting married on a cruise.

We did ours while in port so we could have both sailing and non-sailing guests attend. Be sure to check the review and pictures from CC member Lipz.

We are booked on the Celebrity Reflection April 2016. We will be seeing Italy, Greece, and Turkey. We will be sailing over our 2nd wedding anniversary.

Thanks for the information! It has been years since I sailed on Celebrity and I am looking forward to returning.