beachmonkey

Welcome to cruising! We love it and would take even more if we had more $$$, time, and if Idaho was near water!

The videos were great too! I could feel the excitement of you enjoying your first of many cruises!

There are several options if you decide to create your own. Wedding websites, like the knot, have some simple options that let you just pick and choose the features and look you want.

We just ordered our cookies that we will have as favors at the wedding. We found a baker in NYC and designed the cookie using the ship hull. We had to get permission from Norwegian in order to bring a food item on the ship. They approved because they will each be individually wrapped (with a purple ribbon - the signature wedding color).

I am going to try to add the timeline here and will e-mail it as requested too.

Martinelli_Ryan Wedding Timeline_NCL.pdf

In my opinion, the Breakaway received some unfavorable reviews when it was first launched (first several months especially) because eager cruise lovers were the first to try her out. Some people think it gives them credibility to find negative comparisons. There was also little tolerance for the quirks of a newly launched ship.

The Getaway is a sister ship, but has better initial reviews. I think that speaks to the fact that it is not the first ship in the class. Also, from a service perspective, many of the crew that launched the Breakaway were on the Getaway. They had been through it before and knew the ship.

I sailed on the Breakaway for her inaugural cruise to Bermuda. I had very high expectations too. It did not meet all of my hopes and dreams, but she is a good ship with something for everyone. The service was great given that the crew had a lot of people and a new ship.

That is adorable! I love the idea and that you want your guests to have such a special experience.

We just had a dinner party at our home for our traveiling (not sailing) and sailing guests from Idaho. We provided some more time details, reviewed who is arriving and when (we are scheduling their airport limo to drive them to the hotel and then airport after the cruise), we had lots of questions and shared ideas, and our guests had a chance to get to know each other better.

It is going to be a lot of fun...but the term herding cats comes to mind!

When does the wedding coordinater get intouch with you before the Wedding.. Ours is two weeks from today and have yet to get a call about final details.. I would have thought they would have called before now but i sent an Email and they said they are working on our package and will get with us in the weeks ahead.... Really?? Thats all the answer i get?

I have to say that they are not much for staying in touch and comforting you in letting you know how the process is and will go.. I would have thought they would atleast call and check in with you and see if you had any questions seeing as how we are paying them and it is there job..

Am i wrong?

Frequent communication so close would be "nice" for sure! You must be soooo excited at this point!

We are 60 days out and just sent our coordinator a very detailed timeline of our expectations. Their response was that this is something they wish everyone did. While we rely on our coordinators, we are nervous about making sure everything goes off just right. Trying to make plans from 1800 miles away is not easy on the nerves, but exciting.

Thank you for posting your review and especially for your experience at KSC. We booked that as well and it sounds like ti was a good idea. I am a nerd for history and science so I know I will be in heaven!

Thanks again for taking the time to share your vacation!

Congratulations!!!!

AHHHH ONLY 77 DAYS at the time of this post! Tonight's our "Groomal" party and things are starting to get "real"!!

 

Seems like forever ago since I posted this! Thank you all of your input!

 

Planning is FINALLY done! Had some road bumps along the way, but we were able to work them out with the different NCL Staff's/groups etc.

Congratulations...to use a nautical term...being able to "go with the flow" on all of those quirky bumps makes all of the difference. Looking forward to hearing more and seeing some pictures!

Lipz...looking forward to seeing you in a few months!

Thanks for the information and cabin review. We are booked in 11706 (right above yours).

Some on CC have mentioned issues with customer service via their personal cruise consultant at NCL. We have never had that issue. They have always been friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. We have also had nice success with getting the best deals if the price drops. Just be sure to review all of the changes since a price drop might remove any OBC you have on the account.

Have a great trip!

We loved the Haven restaurant and private areas. On the Pearl, we had access to Cagneys (which was wonderful). On the Breakaway we had our first full Haven experience. The restaurant, bar and staff were great! We enjoyed the whole ship, but the Haven access made it so much more personal.

We ate there on the innaugural cruise. The food was excellent (especially the soup) and the chef explained how she had to audition to get the job. I will mention that the cost of the restaurant went up after our cruise so we did enjoy it at a lower cost than it is today.

We are sailing on the Breakaway again in April and do not plan on going back to Ocean Blu unless one of the friends sailing with us is interested. We enjoy the MDR and other restaurants as well.

It is certainly worth trying if you want a new experience on NCL.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

We really enjoyed the Breakaway. We sailed her last year and we are getting married onboard her later this year. We enjoyed good food, great service, and lots of laughs.

Some people think that being critical means that they are a seasoned pro with the final word on a ship or cruise line. At the end of the day, we all enjoy different foods, cruise line styles, etc.

We just hit the 99 day mark!!! :)

tick tock tick tock

I think there are 2 reasons why it is not available during spring break.

The first, as has been stated, is that NCL stands to make more money due to the increased beverage consumption.

The second has to do with the safety and enjoyment of passengers. I appreciate that this is a consideration.

I might be off my rocker, but that is how I see it.

We chose not to register and appreciate the effort that our guests will make to attend our wedding (regardless of how far).

We have still have many requests for gift ideas and to have a celebration when we return. I am not comfortable asking for gifts during birthdays and holidays so this is out of my comfort zone. If I had to suggest an idea...a cruise gift card would be appreciated!

Gifts are not welcome on the cruise line so we will have a box of some kind to collect cards.

Thanks for sharing this link. It is a great review of the choices onboard.

We have several new cruisers joining us in April and a ship this size can be a lot to take in with all of the excitement. We have sailed on her already, but, like a good movie, you catch something new everytime.

We call ours a rehearsal dinner, but it is really just as much a "thank you" for our special guests and family/friends who travelled to join us. We are having almost 40 people attend this dinner and wish we could have room for more. Our embarkation day wedding will not have a sit down dinner for the non-sailing guests so this kind of replaces it.

Since we are getting married while in the NYC port, we have arranged a "party" bus for the night befor to take our guests around the city for a few hours. Most have never been to NYC before and are quite excited to see as much as possible.

That is a good question. We decided to treat our gusts like they are attending a big event. We have special guest passes that include the time and location on the ship. A couple of our friends will be passing out the VIP passes when boarding the ship.

We are getting married on board the NCL Breakaway in April. We will have close to 100 guests with about 25 sailing. We will be married in port which allows us to have guests attend who would not otherwise be able to sail.

NCL and their group team have been really very good to work with in planning the event. Don't leave anything to chance and ask for anything you want/need. Also check out the wedding forum on CC.

Carnival Miracle

April 2012 in NY

Port embarkation wedding

50 guests

Polka dot icing to match my dress

Topper is our initials -from Etsy

The cake and pictures are beautiful!

Last year, I scoured the internet to find reviews of weddings on cruise ships and found very little. I'm hoping that this review/post will help future couples in their planning.

 

One word I would choose to describe this experience is "disorganized." It would be nice for the Royal Ocean Events to send a checklist of all the things that they do not cover that would be extra instead of listing the few things that they do cover. We probably would have rethought this whole idea had we known ahead of time how much extra we would need to spend. It was also a rough experience because the first person who started the process (who was terrible at responding to questions) left about 3 months before the wedding. The second person who picked up the account was very thorough.

 

So, when we planned the trip, we received the brochure with somewhat vague details and our questions for clarification were not answered. The package was about $2800 and included 1 hour photography, bouquet and boutonniere, limo ride for the bride and groom only, cake, and 1 bottle of champagne which we thought was a pretty good deal. However, there was no mention that the charge did NOT include, site fees (each site may charge an extra fee that may or may not include chair rentals for guests), transportation for guests, any sort of decorations for the wedding site, administrative fees, or wedding license fees. The last one is very important because despite our efforts to contact the company coordinating the wedding about it, we found out 2 weeks before sail date that we needed to do the paperwork for the license and spend another $250. Also, there is a 15% administration fee. So all in all, including transportation for our guests, we paid an extra unanticipated $1450 which brought our total bill to around $4250 which was way more than we wanted to spend but by the time we were given the final tally, it was too late for people to cancel their cruise reservations. Now, my husband and I do not make all that much money and we were paying for this wedding out of pocket so being that much over our budget felt horrible.

 

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. The weather was amazing and the on site wedding coordinators were very nice which made me feel slightly better about all the hassle and the hidden "fees."

 

Now, onto the wedding dinner. I had called 2 weeks prior to our sail date to make reservations for 17 people in one of NCL Breakaway's dining rooms which was then later confirmed. My Maid of Honor got their 5 minutes early and confirmed that there was a reservation. However, when I showed up 5 minutes later, the reservation had "disappeared." They told us not to worry and they'll take care of the situation. Sadly, their solution was to push together 3 round tables that sat 12 which forced some people in the group to sit at another table. Since the tables were round, some people (including me) were forced to sit with their backs facing other people. Meanwhile, there was a table set off in the back room for 15 people that remained free for about an hour. Why they decided to hold our large table and not allow us to sit their is beyond me but it was a horrible end to a beautiful wedding day.

 

All in all, we had far more negative experiences than positive ones and I would say that NCL and Royal Ocean Events are ill equipt to handle weddings.

Melody...first I want to congratulate you on your wedding!!!

You did not mention if you got married on the ship or at one of the ports. We are getting married on the ship so that will reduce our rental expense. The information we received from Royal Ocean and the NCL website has been helpful, but we are not leaving much to chance. We are already planning on getting the license early, and ordered decorations and other items over time. We do have a big expense for the transportation from the hotel to the ship. Most of our guests are coming from out of town so we felt like it is just part of our role to help out.

I am so sorry that you had so many unexpected expenses and last minute tasks to deal with on top of your big day.

I would like to hear more details of your wedding and the guests experience on the Breakaway. I know it would help us out.