Celebrity Summit Vow Renewal Review

[martodd]

I have been a lurker for a few months as my husband and I were to renew our vows on the Summit last week.

I decided to write a review because there are not that many reviews of vow renewals and even fewer reviews of weddings/renewals on Celebrity.

 

To start off…..

My husband and I have been married for 20 years. As with any relationship there were ups and downs and we thought it would be a great idea to renew our vows and reconfirm our love.

We decided on a cruise to Bermuda because that is what we did for our honeymoon 20 years ago, this time we are doing it with three kids in tow (18, 14, and 11), in their own cabin of course ☺

We also picked this cruise because we live in NJ and we were hoping to have family and a few close friends attend the renewal. Well to allow us to have non-sailing guests attend an embarkation day vow renewal we had to book it as a wedding.

Since it was important for us to have my elderly parents there and the other few family and friends it was not a question to us.

 

Planning:

I think I would have been a bit more crazy if this had been an actual wedding. There was very little contact with TWE and it did take time to hear back each time.

 

Boarding:

We were told to be at the pier by 10:30 with all our non-sailing guests. We got there at that time and our on site coordinator Tammi was waiting. She did a wonderful job for us. She got us and our guests through security and to a section of the waiting area. She explained how things will work, took us as we were the only ones sailing to get checked in and kept an eye on all going on.

After we were checked in she introduced us to the minister performing the ceremony. We discussed how we wanted things, music, blessing etc.

It was fine for me since again it was a renewal but if it were a wedding I would have been crazy to have to go over all that again right before the ceremony.

 

At this time our guests were given guest passes and we boarded the bus down the pier to the ship. (11:30)

Tammy took my husband, children and I to our cabins and took our guests to Michael’s Club so they would know where to return to at 12:45, and were then free to explore the ship.

 

Ceremony:

The ceremony started a few minutes early since we were all there on time and it was very nice. (my husband even cried like he did at our wedding)

 

The photographer took some group shots after the ceremony and we went to the Normandie for our reception. The photographer wanted to take us then for photos but since all of our guests were leaving after the reception he said he would take us then.

 

We all received champagne upon entering the restaurant. My mother does not drink and they promptly got a ginger ale and put it in a champagne glass for her.

 

As always the food and presentation in the Normandie was wonderful. There is not one thing I can think of to complain about. Our 14 year old daughter even gave us a wonderful toast!!

 

All too soon it was time for the guests to leave. It was a wonderful ceremony, an amazing lunch and we are hoping to do it again some day.

 

We did find out that Tammi our coordinator put the minister in charge of my elderly parents and walked with them from the ceremony to the lunch as they go much slower than the rest. It was nice to know they were looked after.

 

Ceremony

 

The Family

 

The Normandie

 

Our Daughter's Toast

 

I will post more pictures in another post as it says I exceded my limit.

[martodd]

Continued:

 

Some of the Photographer's Pictures

 

The flowers supplied with the package

Very happy I got mine from Angel's

 

There is very little Celebrity information out there so I will be happy to anwer any questions that anyone may have.

[Jesuscenterofmyjoy]

:) you all look so great together, congrats on your renewal...and your children are beautiful...

[our turn]

Congratulations on your renewal! Everyone looked wonderful. We just did ours for our 25th on the Celebrity Century and it was fabulous.

[Lelelove02]

Hi! I am a future Celebrity bride and I could not agree with you more...there is very little Celebrity information. I'm glad to see that for the most part everything worked out for your renewal. Did you have to take the flowers in the package? or is there a way you can discuss removing the flowers from the package? I also notice that you had some pictures of your special day. How do you find their photography packages to be? Also, what dinner package did you choose? The one I am thinking of is the sit down dinner with two options for an entree...But it's twice expensive...Don't know what to do...

 

I appreciate any help I can get! Thank you.

[martodd]

Sorry for the delay, I have not been back on the boards for a while as we don't have any upcoming cruises :mad:

 

We did Dining option 1 and picked the filet of beef as everyone in our group were meat eaters. If not we would have had the choice of two but were happy to save the money. There was a choice of lobster ravioli or caprese salad for the appetizers.

We were also able to have hamburgers or chicken fingers for any children that wanted them (that was not listed in the options).

 

We didn't ask about removing the flowers but it was only mine and my husbands. We used those flowers to decorate the cabin for the week but would have been disappointed if they were the ones I was going to carry.

 

We were happy with the photography. It is expensive as you would expect but we think he got some nice shots including the candid looking ones. We also had a friend there with a good camera and the photographer had no problems letting him shoot some of his posed pictures after the pro was done.

 

I feel your pain about the lack of information for Celebrity Weddings. Please let me know if I can help you any more and I will make sure to check in more often.

 

Good luck!!