LONG Carnival Splendor Wedding/Long Beach Review

[jangng]

Hi everyone! I'm back from my weddingmoon cruise and it was awesome :D *Warning* this will be a very long review. I got lots of information and great ideas from brides on this board, so I hope this review can help someone out!

Background

I got married on the Carnival Splendor on embarkation day, February 19th. We had 29 guests with 6 sailing with us. We did the formal luncheon package. I will break this review down into 3 parts—Long Beach and pre-wedding, the wedding day, and post-wedding/afterthoughts. I would be more than happy to answer any questions!

 

Long Beach and Pre-wedding

 

We got into LAX 3 days before the wedding to relax and adjust to the time difference (we were coming off of a 13-hour flight from Korea). There were 6 of us traveling together so we reserved a shuttle through Supershuttle for $85. It was well worth it because all 7 of our big suitcases fit and we didn’t have to wait for other people to board the shuttle before heading out to Long Beach. There was no traffic on the roads, so we got to our hotel in about 30 minutes.

 

Residence Inn Long Beach Downtown

I would recommend this hotel for anyone doing weddings in Long Beach. Almost all of our guests were from out of town and most of them stayed with us here. In addition to free internet and free breakfast (limited buffet with hot and cold food- very yummy make-your-own waffles), they have large suites, so families or groups of friends can stay together. Our guests were very impressed by the hotel. Each room has a living room and full kitchen with everything you need to cook and serve food, this was such a plus because we spent every night drinking wine and having late night snacks with our friends without worrying about taking cabs or driving into the city. They had one of our rooms ready for us (the 2-bedroom suite) when we checked in at 10:30am, so we could get some rest right away. The front desk people were also very nice and helpful. You can get some delivery menus from the front desk and call for food to be delivered if you’re too tired to go out. There is small mart (mart is an overstatement) with some basic necessities and snacks for sale but just as a warning, things are extremely overpriced—a liter of water was $4 and a bottle of beer was about $6, wine was a bit more reasonable at about $20. You can take the free red shuttle to Walmart and Albertsons to pick up the same stuff though. The one downside to this hotel is that it is a bit far from the main downtown areas, things SEEM like they are within walking distance, but restaurants are at least 15-20 minutes away on foot. Request an even-numbered room on a high floor (8 or above) to get a amazing view of the Queen Mary and harbor- one of our 2-bedroom suites was on the 4th floor and they got a nice garage view. They also have a nice fireplace/bbq area by the pool that we didn't get to use, but would be wonderful for groups.

 

 

Long Beach

It’s a bit hard to get around without a car. There is a free shuttle that stops around the main attractions near the downtown Long Beach area, but it does take some time waiting for the shuttle and having it take stops before your destination. Eventually we ended up taking cabs or relying on guests with cars to get around. I recommend eating at George’s Greek Café – near the shuttle stop on Pine Ave, or about $10 cab ride from the hotel. The food and wine was delicious and they gave us some baklava because we were getting married :)

 

Rehearsal Dinner at Stefano’s

This place was AMAZING!!! Words can’t describe how wonderful our evening here was. We reserved this place after many dead ends trying to get a good venue for our dinner- we wanted a place where all of our guests could spend some time together and enjoy some good food without breaking the bank—we also wanted to keep it casual because we were having the formal luncheon after the wedding. Stefano’s is a small pizza/pasta restaurant right on the waterfront (harbor) at Shoreline Village. I was expecting checkered tablecloths, plastic plates and Styrofoam cups, which was fine, because our budget was not huge. But when we got there, they had cleared a huge section of the outdoor patio for us. All the tables were covered with white linen, set with candles in translucent cups and decorated with single red tulips. They had all the tables set up with dishes, wine glasses and cloth napkins. The owner, Donna (who was GREAT to work with btw), had printed and laminated our personal menus and set them on each table. The view from the patio was a stretch of harbor facing the nightlights of downtown. The food was plentiful and delicious and the drinks were flowing all evening. There were about 3 servers working on our area, getting us everything we needed. My husband thought we spent a fortune on this place, but we were just very, very lucky to find such a gem. I absolutely recommend this place.

 

 

Photos: larger studio at Residence Inn (very new and nice, the studios don't have walls separating the living area and the bedroom), view from the even-numbered side of the Queen Mary and another Carnival ship, post-dinner at Stefano's (all the younger people stayed after all the guests left and finished off all the leftover wine, it was such a nice chance to catch up with friends)

[jangng]

* Wedding Day

I got up at 6am and headed to my bridesmaids’ suite for hair and makeup. We had 2 artists from Kelly Zhang’s come to do hair and makeup for my 2 bridesmaids and me. They had told us that they were arriving at 5:30am, but I seriously thought everyone was going to be late. By the time I headed downstairs, the main artist was almost done with my maid of honor! I had about 15 minutes to brush my teeth and change, then I sat down for about 2 and a half hours while she did my makeup and hair. It turned out perfect! The makeup seemed too heavy at first, but it came out really nice in photos, so I guess I’m not used to wearing that much makeup. The artist, Sherry, did a really nice, intricate updo, exactly how I described it (it helps to show some pictures too). The other artist, Aileen, did a great job on my bridesmaids. The artists were super fast because they were out of there by 8:30am. We headed down for breakfast and did some last minute packing before heading to the port at 10.

We had some relatives shuttle guests from the hotel to the port. I actually wanted to call taxi vans, but all the guests really wanted to help out in one way or another, which was really nice. I had the most amazing wedding party (my wedding team) they took everything out of my hands, literally. They arranged rides, coordinated guests and took care of all the luggage and boxes. I arrived at the port with my husband at 10:30am with just my wedding dress and shoes. All our guests went through VIP check-in outside the dome. Because they came in waves (because of the rides going back and forth) they were checked-in and sent to the wedding waiting area inside the Queen Mary right away. My husband and I got to check in inside the VIP lounge, which was nice so I could protect my hair from the wind. We got our sail and sign cards and met our officiant, Eric, who took us to our waiting area where our guests were. We met our coordinator, Barbara, inside and we went over the wedding details, but she had already gone over everything with my bridesmaids, so I just answered a few questions for her. Apparently, the Wedding Experience only sent one coordinator for the two weddings happening that day, so the poor coordinator was running around trying to do two things at once. She couldn’t escort me to my room, but it was fine, my bridesmaids knew exactly where to go and what to do, so all I had to do was get dressed and wait. We got onto the ship at about 11:45, so other guests got to explore while the girls and I changed in my stateroom. My husband had ordered a tux from Carnival and it fit well, it also came with 2 shirts and he could keep the tux for the rest of the week- pretty good deal and he didn’t have to bring one all the way from home.

My stateroom was ready and the bed was decorated with red rose petals and towel swans (very nice touch), but my parents’ room next door wasn’t ready as we requested—we wanted the guys to get ready in there. It wasn’t a huge problem, as they just changed in a messy room, but I noticed on the paperwork sent to Carnival that someone filled in the wrong stateroom to be cleaned and ready, so I would double-check with your coordinator if you need two staterooms ready.

I touched up my makeup and my MOH came back to help me get into my dress. Then, she left to finish setting things up and I waited for what seemed to be forever. I kept expecting the photographer to come get some pre-wedding photos but he never showed up. I heard that everyone had a quick rehearsal at the venue, which some brides don’t like, but I wished they did a more thorough rehearsal because there were a few hiccups with the kids and music.

Barbara came to get me a little after 1:30, which was suppose to be when the ceremony started, but the lounge was at the opposite end from my room and the ship is really hard to navigate at first. It was fine, because they didn’t start the wedding until I got there.

The wedding ceremony was in the El Morocco Lounge. It was set up really nicely and the ceremony was short and sweet- which was perfect because we were all hungry. The DJ did mess up our songs though, I had one for the bridal entrance and one for our recessional/first dance on a burned CD, and he switched them. But that wasn’t a huge problem because they were both nice songs and I doubt anyone noticed. We took a lot of photos after the ceremony with different groups before heading down for the lunch. I will say that the lighting in the lounge is a little strange, maybe it’s all the rich colors going on, but some photos look a bit dark. My mom thinks that the lighting makes our skin look better though haha. I noticed that the photos with flash makes the lounge look too dark and the photos without flash came out yellow-y and a bit blurry. But it is a really pretty lounge, and had I known that we would be in that lounge, I would’ve maybe added a Moroccan theme to my wedding.

The wedding luncheon was in the Black Pearl Dining Room. All our guests had to go down two decks to get there, which isn’t a problem, but other cruise passengers were coming onboard at this time, so it was really hard to get elevators for our older guests. The dining room hostess, Aphinya, was awesome! Personally, I think she did a lot more than the coordinator, but it makes sense, since half the wedding is in her territory. She made sure everything went smoothly and that all my requests were met. We saw her in the dining room at breakfast and lunch throughout the cruise and she always made sure we got a nice “honeymoon” table to ourselves near a window.

My husband and I entered the dining room last, after all the guests. We went right into cake cutting and feeding and had some toasts by my dad, the MOH and the Best Man. Then, lunch was served. They printed our wedding menu and handed the menu to all the guests and asked them what they would like. It was so strange because all the guests were suppose to be served all four courses that we had decided on ahead of time, so some of them (including me) were confused when they thought they had to choose from the set menu.

For the lunch menu, we chose the smoked salmon for the appetizer—very good if you like smoked salmon, and they give you a lot, 3 “roses” of bundled salmon. We had the penne in vodka sauce with caviar for the second course and it was very tasty! I don’t like caviar or anything too fishy, but this pasta was really good. The main dish was the filet mignon, it was a decent steak, but it didn’t come in any sauce, so it seemed a little dry on the outside—the sides that came with it, I think a potato thing and a spinach thing, were very, very good. We ordered the hazelnut crème brulee for dessert but I didn’t get to try it because I was stuffed after wedding cake. We had vanilla cake with vanilla/butterscotch filling and it was delicious, the cake was very moist. Only the top tier was served during our wedding, so we had the whole bottom tier stored so we could enjoy it throughout the cruise. It was A LOT of cake. We could barely finish it even after eating it almost every night in the dining room and sharing it with all the tables around us. Red and white wine and champagne were served throughout the lunch. The servers worked really hard to make sure everyone had a full glass haha.

Lunch went by really fast. My biggest regret is that the last course was so rushed that many guests couldn’t fully enjoy their dessert and after meal coffee/tea. I think it’s because our ceremony started about 10 minutes later than its scheduled time (I wish I was picked up earlier because the trip across the ship was definitely more than 5 minutes in heels). When the clock struck 3:30, all the guests were informed that they had 5 minutes to get off the ship and that was just right when dessert was being served. Good-byes were very short and all the guests were herded off.

After everyone was gone, my husband and I followed our photographer, Sani, around the ship for some portraits. Sani was a HILARIOUS guy from Indonesia. I really enjoyed our photoshoot because Sani would make the funniest comments. My husband found him borderline annoying, but he was so tired, he just wanted it to be over haha. We did have to do the mandatory muster drill in the middle of our photo session though. Sani kept my bouquet at the photo station, while my husband and I went out on the deck to find out muster station. Ladies, bring a coverup! Our station happened to be a covered part of the deck but it was a wind tunnel! The drill lasted longer than expected, about 20 minutes, it was almost unbearable in the wind, cold, and 5 inch heels. It felt like forever, but we were released and we finished up taking photos around 5:30.

My husband went straight to bed, so much for staying in our wedding clothes haha. My feet hurt so much after the long day, so I changed and went to dinner with my parents.

 

Photos: getting ready, wedding hair, honeymoon setup, my husband memorizing his vows in the El Morocco Lounge

[jangng]

Photos are taking way to long to load :( I will finish this later and figure out a better way to post photos!

[cupcake8503]

I can't wait for more! :D

[jangng]

We got a lovely, personalized invitation to check out our wedding photos in our mailbox the morning after the wedding. Our meeting with the photographer was at 3, so we grabbed some lunch and headed down to the gallery. Our photographer, Sani, was always super busy (taking photos around the ship), so he took us to the small library next to the gallery where we could take our time choosing photos. He had ALL our wedding photos printed and stored in boxes- the large 8x10s were of the portraits he took around the ship and the smaller 5x7s were of the candid shots taken throughout the wedding and lunch.

 

We ended up getting the Premier package because I really wanted the CD (it's the smallest package that comes with the CD). It came with 25 8x10s, 18 5x7s, 1 cd with the photos we purchased in print, and 1 16x20 canvas. I read about a lot of brides who end up getting all their photos and paying a small fortune, but it was really easy for me to choose my favorite 25 out of the huge stack of portraits. I let my mom choose the 18 5x7s because there were so many shots of the same thing and I think she was better at choosing nice photos than just photos that I look good in haha. Even though the choices weren't hard to make, the whole choosing process took over an hour-- there were a lot of photos. Sani also made two coffee table books, one goes for about $1200, but they didn't appeal to us because we don't have a coffee table haha. It was actually nice to have the photographer out of the room while we were choosing, so we could give each other honest opinions on the pictures. Also, we didn't feel pressured to buy certain packages or extra things. We found Sani after we were done, and told him which pictures we wanted.

 

A note to other brides: you can request that smaller photos get enlarged or have portraits reduced to smaller sizes, also, you can request that all photos be printed matte. Our preview photos were half in matte and half glossy, the glossy ones look a little cheap (like photos I print at Walgreens) and got finger prints all over them. We requested that all our purchased photos get printed again, because my dad, uncle and aunt stopped by to see them too- 6 sets of oily fingerprints.

 

We picked up our final photos on the second sea day (Friday)- the canvas is really beautiful and all our photos were printed nicely. Sani even threw in a few extra nice photos and an extra CD (we didn't know that both CD were of the same thing, but I will send one of them to my parents). We were so pleased with the finished package that we tipped Sani again at the end of the cruise.

 

Some photos of the wedding (El Morocco Lounge):

 

 

 

 

Dining Room Setup (Black Pearl):

 

 

My FAVORITE Portrait:

 

[LarAndShar]

beautiful! thanks for taking the time to share your special day! :)

[cupcake8503]

Thanks for your review! Your pics are beautiful.

[FLblondi23]

Enjoyed reading your review and your pictures are beautiful! Congrats again!

[Herbaltees]

Congratulations. I enjoyed reading your review.

 

Did you get an upgraded bouquet or was that a standard carnival bouquet?

Did you bring the cake decor? And the aisle runner w/ rose petals.

[jangng]

Thank you for the kind words everyone!! I hope some of you will post reviews too because I still love reading about weddings and I'm still addicted to this site!! haha

 

Did you get an upgraded bouquet or was that a standard carnival bouquet?

Did you bring the cake decor? And the aisle runner w/ rose petals.

 

I got natural touch silk flowers: all the bouquets (mine and bridesmaids), hair piece, cake flowers (topper flowers with clusters), boutonnieres and corsages, and they were exactly what I wanted. TWE provided the aisle runner, I believe it was carpet, could be wrong, but somewhat short, it went just past the last row of chairs. I bought tons of silk rose petals in pink and hot pink and mixed them-- we used the petals for the aisle, flowergirl basket and guestbook table. You can do petals on the aisle runner as long as they are silk. Real petals will stain if stepped on (be careful with the petals on your bed in the stateroom, I stepped on one and it left a red mark on the bottom of my dress-- keep wet wipes handy though, any color will come right out with those)

Here was my review for the silk flowers: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1542981

The bouquet provided by Carnival (or rather, TWE) is smaller, maybe 8 inches, just white roses and greenery. If you request a photo from TWE, it looks just like it. It's not that bad, but the choice of greenery (filler) is a bit strange, they are like waxy leaves that are dark green. The flowers are real but it's hard to predict what they will look like on your wedding day, they could be closed buds or fully bloomed- mine were somewhere in the middle, but somewhat closed (I like the blooming look). I held the bouquet for a moment to see what it looked like, and it wasn't the look I was going for, so I'm really glad I went with silk. If flowers aren't a big deal to the bride, than the standard bouquet/boutonniere will be just fine BUT if you care about what your flowers look like, please get silk flower to avoid disappointment. We were going to use the provided (real rose) boutonniere for the groom but it was a tightly bundled bud that looked like a small, white turnip. We tried to fluff it out a bit and the whole rose fell apart, so we were lucky to have an extra silk one. With silk, you can control what the flowers look like and they stay that way forever!

I also brought the silver ribbon for the cake. I gave the coordinator a photo of how I wanted the cake to be decorated, with the ribbon, flowers on top and clusters on the tiers-- but when I saw my cake, it was completely different from what I imagined. The topper was laying on its side off centered, when it should have been stuck in the middle. The chef only used one of the two clusters I brought. My pictured also had the double hearts topper (exactly like the one Carnival provides) set into the top flowers, but they ended up giving me the heart topper in its box later that night, when they delivered the champagne flutes and the rest of the wedding stuff. My MOH and I were surprised at the outcome because my picture was pretty clear, but this was just a small thing in the scheme of the whole day and overall, I think it looked fine.

On another note, just as advice to future brides: I wish I checked myself out after the muster drill!! I don't remember if it was because my husband wanted to finish up faster or what, but I didn't get the chance to see myself in the mirror after the drill. In all the photos after the windy drill, I have a random wisp of hair across my forehead where some of my bangs got loose. No one told me (maybe men don't notice) and maybe it didn't look that bad, but I notice it in half of the pictures. So, take your time and go freshen up :)

I had an amazing wedding and thank you everyone for reading. I hope this helps someone!

I'm working on my cruise review for our honeymoon on the Splendor! I will post it here when I'm done, since this is also the "honeymoon" forum haha.

[jangng]

This is the picture of the standard bouquet from TWE.

[Herbaltees]

This is the picture of the standard bouquet from TWE.

 

Thank You, this helps so much!

[WDrake_98]

Very nice review...

I'm glad everything worked out and you were a great bride! Very relaxed and easy going.

[veritym86]

Thanks for the review, it sounds like you had a brilliant day. I am getting married on the Splendor April 15 (33 days to go) and it was useful to get an idea on timings!

 

Also, I didn't think you could use burned CD's? did you have any problems getting them to use yours?

 

I think I might look into getting some ribbon for my cake after seeing your photos, although they didn't do it as you had hoped for, it still looked lovely! And maybe some rose petals for the aisle. We are coming from the UK and there will only be 10 of us so I hadn't really thought about the small touches like that but I think I might now!

 

Once again, thanks for the review and I will make sure I check myself in a mirror after the muster drill!!

 

Verity

[jangng]

Thanks for the review, it sounds like you had a brilliant day. I am getting married on the Splendor April 15 (33 days to go) and it was useful to get an idea on timings!

 

Also, I didn't think you could use burned CD's? did you have any problems getting them to use yours?

 

I think I might look into getting some ribbon for my cake after seeing your photos, although they didn't do it as you had hoped for, it still looked lovely! And maybe some rose petals for the aisle. We are coming from the UK and there will only be 10 of us so I hadn't really thought about the small touches like that but I think I might now!

 

Once again, thanks for the review and I will make sure I check myself in a mirror after the muster drill!!

 

Verity

 

I'm so excited for you!! I think you'll love the Splendor :)

 

You can use a burned CD for the ceremony only-- I think brides run into problems when they want to use burned CDs for the reception in the disco due to copyright issues. I asked the agent from TWE about the CD and she said that burned CDs are perfectly fine, as long as you test it out on a different machine to make sure it works.

 

I actually used TWE's Canon in D for my wedding party entrance and had the DJ put in my CD for the bride's entrance... and he messed up :rolleyes:

 

I'm glad I could help! Feel free to ask if you have other questions. I'll be posting a honeymoon review when I get around to finishing it haha.

[veritym86]

Hello again

 

Did anyone throw confetti at your wedding? or do you know if this is allowed?

 

I only have 20 days to go now, it's coming around so fast! I can't wait!

[jangng]

We were on that cruise and I was so excited to see your wedding party hanging around the El Morroco. I was tempted to stay and peek! You look absolutely beautiful in your gown and your husband is very handsome. Congratulations!

 

Thank you!! I hope you had a wonderful cruise :)

 

Hello again

 

Did anyone throw confetti at your wedding? or do you know if this is allowed?

 

I only have 20 days to go now, it's coming around so fast! I can't wait!

 

No confetti at our wedding, so I don't have an exact answer for you, sorry.

 

I would ask the carnival agent in charge of your wedding. I did read somewhere that bubbles, rice and bird seeds are not allowed because they can be an hazard (slippery floors/decks).

 

Good luck with everything!!!

[voalny]

Your review is so detailed and helpful! I am planning to have a wedding on Splendor also. What extra package you have purchased besides The Ceremony and Luncheon package?

 

I will be an out-of-town bride, too. How the non-travel guests get through custom? Do they also need to bring passport?

 

What did your bridemaid helped you out while you were waiting in your stateroom? I wont get much helps like you had, so I am worried what need to be done..:confused:

[voalny]

how much time you got for the seated lunch?

 

You said photo package is photo package is 25-8x10, 18-5x10, 20-wallet. So do you get 25+18+20=63 photos total on CD?

 

How much is the tuxedo rental for your husband?

 

sorry i have so many questions...

[cruiseonthebrain]

We got a lovely, personalized invitation to check out our wedding photos in our mailbox the morning after the wedding. Our meeting with the photographer was at 3, so we grabbed some lunch and headed down to the gallery. Our photographer, Sani, was always super busy (taking photos around the ship), so he took us to the small library next to the gallery where we could take our time choosing photos. He had ALL our wedding photos printed and stored in boxes- the large 8x10s were of the portraits he took around the ship and the smaller 5x7s were of the candid shots taken throughout the wedding and lunch.

 

We ended up getting the Premier package because I really wanted the CD (it's the smallest package that comes with the CD). It came with 25 8x10s, 18 5x7s, 1 cd with the photos we purchased in print, and 1 16x20 canvas. I read about a lot of brides who end up getting all their photos and paying a small fortune, but it was really easy for me to choose my favorite 25 out of the huge stack of portraits. I let my mom choose the 18 5x7s because there were so many shots of the same thing and I think she was better at choosing nice photos than just photos that I look good in haha. Even though the choices weren't hard to make, the whole choosing process took over an hour-- there were a lot of photos. Sani also made two coffee table books, one goes for about $1200, but they didn't appeal to us because we don't have a coffee table haha. It was actually nice to have the photographer out of the room while we were choosing, so we could give each other honest opinions on the pictures. Also, we didn't feel pressured to buy certain packages or extra things. We found Sani after we were done, and told him which pictures we wanted.

 

A note to other brides: you can request that smaller photos get enlarged or have portraits reduced to smaller sizes, also, you can request that all photos be printed matte. Our preview photos were half in matte and half glossy, the glossy ones look a little cheap (like photos I print at Walgreens) and got finger prints all over them. We requested that all our purchased photos get printed again, because my dad, uncle and aunt stopped by to see them too- 6 sets of oily fingerprints.

 

We picked up our final photos on the second sea day (Friday)- the canvas is really beautiful and all our photos were printed nicely. Sani even threw in a few extra nice photos and an extra CD (we didn't know that both CD were of the same thing, but I will send one of them to my parents). We were so pleased with the finished package that we tipped Sani again at the end of the cruise.

 

Some photos of the wedding (El Morocco Lounge):

 

 

 

 

Dining Room Setup (Black Pearl):

 

 

My FAVORITE Portrait:

 

 

 

Absolutely beutiful photos!!!!!

[kimberlishaina]

Thanks for all of your advice!! I have to work with Ocean Royal Events for my ceremony as my ceremony is in St. Thomas at the Lime Tree Beach resort. I was pretty much told I couldn't bring anything to "customize" my ceremony which is frustrating!

 

I am waiting to hear back from Carnival on what restrictions there are for our onboard reception!

 

Any other information will be helpful!!