2014 Cruise Brides!!

[NL2134]

Hi 2014 brides,

 

I'm newly engaged May 2014 and doing research. My fiancé and I love cruising and thought talking to the 2014 brides who've already been through the process or are in the middle of it would be a great source of information. I've skimmed through a lot of the pages here but may have missed some things.

 

We are looking at June 2015 leaving out of Florida. Our ideal vision is to have our ceremony at sea then book one of the specialty restaurants for a dinner for all our guests.

 

I'm highly considering RC, but read a few terrible 2013 reviews about their communication with Royal Romance on another forum. Anyone here a RC bride with problems?

 

I've also seen a lot of carnival brides, NCL, and a few Disney. Any of you get married on the ship at sea and what was your experience?

 

Advice from people, who've been there is appreciated.

 

Thank you!!

 

Congratulations!

 

I'm getting married on Carnival Dream in a few weeks. I've seen several reviews about communication issues with RC, but from what I've seen, it all works out in the end and they have great weddings. Honestly, none of the cruise lines seem to be really great at wedding communication. This certainly isn't the wedding format you want if you have a lot of specific details you want, if you are the micromanaging type, or need to have someone that responds immediately. Cruise weddings require a lot of trust that things will turn out okay in the end. And there are a lot of details that you won't know until close to, or even at, the wedding. I'm 3 weeks out from my wedding and still know very little. But, I submitted all my forms and I trust that they know what they are doing and will have it handled. And if things aren't perfect, that's okay with me as long as I'm married at the end of the day (preferably to my current fiancée). But, Carnival has been pretty good at responding to e-mails within a couple days. They don't volunteer any info though. There are a lot of options that they don't tell you unless you ask. So, if you want something, ask if its possible.

 

If you want to get married while at sea, you need to look into which cruise lines allow that and which don't. Many can only marry while at port. It depends on which country the ships are registered in. I know Carnival can only do at port. You can do vow renewal at sea if you already have marriage license ahead of time. I know Royal Caribbean just changed about a year ago and they do now allow at-sea weddings. I'm pretty sure Princess and Celebrity allow at sea weddings.

 

We decided to do embarkation wedding, at port in New Orleans before leaving for cruise, so we could have some guests attend wedding without going on cruise. Some of our VIP's couldn't go on the cruise (reasons vary from health, finances, to work), so it seemed like a good compromise to get everyone there. We ended up with 26 people attending: 12 of which are cruising with us, 14 just boarding for wedding then leaving before cruises.

 

Definitely keep searching this forum... and ask a lot of questions. There is SO much info here that can be learned from past cruise brides.

Edited May 27, 2014 by NL2134

[saibutterfly]

On Sunday, I will be getting married on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas in Port Canaveral, FL. I have found the RC people to be pretty quick in responding to my emails and phone calls. Only one time did I want to come through the phone because I thought the representative was rude. Most of the time, the people have been very friendly, accommodating, and knowledgeable. My fiancee and I loved Nicole…she's the one who ended up being our wedding planner. SO friendly…so patient with me when it took me a minute to get stuff returned to her. She knew she was going on vacation right about when our money was due to finalize our reception, and she let me know so I could finally finish. I felt that she wanted to finish our plans and did not want to pass us off to someone else for the week she was gone. I respected that level of honesty and commitment in making sure our stuff got done correctly.

 

As people have said above, you have to have a certain level of trust in this process that it will come together even though you are planning from so far away. I learned a great deal from this board…most of my information came from previous brides that would contribute here. Don't be scared to dig through this board. The previous brides have been thorough, and so much of my experience matches what they said. What time I would have to be in port, what is allowed to brought onto the boat, what services the boat provides…my final wedding report is pretty clear and looks like a lot of what people have said before. I have made a lot of little changes…such as I'm bringing my own flowers and my own officiant. Nicole rolled with the punches and all the little ways we wanted to personalize are going to happen.

 

I wish you luck in your planning process. I have thoroughly enjoyed my planning process, and I can't wait to marry my best friend on Sunday. I really can't wait to celebrate with the people who are choosing to be there and spend the rest of the week with us. If you have specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

[jusilva]

Wow!!! It is getting close. I wish you best on everything. I am getting married in July, Carnival Legend. Yes, you are right...they don't volunteer much info. Most of the things I found out here! They never told me I was able to tour the ship before the wedding, not to mention about the signature drinks.

[RaqsSalsera]

Thanks ladies! I'll keep digging and asking. I'm really excited and hope all of your wedding days are fantastic please keep posting your experiences!!

[infallible2011]

I Glimpsed through the last few post and I saw mention of signature drinks... Can anyone elaborate a bit more I would greatly appreciate.

[jusilva]

Infallible2011,

 

Signature drinks it is something that carnival offer. It is a choice of 4 different drinks, so your guests will be able to order. I am having a hard time to post attachments. Here are the names:

SOMETHING BLUE

 

Malibu – 1 oz

Blue curacao – 0.25

Pineapple juice – 3 oz

Sweet & sour – 1 oz

 

 

CARIBBEAN ROMANCE

 

 

1.5 oz light rum

.5 oz amaretto

2 oz oj

2 oz pineapple juice

Dash of grenadine

¾ cup ice

 

Blushing Bride

 

1.5 oz Skyy Vodka

.75 oz Triple Sec

2 oz Lemonade

.25 oz Grenadine

.5 oz Sprite

 

 

Electric Kiss

This cocktail is named Wedding Glow

Onboard Carnival’s Conquest

[2preschoolers]

How do you choose these signature drinks? That sounds so fun!

 

We are getting married in less than 2 months on the Pride and none of our guests are sailing. I feel kind of off offering an open bar and then sending people out and about on their way! But, it's up to them to drink responsibly.

 

I'm interested in these signature drinks!

 

QUESTION about cakes - are the cakes on Carnival just plain white or do they have some type of texture/design on them?

[2preschoolers]

When we went on our ship tour, we were told that if there are cabins available, they upgrade the wedding couple. I've never seen anyone mention it here on the boards so I'm wondering if that's really true or not. Experience?

[jusilva]

I am going to a tour this weekend and I will make sure ti ask them about it!

[RaqsSalsera]

After much discussion, We've picked our cruise. We will be cruising on Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, May 10th, 2015, out of Ft. Lauderdale. We just finished setting up our booking with our travel agent.

 

We decided to go with a travel agent for our group booking because my fiance and I both work long hours and don't have the time to do all the coordination for our family.

 

My next step is to book my Wedding At Sea, with Royal Caribbean.

 

Thanks to all the RC brides that responded. It was helpful reading your posts to know what to look for. I'll continue to post as I more things happen! :)

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

We are getting married in August on the Carnival Imagination in Long Beach. Since we are an older couple and second marriage for both of us and we both have one grown daughter, it seemed like the perfect option for us. Our daughters have only met each other once and since they are my matrons of honor and their hubbies are my fiancé's groomsmen, it was a perfect solution, so the kids can get to know each other without being on top of each other and we get to share our honeymoon and wedding with everybody we know and love.

[Twin A]

We are getting married in August on the Carnival Imagination in Long Beach. Since we are an older couple and second marriage for both of us and we both have one grown daughter, it seemed like the perfect option for us. Our daughters have only met each other once and since they are my matrons of honor and their hubbies are my fiancé's groomsmen, it was a perfect solution, so the kids can get to know each other without being on top of each other and we get to share our honeymoon and wedding with everybody we know and love.

 

Hi there! I was perusing the boards and saw your post pop up. So excited to see another Imagination bride! My husband and I were married on the Imagination last April when it was ported in Miami.

 

Let me know if you have any questions about the ship!

 

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[ImaginationCruiseBride]

Hi there! I was perusing the boards and saw your post pop up. So excited to see another Imagination bride! My husband and I were married on the Imagination last April when it was ported in Miami.

 

Let me know if you have any questions about the ship!

 

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I'm sure I will have a million questions as it gets closer to time. I do have a question or two (I'm not a big fan of the vendor here in Long Beach, they give very vague answers)

 

We are getting married in port before we leave so we will be embarking a few hours before everybody else, so my question is...do you know when I will get my bouquet? My daughter is a floral designer so she's going to take the bouquet and embellish it a bit with some silk and ribbon fillers to go with the bridesmaids bouquets, which she is making (I realize they have to be silk, but she will still do a much better job than the vendors). I'm a little confused about the logistics of everything.

 

Also any little tips or "I wish I had known" moments please feel free to share!

[NL2134]

I just got the call from Carnival Wedding to finalize everything and let me know locations for wedding and reception! Ceremony will be in the conference room, which isn't our top choice, but I figure we are only in there for a short time so it doesn't matter.

 

And I final fitting for my dress tomorrow. Excursions are all booked. We are finally making progress in dance lessons (only doing 7 sessions - just enough to learn basics and not look too stupid). OOT bags are nearly done.

 

It's finally started to seem more real now that all the final details are falling into place. And I'm starting to get excited now. Wedding is on Carnival Dream in New Orleans on June 22. Just over 2 weeks left to go! I actually leave in 12 days for New Orleans, so I can be there early to apply for the marriage license.

 

I still need to turn the pile of silk flowers sitting on my floor into presentable bouquets and a cake topper. And I need to buy the food/snack items I planned for my OOT bags. But, that shouldn't be too hard. The tougher part will be packing everything. And deciding what to bring with me, ship to hotel, or have others bring later. Since I'm travelling there alone, I can only handle limited luggage. I know I'm bringing dress & FI's suit, so I have time to get them steamed if needed. I think I'm going to ship OOT bags to hotel and have them waiting for me when I arrive. Then FI's family has 5 people flying in on Southwest, so that's 10 free checked bags they can bring. So, I may have them bring a suitcase or two. I figure they can bring the bouquets, guest book, or things like that.

 

But it's getting so close! Getting that final call from Carnival seems like such a big exciting part of the process.

[jusilva]

NL2134!

Wow! Time flies. Good luck on everything. Mine is July 13th. I don't know about you...but sometimes I think it is all under control and other times I just panic! Lol.

 

 

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[tranquilreign]

I just got the call from Carnival Wedding to finalize everything and let me know locations for wedding and reception! Ceremony will be in the conference room, which isn't our top choice, but I figure we are only in there for a short time so it doesn't matter.

 

And I final fitting for my dress tomorrow. Excursions are all booked. We are finally making progress in dance lessons (only doing 7 sessions - just enough to learn basics and not look too stupid). OOT bags are nearly done.

 

It's finally started to seem more real now that all the final details are falling into place. And I'm starting to get excited now. Wedding is on Carnival Dream in New Orleans on June 22. Just over 2 weeks left to go! I actually leave in 12 days for New Orleans, so I can be there early to apply for the marriage license.

 

I still need to turn the pile of silk flowers sitting on my floor into presentable bouquets and a cake topper. And I need to buy the food/snack items I planned for my OOT bags. But, that shouldn't be too hard. The tougher part will be packing everything. And deciding what to bring with me, ship to hotel, or have others bring later. Since I'm travelling there alone, I can only handle limited luggage. I know I'm bringing dress & FI's suit, so I have time to get them steamed if needed. I think I'm going to ship OOT bags to hotel and have them waiting for me when I arrive. Then FI's family has 5 people flying in on Southwest, so that's 10 free checked bags they can bring. So, I may have them bring a suitcase or two. I figure they can bring the bouquets, guest book, or things like that.

 

But it's getting so close! Getting that final call from Carnival seems like such a big exciting part of the process.

 

Good luck with everything! That call makes it real. My wedding was in a conference room and I liked the intimacy of it. I didn't want a stage between us and our guests.

 

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[tranquilreign]

I'm sure I will have a million questions as it gets closer to time. I do have a question or two (I'm not a big fan of the vendor here in Long Beach, they give very vague answers)

 

We are getting married in port before we leave so we will be embarking a few hours before everybody else, so my question is...do you know when I will get my bouquet? My daughter is a floral designer so she's going to take the bouquet and embellish it a bit with some silk and ribbon fillers to go with the bridesmaids bouquets, which she is making (I realize they have to be silk, but she will still do a much better job than the vendors). I'm a little confused about the logistics of everything.

 

Also any little tips or "I wish I had known" moments please feel free to share!

 

My ceremony wasn't on the Imagination, but I would ask to get the bouquet while waiting in the holding room before you board the ship so that your daughter can work on it in your cabin before she gets dressed, helps you get dressed, and pictures are taken before rehearsal. My bms had about 15 minutes to put a card box together.

 

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[NL2134]

I'm sure I will have a million questions as it gets closer to time. I do have a question or two (I'm not a big fan of the vendor here in Long Beach, they give very vague answers)

 

We are getting married in port before we leave so we will be embarking a few hours before everybody else, so my question is...do you know when I will get my bouquet? My daughter is a floral designer so she's going to take the bouquet and embellish it a bit with some silk and ribbon fillers to go with the bridesmaids bouquets, which she is making (I realize they have to be silk, but she will still do a much better job than the vendors). I'm a little confused about the logistics of everything.

 

Also any little tips or "I wish I had known" moments please feel free to share!

 

We thought about adding to our provided bouquet also, then making the BM bouquets. But, I decided to just make them all myself and will probably use the provided one to just have fresh flowers in our room all week. I thought about using it as toss, but we only have one single woman at our wedding, and she's getting married in 2 months, so it seemed pointless. We also thought about just throwing it off an upper deck to single girls around the pool area, which may be fun to do.

 

I would talk to the coordinator and just ask if you can get it ASAP so you can add to it. So far they have been very helpful and accommodating with any requests I've had. I've found that they don't advertise a lot of options, but there is a lot that they are willing to do if you just ask. We are getting a customized design on our cake. They do have an alternate hors d'oeuvres menu, and you can pick and choose between them. For additional cost you can get beef/turkey carving station or a pasta bar at the reception. If there is something you wish you had or aren't sure about, it's best to ask because they are pretty good at accommodating most requests. Actually, I don't think I've had anything that they've actually said no to yet. And definitely do a lot of searching on this forum. I've learned SO MUCH from all these past brides. And I hope to be able to help future brides even more in a couple weeks after I finally get married.

 

My one big advice I've learned from this process or from reading past brides posts, it to not sweat the details. It's easy to get caught up in every tiny detail, but most of those are things nobody will even notice because everyone will be so busy enjoying the excitement of that day. And with the cruise weddings, these coordinators do this at least once a week, if not more often, and they tend to have things handled pretty well. I don't think I've seen even one review where the bride came back really disappointed. There may have been minor slips or things, but nothing major and they were all happy with the process and the way the wedding turned out. So, when I started to get stressed by it, I just decided to let it all go and trust the process. And with the cruise wedding, most of the time, they include everything (the one exception may be the marriage license, depending on your port). As long as everything is booked and all forms are submitted, you really could just show up with nothing and have an awesome wedding. So, I figure that even if I forget something or don't have time to complete some detail of it, all the important items are handled by the ship and will be there waiting for me. I chose a cruise wedding mainly because I wanted low stress planning, so I'm not going to let myself stress over every detail.

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

We thought about adding to our provided bouquet also, then making the BM bouquets. But, I decided to just make them all myself and will probably use the provided one to just have fresh flowers in our room all week. I thought about using it as toss, but we only have one single woman at our wedding, and she's getting married in 2 months, so it seemed pointless. We also thought about just throwing it off an upper deck to single girls around the pool area, which may be fun to do.

 

I would talk to the coordinator and just ask if you can get it ASAP so you can add to it. So far they have been very helpful and accommodating with any requests I've had. I've found that they don't advertise a lot of options, but there is a lot that they are willing to do if you just ask. We are getting a customized design on our cake. They do have an alternate hors d'oeuvres menu, and you can pick and choose between them. For additional cost you can get beef/turkey carving station or a pasta bar at the reception. If there is something you wish you had or aren't sure about, it's best to ask because they are pretty good at accommodating most requests. Actually, I don't think I've had anything that they've actually said no to yet. And definitely do a lot of searching on this forum. I've learned SO MUCH from all these past brides. And I hope to be able to help future brides even more in a couple weeks after I finally get married.

 

My one big advice I've learned from this process or from reading past brides posts, it to not sweat the details. It's easy to get caught up in every tiny detail, but most of those are things nobody will even notice because everyone will be so busy enjoying the excitement of that day. And with the cruise weddings, these coordinators do this at least once a week, if not more often, and they tend to have things handled pretty well. I don't think I've seen even one review where the bride came back really disappointed. There may have been minor slips or things, but nothing major and they were all happy with the process and the way the wedding turned out. So, when I started to get stressed by it, I just decided to let it all go and trust the process. And with the cruise wedding, most of the time, they include everything (the one exception may be the marriage license, depending on your port). As long as everything is booked and all forms are submitted, you really could just show up with nothing and have an awesome wedding. So, I figure that even if I forget something or don't have time to complete some detail of it, all the important items are handled by the ship and will be there waiting for me. I chose a cruise wedding mainly because I wanted low stress planning, so I'm not going to let myself stress over every detail.

 

 

 

Thank you for all the advice...we knew about the alternate menus and were actually provided with 4 different menus and chose from each one of them to make our own menu. Also, they have agreed to have my matron of honor's stateroom ready when we board as well, so that we have a place for the boys and a place for the girls to get everything done. My girls are not going to show up dressed and will be getting dressed with me. The boys will be showing up in their slacks but will change shirts and ties AFTER the buffet on the Lido deck. I really hadn't given the cake much thought, I'm can't eat cake so hadn't even really thought about it. I guess I need to figure out what they do with the cake and what I'll need to ask for specifically. I still have several weeks since I'm not getting married until August 3, but it's coming up quickly. If you can think of anything else that might help please let me know!

[Twin A]

I'm sure I will have a million questions as it gets closer to time. I do have a question or two (I'm not a big fan of the vendor here in Long Beach, they give very vague answers)

 

We are getting married in port before we leave so we will be embarking a few hours before everybody else, so my question is...do you know when I will get my bouquet? My daughter is a floral designer so she's going to take the bouquet and embellish it a bit with some silk and ribbon fillers to go with the bridesmaids bouquets, which she is making (I realize they have to be silk, but she will still do a much better job than the vendors). I'm a little confused about the logistics of everything.

 

Also any little tips or "I wish I had known" moments please feel free to share!

 

I'm glad some of the other ladies were able to help with your question about the bouquet. I actually made a pearl bouquet for myself, and my MOH wore a wrist corsage. I used Carnival's as decor, and gave a rose to the Moms during the ceremony.

 

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[jusilva]

Just want to share my card box. Our theme is traveling....I couldn't find a card box with the world map. So I did myself, bought the box and wrapping paper.

Aslo our guest book will be the world map done by Etsy.

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

Just want to share my card box. Our theme is traveling....I couldn't find a card box with the world map. So I did myself, bought the box and wrapping paper.

Aslo our guest book will be the world map done by Etsy.

 

Love your card box. I hadn't even thought of that yet. I can't decide what I want to do about a guest book. I want something that we will use/enjoy and not a book to put away and never look at again.

[jusilva]

We choose the map because we are planning to frame after.

 

 

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[jusilva]

I really would like to know when the photographer take the family and guests pictures with bride and groom...after the ceremony or from our precious 1 1/2 hour reception? It is a embarkation wedding and most of my guest won't sail (50 non sailing)

Any advice would be great! I am getting married on carnival legend in July.

 

 

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[tranquilreign]

I really would like to know when the photographer take the family and guests pictures with bride and groom...after the ceremony or from our precious 1 1/2 hour reception? It is a embarkation wedding and most of my guest won't sail (50 non sailing)

Any advice would be great! I am getting married on carnival legend in July.

 

 

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He took immediate family photos after ceremony, then a few more at the end of reception, and 3 group pics with all the guests and us right before they left the ship.

 

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