2016 Brides!

[Futuremrslonnay]

Hello fellow brides! I need ideas for favors and welcome bags. What are you using???

[bethanymurrah]

We are getting married May 5, 2016 on the Carnival Victory from Pt Canaveral. We are so excited! This will be both of our second marriage and we both have kids already. We thought having a wedding cruise would be a lot of fun for our kids to know they are part of this too! I'm thinking of calling it our "family"moon lol.

I just booked last month (The Celebrate Big package and the DJ). I think I am planning this faster than most of you. Save the Dates will go out this week and I'll finish up passport invites to go out in January. Our parents and siblings have all already booked cabins, so everyone else that might attend will just be an added bonus :-)

Right now my biggest question is about hair and makeup. I was given the name of someone in Orlando that has great reviews, but I'm not planning on taking a 7 hour trip to Orlando for a "test run." Is anyone else concerned about this?

These boards have been SO helpful! I think I'm becoming addicted to them :-)

[lmcgrail]

We are getting married May 5, 2016 on the Carnival Victory from Pt Canaveral. We are so excited! This will be both of our second marriage and we both have kids already. We thought having a wedding cruise would be a lot of fun for our kids to know they are part of this too! I'm thinking of calling it our "family"moon lol.

I just booked last month (The Celebrate Big package and the DJ). I think I am planning this faster than most of you. Save the Dates will go out this week and I'll finish up passport invites to go out in January. Our parents and siblings have all already booked cabins, so everyone else that might attend will just be an added bonus :-)

Right now my biggest question is about hair and makeup. I was given the name of someone in Orlando that has great reviews, but I'm not planning on taking a 7 hour trip to Orlando for a "test run." Is anyone else concerned about this?

These boards have been SO helpful! I think I'm becoming addicted to them :-)

 

I am getting married on April 23, 2016 on the NCL Spirit out of Port Canaveral. I booked Tiffany of Professional Elegance based on the reviews here on cruisecritic. It is too far (13 hour drive) for me to go down for a consult. So, I just went last weekend to my hairdresser here in TN and we played around with it so I could get an idea of what I liked. She also cut and highlighted it. I plan on going back a couple of weeks before the wedding and have my hairdresser highlight/cut and put it back up so I can take pictures for Tiffany. Then I can bring the pictures down for Tiffany for the morning of the wedding. She is coming to the hotel to do my hair and makeup along with my mom and my sister.

 

Congratulations!

 

Lori

[CleBell]

All of the information posted has been so helpful! I'm recently engaged and we're looking at Dec 2016 on carnival. Is it recommended to purchase the cruise through an agent instead of carnival directly? Would we be able to receive a free room if a certain number of rooms are booked? I have a large family who loves to travel, so I want to explore all possibilities.

 

Thanks!

[AIRIKUH]

All of the information posted has been so helpful! I'm recently engaged and we're looking at Dec 2016 on carnival. Is it recommended to purchase the cruise through an agent instead of carnival directly? Would we be able to receive a free room if a certain number of rooms are booked? I have a large family who loves to travel, so I want to explore all possibilities.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi and congrats!! I'm October 2016 on Carnival! As for using a travel agent or Carnival I think everyone has different opinions. I know there are a ton of perks if you go through a travel agent but you would have to contact individual agents to see what they offer. I ended up just going through Carnival because the travel agent we were going to use ended up being significantly more expensive than just booking through Carnival. You can do a Carnival Group booking but you will need 8 or more cabins to book when you book. I know Carnival Group bookings have good perks as well. We didn't do a Carnival Group booking because I wanted everyone to be able to book at their leisure instead of all at once with us. Good luck to you!!

[CleBell]

Hi and congrats!! I'm October 2016 on Carnival! As for using a travel agent or Carnival I think everyone has different opinions. I know there are a ton of perks if you go through a travel agent but you would have to contact individual agents to see what they offer. I ended up just going through Carnival because the travel agent we were going to use ended up being significantly more expensive than just booking through Carnival. You can do a Carnival Group booking but you will need 8 or more cabins to book when you book. I know Carnival Group bookings have good perks as well. We didn't do a Carnival Group booking because I wanted everyone to be able to book at their leisure instead of all at once with us. Good luck to you!!

 

Great! Thank you so much for your response.

[BimTheDuck]

All of the information posted has been so helpful! I'm recently engaged and we're looking at Dec 2016 on carnival. Is it recommended to purchase the cruise through an agent instead of carnival directly? Would we be able to receive a free room if a certain number of rooms are booked? I have a large family who loves to travel, so I want to explore all possibilities.

 

Thanks!

 

8 cabins (16 guests) traveling = 1 Free Bed

16 cabins (32 guests) traveling = 2 Free Beds (1 free cabin)

24 cabins (48 guests) traveling = 3 Free Beds

32 cabins (64 guests) traveling = 4 Free Beds (2 free cabins)

100 cabins (200 guests) traveling = 12 Free Beds (6 free cabins)

[heather9844]

I just got engaged this weekend and called Carnival this morning. The Breeze out of Galveston is booked solid for weddings next summer - at least for any wedding with close to 100 guests. I am so heartbroken. [emoji22]

[BimTheDuck]

Hello fellow brides! I need ideas for favors and welcome bags. What are you using???

 

Here are some ideas...Drawstring back packs, plastic sunglasses, travel size tubes of sunscreen, travel size tubes of bug spray, chapstick, travel size of bathroom air freshener, mints, gum, lint roller, reusable beverage container/tumbler, badge holder, hand sanitizer, night light, mini surge protector, crystal light packets, snacks, sticky notes, pen, or highlighter.

[BimTheDuck]

I just got engaged this weekend and called Carnival this morning. The Breeze out of Galveston is booked solid for weddings next summer - at least for any wedding with close to 100 guests. I am so heartbroken. [emoji22]

 

heather9844 Im having to get married in 2017 for this reason (and a few others). Just waiting for Carnival to release their summer 2017 schedule.

[CleBell]

8 cabins (16 guests) traveling = 1 Free Bed

16 cabins (32 guests) traveling = 2 Free Beds (1 free cabin)

24 cabins (48 guests) traveling = 3 Free Beds

32 cabins (64 guests) traveling = 4 Free Beds (2 free cabins)

100 cabins (200 guests) traveling = 12 Free Beds (6 free cabins)

 

 

Thanks for the info. Is this a specific company?

[BimTheDuck]

Thanks for the info. Is this a specific company?

 

Im not sure about other cruise lines but this is the info my travel agent gave me for Carnival

[CleBell]

Does anyone know if non sailing guests can meet us at the Keywest port and join us on the boat for the ceremony and reception?

[Jd2005]

Does anyone know if non sailing guests can meet us at the Keywest port and join us on the boat for the ceremony and reception?

 

I've been wondering the same. My brother can't come on the cruise because of a new promotion at work, I was thinking of flying him into the Bahamas but I haven't looked into it yet

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[heather9844]

So it looks like I'll be booking my wedding on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston for July 24, 2016. We had our hearts set on Carnival Breeze and it was all booked up, and we just didn't want to do Carnival Freedom or Liberty. Really the only reason we hadn't looking into Royal Caribbean was because they cost more, but knowing that the Breeze is unavailable makes me more willing to spend the extra money to be on Liberty of the Seas. I'm so excited!!!!

[CleBell]

So it looks like I'll be booking my wedding on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston for July 24, 2016. We had our hearts set on Carnival Breeze and it was all booked up, and we just didn't want to do Carnival Freedom or Liberty. Really the only reason we hadn't looking into Royal Caribbean was because they cost more, but knowing that the Breeze is unavailable makes me more willing to spend the extra money to be on Liberty of the Seas. I'm so excited!!!!

 

If you don't mind sharing, what are the costs?

[heather9844]

Sure! Well, I just got all the info from http://www.royalcaribbean.com/statichtmlpage.do?pagename=brochure_weddings

[CleBell]

Thank you!

[BimTheDuck]

Congrats to you! We just booked our wedding 2 weeks ago and decided we were just going to do invitations ASAP so people would have time to prepare/save/take off work. I designed the invites on Minted last week and they arrived today :) now to start addressing them! We're having our guests RSVP via our website instead of sending RSVP cards out so I'm expecting to get a lot of questions but oh well. I feel like the RSVP cards are pointless when the RSVP on the website automatically gathers everyone's information into a database. I have already called all of the older guests that aren't internet savvy to guide them through everything.

 

Now I'm just waiting for my call from Carnival Weddings and the RSVP's/questions to start rolling in :p

 

I went with minted for my save the dates, i love that I didn't have to address any of the cards. What design did you choose?

[AIRIKUH]

I went with minted for my save the dates, i love that I didn't have to address any of the cards. What design did you choose?

 

We chose the Whimsical Kelp invites! I really liked that I could customize the wording on it since we can't put the time/certain info on it. I also ended up getting a pretty big discount just for signing up to make a wedding website with them (I didn't end up using Minted to make our website because their websites didn't allow for customization). Here is a picture of our invites!

[BimTheDuck]

We chose the Whimsical Kelp invites! I really liked that I could customize the wording on it since we can't put the time/certain info on it. I also ended up getting a pretty big discount just for signing up to make a wedding website with them (I didn't end up using Minted to make our website because their websites didn't allow for customization). Here is a picture of our invites!

 

your invite is beautiful! I went with a nautical theme for our save the dates and i'm thinking about going with the simple coral for the invites. I want to stick to the whole nautical theme so our colors are navy, silver, and white. I ended up making my own wedding website on WIX for free.

[sbuxbear]

We have just about decided that a weddingmoon eloping is what we want to do.

We plan on booking the freedom cruise for june 4th from galveston and then on the port day in key west using a non-carnival company to perform the ceremony.

I'm currently scouring the internet for advice and reviews of anyone who has done something similar.

[heather9844]

Update: We are NOT booking on Royal Caribbean anymore. The difference in cost to Carnival was just too outrageous. Therefore, we've booked an embarkation day wedding on the Carnival Freedom out of Galveston on July 23! I am so excited!!!

[BimTheDuck]

Update: We are NOT booking on Royal Caribbean anymore. The difference in cost to Carnival was just too outrageous. Therefore, we've booked an embarkation day wedding on the Carnival Freedom out of Galveston on July 23! I am so excited!!!

 

Yes RC ships are soooo beautiful but I just couldn't justify paying that much more for the ceremony. And they charge separately for the reception, it was like everything was a la carte. Happy for the couples that get to go with RC, Princess, and Celebrity, but it was just way too pricey for me

[heather9844]

Yes RC ships are soooo beautiful but I just couldn't justify paying that much more for the ceremony. And they charge separately for the reception, it was like everything was a la carte. Happy for the couples that get to go with RC, Princess, and Celebrity, but it was just way too pricey for me

 

 

I 100% agree. I love the decor and all the activities the RC ships have to offer, but I couldn't believe it was $4600 PLUS an $1800 "embarkation day fee" (what??) and THEN you have to pay for food and drinks on top of that!! One of the points of a cruise wedding for me was the low cost, and Royal Caribbean was turning out to be more expensive than a traditional wedding at home. I just couldn't justify it. I still wish I could've been on the Breeze, but at the end of the day I don't care. I just want to marry my fiancé!