Unresponsive Wedding Coordinator!

[dbrown13]

We booked our wedding about 14 months out and were told that our coordinator would be contacting us. We received an email with our contract information within a couple of days, but we never received a call from anyone. I called a couple of weeks later to speak to her and to ask a few questions but she wasn't available to the girl who answered my call answered some of my questions.

 

We were assigned Dinah as our coordinator (for our now very fast approaching wedding). We are just a little over 3 months out (April 30th on the Freedom!) and I have yet to speak with her. :eek: I have been reaching out for the past two weeks with questions, concerns and to call and upgrade our Time to Celebrate package to the Time to Celebrate Big package. Of course each time I call Dinah is unavailable or out of the office. I keep getting the same line: I will leave her a message or I will email her and have her call you. I still have not spoken to her! I am frustrated that my so called coordinator isn't coordinating anything! Not only that but one lady that I got on the phone told me I can't upgrade my package because another couple has that package already! When I booked there were no other weddings booked I was told I could upgrade to more time later if needed but if we wanted to have a DJ we would need to book that immediately so the night club is reserved for us. How is it that I already have my room reserved on the ship but I can't extend my time by a half an hour?!?

 

Is anyone else having this problem? Has anyone heard about not being able to upgrade your package to extend an additional half an hour?

[Bay512]

Are you going through Royal Caribbean? I am having similar issues with their royal romance wedding coordinator. We just signed our wedding contract, but have yet to hear about what venues we can pick from, etc. I got my invoice today and it had "Olive or Twist" listed as our venue space. We never even talked about venues with anyone!! I am beyond frustrated. All they did was send us the contract and we signed it and gave it back. They wont return our calls or e-mails. Did you have this issue too? Royal Romance needs to get their crap together!

[MelissaNDave]

We are getting married on Freedom in September and this has not been our experience. I have read a lot of people have issues. Maybe I just got lucky. I have been dealing with Stephanie and she has walked us through the contract, venue selection and lining us up with our wedding planner. My first call with her is in February. Stephanie has even quoted my flowers and answered my millions of questions. I did tell her of my fears from what I read and she reassured me every single time. She assigned Aislin as my planner and from what I hear she is very good. My emails and calls are always answered within 24 hours. Sorry you are having such a bad experience.

[dbrown13]

Are you going through Royal Caribbean? I am having similar issues with their royal romance wedding coordinator. We just signed our wedding contract, but have yet to hear about what venues we can pick from, etc. I got my invoice today and it had "Olive or Twist" listed as our venue space. We never even talked about venues with anyone!! I am beyond frustrated. All they did was send us the contract and we signed it and gave it back. They wont return our calls or e-mails. Did you have this issue too? Royal Romance needs to get their crap together!

 

 

We are getting married on the Carnival Freedom. How far out is your wedding? It is my understanding that contact isn't made immediately for weddings that are far out. But I'm not familiar with Royal's policies.

[dbrown13]

I finally got to speak with Dinah our wedding coordinator yesterday. I ended up speaking to my Carnival vacation planner and asking about it and he transferred me over to weddings and got her on the line. FINALLY!!

 

She spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with me answering all my questions and talking to me. She even asked questions about us and about the wedding which made me feel like she actually cares! Dinah stated that due to the overwhelming number of proposals on Christmas and around the holidays they are extremely busy this time of year. She apologized and made me feel better :)

 

As far as extending our package to the Time to Celebrate Big, she stated they usually only have one wedding officiant on board and that is why they can only do one package. I guess our ceremony would start later since we had the shorter reception. She is reaching out to see if there is any way they can schedule a 2nd officiant to be there that day so that they can accommodate 2 ceremonies starting at the same time.

[BimTheDuck]

Have you thought about providing your own officiant? I asked my brother to perform the ceremony since he will already be joining us for the cruise. Hes not a minister but is planning on getting ordained online. Id much rather someone I know marry me versus the person provided my Carnival. just a suggestion but either way I hope you get to have the longer reception!

 

I finally got to speak with Dinah our wedding coordinator yesterday. I ended up speaking to my Carnival vacation planner and asking about it and he transferred me over to weddings and got her on the line. FINALLY!!

 

She spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with me answering all my questions and talking to me. She even asked questions about us and about the wedding which made me feel like she actually cares! Dinah stated that due to the overwhelming number of proposals on Christmas and around the holidays they are extremely busy this time of year. She apologized and made me feel better :)

 

As far as extending our package to the Time to Celebrate Big, she stated they usually only have one wedding officiant on board and that is why they can only do one package. I guess our ceremony would start later since we had the shorter reception. She is reaching out to see if there is any way they can schedule a 2nd officiant to be there that day so that they can accommodate 2 ceremonies starting at the same time.

[dbrown13]

Have you thought about providing your own officiant? I asked my brother to perform the ceremony since he will already be joining us for the cruise. Hes not a minister but is planning on getting ordained online. Id much rather someone I know marry me versus the person provided my Carnival. just a suggestion but either way I hope you get to have the longer reception!

 

I hadn't really thought of having my own officiant. I did hear back from the coordinator though and they were able to book a second officiant for us.

 

So our ceremony will begin at 1 and the reception at 1:30 until 3pm when the non-sailing guests will have to leave. I think that will suit us much better.

[CruiseBride926]

So glad everything worked out! I had a similar experience however in my case it was partially my fault. I found out I was pregnant the day after booking so I literally went into baby planning mode and completely abandoned wedding planning until she was a couple of month old. At that point I would call when she napped and be told she'd call me back which she never did and I wouldn't follow up because of the baby. Eventually I was able to get a hold of them and hammered out all the details. Everything the day of was perfect and exactly as discussed. Even the little details such as decorations I bought for my cake (the week before) were handled seamlessly.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kfied08]

I finally got to speak with Dinah our wedding coordinator yesterday. I ended up speaking to my Carnival vacation planner and asking about it and he transferred me over to weddings and got her on the line. FINALLY!!

 

She spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with me answering all my questions and talking to me. She even asked questions about us and about the wedding which made me feel like she actually cares! Dinah stated that due to the overwhelming number of proposals on Christmas and around the holidays they are extremely busy this time of year. She apologized and made me feel better :)

 

As far as extending our package to the Time to Celebrate Big, she stated they usually only have one wedding officiant on board and that is why they can only do one package. I guess our ceremony would start later since we had the shorter reception. She is reaching out to see if there is any way they can schedule a 2nd officiant to be there that day so that they can accommodate 2 ceremonies starting at the same time.

 

How much did they charge you to upgrade? I currently have the time to celebrate and also want to upgrade. I'm just curious what the difference in price was

[dbrown13]

How much did they charge you to upgrade? I currently have the time to celebrate and also want to upgrade. I'm just curious what the difference in price was

 

The package itself was $200 to upgrade plus tax, plus the additional cost to upgrade the DJ for the extra time. It ended up being just shy of $300 extra to extend our time. It also ups the cost of the additional headcount to $30 pp from $22 per person. It also adds an ice sculpture to the package for the reception as well.