Jewel of the Seas, April 22, 2006 - Review

[kissykitty2002]

After reading so many helpful reviews before our wedding, I thought that maybe someone would benefit from this review.

 

We planned our wedding with Robert from Royal Romance. He was extremely helpful and I would highly recommend him to help you with your wedding. I got the Harmony package and Robert helped me change a few things. I paid a colour change fee for my flowers. I had nine ivory roses and got them changed to five fuchsia and four ivory roses. We also did a fuchsia rose cake topper, changed the groom boutonnière to fuchsia, bought boutonnières for the parents, purchased an extra hour with the photographer, had hot and cold hors d’oeuvres reception, a champagne toast, and upgraded the cake to be large enough for 15 people.

 

We got married aboard Jewel of the Seas on April 22, 2006. We had ten non-sailing guests and no sailing guests. We are from Alberta, Canada so we flew the day before to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Air and Sea Port on 84 State Rd. It’s a very clean and quiet hotel.

 

The morning of the wedding I had a makeup artist from Fort Lauderdale come and do our makeup, she was so friendly and did an excellent job. Here is her website: www.beautifulbrides.org.

 

On the recommendation of cruise critic members we rented a stretched limo from Larry’s Limo. The service was excellent even if there was a mix up in the time: he arrived 45 minutes early. He was really nice and waited till 9:50 for us without any fuss. Their website is www.larryslimo.com. They are very professional.

 

We arrived at the port at 10:10; we left our luggage with the porters and after went in the cruise terminal to wait for the wedding coordinator and the wedding officiant. They arrived around 10:40 (They were supposed to arrive 10:30, so not too bad). They helped with getting our non-sailing guests their security clearance. After that we had a quick rehearsal with the wedding officiant and then she left to tend to another couple getting married and left us with the wedding coordinator.

 

I was use to dealing with Robert, the wedding coordinator, by email and phone until that day and he had done an excellent job, but the wedding coordinator (can’t remember her name!) that we got that day was horrible. The only negative thing about the wedding was her. She was unprofessional and just made things stressful. She also argued with the photographer.

 

The hubby and I boarded the ship around 11:15, as well as my mom ,sister and husband-to-be’s parents. We were brought to our cabin by the wedding coordinator. And the rest of the guests got to walk about the ship and needed to be in the Safari room by 12:45. I had a hair appointment at 12 but was told by Robert the week before if I got aboard early to go to the salon right away to get my hair done. So I got to the salon by 11:30, the hairdresser did an excellent job. I had brought a picture of want I wanted and she did it exactly like the picture. While I got my hair done the groom got dressed and left for the Safari room before I came back.

 

My hair was done by 12:10 but I had to wait ‘til 12:20 for the wedding coordinator to come get me to bring me back to the cabin because you are not allowed to go by yourself… She kept rushing me that day to do everything but she was the one late all the time! After that, I got dressed and waited for the wedding coordinator again to come get me again. The wedding was supposed to be at 1pm but it started at 1:15. There was time confusion between the wedding coordinator and the photographer. Charleston, the photographer, was very friendly and very professional. We are very happy with our pictures.

 

The wedding started by 1:15 and was finished by 1:30. After we had a reception with cold and hot hors d’oeuvre & open bar. We also had our first dance, cake cutting, and champagne toast. For our first dance we had brought a CD that they played for us but we also had our own mini-stereo for backup, just in case. After the cake cutting we left with Charleston to take pictures around the ship and we never made it back to the reception after that. Our guests were tired as it had been a long day. They found us before leaving to say goodbye. It was almost 4 anyway and they needed to be off the ship by that time.

 

After everything was done we went back to our cabin to get our life jackets and get ready for the muster drill. Everyone on the ship were so pleasant and they were congratulating us. Finally, we got ready to sail off on our honeymoon.

 

We met with our photographer on Wednesday (four days later) and got the package we had chosen. The pictures turn out very good. If you get married on the Jewel of the Seas I would recommend Charleston to be your photographer. He pays attention to details and he is very good at his job.

 

I would recommend a wedding aboard a cruise ship. It was a wonderful experience and we had a wonderful time on our honeymoon.

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

 

Nancy and Andrew

[stevesgirl1111]

Thanks so much for the review and I'm glad that you had such a good time :) Congratulations!

[Roxeerose]

The post was helpful to me. I would have been a little bummed that I couldn't make it back to the reception after pics. I would want to have spent some time with our non-sailing guests. By the way how many guests did you have with you. We are planning on having 60 guests but most of them will be sailing with us. But for the most part it sounds like you had a wonderful experience.

[Tracey&Gerry714]

thanks so much for the review. I've been having a nightmare of a time with RR/TWE, so I think I'll try calling Robert since you had such a great experience with him.

 

Can you tell me how much they cahrged you per person for the hot/cold? Thanks. :)

[kissykitty2002]

If I remember right it was about 31 usd per person, don't forget you have to include you and the groom when counting how many for the hors d'oeuvres.

[butterfly1]

Hi,

 

I am looking at getting married on Jewel of the Seas next year. You said your ceremony was in the Safari room. Is it nice? Is that the only option for location? I was told that this ship didn't have an official wedding chapel. Do you have pictures? If so, would you mind posting one of the room? I could email you if you want. I am really nervous about how everything will turn out. I know all that really matters is that we're married, but I still want it to be nice.

[kissykitty2002]

Hi,

 

I am looking at getting married on Jewel of the Seas next year. You said your ceremony was in the Safari room. Is it nice? Is that the only option for location? I was told that this ship didn't have an official wedding chapel. Do you have pictures? If so, would you mind posting one of the room? I could email you if you want. I am really nervous about how everything will turn out. I know all that really matters is that we're married, but I still want it to be nice.

 

I enjoyed it, it was nice enough for me, you can email me at kissykitty2002@yahoo.ca and I can email you some pictures. You'll will love the Jewel we wish we never had leave. Just put in the title safari room that way I know it's not spam.

 

Nan

[kissykitty2002]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your other question, here is the answer I got when I asked. A few of the locations that we usually use on the Jewel are the “Hollywood Odyssey”, the “Safari Club”, the “Condo Lounge”, or the “Zanzibar Lounge”.

Nancy

[feb07bride]

I am getting married in Feb 2007 on Jewel of the Seas. Actually, we are going to have the ceremony on the beach in Grand Cayman. I saw your pictures on your other post and I really like them!!! I just hope that I can do the pictures around the boat like you did and still be at the reception!! The boat looks beautiful!! I am getting more and more excited!!