Bar Service?

[royalwedding]

I just booked our reception,(just the one with hot and cold Hors d'oeuvres) but I was wondering, does bar service mean that they just have servers there to take your orders for the bar or does it mean an open bar? hopefully it means an open bar!!

[hollidaygal]

Yes, it is open bar for however long you've paid for. There will be servers and you can order at the bar depending on the location. If you have any doubt check your bridal receipt (they should e-mail that to you when they charge your card) and it should say Hot & Cold Hors d'ouvres w/ Open Bar. Enjoy!!

[tameka94]

I wondered the same thing. I figured there would be servers for receptions not located in a room with a bar.

[hollidaygal]

I'm pretty sure there are servers in all locations w/ bars. That way not everyone bellies up to the bar to get drinks and overwhelms the bartender.

[dcdiva]

At our wedding (60 guests), there were two servers and even though there was bar in the room, they did not open it. The servers were using the service bar behind the scenes. The arrangement didin't make alot of sense and folks would have ended up waiting forever for drinks. Before I was even aware of the problem, the best man -- who was not at ALL happy with the arrangement -- talked to someone and had them staff the main bar so that we had both a bartender and the servers. It worked much better this way.

[Prinycesa07]

Yep, open bar. But at my wedding they were telling us that it was a 2 top shelf drinks per person and they were actually trying to keep track because my mom ordered something and they asked her who it was for and she said the bride so i guess they said "ok". I guess they were switching to lower shelf after the 2 drinks each? Weird.

[dna32]

Was married in the Crown Lounge...we had servers for the 23 guest..and the drinks were flowing...after we ordered the first drink..the servers would bring us new drinks with out us even asking...I had over 4 martinis...top shelf kettle one...no one ever questioned the top shelf drinks...they just brought what we wanted...

 

Diana

[sas80]

I just booked our reception,(just the one with hot and cold Hors d'oeuvres) but I was wondering, does bar service mean that they just have servers there to take your orders for the bar or does it mean an open bar? hopefully it means an open bar!!

 

"open bar" on Royal Caribbean has ALWAYS meant that you have a single server taking drink orders and bring the drinks back to your guests.

 

I assumed that "open bar" meant people could walk up and order and get their own drinks. The boards told me otherwise and I confirmed with Royal Romance.

 

I had 35 people and one drink server......:rolleyes:

[hollidaygal]

Unfortunetly, it is the cruise line's final decision whether or not they open up the main bar in a particular location. I have attended many Royal Caribbean weddings and in some venues like the Spectrum Lounge, you can also order drinks at the bar but I think it depends on how many people there are. I can completely understand couples & guests frustrations to wait on one person to take & deliver drink orders especially for 60 plus people. According to Royal Romance, "Open Bar" means open bar service with servers only. If they open the actual lounge bar, it is at the cruise line's discretion. I have found that if you ask nicely and explain your frustrations to your coordinators/officiant, they will talk to the CPA and you can almost always get what you are requesting. At the end of the day both Royal Romance & Royal Caribbean want to make you & your guests as happy as possible and if they can accomodate you, they will. :)

 

On Carnival though, there are many venues that have bartenders & servers. I think it works much better that way. It all depends on the cruise line.

 

If you are not satisfied with the situation, ALWAYS ask someone (kindly)for what you want and most times, like with dcdiva, they will accomodate you.

[royalwedding]

Thanks so much everybody, this information has been so helpful.

[hollidaygal]

It's my pleasure! We are all here to help!

[dcdiva]

On Royal Caribbean, I can confirm that it is at the cruise lines discretion whether or not to open the bar. But I have found if you go directly to the cruise line staff, rather than through Royal Romance, you'll have better luck. At our wedding, I am certain the plan was to have only two servers for our 60 guests. But when pressed, the servers and the cruise line staff accomodated our request to open the bar. In fact, the whole thing was taken care of before I even knew about the problem. On this one, defintiely do not expect Royal Romance to do you any favors. Go right to the cruise staff.

 

To this day, I am not sure if the Best Man "tipped" the wait staff to open up the bar. But even if he did, it was well worth it. Our guests (all of whom were sailing with us) made full use of the open bar! :D