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RCCL Harmony of the Seas Wedding Sept. 2017


christa4
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Our sailing is September 16-23, 2017. We are getting married at sea on September 17th; the first full day at sea. We can't wait! We booked it early/mid 2016; about 18 months in advance. There are so many details to figure out still and would love any suggestions either from past cruise brides or brides currently planning their cruise weddings.

 

I'm super DIY and crafty with some great tools so I'm trying to customize every thing I can.

 

Anyone know just how much stuff I can bring on the ship? I was hoping to pass out all the welcome bags on board. Can I bring cardboard boxes of stuff? Are there carts to help carry it or do I need to bring a portable dolly?

 

- We booked one of the Skyloft suites which is part of the Royal Suite Class - the Stars level including a Royal Genie. We would never spend money on a room like this but since we have 40-60 of our friends and family members coming, we knew wed have gatherings in our room throughout and could share the special room with everyone at some point. Any reviews of these suites or the Genies? Can't find a ton of info out there especially on the Genies since they are new. Haven't found a bride that had a Genie. I'm wondering how you utilized them or how they made your experience overall.

 

- OOT Welcome bags are something I'm putting a lot of time into. I think if my guests are taking are week off work and paying the considerable expense of traveling and the cost of the cruise that I need to thank them by showing them how much we care. I have the bags and are few things to go in them already.

 

- I really would like input on cruise wedding photography. Our friends who shoot outdoor commercial work are coming and offered to take our photos as our wedding gift. I'd love to see other cruise wedding photos. I haven't been able to find much variety online.

 

- Anyone do a YouTube video with all the travel details for their guests? I want to do one because even though I have a beautiful and super detailed wedding website on AppyCouple people are missing some details. Plus, a video could be fun! If you could give suggestions or links to other videos with the similar idea that'd be amazing!

 

- I know I'm still 9 months out but I am getting really aggravated with my RCCL wedding planner because in the last 4+ months I've emailed her 6 times, called and talked to other people twice and emailed someone else and no one is getting back to me!!! If I don't hear back by the end of January I might throw a fit. Anyone have experience with this? I'm not going to throw her name under the bus but this is getting to a point of being ridiculous and unprofessional.

 

- Anyone make a welcome book? I would love to see what you included. I drafted something that's now 20 pages (which is ok) but I need better content then what I have. I plan on getting the pages printed and I will be binding them with a machine I have.

 

I was also thinking of making a little info card with treat for each of the 3 islands we go to to be delivered to my guests rooms each island day. This makes for a ton of stuff.

 

I think by the end of my experience I will be a professional and be able to write a book on everything I did! I thoroughly enjoy event planning. I'm a crafter. A little OCD. Have crazy attention to detail. I'm loving every second of planning this wedding even though Pinterest isn't filled with specifics on cruise weddings.

 

Even if I didn't touch on it here, please throw out suggestions to help make this a grand experience for all!

 

[This pic is the image on our welcome bags. And basically the theme for the wedding.]

 

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christa4

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After not being able to get ahold of my Coordinator for 5 months, today when I called I was finally told that an outside company, Royal Ocean Events, bought out the department last week. I now have a new Coordinator who emailed me within 15 minutes of me calling Royal Caribbean. They said they have all the information from when I was working with the Royal Caribbean In-House Coordinator but we will see what happens.

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Royal Ocean Events bought Royal Celebrations? OMG. I'm getting married in September aboard Allure. I haven't heard anything from my wedding planner either.

 

Yes! You should call and find out who your new Coordinator is. I am trying to set up a call with mine so I can see where we stand with everything. I don't want to find out last minute that things were dropped in transition or worse - my date isn't event set! (I doubt that will be the case, but still.) It's frustrating that I booked and paid for the wedding 9 months ago and this is how things are playing out. I guess it's a good thing I found out when I did about the buy-out.

 

My wedding is also in September but on Harmony. When is yours? How many guests are you estimating? Where were you at with the planning with your Coordinator?

 

So far I've read good things about Royal Ocean Events... their website isn't impressive and things like that make me nervous. I'd think their branding would be better especially seeing as how they serve 5 cruise lines. http://www.royalwed.com is their site. They look to be a Canadian based company. My Coordinator said she works 8-4pm PST. It looks like they are located near Vancouver Canada. I called the standard number on Royal Caribbean's website and got through no problem: 1-888-933-7225. Keep me updated on your status - I'm interested to hear your experience compared to mine!

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I ordered these business cards last week when Zazzle was having a 40% off deal! We will putting these cards inside the badge holder on the lanyards we got from Amazon (55 for $20). We have so many first time cruisers so hopefully this will help them!

 

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christa4

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Can you share some of your ideas for what you're putting in your welcome bags? I'm 100% set on making them, but our budget is really tight right now (especially since a lot of people who we didn't think would be cruising with us have booked already) and I'm just not sure what we will be able to do.

 

We are a bit of a party crowd and I'm set on making little hangover type kits, and I've already bought lip balms. We're cruising in September as well, but out of Long Beach. This year the weather was about 90 and sunny on the day of our wedding next year, but the week before it was 70 and cloudy. I want to do sunscreen but it's a 50/50 chance whether it will be a complete waste or worth it. I've found inexpensive sunglasses but that's simular to sunscreen as to whether it will be necessary.

 

I'm not planning a welcome book (what have you put in yours that takes up 20 pages?! Am I completely overlooking something?) But I do plan on making little programs. Definitely the first day needs to be detailed out as we are having an embarkation day wedding. So we will be boarding around 11/1130, the wedding is at 1 with reception immediately after. I want to skip toasts at the reception and do them before dinner at a specific bar and we want to continue the party all night so I'm going to make a timeline for the day. I also want to let our guests know meet up times and places for our port day and sea day. I want our guests to feel welcome to joining us all weekend long, but also know it's their vacation and there's no hard feelings if they want to do their own thing.

 

It's a really cute idea to have something delivered on the port days! Our guests are booking through our PVP with Carnival, who is doing a great job of keeping everyone together for the most part, so we could even leave a little note with a small trinket on the doors or with the cabin steward quite easily. We only have one port day but I really like the idea of bringing a thank you card and leaving it on their door the morning of that day or the sea day or something. Thanks for the idea!

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Can you share some of your ideas for what you're putting in your welcome bags? I'm 100% set on making them, but our budget is really tight right now (especially since a lot of people who we didn't think would be cruising with us have booked already) and I'm just not sure what we will be able to do.

 

We are a bit of a party crowd and I'm set on making little hangover type kits, and I've already bought lip balms. We're cruising in September as well, but out of Long Beach. This year the weather was about 90 and sunny on the day of our wedding next year, but the week before it was 70 and cloudy. I want to do sunscreen but it's a 50/50 chance whether it will be a complete waste or worth it. I've found inexpensive sunglasses but that's simular to sunscreen as to whether it will be necessary.

 

I'm not planning a welcome book (what have you put in yours that takes up 20 pages?! Am I completely overlooking something?) But I do plan on making little programs. Definitely the first day needs to be detailed out as we are having an embarkation day wedding. So we will be boarding around 11/1130, the wedding is at 1 with reception immediately after. I want to skip toasts at the reception and do them before dinner at a specific bar and we want to continue the party all night so I'm going to make a timeline for the day. I also want to let our guests know meet up times and places for our port day and sea day. I want our guests to feel welcome to joining us all weekend long, but also know it's their vacation and there's no hard feelings if they want to do their own thing.

 

It's a really cute idea to have something delivered on the port days! Our guests are booking through our PVP with Carnival, who is doing a great job of keeping everyone together for the most part, so we could even leave a little note with a small trinket on the doors or with the cabin steward quite easily. We only have one port day but I really like the idea of bringing a thank you card and leaving it on their door the morning of that day or the sea day or something. Thanks for the idea!

 

Hi! I decided to start a blog to share my Cruise Wedding planning ideas and experience. http://ccourtne4.wixsite.com/cruisewedding

 

I'm still working on it but I think it's worth checking out.

 

To touch on it, the Welcome Book will have things like, a list of the people cruising and their room numbers. Schedule for the week. Detailed scheduled for the day of the wedding. Info on taking pictures and how to post them on Eversnap. A few pages with fun info about us. A couple of the pages are just images. A thank-you page. A page for each port we are stopping at (3) with info and history about that island. A page for things we will be celebrating the week we are cruising because we have a few birthdays and anniversaries. It's a work in progress yet.

 

The Welcome Bags will have things like EOS lip balm (tho not with SPF). Adult coloring book and markers. Small 2" door magnets for their staterooms. A couple different cards with games/challenges. Lanyards with cards telling guests to put their SeaPass cards in the lanyards. I was thinking about getting after sun aloe gel instead of sunscreen. In my experience that's something people forget to bring. I was also going to get headache medicine. Maybe find packets of stuff to mix with water to help cure hangovers? I found cheap sunglasses on Oriental Trading that I was considering getting. I hope to hit up the Dollar Tree to supply some of these small items like medicine packets, gum, mints. My OOT bags are going to be a continuous work in progress.

 

Currently I'm dealing with wedding coordinators that haven't gotten back to me in over 5 months.... I'm about to fire off an email to Corporate because this is getting absolutely ridiculous. Did I mention I was on hold for 50 minutes before anyone even picked up the phone when I called yesterday?

 

I love to hear all that you're planning! Please keep me updated on any new ideas!

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  • 4 months later...

Ladies, I was just married on Anthem 5/25/17 and the event was a complete mess highlighted by the horrible customer service with Royal Ocean Events. My advice is cut your losses on the deposit and make alternate plans. This was an embarktation day event with 61 guests from Bayonne, NJ. I could have done a better job coordinating a fire hall from my cell phone with 24 hours notice. Not sure if you can message me for my email, but it was nothing like the perfect day I had envisioned.

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Ladies, I was just married on Anthem 5/25/17 and the event was a complete mess highlighted by the horrible customer service with Royal Ocean Events. My advice is cut your losses on the deposit and make alternate plans. This was an embarktation day event with 61 guests from Bayonne, NJ. I could have done a better job coordinating a fire hall from my cell phone with 24 hours notice. Not sure if you can message me for my email, but it was nothing like the perfect day I had envisioned.

 

This is terrible! I'm SO sorry to hear that! This is exactly my concern but I'm so deep into it with over $70,000+ of rooms book, it's too late to back out. I've been dealing with a person through Royal Caribbean that acts as a liaison between them and Royal Ocean Events. It's only because I sent a demand letter to the legal department at Royal Caribbean asking for damages. They are trying to promise me that everything will be perfect. We will see. I'm mentally preparing for the worst. If that happens, I will be fighting tooth and nail to be compensated.

 

Check out the blog I started, one of the topics is regarding my headache of a planning process. You can fill out the form on my blog and I can reach out to you directly! www.ChristaCourtney.com

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Can't believe I missed this thread!

 

BeachClan4: I hate to hear how badly it went! One of the the things I couldn't believe (and hated) was how little info there was on cruise weddings, and how hard it was to find reviews (good or bad). Can you explain more about what happened? Is Royal doing anything to make amends?

 

Christa4:

I was married on Coral Princess (Alaskan Cruise) last year. I was so nervous about all of the negative reviews of seemingly ALL the wedding cruise line companies that I booked our wedding as a group event. The group coordinator was able to provide a receipt of all our group reservations (i.e. private wine tasting in the Bordeaux room from 3-4pm, and 2 hour open bar reserved in the Explorer's lounge, etc). I know Royal Ocean Events will have their own documentation, but at some point the Royal Ocean Events will need to get those reservations in with the cruise line. You may be able to track down where your reservations have been made in the group department, and at least have documentation to bring with you on board. Also, our service on board was fantastic. We were able to meet with the group coordinator of the ship and even make a few last minute adjustments/requests. Once you're sailing, you're really only dealing with people who have the power to make things happen, and it's such a smoother process. One of the pro's of getting married at sea/in port as opposed to embarkation day.

 

As far as the wedding photo question, if your friends are up for it, I would definitely ask them to take some! We brought a photographer with us to Alaska. I did a recap at weddingbee here:

http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/destination-wedding-alaska-recap-lots-of-pictures/#post-10222423

Obligatory "ignore the typos" request. Weddingbee won't let me edit the posts.

 

I checked out your blog, and couldn't help but laugh at this: "seemed as if no one in the history of life ever had a cruise wedding." I felt the exact same way! What I wouldn't have given to have a blog or some dedicated resource when planning. I really think that brides shy away from the cruise option because it's such a big unknown. We had the same thoughts about a blog too. I hated all that hard earned research just setting on my laptop. Figured I'd put it up online and help out other brides, and I'm in the process of writing all the posts now (http://www.sailsandveils.com). Maybe one day there will be enough of us cruise brides blogging to do a blogger convention. Hosted on a cruise of course ;-).

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  • 1 month later...

My fiance and I just booked our cruise wedding for October 2018. We're super excited, but now I'm a tad bit nervous hearing how everything has gone for you guys. I would hope having a Royal Genie would help make things go a bit smoother, because I'm sure they will help take care of everything and make sure everything runs smoothly. At least I would hope. We have paid 20 thousand just for our room, this doesn't include the celebration, or our family coming, so if it's nothing short of perfect, I'll be furious. I'm loving these ideas you brides have had so far!! I've already grabbed a notebook and I'm taking down notes, lol. I'm an art major myself, so crafty is my middle name, so this is just simply exciting! I took course in graphic design, which includes learning how to use adobe InDesigns! So this welcome book thing, was a fabulous idea! I've already pulled up your blog, and I'm getting ready to read it! I can't wait to see how your experience goes in a few months, especially with being able to utilize the Genie.

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  • 1 month later...
My fiance and I just booked our cruise wedding for October 2018. We're super excited, but now I'm a tad bit nervous hearing how everything has gone for you guys. I would hope having a Royal Genie would help make things go a bit smoother, because I'm sure they will help take care of everything and make sure everything runs smoothly. At least I would hope. We have paid 20 thousand just for our room, this doesn't include the celebration, or our family coming, so if it's nothing short of perfect, I'll be furious. I'm loving these ideas you brides have had so far!! I've already grabbed a notebook and I'm taking down notes, lol. I'm an art major myself, so crafty is my middle name, so this is just simply exciting! I took course in graphic design, which includes learning how to use adobe InDesigns! So this welcome book thing, was a fabulous idea! I've already pulled up your blog, and I'm getting ready to read it! I can't wait to see how your experience goes in a few months, especially with being able to utilize the Genie.

 

As of right now, I'm still finalizing a resolution with someone employed by Royal Caribbean that is working on behalf of Royal Celebrations, which is what they still call the 'wedding department' even though it's a combo of both Royal Ocean Events and Royal Caribbean. I think the final product is going to be great in the end. (Hopefully).

 

We haven't been in touch with our Genie yet. I'm guessing I'll be hearing from that person in about 16 days (2 weeks prior to our sail date). Your room - did you get the Royal Loft Suite???? Our room was about 10 for our Sky Loft Suite so I'm assuming you went with the big guy!

 

Slight change on some of my details originally posted on my blog, but overall, lots of stuff remains as what I was originally planning. One of these days I will sit down and update my blog for some more current information. Time is just getting away from me.

 

I just collected shirt sizes from all of our guests, we will be having shirts made for our welcome bags. I also think I decided on this place to print our welcome books. I'll update with all of this once the time comes.

 

3 weeks from right now we will be in our hotel room in Florida stuffing our welcome bags and then getting ready for dinner. I reserved a little private gondola boat ride for a 2 hour dinner as a thank-you for my mom. She has done so much for us for this wedding. The 4 of us, myself, fiancé (Joey), Mom and her boyfriend (Chuck) will be having a nice little intracoastal waterway dinner together. Then the next day, Friday, we have reserved a patio at a restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway for whoever is in Florida to come meet for dinner. I also booked a limo to surprise my mom to take the 4 of us to the cruise port from the hotel on Saturday morning.

 

I'm getting super excited! (And slightly stressed by my to-do list).

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