thjeepster

2,000 or less will be good for me!!!!

1 more day!!!  We’ll be driving over to Miami in 24 hours from now!!!!

Excited to get to the ship!

hoping the capacity is lower than 50%. It was 35% on Odyssey 3 months ago and it was so amazing and we always felt safe and distanced.

1 hour ago, TxStacey said:

Thank you!  That sounds a little high but most people are probably getting their covid tests today so there could be some cancellations.  I just took mine this morning and I am NEGATIVE!  DH will test shortly so fingers crossed!  I'll be glad when I can breathe a sign of relief.  That won't be until Im on the ship!

Same here!

9 minutes ago, sabrefan15 said:

I am on now for b2b so will also be on 21st. Being told there is around 1500 on this sailing and everything seems dead. Had a hot tub last night with just 3 from our group in it last night and buffet was quiet for breakfast this morning. I will ask later today how many are expected for next sailing. 

Perfect!!  Thank you so much!

I appreciate you very much for doing this!

I hope you are having an amazing cruise so far!

6 hours ago, life is to be happy said:

 

And that blogger will already be back on Freedom this weekend if he has a negative test result.

"all these restrictions" are really not that bad...it's being safe and distance with everyone else and we all stay healthy.  We cruised in Oct and actually got married on Odyssey and it was amazing even with restrictions.  A mask and social distancing is not going to stop us for cruising!!!!

2 1/2 more days until Freedom!!!

5 hours ago, TxStacey said:

Ill be on the 21st sailing provided DH and I test negative on Wednesday!  We cannot wait!

Us too. 
 

it will be our honeymoon cruise. We were married on odyssey but needed this as our honeymoon with only the 2 of us.l and no guests or family. 

Hello. 
anyone one that’s on today?  Can you ask how many they are expecting for the next sailing??…please. 

It’s for the 21st. 
 

thanks in advance !!!

We just had our royal up bid excepted for Freedom for $50 each from a balcony to JS!!!  Can’t wait!

We will be on the Freedom also for the 21st!  Can't wait!!!!!

Hopefully it will be 50% or less.

We were on the Odyssey in Oct and there were only 40% and it was amazing!

17 hours ago, runner2013 said:

Hello Jeepster, 

Hope all is well with you and your bride.  

Planning is going well, all things considered. Going for my first 'official' dress fitting Saturday, sort of a wierd feeling. After that my guy has to purchase his suit, then it's hurry up and wait.  Final payment for cruise is end of Feb and RSVP's are due back first week of March. After that i'm guessing things will start to pick up. 

We are still going on our cruise Jan 26th. The Regal Princess from Ft. Lauderdale. We talked about it and decided we are good with wearing masks indoors and going with the flow as far as port stops and entertainment, etc. We don't care at this point, we just want to cruise. Our concerns now are the flights being canceled or delayed(we always fly into port the day before for this specific reason), and coming up positive when we do our Covid test. 

Glad to read you are still going on your trip as well. I love Freedom, was on her years ago and had a great time. Are you leaving from Ft. Lauderdale or Miami? 

Hopefully you have as much fun on this cruise as your wedding cruise. 

Here's hoping we all come up negative and actually get to go 🤞🤞

Hello again!

Everything is going great with married life!!

She said the same thing about her dress fitting too.....but she loved it when she did do the fitting!

Yeah, once the final payment is done, the rest will go by pretty quickly!

How many guests are you thinking will come now?

Yeah, we leave on the 21st and are fine with the process...we did it all for the wedding cruise, so it should be much of a difference!  We decided if certain locations are too busy...like the theater or the pools, we will skip it and go enjoy our balcony!!  We did the Royal-Up Bid for a Junior Suite of only $50 each and just got the email saying our offer was accepted....so now we will want to spend more time in the room! lol

We are leaving from Miami...but we like Ft. Lauderdale better....but it's fine...it's still a cruise!  We have never done Freedom but we have done Indy and loved her.  Plus they just do a remodel and added tons of stuff!!

That sounds like fun for you too!!!....Regal!!...How many days is it?  Which ship is the wedding on again?

The whole at-home testing negative first....scares me!!!...all the waiting for that one test to be negitive! 

20 hours ago, helloxxannie said:

We were looking at the Harmony of the Seas in January 2023 with an Embarkment ceremony as my Fiancé is from Fort Lauderdale so it would be easiest for us to have guests join us that may not want to cruise. 

 

How far prior to your initial 2020 date did you book? Were you flexible on dates or did you just choose what was available? How was your overall wedding planning experience with Royal? 

Harmony is a beautiful ship!  We enjoyed it in Dec of 2016.  

I totally understand having it on Embarkation day....we thought about that since we are from Florida too (only 1 1/2 hours from Ft. Lauderdale/Miami) but everyone that came with us are from around here anyway and they wanted to cruise too.

It actually might be less hectic on Embarkation day since you will enjoy the whole cruise with any of the hassle!....my wife spent 2 days at the spa doing nails, hair, makeup and we spend 3 hours the day before the cruise with the wedding planner.

We booked the wedding at the end of July 2019 for the "wedding" (which never happened) in April 2020.

We picked the dates.  First we chose like 3 cruises we were interested in and then picked the sea days we wanted for the wedding day....then we made sure the room type we wanted was available and put a hold on them. Then we contacted the Royal Celebrations to check to make sure the wedding dates were available and then we picked the cruise.

Since it changed 7 times we had to contact both Royal and the Royal Celebrations group....so I had to change everything 14 times....with switching the dates and moving the FCC to each ship....it was exhausting...but worth it in the end!!!

With all the changes and extra FCC we were able to switch from a balcony to a 1 br. Grand Suite.  Plus we also had enough to pay for half of our 1st Anniversary cruise next Nov. on Vision's 9 night cruise to Panama and Columbia...with an Aft Junior Suite!

The planning for the wedding was exhausting because we had to fill out the paperwork 7 times for the wedding stuff and everything....but in the end the wedding was amazing and the venue we had it in was beautiful....we were married with the windows out to the sea behind the Captain....and we paid for the extra hour for photographer.  Make sure you buy the package for the pictures before and not on the ship!...especially if you want them all! Our package also included all the pictures during the entire cruise........we ended up with a thumb-drive with about 300 pictures on it!

Let me know if you have more questions!!

On 12/2/2021 at 5:01 PM, runner2013 said:

Hello there! 

So happy to read you are settling in to married life😉. It's great you're doing another cruise for just the two of you. You can have some of that alone time you couldn't have during the wedding. 

 

I think our planning is going well so far. We're 6 months out and just waiting for the RSVP's to come back and then i'll start the out of town gift bags. We reserved rooms for the hotel for the night  before in Florida, and have a good idea what we'd like as far as a cake, and first dance song(yikes-it's starting to feel real now).  I honestly feel like I should be a lot more stressed out about things. We did actually get all the paperwork and info the cruise line wanted taken care of months ago so maybe that has something to do with it. Our next big things are my first dress fitting in Jan and my guy getting measured for his suit. Once that happens I think it will start to feel more real to the both of us.

 

With everything happening right now with this new Covid strain and testing regulations I'm focusing more of my attention on that. I'm glad to read you weren't given a hard time for not wearing masks during your ceremony and pics, that's one of the few things I am worried about. I have no problem masking up after pics and dinner, but before that, I'm not ruining my makeup if I can help it.😁 I've still got 6 months to go, a lot can happen in that time.  Keeping my fingers crossed for the best outcome possible.

 

We're doing a 4 night cruise in Jan as well on Princess. We want to check out the line and see what it's like and what to expect as far as the restaurants and bars etc.  We're calling it a 'fact finding mission' but it's really just us wanting a vacation in the middle of winter. :}

 

Hello Runner,

How is everything going with the planning?

Are you still going on the cruise this month?  When is it?

We are going out next Friday on the Freedom for our 2nd Honeymoon since we missed time together on our wedding cruise.

18 hours ago, helloxxannie said:

Oops! Totally forgot it was already 2022! Yes, I meant January 2023! 

 

Did you have a wedding on embarkment or at sea? Wow, 7 cancellations must have been quite the ordeal! I can understand why they may not be wanting to book new ones with everything that's going on but obviously I was hoping I could at least try! 

We had our wedding at sea.....during the first sea day.  It was amazing.  The Captain was excited to marry us because we were the first wedding on Odyssey and had his first mate take pics of the wedding so he could document it for the ship.

Yeah, we went from getting married on April 2020 on Indy, to August 2020 on Oasis, to Oct. 2020 on Indy, to April 2021 on Odyssey, to April 2021 on Indy, to August on Indy, and finally to Oct. on Indy...which was switched to Odyssey.

They are probably waiting to see what happens in the next couple of months.   2020 they had to offer $200 OBC and $500 towards extra wedding stuff (like photo or receptions) because people didn't want to  wait or change like we did.

Which ship are you looking at....and what type of ceremony?:

3 hours ago, helloxxannie said:

Hi All! My fiancé & I met on a Royal Caribbean ship 3 years ago, it's been my dream to get married on a cruise! We were hoping to have a date set for January 2022, but after inquiring with Royal Celebrations, I received an email back that they are not confirming wedding dates until further notice.

 

Has anyone been able to book their wedding recently, or have you received this response before? How early prior to a wedding date should I be booking with Royal Celebrations? 

 

Thanks for any insight or help you can provide! 

Hello. You wanted to get married this month?  Or you mean 2023?

my wife and I just got married on odyssey of the seas 3 months ago thru the Royal Celebrations group. 
 

we had 7 cruises canceled for our wedding since April 2020. 
 

the group only had one other wedding before ours and we were the first wedding aboard odyssey!!!

if you have any questions please ask!!

37 days to Freedom!!!

18 hours ago, runner2013 said:

Hey there, 

Hope you two have been enjoying your newly married status and things are getting back to normal for you. 

I was hoping I could ask you another question about your ceremony and mask wearing. Did your bride have to wear a mask on the wedding day. If so, when? I'm concerned they will tell me I need one walking to the ceremony location, reception area, or to the restaurant for dinner.  I realize i'm on a different cruise line, (Princess) but i'm guessing they all pretty much follow the same protocols at this point. 

Thanks 

Hello again!

Everything is going great so far!!  Thinks are getting to be normal again!

How is the planning going for you?

She wore her mask up to get her hair done and makeup for the morning of the wedding, but once that was done she used one of those face shields (but didn't put it over her hair and head....just kinda held it in front of her face) to come back to the room.  I didn't get to see her since I was getting ready in my dad's cabin.

I think she said she used that face shield again to come down from the room to the Library for the ceremony.

When we went around the ship (inside and out) to take the pics with the photographer we never used our masks and nothing was said to us......The staff and people kinda catered to us since we were married and said nothing but "Congrats" lol

I think you will be fine for keeping the mask off.....or maybe get a face shield type to just cover you mouth and nose area.

We have another cruise going out Jan. 21st (only a 3 night) so we can kinda use the time as a real honeymoon because my bride said she couldn't enjoy the ship and the private island much (for the first 3 days) because she spent alot of time in the spa doing her hair (she had a halo hair extension for the wedding), had a keratin treatment, and the day of the wedding spent 3 hours for nails , hair, and makeup....then on the private island she couldn't get a sun tan or burn because she didn't want lines for the wedding.  

Hello....We were on Odyssey a month ago and the library was completely empty.  We had our wedding in there and they told us due to COVID they are not putting any books or anything else in there yet.  Maybe it has changed in the past month...but idk.

22 hours ago, long4acruise said:

That's a beautiful story and wishing you everlasting memories of your joyous occasion!

 

Too bad the Captain and the Next Cruise dept couldn't work an incentive deal for you to cruise again on your 1st anniversary.   😉 

We did book aboard with the Next Cruise and it's for next Nov. for our 1st Anniversary....but didn't get any incentive deal and it's also for another ship. lol

Love seeing the pics!!!  Miss the Odyssey very much!  Was on it a month ago!!!...We actually got married onboard a month ago tomorrow!  It was amazing and the Captain married us and he was excited since we were the first couple to be married aboard the ship!

Wish we were back on it now!

On 10/26/2021 at 12:20 PM, runner2013 said:

Bummer about the cake topper, but glad to hear you got the other issues straightened out .. 

 

Now that you're back, do you have any advice or tips for things we should be aware of ? 

Thanks

I would advise to talk a lot to the onboard wedding coordinator once you get on the ship and go over all the details you want to have at the wedding!  Going in I thought I would be the one to have to clean up the wedding stuff around the venue (rose petals, candy favors, custom wine glasses, and etc.).

Scout out locations on the ship where you want to have pictures taken during the time you have with the photographer!.. We were lucky to get a spot saved by the wedding coordinator to go up in the North Star to have pics taken....it was amazing up there to do it!!!

If you have any other questions please ask!!!!

Just an update regarding Tuxedo rentals:

My tuxedo was hanging in my stateroom at 12pm the day we boarded the ship.

The pants were a little short so I called the tailor and he came up and measured me and brought up a new pair an hour later!

I had the Tux and shoes all week!!!

Best way to go if you need one!!!!...very cheap and you don't need to fill you suitcase with all that extra stuff!

14 hours ago, runner2013 said:

Welcome back!!! 

So happy to read you had a great wedding.  What issues did you have , something easily rectified I hope?

Thank you!!!

the ship was amazing and so clean and brand new!

Only issues we had were:

1. even thought we all had the same table for dinner (in the computer) all guest had other table assignments for dinner on their account cards and were sent to the 2nd floor for dinner on the first night. So I had to round everyone up to bring them back downstairs at our table.

2. We were given 2 bottles of champagne by our contact at the Executive office in Miami to be delivered to our room at checkin but never showed up. I then called and they said it would be at the MDR that night. Never showed up so I called again and they delivered that night with 12 chocolate covered strawberries also. 
 

3. Stateroom gifts were delivered to the wrong rooms. 
 

4. The rest of the cake was delivered to our stateroom after the wedding and someone broke the cake topper and used scotch tape to keep it together. 
 

other than that everything else was perfect!

Well we are finally back. 
Sucks to be back but had an amazing time. 
 

just about everything was great but had a couple of minor hiccups. But nothing that ruined our experience!

Have you heard the guest total yet?

Last week we had 1,465.

Sail away was about 6:20. 
 

have a great cruise!!!

The captain is so friendly and we had an amazing wedding on board!!!

We are currently on Odyssey!  Getting off in about and hour!

had an amazing time!!!