Luv2Cruz24/7

Hey...anyone have news on what rcc is thinking about this cruise taking place? (I haven't searched yet. Just asking here 1st) I know the hurricane b4 the cruise will hit all our stops, but is there one after?

Djswayde@aol.com

Hi. Any if you who had a wedding in port, could you help by telling me your schedule of events with times. I'm still struggling with the timing

So it actually is possible? Like change it over without having to rebook all the rooms?!? (pending on the agent allowing it? they might because we keep trying to find ways to do THEIR job for them. lol. looking for a better price. They automatically keep saying no, but A. rcl.com is advertising a little cheaper then they're booking, and other agents are doing not only a little cheaper, but with perks)

I'm pretty sure the answer is no...but thought I'd ask....

Does anyone know if it's possible to change travel agents without having to cancel and rebook? The price has DOUBLED so we wouldn't want to lose our original pricing. Plus there are a BUNCH of us, and I don't want to have to find a way to contact everyone 1 by 1 to give them the new details. (This is why I think it's impossible, but if it is a possibility it's worth asking)

I've been wondering for a while now, is it better to buy the package before hand, or on ship the 1st day? which has a better price (then again if there's a chance they'd implement this, I would prob just buy now) and do you arrange it through your TA, or just do it on the website?

The answer was stated a few times, but to reiterate, yes the price in AU seems higher bc grats are included. It's not an AU custom to tip for anything. (In some countries its even sen as offensive). I just wanted to cosign on the fact that it should automatically be included in the states too. People who like to go complain and get them off are usually just being cheap. If they truly did have a bad experience, they probably would have asked to switch servers. So now they aren't paying the server who did attend to them. Also, when you take off your whole gratuity it affects everyone. Including bar servers who did a good job, your cabin stewards, buffet servers who clean up after you, or even your dinner server (if your complaint was about something else). The fact that all places even have a choice to tip is sad. But I agree it the way of companies claiming their product is cheaper then it really is. It is almost like they're lying to you. (But I also will be honest, I live in a place where you don't tip and customer service can be atrocious a lot of times. Servers and industry people just don't care because they're being paid regardless how they treat you. So maybe there is no such thing as "fair" in this world :()

Have we figured out if this is JUST for harmony as of now? I cruise in Feb and would very much like a drink package, but my husband doesn't drink like that. Maybe a glass of wine at dinner and he'll just bring his 2 bottles on. I'll be VERY upset as I planned this over a year ago. If they are going to change this rule, it needs to be said clearly BEFORE we book. It is the reason I didn't go with NCL.

I LITERALLY just asked this. What was your result?

We still have months to go, so we have a lot of time before final payment. We have 37 rooms booked now but it's looking like we need at least 50. ALL ships are better priced then majesty right now:mad: enchantment is currently booking at our starting price, which is why I'd like to change and get more rooms. But I don't want to have to inconvenience everyone by having to make them rebook. That's why I want to know if it can be transferred. I asked my TA but it's the weekend so I may not hear back and I want to know if I can start asking those who already booked if the change would cause any inconveniences. Thanks for helping all!

does anyone know if we can change ships (change ports) easily? As in we have a large group and want to add more people but can't. So can we transfer our reservation to another ship with the same date and same price?

Wow, you ladies look beautiful. Congratulations.:*

What does GAP, OBC and RCI mean?

GAP= group amenity points. You accumulate a certain amount of points when you book as a group. Either through Royal Caribbean or your travel agent. Then you can choose when to do with them

OBC=on board credit. You can get this for a different number of things. But its essentially money you can use while on the ship or towards your final bill.

RCI=royal Caribbean international. (They change their name every once in a while, so that may or may not be right at this time. It use to be RCC-royal Caribbean cruises or RCCL- royal Caribbean cruise line I believe)

Who did you call about the free cocktail party? The wedding coordinator said she doesn't do that.

 

 

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Hey, did you figure all this out. Ian answer the questions if you didn't.

Does anyone know the earliest time we can arrive at the port in Port Canaveral for Majesty of the Seas 3 day cruise? What's the earliest we can actually board (for both suites and inside staterooms?) Any info would help. Thanks

I'm planning on having everyone gather in a meeting room on embarkation day. We will thank everyone for coming and play a get to know each other game. That's also where I'll pass out my welcome bags and the schedule for the wedding day.

(Btw...buying bottle water on board is SUPER expensive. Let them drink the free filtered water and spend the money on something better like bottles of wine at dinner or something nice in the welcome bags. I'm doing water bottles for all the guests with our wedding logo so they can fill and carry around)

Hello 2018 weddings! We just booked our NCL cruise for Dec 2018. We will get married while docked in St Thomas. Now that the cruise is actually booked I feel so overwhelmed lol. Not sure what to do next...

After I booked, I made a wedding webpage including all the Info I could think of like pricing(as well as deposit and final payment dates) a section for rsvp and general cruise questions. Then I emailed SAVE THE DATES with the website link. This gave people time to plan and save. 8 months b4 the wedding I sent out my real invites. Hope that helped?

Hello everyone! I'm also a 2018 bride. I recently booked a wedding cruise package for 8/31/2018 for the Majesty of the Seas with Royal Caribbean (3 day cruise to Bahamas). Anyone have any experience with that? I can't find what venues they have.

I too am Majesty. I also can't really find the venue options. But in doing my wedding on land and reception back in board. Of you find any answers to things PLEASE post them.

The cruise ship makes all the cakes, regardless of who "orders" it (Royal Romance, group department, etc). I booked mine directly through the groups department (this was princess). They just told me to send a picture with flavors and exact dimensions (aka how big it was) and they'd give me a quote. I had to google how much cake to order to feed x number of people, but other than that it was fairly easy. Looked better than the pintrest photo I sent them too, lol. I think you need to use Royal Romance for decorating the space itself. That's what the wedding coordinators are supposed to do? The kitchen will bring out the cake and set it up, but if you want special table clothes, centerpieces, etc. all that is through RR.

 

I did the whole wedding as a corporate event and just booked everything individually. You may get push back for trying to book things yourself since whoever on RCIs end is used to dealing with RR. Then again, the reception doesn't have to be part of your RR package I don't think (Unless you already booked all that?). I think you could just call the groups department and say you want to host and event for your group and would like a specialty cake to celebrate.

Thanks. Ya, I don't know if it's different because you were on Princess, or if my TA was just wrong (which would REALLY piss me off because their company is a specialty cruise wedding TA.) I'll try calling groups department when I get back to the US. Thanks!! Do you have pics from your reception somewhere on the web?

What would be the time difference between doing the reception on board vs on land? When's the wedding?

 

 

We did dinner in the Main Dinning Room (worked out great, and was included in the cost of everyones cruise fairs) and then did a 2 hour open bar + the wedding cake in one of the lounges, which had a band playing. We were roped off in a private section with access to the dance floor and had dedicated servers. There was a gap between the wedding and when dinner started, which we used to take pictures and let people freshen up, nap, whatever. Dinner was lot of fun and celebratory, by the time dinner was over everyone was ready to dance.

Thanks for replying!!.....

We're looking at the wedding being at 2pm (we dock at 12, ship clearance, then 30min ride to the wedding beach location). If the wedding was 45 min, then 15min receiving line/group pics, I'm guessing the land reception would be 3-4. (just cocktails, and traditional wedding stuff like bouquet/garter toss, 1st dances, cake ect.) Then we could let everyone go back to ship to explore the island while we take wedding pics. If we did it on ship, we would need the time for pics and travel, so it couldn't start until 5:30 at the earliest. Which is why originally I was looking at doing it before dinner (our Main Dinning room reservation is at 8:30 that night), so about 7. But like I said fiancé and mom think people may get tired. But the thought has always been to do dancing after dinner too.

Did you feel people were still in the wedding mood after the long gap? I want people to have time to explore, it's really important to me since the next day is the private island with less to see. Also, how did you manage a cake? I asked our TA who works specifically with cruise weddings, and she said they wouldn't do a wedding cake unless I was booking with the wedding department. I could only do sheet cake at the cocktail party. And maybe a small celebratory cake.

Ok, 1 month later and still trying to figure out the reception. Who would have thunk it, but it almost seems like having the reception on board is the most cost efficient option! I came to this conclusion after trying to contact the resort that the wedding will be held behind. It has been like talking to Royal Romance with them.....they take forever to reply. Then when she does, she says "I'll answer you back in a few minutes".....then NOTHING. She did finally send a price list of some things. At first it looked better priced, as their open bar was almost half the cost of RCL. But then you have to pay for the venue, which is included if you do open bar on ship. DJ's are over twice as expensive on land. On ship you also have to pay for a lighting tech though, so I guess it almost equals out. But then there is a separate bill for gratuities, which are built into the open bar on ship (even though we will tip extra), you have to pay VAT tax...whatever that is) then you have to pay a percentage of the total cost for the coordinator fee. But most of all, you have to pay a separate fee for the champagne, which could be included in the open bar on ship. In the end, it comes to almost $10/pp for 1 glass of champagne then. So overall, ship is probably better priced (I'd be able to tell you if their coordinator ever got back to me). My wedding coordinator showed us pictures of an absolutely beautiful spot, but it'd be $44/pp. That would get them 2 drinks and 2 our'dourves. How do you tell people they can only have 2 ourdourves? That's weird. But if you don't tell them then everyone wont get one? Sounds odd. I'm fine with doing the reception on ship, but now my fiancée and mother are adimate about doing the reception right after the wedding so people don't get tired or out of the wedding mood. I understand that though, I just can't seem to convince myself it's worth almost $1000 extra to NOT get everything I want drink wise, just so I can have it on shore.

On a happier note, I have been going crazy with my OOT bags :) In china you can get everything done for so cheap. I've gotten pricing on putting logos on so much stuff and they've been great. Not it's just fitting it all on suitcases to fly home with I have to worry about. Lol.

My daughter is getting married on one of our stops (GC) and then we will be booking the Limelight lounge (I think that's what its called ! ) for 2 hours - not as a wedding group but just with the groups booking dept.

 

My question is if all aboard time is 3:30 pm - and dinner is at 8:15 pm (dining room) what time do you think we should book the room - hordouerves , cake and DJ for?

How are you able to do cake on board if you're going through groups and not wedding department? I was told it wasn't possible. At most we could get sheet cake but not an actual wedding cake with flavors and décor. I'd LOVE to know. Also, did they actually give you the option of time. I was told I could ask, but wouldn't find out until a few weeks before if the time was approved, which is why I am now considering doing the reception on shore too.

Wow, thank you SO much. Such detail and answered EVERYTHING you are amazing. I'm going to look at your link now. You're WONDERFUL :*

We did a port ceremony with a reception on the ship. We loved it! We planned the port ceremony ourselves, did dinner in the main dining room with our guests, and then booked a private area of one of the lounges/bought an open bar.

 

 

What specific questions did you have?

That's EXACTLY what I want to do! How long did you book the open bar? Do you fell like there were enough servers to get everyone the drinks they wanted? (I was told the bar in the lounge wouldn't be open. so the servers would have to go to another near bar to get the drinks) If I'm paying per person, I don't want people to only be able to have like 1 drink. What exactly did you do in your lounge area? (I want to do announcing the wedding party, 1st dances, toasts, garder/bouquet throw, and maybe some group line dances. Hoping there's enough time in my 1 hour). Also, how long before did they guarantee you the space and time.

Lastly, how do you think the MDR dinner went? Did you feel sectioned off enough? Did you do table placement or just let everyone sit where they want? I guess a good question would also be how many pep went with you? (I have so many questions. Thanks SO much in advance)

Check their group rate, but also shop around on some TA sites. Often, bigger TA companies offer more perks then the cruise line itself. But definitely have them book through someone to make sure you can all be seated together. Some TA perks include 1 free berth/8 cabins, a free cocktail party, OBC, or free Champaign per room. It definitely worth doing some research.