SailsandVeils

I did a cruise wedding, but not in St. Thomas. From my research, St. Thomas is a great port because ships dock there (as opposed to using a tinder). This means that even in rough seas, you will still disembark in the port and thus not miss your wedding :-). Additionally, it's far enough south that it's generally not bothered by tropical storms. There's a few brides here that have used a local wedding company to help plan their ceremony, you may be able to get some reviews on which would be best. Because you are getting married in port, instead of booking a package directly through the cruise line, you may be able to do the wedding on your own and then book an area of a lounge/bar/etc for your reception through the group booking department. This is what we did, and we ended up having a lot more control of everything. It turned out great!

Good luck with the wedding planning!

They offered the last day of the cruise. Who wants to have a wedding, reception and and then pack to leave the ship. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. It's not only the $$ for the booking, but expenes for dresses, tuxes, flowers, party favors from us and guests. They barely gave us an apology.

I'd definitely contact the cc company, hit everyone them and royal up on social media (may get a better response), and discuss with a lawyer :-/. Sometimes even a letter can get a company to do the right thing, once it's on a lawyers letter head. I'm not a litigious person by any means, but it seems that they aren't giving you any other options

As important as a wedding is and as much as everyone wants them to be perfect, wouldn't it be better to do it on land first - maybe the day before the cruise. And then just get on the cruise and do the celebrating and fun part. When I read about the people having the ceremony in a port, what do they do if the port gets skipped for some reason?

 

Without the control and certainty, it would be scary.

You can't control everything on land either. My friends wedding venue burned down 3 weeks before her wedding. Another was unable to reach the venue (nor were any of her guests or the vendors ) due to historic flooding.

Ports can be managed by picking those that don't require a tinder. If the ship is actually able to dock, the guests will be allowed off. Similarly, you can pick ports that have calmer waters (inside passage of Alaska is almost like a river cruise).

That being said, with any kind of destination wedding you will inherently have less control than a local one. You're just not there to do many of the things that need to be done in advance, and are thus relying on planners and vendors.

Of course. You should expect your contract to be executed as planned. This situation isn't an unlucky act of nature. It's breach of contract.

My fiance and I just completed a trip that we should have had our ceremony on. Royal Ocean Events, your land coordinator, gave the ship the wrong wedding date. We set sail with our guests and met our ship coordinators. The ship was given a completely different date from our contracted wedding date. Our ceremony never happened due to three other events already scheduled on our date. We and our guests are out of pocket for our expenses. They won't reimburse us for our expenses. DO NOT DO IT! Cancel your booking and plan something else.

That is absolutely insane. Did you pay via credit card? If so, call them and have them reverse the charges for non-delivery of agreed upon services.

Did the ship try and offer to do your wedding on an alternative day/the wrong day ROE sent over?

We did something similar for our wedding. We booked everything for the ceremony in port via local vendors. Then did the reception on board via the group/event booking department. We didn't have any issues getting a speciality cake though. Of course, we were so full from all the food we barely touched the cake. A regular sheet cake would have been more than enough.

Can't wait to see pictures of your wedding! :-). Sounds beautiful! THe Cayman Islands are one of my favorite ports.

Carnival IS different. They will only provide us with a slab cake. So yes, it will not be our 'ideal' wedding cake. But not so much of a big priority. We just want the time for some speeches and some thank you's with private photography.

We will also have a DJ for the 2 hours. We were able to pick our time. We have to be out by 7 pm.

I wonder why Carnival has different rules about the cake than Princess, when they're owned by the same company. Obviously Carnival makes wedding cakes all the time, you'd think who "ordered" it wouldn't matter.

What will your guests be wearing? If their clothes are comfortable enough, I think that letting them explore the island/make their way back would be fine. If they're already in black tie, they will probably want to go back to the boat and change, and then may not want to change back into formal clothes for dinner. I actually took a nap between our ceremony and dinner (we were up extra early for bridal portraits). I think our guests liked having a bit of a break.

The ceremony itself isn't really a "party" feel (we had a catholic ceremony), so I don't think any mood was "lost" by having a bit of a break between the ceremony and dinner/reception. Everyone looked forward to having fun a the reception, and so walked in ready enjoy the party. I think they would have felt the same way if it were right after the ceremony or a few hours later, so long as they were free to do their own thing in the few hours. Its not like they'll be standing around just waiting for the fun to start. I really think you'd be fine either way, it's really just how you want the timing of the day to go.

As for the cake, I think I responded to you on another thread about how the ship makes the same specialty cakes regardless of who books them :-). Your TA may be saying the cake isn't possible because it's already part of your package with RR? If you booked it directly through the groups department, I would expect that you would also be billed separately for the cake, and I doubt RR would adjust your package price accordingly. I know I mentioned I was on Princess, but I've heard of people booking cakes/doing similar receptions via the group booking department on Royal as well. Worth checking out anyway!

Do you have Facebook? Most of my reception photos are on my page. If you email me at sailsandveils@gmail.com, I can give you my info so you can find me :-)

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.

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.

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 ;-).

Are you going to do the hordoerves, cake, DJ before dinner? If so, I would say 5:45. That will put the end of the cake/DJ at 7:45 and give guests 30 min to freshen up/use the bathroom/make their way to dinner. If you're looking to do the reception afterwards, I would allow 2 hours for dinner, with the expectation that most will end at 1 1/2 hours :-).

Wow!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write that fantastic response!

 

The legality part is going to be very important because I want to have a ceremony with a marriage certificate and vows, and not just a symbolic ceremony. And I definitely want to get married in the Caribbean! There's something about a beach that just calls my name.

 

I'm looking to have a destination wedding in a port of call vs on the ship.

 

I must say, your photographs are absolutely stunning!! You can definitely tell that they weren't taken by the ship photographer in the very cheesy poses, there is some genuine emotion and candid shots. After seeing those vs some of the ship ones, I'm leaning towards going the corporate/group booking instead of the wedding to be able to bring my own photographer. The added flexibility of being able to customize parts of the ceremony is also appealing. I'm just nervous that if something happens and we aren't able to dock for any reason there is no insurance to be able to have the ceremony on the ship. I wonder if the ship would be able to accommodate a symbolic ceremony if we didn't book through them and we weren't able to dock at our destination??

 

I think a Royal Caribbean ship on a Caribbean itinerary will be perfect for us and our group. We are young and like to have fun and so do our friends and family!

The Caribbean is going to be STUNNING. Plus you'll have so many fun options!

So missing port is always the biggest fear, and there's no way to get around the possibility completely. There are ways to mitigate it though. Ports that have tenders are the most likely to be missed. I didn't know what a tender was when I first started, so just in case you don't either, it's when the ship anchors out at sea and a little boat ferries people back and forth. It takes forever, and even a couple foot swells can create unsafe conditions on the tender boats. The ships that are able to dock directly to a pier are fine. I would focus on ports that have the infrastructure to support the ship docking directly. Next, see if you can find a docking schedule. Sometimes, if a port is really crowded, the pier will be full and a ship will have to tender anyway. Luckily the pattern for when/where all the ships are going to dock and who is going to get the tender is set a year or two in advance. It's subject to change, but it'll help give you an idea. Also, the earlier a ship comes into port, the more likely they are to have a pier spot. Finally, avoid hurricane season :-).

If for some reason you did miss the port, you will have an unexpected sea day. I'd ask the onboard group coordinator (the Royal Caribbean one) if there is any way they can accommodate a symbolic ceremony. Make it clear you know there won't be decorations, etc., and they may be able to help you. Another option would be to try and use your reception space. You already have it booked out and if it's symbolic you don't necessarily need the legal stuff at that point. The other option I can think of is expensive, but you could just buy the cheapest package with the understanding you'd only use it if the port was missed. No matter what though, I'd get travel insurance.

Off the top of my head, I'd recommend looking into St. Thomas. It's built up and rarely has a tender, so unlikely to miss port. Plus, because it's a US territory, you can get a US marriage license. This means you won't have to get married under another country's government and then get the US to recognize it (a process on it's own). There are several companies on the island that specialize in destination weddings there, so you could hire one of those if you wanted help in planning the day while in port. It's also pretty far south of the hurricane belt so even if there were a late season storm or something, you'd probably be ok.

As a final comment, I'd still look into the package deals just to make sure it won't work. For Princess, there was only 1 port location option (I hated it, they had plastic trellises and lawn chairs), and the photographer was non-negotiable. However, you may be able to waive the photographer portion of the contract with Royal, and they may have better port options. I'd then compare prices with wedding planning companies on the island, and then just doing all the arrangements on my own. I loved booking as a group/not as a wedding. I found it much less stressful and like I had more control over the day itself. However, this also meant no real decorations at the reception (no wedding coordinator to put them up). I didn't mind since the ship is already professionally decorated, but just wanted to warn you in case you had visions of bringing trunks of decorations on board!

I remember how hard it was to find ANYTHING concrete on cruise weddings when I was planning. Best I could get would be a vague 1 page article on "5 reasons to consider a cruise wedding". I'm a researcher by nature though and stalked this forum and everything to do with my cruise line/destination/itinerary :-). I'm happy to help!

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)

How long did you book the open bar?

2 hours. We finished up dinner in the main dinning room and then made our way to a boat themed bar/lounge on the Coral Princess.

Do you fell like there were enough servers to get everyone the drinks they wanted?

Yes! I was actually a little surprised by this part. Our wedding was on the 4th day of the cruise. Our group had become attached to a specific bar by this point and was on a "wave" basis with the bartender there. We all had drink packages. Someone would give Jake the thumbs up and he'd make something up on the spot and bring it over. We loved him so much we asked the group cruise director (who we requested to meet to go over final arrangements) if we could have Jake as our server. They made it happen. But we also had people that just handed out cake. People who just handed out champagne. And then Jake and another person was added to the bar just to handle our drinks, plus people to just walk them back and forth. It was actually great because people who don't normally like/drink were able to order all kinds of fun stuff and try it. If they didn't like it they just got another drink since it was all covered.

What exactly did you do in your lounge area? We hung out, drank, did the cake, and danced. We didn't book anything specific. I was ok with not having traditional events. The band definitely played us a first dance though and if we had wanted to do toasts/garter toss, etc we could have. I'll also note we didn't decorate or anything. I didn't want to travel with extra stuff and I figure everything on board is already professionally decorated. I will say that the band was totally whatever was normally scheduled and other guests could have danced if they wanted too. Song requests were also ok. It wasn't super popular after dinner, I think because we had the earlier dinning time so half the boat was still at dinner. We basically had the place to ourselves.

Also, how long before did they guarantee you the space and time.

I'm going to have to dig into my emails on this one, but it was pretty far in advance. I know that the 3rd part wedding companies don't really do much until 2 months in advance. We were able to get a tentative schedule further out than that...6 months? It was 60 days prior when got everything confirmed. Once we were on board we also called the main desk and requested a meeting with the onboard group coordinator for the cruise line itself. Just so we could go over everything. Once you're on board they have A LOT more power and ability to do things :-).

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'm SO GLAD we did the main dinning room. We had 30 people sailing with us and we were all in the same area every night. We made it clear to our guests that if they missed dinner during the cruise that was totally fine, but the reason we had the set setting was so we all had a guaranteed spot for wedding night itself. This worked out great. There were nights where guests missed the earlier dining time while doing excursions in port but in general most people were at dinner every night. Hubby and I made a point to switch seats (we had a collection of tables in a portioned off area) so that we could visit with all our guests. When the night of the wedding came, it was formal night. So everyone in the MDR was dressed to the 9s. The maitre d came and serenaded us, which was an unexpected and sweet touch. Also, by this point in the cruise, the other people in the dinning room recognized us as the group that was always in that one corner, plus we had done our bachelor/bachelorette party and everyone on the cruise knew us from that as well. When we left dinner to go to the reception/bar the whole dining room stood up in a standing ovation (encouraged by the staff) when we left. So special.

I posted a bunch of pictures in a recap on wedding bee http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/destination-wedding-alaska-recap-lots-of-pictures/

We have posts of our wedding reception there if you want to get more of an idea of how it'd look. Ignore all the spelling mistakes, wedding bee wouldn't let me edit :(.

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?

Hi!

First off, Congratulations!

There are a ton of options with cruise weddings, so it's hard to really identify a "normal" until you narrow down some of the decisions. I just went through the whole planning process and got married in Juneau as part of our Alaskan cruise wedding. Things you'll need to take into consideration/place to start looking:

1. Legality. Not every cruise line can legally marry you. And if they can (Princess can perform a marriage as long as it's international waters for example), not every itinerary has a sea day far enough out from land to perform a legal marriage. Are you comfortable with just a ceremony? Or do you want your marriage certificate to have the day of your vows. This impacts the cruise line and itinerary you choose.

2. Destination! This is the fun part. Where do you want to go? Caribbean? Alaska? Mediterranean? Hawaii? I started by looking into the logistics for each area I was interested in. For example, Hawaii is a 2 week minimum cruise from the mainland--which was too long for my guests to make. Time of year matters. If you're heart is set on an August wedding, that's hurricane season in the Caribbean. Flights- is getting to the departure port in your budget? Etc.

3. Ship size. This is partially related to number 2. The big luxury ships are mostly in the Caribbean. These are going to be the newest and coolest (robot bars, luxury detailing, etc). However, places like Alaska need smaller ships that can get in and out of the fjords. There are pros and cons to both. Small ships are older, though refurbished frequently. They're more intimate and you'll run into family and friends. Big ships can be a more lux experience, especially in the public spaces, but are also so big that you don't necessarily have to see or hang out with family while on the cruise. There's that much to do.

4. Type of wedding. You can do a package deal through the cruise's company or you can book directly as a group/corporate event. Pros and cons to both. If you want the wedding on board you have to book via the wedding package company. If you're doing a port wedding, you can easily reserve dinning options/do an open bar, etc on board and either arrange your own wedding in port or use a local wedding planning company. If you're in port long enough you can do the reception in port too. This option gives you the most control (you pick location, photographer, etc etc), but if the ship misses the port due to rough seas, etc., you will need a back up plan. The package will generally limit you if you want a port wedding to a set location. But if the ship misses that port they'll bump the wedding to an onboard event.

For us, Alaska checked all the boxes. The water is super calm in the inside passage and almost none of the ports have a tender (biggest risk of missing a port for rough water is that the tender can't make it). Since it's in America, having a legal marriage wasn't a problem. We liked the idea of a small ship and more time bonding/hanging out in the evenings. And since we wanted to get married in port, we just booked everything directly and skipped the whole wedding package, which allows us to bring our own photographer for the trip. If you want to see pictures: https://hofferphotography.com/2016/07/27/amanda-nick-in-alaska-part-1/

https://hofferphotography.com/2016/07/28/amanda-nick-at-the-shrine-of-st-therese-juneau-alaska-part-2/

Part 2 is the actual wedding.

I will say that there are more fun group booking options in the Caribbean. When looking at the group event list, there were things like private reserved areas and games on Princess Cay (would be labadee for RC). Tiki themed parties at certain bars on board. Etc. We ended up doing a wine tasting for our guests.

Let me know if you have more questions!

Flying all the way to Miami for what would only be a few hour event is a lot. If they're open/excited about cruising, I would opt for St. Thomas. There are ways to adjust the wedding day so that you can both explore and get married. An earlier wedding with a lunch reception would work, then let guests do their thing while you take wedding photos around the island. Meet back for dinner and the party onboard :-). Alternatively, you can do the first look/photos on the island before hand (let the guests explore do their own thing), meet for an evening ceremony and then either eat on land or do a reception on board. How long are you in port for?

Some packages prohibit the use of your own photographer, so make sure you read the fine print and/or sign a waiver if you want to provide your own photographer.

We brought a photographer with us, and I'm so glad we did. Few advantages:

1. Quality. We knew the quality of the photographer going in. Some ship photographers are great, some are going to be new hires.

2. Time. I didn't want to risk having to rush something because I only had the photographer for x number of hours.

3. Coverage. Our photographer documented the whole trip. I can't tell you how special it is to look back on the special memories that were made outside the wedding day. Husband and I playing the newlywed game. Younger cousin trying escargot for the first time. The guys hitting up the casino for a black jack game.

4. Enjoying the moment. We never felt like we needed to take out our phones/cameras because we knew it was all being documented. It kind of surprised me how freeing this was. We did Alaska, and while we were watching the glaciers calve we just enjoyed the spectacular show. Everyone else was watching it through their camera and focused on catching just the right picture. You get the benefit of an unplugged vacation without giving up the photos.

5. Gift to our guests. It's not often families get so much dedicated time together. Because our photographer captured the whole cruise, our guests got some of their family vacation and time together documented as well.

First off, Congratulations! I did a cruise wedding last year, and remember having all the same questions :-). I'll leave the ship specific stuff to others on this thread, but I can help out with the general planning questions.

Difficulty of planning:

There are a few different ways to book a cruise wedding. One is through the designated 3rd party of the Cruise. For Royal Caribbean it's Royal Weddings. This is NOT Royal Caribbean. They have a few tiers of packages and you pick the one you like, and add on from there. The upside is that there are coordinators that pretty much take care of everything. You pick the kind of cake, photography package, flowers, etc. The down side is that some of these companies have a reputation of being difficult to work with. Generally, they just get all your choices right before you sail, and of course as a bride you're planning way out from there. I'd call and see how you feel about working with them as you get more information on the process from them.

The alternative is to book your wedding as a corporate event through the cruise group booking department. You get a price sheet of all the things you want to do and just book it. Nothing is packaged. This means more planning and effort on your part, and creates some limitations. No onboard wedding. You have to get married in port (there are 3rd party companies that specialize in this and will do packages on the island). No decorations at the reception (if you do it on board). Up side is you can bring your own photographer, have more control over the ceremony location, and do some fun events. This is how we did our wedding and we had options like: private welcome wine tasting. Reserved area and games on Princess Cay (Princess equivalent for Labadee). Tiki party on board with a set menu/happy hour. We also were able to book any area in port we wanted for the ceremony.

Receptions: If you do the package, the reception will be included. I believe you can extend the time. We did dinner in the main dinning room on formal night (same night as our wedding), and then paid for an open bar, champagne, and the wedding cake in a bar/lounge area. This lounge had a band, who played songs for us and our area was roped off. We also had dedicated waiters. For the booze it was 13.10 (includes tax) per hour per person. The cake was 120 (sent them a pinterest photo and they recreated it). Dinner was included in the cruise fare. I've also seen where you can book private dinning in the upscale restaurants, you can have an area with your own dance floor, do custom printed menus, have a dedicated DJ, projection equipment for photos, etc. The more private you want the event, the more expensive it will be. This is where I'd weigh the package vs booking it as an event directly. The package may be the better option for a more traditional wedding reception.

Price: It can really range. If you do the package, the cost will vary depending on if you get married on board vs in port, which port, what upgrades you add, etc. Once you pick everything out you'll have a price for the wedding, but keep in mind rings, excursions, tuxes, the dress will all be on top of that. Also, you may find you want to buy more prints/photos when you're on board after you've viewed them. In general though, it will be much cheaper than a traditional wedding. There are also ways to save money. For example, I booked when they had a free drink package. That package included 40% off bottles of wine under 100 dollars during dinner. We used that discount to buy the wine and champagne for our guests during our dinning on our wedding day.

Feel free to send me an email if you have more questions! sailsandveils@gmail.com I know it's a lot :-)

Never having to worry about the guests. My younger cousins were very active with the teen lounge/activity center and had fun the whole cruise. There were nights in the casino, people who loved going to the shows, you name it. I knew my guests comfort was taken care of, and that they were having the time of their life. It really allowed us to just enjoy getting married and all the time we had with our guests.