Carnival_Brides

Also, is the filling flavored icing? I feel like weddings I've been to the filling is more like a pudding.

 

Thanks!

Britt

It has the consistency of a whipped moose or light icing. I've had the chocolate and strawberry and both are delicious.

The scavenger hunt for Camp Carnival (the family one) was digital (camera or phone) and consisted of things like...

make a Conga line with 10 people that are not your family

find a smiling Carnival employee and take a picture of them

Take a picture on each floor of the ship (including the funnel)

It was fun and lasted about 45 minutes for us. We won and got super cute Camp Carnival medals.

Do you get to pick what kind of cake they make you? I know they are making me gluten free but curious if I will get to pick flavor and frosting and stuff.

You get to pick the cake and filling--it is one of the papers in the email packet they send.

*How many Guest did You feed it with?

*Designs?

*Do you know the Inches of Cake

*Inches of the Cake Topper

**** LET'S SEE YOUR CAKE PIX****

Our two tier chocolate and vanilla marble cake with chocolate filling (nom) fed 13 guests at the reception and since there was leftover we continued to gobble it up at dinner a night or two after. It was truly delicious.

We asked for it to be plain (sans CCL's signature squiggles) so we could attach ribbon (1.75 inch) to the cake that we got at a Michael's after-Christmas blowout.

I don't know the diameter of the cake, but I do know they are about 4 inches high. I asked so I knew how big the ribbon could/should be.

Our cake topper was actually up-cycled. We found a traditional topper at a yard sale, my Mom striped it down, used a pair of gardening shears to clip a ship-on-a-stick and went to town for us. It is currently buried in my closet (we're still unpacking 7 months later), but I'd say it was no taller than 8 inches (with the pearl garland) and probably 6 inches wide. It fit on our top tier fine.

Side-Note: If you want to get crafty grab some lace or fabric remnants from the local craft store to decorate the table. It's not part of the cake, but it added to the look.

Carnival is known to change their mind on itineraries based on how they are selling or what their long term needs are--even after schedules go out. A couple years ago they had a Canadian rivers cruise on the schedule that they eliminated about ten months out in order to make it into 2 5-day Canadian cruises and last year they changed their European season on the Legend and are bringing the ship back a month early. It's one of those risks that you have to calculate when you plan a cruise wedding--on top of all of the other crazy risks.

Oh yea, A Carnival Victory Wedding Review! I'm super excited to read yours since there aren't any recent ones. Congratulations!

We are planning our vow renewal in December, but I'm not sure what to expect what I can and can't do for the ceremony. Your review has helped and put a new light into things. A few questions for you...

 

We are expecting 10 guest small I know, should we just book the basic ceremony or the one with the reception ? Since it will be on a sea day.

 

We really wanted the reception since this was our wedding. It really is up to you and your spouse whether or not you see the value in it. They completely closed off the Piano Bar and provided us with a bartender, a barwaiter, a server, our coordinator and the Chef de Cuisine was actually the one handling our food (I wasn't expecting that, and it was still a surprise to us). We added the pianist for $75.

 

Photos do they offer smaller packages? $300-$500 range?

 

Their photo packages for VR are the same as for weddings. They start at $500 (no digital disc) and go up from there. Sometimes the photographer(s) are able to customize a package for you based on your budget--I would let them know that ahead of time. The disc was important to us because there is 1300 miles between my hometown and my wife's hometown, so we wanted to be able to share photos without having to scan everything.

 

FSF, was there a fee for him?

 

There was no fee for him and it was the first time we’d ever seen him at a wedding. It was a random request that we came up in the middle of wedding planning. It is completely up to the Cruise Director and the availability of the Camp Carnival staff whether or not he is available. We made a request to our coordinator in Miami and she passed it onto the coordinator onboard the ship who made it happen.

 

Are you allowed to bring real flowers for the ceremony ? Or do you think it is better to use fake flowers since time and date is not known?

 

Carnival says you can bring real flowers on the ship if you’re a regular passenger, but you can’t take them off due to customs and USDA. However, they are strict with weddings, so it’s really a toss up. Since the time and date is unknown you might be better off with real-touch or silk. We bought ours from afloral.com

 

Also could you email me the Power point to me.

 

I'm in the middle of graduate classes, so it may take a few days, but I'll get it to you.

Oh and here is the photo pricelist that we used for purchasing our pictures.

I great enjoyed your review and photos! Great wedding! We are planning one ourselves, but we live in Florida. I thinking we have to get married elsewhere and then do a vow renewal sort of thing.

If you're a same-sex couple, that is exactly what you'll have to do. Unfortunately, Carnival doesn't do commitment ceremonies and will only allow you to book a wedding or vow renewal package in a state where SSM is not legal, if you first get married in a state/country where it is. Confusing, I know.

The first video that Shatima posted is the standard Carnival video--cheesy graphics and all. They include interviews with the couples and you're miced throughout the ceremony and possibly some of the reception. When we did our pre-wedding tour, they were micing the bride and groom while they were standing outside of the lounge.

The second video is most likely put together by the couple since it excludes interviews.

Here's the link for their current military promotion flyer...and here's the flyer for Pack and Go.

Dana & Sharine....NYC

Shatima & Dee....VA

Shannon & Brooker....FL

Melissa & Rollie....MI

Rollissaria--pop me an email :-)

kitty[dot]cruiser[at]yahoo[dot]com

~blushing~

 

This reunion cruise would give me a chance to wear my wedding dress AGAIN!!!! :-)

Hey ladiezzzzzzz....

We were just trying to figure out what to do with our wedding gowns. They're sitting in our closet waiting to be cleaned.

Crossing my fingers for a few Norfolk sailings...

John Heald said there would be no sailings from Norfolk on his FB page a couple days ago.

May I have your file for the fun times? :)

alisonpv @ gmail .com

Thank you!

would you mind sending me the powerpoint for the door hangers and funtimes? Thanks bunches! piratechic0913@yahoo.com

I'm on my phone, but I'll send the files later tonight.

I am also in on this.. i will check out the doodle link at home.. work computers are dumb!

I was hoping you and your wife would be down for this.

On a side note, I wonder what Lipz is up to. She hardly checks in here anymore [understandably], but it'd be fun to invite her. I started planning as she was getting married and I borrowed a ton of her ideas.

I am pretty sure, but not positive, that the Victory has Dreams photography...I just read on another posted review where a family hired the Dreams Photographer on the ship to take pictures of them...they were on the Victory. The pictures turned out pretty nice. So maybe that's one of the other two ships (at least I am hoping it is!!!)

I remember seeing that now. I wonder if Triumph is the ninth ship since it's Victory's sister.

9) Thank you soooo much! Apparently the Breeze has something new Carnival has called the Dream Studio from what our photographer said so whatever it is, it creates better quality pictures then they've ever had (for weddings and personal photo shoots you can do with them on board) and not all of the ships have it only some as of now. So I recommend to anyone to always go with a newer ship if possible or ask ahead if they have this feature if you want that more professional photography look for your big day photos ;) Definitely budget for your pictures because you will want them all!! Lol

Your photographer did an amazing job! Your pictures turned out gorgeous.

FWIW--Dreams Photography is available on the three Dream class (Dream, Magic, Breeze), the four Spirit class (Spirit, Pride, Legend, Miracle) and a two others (I'm not sure which ones though). Our wedding photog was a Dreams photographer in training.

Thanks for responding, ladies! Looks like 2015 is a good option!

 

Now, I know it's early, but maybe we could a wrangle on the time of year. Below is a Doodle link (can you tell I like to plan?) that can help us narrow that down:

 

http://www.doodle.com/m5gack25wq2wmie8

 

Just select the months when you'd be more likely to be able to cruise.

Done and Done.

Hey Twin A, can you pop me a quick e-mail. I have a question for you...

kitty[dot]cruiser[at]yahoo[dot]com

I haven't been super active on this board :(

 

But I admit it sounds fun!!!

It will be loads of fun. Come anyway!

It could be loads of fun--I've gotten to know so many of you over the past two years, especially the other Carnival brides. We're plotting a Disney cruise for 2014, but 2015 could be fun.

As far as I'm concerned, even Carnival has pulled out of Norfolk. A handful of cruises in May and October barely count.

 

I read somewhere on here that Norfolk costs too much for the ships to port at. My personal thought is it has to do with the sucky infrastructure in the port area for embarking/debarking a cruise ship worth of people and parking.

The ships were sailing full, but the yields (income from booze, casinos,etc) were low. At the same time the ships were pulling out, Baltimore was building their terminal and it became an attractive cruise port because it's easily accessible by car, plane, train and bus for those living in the BosWash Megalopolis. Bermuda was the saving grace for Norfolk, but CCL has ceased doing business there.

Has Baltimore ever had a different ship than the Pride? We sailed on it and it would be nice to take a different ship out of Baltimore.

We've never had another full-time ship, but I think the Legend or one of the other Spirit class did a couple of sailings as a test. I wish they would switch it out for a different Spirit class since nothing larger is an option and nothing smaller can get anywhere fast enough.

We loved Jerry--I never expected that voice to come out of that man. He was wonderful!

I'm a 2013 bride, but I think I might be able to contribute to a couple of your questions.

Ok, probably a stupid question but here goes.... Who pays for the cruise when the wedding is on a cruise?? Each cabin I mean ??

It depends on the couple, their budget and whether or not they really want their nearest and dearest on vacation with them. We made the determination early on, even when we were having an embarkation wedding, that we wanted our families and friends to cruise with us and would pay accordingly. We covered the cruise fare for our parents, siblings, their spouses and their children. We put them up in obstructed view balconies and gave them the option to upgrade on their dimes (no one did). Our friends were invited, but paid for themselves. We booked 18 months out in order to lock in [ridiculously] low rates, book cabins together, give plenty of notice for our guests, and for people to plan vacation days. In the end 17 of us booked and 13 actually boarded the ship. We viewed it as family vacation and went on our Honeymoon a month later.

By the way if anyone of you have your wedding website page set up could I see it. I am stuck on ours!

Ours is still active and I don't mind sending you the link. Just e-mail me at kitty.cruiser at yahoo dot com.

I wish we could. I'm really unsure of booking one of the larger CCL ships and would've loved to look around the Magic when we were in Nassau.

I can say, if you're planning a wedding with CCL, they will allow you to schedule a tour (after booking) to look around the ship before the wedding. We were allowed to bring 2 additional people with us. They will also allow non-sailing guests to attend weddings at embarkation and different ports of call.