albean86

RCCL currently offering 20% off the premium and ultimate drinks packages on-line, so you may want to check that out! Premium is $46 and Ultimate is $48 (only $2 difference). Prices are normally the same on-line or on-board, unless a discount is offered on-line, which I don't believe will be offered once on board.:rolleyes: Someone else may have more info though. Cheers!!:cool:

I think the price depends on which sailing you are on because when I go on cruise planner it is $54 for ultimate and $48 for premium with the "20%" discount.

I have uploaded pdf's for review or download to my blog http://www.smallworldtastes.com for the June 19-26 on the Harmony of the Seas Western Mediterranean cruise.

Later this week I'll be adding each of the Daily Planners, Destination Guides and the disembarkation documents.

 

Next week I'm adding a full review with pictures of the ship, ports, and dining options.

I'm also available to answer any questions about this amazing ship. Happy cruising!!!

 

http://www.smallworldtastes.com/royal-caribbean-harmony-of-the-seas-western-mediterranean-cruise-compass/

Can't wait to read the review!

Thank you everyone!! I think we will buy the premium packages for piece of mind and a stress free vacation :D

Hi All!

This is my husbands and I's first time sailing with RCL. We are sailing on Harmony of the Seas out of Rome in September. We are normally big drinkers when we are on vacation because well why not :D

I am not sure if we should order one of the unlimited drink packages now (looking at the premium) as we only have 1 sea day and most of the time will be spent off the ship. I still think we may have 2-3 drinks each at dinner maybe more who knows (normally drink mixed drinks). Is the drink package worth it or should we just pay as we go? I'd hate to have to buy a package on the ship when the price is much more so hoping to make a decision on this shortly.

I was also thinking of just getting the premium package just for my husband as he can drink a lot more than I can and then just paying for my drinks? But I know at $10-15 a drink that can add up too.

Any advice will be appreciated, thanks!

Hello,

 

You pictures are gorgeous and congrats on your wedding!

 

I noticed on your wedding day timeline it included "Free time for guest" from 11:15am-12:45pm for your guests to go explore the ship and grab lunch. Was that option included in your wedding package or did you have to pay extra for your guest to eat lunch before the ceremony?

 

Thanks in advance.

Thank you! Can't believe we're celebrating 2 years next month, time flies! As all of our guests were sailing with us they were free to grab lunch and do whatever they want. Unfortunately their rooms were not ready at this time so they were all ready for the wedding before we got on the ship. I believe there is an option to pay for non-sailing guests to have lunch also but honestly there's no way for them to check so I wouldn't worry about it. Hope this helps :)

Where did you get the individually wrapped medicine?

i believe i got everything through amazon just search for travel size items, such as "travel advil" or "travel pepto bismol) everything should pop up you usually can get a box of 25 packets of advil for around $13 :)

Awesome! Thanks for replying so fast! Did you just buy the badge holder separately and add it to the lanyard? Thanks again!

yes I bought the badge holders separately, also on ebay :)

These bags look great! And I think we have the same wedding colors! I get exhausted just thinking about doing all of that. I did special bags for the bridal party and I'm pooped! LOL Does Vistaprint sell oval stickers that I can use to cover up a logo on a bag?

good choice on the colors (we got a ton of compliments on the color scheme!) and yes vistaprint sells a sorts of stickers :) I believe i ordered some oval ones too

Your bags look AWWWWWWWESOME! Great job!

 

I would love to see a review of your wedding, too, by the way!

 

Can you give us a little advice on how you got so much stuff for free at Vistaprint? I have seen free giveaways for ONE of each type of item but never for 40 of them! I am having about the same amount of people at my wedding and, from what I've seen I can get each item "free" for each person, but I'd have to pay about $15-$20 in shipping each time (so I can order them free over and over again and keep paying shipping)- which would be about $600-$800!!!! (yikes)

 

Just wondering if that is what you meant when you said you ordered them free LOL :)

you really have to play around with the free items that you put into the cart, I think i got it down to one tote bag, one pen, one notebook, and one tshirt or keychain and it was about $6-7 in shipping I found that when I added one more item it shot up to like $15-20 in shipping, so just play around with it :)

Cute! Where did you get the lanyards? Or does anyone else know where to get cheap lanyards? I can't find any online.

Im pretty sure I got them on ebay :) something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-38-BLACK-COTTON-34inch-LANYARDS-FOR-KEYS-PASSES-ID-CARDS-ETC-/281130438942?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4174ae111e

The pictures are beautiful! Congratulations!!! Looks like you all had a wonderful time!! Love your flowers!

 

(side note...I had the same wedding gown for my wedding, and all of my BMs wore the same dress as yours in Plum!! LOL...we must have done well matching their dresses with ours haha!):)

thank you!! That is so funny about our dresses. I actually never even planned for the bridesmaids dresses to match mine I gave them full reign just told them the color and said I preferred a long gown I even gave them the option of getting different ones, in the end I LOVED the way the dresses looked together

Another question lol for your personalized napkins, who did you go with? theknot.com? I'm just wondering if you feel whoever you ordered from did a quality job with them and was worth the money :)

yes I used the knot.com and I loved them and I even saved a few for a scrapbook :) Definitely worth the money I think i waited until they went on sale and got 50 cocktail napkins for like 12.99 or something like that. And 50 was more than enough

Thanks so much for the GREAT review!!!! We are getting married on The Dream 10/12/13 and cannot wait!!!! This is soooo helpful.....I am starting to stress though about hotel/transportation the day we fly in! Help! I see that you guys drove in the day before. We are flying in from upstate NY and so are our guests - there are the 2 of us and our 4 children. So, with that being said, we don't want to spend a fortune on transportation to/from the hotel - I think we will stay at the Radisson - but how did your guests get to the hotel. I have read several posts about renting a car...so now we are thinking that may be the way to go for the 6 of us (our 6 other sailing guests haven't booked their flights yet). I'm dying to hear what you did....

 

Thanks and Congratulations!

Sorry it took so long to get back to you married life has been hectic with my husband getting a promotion requiring us to move to Buffalo NY (im so nervous for the winter after living in SC for the past 2 years haha) and buying our first home :) The radisson was awesome and I would definitely recommend staying there as there was a lot going on to keep your mind from going crazy thinking about your upcoming wedding. As for the transportation to the hotel from the airport that was a generous gift from my inlaws. They rented a large coach bus that transported all of our guests to the hotel from the airport and also back to the airport from the cruise terminal at the end of the week. I know the hotel also provides transportation but they do charge you by the person I would look at van shuttles or renting a car might be cheaper too, but shop around I'm sure you'll find a great deal. And happy wedding planning!!

congrats on your wedding!! I would also love to see your pics amanda.bean08@yahoo.com :)

Where did you find your dinner dress? I could use some ideas of where to look!

http://www.lightinthebox.com great website!! and the dress was way above my expectations especially for the price!!

My friend did the same thing aboard the ship. She saw the photos and had to have them and ended up $1500 over her original budget for photos. To avoid this I thought I'd bring my own which requires me to tell them I don't need their services or ask my photographers to act as friends. I've been looking into Jennifer Bryan Photography. Her and her husband love to travel and are doing wedding photography in exchange for the cruise tickets and travel fees. She pays for her personal things on board and we get her for the day of our wedding and an extra day because we booked a 5 day cruise. Any thoughts?

I had also thought of this too and have even seen some people on this board who had done this and the pictures came out great. Although I wouldn't change our photographer the ship provided for us for anything, he was amazing! Also one of our friends is a photographer and had brought her camera and although she does it for a living the pictures did not come out as great mainly because the lighting inside of the ship is really tricky. The photographers that work on the ship work with this lighting all the time and they also have the inside knowledge of the best places and backgrounds for different shots. Either way you go Im sure you'll have great pictures, good luck!

I love the short dress! Where did you get it? I also have a question about your bouquet. Where did you find the jewels? I am making my own bouquet as well with real touch roses and I can't find any that have a strong enough wire to go through the center of the bud. :-)

I actually had the bouquet made for me but the jewels were actually just hot glued on to the top of the flower not threaded through them.

Oh...and I forgot....did you have a picture of your short dress? I love your ceremony dress!

This is the only picture I have of it right now. This is when I tried it on at home, dont mind my dog running by haha

Wow...wow...wow. I have been waiting for your review since you posted about your guest bags! You had a beautiful wedding and your pictures are beyond amazing. I hope we are as fortunate as you are!

 

I am sure you are tired of answering questions, but of course, I have a few. Did you provide your own floor runner? I love the little touch with the rose petals. Other than not sure who had all your decorations, anything you would change?

I did not provide my own floor runner that was the one carnival provided I just added the silk rose petals. Other than the rose petals I did not add any other decor for the ceremony. I would not change that. Probably the only thing I would change would be stressing about the music for the ceremony because seriously I don't think I even remember the songs we chose playing haha. I also did not request the song lounge for the ceremony I left it up to them but I am so glad thats where it was. It was the perfect size for our group of 40 and the pictures with the ceiling decor came out amazing. Let me know if you have any other questions :)

That is so creative. Did you let your coordinator know ahead of time that you were bringing cake ribbon and the straws for the drinks?

Yes I had emailed the coordinator to let them know that I was bringing my own cake topper and ribbon and I also requested that they have no "piping/designs" on the cake. They was still some piping but no big deal we just covered it with the ribbon. Our coordinator had scissors too which was great because I had forgotten mine to cut the ribbon for each tier. The straws I did not mention just had them in the "reception" box with a note to put them in pint glasses on the bar and then guests could grab them as needed. The bartenders also put them in the drinks that required straws.

Amanda, you're the best! :) Thank you for being so kind in sharing with us.

 

I have another question (don't hate me!): For the reception, we also booked the DJ. I'm just wondering though, does the DJ guide the flow of the reception for you as far as letting you know to go straight to cut the cake, asking if anyone wants to make a toast, first dance, etc.? Or the coordinator? Or do we need to do that ourselves?

no problem haha :) About 3-4 weeks before your wedding they will email you an entertainment contract (if you reserved the DJ) in this contract you will fill out your reception song choices (entrance, first dance, etc) You also choose how you want to be introduced into the reception if you want your entire bridal party introduced or family, etc (we just did the two of us to speed that up) You also put down who is going to give toasts and if you want to do a bouquet/garter toss. You will then fax or mail that back to them. The day of the wedding the coordinator will go over this with you and confirm everything. And yes the DJ does announce everything and it flowed very nicely. :) Please keep the questions coming if you have anymore

Albean86, which vendor on Etsy did you use if you don't mind sharing? :)

O man this is a hard one I used so many lets see

Flowers: alexisgracedesigns

hair flower: serenitycrystal

Jewelry: treasures570

Custom Cake topper: doodlesandthings

Mini banner on cake: seasonaldelights

straws: angieheartsjared

bridesmaids jewelry: allstrungout1

Favors: cupcakeqtscelebrate

hanger for dress: goodlookinghangers

Signs for guestbook and signature drink: everlastingmoment

Thank u for taking the time n writing ur review! Ur wedding looked amazing and u looked FABULOUS!!!! Who makes ur dress n what style is it? I love it!!!

I can't wait I am getting married on the Grandeur of the Seas in July 2014 n ur review made me excited :)

Thank you so much the dress I actually got from Davids Bridal last June http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Satin-Fit-and-Flare-Gown-with-Bow-Detail-V3204_Bridal-Gowns-Shop-By-Silhouette-Mermaid-Trumpet

I did have a seamstress take out the zipper in the back and put in a corset back. Have fun planning your wedding :)

How did you get signature drinks, do you have to request it or is it offered? Also, where did you buy the straws and cake ribbon from?

I had to request it from my wedding coordinator and they gave me 2 options to choose from. The straws I got from http://www.etsy.com/shop/angieheartsjared

and the cake ribbon my mom actually made she purchased the two different ribbons and rhinestones from a craft store then used fabric glue to put them all together.

Hi Albean, I love your review and pictures. I definitely friend requested you on FB lol. Are there any other suggestions you have for us brides?

 

I am not sure if I am next, cruisin' on April 8th, getting married on April 12th, cannot wait!!! I have an island ceremony so my review will be a little different.

 

I am confused about the picture packages. They send you them ahead of time and the packages only go up to like $1000 so I don't know why they don't have you be ready to spend more?

As for any other advice I would definitely say don't stress the small things while planning. My husband and I kept disagreeing over which song to choose for the recessional (it took us weeks to decide!!) We laugh about it now because neither of us actually even remember the recessional song being played as we were so happy and excited that we had just gotten married!

As for the pictures when we sat down with Jay we did have the list with those packages carnival provides to us and he also had a sheet with his own custom packages for us but when it came down to it we just couldn't narrow down the pictures to what the packages will give you, he had taken over 300! So you are still able to stick with those packages but be prepared to spend more if you want everything they take.