I Do...Again

Is there anyone who has recently or is about to do a vow renewal on board the Veendam? My husband and I will be doing one and I was wondering what did/will you wear. How formal should the attire be. What's the reception like. Details, details, details please (not the abbreviated version, the woman's version please :D).

Congratulations! We celebrated 35 years with the vow renewal on the Zuiderdam June 11.

I wore a tux and my wife wore a very nice long (not floor-length) dress. I imagine a suit and any elegant dress would suffice but we had fun shopping for her dress and my tux decision was reduced to deciding whether to pack one or rent it aboard ship (which I did).

You can invite others to what will then become a "celebration" but ...

As we were the only couple, there was no reception (celebration) but the experience and the time we had together and with the Captain just made our week. Plus we had fun sending pieces of cake to many people we'd met.

Congratulations! We celebrated 35 years with the vow renewal on the Zuiderdam June 11.

 

I wore a tux and my wife wore a very nice long (not floor-length) dress. I imagine a suit and any elegant dress would suffice but we had fun shopping for her dress and my tux decision was reduced to deciding whether to pack one or rent it aboard ship (which I did).

 

You can invite others to what will then become a "celebration" but ...

 

As we were the only couple, there was no reception (celebration) but the experience and the time we had together and with the Captain just made our week. Plus we had fun sending pieces of cake to many people we'd met.

I know there is another couple on the ship as well which is in my roll call. We are not sailing with frinds or family so there is no one to invite yet. Which day into the cruise was it held on?

It was on the last night of the cruise. It was a "sea day". I see you have a "sea day" for your last day too. I would think 6pm-ish that day. You may find new friends on the cruise to invite, but I know (from CC) of some couples who bring whole families to cruise with them and turn it into a real event. We were happy with our "private affair".

We planned dinner at the Pinnacle for 7pm on the same night. Dinner for two at the Pinnacle is included in the cost of the Vow Renewal.

Is there anyone who has recently or is about to do a vow renewal on board the Veendam? My husband and I will be doing one and I was wondering what did/will you wear. How formal should the attire be. What's the reception like. Details' date=' details, details please (not the abbreviated version, the woman's version please :D).[/quote']

 

Hi, we are going to renew our vows while on the Ryndam, Alaska, July 11-18. I have a black cocktail dress that I had planned to wear, but a number of friends and family told me to get a new, more formal dress. After thinking it over, I decided they were right. It is a special time & deserves a new dress.

 

At this time I have purchased 3 long, floor-length, formal gowns, now trying to decide which to keep & which to return. I thought I would have trouble finding 1, not thinking I would find 3!!

 

Two of the gowns are a 1 piece dress with beaded jackets, the 3rd is a 1 piece with beads & rhinestones. My husband will wear a suit. He'll decide which one after I pick the dress. Looking forward to some nice photo's of us all dressed up.

 

We are going to have 4 family members joining us. I hope HAL will allow them to take some photo's with their camera's. Hope this helps you out. When is your cruise? Charlie (Charliebeth)

It was on the last night of the cruise. It was a "sea day". I see you have a "sea day" for your last day too. I would think 6pm-ish that day. You may find new friends on the cruise to invite, but I know (from CC) of some couples who bring whole families to cruise with them and turn it into a real event. We were happy with our "private affair".

 

We planned dinner at the Pinnacle for 7pm on the same night. Dinner for two at the Pinnacle is included in the cost of the Vow Renewal.

Looks Like I may have to change my reservations at the Pinnacle. I made reservations for the last night on the ship for us to eat there before I booked the renewal because the word is that the food is excellent. I can change that to another day and then eat there again after the renewal. We are both pretty happy with being alone as there is no one to meet up with, no pressure to do what others want to do and just relax.

Hi, we are going to renew our vows while on the Ryndam, Alaska, July 11-18. I have a black cocktail dress that I had planned to wear, but a number of friends and family told me to get a new, more formal dress. After thinking it over, I decided they were right. It is a special time & deserves a new dress.

 

At this time I have purchased 3 long, floor-length, formal gowns, now trying to decide which to keep & which to return. I thought I would have trouble finding 1, not thinking I would find 3!!

 

Two of the gowns are a 1 piece dress with beaded jackets, the 3rd is a 1 piece with beads & rhinestones. My husband will wear a suit. He'll decide which one after I pick the dress. Looking forward to some nice photo's of us all dressed up.

 

We are going to have 4 family members joining us. I hope HAL will allow them to take some photo's with their camera's. Hope this helps you out. When is your cruise? Charlie (Charliebeth)

I agree. We sale September 26th - Oct 3rd. I was trying to decide betweeh a formal dress which is staight, full length and strapless and altering my which wedding gown which has beading on the top and a plain bottom and can easily be cut off to be full lenth or coctail length since it's a straight dress. Decisions, decisions. My husband purchased a tux for an occasion that was cancelled so he may use that.

I hope HAL will allow them to take some photo's with their camera's. Charlie (Charliebeth)

Congratulations Charliebeth! You were right to buy a new dress for your special event (IMHO). We were allowed to take photos with our camera.

Jojo's Mama: As for eating at the Pinnacle ... You can do that any night or every night. The cost of one night at the Pinnacle is included with the Vow Renewal and does not have to be the same night as the ceremony. We just thought it would be good to go from the ceremony to dinner there as we were already dressed up (and it was). I will try to post a photo of us from that night. Are you going to meet up with the other couple on your cruise before the big day?

Here is a photo taken with our camera by the HAL party planner. She was terrific.

AZNATIVE: You guys look great. Tell your wife I love the shoes. Thanks for all the great info. I have been corresponding with them via our roll call so we are both aware that we will both be doing the Vow Renewal so I do hope that we will get to meet prior to the ceremony. There was discussion of a meet & greet but we only have 3 people on our roll call so far so I'm not sure if we'll have that.

Charlie: Forgive my spelling. We were taking my daughter & her friend out for breakfast and I was rushing. I really can spell:D.

Does anyone have a copy of the Renewal Vows used on Holland? Are they different on each ship? We're on the Oosterdam July 4th.

DH and I renewed our vows on the Noordam and it was lovely. It was after dinner in a beautiful room that looked like an English drawing room. We had champagne and appetizers and there was a man playing a keyboard. We were dressed up, but not in tux or gown. There was another couple, but the ceremonies were separate. They wore shorts - not very appropriate. The Captain was very nice and spent about 15 minutes with us after the ceremonies.

Is there anyone who has recently or is about to do a vow renewal on board the Veendam? My husband and I will be doing one and I was wondering what did/will you wear. How formal should the attire be. What's the reception like. Details' date=' details, details please (not the abbreviated version, the woman's version please :D).[/quote']

 

Congratulations! My wife and I did it on the Eurodam last December. It was a surprise to my wife. The package is really nice, flowers to the room (easily cost $100 at a florist), champagne, dinner at the pinnicle grill photos and rememberance book in addition to the ceremony itself and reception. There was only one other couple that did it at that time. It was on a formal night so we were dressed in our formal attire, I wore a suit. They have vows that they have you say, but we also made our own and did them. The Captain was great, very personalable, sat down with us after for quite a while. We also had others there that we had met while we were on-board. You do have to pay extra for them, I think it was $12.50 per person.

 

It is something you will always remember, I know we will.

AZnative, Thank you, and congratulations on your 35th. What a nice photo. Your wife looks wonderful in her dress and you look nice in your tux. Charlie (Charliebeth)

AZNATIVE: You guys look great. Tell your wife I love the shoes. Thanks for all the great info. I have been corresponding with them via our roll call so we are both aware that we will both be doing the Vow Renewal so I do hope that we will get to meet prior to the ceremony. There was discussion of a meet & greet but we only have 3 people on our roll call so far so I'm not sure if we'll have that.

 

Charlie: Forgive my spelling. We were taking my daughter & her friend out for breakfast and I was rushing. I really can spell:D.

We have arranged an Meet & Greet for our 2nd day. HAL told me you need at least 10 for them to set up for you. If you don't end up with 10+ you can always just meet up on your own. Charlie

My DW and I renewed our vows on the Oosterdam, four years ago, on a Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Diego.

Ours was held in the Oak Room, which is just off the Crows Nest lounge on the Vista class ships. It was early enough that you could make a late dinner in the MDR or a reservation in the Pinnacle. I don't remember if we did the PG the same day or not.

Ours was on a port day; Mazatlan, I believe. They say that it is scheduled "at the captain's convenience".

I don't know if HAL has a set of vows for the captain to use or if Capt. Mercer made up his own, but they were very nice.

There were two other couples doing the renewal on our cruise. One couple was celebrating their fiftieth anniversary. We were on our 30th and I believe that the third couple was on their 25th.

Dress is whatever you wish. I wore a dress shirt, but no coat or tie. The older couple were nicely, but casually dressed. The younger couple were wearing matching Hawaiin shirts, but they still looked nice. Since there were not group pictures, it didn't matter to us, one way of the other.

Speaking of photos, the descriptions says ONE photo, but the photographers took three or four, just to make sure they got it right, and they gave us all of them. The album that they gave us was not the same one sold in the photo gallery. It was nicer.

The ceremony is fairly brief, but very nice. I think ours was perhaps a half hour, total, for all three couples.

If you do book it, and especially if you invite anyone, take the paperwork to show you have paid. We didn't, and, sure enough, there was no record that we had paid for two guests. The pursers desk was very helpful, but we had sailed on Saturday before Easter day, so there was no one in Seattle to look it up. They did straighten it out before the ceremony, so it was not a problem.

I made few points with my wife for suggesting it. I've long since used them up, however.

Paul

I am going to wear a long navy dress with a little sparkle on the top, with a matching jacket. Understated, but elegant. Charlie

How many crew members were at your renewal? Capt., photographer, servers, etc. I am making book markers and would like to bring some for them. Thanks. Charlie

Captain, photographer, event planner, wine steward serving champagne, and someone who actually sliced the cake after we made the first cut, so, 5 or 6.

Captain, photographer, event planner, wine steward serving champagne, and someone who actually sliced the cake after we made the first cut, so, 5 or 6.

Thanks so much. I will be sure to bring enough for everyone. When did you find out you were the only couple renewing vows? Before or at the renewal. Charlie

Thanks so much. I will be sure to bring enough for everyone. When did you find out you were the only couple renewing vows? Before or at the renewal. Charlie

You're welcome.

We didn't find out until we walked into the Piano Bar that night ... SURPRISE!!!

Have a GREAT cruise. Day after tomorrow, right? Don't forget to make notes for that review we all want to see:)

Cheers!

You're welcome.

 

We didn't find out until we walked into the Piano Bar that night ... SURPRISE!!!

 

Have a GREAT cruise. Day after tomorrow, right? Don't forget to make notes for that review we all want to see:)

 

Cheers!

Yes, just 1 more day to get ready. We have a 6am flight on Thursday. My DH also made some candy bar wrappers to take, you can never go wrong with chocolate. I will bring a few extra just in case there are some other's doing a renewal.

It will be nice to get out of the heat for a while, also being in Arizona, I'm sure you can relate.

I will post our trip info when we get back. I really enjoyed reading & gathering info from other's experience. I also enjoyed your photo. Charliebeth

Just returned from our Alaskan cruise/tour aboard the Ryndam.

With our vow-renewal package, we had flowers , champagne & chocolate covered cherries in our room.

Our renewal was in the Crow's Nest on Friday at 6pm, we were in Ketchikan that day. Cruise was Sunday to Sunday. I asked the staff about it not being a sea day and they said the Captain always did the renewals on Fridays. This was also a formal night.

It was a very lovely ceremony. We had 4 guests and there was 1 other couple renewing their vows. The ladies received corsages and the men boutonnieres. The Captain said words for both couples together and than had each couple stand before him and did the vows for each couple. The photographer took a number of photos.

There were fresh flowers in stands and on the cake table. We had a beautiful cake. This was cut and brought to us with our dinner. We choose not to eat in the Pinnacle, because our guests could not attend, so we were given a credit of $40. The next day we received a photo/scrapbook with a copy of the capt's toast, vow-renewal, vow-renewal certificate and an 8X10 photo of us. We purchased some of the extra photos (12 photos 5X7 size). These included us cutting the cake, photos with the captain, photos of our guests, group photos, etc.

It was well worth the price for the lifetime memories.

Thank you so much Charliebeth,

I'm so glad to hear that everyone turned out well. I can't wait. It would be great to see a picture. Continue to enjoy your beautiful memories.

PS. Did you make your own reservations for the Pinnacle or did HAL make those arrangements?

Thank you so much Charliebeth' date='

 

I'm so glad to hear that everyone turned out well. I can't wait. It would be great to see a picture. Continue to enjoy your beautiful memories.

 

PS. Did you make your own reservations for the Pinnacle or did HAL make those arrangements?[/quote']

 

We did not eat in the Pinnacle restaurant. We were with 4 others and they did not want to go and we decided to eat with them in the MDR. HAL gave us a $40. credit on our bill.

 

You make your own reservations. I think you can call and reserve your dinner ahead of time, if not, do it as soon as you board. When you arrive, you are given a folder with a dinner reservation credit, you take this with you when you have your dinner.