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Carnival Cruise Wedding


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I write this review stating facts and observations and will attempt to remove emotion from it. Some people feel different ways about different things so you be the judge.

 

My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Triumph in May of 2016 for a 4 day cruise. We opted for Carnival since we enjoyed ourselves on the last cruise we took and wanted our family and friends to come with us. We meant for it to be a big party with little emphasis on the wedding.

 

Planning: They send you check-the-box style paperwork to simplify your wedding planning. We opted to get married on the beach in Cozumel. Because of that, we had to deal with not only Carnival’s department but also another vendor who dealt with the resorts. It would have been nice to go through just one vendor but that wasn’t the case here. Since the resort where the ceremony would be taking place was a considerable distance from port, there were extra costs to get vans for all our guests. After filling out all the paperwork for Carnival and the resort’s vendor, we were all set. We chose the generic Island Breeze package and we opted into using the ship’s photographer with videography included. Remember that because it will be important later. The booking department was able to get us and most of our guests on the same deck with few hiccups.

 

Wedding Ceremony: Once we boarded the ship, we met our wedding coordinator who gave us the key times and locations for our wedding day. A few days later, we all met our wedding coordinator who herded us to the vans which took us out to the beach site. At around this time, my wife was preparing and met with our wedding photographer. He briefly began to videotape and that was the only time video was taken. At the resort, the resort coordinator met us there and showed us the wedding site overlooking the beach. The site was on the Gulf of Mexico and had the bluest, clearest water I have ever seen. The venue was an old Spanish style building with open floors and vibrant gardens. The sky was clear with no cloud in sight and the weather was a comfortable 80 degrees. My brother-in-law was the officiant of the wedding and a back-up officiant was provided by the resort just in case. Due to our frugality and quirkiness, our wedding music consisted of a rock version of Canon in D Minor and “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. on a boom box. After a brief toast and cake cutting, the photography began. During the photography, one of my wife’s friends started to assist with making us and our guests look presentable in the photographs. The photographer snapped at her and things started to go downhill from there. During pictures, my wife’s bouquet was stolen after being instructed to set it down for pictures. We were allowed only one hour at the resort before being kicked out. We stopped at a bar on the way back to the ship because we wanted to enjoy Cozumel before getting back on the ship for the wedding reception. Our photographer then said he would meet us on the boat for the reception. We took photographs of us and our guests at the bar using our cell phones. Those cell phone photos were our most cherished memories. Sure would have been nice for the cell phone photos to have been professional photos. After the festivities at the bar, we went back on board for the reception.

 

Reception: We chose the Time to Celebrate…Bigger package. It consisted of 2 hours of open bar, “photographs”, hors d’oeuvres, and a DJ. We opted for no head table, toast, or fancy introduction due to the short amount of time we had allocated to us. My wife and I were the only ones who were introduced and the dancing began shortly after. The DJ stayed true to our song requests and even came out on to the dance floor to teach everyone how to Wobble. She also took song requests that were in line with our guidance and flowed with the music. The wait staff did a great job in making sure the drinks were heavy, full, and the food was stocked. The hors d’oeuvres were so delicious that I took a couple of plates back to our stateroom. The photographer periodically took photographs of the terrible dancing as well as group shots. We assumed that he was videotaping the festivities as well. After the last song, we thanked our wedding coordinator, wait staff, and DJ. My wife and I made an appointment with the photographer to review the photos.

 

Photography: We met with the photographer who put together a template wedding book for us and presented the pictures to us. Many of our family photos were taken with our faces facing the sun so all of us were squinting. I am not one for bride/groom poses but there were a fair share of them in the portfolio. The color photographs were bright and vibrant. The black and white photos came out a little dark. My wife negotiated a higher end package deal for a lower end price. We were handed a USB drive which contained the digital images of the photos and we assumed that the video would be on there. We did not find out that there was no video taken until after we left for home.

 

Conflict Resolution: After realizing that there was no video taken, we checked our contract and learned that we were still billed for it. My wife got in contact with Carnival Weddings and voiced her disappointment. It is one year later and she is still trying to resolve the issue. The wedding department responds vaguely and never gave us a reason as to why no video was recorded even though the photographer was in possession of video recording equipment.

 

Overall: The simplicity of checking boxes to decide what we want and don’t want in our wedding really appealed to us. Those with more distinct tastes might take issue and definitely will pay more. I wish that there was more consolidation regarding vendors. Once paperwork is finished, the guest list is complete, and the bill is paid then the wedding is out of your hands. Control freaks might take issue to that. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Our beach site looked like a scene from a magazine. The ceremony was conducted exactly how we wanted it; fly by the seat of our pants. We were a little perturbed that the bouquet was taken from under our noses. We also would have liked the opportunity to spend a little more time there without having to pay for a day pass at the resort. The reception worked for us only because we cut out a lot of the tradition. For those that want a bridal party introduction, toasts, bouquet/garter toss, etc., the clock starts whenever your reception begins. Our DJ was great and kept us on the dance floor the entire time. The food was also great and plentiful. They did not short us on the drinks and we definitely felt them. The staff was attentive and made sure we were taken care of. The documentation of the wedding is what disappointed us the most. We wanted to enjoy our day and not have to worry about if anyone hit record on the video camera. The photographer’s attitude and ethic was lacking at times. He did give us a good deal on the photographs but we sure did want that video. We are still in conflict with them over the videography with no end in sight.

This was our experience with Carnival Weddings. Take from it what you would like and I hope it helps you make an educated decision on your forever day.

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I’m getting married on the November 9th sailing to the Bahamas and your review was exactly what I needed to read. We’re also doing the “bigger” celebration (although we are getting married on the ship) and I’m relieved that you enjoyed the food. My fiancé and I are like you- we are focusing more on the party aspect and less on the wedding traditions.

 

For those who are reading- even if you get married on the ship, you will have to deal with the vendor on the island. I figured it would all go through Carnival, however I soon found otherwise.

 

How was the cake? Our family friend has offered to take photos, so I’m a little less worried about the photography aspect of it.

 

Thank you again for the review!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you! We were able to get fresh flowers on the cake (I’m a big fan of pops of color so I was debating on getting some fake flowers if they couldn’t do it).

 

My coordinator said she was sending me the final details last week but I haven’t seen them yet... emailed her twice with no response. Did you run into that towards the end of the countdown?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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  • 3 months later...

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