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Wedding on NCL Sky Review August 2016


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Hello All,

 

I am just now getting the chance to sit and give the review that I feel is dutiful due. I am writing this for my 2016-2017 brides on the Norwegian Sky or inquiring about getting married on the sky. For any bride like me who combed through the blogs to give you some relief as to what the experience is like I hope this helps. I know when I was searching I didnt find anything about this specific ship in regards to their wedding ceremonies.

 

A little bit about me... I was a first time cruiser having only cruised when I was a toddler. My review may be skewed based on the fact that I usually have the mentality prepare for the worst hope for the best. Also with the fact that I dont have anything to compare to in the means of cruising. We chose the Sky more specifically because they were going "All-inclusive" with their cruises this year. So we felt like it would be the best option for our guests to not have to worry about too many added expenses with drinks and food. We sent out a total of 100 invites and expected maybe 30 but was surprised with a total of 53 guests. We did the 4 night cruise to the Bahamas leaving August 1st and returning August 5th, 2016.

 

Working with Royal Ocean Events: 4 Stars

When booking a wedding on Norwegian Sky or any Norwegian ships for that matter you have to go through ROE. I had Puneet she was absolutely fabulous and was very responsive! The complete opposite of my travel agent (but we won't get into that). I liked the autonomy of being able to pick what works for us and financially. There was so many different ways you can set up your wedding. I learned not to be afraid to ask! What i did not like was the added gratuity and fees that is tacked on to everything. Also the included drinks during the ship did not count during special events. Therefore we still had to pay for alcohol during the reception. Some things I wish she was more upfront with as for my options. For instance I did not know I could have different flavors for each layer on the cake.

 

The Ceremony: 3 stars

The ceremony took place in the Outrigger Lounge. It is at the front of the ship with panoramic views of the ocean/ port. We had 2 white pillars with flowers on top. I asked if we could get more decorations, but was told that we would be responsible for setting up and taking down. I chose not to bother with that based off of not wanting to have to worry about transporting all of that. The room was beautiful enough and the view on a nice day really lit the room up. Some things remained even if we were not using them for instance the piano was directly across from us. The reception takes place in the same room so the bar is there too. The DJ we hired played the music and was standing there during the ceremony. The wedding party walked down to A couple of Forevers by Chrisette Michelle and I walked down to Promise to Love by Kem. I was nervous the DJ would screw up the songs but he had them and it went beautifully. The vows we had sent to Puneet at ROE were given to the Officiant so that was great and once less thing to worry about.

 

The reception: 4 stars

We chose to do the wedding and then a 1 hour cocktail reception which took place right after the ceremony in Outrigger Lounge and then we chose dinner in the Palace a complimentary dining hall (this option was another thing that was not immediately given to me). I would like to say we were also considering doing a 1 hour open bar and just having some passed trays. Which could have knocked down the price but with 50+ people wouldn't have been enough food!

 

The On-board wedding coordinator: 4 stars

 

I had Jenny Galleto who was the nicest person! She met with me on Monday (we were getting married on Wednesday) and walked through everything. She showed me Outrigger and walked me through the process of the ceremony. I requested a room directly from the ship to do a rehearsal and get a room we could all change in. When I tried booking through ROE they told me it is not an option to have either. But I contacted the ship and got the rooms for free for a couple of hours. Jenny was kind enough to offer to come and help us walk through it. She didn’t have to but she came and showed us how everything will look and the flow which really helped the entire group. The one thing I regret is not going over the cake. Unfortunately ROE didn’t send the most up to date list with the cake flavors I wanted. So I would suggest make sure you go over EVERYTHING in your packet.

 

The Photographer: 4 stars

I will admit this was one of my most areas of concern. I asked ROE for samples and they didn’t give any. After a couple of months of freaking out I inquired about the return policy and they found some sample images for me =). Needless to say I am attaching some of mine for any brides in a similar predicament.

 

We chose the 3 hour package with 100 digital. It was honestly just enough time! We didn’t get any photos at dinner but regardless had around 500 to choose from. We had Dante who according to Jenny was one of the most requested photographers. Dante had a ton of great shots and was awesome at captioning some of our moments prior to the ceremony, during, and afterwards. He was really up to “the times” as my husband would say and knew where to go to caption some great photos on the ship. The con to this scenario is honestly the amount you pay compared to how much you get. 100 photos sounds great until you have 500 to pick from.

 

The DJ: 3 stars

I chose to walk down to “non-traditional” music as well as my wedding party. The wedding party walked down to “A couple of forevers” by Chrissette Michelle and I walked out to “Promise to Love” by Kem. I was nervous the DJ would not be able to locate some of the music but that wasn’t the case. Everything went off without a hitch. I will say when it comes to the music I heard from some guests that he didn’t transition the music well. He didn’t speak through the microphone much or do much to get people up and dancing. This made for a very non-dancing reception.

 

Wedding Favors: We made welcome bags for wedding favors. We included luggage tags, personalized M&M's, an itinerary for the wedding day along with a welcome message, and room cards that listed everyone's room. I distributed these along with my husband, a bridesmaid, and groomsmen after the boat left Miami. We knocked on doors and if they weren’t there left them by the door. We had to do it this way because ROE informed be it would cost 2.50/bag to have them distributed by the ship. As I said before with as many guests as we had that added up quickly.

 

The boat: 4 stars

The drinks were REAL! I usually stay at all-inclusive resorts where the drinks are watered down. I thought this was going to be the case and it wasn’t. Most of my wedding party was drunk on the first night and spent the rest of the trip recovering.I definitely find that this was worth-while.

 

We got a balcony which I thought was going to be bigger than the other rooms (having not cruised before) it wasn’t. it was roughly the same size as an oceanview but with a balcony. Had I have known this ahead of time I probably would have thought long and hard about just getting an oceanview especially since we didn’t spend that much time in the room to begin with. This was an area we could have saved money in. The bathroom was quite small, especially since my husband is a fairly large man.

 

The buffet food was essentially the same every day and the complimentary dining was a hit or miss for me. The first night the food was good, but the day of the wedding the menu they had didn’t have too many great choices. We had onboard credit and used it at 2 specialty dining restaurants the steakhouse was the first which was absolutely amazing! My husband had the Bison and said it was the best steak he has ever had. We also went to Il adagio the day after the wedding which was less thrilling but still very good. We had a great steward, and everyone was so kind. Everywhere you turned someone was willing to help and did it with a smile.

 

Overall: 4 stars

 

All in all the wedding and the week was fantastic! Everything came out beautifully. After we left the boat a bunch of our friends and family asked for us to do this again next year! That of course won’t happen as I am pooped after planning this wedding and the stress level I put myself through. I will say I stressed a lot about things that went perfectly fine. The things I didn’t stress out about were the things I should have! I had a funky colors for my wedding as in tiffany blue and gold. Truthfully what I should have done was requested an all-white cake and just used my gold cake topper. They made my flowers and the string on my flowers a sky blue instead of the proper tiffany blue. If you have a color not easily replicated keep that in mind. To any bride out there was in a similar situation make sure you know what you want and you are clear in that, and they will execute it.

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Edited by Napturalbeauty
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I forgot to mention ROE didn't send the up to date list and screwed up my cake. Each layer was supposed to be a different flavor but they didnt get that list. They refunded me the amount and apologized profusely so I couldn't be too mad.

 

 

Hello All,

 

I am just now getting the chance to sit and give the review that I feel is dutiful due. I am writing this for my 2016-2017 brides on the Norwegian Sky or inquiring about getting married on the sky. For any bride like me who combed through the blogs to give you some relief as to what the experience is like I hope this helps. I know when I was searching I didnt find anything about this specific ship in regards to their wedding ceremonies.

 

A little bit about me... I was a first time cruiser having only cruised when I was a toddler. My review may be skewed based on the fact that I usually have the mentality prepare for the worst hope for the best. Also with the fact that I dont have anything to compare to in the means of cruising. We chose the Sky more specifically because they were going "All-inclusive" with their cruises this year. So we felt like it would be the best option for our guests to not have to worry about too many added expenses with drinks and food. We sent out a total of 100 invites and expected maybe 30 but was surprised with a total of 53 guests. We did the 4 night cruise to the Bahamas leaving August 1st and returning August 5th, 2016.

 

Working with Royal Ocean Events: 4 Stars

When booking a wedding on Norwegian Sky or any Norwegian ships for that matter you have to go through ROE. I had Puneet she was absolutely fabulous and was very responsive! The complete opposite of my travel agent (but we won't get into that). I liked the autonomy of being able to pick what works for us and financially. There was so many different ways you can set up your wedding. I learned not to be afraid to ask! What i did not like was the added gratuity and fees that is tacked on to everything. Also the included drinks during the ship did not count during special events. Therefore we still had to pay for alcohol during the reception. Some things I wish she was more upfront with as for my options. For instance I did not know I could have different flavors for each layer on the cake.

 

The Ceremony: 3 stars

The ceremony took place in the Outrigger Lounge. It is at the front of the ship with panoramic views of the ocean/ port. We had 2 white pillars with flowers on top. I asked if we could get more decorations, but was told that we would be responsible for setting up and taking down. I chose not to bother with that based off of not wanting to have to worry about transporting all of that. The room was beautiful enough and the view on a nice day really lit the room up. Some things remained even if we were not using them for instance the piano was directly across from us. The reception takes place in the same room so the bar is there too. The DJ we hired played the music and was standing there during the ceremony. The wedding party walked down to A couple of Forevers by Chrisette Michelle and I walked down to Promise to Love by Kem. I was nervous the DJ would screw up the songs but he had them and it went beautifully. The vows we had sent to Puneet at ROE were given to the Officiant so that was great and once less thing to worry about.

 

The reception: 4 stars

We chose to do the wedding and then a 1 hour cocktail reception which took place right after the ceremony in Outrigger Lounge and then we chose dinner in the Palace a complimentary dining hall (this option was another thing that was not immediately given to me). I would like to say we were also considering doing a 1 hour open bar and just having some passed trays. Which could have knocked down the price but with 50+ people wouldn't have been enough food!

 

The On-board wedding coordinator: 4 stars

 

I had Jenny Galleto who was the nicest person! She met with me on Monday (we were getting married on Wednesday) and walked through everything. She showed me Outrigger and walked me through the process of the ceremony. I requested a room directly from the ship to do a rehearsal and get a room we could all change in. When I tried booking through ROE they told me it is not an option to have either. But I contacted the ship and got the rooms for free for a couple of hours. Jenny was kind enough to offer to come and help us walk through it. She didn’t have to but she came and showed us how everything will look and the flow which really helped the entire group. The one thing I regret is not going over the cake. Unfortunately ROE didn’t send the most up to date list with the cake flavors I wanted. So I would suggest make sure you go over EVERYTHING in your packet.

 

The Photographer: 4 stars

I will admit this was one of my most areas of concern. I asked ROE for samples and they didn’t give any. After a couple of months of freaking out I inquired about the return policy and they found some sample images for me =). Needless to say I am attaching some of mine for any brides in a similar predicament.

 

We chose the 3 hour package with 100 digital. It was honestly just enough time! We didn’t get any photos at dinner but regardless had around 500 to choose from. We had Dante who according to Jenny was one of the most requested photographers. Dante had a ton of great shots and was awesome at captioning some of our moments prior to the ceremony, during, and afterwards. He was really up to “the times” as my husband would say and knew where to go to caption some great photos on the ship. The con to this scenario is honestly the amount you pay compared to how much you get. 100 photos sounds great until you have 500 to pick from.

 

The DJ: 3 stars

I chose to walk down to “non-traditional” music as well as my wedding party. The wedding party walked down to “A couple of forevers” by Chrissette Michelle and I walked out to “Promise to Love” by Kem. I was nervous the DJ would not be able to locate some of the music but that wasn’t the case. Everything went off without a hitch. I will say when it comes to the music I heard from some guests that he didn’t transition the music well. He didn’t speak through the microphone much or do much to get people up and dancing. This made for a very non-dancing reception.

 

Wedding Favors: We made welcome bags for wedding favors. We included luggage tags, personalized M&M's, an itinerary for the wedding day along with a welcome message, and room cards that listed everyone's room. I distributed these along with my husband, a bridesmaid, and groomsmen after the boat left Miami. We knocked on doors and if they weren’t there left them by the door. We had to do it this way because ROE informed be it would cost 2.50/bag to have them distributed by the ship. As I said before with as many guests as we had that added up quickly.

 

The boat: 4 stars

The drinks were REAL! I usually stay at all-inclusive resorts where the drinks are watered down. I thought this was going to be the case and it wasn’t. Most of my wedding party was drunk on the first night and spent the rest of the trip recovering.I definitely find that this was worth-while.

 

We got a balcony which I thought was going to be bigger than the other rooms (having not cruised before) it wasn’t. it was roughly the same size as an oceanview but with a balcony. Had I have known this ahead of time I probably would have thought long and hard about just getting an oceanview especially since we didn’t spend that much time in the room to begin with. This was an area we could have saved money in. The bathroom was quite small, especially since my husband is a fairly large man.

 

The buffet food was essentially the same every day and the complimentary dining was a hit or miss for me. The first night the food was good, but the day of the wedding the menu they had didn’t have too many great choices. We had onboard credit and used it at 2 specialty dining restaurants the steakhouse was the first which was absolutely amazing! My husband had the Bison and said it was the best steak he has ever had. We also went to Il adagio the day after the wedding which was less thrilling but still very good. We had a great steward, and everyone was so kind. Everywhere you turned someone was willing to help and did it with a smile.

 

Overall: 4 stars

 

All in all the wedding and the week was fantastic! Everything came out beautifully. After we left the boat a bunch of our friends and family asked for us to do this again next year! That of course won’t happen as I am pooped after planning this wedding and the stress level I put myself through. I will say I stressed a lot about things that went perfectly fine. The things I didn’t stress out about were the things I should have! I had a funky colors for my wedding as in tiffany blue and gold. Truthfully what I should have done was requested an all-white cake and just used my gold cake topper. They made my flowers and the string on my flowers a sky blue instead of the proper tiffany blue. If you have a color not easily replicated keep that in mind. To any bride out there was in a similar situation make sure you know what you want and you are clear in that, and they will execute it.

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