Is Royal Romance That Bad?!

[camaj]

I got married last April with Royal Romance. And I really did not have any problems. I don't remember all the costs. I think I ordered the middle package and had an hour reception afterwards. There was no problem with that. The wedding coordintaor was great, though a little pushy. The photgrapher was excellent. he was so great and helpful to work with. Our only problem was that the tuxes were late to arrive. The wedding was pushed back 30 minutes due to that, but other than that there were no problems. It was a wonderful wedding and I did not have any problems with them. All the staff who helped out were also great. Just wanted to let you know that someone had a good experience with them.

[pandabebe]

Thanks for all your responses. Since I don't really have that many options not to go w/ RR I guess I'm just looking for some reaffirmation that I'm doing the right thing - that I'm not going to have a terrible wedding experience and regret going with RR.

[eatapeach3]

I just wanted to restate that I had a wonderful experience with RR for my wedding. You're right, if you want to get married on most ships, you have to go with RR. Although this may make you uncomfortable, remember, they have done thousands and thousands of weddings in the past. They may be hard to reach and take longer then you would like to respond to you, they do know what they are doing. My best advice is

 

1. Be patient with them. And not because they should take so long to tell you things and respond, but because you will make yourself crazy if you don't!

 

2. Ask lots of questions. If you are unsure of anything, ask. I kept writing down questions that I had or any of my guests had. When you do talk to someone, they are very knowledgable and helpful. If you find one person in particular that you like, keep contacting that person.

 

3. Emailing is a good choice if you just have questions. They will usually get back to you within 48 hours. And this way if the person you contact doesn't know the answer to one of your questions, they can ask someone else before responding to you.

 

Even though it may be frustrating at times to deal with RR, it is your wedding itself that is the most important part. When you actually walk down the aisle, everything will be sorted out and you can just have a good time. Although I'm sure that there have been problems for some people in the past, you would still take a risk when having a traditional wedding as well. To an extent, there would still be things out of your hands, and just as many chances for things to go wrong. Just have fun with the whole thing and remember, you are getting married!!!

[pandabebe]

eatapeach3 - thanks for all your help and advice! you've given me a sense of comfort that i'm making the right decision. now, if only rcl will release their june 2006 itineraires...=)

[eatapeach3]

No problem! Anything I can do to help!

[Kirsten]

I have just returned from the wedding from hell aboard the Splendour of the seas. As a bridesmaid I tried very hard to keep the bride calm during the problems. Royal Romance is a Royal pain. We spoke with several different people prior to the wedding because nobody seemed to be able to answer more than one or two questions.

 

There were 33 of us. The wedding was on Grand Cayman and RR wanted $22 per person to transfer the group to the beach. We choose not to pay this and got our own cabs from the pier at $6 per person. I don't mind paying a little more to have this looked after but isn't the price difference somewhat extreme?

 

The day prior to the wedding the bride/groom met with the Wedding Coordinator onboard ship to reconfirm all procedures. They were to meet with their passports, sea cards, money and marriage license at 12:30 on the pier. At 9:00 we recieved a call that the bride and groom had to both come ashore immediately to talk to the Wedding Coordinator on Grand Cayman. After much stress the best man and the groom took the items ashore while the bride got her hair done. After waiting on the pier for over an hour they came back onboard. This just made the wedding cordinator more mad as she told us she was busy and had lots of people to see.

 

Eventually it all worked out after the bestman overheard our young inexperienced wedding cordinator from Royal C. call the groom a "#$^*@* *****". Royal Carribean will recieve our complaint letter on Wednesday.

 

I work in the industry in an operational position and found the entire experience with both Royal Carribean's Wedding Coordinator and Royal Romance to be disgusting. They are disorganized and have some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

[forsie]

we just got married on RCI-Serende of the Seas-Hollywood Odyssey lounge on 2/6/05, via Royal Romance... in intial arrangements things appeared very unorganized, but once we finally were onboard everything went smoothly and effieciently. The CPA on Serenade's name is Cathie(Austrialia), and she was great... our co-ordinator was Terry from St. Thomas was great, she did a great job... the best part hands down was the REV. Sam Wrey, our officiant.... he was by far the best I'd ever seen... he custom tailored this ceremony to fit our very unusual needs and requests... he was the real deal, and great person, and a whole lot of fun... anyone that is considering getting married any where in the Caribbean should do it in St. Thomas, via Royal Rommance and requestg Sam Wrey... you will not be disappointed.

[GemOnboard]

Just about everyone on these boards who has encountered Royal Romance has agreed they are horrible to work with (including me), but at the same time, almost everyone has been very happy with their end result. (I'll let you know about my experience soon--my wedding is March 5 on the Navigator of the Seas.) But you really have to stay on top of them and confirm everything more than once.

 

They told me that they did between 50-70 weddings/vow renewals a week--which may or may not be true since they have told me several conflicting things in the past! But they are obviously understaffed to handle the volume they get, try to push everyone into the same "cookie-cutter" package so that it is the least amount of work for them, and their customer service is the worst.

 

A company such as theirs such be fully staffed and committed to going out of their way to accomadate us, but they project the attitude that they honestly don't care about our business--they have 49 other weddings for the week. They have the advantage that they don't reply on a lot of repeat business and so far word of mouth hasn't hurt them too badly since they have a monopoly on cruise weddings.

 

Hopefully this will catch up with them sooner or later. Keep complaining to them and to the cruiselines and keep posting your experiences. Eventually they'll have to shape up or loose their contract.

[Bonny-Lass]

Hi Forsie,

 

I'm to be married on Serenade of the Seas in Sept. 2005 during an Alaska Cruise. My biggest concern is the location on the ship where the ceremony will take place. When RR said that the wedding would likely be in one of the lounges, I'm envisioning a nightclub almosphere with purple walls and stars on the ceiling, not the elegant ambiance I would like. Much to my surprise, RR has no pictures to show me of the various locations. Any comments or advice on which lounge or room would be considered "elegant" or "pretty". Library? There will be only 2 guests plus me and the groom present, so I don't want a big room that will swallow us up. thanks,

 

B

[Shannon_525]

We are working with Royal Romance right now for our onboard wedding in Aug. 2006 on Explorer of the Seas out of Cape Liberty, NJ. So far so good but we did have some problems with faxing of the wedding contract but they were diligent in letting us know how to fix the problem. I aslo found emailing to be the best way to get in contact with them. I have found almost immediate responses when using email. We have 43 sailing guests so far and expect to have about 40 nonsailing guests. I found the cost to be rather reasonable but this might be because in the Long Island, NYC area the average wedding is $20,000 (which I could not imagine spending). Every wedding reception site I looked at besides the cruise was between $80.00- $150.00 a head. So I am happy I made this choice and I hope all goes well with Royal Romance. Good Luck to everyone else and let me know how it turns out. :)

shannon

[SAfricansinBahrain]

We got married on the Sovereign of the Seas in Miami in 1999. Royal Romance was FANTASTIC!! They only usually do 3 weddings per depature, and already had 3 booked, but when I contacted them and explained that we were a VERY small wedding party (only myself, Hubby-to-be and our Son) they "squeezed" us in.

 

The communication was fast and accurate and everything was perfect. The documents arrived in time, the flowers, cake and champagne were waiting for us, and they arranged a beautiful intimate setting in the ship library, complete with pillars, a white carpeted "aisle" , flowers and music.

 

The wedding photos were amazing - taken all over the ship, with gorgeous backgrounds, inclusing some on deck, with my dress blowing in the wind and the amzing blue Miami sky in the background.

 

We also has the great priority check-in, so I had plenty of time in the cabin to prepare for the big moment.

 

It was an unforgettable experience, and I treasure the wonderful memories!

[jzkaylor]

Just returned from being married on sovereign of the seas on Aug 5. At first I was somewhat concerned about Royal romance but the closer I got to the wedding date the more attention they gave my wedding. You do have to follow up but you would have to do that with any type of wedding. We went with the Duet WEdding and the only extra thing we added was a special cake. I sent the photo to RR and they quoted a price. The cake far exceeded my expectations. The wedding coordinators were wonderful with everything. We had 4 total with 88 guests. The were polite and courteous and very professional. I was a 2nd time bride. I wouldn't suggest being married on a cruise if you feel the need to control every last detail. It's just really not possible. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful wedding. We got our marriage license 3 weeks prior to the wedding and I followed up on a regular basis with RR. Until the last 2 weeks I almost always talked to a different person. robert Navartte was the most helpful. We had a cake and champagne reception and then everyone headed to the pool to have fun. I always double and triple checked the paperwork I sent to RR and I always faxed and mailed everything. Filling the paperwork out correctly on the your end always expedites things.

[fireman4co]

Does anyone have a contact number for Terry or the St. Thomas office? I am trying to set up our wedding and of course having difficulty with the main office. Any help or pictures would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Todd

[LilBlackDress]

Todd

 

If you are planning on getting married in St Thomas I would suggest going through Island Bliss Weddings.

 

You will get a lot more for your money and much better care than you would with TWE