Weddings On Princess

[Midnight Rain]

Hi!

 

I am planning a wedding on the Star Princess in the Western Carribean.

 

I was wondering if anyone has had a wedding on Princess or knows someone who has? I'd like to know what it is like.

 

Thanks! :)

 

Melanie

[DrD]

Yes, we got married on the grand on March 19th, 2001. Here is a section of the review I wrote at the time:

 

Hi! I'd like to share with the group our experience of being married on the Grand Princess on March 19. I'll eventually write a full review of the cruise, suffice it to say for now that it was absolutely perfect. I was prepared for it to be just OK based on some comments I've read around the 'net but I guess it's true that people are more likely to write about the bad stuff.

On embarkation day we met with Darren, the wedding coordinator, in his office. He went through everything with us. The vows we had chosen were in his computer and we were easily able to make changes and additions (I had to promise to keep the thermostat of our house at 72 degrees in any weather.) When we were done they were printed out for the Commodore. Darren then took us to the wedding chapel and went over everything again. We had the string quartet and they actually auditioned for us! They played all the songs we had chosen and we approved. We also went over the flower arrangements. Darren was very nice and polite and put us at ease.

Monday was the ceremony. The chapel was beautiful with a flower arch, candles down the aisle, more flowers up front with canabrellas (sp?) The Commodore was so nice with a great voice and manner. The best word I can think of is avuncular. He read some poems on marriage and asked us the required legal questions. We lit the unity candle and went through the vows. He gave us the rings on a little pillow and we were married! We then had to sign the ship's log.

The photographer, Chris Twaites, was outstanding. He took pictures for about 30 minutes after the ceremony including some great outdoor shots with Shelly's veil blowing in the wind and the blue water in the background. He took group shots, black and white, and a shot of the whole group of 22 on the staircase in the atrium. We got the proofs that night and everyone ordered some. We ordered an extra package over what came with the wedding. The pictures were simply phenomenal. The photographer, Chris Twaites, was also very nice (like everyone on the ship.) All orders were completed by Saturday and everyone got their pictures to take home.

Our reception was held in the Wheelhouse and the food was great. Another photographer came for that. The wedding cake was absolutely delicious, much more gourmet than I thought it would be!

That's it for the main part but there were also several nice little touches that impressed me. Those of you who've been on Princess know that outside each room is a little card with your names on it. At our reception I thought that when we got back to our room I would cross out Shelly's maiden name and write in her new married name. Well wouldn't you know that Princess already had printed us a new card with our new names and "just married" on it. They also delivered us a chart printed from the ship's nav system on photopaper that showed our exact position when we got married. The coordinates were printed on the bottom. At dinner they gave us a special anniversary cake (they'll take any excuse to celebrate and seem to count your wedding day as your 0 anniversary as we also had happy anniversary balloons outside our room.) Of course our waiters waited until we had ordered and been served dessert before surprising us with the cake. Finally we got a special invitation to take a bridge tour with about 15 other people on Tuesday while we were underway. The view from up there is great, especially back along the ship.

All in all it was a wonderful experience. If anyone is thinking of getting married on the Grand I say do it. The only potential downside is that it's hard for people to come as they of course have to go on a cruise! We had all our immediate family and several close friends with us so we loved it.

[spongerob]

We witnessed a ceremony on Grand Princess a couple months ago. The ceremony itself was quite dignified, with the Captain presiding. The text he used was quite poetic and made many references to sailing and the sea. It was much nicer than I would have imagined.

[OrlEngr]

Here's a link describing our experience ....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=96103

 

Please ask if you have any specific questions.

[ahracer]

We were married on the Island Princess 18 months ago. It was perfect. Princess and The Wedding Experience could not have done it any better!

 

We had the ceremony on an aft deck overlooking the intercoastal waterway before sailing from FLL.

 

I can't say enough about Alba from The Wedding Experience. Get her to be your coordinator if you can. Some of the others we talked to before we found her didn't impress us much.

 

Scott

[Midnight Rain]

Thanks everyone for the replies! Sounds very nice!!!

 

We are definately looking forward to it! We are planning for Feb 2007, so we can give people enough notice to join us!

[SuzyQ75]

I can let you know in June! My cousin is getting married on the June 4 sailing of Caribbean Princess. They are going to be able to be married at sea. I can't wait. I'm sure it is going to be beautiful!

 

Congrats on your engagement! I'll let you know how it goes.

[Sestrong821]

Melanie,

 

I am getting married aboard the Caribbean Princess September 05 and have had some great experiences so far and would be more than happy to share any info I can with you, just email me at sestrong821@hotmail.com. Also, my best recommendation for info is to search the Wedding/Honeymoon board on cruise critic. A user by the name of KadieBug12 got married aboard the Carribean Princess as well however has a total review on that board which may give you lots of info to work with. I hope planning is going well...

Shelly

[MCManders99]

Go to the Wedding & Honeymoon Section. I know Kadiebug12 has a great Princess Wedding Review. She's been very helpful with anyone's questions.

[Midnight Rain]

Did anyone skip having the reception and just eat in the dining room? We are thinking of opting for anytime dining and skipping the reception dinner...

 

I called Princess to find out when the 2007 dates are coming out.. Not until November.. This is torture :)

 

Melanie :)

[Druke I]

On our trans-Atlantic on Golden Princess, 8-02, we were invited to two different weddings, and were very impressed with how Princess' staff handled the ceremonies and receptions.

 

On that particular trip, Capt. Andy Proctor officiated - and he has a wonderful British sense of decorum and humor.

 

Good luck.

[DrD]

Did anyone skip having the reception and just eat in the dining room? We are thinking of opting for anytime dining and skipping the reception dinner...

 

I called Princess to find out when the 2007 dates are coming out.. Not until November.. This is torture :)

 

Melanie :)

 

 

Ha, we did both! First, reception. Then dinner.

[derf5585]

Consider hosting your wedding at sea with Princess,

from

http://www.princess.com/onboard/weddings/weddings.html

[jff50]

We got married on the Grand Princess by the Captain in June 2002. l'd recommend it to anyone. We picked the highest of the 3 levels that Princess offers--I really liked having a string quartet do the music. If you chose, the wedding can be placed on Princess' website so that friends can watch.

 

Princess handled everything, and we didn't have to worry about a thing. The one thing that I'd change is to preplan the photography in more detail beforehand. Princess will take a ton of pictures, but we cut them short to participate in the reception with those friends and family that came along with us. If I were to do it over, I'd discuss how long we want to take for pictures, and what backgrounds we'd want to have.

 

On the whole, I was very glad we had Princess handle the wedding