Royal Caribbean do not do weddings! Run as far away as possible!

[charlieselwyn]

I agree. Look I’ve been sailing on RCCL since My first cruise on Song of America in 1988. So I’ve dealt with these people a Loooooonnnnggg time. Special requests don’t work! It’s pretty much buy the package and that’s what you get. It’s not like on land where you could arrange every detail. Crews change every so often, even cruise directors change. So plans you make with one might not go over with another. I’m sure there’s more to the story on both parts but it’s a shame you and your future wife have to deal with this during what should be a fun time of planning. I love RCCL but I’ve learned a long time ago not to ask for things above and beyond. And I’m not referring to extra towels or ice in the room. I’m speaking of bigger issues such as buying out the Chefs Table or special Spa Treatments for the Wedding Party. Good luck and I hope whatever your plans for your wedding goes well.

 

 

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Buying out the chefs table was an option that was offered to us by the wedding team so not sure why people at RC didn’t know about this.

 

We weren’t after any special treatments from the spa team, my partner wanted to speak to the salon to find out what they could offer for her and her bridesmaids in terms of hair and makeup.

 

There isn’t more to our stories, this is what makes it so frustrating. We had spent months and month organising this wedding.

 

Thanks and looking forward to our new plans.

[charlieselwyn]

I hope things work out for you guys.

 

This is NOT against you, it’s just reality setting in,,,,you’re expectationswere too high.

If nothing else, you should have hired a wedding planner to work with the wedding coordinators at Royal.

 

You got too many different levels of decision makers involved. A company the size of Royal, the left hand never communicates with the right hand and things get dropped or blown out of proportion.

 

There was room for improvement on both sides of this development.

As soon as legal action was discussed,,, all discussions are over.

 

Thanks.

 

We had never set our expectations that high to start with as we knew we didn’t have control.

 

Maybe we should have organised a wedding planner to help but that would have just been another person in the chain which may have only caused more issues.

 

Legal action was only mentioned when they spoke to us about cancelling our wedding and cruise.

[charlieselwyn]

Your title is pretty misleading. Sounds as if this was a bad fit. Your booking wouldn’t be cancelled because you asked too many questions. There’s a lot missing from your story, which is ok, don’t really need to hear it.

You have to give up a lot of control if you choose a cruise wedding, and it’s not for everyone.

You should take your refund and book somewhere else. What would your cause of action be for filing legal action? If you receive a refund, you have no loss, thus there’s nothing to sue for.

 

It isn’t misleading when this is actually what happened.

 

Feel free to contact Beth or the executive team for an answer and I have also included the answer which is on file at RC and says that they are unable to meet our requirements when they wouldn’t give us an answer about the chefs table buy out and the salon replied on the next day after they cancelled.

 

We only got refunded for the cruise, not the flights and we had a trip booked after the cruise which also had to be cancelled.

 

Obviously we couldn’t sue for nothing.

[charlieselwyn]

Sorry, but it is a special day for both of you.

 

This is very true, my apologies, it is a very special day for both of us.

[buchhalm]

Mass market cruise company and special requests. Doesn't seem to be a good formula.

[gailforce2000]

Buying out the chefs table was an option that was offered to us by the wedding team so not sure why people at RC didn’t know about this.

 

 

 

We weren’t after any special treatments from the spa team, my partner wanted to speak to the salon to find out what they could offer for her and her bridesmaids in terms of hair and makeup.

 

 

 

There isn’t more to our stories, this is what makes it so frustrating. We had spent months and month organising this wedding.

 

 

 

Thanks and looking forward to our new plans.

 

 

 

That sucks. Well move on from here and have a great wedding!!! Don’t let this setback ruin what should be you and your wife’s greatest day. Best wishes

 

 

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[Keith1010]

I would be posting this on the Royal Caribbean Board or even the Wedding and Honeymoon Board.

 

Keith

[dd likes to cruise]

Sorry about your troubles, But instead of coming here to complain, or warn others now, you should have come on and gotten advise of others first.

 

I've read many posts on CC concerning weddings on cruise ships and most of them are not the greatest. They want you to book, but won't really talk to you or help with the planning until nearer the wedding. That would have scared me off if specific plans are important to you. And also if flights and other guests are involved.

[charlieselwyn]

Sorry about your troubles, But instead of coming here to complain, or warn others now, you should have come on and gotten advise of others first.

 

I've read many posts on CC concerning weddings on cruise ships and most of them are not the greatest. They want you to book, but won't really talk to you or help with the planning until nearer the wedding. That would have scared me off if specific plans are important to you. And also if flights and other guests are involved.

 

Or maybe I should have listened to other peoples advise and not booked the wedding with RC in the first place.

 

The whole point of a review is to share your experience with others.

 

If people don't like what they are hearing about RC, then they shouldn't look for reviews.

[Langley Cruisers]

They have cancelled our cruise....

 

Here is the exact email we received: ... For the amount of your refund from your cancelled cruise, please contact your travel agent directly....

 

The entire cruise was cancelled, for thousands of other people as well as for yourselves, is this correct? Royal Caribbean did not, in effect, cancel your wedding for only you. The cruise itself was cancelled. Sadly, this happens from time to time. I'm so sorry. :(

 

What do you mean OP?

 

"OP" means the "original poster", the member who started the initial, original thread. You, charlieselwyn are the OP to which people are referring. It's an acronym or shortcut, if you will. :)

.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Langley Cruisers

[dd likes to cruise]

Or maybe I should have listened to other peoples advise and not booked the wedding with RC in the first place.

 

The whole point of a review is to share your experience with others.

 

If people don't like what they are hearing about RC, then they shouldn't look for reviews.

 

Really can't believe if other people told you not to use RC, why you didn't do your due diligence and really research the heck out of it before putting any money out.

 

I'm not trying to say that RC is correct in anything about this, only as responsible adults it is our responsibility to check into things before spending big bucks on anything.

[kitty9]

I think the OP is confused by a few things, but the main thing is, when you're asking for specific services from specific ship employees, you can't expect those services to be available once you're on board because crew members are constantly changing. If the OP's partner would have spoken to someone in the salon to make specific arrangements for her bridal party, there's no guarantee that that salon person would still be on board the ship, and knowing how things run on a cruise ship, its highly unlikely that the salon person would pass on all the information about the wedding party to the replacement. When dealing with a cruise ship salon, it's nothing like dealing with your local hair salon. And what services did the bride want that required such special contacts? If all she wanted was hair and makeup, which nearly ever cruise ship offers, there was absolutely no need for special communication.

 

But I'm confused by one thing. Did Royal Caribbean cancel the cruise for ALL passengers, or did the OP cancel their cruise? His posts are very obscure on that issue.

[Underwatr]

The communication that the other members of the OP's group needed to contact their travel agent(s) to cancel says it was just the OP's booking that was canceled.

 

If the cruise had been canceled for all passengers the OP would have had a different first post.

[Aquahound]

OP, I'm sorry this didn't work out for you. I'm sure its very upsetting for wedding plans to fall through so close to the date.

 

I am confused with one detail though. Did you cancel or did RCI cancel your cruise? You're making it sound like they canceled but that letter indicates you requested the cancelation.

[Sauer-kraut]

The Spa and Salon are NOT part of Royal Caribbean, they are an independent concessionaire. If you wanted to talk to the salon manager you should have contacted Mandara Spa corporate (if that is the company running the salon) and work through it that way.

 

I think you did not realize that the wedding services of the contracted company do allow for a lot of customization. Also seems a bit unfair to block out other passengers from the Chef's Table when it is a public cruise.

[jessykaw]

Are there any other cruises sailing out from that port on that same day? Maybe you can book with them.

 

 

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[Nizzie]

If OP mentioned possible forthcoming litigation, said anything like, “You’ll be hearing from my attorney” or otherwise led the RCI team to believe a lawsuit might be coming, it might be corporate policy to cancel any business the complainant has.

 

Back when I worked in a call center for a large corporation, if a caller said anything like the above we were to terminate the call with a canned spiel about being unable to continue this conversation and no further contact would be permitted until the customer submitted a letter stating they would not bring a lawsuit. Otherwise the only department they could be in contact with was Legal.

 

Most callers would calm down considerably when presented with this information but we did have a number of hotheads that couldn’t see reason and ended up on our blacklist. It’s just a bad business practice to continue to interact with anyone who has said they will sue you, even if they stand zero chance of actually winning.

 

 

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[Underwatr]

The other day I was watching a rerun of Jeopardy from 2017 and one of the contestants said her job was being a wedding coordinator for people going on cruises out if Baltimore (i.e., Carnival and/or Royal Caribbean). It wasn't clear whether she was a cruise line employee or an independent. But it did suggest that one could get assistance in coordinating a wedding at sea.

[gambit57]

If OP mentioned possible forthcoming litigation, said anything like, “You’ll be hearing from my attorney” or otherwise led the RCI team to believe a lawsuit might be coming, it might be corporate policy to cancel any business the complainant has.

 

Back when I worked in a call center for a large corporation, if a caller said anything like the above we were to terminate the call with a canned spiel about being unable to continue this conversation and no further contact would be permitted until the customer submitted a letter stating they would not bring a lawsuit. Otherwise the only department they could be in contact with was Legal.

 

Most callers would calm down considerably when presented with this information but we did have a number of hotheads that couldn’t see reason and ended up on our blacklist. It’s just a bad business practice to continue to interact with anyone who has said they will sue you, even if they stand zero chance of actually winning.

 

 

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Yep. Lots of companies have that policy. It basically tells the neutral observer all they need to know. I'm sure RCL couldn't get things in order on their end, but that letter pretty much confirms that some heated things were said by OP as well and once there was a threat of litigation, boom. Cancel everything and let Legal deal with any further contact.

[Langley Cruisers]

I doubt we'll hear from OP again. He hasn't posted in some time. I know there is more to this story; I just don't think we'll ever hear it. ;)

.

[spookwife]

I used to deal with people like this on a regular basis( wedding registry coordinator for a national department Store chain.

 

they may swear up one side and down the other that they were nice and polite and had minimal questions and requests, but the reality was.. a good 85% of the time an outside observer would call it excessive demands that would ultimately never please the customer in the first place no matter what the company and its employees did. so we 'fired' them as customers.

[ricew001]

I've been coordinating weddings "on the side" "for fun" for a few years. Funny thing happened when I finished my Master's and you'd think I'd had more time to coordinate weddings "for fun": I STOPPED. It is not a job for the faint of heart. So many people to please and so much emotion. When you're a project manager you can present facts. But often with a bride or her family you get the emotional response of "it's her day and she should get what she wants." Oh boy. Let's call in the flying peacocks to spell out the bride and groom's names in the air at precisely 4:12 pm.

 

It always went like this when we'd meet at her friend's wedding:

OMG! You're so great!! Will you do my wedding?

Then I'd ask for specifics - Date and Time? Do you want me for the whole day or just the ceremony or what? I coordinate - I don't plan.

Never failed - I need you oh just for the ceremony part which is at 4. So let's say 3-6.

Send payment and all done

Oh wait. Can you come when I get my hair done and when the caterers get there - so now can you be here at 9 am that morning?

Oh can you stay and meet the rental company that will be there at 11:30 pm to pick up everything?

Oh can you do rehearsal dinner?

Oh can you come meet the DJ?

Oh can you come look at the venue?

Oh can you come meet the caterers?

Oh I've changed my mind. Can you meet me at a different venue?

 

The final straw was when I had the groomsmen be really nasty to me and refuse to practice during rehearsal that night. You said yes to the groom to be a part of his wedding. It doesn't mean just drinking beer at the reception.

 

Yeah, totally done. I can only imagine what it's like on a cruise line......

[charlieselwyn]

The entire cruise was cancelled, for thousands of other people as well as for yourselves, is this correct? Royal Caribbean did not, in effect, cancel your wedding for only you. The cruise itself was cancelled. Sadly, this happens from time to time. I'm so sorry. :(

 

 

 

"OP" means the "original poster", the member who started the initial, original thread. You, charlieselwyn are the OP to which people are referring. It's an acronym or shortcut, if you will. :)

.

 

Is that what I said?

 

Yes they did, not sure if you have read the whole thread, but feel free to re-read the earlier messages.

 

The wedding could have only been booked through Royal Caribbean.

 

Thanks for explaining the OP bit.

[charlieselwyn]

Really can't believe if other people told you not to use RC, why you didn't do your due diligence and really research the heck out of it before putting any money out.

 

I'm not trying to say that RC is correct in anything about this, only as responsible adults it is our responsibility to check into things before spending big bucks on anything.

 

We did and we had sailed with RC before so took the initiative to not listen to bad feedback left by others but clearly we should have listened.

[charlieselwyn]

I think the OP is confused by a few things, but the main thing is, when you're asking for specific services from specific ship employees, you can't expect those services to be available once you're on board because crew members are constantly changing. If the OP's partner would have spoken to someone in the salon to make specific arrangements for her bridal party, there's no guarantee that that salon person would still be on board the ship, and knowing how things run on a cruise ship, its highly unlikely that the salon person would pass on all the information about the wedding party to the replacement. When dealing with a cruise ship salon, it's nothing like dealing with your local hair salon. And what services did the bride want that required such special contacts? If all she wanted was hair and makeup, which nearly ever cruise ship offers, there was absolutely no need for special communication.

 

But I'm confused by one thing. Did Royal Caribbean cancel the cruise for ALL passengers, or did the OP cancel their cruise? His posts are very obscure on that issue.

 

We had confirmation that we were going to speak with the salon team that were going to be on board when we were on the ship but the executive team said that speaking to the salon team was not possible.

 

Yes, RC cancelled the cruise for our entire party. Why would we cancel our own wedding and cruise?