Vow renewal???

[robinm]

We are going on the Visions in March 06. We are having a vow renewal ceremony aboard. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was the experience. Were you please with everything? Did you get to pick when you get to have the Ceremony. I would greatly appreciate some input on how it was for you! Thanks:)

[Murphy]

We renewed our vows on the Legend about 6 years ago. You can pick the time and place, with some exceptions. They won't do it on formal night, since the photographers are too booked up then, but they might do on a formal night if you did it early enough in the day. We had ours in the Viking Crown Lounge overlooking the pool which was nice, except we did it during cocktail hour and there was a DJ playing on the other side of the bar, so you might want to avoid that. I'm sure you will hear from others who did not have as good an experience, but I really felt RCCL went out of their way to make our ceremony special. My DH arranged everything as a surprise for me, including attempting to have the ribbon on my floral arrangement match the color of my bridesmaids dresses from our wedding. The default is a plain white ribbon, but the Social Hostess (who performed our ceremony) got off the ship in port and bought the right color ribbon!

 

Congratulations and best wishes!

[Mamacruisediva]

My parents are renewing vows on the MOS. I was wondering the same thing! Any suggestions or what to stay away from. :D

[robinm]

Thanks. It makes me feel a little better. It's hard to plan a special occassion and not know what to expect blindly!:)

[funforsun]

We are going on the Visions in March 06. We are having a vow renewal ceremony aboard. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was the experience. Were you please with everything? Did you get to pick when you get to have the Ceremony. I would greatly appreciate some input on how it was for you! Thanks:)

 

I hope CruiseFever won't mind, but I am posting his experience about the renewal of vows which he posted in a thread of mine. Happy Reading, and hope your anniversary is a great one.

 

I thought this would be a nice thing to do, a quick little ceremony appropriate for us as we wave good bye to our children as they go off on their own. It was much more than that. It made what was an otherwise mostly good cruise on a great ship our best cruise ever..in a very personal way that is difficult to describe so I'll give your the elements of the package and what it meant to us

 

The package includes these elements

• The ceremony, presided over by the ships Captain
  
• A bouquet of flowers for one and a boutonnière for the other exchanging vows
  
• A visit to the spa
  
• A framed photo of the ceremony
  
• Canapes or Petit Fours each evening in your stateroom
  
• Champagne Breakfast In Bed
  
• A bottle of champagne and two engraved champagne flutes
  
• A certificate commemorating the ceremony
  
• A copy of the vows read by the Captain
  
• Two of the really nice Princess robes
  
• A visit to the bridge
  
• One of the best chances you may ever get to fall in love again

It’s that last element, the one that’s not really printed on the list that’s the most important one. The other elements frame it but what happens in that ceremony is nothing short of magical.

 

The words are familiar but they have more meaning now than they ever had for us 23 years ago when we thought we were committed enough to join in marriage. As we struggled to maintain composure and repeat the vows after the ships master we realized now how far we’d traveled, how much we’d grown and how much we’d been through to get to this point. We had no idea what we were getting into back then but we stuck to our traditional values and stayed together as every single one of the couples we knew at the time has broken up over the years for one reason or another.

 

I’ve been criticized before for adding too much personal information to my reviews but personal is what this is all about. So if you don’t want to read any more personal information now is the time to stop.

 

What just happened to work out well for us on this was spreading the different elements noted above out over the voyage, making it a week-long celebration. I’d kind of thought of that in the planning and incorporated that thought into what we did by giving my wife a sentimental card on her pillow at the close of the day which helped tie it all together.

 

The Special Services staff on board the Star Princess was first class. They don’t do a lot of these packages (yet anyway) but they are right on top of things. Wanting to have everything all planned and organized I was pleased when we received a letter along with our robes on the first day explaining the whole program.

 

To give you a better idea of how it all works, let me go through each element one by one.

 

The ceremony, presided over by the ships Captain

 

 

In our case, on the Star Princess, we were fortunate enough to have Commodore Cesare Ditel do the ceremony. (Commodore is an honorary title usually given to the Captain with the most seniority in the fleet. He does not really plot out war games.) It was a private ceremony although on Princess’ web site it says it may be a group event I suppose so if there are a lot of them on a given sailing that they can get them done. Ours happened to fall on the night of the first formal night and Commodores Cocktail Party and I think they plan it that way so couples will already be in formal wear.

 

We agreed to be apart of another couples ceremony and they to ours, mainly because we were scheduled one after the other. That was even more special and we felt privileged to be a part of it. Later in the week we received the actual printed script of the vows read by the Commodore along with a letter instructing us to go to the photo desk to pick out our choice of the photos taken after the ceremony.

 

Here are the vows we took:

 

Good Afternoon Everybody: First of all on behalf of Chris and Lisa, I would like to welcome you to the Hearts and Minds Chapel.

 

Today we are gathered here for a very special reason:

 

To provide an opportunity for Jon and Lisa, to renew an everlasting commitment- your original marriage vows.

 

The diary of your lives contains many important dates and moments and among the most prominent is the day when you joined together in matrimony and made those eternal and binding promises to one another.

 

So at this time, please face one another and join hands:

 

Chris, please repeat after me:

• I renew my commitment to you as your husband
  
• I promise to support you always
  
• In good times and in bad times
  
• In sickness and in health
  
• I promise to love and honor you
  
• And keep you as long as we both shall live

Now Lisa, please repeat after me:

• I renew my commitment as your wife
  
• I promise to support you always
  
• In good times and in bad times
  
• In sickness and in health
  
• I promise to love and honor you
  
• And keep you as long as we both shall live

Now together, Chris & Lisa, please repeat after me:

• I once placed a ring on your finger
  
• As a sign of our unbroken love
  
• As a promise to care forever
  
• Today, I renew that promise
  
• And accept you to myself
  
• As one of God’s gifts in my life

All of us here onboard the Star Princess are witnesses to the renewal of your vows and your commitment to each other. May you find strength in the love that binds you together today, and continue your lives in perfect peace and harmony. So, once again, may those immortal words be stated. I now pronounce you man and wife!

 

Chris, you may kiss Lisa!

 

 

 

A bouquet of flowers for one and a boutonnière for the other exchanging vows

 

Princess does a really good job with on board flowers anyway so it was not a surprise to me that they’d created such a pretty Miniature Orchid bouquet and single white rose boutonnière. In addition, I’d stopped by the flower desk located on the Promenade deck between the Atrium and the Wheelhouse Bar and ordered a dozen roses to be delivered just prior to our ceremony with a card that said “Will you marry me?” We needed to leave the cabin at 6:00, they arrived at 5:59 as planned. Later I found out that Princess Special Services can be sure they have any color roses on board with advance notice.

 

A framed photo of the ceremony

 

If I had this to do over again I would have asked the photographer at the time to take photos of the ceremony in progress too.

 

A framed formal portrait

 

This is in addition to the photo of the ceremony. We normally do not buy many photos but since this one was included in the package we posed for several different photographers in front of a variety of backgrounds. Later in the week our account was credited for the cost of a 8 X 10 photo ($19.95)

 

 

Canapes or Petit Fours each evening in your stateroom

 

At the beginning of the cruise we received door hanger order forms, one for each day, that allowed us to order a choice of several varieties. This is the same method used by passengers in some of the higher end staterooms on board. The choices were:

• Smoked Salmon, Mascarpone Cheese and Golden Caviar
  
• Poached Cocktail Prawn on a Sesame Crouton
  
• Cured Parma Ham Grissini, Sweet Melon and Mustard
  
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese Mousse on Pumpernickel Bread
  
• Genoa Salami Stuffed with Deviled Egg
  
• Chocolate Strawberry Tuxedos
  
• Grand Marnier Cream Filled Profiteroles

We were able to order them to be delivered any time between 4:00pm and 10:00pm. We usually chose 5:00pm which happened to fit in nicely between Afternoon Tea and the evenings Cocktail Party or early dinner. Such decisions!

 

 

Champagne Breakfast In Bed

 

This was really cool but we scheduled it on the wrong day. To do it over we’d schedule it on a day at sea. Instead we scheduled it on the day we called in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and by the time it arrived (8:30am) as ordered I was wanting to get off the ship. Dumb of me. Instead we enjoyed the breakfast that would later be offered to other passengers at an additional cost of $25. It included:

• Moet and Chandon Champagne- chilled half bottle
  
• Warm Basket of Homemade Pastries
  
• Delicate Cold Smoked Salmon
  
• Medley of Fresh Fruits and Forest Berries
  
• Quiche Loraine

Or just about anything else you wanted they would include. We added Bagels, omelets, orange juice and assorted breakfast meats

 

 

A bottle of champagne and two engraved champagne flutes

 

We never did drink this but could have framed another early evening with it by calling room service for a bucket of ice to chill it with and beginning the evening with a toast. The plan is to have it before the ceremony. They were delivered to our stareroom in the afternoon before our ceremony.

 

 

A certificate commemorating the ceremony

 

 

 

 

Two of the really nice Princess robes

 

These are the nice waffle robes. I made the mistake of opening them up as I received them. I should have saved the wrapped ones for easier packing and had our room steward bring us some to use throughout the journey.

 

A visit to the bridge

This was WAY more fun than we’d ever imagined it would be. Since 9/11 security in such areas had been very tight and strict. Why it’s been loosened up lately I don’t know but it’s not been loosened up much. There were just a few people allowed to go but what a show they put on for us. I got to drive the ship. When they figured out I’d swung her around and was heading to Bora Bora they made me give up the con though.

 

 

One of the best chances you may ever get to fall in love again

 

That’s the important part and one that’s not mentioned. It’s probably more of an unexpected result but it’s a powerful event I’d surely not experienced before on a cruise. I suppose it must rival being married at sea for the first time. The ceremony meant so much more than our original ceremony 20+ years ago that we were caught by surprise.

 

The Princess Special Events staff handled all the details really well and I would highly recommend it. But, as hard as this may be to do, pick a time that is a milestone, like a 10, 15, 20 or 25th anniversary because it really is a big deal. The whole package overshadows much of the rest of the cruise.

__________________

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

Dream Cruise Vacations

Review- Empress Of The Seas

 

Coming up-

Celebrity Century Jan 06

Norwegian Sun Jan 06

Costa Magica March 06

Majesty of the Seas Sep 06

Golden Princess Nov 06 (Egypt- I can die after this one)

[love2vacation]

We are going on the Visions in March 06. We are having a vow renewal ceremony aboard. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was the experience. Were you please with everything? Did you get to pick when you get to have the Ceremony. I would greatly appreciate some input on how it was for you! Thanks:)

 

There is a thread started under Special Interest Cruises/ Honeymoons and Weddings. Come join us. :D

 

Best wishes on your plans.

Judi