Celebrity is Ruining My Wedding..We need help!

[bermudabride5]

My Fiance & I are not pressuring our guests to come to our destination wedding. When we asked our friends & family to be in the wedding we told them we were planning to have destinatin wedding and if you are not comfortable or can not afford it not to feel pressured and to be honest with us because we totally would understand. In our Save the Date we told our guests not to feel pressured and we understand everyone will not be able to make. All the folks that are joining us are not looking at this as a bad thing they were all very excited about the trip. When people think they have until the end of December no one rushes out to book the next day. I think my Fiance & I covered everything perfect with the wedding party and guests.

[HurricaneSally]

Planning a wedding in Bermuda from a cruise ship is not the best idea. You can't have thought of everything!!!! Many times cruise ships miss their destination, and many times Bermuda is missed for various reasons.

 

Be happy with the people that are on the cruise with you and just assume the others didn't want to go very bad, or they would have coughed up the deposit.

 

My daughter wanted to get married in Jamaica five years and I prayed she would change her mind (Jamaica is an island I avoid like the plague). Cost wise, it would have been the same for 40 as 200 was here in our area. She finally agreed to get married here and honeymoon in Jamaica. She was glad she did.

 

 

Friends of theirs got married in Acalpoco (sp) and my daughter couldn't afford for both she and her husband to attend the wedding. Airfare was running about $800 pp, so only her husband went because he was bestman. The marriage lasted eight months and it was money down the toilet.

[bilgeboyPa]

To the OP,

Here is how the wedding I was involved with panned out. I did most of the arraingments for my friends. They wanted to get married in Jamaica. They wanted the whole wedding on the beach thing.I talked them out of it because of all the red tape and expense involved getting married in a foreign country. Here is what they did.

We booked the wedding party onto the ship.We did the western on Century in January. Got the dates ,sent in the deposit etc. WHen that date was squared away, I looked for person that did weddings on the beach in Ft Lauderdale. Got that all set up and reserved. Booked a hotel on the beach. We flew in the day before. The day of the cruise, we all got up early, met on the beach, the minister performed a beautiful ceremony on the beach. It was over, we ate breakfast and headed to the ship. Got on and partied all week. The Wedding itself cost about $350 with the licence that the wedding service took care of getting.

It was the most memorable wedding I was ever at and the least expensive. Explore that possibility. I think you might really like this as an alternative

 

Just a thought..

Jave a great weekend

Jeff

[florisdekort]

I think the TA did a horrible job... I don't understand why he/she didn't spell out the risks of holding cabins without any deposit. NCL might be an alternative, but I am 100% sure that they will also want a deposit on ALL cabins, as Celebrity is requesting now for the 4 additional cabins.

[two rabbits]

My Fiance & I are not pressuring our guests to come to our destination wedding. When we asked our friends & family to be in the wedding we told them we were planning to have destinatin wedding and if you are not comfortable or can not afford it not to feel pressured and to be honest with us because we totally would understand. In our Save the Date we told our guests not to feel pressured and we understand everyone will not be able to make. All the folks that are joining us are not looking at this as a bad thing they were all very excited about the trip. When people think they have until the end of December no one rushes out to book the next day. I think my Fiance & I covered everything perfect with the wedding party and guests.

 

I would have to agree with bermudabride5, that at the end of the day it was Celebrity's who was at fault for informing people that they have until the end of December to book, when that was not true. I have noticed that there are a lot of TA's that post on these boards and I am surprised that more don't speak out when after every problem that arises the TA is almost always the one, the buck seems to get passed too. BTW, I am not a travel agent, nor do I have any assocation with the cruise industry, except that I love to cruise.

[florisdekort]

I would have to agree with bermudabride5, that at the end of the day it was Celebrity's who was at fault for informing people that they have until the end of December to book, when that was not true.

 

That would have been true had the OP booked directly at Celebrity, which she did not. She booked via a TA. A TA should know better. A wedding is such an important event in one's life... surely you would want to be on the safe side and put down a desposit?!

[Jeano222]

I think it is wrong to blame Celebrity for this. Group policies are much different than individual policies as far as terms and conditions and deposit requirements. I believe any other cruiseline in a similar situation would be the same way. I do blame the TA for this, it is their job to guide clients through the booking and deposit policies thoroughly. The people that had booked and deposited would have been protected, and the TA should have told the bride that anyone not deposited and assigned a cabin could be at risk, for any problems including being replaced by a smaller ship, that's only good business sense.

 

There is no solution to this now, the only thing that can be done is to rebook another group on another ship, but the same rules would apply, if deposit is not done, then those cabins could also be sold out from under them.

 

Something as important as this should have bridal party eager to lock in and come up with deposits in all fairness to the bride and groom, but again the TA should have explained all of this clearly.

[lysolqn]

Jeano22, I agree with you - this is a case of the OP blaming the messenger for the message. IMHO X did nothing wrong and if there's blame to be assigned, it should go to the travel agent who didn't insist on getting deposits for all cabins, knowing group space can be pulled by any cruise line at any time. I'm sorry the OP's plans have gone awry but enough whining about the whole fiasco being Celebrity's fault.

[caviargal]

Jeano22, I agree with you - this is a case of the OP blaming the messenger for the message. IMHO X did nothing wrong and if there's blame to be assigned, it should go to the travel agent who didn't insist on getting deposits for all cabins, knowing group space can be pulled by any cruise line at any time. I'm sorry the OP's plans have gone awry but enough whining about the whole fiasco being Celebrity's fault.

 

Sorry, but a TA cannot "insist" on anything:confused:. She/he cannot force someone to pay a deposit if they are not ready to do so. If these folks were truly ready to commit, they would have done so!

 

IME, clients do not always listen to TAs when we are trying to review policies and such. Most of us do our very best but we cannot control what a client chooses to heed and what they choose to ignore.

[Jeano222]

caviargal, what you say to a certain extent is true, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, however who suffers if the horse doesn't drink? Explaining clearly to a client is imperative but if they don't listen then what else can you do. I don't beleive the TA mentioned anything to the bride about this, otherwise she wouldn't be in this position now. If someone tells me something and explains what could happen if I don't do what is advised and I choose to ignore them than ultimately I can blame nobody.

[Drew B]

This is not a case of individual bookings, but a group. The rules are very different all the way around and what you describe is not what applies.

 

If she did use a TA, the TA did nothing wrong unless shse did not explain the policy to the OP. The cruise line sets the policy and it is up to the consumer to understand what she is booking.

 

Well SOMEBODY failed to explain the policy. If it was X's responsibility, they are to blame. If it was the TA's responsibility (as it seems to me it would be), then he/she is to blame. In no way, though, is this the fault of the OP or her guests. She and they were told that the rooms were held and they had until December to make their payment. If they were misinformed, that is not their fault. The ONLY way that the OP bears any of the burden in this case is if she's not telling us the truth of what happened...

[jcanino]

I have never heard of any cruise line holding cabins for over a month WITHOUT some deposit. The standard rate from my experience is $500 per cabin.I have made these sort of arraingements myself for a wedding for friends of mine.

 

It is done all the time. Some cruise lines will give you 30 days put down deposits, while some offer 90 days. If you are not picking specific cabins, then the deposit for a double my be lower than $250 per person.

 

As a side note, we have 50 cabins on the cancelled sailing. It seems that they rebooked the individual bookings on the next sailing before we knew it had been cancelled. All 50 of our cabins had full deposits as they picked specific cabins.

[rcicruiser]

My travel agent (which is a one man show, she works out of her home) spoke with her Celebrity rep today, and she does feel very bad for our situation. She was able to come up with 4 rooms for us at the same cost as the Zenith. The rep required us to have people place their deposits today. At first, my Fiance & I thought it was great, it was just enough rooms for the wedding party. When we started calling people telling them they had to book today we began to feel it's not fair to our friends that they need to rush into booking when they were originally told they had to December. We are in are late 20's to early 30's, so our friends are having baby's, buying homes and having weddings of their own, so we began to feel this was not fair to them. Plus, we had a good amount of other friends and family that wanted to join us on the trip. How do you send Save the Date information out with all the details and now say theirs no room for you. We just were not having a good feeling about the entire thing...and who wants to think that when you talking about your special day...your wedding day. We live in the Philadelphia area, so we are looking into NCL Crown that leaves from Philly on June 10. The itinerary is the same except for its a 6 day cruise leaving a Sun rather than Sat. We much rather give our money to NCL than to Celebrity for the way we were treated. I am giving a very shortened version of what we went thought with Celebrity. Such as 4-5 hrs worth of phone calls, being told everyone is fine and we still have rooms on hold to only have the ones previously booked prior to the swop . They certainly will not be getting my business or anyone else I knows business any time soon. Instead of worrying about getting more upscale ships I think they need to work on their customer service. At this point we are looking at the cruise as transportation to our wedding. What is everyone's thought's on NCL Crown? We appreciate all the response and help you all have been. It's been a tough few days dealing with this situation :o

 

 

You where concerned about asking your friends to pay before December. You said they had their own weddings, babies and etc. Add in Chrtistmas so what makes you think they could have paid by December 27th.

[caviargal]

Well SOMEBODY failed to explain the policy. If it was X's responsibility, they are to blame. If it was the TA's responsibility (as it seems to me it would be), then he/she is to blame. In no way, though, is this the fault of the OP or her guests. She and they were told that the rooms were held and they had until December to make their payment. If they were misinformed, that is not their fault. The ONLY way that the OP bears any of the burden in this case is if she's not telling us the truth of what happened...

 

The OP states that her TA is getting the runaround so it does not appear an issue with the TA. I think she expected more from X and, while it would have been nice, if the wedding was not booked thru them, they may not even know that it is a wedding.

 

IMO, X likely protected fully deposited first and I don't know how anyone can hold that against them.

[dmk]

My adult "kids" got married on board the Zenith last Saturday 7/106in Bayonne. The ceremony was preformed by a retired Captain whose words were some of the most inspirational I've ever heard. The reception was in the Fleet Bar, food was specially prepared to meet the DIL's gluten free diet. Nobody but the "family" knew it was "special" and all of the 75 guests complimented the food.The wedding planner was good. There was a delay boarding, (guests were told to be at pier at 10:30 we did not board until 11:30. but once the drinks started to flow in Fleet Bar, everyone had fun, DJ was ok, not my taste, but also not my wedding.

Non-sailing Guests left at 3:30 and we, sailing guests all went to our assigned cabins and we were off to Bermuda. DIL had a problem with photographer, he was not aware of her pre paid photo package, Luckily she brought the wedding contract with her, ald everything worked out just fine.

Another couple did get married in Bremuda. They left the ship in a Horse Drawn Carriage and the bridal party went to the location by bus.

 

I found this post here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=377775&highlight=weddings

 

Weddings on board can be done. The cost? I have no idea. That is a whole other topic about "wedding costs".

[KatWag]

Be sure to check the posts about several sailings which skipped Bermuda due to weather, high seas, etc. Not saying it's going to happen to you, just keep in mind that it could. I remember a few months ago reading about a situation just like yours. The wedding was scheduled for Bermuda and the ship could not dock so they skipped the port.

 

Best of luck with this. I'm guessing that the folks who haven't been able to come up with the deposit money in November are not going to be able to do so around Christmas. :(

[Drew B]

Best of luck with this. I'm guessing that the folks who haven't been able to come up with the deposit money in November are not going to be able to do so around Christmas. :(

 

Well, are we sure that they haven't been ABLE to come up with the deposit money? I was under the impression that they had simply put it off because they didn't think there was any rush to come up with the money, as the cabins were being held...

 

I'll generally avoid paying for something until close to the time the payment becomes due. Why shouldn't I collect the interest on my money instead of the company? That doesn't mean I couldn't AFFORD to pay for it up front...

[ocngypz]

Bad agent. And obviously has had little experience with groups, especially wedding groups. Everyone always wants to go, who wouldn't? But when it comes time to pony up the money... no one deposits.

 

I had one request for a destination wedding... on RCL. 60 cabins. Western Caribbean.... wedding in Grand Cayman! You know where I'm going here.

I turned the group down. The ship did not make Grand Cayman.

 

Glad I turned down the group!

 

If anyone wishes to have a wedding on the ship, they must deposit the sailing first and then work with the cruiseline's appointed Wedding Planner company. My last wedding group sailed on NCL. When we did a financial comparison, my clients elected to hold the wedding in Bermuda... and everyone just enjoyed the ship for what it was.

 

Group space may not be available for NCL's Crown. And again, the depost situation will rear it's ugly head. Only so much space is dedicated to groups. When it's gone, it's gone. Then the only alternative would be for everyone to book FIT. The rates are the same, you just lose the tc's and group amenities, which for Bermuda sailings are paltry.

 

Group contracts on the new Journey are limited to 20 cabins max. And with any existing Journey groups still holding, agencies only have 30 days to get full deposits before space is recalled.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

To the OP,

 

We booked the wedding party onto the ship.We did the western on Century in January. Got the dates ,sent in the deposit etc. WHen that date was squared away, I looked for person that did weddings on the beach in Ft Lauderdale. Got that all set up and reserved. Booked a hotel on the beach. We flew in the day before. The day of the cruise, we all got up early, met on the beach, the minister performed a beautiful ceremony on the beach. It was over, we ate breakfast and headed to the ship. Got on and partied all week. The Wedding itself cost about $350 with the licence that the wedding service took care of getting.

It was the most memorable wedding I was ever at and the least expensive. Explore that possibility. I think you might really like this as an alternative

 

GREAT GOING JEFF!!! BE CREATIVE!!! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!:D

[Moeve]

legally X did nothing wrong - good ole fine print BUT was it a good business choice? Upset passegeners taking their money elsewhere is NOT good business!!!!

[two rabbits]

legally X did nothing wrong - good ole fine print BUT was it a good business choice? Upset passegeners taking their money elsewhere is NOT good business!!!!

 

You are right that legally Celebrity probably did nothing wrong, but hiding behind the fine print in a contract, instead of doing what is right, is a good way to drive away loyal customers.