Wedding Review - Radiance of the Seas -- Novemer 25, 2006

[Kitty_and_Tony_06]

Hi All -

 

I cannot believe it has already been 2 weeks + since my wedding. I have gone back to work (my DH goes back tomorrow), unpacked, paid my bills, and finally have a chance to write this for all the soon to be bride's out there. Hope it helps!

 

Planning the Wedding

Overall I found RR to be hit or miss. Some of the "wedding coordinators" obvously knew nothing and were less than helpful (please hold while I check with my manager seemed to be an ongoing line), while on occasion I actually found a few to be worth whatever paycheck they may receive (If you reach Gisele or Katie stick with them). Working with RR can be frustrating, but in the end it all came together. No horror stories here. Though, if you are the type of person who wants immediate answers or who wants to be 100% involved and in control of everything I'd suggest you re-think a cruise ship wedding.

 

I purchased the Harmony package and considered adding some additional services prior to the big day (flowers for my MOH and BM, changes to my flowers, hairstylist) but in the end cut most of this out due to the overpricing of RR - for example, they wanted $250 for me to customize my bouquet with more than 1 color flower). 1 month prior to the wedding I finally got a call from Robert, whose job is to finalize all plans and send you the final contract for services which you need to sign & return. Robert was GREAT! In fact, I had pre-paid for a shore side stylist at my hotel since I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to get my hair done the morning of the wedding (we got married onboard before we left Ft. Lauderdale) at a cost of $120 or so, and he talked me out of that & arranged a salon appointment as soon as we boarded at 1/2 the cost. Well worth it!!! As for the flowers....I switched to red roses in my bouquet at no extra cost (they make the bouquet extremely beautiful) and I made flowers for my MOH to carry for a few dollars.

 

We made our own favors - travel bags with necessities and beer coozies inside, and a binder with maps and info about all our ports of call and helpful hints gathered from cruise critic. We delivered these the night prior to the wedding so as to lessen our load. We also brought bubbles for the sail away but forgot to use them.

 

The Wedding

My DH and I were traveling with 6 others and 1 non-sailing guest. Since we live in NV & NJ we flew into Ft. Lauderdale the night before the wedding to avoid any flight cancelation or delay issues. RCCL arranged a pre-sail hotel (Sheraton at the Airport) which was quite nice & which had a decent restaurant and bar in the hotel. I was disappointed that the transportation that I pre-paid for with RCCL would not work to get us and our guests to the ship on time the morning of the wedding (we were told to arrove at 10:30 & they would not get us there until after 11:30) but the hotel stepped in and was able to arrange transportation at a cost of $8 per person immediately upon check-in.

 

The morning of the wedding our transportation arrived on time and we arrived at the terminal at 10:30 to find 2 wedding coordinators waiting for us. Our coordinators were Alex and Vivian (Vivian also was our wedding officiant). Alex & Vivian got us quickly through security and ran through what to expect for the day as we sat & waited for the ship to clear customs. Unfortunately, it was over 1 hours until we could board the ship but we did end up being 1st on as promised. Since we had a small wedding party all were allowed access to their rooms to get ready. We smartly planned for everyone to stay on 1 floor - the 10th, with 3 of the 4 groups in grand suites, and the 4th in a large balacony room down the hall. It made a huge difference in trying to find where someone was both on wedding day & throughout the cruise.

 

Upon borading Vivian immediately whisked me and my MOH away for our hair appointments in the salon (The salon is GREAT) which meant I didn't get a chance to go to my room pre-hair. All other guests and my DH got ready for the event. (I was lucky enough to have my mom on the cruise so she laid out my gown in her room & steamed it while my DH got ready in ours). By the time my hair was done my DH had left our room and I had all the space in the world to do make-up and dress.

FYI - Our wedding was planned to start at 1pm but when it took longer to board the time got pushed back. I think we started closer to 1:30.

 

I was told the wedding would be in the Holywood Odyssey. Turns out they set it up next door in the Starquest Disco. IF YOU CAN HAVE YOUR WEDDING IN THE STARQUEST I RECOMMEND IT. THE ROOM IS MUCH MUCH NICER THAN THE HOLLYWOOD. The included decorations were decent (2 flower arrangements on white pillars and a table with our cake, favors, marriage certificate and champagne) but not very exciting. My DH and I wrote our own ceremony which Vivian did well with (just a few mistakes - 1 time with DH's name - but it made us laugh). The ceremony was about 20 minutes and the reception followed.

 

The cake was plain looking but luckily tasted great. We used an IPOD with speakers for music for both the ceremony & reception and cut out the need for a DJ. We had the traditional toasts, out 1st dance, and time to socialize with all. Since we only did cake & champagne the reception was not very structured but we also planned dinner that evening for our guests at Chops so we could continue the party into the evening (this had to be reserved through our concierge the day prior to the wedding - RR wouldn't help with this, and our travel agent was told it could not be arranged).

 

Photography was wonderful. Gerald took over 300 photos, all over the ship, for almost 2 hours. If you want something out of the ordinary you will have to ask for it. Otherwise it will be alot of standing in the same pose in many places. Just remember that its your photos and you can direct where they are shot. (We got all the shots we wanted just by asking). On the Radiance I recommend by-passing lots of photos on the green stairs -- you'll have opportunites for this on formal nights for other locations such as on-deck, on the heli-pad, and in the colony club & schooner bar. A note about photos......when we met with Gerald a few nights after the wedding to review the shots and to discuss what ones we would be taking he quoted 3 packages ranging from $2,300 to $1,200 in cost. I was in tears at this since I had no intent to spend that much having not spent $2,300 on the whole wedding! After I had a chance to calm down my DH and I negotiated and ended up getting a disk with all photos he had taken, 70 or so 5x7's, 20 or so 8x10's, 50 announcements, albums, frames, and hard bound photo holders for $799. This was in addition to all that came with the Harmony package. FYI -- I think there also may be room to negotiate a lower price if you want less photos.

 

If you are getting married on embarkation day I'd do my best to stay in your wedding attire for the sail away party on deck. You'll get noticed and it will make for great photos and conversations!

 

Wwell....I think that about covers it. If anyone would like a specific question answered please email me at kappa6297@aol.com and I'll do my best to help you out. Also, please reference Cruise Critic in your email reference so I'll know who you are. I will also try posting photos online soon and will post a link but for now can wmail individual photos at request.

 

Kitty

[STEPH&MIKE]

Congratulations Kitty!

Looking forward to seeing your photos.

[Caymanbride]

Congratulations and thanks so much for posting your wedding review. I can't wait to see your pictures. Just a few questions. We too are going to bring our ipods for the music. Did you purchase one of those mini speaker systems that you can hook your ipod up to or did you hook your ipod up to their speaker system? How many additional hours of photography did you purchase?

 

Thanks again Kitty.