Bringing your own wedding cake onboard

[Jeano222]

nephew and his bride are being married privately in Maui while ship is in port. We would like to buy their small wedding cake to bring back on board. There is a group of us 18 people, but not everyone will come to have a slice of cake that day. I contacted Royal Romance with Royal caribbean and they were no help whatsoever. The ship wants 22.00 per person to supply punch, glasses, table for cake, plates, forks and napkins and must be for the entire group of 18. The cake is a Hawaiian specialty and does have live roses, orchids and greens for decoration. Does anyone know of a better way to be able to serve the people who would come? We all have balcony cabins but they are not huge cabins and if 10 people show up, we would be snug. It's my understanding that we can book a meeting room on the ship at no charge. If we bring tablecloth, paper napkins, forks and wedding paper plates, do you think that would work? Also would there be a problem bringing the cake onboard that has flowers?

[fungirl76]

Most cruise ships don't allow you to bring a cake on board. I too asked this question and was told no.. You should contact the wedding department of the ship and ask them.

[Jeano222]

Just heard from Royal Caribbean and they will not allow cake and will not allow me to order a cake on the ship unless Royal Romance does the wedding. Guess we will be serving Twinkies and Kool Aid on shore.

[fungirl76]

are they doing a shore wedding? perhaps you can have a cake and champagne set up directly after the ceremony. if you are using an outside wedding coordiator they can arrange for a cake to be delivered to the wedding site. you could also arrange to meet for a drink that evening aboard the ship. you could print up little note cards and deliver them to your guests rooms asking them to join the bride and groom for a drink at a specific time..good luck, i'm sure you'll figure something out..

Melissa

[Amy from Delaware]

Did you price wedding cakes in Maui...including delivery? :eek:

Here's a company that you can call to get pricing from if you're interested in comparing. I don't know anything about this company, found it by Googling. http://www.maui-catering-cjs.com/maui-wedding-cakes.htm

 

I think $396 is not that bad when it includes all the other things you mentioned (punch, plates, etc). If that price includes Royal Romance doing the set-up and clean-up, it starts to sound like a real bargain to me.

 

I may be wrong, but since room service is free (except for a tip) you could make it into something more than "just cake and punch" and then the price seems even MORE like a bargain.

 

Just curious, if there are 18 people in your group on board for the wedding, why wouldn't they show up for cake?

[Jeano222]

We have a group of 18 sailing, but half of the people we have never met, they just booked with our TA to get the low price for cruise. We will have two tables for dinner and would see everyone at night, but they don't know the bride and groom.

 

Even if we were able to get the cake they wanted onboard, probably only half would come, but you have to pay for the maximum in the group which is 18.

 

We have figured out how to do it. The wedding will take place as planned on the beach and I got a room at the Best Western in Lahaina where the tender boats come in. We will be able to go to hotel after wedding and bakery is going to deliver a smaller version of the cake they wanted to the hotel. Only 8 [including bride and groom] will be at wedding, and having cake with them. Room was 140.00 but is the most economical way to do it.

[Amy from Delaware]

Jeano222,

 

Looks like you found an excellent solution! Good job for thinking outside the box :) .

 

(just curious, how much is the bakery charging for the cake?)

 

Three Rings

[Jeano222]

The cake isn't cheap, as it is done by an award winning pastry chef on Maui. His work is extraordinary. It is 3 layers of white cake, 2 layers of Tahitian vanilla bean mousse with a thin layer of Lilikoi [passion fruit, which has the same consistency as jam] on top of the cream. Then it is frosted with Italian buttercream icing and decorated with white roses, orchids and greens. 8 inch cake is 95.00 plus 20.00 delivery. I wanted to get them something very special, I admit, he is my favorite nephew [i know, shame on me!]

[mandabear]

It's so nice that you want to do this for your nephew! Just in case you do decide on the Royal Caribbean cake, I wanted to let you know that I've heard very mixed reviews of the cruise ship wedding cakes. Some people say they are OK, others say that they don't taste good. Good luck planning... and as someone mentioned above, maybe it would be nice to have the cake at the ceremony site... it would certainly look great in the pictures!

[sas80]

nephew and his bride are being married privately in Maui while ship is in port. We would like to buy their small wedding cake to bring back on board. There is a group of us 18 people, but not everyone will come to have a slice of cake that day. I contacted Royal Romance with Royal caribbean and they were no help whatsoever. The ship wants 22.00 per person to supply punch, glasses, table for cake, plates, forks and napkins and must be for the entire group of 18. The cake is a Hawaiian specialty and does have live roses, orchids and greens for decoration. Does anyone know of a better way to be able to serve the people who would come? We all have balcony cabins but they are not huge cabins and if 10 people show up, we would be snug. It's my understanding that we can book a meeting room on the ship at no charge. If we bring tablecloth, paper napkins, forks and wedding paper plates, do you think that would work? Also would there be a problem bringing the cake onboard that has flowers?

 

There are a few things you can consider.

 

Since Hawaii is US territory and (I assume) you will be embarking in the US, you should not have a problem bringing the cake back onboard. If you are a C&A member I would contact the Loyalty Ambassador once you get onboard. Or go to the pursers desk and start asking questions there.

 

You will most likely find that the people onboard the ship are happy to bend over backwards to help you.

 

If you find that bringing the cake back onbaord wont work out, you can purchase a cake from RCCL once you are onboard. Talk to your waiter/waitstaff about this on the first day or surf the gifts and gear page on the RCCL site.

 

You can (re)book an aft balcony cabin. The aft balconies are HUGE. They can hold 10 people standing easily. The balcony should have 2 lounge chairs and two regular chairs on it when you arrive.

 

You can book a confrence room to have a reception in. If you are not using a TA, then Contact RCCL directly to arrange this. If you are using a TA, have the TA contact RCCL to arrange this.

 

In terms of table cloths, bring any other color except white. The ship will have white.

 

If you purchase a cake onboard, I would expect that they will happily supply you with plates, etc.

 

You can bring your own plates, cups, napkins, etc OR you can raid the windjammer (didnt think of that, did you?;))

 

I have a hunch that your waiter/waitstaff, room attendent or room service would be happy to help you arrange for plates, cups and silverware to cut and serve a cake.

 

You can carry on any champagne that they do not presently serve on their booze list. The corking fee is $15 a bottle. Be sure to confirm with RCCL what you need to do if you plan on doing this.

 

You can also smuggle your booze onboard and drink it in your room or in the confrence room for free...... if you are so inclined. Smuggling isnt as "bad" as you may think. If you pack the bottles (well!) in your checked luggage, you should have no problem. I have never gotten "caught" doing this. In your case, if they somehow figure out that you have champagne in your luggage, just tell them that it was your intention to pay the corking fee and that you were going to discuss it with your headwaiter that evening.

 

Finally, be sure to tip every employee whom is happy to help you/goes out of their way.

 

Hopefully I covered everything.

 

Happy Sailing!

[sas80]

Just heard from Royal Caribbean and they will not allow cake and will not allow me to order a cake on the ship unless Royal Romance does the wedding. Guess we will be serving Twinkies and Kool Aid on shore.

 

Dont try to get anything accomplished with Royal Romance! They are always going to tell you "no" because they want you to arrange a big event with them so you can pay them a few thousand dollars to screw everything up and stress you out.

 

Here's the story.....

 

Call RCCL and ask about ordering a birthday cake to serve N people. If you can pay for and order a birthday cake on board then you can bring a cake topper and turn it into a wedding cake, right?

 

Once you have collected that info I suggest you reserve your confrence room and wait until you get onboard to inquire about the hawaiian cake and/or order the RCCL cake and arrange the reception.

 

You are going to find that the people on the ship are going to want to go out of their way to make your cruising experience as pleasant as possible.

 

Before your "confrence" the group coordinator is going to ask you what you need for the room. At that time you can dicuss possibly getting plates, etc delivered. If the group coordinator cant do that then I suggest you plan on raiding the windjammer. Make sure you grab the plates/napkins/silverware when the jammer is open. If the Jammer is going to be closed when your confrence happens you will be SOL if you dont plan ahead.

 

I am pretty sure that you can work with room service to get glasses for champange. If room service balks then talk to your stateroom attendent.

 

Whomever comes through for you, make sure to tip them!

[sas80]

You could always arrange for a cocktail reception onboard and serve the cake and champagne towards the end of it.

 

If I recall correctly, the appetizer and open bar reception is $17 per person for one hour and then less per person for an additional hour.

 

If you are so inclined, have your TA check into this.

 

Happy sailing!

[Jeano222]

What a difference a few days make. I contacted a wedding planner on Maui and we can get everything we want including the wedding cake for much cheaper than trying to do everything piece meal. The total for beach wedding, minister, 36 4x6 photos, 2 8x10 photos, brides bouquet, 2 flower leis, marriage license appt, souvenier wedding certificate. wedding cake, table, napkins, silverware, plates, cake server is only 825.00. They will pick up the cake, we just show up for the wedding. If you are doing a wedding planner, make sure that they are listed with BBB, many aren't. I'm one happy Auntie.