Princess St. Thomas Wedding Review 11/9/07

[caribbeananne05]

We were married on Bolongo Bay Beach in St. Thomas on 11/9/07. We sailed on the Crown Princess out of San Juan on November 3rd. We had 21 family and friends join us for the wedding. We stayed on the ship the second week for our honeymoon (went to different islands each week). Overall, the wedding was an absolutely wonderful experience. We planned through TWE- I was a little nervous at times, but mostly everything came together perfectly.

On the wedding day I ordered room service- highly recommend- makes the morning a little easier! Our wedding coordinator met us and our guests at 8:00 to take us through immigration. This took all of 2 minutes and was really easy. I had my hair appt. at 8:30 and the stylist did an excellent job. Our driver picked up at 10:00- he was standing right at the gangway with a sign. He took us to the courthouse and there was someone waiting outside to meet us. We were done there in 10 minutes, then off to the wedding site. Our guests were already there. We met with the officiant to go over our vows and he had received the vows I wanted to use which I sent to TWE. The ceremony was great and we had gorgeous weather! Everything came together flawlessly!!! We used Sunny Liston Tours for the transportation of our guests and then took us on a tour of St. Thomas and then up to Mountain Top. We stopped for pictures and had us singing songs the whole time! They really did a great job!! They charge $25 per person(Princess wanted to charge $20 per person just to go to the wedding site and back). Then later that night we had dinner at Sabatinis. It was a great day!!!

One word of advice- TWE quoted me a price of $100 each for the bridesmaid bouquets. I declined and asked the coordinator on the ship on the first day and they put together the bridesmaid bouquets for $20 per bouquet. So, my advice is to wait till you get on the ship if possible!

Our one problem was with the photography. We purchased 2 additional hours of photography in addition to the photography during the ceremony. The additional hours were before dinner (pics around the ship) and during dinner. Our photography on the island was done by the company that TWE contracts out to for onshore weddings. I have not seen these yet, but he seemed to do a great job! (A friend took pictures with my camera all day and I already have a lot of wonderful pictures!) The pictures on the ship were done by a Princess Photographer. The problem is….because we had an onshore wedding with a different photographer we must purchase 2 SEPARATE wedding packages to get all the pictures! Even though I paid $100 for 2 ADDITIONAL hours of photography! So, we talked to the onboard wedding coordinator and photographer and yet no resolve was made. This was NEVER explained to me by anyone that the package would be separate, nor was it explained in the brochure. (Also, our coordinator seemed a bit clueless about this- she said had been working on the ship for 4 months and ours was only the 2nd ashore wedding! She said the weddings at sea were much more popular.) We did not purchase any of the extra photos because we were very frustrated. Also, if we didn’t purchase the extras before the cruise was over, we lost the opportunity…which is also ridiculous! Luckily, I feel like we already have so many good pics on our own…but found it disappointing that Princess feels it can charge for 2 wedding photo packages because we had an onshore wedding. In other words, if we had had an onboard wedding and 2 additional hours of photos, we could have purchased the entire disc for $495.00. Because we didn’t have an onboard wedding, we would have 2 discs to buy! Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you handle it? I am looking forward to seeing the pics from the ceremony and do plan to purchase. (Even though I don’t know the price yet!) How long did it take for you all to see the proofs if you did an onshore wedding with TWE? So, my advice….have someone who is good with a camera get lots of pictures from the day!!!

Even with the picture disappointment, the whole experience was wonderful!!! Anyone thinking of doing this, go for it! There will be some stress, but it is worth it! Good luck with your planning and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

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[breadgrrl]

Congrats on your wedding!! It sounded wonderful and your pics are beautiful!! Thanks for the tip about the flowers!

[fairbrot]

Congratulations! It sounds like it was wonderful and I'm glad that TWE mostly came through for you.

 

I am getting married at 4:30 in the afternoon. I have a bit of time in the morning and would really like to go to Mountain Top. Was it worth it? Do you remember how long it took to get there?

 

Thanks so much.

[ShedQueen77]

Congratulations! I'm sorry that I don't have any TWE words of wisdom for you. That just doesn't sound right at all. I hope you can get something resolved.

 

Anne, the smile and the look of joy on your husband's face in the photo where he's holding you is priceless! That really brought a smile to my face. Thank you for sharing!

[sunrise2008]

I love the pictures and the weather really seemed perfect! Congratulations!

[caribbeananne05]

Congratulations! It sounds like it was wonderful and I'm glad that TWE mostly came through for you.

 

I am getting married at 4:30 in the afternoon. I have a bit of time in the morning and would really like to go to Mountain Top. Was it worth it? Do you remember how long it took to get there?

 

Thanks so much.

 

Mountain Top is quite beautiful- I have been there several times before and I thought it was still worth it. We stopped at a few places this time on the way, but last time I went it probably took between 20-30 minutes to get up there from downtown. If you have time- try to make it there- there is no view like that one! Take lots of pictures and have a banana daiquiri!

[dna32]

WOW..love your pic's...esp the one with your hubby holding you in the water...you look so very happy..:D

 

Congrats!!

 

:)

 

Diana

[Elationismyship]

Absolutly beautiful. I love the close up of the ceremony where it's just the two of your faces with the water behind . . . . beautiful!

[caribbeananne05]

Thank you all for the comments. It was really such a great time and I wish you all the same! I look forward to reading about all of your upcoming weddings:)

[fairbrot]

Mountain Top is quite beautiful- I have been there several times before and I thought it was still worth it. We stopped at a few places this time on the way, but last time I went it probably took between 20-30 minutes to get up there from downtown. If you have time- try to make it there- there is no view like that one! Take lots of pictures and have a banana daiquiri!

 

Oh perfect! I have 2 hours, so that should be enough time to "experience" it. Thanks for the info.

[bwchippie]

We were married on Bolongo Bay Beach in St. Thomas on 11/9/07. We sailed on the Crown Princess out of San Juan on November 3rd. We had 21 family and friends join us for the wedding. We stayed on the ship the second week for our honeymoon (went to different islands each week). Overall, the wedding was an absolutely wonderful experience. We planned through TWE- I was a little nervous at times, but mostly everything came together perfectly.

 

On the wedding day I ordered room service- highly recommend- makes the morning a little easier! Our wedding coordinator met us and our guests at 8:00 to take us through immigration. This took all of 2 minutes and was really easy. I had my hair appt. at 8:30 and the stylist did an excellent job. Our driver picked up at 10:00- he was standing right at the gangway with a sign. He took us to the courthouse and there was someone waiting outside to meet us. We were done there in 10 minutes, then off to the wedding site. Our guests were already there. We met with the officiant to go over our vows and he had received the vows I wanted to use which I sent to TWE. The ceremony was great and we had gorgeous weather! Everything came together flawlessly!!! We used Sunny Liston Tours for the transportation of our guests and then took us on a tour of St. Thomas and then up to Mountain Top. We stopped for pictures and had us singing songs the whole time! They really did a great job!! They charge $25 per person(Princess wanted to charge $20 per person just to go to the wedding site and back). Then later that night we had dinner at Sabatinis. It was a great day!!!

 

One word of advice- TWE quoted me a price of $100 each for the bridesmaid bouquets. I declined and asked the coordinator on the ship on the first day and they put together the bridesmaid bouquets for $20 per bouquet. So, my advice is to wait till you get on the ship if possible!

 

Our one problem was with the photography. We purchased 2 additional hours of photography in addition to the photography during the ceremony. The additional hours were before dinner (pics around the ship) and during dinner. Our photography on the island was done by the company that TWE contracts out to for onshore weddings. I have not seen these yet, but he seemed to do a great job! (A friend took pictures with my camera all day and I already have a lot of wonderful pictures!) The pictures on the ship were done by a Princess Photographer. The problem is….because we had an onshore wedding with a different photographer we must purchase 2 SEPARATE wedding packages to get all the pictures! Even though I paid $100 for 2 ADDITIONAL hours of photography! So, we talked to the onboard wedding coordinator and photographer and yet no resolve was made. This was NEVER explained to me by anyone that the package would be separate, nor was it explained in the brochure. (Also, our coordinator seemed a bit clueless about this- she said had been working on the ship for 4 months and ours was only the 2nd ashore wedding! She said the weddings at sea were much more popular.) We did not purchase any of the extra photos because we were very frustrated. Also, if we didn’t purchase the extras before the cruise was over, we lost the opportunity…which is also ridiculous! Luckily, I feel like we already have so many good pics on our own…but found it disappointing that Princess feels it can charge for 2 wedding photo packages because we had an onshore wedding. In other words, if we had had an onboard wedding and 2 additional hours of photos, we could have purchased the entire disc for $495.00. Because we didn’t have an onboard wedding, we would have 2 discs to buy! Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you handle it? I am looking forward to seeing the pics from the ceremony and do plan to purchase. (Even though I don’t know the price yet!) How long did it take for you all to see the proofs if you did an onshore wedding with TWE? So, my advice….have someone who is good with a camera get lots of pictures from the day!!!

 

Even with the picture disappointment, the whole experience was wonderful!!! Anyone thinking of doing this, go for it! There will be some stress, but it is worth it! Good luck with your planning and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

Copy and paste link to view a few pictures. You should be able to view even if you are not a member of Shutterfly.

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbM2rNi2aM2LjI

 

to caribbeananne05

we hope you will be able to help us with our wedding plans, almost identical to yours!!!!!

we are booked on carribbean princess in feb 09 and are getting married on st. thomas during the cruise, also booked via twe.

the first question we have is what changing arrangements are offered at bolongo bay for us and or guests (we have 10) i shouldn't think that we will want to wear our wedding clothes for the whole day at bolongo.

our cruise returns to st. thomas a few days later giving a chance to tour the island at a later date so we are hoping to keep the wedding day solely about the wedding, were you given any options other than to stay on the beach for the day at bolongo, iknow you decided to tour the island but just wondered if any other suggestions also any costs if you know ref receptions at bolongo....

[caribbeananne05]

Hey! Hopefully I can answer your questions. There were not any changing facilities that I recall. There is a bar and sitting area and there are bathrooms, but they are not air conditioned and not clean enough to change into a wedding dress. I wore my dress there and would probably recommend wearing your dress. You might try to contact the resort and see if any changing facilities are available.

 

I was given information about having a reception at Bolongo Bay. TWE contacted me last August and then sent me an email with a menu for Bolongo's catering. It looked like you could do some nice things there. I would call TWE or Bolongo Bay and ask them to send you the information. (I would forward to you, but I know I have deleted the email).

 

Good luck with your planning! Let me know if you need any other info! Our wedding was so awesome- I hope you have a wonderful day like we did!:)

[chinchillables]

congrats