I'm new and lost!

[beachandsurf]

My fiance are going on our first cruise next week to see how we like it and if all goes well, we're thinking we'd like to do a wedding cruise in 2009 with our friends and family.

 

A couple questions....how many people are coming with you on the cruise? Did you invite everyone as if it was a traditional wedding at home or just close friends and family? Are you doing a reception back home when you return? Did you book the wedding through the ship or do it on your own? Which island or destination will you say, "I do"? I'm starting to go a little nuts with all the details!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I know we'd like to stick with the Caribbean - unless anyone has a good argument for Mexico? :)

[cruiserking]

Currently on the ship wedding scene right now you have a choice. You can either plan on doing a destination wedding where you, your fiancee and a select number of family and friends would sail together and the ceremony would take place at one of the port stops, like St. Thomas, Barbados etc..

 

The other option is to have your ceremony and reception aboard the ship before the ship leaves the port of embarkation. This latter option is what we're doing on month ago today aboard the Holland America Line's Noordam.

 

We're having around 56 guests and a three and half hour reception in one of the lounges atop the ship. We're really looking forward to it. I believe Princess Cruises is the only line where you can be married by the Captain at sea.

 

Good Luck and hope you enjoy your first cruise.

 

Cruiserking

[negn]

My daughter will be getting married on Princess at sea this week. She has only a few close friends and family going (14). We will then have a reception 2 weeks later locally for everyone else

[M loves M in 09]

We have about 40-50 of our closest friends and family going...:o We are getting married in port in Tampa on the Carnival Inspiration, and we plan to have a party at our house once we get back for anyone that was unable to attend... We are getting married Aug 1st 2009, I booked everything through Carnival, and so far so good, they take care of everything... Good Luck...

[flhokie]

While getting married in port before leaving or in a port during the cruise are the only options on most cruise lines, Princess is able to do weddings at sea (Bermudian law & Bermudian ships). This is what we are doing. We have 51 people sailing. We're also doing a reception at home for those who are not able to sail with us (we did invite everyone we would have invited at home--we were surprised at some who decided to sail with us).

[holstang]

We will be getting married aboard the Carnival Splendor in October 2009, before we leave port (Long Beach). This option worked better for us, as we are locals, and everyone that wasn't cruising could still see us get married. There is a drawback though, as you can only have 50 non-sailing guests come. But so far we have been surprised by the number of guests that have already put down deposits. We decided to invite everyone on the cruise, and then we'll work out the non-sailings later. Instead of a reception afterwards, we decided to have a huge engagement party instead, so everyone could meet before the cruise.

 

Also, I'm using cruisingweddings.com, they are handling all of the bookings for me, so it's one less thing to worry about, and they provide a wedding website that I can look at and see who has booked, etc. This makes it so easy! Hope this helps!!

 

Hollie

[tamster808]

I chose to get married at port before the cruise, RCCL Monarch of the Seas 4/17/09 Port Canaveral. I wanted to get married then be able to relax. Plus we are going to the Bahamas. Bahamian laws require you to be in Bahamian waters a certain amount of time before you can get married (I forget how long). I booked through royal romance. We have invited 55ish people. I am not sure how many will be able to come but we only invited close family and friends. I am think most of the people most people will be coming.

We are not having a reception when we get back. Most of friends/family lives in other states.

[Texan+Cali]

My fiance and I decided to get married on one of the stops (Grand Cayman) on Royal Caribbean's Western Caribbean cruise. We are the only two going, but we plan to have 2 casual receptions when we return in our 2 home states. It is stress free not worrying about any major details. We get to show up and get married with the beach behind us!!!

[rklemay]

We were married in St. Thomas last summer while on a Carnival cruise. We used a local wedding planner (Leslie with Perfect Weddings) and everything turned out perfect. We had 20 friends and family sail with us while a few friends flew to St. Thomas and met us there. By using a local wedding planner, we were able to get married where we wanted and when we wanted and have everything set up exactly the way we wanted instead of choosing from the options offered by the cruise ship.

[hollidaygal]

We were married in St. Thomas last summer while on a Carnival cruise. We used a local wedding planner (Leslie with Perfect Weddings) and everything turned out perfect. We had 20 friends and family sail with us while a few friends flew to St. Thomas and met us there. By using a local wedding planner, we were able to get married where we wanted and when we wanted and have everything set up exactly the way we wanted instead of choosing from the options offered by the cruise ship.

 

Cruise weddings are not for everyone. If you want control of everything, then don't do a cruise wedding. They can be beautiful & stress free, but it depends on the type of person you are. Most people love them because they are low maintence, but others don't like the feeling of not being in complete control. Weigh your options carefully. Good luck! :)

[Mich1121]

I'm getting married aboard the NCL Gem on 3/24/08 at our first stop-Port Canaveral. We leave from NY. We have 18 people coming total (family and close friends). We decided against a reception when we get home due to financial reasons and I already have two children-in my opinion and with having christenings, baby showers etc. I just didn't want to burden everyone again with another party (expense for them). I did have a lovely bachelorette party though where I received nice gifts. For my situation I wanted something small, private with a vacation so this was the best thing we could come up with. We'll still have nice pictures and a week full of memories.

[Alaskaom]

We are finally decided on the western Caribbean tour on the Freedom of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. Does anyone have any good expierience with one of their planners? I want to have someone I know I can rely on.

[hollidaygal]

We are finally decided on the western Caribbean tour on the Freedom of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. Does anyone have any good expierience with one of their planners? I want to have someone I know I can rely on.

 

Yes. I would suggest you ask to speak with Juli, Travis or Lourdes. They are excellent! You can also speak with Janet as she is the assistant Supervisor and has alot of knowledge.