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Cruise Wedding Bride 2016


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Sorry this is long but if you are thinking about getting married on Royal Caribbean PLEASE read!

I did a cruise ship wedding on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas last July. It was a BIG mistake. Before planning I did check the Cruise Ship Critic webpage and saw many bad experiences but we still wanted to do it. At first we had a wedding planner who helped us picked things out that we wanted such as the room, food and other packages that were available. She said that she would need to talk to me a few months before the wedding. So she did things on her end and I kept planning. About 5 months out from the wedding, I emailed her with some questions I had. I received emailed back right away saying this email address no longer exists. I sent a few more but got the same response. So then I tried the 800 number and told them what was happening. They informed me that she no longer worked for Royal Caribbean and I got a new wedding planner. It would have be nice to been told that! The second coordinator would not email me back. I sent over questions and it was three weeks later for a response on every email. She told me a lot of things that was not correct. I filled out my Bridal Informative packet and that was suppose to have how many were attending the ceremony, how many guest were sailing with us, pre ceremony breakfast foods, the main dinner, the drinks, the flowers and the option for pictures. I filled everything out an faxed it to her. For my favors I was going to do a little sailboat candle that had the “love boat” written on it. My planner told me since the candle would not be lit and it was going to be in a gift bag that it would be fine to use. The Monday before the wedding I was on the Royal Caribbean website under items that are not allowed and sure enough candles were on there. I immediately called her and told her what I found. She gave the response to “Well I guess they aren’t allowed then.” I had to go out and buy all new favors at the store since shipping was not an option. The week of the wedding I had questions that were still unanswered so I called her number at Royal Caribbean with her extension. Then she has the nerve to put "phone calls are by appointments only" on her next email. Also the week of the wedding I totally forget to give flower arrangements to the moms. So I call her again and she said it was fine. She order me red roses that matched the boutonneers of the men. If she would just answer her emails people wouldn’t have to call and track her down. Then the wedding came and I really wish it didn’t because everything was a disaster. When we arrived we were greeted by two Royal Caribbean people. One took the guest who were sailing and the other took the non-sailing guest. After security and checkin we were waiting in the terminal. We were waiting for awhile because six people did not get off the ship yet. I saw a box on the seat that said Flowers. I peaked in and only say a bouquet of flowers for me and my husband. I asked the lady if the ones for my bridesmaid, groomsmen and flower girls were in the cabins that we were changing in? She said this was the only flower order she received from my planner. I immediately broke down. Good thing I had my papers with me! I showed her where I ordered flowers in red. She called some people and told me there was nothing that could be done. My brother (the best man) asked if there was a Publix nearby he could go get some. Luckily she let him but it was a while before he go back with the security and all the other people trying to board. Once we finally got onboard, I went to my stateroom with the bridesmaids. While I was up there my mother called me and told me that the cake was not designed the way I was told it could be. All I wanted was the ribbon, the color of the bridesmaids dresses, on the bottom of the cake. Also they didn’t know about my cake topper. My mom was helping the lady set the cake and make a favor table because she didn’t know I was bringing favors either. The pre-ceremony food was cut short because they had to make up time from the six people who were still on the ship. Then the wedding started and I came down. The ceremony was lovely. For our first dance the DJ started to play other songs and cut it off quickly while trying to find our wedding song so we were just standing there awkwardly until we heard our song start to play. Then we ate. The food was good but the bride party was rushed to take group pictures around the ship. When we came back we did toasts and cake. Then it was over. We said goodbye to our guest who were not sailing and then did a check of the room. Then we went to our staterooms. After dinner we had a one hour picture time to get shots of just my husband and I. About the third day the photographer gave us a CD of all the pictures, edited. Just this week I went to Walgreens to get some group shots enlarged to an 8x10. They came back completely blurry. I showed my brother-n-law and he look at the properties of the photos on the computer. The photos I received on the disk were LESS than a megapixel. This mean I could only get 4x6’s without the picture becoming blurry! I paid for the most expensive photo package and was received crap! I wrote an email to Royal Caribbean and waiting back.

 

If anyone were to ask me about getting married on royal Caribbean, as much as the room was beautiful, I would tell them they are going to have a horrible time with the Royal Romance company. Royal Caribbean should really do some research in the outside companies they hire. As far as I am concerned this wedding coordinator was not worth the money I had to pay. This company is giving Royal Caribbean bad reputations.

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  • 1 month later...
Sorry this is long but if you are thinking about getting married on Royal Caribbean PLEASE read!

I did a cruise ship wedding on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas last July. It was a BIG mistake. Before planning I did check the Cruise Ship Critic webpage and saw many bad experiences but we still wanted to do it. At first we had a wedding planner who helped us picked things out that we wanted such as the room, food and other packages that were available. She said that she would need to talk to me a few months before the wedding. So she did things on her end and I kept planning. About 5 months out from the wedding, I emailed her with some questions I had. I received emailed back right away saying this email address no longer exists. I sent a few more but got the same response. So then I tried the 800 number and told them what was happening. They informed me that she no longer worked for Royal Caribbean and I got a new wedding planner. It would have be nice to been told that! The second coordinator would not email me back. I sent over questions and it was three weeks later for a response on every email. She told me a lot of things that was not correct. I filled out my Bridal Informative packet and that was suppose to have how many were attending the ceremony, how many guest were sailing with us, pre ceremony breakfast foods, the main dinner, the drinks, the flowers and the option for pictures. I filled everything out an faxed it to her. For my favors I was going to do a little sailboat candle that had the “love boat” written on it. My planner told me since the candle would not be lit and it was going to be in a gift bag that it would be fine to use. The Monday before the wedding I was on the Royal Caribbean website under items that are not allowed and sure enough candles were on there. I immediately called her and told her what I found. She gave the response to “Well I guess they aren’t allowed then.” I had to go out and buy all new favors at the store since shipping was not an option. The week of the wedding I had questions that were still unanswered so I called her number at Royal Caribbean with her extension. Then she has the nerve to put "phone calls are by appointments only" on her next email. Also the week of the wedding I totally forget to give flower arrangements to the moms. So I call her again and she said it was fine. She order me red roses that matched the boutonneers of the men. If she would just answer her emails people wouldn’t have to call and track her down. Then the wedding came and I really wish it didn’t because everything was a disaster. When we arrived we were greeted by two Royal Caribbean people. One took the guest who were sailing and the other took the non-sailing guest. After security and checkin we were waiting in the terminal. We were waiting for awhile because six people did not get off the ship yet. I saw a box on the seat that said Flowers. I peaked in and only say a bouquet of flowers for me and my husband. I asked the lady if the ones for my bridesmaid, groomsmen and flower girls were in the cabins that we were changing in? She said this was the only flower order she received from my planner. I immediately broke down. Good thing I had my papers with me! I showed her where I ordered flowers in red. She called some people and told me there was nothing that could be done. My brother (the best man) asked if there was a Publix nearby he could go get some. Luckily she let him but it was a while before he go back with the security and all the other people trying to board. Once we finally got onboard, I went to my stateroom with the bridesmaids. While I was up there my mother called me and told me that the cake was not designed the way I was told it could be. All I wanted was the ribbon, the color of the bridesmaids dresses, on the bottom of the cake. Also they didn’t know about my cake topper. My mom was helping the lady set the cake and make a favor table because she didn’t know I was bringing favors either. The pre-ceremony food was cut short because they had to make up time from the six people who were still on the ship. Then the wedding started and I came down. The ceremony was lovely. For our first dance the DJ started to play other songs and cut it off quickly while trying to find our wedding song so we were just standing there awkwardly until we heard our song start to play. Then we ate. The food was good but the bride party was rushed to take group pictures around the ship. When we came back we did toasts and cake. Then it was over. We said goodbye to our guest who were not sailing and then did a check of the room. Then we went to our staterooms. After dinner we had a one hour picture time to get shots of just my husband and I. About the third day the photographer gave us a CD of all the pictures, edited. Just this week I went to Walgreens to get some group shots enlarged to an 8x10. They came back completely blurry. I showed my brother-n-law and he look at the properties of the photos on the computer. The photos I received on the disk were LESS than a megapixel. This mean I could only get 4x6’s without the picture becoming blurry! I paid for the most expensive photo package and was received crap! I wrote an email to Royal Caribbean and waiting back.

 

If anyone were to ask me about getting married on royal Caribbean, as much as the room was beautiful, I would tell them they are going to have a horrible time with the Royal Romance company. Royal Caribbean should really do some research in the outside companies they hire. As far as I am concerned this wedding coordinator was not worth the money I had to pay. This company is giving Royal Caribbean bad reputations.

 

Thank you so much for this review. Everything is well noted. I was worried about photography on board. This helps in knowing I am probably right about it not being great. How do you think the shots of just you and your husband turned out? I was thinking about hiring the photographer for the 1 hour to take pics just around the ship then buy what I actually want. Do you think it's worth it? Can you give me some details on what you did at your reception? Thanks

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Unfortunately, this can be expected any time someone chooses a destination wedding vs. a local wedding. I've been married in Jamaica and Gibraltar, and I had to adjust my expectations both times. It's frustrating when you're told one thing and another thing happens, but it's not their wedding and you're just one of possibly several that they're coordinating on a given day.

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Thank you so much for this review. Everything is well noted. I was worried about photography on board. This helps in knowing I am probably right about it not being great. How do you think the shots of just you and your husband turned out? I was thinking about hiring the photographer for the 1 hour to take pics just around the ship then buy what I actually want. Do you think it's worth it? Can you give me some details on what you did at your reception? Thanks

 

 

The photographer was very nice. Some of his shots were interesting. I had diagonal pictures that I wouldn't be able to put in a frame. Not sure why he did this. I would just take the first hour that you pay for in your package. You are not missing anything else for the next hour of photography. At my reception my guest ate and danced. At this time we went in Central park to take some pictures with the bridal party. When we came back there were speeches from the best man and maid of honor. Then cake. It went by VERY fast. There was barely enough time to eat.

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The photographer was very nice. Some of his shots were interesting. I had diagonal pictures that I wouldn't be able to put in a frame. Not sure why he did this. I would just take the first hour that you pay for in your package. You are not missing anything else for the next hour of photography. At my reception my guest ate and danced. At this time we went in Central park to take some pictures with the bridal party. When we came back there were speeches from the best man and maid of honor. Then cake. It went by VERY fast. There was barely enough time to eat.

 

Thanks. I won't waste the time with the extra hour then. 1 more question if you don't mind....was your reception a cocktail reception? I'm wondering how it works with the bar being closed and only 2 servers. I am looking at close to 100 people coming. I'm hoping they provide more servers, but I feel if there's only 2 my people won't get enough chances to get drinks. And at $18/pp I'm going to at least want them to have the option to get plenty. Thanks

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