thjeepster

On 9/20/2021 at 4:40 PM, runner2013 said:

Hi Thjeepster, 

Was wondering if you heard back for Royal yet regarding facemasks on your wedding day? Hopefully they give you the green light to go without them.. 🤞

I was also curious about how your fiance' was transporting her wedding dress on embarkation day, but then I noticed you're in Florida so i'm guessing it's not a big issue. 

I have to fly so it's being rolled in acid free tissue paper and put in my carry on.

😲

Hello

we don’t have to wear face masks during the wedding because it’s o my our party in the venue….and of course the captain and the photograph and wedding coordinator.  Thank god!!!! I still have to ask about taking them off for pics elsewhere on the ship. Luckily we have a black and white one that say groom and bride!

luckily we are driving over to the pier. It’s directly across the state and only less than a 2 hour drive. So she will have it on her lap the entire time. 
 

We can’t believe it’s only exactly 3 weeks away!….crazy!  Finally after 18 long months of changing and rebooking 7 sailings for this!!!

how is the planning still going for you guys?

We are sailing on odyssey in 3 weeks (17th). 
did they do love and marriage?

are the main dining room tables close or are they spaced out?l and do you feel crowded?

were they selling the ship models?

4 minutes ago, livinginyellow said:

We did love and marriage on our wedding day in our wedding attire. Super fun, and very much something you can only do on a cruise ship.

From what I can see from the cruise compasses if everything stays the same as the one from this month the love and marriage will be like 7 hours after the ceremony. 

1 minute ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

 

Thanks, I wanted to hear from someone who had recent experience and @thjeepsterprovided some great information.

The Royal Celebrations group that does the weddings is located in Canada and they are easy to work with.  I think they know me by name now since we have been dealing with them for over 2 years now!  Our first scheduled wedding would have been April 2020! (Hopefully 7th change is a charm!)

they offer tons of stuff with the wedding package. It’s so worth it!

love the added stuff to make it special.
 

let me know if you have more questions!! 

25 minutes ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

 

Thanks

 

Where are you holding the ceremony?  OUR CEREMONY IS IN THE LIBRARY (ONLY 8 PEOPLE TOTAL) (you can have in music hall also)

 

Who is performing the ceremony?  THE CAPTAIN (sea day - day 3)

 

Do they have an option for a symbolic ceremony if you don't have the 90 days to get the certificate from the Bahamas?  YES YOU CAN DO SYMBOLIC (but I don’t think the captain does that one)

 

What package did you select?  WE HAVE THE INTIMATELY YOURS PACKAGE (10 guests or less)

 

Were you satisified with the flower and cake availability? WE HAVE OUR OWN ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS (silk bouquet for her and a boutonnière for me). I heard the live flowers are not the best. 
THE CAKE SELECTION WE COULD CHOOSE FROM 5 WITH MULTIPLE FLAVORS AND FILINGS.

 

any other questions? 

 

Appreciate your help!

Answers next to your questions. 
 

you can view the packages on the Royal website too. 

9 minutes ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

 

 

Congratulations!!

 

Can you share more details?  We have family members who want to get married on the Odyssey.

Thank you!

sure what would u like to know?

12 minutes ago, molly361 said:

I wonder why that is?

Where did you see that? And when do they are changing again?

15 hours ago, sandebeach said:

In relation to taking some wedding photos, there were a lot of cute and quirky spots, like this hallway by the music hall and the back of the casino. 

Thank you so much on these suggestions for pics for the wedding. I will definitely use some of these for pics!!!

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Formal nights are any night YOU want them to be.  The rest of the ship observes it on day 3 on the 6 night itinerary.  

I agree with you on that one!

I was more concerned with which night they served the lobster tails since we are trying to decide which  day will have our free honeymoon dinner in the specialty restaurant (dont want to miss lobster lol)

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

There were around 1,300 guests on my sailing.

 

There was one formal night but there was a second almost formal night with lobster on night 5 (Cozumel).  I say "almost" because some crew talked it up like it would be a formal night with lobster but the cruise compass stated "Casual".  Lobster was served.  

 

I did not attend Love & Marriage.  There was so much going on I had to pick from things to do plus there was a group of friends on board so we often found ourselves at a bar or hanging out having fun but not attending every event.

 

It was a fantastic cruise experience.  I've looked at my calendar many times trying to figure out how to make room to book Odyssey again.   All but one of my ten remaining 2021 cruises have CWC FCC applied to them and it gets messy using CWC when FCC has been applied (without loss of FCC) or I'd be very tempted to do a CWC on some of them and book Odyssey again.  However I really like the cruises I have booked, so my next Odyssey cruise might have to wait until 2021.

 

I've always liked Quantum class and Odyssey is a well executed evolution of a class I really enjoy.

Good to hear you had a great time!

so formals nights were 3 & kinda 5?

16 hours ago, twangster said:

Until I start my thread on Odyssey here is the cruise compass and related paperwork left in my cabin for my 6 night Odyssey cruise.

OY CC 6 Nt 9-5-21.PDF 3.56 MB · 16 downloads

Thank you so much for these!!!! It will help so much!!!

how many people were on this sailing?

there was only one formal night? (Day 3)….did they serve lobster tails?

I see that love and marriage game show was day 3….did you go?  If so, how many people attend?  Hopefully it will stay on that day for us since that is our wedding day!!

Did you have a great time?

Thanks again!

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

I waited a few days to see if any new inventory made its way up to the stores but no ship models appeared.

Maybe the ship is too new for those to have made it on board yet?

im praying they are there next month. I collect them and would like to have it and maybe hang a sign on the back saying just married lol

3 hours ago, runner2013 said:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you !!

Thank you I appreciate it very much!

I will keep my fingers crossed also for you that by your time it will be next to gone and no masks and testing will be needed!!!

4 minutes ago, runner2013 said:

You be safe as well. 

Not for nothing, I feel if you have a wedding onboard, you should be given a ton of loyalty points over and above the ones you normally just get for cruising. After all, you are bringing a bunch of people with you for the week and Royal is reaping the rewards for that😁

I totally agree!!!

they should give you an added point a day for bringing on people to give them more money…and especially during this pandemic and still wanting to get married on their ships!

I pray this goes as planned. My fiancé just spent $$$ on personalized items with the date for wedding favors. 

17 hours ago, runner2013 said:

Glad to hear you dad liked the ship we're on.  She's actually going into drydock in April and first week of May next year for routine maintenance,( Hopefully they don't find any unexpected serious issues that delay the rest of the sailing for the month) so she will be nice and shiny for us when we get onboard. 

 

We also talked about doing a first year anniversary cruise to Alaska in 2023. The plan is to research what Royal and Princess both have to offer for sailings in May and if we like Princess we'll book while onboard. If nothing looks too interesting/appealing we'll wait until we're home and book with Royal.  I'm leaning toward Royal mainly because i've been on several of her ships, I like the atmosphere onboard  and i'm only 18 loyalty points away from Diamond status 🤣.   

I reached out to the RCCL executive that’s working with us in Miami and she’s checking for us regarding the masks during the ceremony. Hopefully we won’t have to. 
 

We are looking at a Nov cruise 2022 going to Panama and Columbia and Aruba. It’s a 9 night….it will be almost a month after the anniversary but we will call it our anniversary. 
 

we are 7 points away from Diamond status and once we get off of this one we will be getting double the points and I think double for being in a grand suite. 
 

35 days away. It’s getting real now!!!

stay safe!

21 hours ago, twangster said:

Last sea day of a 6 night cruise on Odyssey today as we make our way back to PEV.  

 

I'll be posting a cruise recap with photos, videos and the cruise compasses in a few days once I get back home.  

 

Yes to freestyle but crew takes your cup and does the dispensing.

 

So many great photo spots come to mind, it's a beautiful ship and a well done evolution from her sisters but also very familiar to those like me that like this class.

Thank you I appreciate it!

do you also know if they are selling the large ship models in the gift shop?

I hope you had a wonderful time!!!

Good Morning all.

I was wondering if anyone has the 6-day Cruise Compasses for Odyssey?  We will be sailing next month and wanted to see possible times and dates for certain things.  We will be getting married on the ship during the first sea day and wanted to see what else might be happening around that time.

Also, do they have the freestyle machines like some of the other ships?

Any suggestions for places to take our wedding photos?  We will have our photographer for 2 hours and wanted to have a plan ready for where we need to go in the hour after the ceremony.

Thanks in advance!!!

19 hours ago, runner2013 said:

I thought I read Royal wouldn't guarantee the Captain would be officiating the ceremony, saying it 'could' be a first officer if something came up. (but that may have been another line, I went through so many at first they started to blend into the same one) I talked to my guy about it and he is so excited I didn't want to risk it🤣

I would hope Royal will let you go without the masks for the actual ceremony and pictures if nothing else. Especially if you and your guests are actually vaccinated. Is your ceremony inside or outside?, that may determine things as well. I would hate to think they expect your fiance' to put on a face full of makeup and then risk ruining it with a mask! 

Our wedding is day 3, the first formal night and full sea day. I'm hoping the salon will do my hair, so my first stop when getting onboard is to go there and confirm and/or make my appointments. I'd like to do a dry run the day before the actual day, i've got lots of curly hair and sometimes people who've never worked with curly hair have a hard time with it.  I'm betting a lot of the 'older' ladies will want to have their hair done for formal night so better safe than sorry. 

My ship, the Caribbean Princess isn't even sailing from Ft. Lauderdale yet, think it starts next month??, so I have no way of knowing what capacity it will be sailing at. Hopefully 8 months from now we  won't be dealing with testing, masks or social distancing at all any more and she will be full. While i'd rather and emptier ship, if a full one means no more extra covid protocols i'd glady deal with the extra folks. 

 

Yeah they did say there is a slight chance the Captain might not be able to do it if something big comes up.....they told me it happens maybe 2 out of every 10 weddings....but she also said the same happens on all the cruise lines.

I'm just happy if we can finally just get married on the ship after all this time lol

I have to ask my wedding planner if we need to wear masks during the ceremony....I mean there will only be around 8 of us for the wedding and the Captain, Photographer, and the wedding coordinator... so a total of like 11?

We are getting married inside the ship.  They didn't offer anything outside.

Our wedding day is Day 3 also....it was Day 2 up until a month ago when they changed the islands and the days of everything.  Our formal nights are day 2 and day 5.

My fiancé is getting her hair and makeup done the morning of the wedding at 9am and the wedding is at 1:30.

We are doing our Specialty dinning on formal night day 2....originally doing day 4 but one of our guests 14th birthday is on day 4 and she will be getting a cake delivered to the table that night (it's her first cruise...so we don't want to miss that).

The Caribbean Princess is a nice ship!  my dad went on her like 4 years ago.  He's been on like 7 or 8 Princess ships in the past 15 years.  I would hope 8 months from now this Pandemic isn't as bad and hopefully only like the flu.  everyone just needs to vaccinate this year and hopefully it goes away!

We are thinking about reserving our 1st anniversary next Nov. on another cruise and booking it next month on the Odyssey....maybe get some good perks or something doing it on the ship!

4 minutes ago, runner2013 said:

I'm so excited for you to finally have you day! I check out the Princess pages for info on my cruise line an then go over to Royal's page and do the same. I've sailed Royal several times and really like them. Were it not for my fiance' wanting to be legally married by the Captain of a ship, we probably would have gone with Royal too.

 I was thinking of buying the at home test as well. We have a 4 day trip planned in Jan and it seems to be so much easier than trying to find a Cvs or Walgreens with open appointments. 

 

I know what you mean about the guest count changing. We started with about 25 and it seems as though we may end up with barely half that. Our 'official' invites go out beginning of October so we should have a good idea of the real head count shortly after that. (We just keep telling ourselves as long as the two of us are there that's all that really matters. Any one else is a blessing:).

 

I'm chomping at the bit to start buying the items for our out of town bags but holding off until things get closer.  We did get a block of rooms for the day before we sail( we leave on a Sat) so i'll have to be satisfied with that for now. 

 

At this point, I honestly don't feel Royal will cancel any sailings unless it's absolutely necessary. They have been the leaders since cruising was originally shut down as far as making a plan for sailing safe and getting folks back on board. From what i've read, people seem to feel safe sailing with Royal so why give that up now?

I am curious though, did Royal say you have to wear a mask during the wedding ceremony and/or reception or can you all go without?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and sending positive thoughts to you every day😁

We are getting married by the Captain of the ship and it is a legal wedding....so you can switch to Royal. lol  When it comes to being legal, as long as it's out to sea and married on the ship it's legal.

The at-home-kits make sure for cruising it's the ones that you have to do Facetime with the EMed company and they watch you do everything.

Luckily when they changed the ports of calls (originally going to Labedee, Jamaica, and Nassau with the wedding on the 2nd day)....now we are going to Coca Cay, Costa Maya, and Cozumel and the wedding is now on the 3rd day.  Luckily we didn't have any personalized items before that change...that would have sucked!

Yeah Royal is doing things right with the pandemic!....right now they are only sailing at 40% and most ships currently really on have about 30% sailing on it....I heard Odyssey last week only had about 650 people on it...compared to 4,800 that they could have!  By the time we go it will probably be at 50-55% capacity, which should be quite enough to social distance!

I know masks have to be wore at all inside venues except when eating....and at the pool.

We bought Bride and Groom masks to wear during the day of the wedding....I need to find out about during the ceremony....thanks for reminding me!!!  

On 8/30/2021 at 5:34 PM, runner2013 said:

Hello Thjeepster, 

I'm so glad to hear things are finally falling into place for you. It seems to me like you've been waiting forever so I can only imagine how you have been feeling. I think keeping a positive attitude is key to keeping your sanity at this point. (We keep telling ourselves, as long as the two of us are on the ship when it sails that's all that really matters). 

Things are coming along for us. Our date isn't until May 30th of 2022 so we've got a ways to go. We're trying to be a proactive as possible when it comes to paperwork, deciding on a location for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner etc. We want to have as much as possible done ahead of time so when it does get closer and its 'go time' we aren't running around too crazy. As i'm sure you know, getting friends and family all the info they need, (hello wedding website with all the info)l earning how to use the cruise lines app for checking in, worrying about all the changes happening with cruising right now can all be so daunting. It's so stressful  sometimes I have to just stop looking at these boards because I'm overloaded. 

Anyway, I'm excited for you and keeping my fingers crossed, hoping you have a wonderful day and it exceeds all you expectations🤞

Hello Runner2013~

The countdown has begun!  37 more days.....praying it happens.....there are only 5 more sailings before we get on the ship!

Are you going thru the wedding group for Princess?  If so, make sure you ask lots of questions and make sure you get things in writing!  We had a wedding planner with the Royal Celebrations (dealt with her for over a year and 5 months) and then within the past 6 months so left the company and had to get a new planner....luckily I saved all the emails from our last one because then I could refer to what she told us and sent it to the new one!

We are all checked in for the cruise and have our SetSail pass....but not our luggage tags yet or our documents.....but it's getting closer!

Good luck with the planning with yours and if you have any questions please ask! 

On 7/22/2021 at 5:31 PM, runner2013 said:

Thjeepster, 

 

Congratulations!!! 

I'm so happy you will finally get to have your  wedding. You two have been waiting for for such a long time. I'm excited things are finally falling into place after everything you've been through. 

 

I still have little over 10 months to wait so we're basically in a holding pattern right now. We've got half the cruise paid off, have a good idea of what we want for cocktails and dinner, the save the dates have gone out and my dress has been ordered. We can't do much more until we know the head count, that should be some time in October when the invites go out. 

We're so excited to get back on the water we booked a 4 day trip for Jan 2022 on a different Princess ship(our wedding isn't until May 30th 2022 and our ship only does 7 day trips) as a trial run to see how things operate. I plan on asking lots of questions while on board 🙂

Thank you Runner2013!

Even thou it's taken almost 18 to finally get married it does seem like it's flown by!  So your time will fly by also!  Planning everything out is the key!  We are finally going to reorder our wedding favors and personalized stuff for this new date now also....we lost over $350 in stuff for the the April 2020 wedding date.

We only have 37 more days until the cruise....I am praying everything stays on track!  We just confirmed everything for the wedding package and did final payment for the photo package.

Had to buy the test-at-home kits yesterday because of the 2 day turnaround for testing before boarding.

Luckily we have an additional couple more people going on the cruise with us....the count went from like 10 down to like 2 and back up to 6.....it's hard for people to keep switching dates.

All this stress...I'm hoping it doesn't get canceled again...that would be heartbreaking for my fiancé!

5 minutes ago, Ashland said:

On their "website" then it must be true 

Plus I’ve been dealing with an executive in the Miami office. 

7 minutes ago, Ashland said:

OP you're lucky they verified this rental for you...I thought I read that RCI wasn't doing this rental any longer.

Yeah they still offer. It’s on the website

It’s only $100 for the whole week to try t on the ship. Not too bad compared to the  other rental places. 

3 minutes ago, LB737 said:

Is there Tuxedo Rental on Odyssey, And if there is can you pre order ?

 

Thx

Hello,

I have been trying to get a solid answer for weeks.  I finally was told they reserved mine for me.

I had multiple people trying to get me answers.

I am getting married on the ship next month and need to have a tux reserved because if not I will have to rent one here and spend over $300 for a week.

I was told because it's the newest ship they haven't updated the online reservation dropdown yet.

We will see!