JenGang

We just had 8588 in February.  It was a nice room and the large balcony was great.  Just be aware that not very much of the balcony is covered so no real escape from the sun. Also because of the lack of cover, make sure you close your curtains during the day or your room will end up feeling like an oven.  

It's definitely not inexpensive and they will nickel and dime you for everything. That being said, my husband and I just renewed our vows in February on Liberty and it was wonderful. Doing a wedding on a ship is not a good option for anyone that is a control freak because although you can customize some things, options are a bit limited. If they go this route, there is a great group on FB called Royal Caribbean Brides that can offer a lot of insight.

Has anyone done a vow renewal on Royal? Curious to know your experiences and what it cost you. My wife and I want something really simple but it seems like all Royal has are elaborate wedding packages? Any helpful input would be welcomed

Hello,

We just renewed our vows on Liberty on 2/5. It was a lovely but simple ceremony which is exactly what we wanted. When we purchased our package, it was call "Just Us" and it was literally a ceremony with just you and your spouse. For guests, we had to pay $250 for every 5 guests. I'm not entirely sure what for because we had 8 guests and for $500, all it really got them was chairs. I suppose if we had been doing some sort of reception, it would have covered setting up tables or something.

Packages have changed since we bought ours and for pretty much the same thing that we had but with the addition of a cake, room decorations and dinner at a specialty restaurant. The package is now called "Intimately Yours" and includes up to 10 guests and costs $1950.

Our renewal was exactly what I wanted it to be but for the increased price, I'm not 100% sure that we would have done the renewal on the ship. I might have looked for other options on one of the islands and probably would have done something more casual.

Please let me know if you have other questions and I'd be happy to try to help. :D

Everybody won the L&M?

Come on. That's exactly why I described him as "cheesy". It's a competition (of sorts) after all. L&M with John on Anthem was on the last evening, so I didn't bother going, but assume it would have been the same then.

Yup, he even said they don't keep score. And for Quest, there wasn't anyone keeping score either. I truly believe our team won because of our daughters hula hooping skills AND the fact that the majority of our group was dressed for 70's night. It was a gimme but the kids were thrilled that we won. LOL

We just had John Blair last week on Liberty. We all felt like he rushed activities and was not very exciting to be around. For Love and Marriage he gave the couples tickets and drew one to select them. Very boring and all the couples won and were given champagne. The Quest was also quite dull in comparison to others that we have seen. That being said, towards the end of it, it turned into battle of the sexes with a hula hoop competition. We had our adult daughters with us on this cruise and the youngest hoops as a hobby. She won the quest for our team easily. :D

I make something special for each of our cruises for our door. I also make them for any friends that we are traveling with. I started hanging them on the wall in my craft room. Here are the last 5 that I've made.

Funny because I have the exact opposite experience. If I use internet explorer, everything freezes up but it works fine on Chrome. Once again proving that the people on the phones do not have correct answers for much of anything. :')

So glad I saw this thread! I have emailed the Royal Celebrations department 9 times since Feb. 19th with no response. I just went on the FB page and someone responded right away that they will look into it for me. Now hopefully they follow through! :D If not, I guess I'll have to take some time off work to call but shouldn't have to do that when the have an email listed on their website.

Has anyone had improved communication/service with the new company yet that they can report? I'll be rethinking my Fall 2018 plans if thinks have gotten worse!

I have emailed them 6 times since February requesting information about a vow renewal with no response. There is a FB group that someone created and they said if you call you will suddenly get responses but it's hard for me to call during the day M-F when they are there so I was really hoping I would be able to do most of the planning for our renewal through email. I guess not!

Put my deposit down for 44 staterooms on Rhapsody for May 26th 2018.

 

Started the initial emails with Royal Ocean Events for Royal Caribbean.

 

So far so good. Getting very detailed emails and quick (2-3 days) responses.

I'm glad to hear that they are responding to you because I have emailed them 3 times since 2/19 with no response at all. Since they are only open hours that I tend to be at work, I was really hoping that I could work with them mostly through email. I guess I'm going to have to use my lunch break to call them. :(

We went to Rainbow Beach when we were in Barbados in February. They have chair($5), loungers ($10) and umbrella ($10) rentals and I believe there was even a shady area further away from the water that your husband could enjoy. The restaurant Rhythms that is right there had great food but it was pretty busy so we had a little bit of a wait for our food. One of the specials for the day was Lobster Tacos that were amazing.

Hello everyone! Sailing the Navigator on March 17. First time on this ship. Wondering if aft decks have lounges on them. If not are they available on request? Also, is there a martini bar on board where they offer may different kinds of martinis. Thanks for any info.

We had 2 loungers when we had an aft on Navigator as well as 2 chairs and a small table. Enjoy that aft balcony! Definitely my favorite cabin location. :D

Hello everyone,

We are just starting to plan a vow renewal for our 25th anniversary next February. We've talked about doing this for years since we had a unique wedding and wanted something that was just for us. We will be sailing on Liberty of the Seas 2/4/2018 with a small group of friends and family. I emailed Royal's event planning group 2 weeks ago and haven't heard from them yet but from what I've read, that's pretty normal for them. :( I wasn't sure if I wanted a dress or not but my husband and our daughter pushed me to go try on a few dresses to see what I thought and I ended up buying a dress! That alone made it all seem so real! LOL

Looking forward to seeing what you all have planned for your big day!

We are currently planning our wedding on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas for September 2017. We will be doing it at sea and the Captain will be the officiant. Since it's at sea, the Captain is the only one legally able to do it. We aren't religious either so this is perfect for us. Though when my Wedding Planner sent me the planning documents it looked as if you can really customize the ceremony however you want.a There is a pdf document for download on their website with general pricing. It's actually pretty helpful for general information. I can tell you that they won't guarantee your wedding date or venue until you pay the full wedding package balance (which is listed in the document with all the inclusions) so I forked over $3,700 right off the bat so I could nail down the date and ship venue.

 

Seriously though, this is nothing compared to a traditional wedding. Plus our group is all going to sit together at dinners so we don't have to pay for meals for our group.

 

As far as a discount for multiple rooms is concerned, I booked through the group department so they explained it as for every 8 staterooms booked, they will take the largest average of room categories booked and give you credit for one person. For example, if of my 8 rooms booked for my group, 5 were balcony rooms, and it was based fare of $875/person for that room, I would get a credit of $875 for my room. If I booked 16 rooms and the largest average of room was balcony room with base fare of $875/person then I'd get a credit of $1750.

 

I hope this helps! Good luck!

 

christa4

Hi Christa,

When you first started planning your wedding, did you email or call Royal? I sent an email 2 weeks ago and have not heard from anyone yet. :(

Thank you!

I agree.

 

The trivia they were having in the Schooner Bar on my last Navigator sailing interrupted the pub crawl I organized! 😂

 

Dan.

Hey! We still managed to have a good time! :D

Are you planning the wedding through their Royal Weddings? If so, it looks like most packages include the photographer but not the pictures. Then on page 16 of the brochure it says that it's $150 for each extra hour and the $949 is for all images taken. $499 for the 30.

I hoping so too! The change should be for the better. 16 days till my flight leaves to Florida!! Hurry up!

Hope your wedding cruise went off without any issues. If you have time, I would love to hear how it went and if the new company seemed better than the old one.

Thanks for the answer!

Now off to find someone to can make a door magnet for us like we have for our 2 Disney cruises.

Look on Etsy and you should be able to find something. Searching Pinterest for Cruise Door Decorations will often get you links to some Etsy sites. Or if you have a friend or family member that has a Cricut, ask them if they would be willing to make you something. I do something for every cruise that we go on for us and any friends we have with us. These are the last two that I did.

Was there a 70's party in the atrium during your sailing?

Spookwife- ugh, that is the first time I've ever heard of them actually weighing people! Glad I never had to do that! Which excursion was it?

Both in Jamaica...I saw them weighing people for the zip-line excursion and the horseback riding excursion. On the horseback excursion, I saw them deny a man for being overweight.

The tour guide for the Segway tour in San Juan pulls out a scale and weighs anyone that he thinks is over 250 lbs. Doesn't matter if it's 1lb or 30lbs, if you are over weight, you will not be allowed to go on that excursion and you will lose your money.

We've found the pizza on all Royal ships to be pretty bad but have discovered that if we are making good use of our drink packages, it becomes tastier. :D

The last 2 years we have met several couples that I know will be forever friends. The worst part of this is that we all live so far away from each other!

Yep. We have met a few folks cruising that I am certain will be lifelong friends - both on and off the ship.

 

Dan.

:D I am certain of this as well!

Help...need to book cruise today for the perks. Doing this on the spur of the moment. Can't get in touch with my agent. Can I book through the agency and then transfer it to her. Seems like great deals & I don't want to lose them.Thanking all of you in advance 😎

Yes! It's very easy to do. There is a form on the Royal site that you will need to fill out to request the transfer.

Hello everyone! Me (30) DH (36) DS (11) DD (7) will be embarking on our very first cruise this Saturday. I will be doing a full review once we get back (I will not have internet on the ship). We will be in a Forward facing OV cabin with 2 Pullman beds & 2 twin beds.

 

Pre-Cruise:

We will be taking a Limo from our house in Indiana to the airport. We will be flying in to FLL tomorrow! We will be staying at the Holiday Inn across from the Bayside Mall. We will be arriving in the afternoon and will be utilizing a driver to get us to the hotel (I do not like dealing with rental cars :p). We then plan on having lunch at Bubba Gump as we never got to while we were in Cancun. After that we just plan to swim and chill all day.

 

Itinerary:

Day 1: Embarkation :)

Day 2: Sea Day

Day 3: Grand Cayman - We will be taking a taxi to public beach. Then eating lunch at The Hard Rock.

Day 4: Sea Day

Day 5: Key West - We plan on hitting the Aquarium then eating lunch on Duval Street.

Day 6: Disembarkation :(

 

If you have any questions (especially in regards to kids) don't hesitate to ask. I will post a ton of pictures when we get back.

I highly recommend Blue Heaven for lunch while in Key West. Not on Duval but a few blocks off of it. So delicious! If they are still serving the breakfast menu, the BLT (Bacon, Lobster, Tomato) Eggs Benedict is AMAZING!