TMD7496

On 12/10/2018 at 9:39 AM, cnssu123 said:

Thank you for sharing your experience! We are currently looking into the norwegian escape for our wedding as well. 

 

Question, did you go through a group travel agent or did you go through directly with Norwegian? I put an inquiry for the group rate directly with NCL and I am not liking the pricing or what they are offering, wonder if there is better advantage to find a group specialist. 

 

Thanks

I’m sorry my reply is so late! I haven’t been on here in a while. I booked as a group directly through NCL. I ended up getting money back after all of my rooms were booked and I liked the promos they were offering at the time (I think they have changed since my group booked though). However, I wasn’t too thrilled with my PCC handling my group. So it’s really just personal preference I think! Best of luck with your planning and I’d be happy to answer any questions if you have any in the future!

Wedding Review: (I’m only reviewing the wedding here and not the cruise itself). This will be long and very detailed. I’m sorry for any spelling errors and if I just jump around from topic to topic since I’m typing this quickly. 

Embarkation Day:
So I was on the 10/21/18 sailing and got married 10/22/18 at sea for a symbolic ceremony. Upon boarding, the first thing I did was go to the salon and make a hair appointment. I decided to make the earliest possible appointment which was at 8am. There were NO makeup services on board, but I had a makeup artist as a friend traveling with us so it was okay. When I got to my cabin, I had a message on my stateroom phone from Mary Ann, who was the group service coordinator/my wedding coordinator. We scheduled to meet at 7pm that night. I sat in her office and she went over my contract from top to bottom discussing all of the wedding details. There, I met my photographer and discussed what type of pictures we’d be most interested in (outdoors, indoors, etc). I had to bring down my cake topper so it would be ready for the next day. Mary Ann was extremely sweet and so easy to work with. She answered all of my questions and helped me out when needed. 

Wedding Day (morning):
I arrived to my hair appointment at 7:45am and they were ready for me about 10 minutes early before my appointment was scheduled. I came with pictures of what I wanted and the woman who did my hair did it even better than the photos. It took approximately 1 hour. I can’t remember her name but I addressed that I was concerned about it not staying in place all day and she made sure it would. My hair stayed in place from 8am-3am when I took the Bobby pins out. After my hair appointment I headed up to my mom’s room to start getting my makeup done and getting ready. She was staying in The Haven 2 bedroom family villa and there was plenty of room for myself, my maid of honor, and 3 bridesmaids to get ready together. 

Wedding Day (afternoon):
At 1:50 I headed down to Moderno which was where my ceremony was taking place. Let me tell you, walking through the ship in a wedding gown is an experience. I had to walk from the forward elevators all the way to the aft elevators and people were stopping me to congratulate me. It was amazing and so sweet. When I arrived outside of Moderno, Mary Ann already had my bridesmaids/groomsman in place ready to begin the ceremony. We walked into the restaurant and lined up right by where we’d be walking but still out of everyone’s sight. What felt like hours (but was really about 5 minutes) Captain Niklas Persson arrived and soon after I heard my bridal parties processional song beginning. All in all, the ceremony was beautiful and Captain Niklas did an amazing job. There is nothing I would change about my wedding ceremony. Immediately after the ceremony, we had our recessional and were walked back in to do our keepsake certificate signing. Then we were able to take pictures with the Captain. After that it lead into my first dance as husband and wife and my dance with my father. We then had a quick champagne toast and started taking photos. Lorie (our photographer) started posing us and little by little more people joined our pictures until we had our whole group there for some very nice photos. After the group photo, everyone left and my husband and I were taken right out the back door of Moderno for some beautiful aft facing photos. After, Lorie took us to deck 8 to take photos in front of the beautiful chandelier. We then took photos in the elevators (which were more beautiful then I originally expected) and she lead us down for photos in her studio. Taking the photos was so much fun for us.  

Wedding Day (evening):
We decided not to have a reception and instead did a group dinner at Taste restaurant. They sat my party of 30 on the balcony area so it felt like a private section. They had a table decorated with my wedding cake on display. The group dinner went great and the waitstaff was fantastic. After dinner, we cut the cake and everyone enjoyed it. I had a 2 tier cake with vanilla cake, vanilla custard, and white buttercream frosting. It was surprisingly better than I expected. After dinner, we got changed and decided to go to the Norwegian Night Out Party at Spice H2O. Alvin (Cruise director) hosts a great party and all of my guests had a great time. 

Photos: 
The following day, Lorie called me up and asked me to come view our pictures. It was so fun because she put them up on a big tv screen in her studio and played a cute slideshow with all of the pictures and she took over 250 of them. The photography package I chose was 50 photos on USB and 10 prints. It was hard to choose only 50 but all of them was well over $1,000 which we didn’t see worth it. By that night, Lorie had my flash drive and prints ready for us to pick up. 

Complaints: 
Despite a great day, not everything went as expected. I received chocolate covered strawberries, assorted canapés, and the remainder of my wedding cake delivered to my room while I was out. I was out from about 5:30-3am and the food was sitting out for so many hours so it wasn’t good anymore. It had to go right in the garbage which I was upset about. Also, my package includes a 6inch wedding cake delivered to my stateroom and a printed photo with a frame. It was never sent to me and I realized it when i was reviewing my contract on the 5th night of my cruise. I went down to guest services to ask about it and was told the wedding cake I received at my ceremony was the 6inch cake? I had a 2 tier cake that I spent $500 and I explained that but they claimed I received it. I said okay whatever because I didn’t want to argue and didn’t really want it much anyway. I asked about the photo and they sent me up to the photo gallery. At the photo gallery they said I had to talk to my photographer. I ended up receiving my photos but it was definitely a hassle to get it. 

Final Opinion:
Overall, the ceremony was beautiful. Norwegian definitely did an amazing job. The staff was the friendliest I’ve ever had on a cruise ship before. I probably wouldn’t sail on the Escape a second time but I’m very happy with how my wedding turned out.

Bring water shoes. This beach is terribly rocky! I would not go back. We did stingrays and dolphins and it was fun, but the rocks were horrible . Pictures are very expensive as well!

Thank you! Do they allow you to take your own photos or only they take them and you have to buy them?

We did this excursion about a year and a half ago. We liked that the boat picked us up and dropped us off right at the dock, so no need to travel anywhere. It is a nice, scenic boat ride to the island. The island is beautiful and the beach is gorgeous and calm (would be great for young children). There are chairs and umbrellas and a pool. We did the stingrays with my teens and they were skeptical at first. These rays are large and can be intimidating, so I would think that your 18 month old may be a bit afraid. The employees are great in helping you to get used to them and having you pose for pictures. I suspect that they would do whatever they could to assist your child and allow "baby steps" to touching the rays. You're never more than waist deep, so you could easily hold him. We really enjoyed this excursion and have said several times that we would go back here if we ever found ourselves in Nassau again. There's also dolphin swims & I understand that you can book JUST the beach break without doing either the sting ray or dolphin encounters. On a side note, food and drinks there are very expensive, so be prepared.

Great thank you so much!!

Wow that's great info! I'm in the beginning stages of planning as well. Thank you for the info!

You’re very welcome! I’m here to answer any other questions you may have now or in the future, my final contracts are in and there’s only 40 days until we sail!

We are planning on getting married in 2020. We are thinking a cruise wedding is the way to go because our families live all over the country. It'll also be a small wedding, no more than 30 people and no bridal party or groomsmen. We would go with Carnival since we've sailed with them before and absolutely love them. But we have tons of questions.

 

1. Is it proper etiquette to foot the bill for the guestrooms? Or is it expected of them to pay their portion?

I’m getting married on NCL Escape in 40 days and all 30 of my guests paid for their own staterooms.

2. Everyone will be flying or traveling to the port from out of state. Are we responsible for their travel costs? Like is that good etiquette..I don't want to be rude.

People traveling from out of state are handling their own travel arrangements.

3. What do you include in their welcome bags?

I actually had a “pre-cruise brunch party” last week where I have all of my guests beach bag filled with small items. I included a T-shirt representing our wedding group, toothbrush/toothpaste, wipes, hand sanitizer, sunglasses and a few miscellaneous items. On board, I’ll be sending out welcome letters and chocolate covered strawberries to each room as an additional thank you.

4. If you had a small wedding did you do the whole reception thing or did you just have a nice dinner at the restaurant on the ship?

I have 30 guests and we’re not doing a reception. We’re actually just doing a group dinner the night of the wedding and the last night of our cruise.

5. How was the planning process with Carnival?

I used NCL, Royal Ocean Events.

6. Our families would not have met prior to our wedding, would this be weird/awkward?

It’s going to be the same with our families and I’m not expecting it to be weird or awkward (but we’ll see in 40 days ;))

7. What is your best advice on planning this?

My best advice for planning be to go into it with an open mind. The coordinators handle a majority of the wedding planning leaving you with not much to plan.

Best of luck to you and your planning journey! I will answer any additional questions you may have if more come up :) (my replies are in red)

Hi everyone!

I’m cruising on NCL Escape on 10/21 for my wedding and considering what excursion to do in Nassau. It would be me, my husband, and my 18 month old son. I was wondering if anyone has done this excursion and if my son would be too young to participate in it.

We’re debating between this one and Atlantis, I just want something my toddler will enjoy.

Thanks for suggestions!

I’m getting married on NCL Escape on the 10/21 sailing (just 43 days away ahh!). I’m wearing a traditional, simple wedding dress from David’s Bridal. I caught it on sale for half off. My husband (had to legally get married here since we’re doing a wedding at sea) is wearing a light gray suit.

That's awesome!

You've got mail.

Hi! If you’re still sharing this template can you please send it to me? I’m getting married on NCL Escape in October and have been trying to find a template for months!

taylordecicco@gmail.com

Would love updates from the embarkation day weddings on the Escape! I’m having a sea day wedding on the Escape in October but would like any feedback about the ceremony

Hi! I’m totally late to this post but I’m a 2018 bride on NCL Escape on the 10/21 sailing! I’d love to hear how other people’s ceremonies went!

I’m getting married on NCL Escape on 10/21 sailing.

I’ll have 29 guests (all sailing because we’re getting married on a sea day.)

In total we are paying approximately $3,250. $2000 for the symbolic ceremony, $800 for the photographer for 2 hours, $400 for cake, and $50 for a sound technician for the ceremony. We decided not to have a reception because they weren’t appealing to us and pricey. Instead we’re doing a group dinner after the reception.

I’m not getting any additional upgrades.

I’m in the process of planning my wedding at sea on NCL Escape. We’re sailing on 10/21 and getting married the first sea day (10/22). So I’ll answer any questions you have the best that I can!

I decided not to do save the dates and skipped right to formal invitations that I sent out a little over a year in advance to give people time to save money and book the cruise. We sent out about 50 invites and have 30 sailing with us. I set up a wedding website, which I included the link on the invite (I can send you our invites if you’re interested) and now that it’s getting closer and we have a guest list, we set up a Facebook page so we can all communicate as a group.

I told family and friends about us doing a cruise wedding and got mixed responses. Some were VERY excited and even booked it before I did. Some were not excited and I heard a lot of comments such as “why a cruise, you can have a bigger and better ceremony here.” This did not affect our decision at all, we were set on this and are happy we decided to keep it like this. Of course, there’s family that can’t make it or afford to come but overall we’re happy.

So far, planning has been simple and my wedding coordinator is amazing. We booked as a group and received perks for that. My wedding coordinator answers my emails very promptly and answers every question I have (which I had a lot of).

There’s not a lot you can do for planning too far in advance. I just found out this week the time and place that my ceremony will be at and booked my photographer and cake but they handle everything really well.

Any questions you have with planning feel free to ask!

I’m getting married on NCL Escape in October and I heard a lot of comments from people about doing it like this as well. Instead of a Bridal Shower, we’re having a pre-cruise brunch which guests that aren’t sailing are coming to.

I’d love it if you can send it to me as well! taylordecicco@gmail.com

I’m getting married on the Escape on the 10/21/18 sailing and would love feedback on how your ceremony is! We are doing the “legal” wedding here and the symbolic ceremony on the first sea day!

We were on the Breakaway on the May 8th sailing and never saw the Uptown Grill open at all. Really wanted to try one of those burgers I heard about:(

I was also on the May 8th sailing and saw it open for lunch every day.. Went there for lunch multiple times. Burgers were great!!

I was also on the Breakaway last week (5/8-5/15) and found that the staff were extremely friendly. I recall reading many reviews complaining about how rude the staff is but I have found them to be among the most friendly staff I have ever seen on a cruise ship.

My boyfriend and I will be on that cruise as well, looking forward to it:D

Hi, I booked a cruise on Norwegian Breakaway for May 2016 with my boyfriend. We haven't paid off the cruise yet and would like to upgrade to a balcony cabin. I'm not looking for a free upgrade as we want to pay to change our room, but I was just wondering if that is possible, and if so, how would I go about doing that?

Thanks in advance! :)