dani_elizabeth

November 22, 2017

Hello, If you don't mind me asking, how did you handle tipping the officiant, coordinator, bar staff, dj, etc?

August 14, 2017

Hey all! Quick question, what is everyone doing about a rehearsal dinner? With how our weddings being held the way they are a traditional rehearsal dinner is kind of out of the question.

August 7, 2017

Buffet, Pizza, Tandoor grill, Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana, Guys BBQ, Pasta bar @ Cucina. I think that covers it. Although I may have missed something

July 23, 2017

Unfortunately, the new pricing... it seems way more expensive than the old. But I have to say, I'm still happy with the decision to do it this way. I'm into stress free! We picked a seated luncheon, mostly because my dad will be 93 by then and I thought that would be nice for him. What do you have planned?

We are also under the new pricing. Yes it is more expensive, but compared to a land wedding, I still believe we are coming out ahead. We are doing just the tier 1 food and drinks, since they reception will only be 90 minutes, and very few guests will be sailing with us, we decided to keep the wedding dry (for safety reasons) and not to splurge on food.

There was a way on here to become "friends" so to speak and chat outside of the forum, but I have no idea how to do that anymore... if you do, feel free to add me or try to chat with me.

Honestly, no idea how to do this either lol

Am I the only one worried about what guest will do between boarding and the ceremony? I'm thinking about getting everyone maps of the ship and make a "Welcome Letter" telling them what they could do before the ceremony starts and what to expect with boarding, ceremony, luncheon, etc.

When we did the tour, we were basically treated as guests of the wedding. You have free reign of the ship. We are going to ask guests to hang out around the atrium bar, or along the 5th deck. (the ceremony is either held on deck 4 in the confrence rooms (there are 3, make sure to make it clear you dont want the one with the pole in the middle) or deck 5 in the spotlight lounge. From what we understood the receptions would be in the spotlight lounge, or the vibe dance club. If you book the DJ you are going to be in either of those places. We requested the dance club, as it is smaller than the lounge, and will keep people closer together.

I have a million questions of my own... what are you doing for flowers? food? cake? any kids?

Flowers we are going to do it through the wedding experience. However we are keeping it simple, my and my bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. We felt it would just save the headache of having to bring it on board, and making sure they dont get damaged in that process.

Food, as mentioned above we are just doing the tier 1 food and drinks. Wedding guests are able to purchase alcohol prior to the event with their cards if they wish.

Cake, we upgraded to the 3 tier cake. It is a bit overkill for our wedding (52ish people total), but the 2 tier just wasnt that impressive. We also opted for it to be red velvet with the cream cheese filling.

With children, we are asking our guests to make arrangements to have the kept home. You are only allowed 50 non sailing guests, and we are right near that limit.

July 23, 2017

I think I will get thank you money envelopes and do the best I can to guess and figure out who I need to tip early on. Someone else told me they tipped: officiant, coordinator at terminal, coordinator on ship, bar staff and photographer. Seems strange to me to tip a photographer.

We took a tour in April, and will be taking a second at the end of September. The "tour" consists of the group representative showing your the various venues, and thats about it. You can ask some questions, but the actual ceremony and stuff is done by the wedding experience, so if you run into the coordinator or officiant, pick their brains. We defiantly got way more information out of them than the Carnival employee.

Also from this tour, it seems that the terminal and ship coordinators are the same person. They will meet your guests at the terminal and then walk you through the whole process once boarding.

I also agree that tipping the photographer seems a bit strange as well.

If you don't mind me asking, are you booked under the new package where everything is ala carte, or the old packages (time to celebrate, celebrate big, and bigger)? We are under the new pricing scheme, and finding info on that, even from Carnival is a bit of a pain.

July 22, 2017

The tipping situation is giving us the biggest headache. There just isn't much information out there pertaining to a cruise wedding. So what information have you ladies found about tipping, and the general amounts (or percentages)?

AdoptAtty, I'll be getting married on the Magic 2 weeks before you, and a friend of mine will actually be spending her honeymoon on your cruise. congrats!

July 1, 2017

The last time we were in San Juan, we ate lunch (really a brunch) at Cafe Mallorca. It is a no frills diner type of place. They had some beautiful pastries in the window, and the food was good. We were the only non-locals in there at the time.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147320-d1234687-Reviews-Cafeteria_Mallorca-San_Juan_Puerto_Rico.html

April 30, 2017

What cruise line are you getting married on? Did you pay additional for the buffet or did they just tell your guests to go ahead? Carnival is charging me an extra $10 per non-sailing guest for the buffet (an extra $500 for us!)

From my understanding this fee only applies if you are not offering food during your reception.

April 29, 2017

For wedding invitations what time are you going to put? The time we have to be on the ship or the approximate time of the wedding? Since we don't find out the time until a few weeks prior.