esbie11

Ok, so I just heard back from my WC. She told me that there may be other weddings there after mine (we are there from 11am-2pm), but that there are no other beach parties/events there that day. So I guess we may have just hit a lucky Tuesday:D As I said in my last post, it seems as though there is usually more than one Carnival ship docked there on Tuesdays, but for whatever reason on my day there is only one, and, apparently, they have nothing going on at Bluebeards that day. Phew!

Hey

I would say, figure out what you want in a beach before you choose. I chose Lindquist because it's almost deserted. I wanted that feel like the whole beach was mine for my wedding lol:o. But I also had to give up the idea of having my beach on a grassy area facing a beach because this is not doable at Lindquist.

Question: Is Bluebeard's and Limetree the same beach because I was told that Carnival has a beach party on Limetree beach on Tuesdays as well. They're just taking over all the beaches :rolleyes: lol.

Yes Limetree is the same as Bluebeards. I just looked at a Port Timetable and on the particular Tuesday that we will be there, there is only 1 Carnival cruiseship docked there that day, whereas when I looked at the following Tuesday, there are 3 Carnival ships docked...so maybe I was allowed to have my wedding there since there is only one ship docked as opposed to the usual 3? I will email my WC and see what she says. All I know is that when I originally booked my wedding in the Spring of 2007, she told me that I could not have it there because Carnival "blacks out" that beach on Tuesdays, but she told me that that may change and my date may become available as the wedding gets closer. Then, in the Spring of 2008 she contacted me to tell me it was available for my day, but didn't say why. I am curious myself though, so I will ask and let you ladies know:)

The ceremony is at 11am. (the ship docks at 8am). The ceremony will be about 20 minutes long, followed by pictures until noon, then from 12-2 we are having a luncheon reception at the open-air restaurant on-site. We can stay there as long as we want, it is just that after 2pm, our WC leaves and we are pretty much on our own at that point. We have to be back on the ship at 4:30, so I am not sure yet what we'll do between 2 and 4:30. We may hang out at Bluebeards or we may just head back to the ship (and nap!:D) before dinner.

My WC is Leslie from Perfect Weddings of St. Thomas. We began working with her in the Summer of 2007, and at that time she told us that we couldn't do Bluebeard's because of Carnival's "blackout" on Tuesdays. However she continued to check into for us periodically, and about 8 months ago she told us that it did become available, so we changed our plans to Bluebeard's. Sorry, but I don't know how or why it became available for us:confused: What WC are you working with? There are many that have great reputations in St. Thomas (thankfully).

I am getting married at Bluebeard's in 8 weeks, and on a Tuesday. Initially I had to book the ceremony for Secret harbour because my WC told me that Carnival "blacks out" all Tuesdays and you can only get married at Bluebeard's on a Tuesday if you use Carnival's WCs. Luckily, after the first year of our planning process my WC was able to book Bluebeard's for us. I like it there because I like the grassy area with the palm trees for the ceremony itself, versus sand. As far as Magen's goes, my WC recommended that we stay away from there as it is very crowded, particularly on Tuesdays (apparently that tends to be busy cruiseship day there). I know when we are docked there there are a total of 4 major cruiseships docked there at the same time, and many of those folks go to Magen's. I knwo someone who got married at Lindquist and she said it was very private and her pics were beautiful! Good Luck!

I had a lovely wedding on Royal Caribbean. We were married onboard while the ship was in port in Key West. We had 60 guests, all of whom sailed with us. The ship was beautiful and everyone loved the cruise. We had several cruise virgins, who are now addicted to cruising and have become loyal fans of Royal Caribbean.

 

Granted, Royal Romance was a bit challenging to deal with. But I felt like I would have had similar isues with any out of town venue. I know others have had different experiences. But I found if you stay on top of them, and confirm and re-confirm everything they tell you, you should be fine. Once you are onboard, you can depend on the ship's staff being incredibly accomodating.

 

Keep in mind that if you choose a cruise a wedding, you need to accept that you won't have a lot of flexibility. The ship will determine the exact time and place, and you'll have limited options for menu, music, flowers, photography, and even number of guests. If you are happy with the packages available, you can even keep costs relatively low. But if you want to customize things, it's not only difficult, it's also very expensive. So if you want a wedding where you can select every detail, a ship board wedding is not for you.

This is correct about a wedding on-board the ship, which I know is what you are interested in. However if you choose to get married at a port and use a private WC, you can customize every last detail and make it exactly how you want it. Just about the only thing you can't choose is the day since the cruise itinerary dictates that :) Otherwise, you can pick the time, location, decorations down to the smallest detail, reception venue, food, etc. I am working with a private WC in St. Thomas, and every request has been met with "yes, I can do whatever you want." Which is wonderful since it is a day that (hopefully) will happen only once in my lifetime. I have also found that it is drastically cheaper to use a private WC. TWE really rips you off for everything, and then they change prices on you after signing the contract. This isn't a worry with a private WC, as their contracts are meant to protect them AND you. Lastly, even with a private WC, the vast majority of them will refund all of your money if something happens outside of your control and the wedding can't occur (such as a last minute change in the ship's itinerary). Anyway, as I said before if you have your heart set on doing it onboard the ship than that is what you should do. I just wanted to give you some other options.

I was thinking about getting married on a royal caribbean ship and have heard on here very bad things about it.:(

Can anyone tell me any of there experiences....good or bad please

 

Many Thanks x:)

If you really want to get married on the ship than that is what you should do. You will have to use Royal Romance (TWE) to do it, but if that is what you really want than go for it. Some people have had positive experiences. I am one of the ones with a bad experience. The key is to be TOTALLY laid back and be ok with whatever is planned for you. You don't have a lot of say in what you want and they tend to not be too customized. It also frightened me that TWE can change anything and everything about your wedding without reason or notice (including prices, location, time, etc.). However if you have the attitude where all you want is to marry your husband and you aren't concerned with the details, you should be fine. Oh yes, and a crap-load of patience helps when dealing with TWE as well;)

Hey Wyndi! Can I email you personally? It would be easier for me to "talk" to you that way, especially since I am not on the DW board much anymore. I do have some info for you about this.