Miss Kellybean

Well that didn't work. Now I need to learn how to delete a thread. Ha!!

You are correct. Everyone goes over to the island together and everyone returns together at the designated time. We have been twice and loved it both times.

Once we were out at sea, Ron and I went down to the Promenade Deck for a pre-dinner drink. One of the biggest changes made on Victory during the dry dock was the addition, or conversion I should say, of two bars. The Aegean bar had been turned into the SKYBOX Sports Bar and the Caspian Wine bar was now the Alchemy Bar. I had been looking forward to trying the Alchemy Bar, a cocktail and martini bar with a vintage-pharmacy theme. The drinks all looked interesting, and I hoped to try as many of them as possible during our cruise. I decided to start with “The Antioxidant” (grapefruit vodka, Aperol, tangerine, fresh lime juice and a dash of orange juice). After mixing my drink, the bartender, Ioana (pronounced “you wanna”), heated a slice of orange peel with a lighter to release the citrus oils and then squeezed the peel to produce a quick flame. Then she rubbed the peel around the rim of my glass for a little extra flavor. So good! Ron chose “The Perfect Storm”, which had rum, strawberry puree and a fresh rosemary sprig. Since the bar was small, it was easy to chat with the bartenders and the other guests, so there was a lot of “Ooo, that looks good! What did you order?” I could tell we were going to be spending some time at this bar. :)

 

 

 

 

 

So far my favorite review of all time!! The people in the Alchemy Bar are my husband, stepson, mom and friends! I know exactly when the picture was taken because they were waiting for me finish getting ready so we could go to dinner. Hahahaha! We got married on this cruise on March 24 so if you ask me, everything was PERFECT!!

Thank you for the review! My family and I are on the June 4 sailing with the same itinerary. May I ask, which nights are the Cruise Elegant nights?

Hi Cruise friends!

I posted this message over on the St. Thomas board with no responses so I am hoping my fellow Carnival friends can give me some ideas.

I am here to absorb all of your wonderful ideas and suggestions for our upcoming day in St. Thomas. We will be there on June 7 (11a-7p) on the Carnival Magic and I know we will be docking in/near Charlotte Amalie. We are a party of 4 - myself & hubby, son (8) and mom (64). We are looking for a private tour or charter so DH can dive and DS and I can snorkel and mom can sit in the shade and take in the scenery. Any ideas? We have never been to this port before and do not know our way around at all.

Any info/tips/suggestions/ideas? I am open to official and unaffiliated excursions. If we took out the SCUBA part, would that help?

I wanted to check in, how was the wedding! Based upon how communicative you have been I am sure you are ready to provide a review. I can't wait to read it. I hope you had an amazing experience!

Unfortunately, I came back pretty darn sick - TAKES CARE OF YOURSELVES LADIES! But I promise a review is on the way. It was a wonderful day with wonderful people and the pictures are fab. There were some hiccups (only I really noticed) and like others have said, it goes really fast!

Full review is on the way!

Hi Cruise friends!

I am here to absorb all of your wonderful ideas and suggestions for our upcoming day in St. Thomas. We will be there on June 7 (1p-7p) on the Carnival Magic and I know we will be docking in/near Charlotte Amalie. We are a party of 4 - myself & hubby, son (8) and mom (64). We are looking for a private tour or charter so DH can dive and DS and I can snorkel and mom can sit in the shade and take in the scenery. Any ideas? We have never been to this port before and do not know our way around at all.

Any info/tips/suggestions/ideas?

How exciting for one week left! I'm less that 2 months out and on Victory so I'm super excited to hear how awesome it all goes!!!

I have a question about the wedding day! What do you bring your dress in? I know we have to see everyone but I'm thinking of wearing a big pair of sunglasses to "hide" my eyes at least till the wedding lol. Anyone else doing anything to try to half way keep the tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding?

Also, While waiting to get on the ship do they provide drinks or coffee? If not I might assign someone to bring that while we wait. If that's even an option. My guest already seem bummed they have to arrive early just to wait so I'm trying to think of ways to keep everyone happy.

Any tips or ideas would be great! ;-)

I can help you a bit already. We did a ship tour about 2 weeks ago and I was happy to learn a few things. Also, I became fast friends with the bride and her family and we have been chatting on Facebook ever since. :) First of all, I plan on bringing my dress in the garment bag it came with. In Port Canaveral, they had a porter that had a luggage rack. I met a bride that morning and she had that cart loaded up with her dress and carry on items. Also, there is a VIP room! She was waiting in there with her bridesmaid (they only let 2 in there from the wedding). The groom sat in the regular waiting area for wedding guests.

I have to tell you, the time went really fast. The bride arrived around 10 and the rest of the guests trickled in up until 11. Guests spent the time greeting each other and catching up. Also, the coordinators circulated and shared deck plans and reminded them of the location and time of the ceremony.

There was a water cooler but nobody really went over to it. We were all brought to a "pre-boarding" area around 11:15 (everyone except the bride) and then waited for the final ok. This seemed weird but when I asked the coordinator about it, she shared that it was to separate the wedding party from the arriving FTTF and Platinum guests so that the wedding party boarded first. One coordinator went with the groom to a room and the other held back a few minutes and took the bride to her cabin on a separate route.

From 11:30ish until 12:30, the guests all wandered the ship, had a drink or two (non-sailing guests can use a credit card for purchases) and then made their way to the ceremony venue around 12:30 for a 1pm start time.

It was smooth, laid back and went quickly without being rushed. I really would concern myself with the drinks. I believe it would be more trouble than it is worth. I am sure your guests will get over it and not be bummed. they wouldn't allow the coffee or water through security anyways.

One week to go, one week to go, ONE WEEK TO GO!!!

Well! I got my final call today as I am home sick with the flu. Thankfully I am dealing with this now instead of two weeks from now!

We learned we are in the Caribbean Show Lounge (the main theater) for our ceremony. Not what I wanted but I will just have to get used to it. I think for 75 people, it is just too big. Also, we will have our reception two decks up and all the way at the back since we booked the nightclub. I suppose if this is the biggest issue, we will be fine. It just wasn't my first choice.

Other than that, everything else we spoke about was old news. We went over our menu and reception outline and timeline and that was pretty much it.

14 days from this moment, we will be arriving at Port Canaveral to begin our adventure!!

With our ceremony 18 days away, we are going to check out the ship this morning. I am going with my mom and Aunt. I was hoping to have had our final call by now so I would know our venue but that is not the kind of luck that I have. Any questions about the Victory or the tour process I can answer? My main question is that we just had someone book - last night. She is joining in a room of someone who made it to the guest list on time. Not sure how this will work. Obviously they will let her (them) on but - I am not interested in sorting out details or being delayed for any reason on the big day. I am sure this has happened before so I am hoping Carnval will just handle everything on their part and I won't need to think about it again.

I am so lucky that I am able to compare them. I enjoyed both experiences and believe that they are very similar. The food and drinks were on par as was the service. I also has a massage at both and believe they were equally wonderful. What I liked most about Nachi was the pool. We had the option of going from the pool to the beach and it was wonderful. What I liked best about Isla Pasion is the ride there. I took the Twister boat and it was much more fun than a taxi.

The wildlife is cool. On Isla Pasion we got to see iguanas and at Nachi, we went snorkeling and saw barracuda and stingrays.

My point is, you can't lose. They are more similar than different and both are fantastic. Next time I am in Cozumel, I will go to Nachi if I am with adults and Passion if I am with my family - if that helps you at all.

I did the same as kfied. I put O and Birth certificate and left the number blank.

I am out of Port Canaveral so it may be different but, I was told that there can be two on embarkation day and I know there are two booked for our day. When cruising out of Miami last year, we also saw two wedding parties going strong after we boarded and then one in our first port and one in our second port.

I looked it up but thought i would post here for my fellow Carnival cruisers. Just in case...

The email is the "code" (below) then maitred@carnival.com (no spaces) for the Maitre' d.

Steakhouse the same way…brsteakhouse@carnival.com

Here are the codes:

CQ Conquest

IS Inspiration

GL Glory

LE Legend

VA Valor

IM Imagination

LI Liberty

VI Victory

PR Pride

MI Miracle

DE Destiny

BR Breeze

PA Paradise

DR Dream

TI Triumph

SE Sensation

EC Ecstacy

SP Spirit

FA Fantasy

SL Splendor

FS Fascination

FD Freedom

It is actually true and your PVP (the person who booked your cruise) will link your cabins all together and then you will be arranged accordingly at dinner. I plan on contacting the Maitre d' to let them know who we would specifically like to dine with. For example, our little boy isn't in our room but we would prefer to have him at our dinner table. I have to check another forum for the Maitre d' email addresses for carnival but plan on doing it when we are 1 month out.

I can't wait to hear/see everything! 37 days until I am on the Victory, too!

I sent in our final paperwork to Carnival and TWE for our wedding in 7 weeks. i thought i would share the answer to one of the questions i asked Carnival.

May I know the number of people that will be assisting our event (Bartenders/ Servers/ Entertainment/ Coordinators/ Photo team etc.) and who it is customary to tip? - Tips are not mandatory, as you have already purchased the package that includes all these services. You will more than likely have 2 bartenders, 3 bar servers, 1 entertainment staff, 2 coordinators, and 1 photographer/ videographer.

So with just one person doing photography and videography, will that 1 person be able to capture everything? It seems like that is a lot for 1 person to handle. Has anyone had any experience with this yet?

Since we have our own officiant, we heard from TWE that we have to sign a waiver along with the officiant. Pretty much to keep them off the hook if our officiant is not legitimate. Thought I would share.

You ordered flowers to decorate? I bought my bouquet and boutenier but I hadn't thought about more flowers

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got bouquets for myself and MOH. Bouts for the groom, Best Man, Ring bearer and my dad. Kissing ball for the flower girl and corsages for moms and aunts. I also added a cake topper but the topper is the only real decor I am bringing.

We also have a Message in a Bottle guest list (bottle, pens and notepaper), a suitcase thing for the cards and signs for each. That is it. Back in the beginning, I swore I wasn't going to bring anything extra but here we are. Hahahaha.

I am also going to get a luggage rack/hanger thingy and have non-sailing guests swear they will arrive before me and put it together so it will be waiting on the other side of the security checkpoint when I arrive. I have another non-sailing friend assigned to favors and another for flowers.

Instead of welcome bags I am sending chocolate covered strawberries to the rooms of our sailing guests so that is something I don't have to worry about.

are you doing silk flowers?

I am and they are more than perfect! I went with a vendor on Etsy who also has a retail store - Silk Flowers by Jean. Check them out!

With 55 days until the wedding, I have just sent in my information to the Carnival team. We sent in the guest list, Hors D'Ouerves form (with substitutions), Cake form (with notes for each tier) and reception form.

We still have to go over the ceremony form and submit that to TWE in 10 days but since we have our own officiant, it should be easy.

Hooray!

I have wedding favors ordered (personalized koozies, personalized ribbon wands and little message in a bottle bottles that I will fill with candies).

I have the flowers ordered. I have my dress fitting on Sunday and Bill's tailoring on Monday!

It is all coming together so nicely!! I can't wait!!

Hello all 2015 brides and congrats!!!

I'm looking for anyone who got married on the Carnival Freedom. They told me my reception can only be located in the Swingtime Jazz Lounge, Piano Bar, or Dance Club.

I can't decide which is the lesser of two evil in regards to the obnoxious decor in the piano bar and the dance club, and I'd prefer not to be in either. I actually enjoy Carnival's outlandish decor, but those two spots kinda take it to a whole new level for me. Maybe it's all the red and I don't like red... Idk. But I digress.

I do love the look of the look of the jazz lounge, but I hear it's a smoking area and a friend of mine who just sail on the Freedom a few weeks ago confirmed that it absolutely reeks of smoke. I'm not trying to get a migraine on my wedding day, and the smokey smell would NOT be okay for many of my guests.

The wedding coordinator said they would go in and sort of fumigate it a few days prior to the wedding in preparation, but in my experience you CANNOT get the smokey smell out of anything no matter how hard you try.

Has anyone else had this "fumigation" or whatever? Did it work? I'm super apprehensive...

I work in the hotel industry and there is a way to get the smokey smell out of a room...mostly. The smell always lingers no matter what. Also, the room will have been used the night before so time isn't on your side regardless. I would skip the room.

I can't believe the year has flew by! We'll be setting sail a week from today! We are getting renewing our vows on the Carnival Victory February 6 out of Miami! Everything is pretty much set. I have a few last minute details to wrap up like finding my boys something to wear and my final fitting! it was soooo stressful getting here. I thought it wouldn't be because Carnival pretty much take care of everything but somehow things always run wild. If there is anything I can help with please let me know! I have got sooo many questions answered by searching these boards and stalking Instagram and Pinterest. I would love to return the favor! lol

GOOD LUCK LADIES!

I am getting married on the Victory on March 24. I would love to see pictures!! What is your ceremony location? We are hoping for the Adriatic for the ceremony and know we will have the Arctic for the reception. Also, looking forward to hearing about the good, bad and ugly regarding the photography and videoraphy. Especially if you are able to negotiate.