Carnival_Brides

Any tips on saving money on photography?

 

Thanks!!!

Buy a package and prepare to pay for it. We got married four years ago on the Pride with the old photo packages which we thought were pricy then. However, my Mom reminded us that if we had gotten married on land (in the area we live in) we would be looking at 3k for comparable photographers and that was before we bought images. We ended up spending $800 on 41 photos and got the digitals. It seemed like a lot since we got married at-sea doing a vow renewal that cost us $800, but it really wasn't that bad. We had our wedding for $1800 including photos, reception entertainment, and 2 hours of open bar.

Helpful hint: We did our engagements pictures with the Dreams photographer on the Glory 6 months before our wedding and figured out that the picture quality changes greatly when the images are scanned. We made sure that whatever package we purchased came with the digital files to not alter the quality when we shared them on social media.

Great review. My daughter is getting married in May on carnival too, so your comments are much appreciated. Can I ask how / where you were able to find the fun times wedding itinerary document that was personalized for your group?

I created the original and personalized it for my group. I no longer have the template file, sorry.

Hello, My email address is nahnahtheone@gmail.com could you please send me the template of the FunTimes you used! It would mean a lot to me! That is such a great idea too!! I love it so much! Thank you in advance!! :)

I no longer have the file. Sorry!

We packed our wedding items in two largeish boxes and checked them with several luggage tags taped all over them. We packed our silk bouquets (and our BM's) in boxes from Build-A-Bear and then packed those inside of the boxes. You might also check after-Christmas sales to see if anyone has large hard-sided gift boxes.

For our wedding gowns, we packed them inside of garment bags and then took a collapsible rolling rack with us so we could roll them onto the ship. We had to send the gowns and rack through the x-ray, but it worked for us.

I wouldn't use the laundry service for steaming if you are on Carnival because they are only liable to refund you something like $30 if they ruin your item. If you are fine with your partner seeing your gown, as soon as you are on the ship pull your dress out of the bag and let it lay out. You might also try to pack a travel steamer (yes, I know some are banned).

We take them off for pictures and get new ones at Camp Carnival. Our girls aren't allowed to venture on their own, so they are never without us in the two hours between dinner and when they return to Camp after photos.

Glad that helpful hint worked so well for you. We did in fact get a collapsible garment rack from BB&B. We had two gowns and our bridesmaids dresses so it made it quite easy to roll on. You will have to send the rack and the gown through the scanner, but you shouldn't have any problems. I have reviews in my signature if you're interested, although we are just coming up on our four year anniversary and some things may have changed.

Congrats!

Congrats! We were married on Pride :)

 

Definitely check out the weddings and honeymoons board linked above.

 

From what I remember, my dress went through the luggage scanner. It was in its bag, and they were careful, so it was no big deal.

 

You're definitely on the right track. We had a rolling garment rack purchased at BB&B (I don't think I can list the full name of the store here). I was able to hang my dress the bridesmaids' dresses and tuxes and roll them on. This was when the ramp was operable in Baltimore - it wasn't in November and I don't know what the status is now, but it will at least be helpful for getting everything and around the ship. This was recommended to me by poster CARNIVALBRIDES who was also married on Pride and is a regular poster on the weddings board.

 

Congratulations and best wishes!

Whoops.

We had a symbolic ceremony on CCL four years ago. The review is in my signature.

We got married out a 7 day out of Baltimore and everything your reading is true. You don't officially know which day your ceremony will be, but you can make pretty educated guesses. We knew our ceremony would either be on the second sea day or the last sea day because of when formal night fell. We wanted the earlier date and they were able to accommodate us. We had a planner that we met with at breakfast on the second day and she took care of everything. I don't know what they would do if your two sea days are formal nights--that is a question for CCL Weddings. I imagine with it being a pretty steady revenue stream that they would find some way to hold your ceremony.

I agree. If you do have to wait it's much more comfortable than standing by the entrance of the dining room. I also thought it was odd when reading about the ship prior to our Sunshine cruise, but it actually worked quite well.

We also were in the camp that thought it was odd at first, but it does work very well. We've been on the Conquest ships with the "enclosed" dining room with no area to wait--this approach is much more desirable. We enjoyed MTD for the most part, but beware, they tried to seat us in the early dining room twice. The first time the first seating was 90 minutes into their meal leaving us 30 minutes to order and eat, which inconvenienced us and the staff--the second time they attempted it we flat out refused.

It's pretty gross. My niece loves iced tea and got some last week on Sunshine--she didn't get any for the rest of the cruise because it tasted like funky water.

We are on the first cruise out of NYC where CCL is using the check-in system. We are also driving (2.5 hours) and have a 10:30 check-in time. We are planning to be in the lot at 10:15 to enter the terminal by 10:30. I have read that other ports are being picky about the check-in time and turning guests away until it is there turn, but we'll see what happens on the 8th.

I wonder why? Last I saw it was heading east off NC on Sunday and then just hanging out. The Pride could have gone to Canada twice in all that time.

About 24 hours ago the model was predicting that it was going to swipe MD on Saturday, go up towards New England on Sunday, and land somewhere in the Bay of Fundy on Monday. I have been monitoring the situation because I live outside Baltimore and I'm boarding the Sunshine out of NY headed to the Bay of Fundy on Saturday. When I went to bed around 1am this morning that was still the model, but when I woke up around 6:30 it had updated to reflect the turn at the Carolinas.

Carnival was (and still is) working with all kinds of data sets and contingency plans. Unfortunately, the Pride is too large to fit in the C&D Canal and approach Baltimore from the North, so it has to go down around VA and the Carolinas to get back in the Bay. They made the right call to keep the ship close--even if it ticked off the passengers who had the option to reschedule or take a refund before departure.

OMG... my bad thinking about another ship

It's cool. I was kind of confused because I'd sign up tomorrow for a trip to KW on the Pride. :)

With the storm having effects on the east coast from Wed through the weekend...

I would think the Pride will stay in KW for a day or 2 extra and possible a canceling the Friday weekend cruise

The Pride does mostly 7 day cruises that depart from Baltimore on Sunday. Her recent Eastern Caribbean cruise was detoured to New England because of the weather. She is supposed to debark the New England cruise on Sunday (October 9) and embark passengers for another go of the Eastern Caribbean.

Is there a really big price drop for cruises that depart in September and October that lures passengers to sail during hurricane season? Is the savings worth the risk of cancelled ports and changes in itinerary? And do people who take the risk, are they aware of the consequences that may be associated with a price reduction?

We are booked for the 5 day to Canada out of NYC leaving this Saturday. We usually do this sailing in the summer because the rates are typically low. However, for some reason this year, the pricing for the fall itineraries was half of what the summer rates were and we booked. I'd rather sail in the summer and not use my personal days (I work for a school system), but c'est la vie.

I am not really worried about where we go--I'm just glad to be on the ship. We are driving up the day of since it's a two hour drive and we can change our plans easily. We also benefitted from the Sandy CTN out of Baltimore a few years back. I'm hoping that doesn't happen for our cruise--I'd take a 5 day CTN at this point than have the sailing cancelled.

Have there been any additional itinerary changes?

Especially interested in Charleston.

Nothing yet. We're waiting to see if Sunshine out of NYC changes for Saturday--I suspect we have a few more days to wait.

The one ship says it's going to sail an hour early.....does that happen a lot? We are flying in the morning of the cruise in November and my husband doesn't want insurance but can they just switch the sail time like that?

It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I believe this scenario occurred a few years ago with whichever ship was regularly sailing out of Puerto Rico. A storm was coming in and the port authority was shutting down the port and told the CCL ship to leave. It left several hours early with whoever was onboard. They attempted to get the rest of the guests to the ship once the storm passed, but many people missed the ship (and were refunded).

A quick trip to Wally World for some $5.00 sweatshirts should take care of the clothing concern. They should already have a couple pairs of jeans/long pants for dinner. If not, WalMart sells those for cheap too ;)

 

People could also buy I <3 NY sweatshirts which would double as warm attire and a souvenir :p

The fun is finding a Wally World in Baltimore. The one the crew used to hit on debark/embark days was closed to make way for the new UA campus.

We sail next Saturday from NYC and we're waiting to see what happens, but packing in the event our Canadian cruise turns into a Bermudan vacation or CTN.

Not as many as I can get in my suitcase but the reason for this question is because I am going to a wedding and don't want my jacket to get messed up.

If it is in a garment bag, it should be enough to just send the garment bag through the scanner. When we got married on the Pride we had to send our gowns (and the dismantled luggage rack!) through the scanner. They didn't make us remove them from the bags, but they obviously reserved the right.

Just off the Triumph last week. Got a low room rate but other costs have increased a good bit.

Port fee - $100 for five days

Gratuity - $195 for three

Afternoon tea - $1.95 charge for any tea other than a Lipton (which I could get on Lido)

Excursions have increased. Some that we could have gotten through an outside

agency were forbidden to compete with Carnival.

No bathrobes.

No refrigerator. Ice has to be requested.

Turn down service was confusing. Sometimes, he did morning and sometimes afternoon even though we had chosen.

Charge for a lot of room service items.

 

I'm only 8 sailing days from Platinum, so I will struggle on. It seemed to be very costly for 3 people this time.

What do you mean by a charge for teas other than Lipton? Do you mean there were upgraded fees for Earl Grey or Green?

As for the rest of it, we too have only sailed Carnival, but we have toured ships on other lines and every line has their own add-ons for which they charge. Also, port fees are not determined by Carnival, they are negotiated with the ports (governments) where they dock.

I got married in March and began changing everything in April (when the marriage license came back). I did everything except for my passport because it still has 6 years before expiration and pretty much got everything changed in less than 2 months. Had I wanted my passport changed, it would have taken about an additional month. PLENTY of time.

 

We will travel in November for our honeymoon and I will use my passport and the booking is under my maiden name. No big deal. :)

 

And in case you weren't aware, you have to do your Social Security Number/Card first before you can get the ball rolling everywhere else.

This is exactly what we did. We got married almost four years ago and my wife just changed her name on her passport renewal. We have an extra copy of our marriage license that we use for stuff like this, so our original license stays pretty. We sent my wife's passport out on a Friday and the renewal was in our hands the following Saturday (8 days total), so it is a pretty fast turn around. I'll do mine next year--until then I cruise with my maiden name.

Good Afternoon. We sail in a few days so I contacted Carnival for a telephone number to leave home in the event of an emergency. As luck would have it, in the past week there are some health issues that we'll be concerned about. Well I learned that the caller would need to call the 800 number, provide our booking number and Carnival would then send an email to the ship for us to call home. That seems soooo antiquated! Any experiences with this process? Is there a long delay?

 

If I purchase the premium WIFI package, is it possible that my cell phone would work?

It seems antiquated, but it's much better than the old system that cost $10 per MINUTE once a number was dialed. It cost my SiL $60 to call and leave us a voicemail and tell us our dog was dying.

The new system seems to work and CCL has been known to allow free calls for actual emergencies.

That list is outdated.

 

If you do a search on this board for Sunshine and fridge you will find that many cabins other than those on those floors have a fridge. We were on deck 6 and had one. Not built-in, clearly an afterthought, but it was there under the credenza-thingie.

It may be outdated, but CCL will only (vaguely) guarantee fridges in those cabins.

The Carnival Sunshine has a mini fridge in all suites and in staterooms on decks 3, 5, 10, 11 and 12.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2349/~/stateroom-mini-fridge

You may be able to take them back onboard, but you might want to be prepared to dispose of them upon arrival back to the US. There are large signs in most debarkation ports outlining what you cannot bring back into the US. Nuts, flowers, and animals are the big ones. On one of our cruises to Canada, flower stems were freely given at one of the ports as a welcome gesture and it was announced during the debark talk that they had to be tossed.

When we got married, we went with real touch silk flowers to avoid any issues with USDA.