srp1419

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Hi! I was hoping someone could share their experience with a symbolic wedding ceremony on a Royal Caribbean ship?

We are planning to get legally married just before going(no ceremony or reception), and having the symbolic wedding on board be our "real" wedding, with the dress, some guests, and maybe a cocktail reception after.

Anything anyone has to share would be so appreciated. Price/experience with the photographer/actual wedding day/planning/planners/venue etc. Thanksss!

Hi!

We are hoping to have our wedding onboard one of Carnivals ships. We will be getting legally married at home which is why it will have to be a "symbolic wedding" or under the "vow renewal".

My concern is, from what I hear Carnival will not let you pick the day and most times you don't find out until you are actually on the ship, is this true? I know I read on their website that it cannot be on a formal night, nor on embarkation day or while in port. Ok. Fine.

What if there are only 2 sea days and both of those are the formal night? Do they do symbolic ceremonies in the evening once the ship leaves the port of call that day?

The reason I'm concerned is I'd hate for them to tell me the wedding is going to be near the end of the cruise because then I'd be worrying the whole time about getting awkward tan lines or sunburns for the pictures. I'd much prefer the ceremony to be on the second day so that we could relax and enjoy the rest of the week.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Hollyme: thanks for the great detailed information!!

One follow up question: when they held rooms waiting for your guests to book as part of the group, did you have to choose the cabins you thought your guest may want? Ex. Asking them to reserve a certain amount of insides/balcony/ etc? Or any and all room options were avaible for your guests to book within the group booking time frame?

Everyone doesn't have to book at the same time, however there is a limited window of time for them to book. You don't put a deposit down though.

 

I didn't bother with a group booking because I needed to book my room before the wedding and I'm giving my guests plenty of time to consider it. I didn't want to feel like I had to put any pressure on my guests to book.

 

 

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Thanks for responding!!

You mentioned that you didn't do a group cruise because you needed to book your room before the wedding.

Does that mean when you do a group booking you don't book your room right away as the organizer ?

Great thanks everyone for your responses.

We are planning to have the wedding on embarkation day while still in port of Miami. As I said so that our guests have a choice whether they will cruise or not. And also this will eliminate the worry of doing it in a port and maybe missing the port because of bad weather.

Hi! I was wondering how does booking a group cruise work?

We were thinking about doing a cruise wedding on Carnival, and I was wondering if I do it as a "group" cruise, does everyone have to book at the same time? Or do I have to pay a deposit upfront for a certain amount of rooms and then my guests have a certain amount of time to book? Or...?

If someone could please explain how this work to me it would be great! Thank you!!

Hi! I was wondering how does booking a group cruise work?

We were thinking about doing a cruise wedding, and I was wondering if I do it as a "group" cruise, does everyone have to book at the same time? Or do I have to pay a deposit upfront for a certain amount of rooms and then my guests have a certain amount of time to book? Or...?

What happens if not enough guests end up booking in the end?

If someone could please explain how this work to me it would be great! Thank you!!

For us, I'm from Canada, finance from Costa Rica. I've been living in CR for 3 years. My family is from Canada, his from CR. So we decided to all meet in the middle and have our wedding in Miami on the ship before it leaves. Guests can decide if they will cruise or stay in Miami for a couple days.

There's no right or wrong. I think it's your day, do whatever makes the two do you happy!

We were two booked in an inside for 4. Two weeks before he cruise they called and asked if we wanted an upsell to a baloncy for $400 more total since we were 2 in and inside for 4. They would have better luck selling our inside for 4 people than the balcony for 4 people. We declined since it was too much for us at the time. Four days before the cruise she called us again with an upsell to a balcony That still holds 4 people but this time for $200, for the same reason as before, they would have an easier time selling the inside for 4 over the balcony for 4. So we took it. We weren't forced, but I guess we could have been.

Have you considered another option? Perhaps set up a Wedding web site with an RSVP function?

 

I found that even though we gave our guests a lot of options, we still ended up chasing about a third of them down for an answer. Most guests are savvy enough to RSVP online and driving them to your website for details may help you in the long run.

I've thought about doing a wedding website too! You're right doing the RSVP in this way would make them HAVE to check out the site and get more info ! Thanks!

You can do a wedding website and provide the link to the web site on the RSVP card. Or' date=' depending on how formal your invitation is, you can give the RSVP instructions on the actual invitation: with the instructions being to RSVP on the website.

 

We have my daughter's wedding website at RileyGrey. They offer a very professional website that is very easy to customize. They have a nice RSVP option.[/quote']

 

Great idea thanks !!

Hi! I just started reading this board and was wondering what exactly are the photo books a lot of brides have been taking about. The ones that the wedding photographer offers. Is it just a photo album with pictures inserted into the pages, or are the photos printed right on the paper?...or?

I would love to see what these look like.

thanks!

Hi brides! Is it tacky to write on the RSVPs to our guests to rsvp by phone or e-mail, rather than having them mail back the RSVP?

The reasoning is that I am from Canada and my fiancé is from Costa Rica. We are living in Costa Rica, which would make it very difficult to have our Canadian guests mail them back to us. We will be mailing the invites to our Canadian guests when we are in Canada visiting. I know I could have them mail the RSVP to my parents who live in Canada, but it just seem so much easier and quicker for them to do it by phone or email. But not sure if this is a no no.

Thoughts?

We will be getting married on the ship while still in port in Miami. On embarktionday. I do know the license will come from Miami. I'm just wondering if we have to get it our selves or will Carnival do that for us. Also,since neither of us are Americans will this be an issue in obtaining the license ? Thank

Hi!

I'm hoping some brides who have gotten married on embarkation day out of Florida can help me here.

I am a Canadian (fiancé from Costa Rica) we are living in Costa Rica but want to get married on embarktion day on Carnival departing from Miami. I am wondering how this works? How do we go about obtaining a marriage license in Miami. Does Carnival do this for us? Or do we have to arrive a couple days ahead and do this ourselves?

I have written the wedding department but it's been over week with no response.

Thanks!

Hi! We are strongly considering having our symbolic ceremony on Carnival. We will het legally married before going as it will make things easier for us.

Will Carnival allow us to choose which day we want to have our symbolic (vow renewal) ceremony?

I know I read stuff vaguely about not doing it on formal nights. Or the first day but I'm not sure if that's correct. The itinerary we are looking at, has a day at sea on the 2 day, and the 2 last days.

Hi everyone! I'm just wondering how far in advance should you book your wedding, for planning and organizing from the cruise line it's self, and second how far in advance should you book when keeping friends and family in mind.

Our problem is my fiancé doesn't get his available vacation options for the following year until November. We really don't want to chance it going in hurricane season even though I know the odds are pretty good we wouldn't encounter one.

So this leaves us pretty much knowing in November 2016 when we could get married the next year. Possibilities could include Januaury - April 2017 (giving 2-5 months adavace notice) or December 2017 (giving one years notice) there are far better prices and itineraries from January-April however I am not sure if this is enough time, for the cruise line it's self or for guests?

Could it be an online promotion for the products ?

I think the cruise ships (Princess, Royal, Carnival ...) don't need to rely on random "online promotion" on cruise critic hahah. Considering they are on almost all of these ships now as the ONLY jewlery shops on the ships. Would be nice though if all I had to do all day was post and read non sense on here lol

I'm curious why this question has been posted on 5 different boards.

I'm curious why you have nothing else to do but read 5 different cruise forums lol. The reason why I posted is because I wanted to get a variety of answers and perhaps more than one wouldn't have offered helpful info like your post. Thanks anyways though.

Gets people talking about EFFY. I got a ring I liked on Regal. Company gave me the run around for my free appraisal paperwork needed to add to our insurance. Won't be getting the necklace next Month.

Perhaps they gave you the run around for the appraisal paperwork because the price you were going to pay was actually more than it was worth? They gave us the paperwork immediately. Although not significantly lower. One ring came in at $100 more than we paid and the other came in at $500 more than we paid.

This sounds like a question for Effy, not cruise critic

I thought other CRUISERS may have purchased from EFFY since they are taking over quite a few ships.

Hi! We purchased a ring at an EFFY store in port while on a Carnival cruise. It's very beautiful, paid just under $2000, since then I have seen a pair of earrings there I just love. EFFY said they have an upgrading policy, however I didn't ask too many questions about it. Could I potentially give this ring back, and get a smaller more modest ring and the earrings if they equal the same price as my first ring (or if more expensive I would pay the difference)?

Thanks for any input you have.

Hi! We purchased a ring at an EFFY store in port while on a Carnival cruise. It's very beautiful, paid just under $2000, since then I have seen a pair of earrings there I just love. EFFY said they have an upgrading policy, however I didn't ask too many questions about it. Could I potentially give this ring back, and get a smaller more modest ring and the earrings if they equal the same price as my first ring (or if more expensive I would pay the difference)?

Thanks for any input you have.

Hi! We purchased a ring at an EFFY store in port while on a Carnival cruise. It's very beautiful, paid just under $2000, since then I have seen a pair of earrings there I just love. EFFY said they have an upgrading policy, however I didn't ask too many questions about it. Could I potentially give this ring back, and get a smaller more modest ring and the earrings if they equal the same price as my first ring (or if more expensive I would pay the difference)?

Thanks for any input you have.