Royal carribean or carnival

[tmbrown86]

I would like to know if Carnival weddings are better than Royal Carribean Weddings. I really haven't heard of many complaints from Carnival like I have from Royal Carribean. I had a friend get married on Carnival and she loved it.

[bellasteena]

I chose Royal Caribbean over Carnival because I felt that the ship looked more luxurious. We have only sailed Carnival before but I couldn't imagine having my reception in the disco with giant feet statues that glow in the dark. It just wasn't the look that I was going for in a wedding. I am using a private WC for my wedding on the beach so I can't comment on the ship's wedding coordinators. The benefit of Carnival is that is it is much more affordable so you might get more guests interested in coming.

[lifeguardjen]

It really depends on your tastes, I have been on 3 carnival ships and have found them all a little bit outdated but they were cheap. I am getting married on the island but i wanted my guests to get the best they could from Carnival so I booked on the Dream.

 

Also you might want to consider how many people are going to, the state rooms are bigger on Carnival but the older ships are kinda stuck in 90's decore.

 

If there's only a couple people going I would suggest the Oasis, it looks so awesome! I would look at pics of the chapel on the different lines as well as the reception area.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[tricy99]

ok so this is my opinion...I have only sailed carnival and I hear great things about Royal such as they treat you like royality the wait staff are expectional....However I felt that way on Carnival. My fiance and I are in our early 30's and so is 75% of my guest. I hear Carnival is more of a party boat! I wanted to keep my guest age ranges in mind and considering that the few guest that have sailed before used carnival no one sailed Royal in my group. As you can see I chose Carnival for the price as well. Hope this helps!

[caringone]

My fiance and I have cruised on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We have good things to say about both. I feel it depends on the itinerary that you want and the length of time you and the people that you are sailing with will be able to take off of work. We are getting married on NCL and this is because it is leaving Vancouver (getting married embarkation day) and first leg is 5 days and we felt this is the amount of time people would be able to get off. Plus, we liked the itinerary. After the 5 days we will continue on through the Panama and end up in Miami. Our travel agent has been great with the planning. Congrats and good luck!

[tmbrown86]

Thank you so much for your reply, i think I am going to stick with Royal Carribean as well.

[deelyte81]

Did you start your planning yet? I am starting to do research for my wedding in 2011 and I think I am also leaning towards Royal. I am interested to hear your reviews on the planning and customer service. Good luck with everything!

[yibba712]

I ending up booking my wedding through Carnival although I researched all of the cruise lines wedding packages. Carnival's pricing was geared more towards a group affair while some of the other cruise lines packages were more centered around just the bride and groom... Some of the CL charge upwards of $75 pp to have a mini reception after the ceremony. The package we chose from Carnival included a reception for 20 people. If you hit more than 20 guests, you pay a pp fee but it is much more reasonable than other CL. Plus during the reception, you have open bar.

 

It is really important to research both companies and compare and contrast what you get for the money you pay. I found that we were getting more bang for our buck with Carninval on many levels! The wedding packages fit our needs better, the cruise fare is cheaper for guest, and we chose to cruise on the new ship - Dream.

[magenta321]

Did you start your planning yet? I am starting to do research for my wedding in 2011 and I think I am also leaning towards Royal. I am interested to hear your reviews on the planning and customer service. Good luck with everything!

 

I started planning mine with Royal Caribbean, so I am working with Royal Weddings. I have found everything to be simple so far. I just famusxed over my choices for music, etc. I have the email and phone number for one WC, and I only talk to her. If I don't get her when I call, I ask for her. I think this cuts down on a lot of the problems. Whatever I can handle via email I do, as well. I've been pleased with how easy everything has been so far.

 

I am 31, and I chose Royal, because they're the only ship I've ever cruised with, and I didn't want to find out how much less luxury Carnival may or may not have on my wedding. The comment about the feet in the night club is hysterical... I can't even imagine having that at my wedding. At first I was afraid with Royal I might get Maharaja's Lounge, but now that I have my dress and it won't clash with the lounge, I'm not afraid. I might actually like it :) That's the wildest I think I could get, so I'm fine with this.

 

All that said, I'm sure Carnival is fine, or they wouldn't be so popular. I think you just have to research everything and go with the choice that feels right for you.

[hunniebee724]

We chose Carnival over Royal Caribbean because it goes to 3 ports. The RC cruises leaving from our city only go to Bermuda.

[Blue_waters]

We had a terrible experience in 2007 with Royal Romance aka The Wedding Experience aka Royal Wedding or whatever name they are calling themselves this year. Maybe they have changed their practices but I doubt it. You can read the details on my Freedom of the Seas review, but a few highlights or lowlights:

1) Did not get a personal wedding coordinator - it was a boiler room operation, never spoke to the same person twice. Our "personal" wedding coordinator could never be reached and did not return calls once the contract was signed.

2) Continually lost our faxes and emails - the whole operation was disorganized and unprofessional.

3) Very limited number of non-cruising guests allowed to attend

4) Frozen wedding cake.

5) Faded mimeographed misspelled wedding vows

6) Our "personal" wedding coordinator was late for wedding party boarding

7) We were given <24 hours notice to turn in our guests' info and threatened that if we didn't, we couldn't have any guests.

8) They LOST our marriage certificate. We had to get a duplicate which took months.

 

Positives:

1) Beautiful chapel setting for wedding on RCCL ships

2) Our reception in the Viking Lounge was elegant and had spectacular views of the Miami skyline and ocean.

3) Food and service were very good (other than the frozen cake).

 

I have never been on Carnival so I can not say if our experience was better or worse. I can say that as far as the ships and cruise experience, we have always been happy with Royal Caribbean. Everything is first rate, except unfortunately for the wedding coordinator service, which is as we understand run by a vendor and not RCCL themselves. My suggestion would be to get married on shore and go RC for the honeymoon cruise. Save yourself the headaches and the hassles of trying to get married on a cruise.

 

Favorable Winds and Fair Sailing,

Lorie

 

Explorer of the Seas - 2005

Freedom of the Seas - 2007

Sovereign of the Seas - 2008

Norwegian Sky - 2008

Freedom of the Seas - 2009

Oasis of the Seas - 2010 (booked)

[engagedonthesea]

I struggled with the decision of Carnival out of NY vs RCCL out of Bayonne for my 2005 wedding. Ultimately, I choose Carnival because:

1. Ports of Call
   
2. Price of Cruise
   
3. Price of Wedding and Reception with all extras was significantly less on Carnival than RCCL
   
4. Location- Cruising out of Mid-town Manhatten is exciting. Also our outdoor wedding pictures have Mid-town Manhatten, the Empire State Building and the Intrepid in the back ground.
   

On Carnival, our ceremony was in a Chapel and the Reception was in the Piano Bar with classical piano music. It was elegant and lovely, the rooms were a bit dark and had more of a Vegas Decor than the light and tropical decor that RCCL would offer.

 

All in all I was happy with my Carnival Wedding. Although, we enjoy RCCL, Holland America and Celebrity for cruises-- we will sail Carnival again for our family cruises.