Cruise, Family, Wedding, and Questions

[traylynn]

Hello All- I am a newbie and I have so many questions.

 

I am torn between St. Lucia and the Cayman Islands. So many of the other locations appear very popular and extremely expensive.

 

My greatest concern is having my family and friends come along. I live near Galveston and the idea of leaving out of Galveston is the best economical option, but I have done that itinerary and Montego Bay is not my ideal location as a port to stop over. Although most of my family lives in Texas and financially that would be the best bet for them.

 

It is all about me (how selfish) so I would like to leave out of Fort Lauderdale on a different route to the Cayman Islands. Even if I selected St. Lucia they would still need to head to Florida.

 

How did you select your destination, based on family or all about you.

[6rugrats]

It's your wedding, so you should make the choice that suits you best, but realize that there are always family members/friends that just can't afford to come even though they would like to, ones that have no vacation time, or ones that can't/don't like to cruise.

 

Just be aware that the Cayman Islands is a tendered port and if the weather is bad or waves high, and you aren't able to make this port, you will not be able to be married there. Have a back up plan.

[audi02]

I do feel that the wedding is your day and should be how you want it. That being said, make sure you think about who you want to attend. I chose a location that was good for my guest. Only because it was important that as many people as possible can go. I really want a huge party with everyone I love. If picking an expensive destination will limit most of your guest, you have to decide what is most important to make you enjoy your day. In the end, people will do what they can, and you can't stress about that. I did my best to make it affordable, but who ever can't go, oh well. At least I know that there will be quite a few people who have signed up to cruise with us.

[maddam_5maria]

My choice was based on my guest. Having those specific loved ones there with us was more important to me.

 

Since we live 10 mins from a cruise terminal it was the easiest and most affordable option for my guest as well as us. We paid for 24 of our guest (immediate family members) to sail with us. If we had to include airfare on top of their cruise fare, we simply wouldn't have been able to give them that luxury. It also allowed for me to have non-sailing guest as well since not all our loved ones could sail.

[merocket59]

I would have preferred a longer cruise with a different itinerary but my dad suggested the cruise be shorter since some people (like he) don't have much vacation time. Since he gave me a sizable amount of money for the cruise I picked a different cruise but I wasn't dead set on any other itinerary so it wasn't much of an inconvenience. The kicker is he is going on a longer cruise this month with a better itinerary haha, guess he was only giving me a suggestion..

[traylynn]

Thanks Merocket59- I guess that does make we can always take the itinerary I want at a later date. Thanks again. Most of my family lives within 3 hours of Galveston but many have never cruised. Hopefully I can come to a decision soon.

[life.is.good]

We went through the same back and forth deciding on our wedding. We live in the West so everyone told us to get married in San Diego because it was a easier for them to get to, even though we really wanted a Caribbean cruise wedding. So for about six months I collected info on SD even though it's not what we wanted. We then decided that we need to do this for us and the people that would fly to FL and go on the cruise would be the same people that would go to SD. So we let everyone know the plans with 10 months to save and surprisingly with no complaints (at least openly). I'm completely content with our choice.