Cruise wedding questions?

[Cupcake33]

I'm new to the cruise critic and have already found everyones posts to be very helpful in my research for my upcoming wedding. I am planning on getting married in March 2011 on a 7 day cruise in the carribean. I have been researching which cruiseline would be the best and least hassle to plan my wedding on. I'm really thinking that Princess cruiseline seems to be the best fit for me. Has anyone out there have any advice about getting married on princess???? I would love to talk to someone who has already gone through this and hear how their experience was. Thank you

[notentirelynormal]

Look under Special Interest Cruising section and there is a section for Honeymoon & Wedding cruises. I’m sure you’ll find every answer under the sun.

[cherylandtk]

The first decision you need to make is where you want the wedding, onboard or onshore, and what the legal license requirements are. Princess is one of the only (if not THE only) lines to perform onboard weddings.

 

Give a lot of thought to who will attend, who will go on the cruise, and who will pay for guest transportation and/or cruise fares. Try and resist the urge to tell everyone about your plans until you KNOW what you want and how to pay for it. Unless you enjoy drama do not invite anyone to attend, join you on the ship or be part of the wedding unless you first tell them the costs they will have to incur. Be prepared to have people try to talk you out of your plans and be prepared with a Plan B in case your ship is diverted for an emergency. (Yes, even if it is an onboard wedding the time or day can change). While all that comes across as a downer, take care of those things up front and you will have a wonderful cruise ship wedding. ;)

[Cupcake33]

Thank you so much for you reponse. I would really love to hear from someone who has already had an at sea wedding on a princess cruise and how it all went. Did you like it or not? What would you have changed??? I would really appreciate to hear your advice thank you

[jff50]

We were married by the Captain on the Grand Princess about 8 years ago. Great and they did everything possible to make the wedding hassle free.

[BobT172]

Our daughter got married by the Captain on the Ruby Princess January 2009. We had about 30 guests total. In a word, it was "FANTASTIC"!

 

We picked Princess, not only because we like the line but mainly because its the only one who married at sea. It has to do with the princess ships being registered in Bermuda. All the other lines did not offer any marriages by the Captain but did have arrangements for marriages at dockside or, if you wished, you could arrange your own wedding somewhere on land. I have seen more than one bride running off the ship in her gown to her wedding in a hassle.

 

Our on board wedding coordinator, Luis Renna, and the crew did an outstanding job...we were so pleased. Our wishes went beyond just the wedding which was held in the Hearts and Minds chapel, ...we had a pianist at the wedding, an hour reception in the Wheelhouse Lounge (closed to other for our private event) with h'oderves (sp?), cake, open bar, pictures, flowers, DJ... tho it was priced for an hour, it actually went about 1 1/2.

 

Then later that evening we had a wedding dinner in the Crown Grill and had a wine/liquor package as part of it.

 

We got the photo package that was offered but it actually turned out better, The pics were professionally perfect... over 800 pics throughout the ship..we bought them all on a disc... the resolution is so great that we had one made into a 16x20 portrait on canvas thru CVS Pharmacy web site for like $70...would have been hundreds on board ship.

 

The only negative thing was all the hassle with the arrangements. You deal with a group that I think are not Princess employees... they were not able to answer many of the detailed questions you would have for such an event... there is a ton pf paperwork to complete (over 20 pages)...

 

Despite that, I would higly recommend to go this way...being married by the Captain at sea was so great... they only do 2 per sea day so plan way ahead...the demand is high.

 

I would recommend that as soon as you get on board to meet with the wedding coordination and go over the details of what you ordered and expect. The onshore folks did not communicate very well with the onboard coordinator but he worked hardo make things perfect.

 

Being on the cruise, it turned out to be like a week long wedding ... a good time was hard by all.

 

On other thing I would recommend (and to any cruiser) is to fly in at least a day ahead. We all flew into FLL a day early, stayed at the Embassy Suites, and all had a great evening socializing.

 

I would be glad to try to answer any questions you have.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2010 by BobT172

[Cupcake33]

Thank you so much!!!! It is such a relief to hear from someone who has actually experienced a wedding on the ruby princess and that it went fantastic!!!! I cannot thank you enough. You daughter looks absolutely stunning in her wedding dress and i'm so happy to hear that you all had such a wonderful experience. I'm planning an at sea wedding in March of 2011. I hope that my plans go as smoothly as hers did. I am so glad to hear that you were happy with the pictures. For some reason I was worried that they would not be able to take good quality pictures. Do you have any idea what the package of pictures cost??? Just so I can get an idea for an estimate of what to expect. Thank you again for your response.

[BobT172]

If I remember there we several picture options available in the paperwork. You should get that from Princess ASAP and nail down a date. We picked a package in the range of $200-250...I forget what it entailed. But after seeing all the great work the photog did (her name was Lucille) she printed additonal pictures taken of the entire group (one for each attendee) at no cost then offered us a disc of all the pics she took (800+) for about $350-400 more. We got them all.

 

She took numerous pics at the wedding preparation, at the ceremony, on the Bridge ( a special visit there for the wedding couple) walking throughout the ship, in the main Piazza areas ( a pic of each attendee or couple separately with the bride/groom plus group shots), and at the reception. The quality was top shelf.

 

Here are a few more to show you what she did..

 

 

this is the one we had printed into a canvas portrait

 

 

Hope this helps....

Edited April 17, 2010 by BobT172

[imsulin]

Something you really need to consider is that March, for years, has been "Spring Break" month, and many families with all ages of kids, and college kids who like to "Party-Hearty" will be onboard just about every ship doing Caribbean cruises. While the weather is generally very good this time of year, the prices are also higher, and the ships tend to fill up quickly. I stopped cruising over Spring Break after 2003 - too many problems! In mid-September of 2005, I cruised on the Caribbean Princess, which was supposed to do an Eastern itinerary. Because of Hurricane# 1928375 that year, we were re-routed to a Western itinerary, and didn't find out until we boarded. It turned out to be a great cruise, but there were two couples - with family and friends - who had planned to be married on St. Thomas. Since we couldn't/didn't go there, both couples were married onboard on a sea day, by the Captain. The cruise line's Wedding Department is completely separate from the cruise line itself, and has an additional charge. If you're considering an on-shore wedding, some ports, like Princess Cays and Grand Cayman are tender ports, and there's no guarantee you'll get there. Good weather and prices are (IMO) late November after Thanksgiving through mid-December. Check out the Wedding Board - you'll find lots of good information there! I like Princess - great cruise line! Happy planning, and best of luck to you!

 

BobT - great pictures!!

Edited April 17, 2010 by imsulin

[BobT172]

The cruise line's Wedding Department is completely separate from the cruise line itself, and has an additional charge.

 

I agree imsulin... I think the onshore wedding people we dealt with were not Princess employees...probably had never been on a ship They could not answer alot of our questions... we had to deal with a supervisor and even that was not the best. That is why I highly recommend that the first thing when getting on board is to get with the ship's wedding coordinator and go over your paperwork/contract and make sure he has all the info he needs. He will make it right if there are any disconncets. The communications between the onshore people and the onboard coordinator left something to be desired.

 

The onboard wedding coordinator was a ships officer...uniform and all. Did a great job.

Edited April 18, 2010 by BobT172

[imsulin]

I agree imsulin... I think the onshore wedding people we dealt with were not Princess employees...probably had never been on a ship They could not answer alot of our questions... we had to deal with a supervisor and even that was not the best. That is why I highly recommend that the first thing when getting on board is to get with the ship's wedding coordinator and go over your paperwork/contract and make sure he has all the info he needs. He will make it right if there are any disconncets. The communications between the onshore people and the onboard coordinator left something to be desired.

 

The onboard wedding coordinator was a ships officer...uniform and all. Did a great job.

 

You're right! Wedding Departments (which are usually variations of "The Wedding Experience") are independently owned and operated, but do contract with cruise lines, so there IS someone onboard to help you....who DOES work for the cruise line. I agree with you about the lack of cruising experience among the "wedding" planners - who are again - independent agents. Tons of paperwork, and I also agree with you about the poor coordination and information between the Wedding planners and the cruise line. I'm SO glad that all worked well for you and your lovely daughter! Great pictures, and I would also recommend Princess if you want to be married aboard a cruise ship!

Edited April 18, 2010 by imsulin

[daldog]

I got married on the Caribbean Princess in 2005 on deck at sea and my sister-in-law did the same in 2007 in the chapel - and we both attended each others. Our's was where she got the idea of course. :rolleyes: But two vastly different experiences.

 

I think alot of it has (unfortunately) to do with the luck of the draw on your cruise staff. Our captain was warm and wonderful; her's was harried and clearly not interested. Our wedding coordinator on board was awesome and her's didn't seem to have a clue (but my SIL was kind of scattered, so maybe it was cause and effect.) We loved our photos, she hated her's (her photographer seemed inexperienced to me; I did alot of post processing for them removing lanterns sprouting from their heads and stuff like that.)

 

The other factor is your personality type and how you go into it. Some of this has already been said, but since it's a big deal, I'll voice it again. The pre-cruise planning is not Princess and it's rather cookie-cutter ... limited choices. If you're a real control freak, or resistant to change, upset by the unexpected, or need things to be exactly so, then I would say maybe it's not the best choice. On the flip side, if you can roll with the punches and are not the type to get all upset if your cake is the wrong color, then it can be alot of fun. We personally found it pretty hassle free and had a blast.

 

PS I agree; defintely buy the disc with your picture images. it will seem like alot of money, since there will be many many pictures on there you don't want to keep, but without the digital images you don't have rights to copy and you'll wish you had them later. With the disc, you can have anything you want made up at a later time.

[Pythian]

Cupcake33:

 

My daughter was married on-board, and had a great wedding & reception. We had about 40 guests and the wedding itself was performed on-board before departure. We were given early boarding and assistance. The entire reception was on-board there after (we had open bar, food, cake, music, dancing, etc. very nice). The photographers were very good and had good packages. Almost all of us left right before the ship sailed (I think two close friends sailed with her and her new husband – in their own cabin, of course…).

 

Overall experience – pretty darned good.

[imsulin]

I got married on the Caribbean Princess in 2005 on deck at sea and my sister-in-law did the same in 2007 in the chapel - and we both attended each others. Our's was where she got the idea of course. :rolleyes: But two vastly different experiences.

 

I think alot of it has (unfortunately) to do with the luck of the draw on your cruise staff. Our captain was warm and wonderful; her's was harried and clearly not interested. Our wedding coordinator on board was awesome and her's didn't seem to have a clue (but my SIL was kind of scattered, so maybe it was cause and effect.) We loved our photos, she hated her's (her photographer seemed inexperienced to me; I did alot of post processing for them removing lanterns sprouting from their heads and stuff like that.)

 

The other factor is your personality type and how you go into it. Some of this has already been said, but since it's a big deal, I'll voice it again. The pre-cruise planning is not Princess and it's rather cookie-cutter ... limited choices. If you're a real control freak, or resistant to change, upset by the unexpected, or need things to be exactly so, then I would say maybe it's not the best choice. On the flip side, if you can roll with the punches and are not the type to get all upset if your cake is the wrong color, then it can be alot of fun. We personally found it pretty hassle free and had a blast.

 

PS I agree; defintely buy the disc with your picture images. it will seem like alot of money, since there will be many many pictures on there you don't want to keep, but without the digital images you don't have rights to copy and you'll wish you had them later. With the disc, you can have anything you want made up at a later time.

 

What a great post!! (You weren't one of those scheduled to be married on St.Thomas while cruising the CB in Sept. 2005, were you?) It's always good to get info. from someone who has actually done a cruise wedding! I was a TA, and just booked them (and paid to go on two of them). This was in 2000, so well before internet booking. One was RCI. One was Carnival. Very different experiences for both bridal parties.

[daldog]

What a great post!! (You weren't one of those scheduled to be married on St.Thomas while cruising the CB in Sept. 2005, were you?) It's always good to get info. from someone who has actually done a cruise wedding! I was a TA, and just booked them (and paid to go on two of them). This was in 2000, so well before internet booking. One was RCI. One was Carnival. Very different experiences for both bridal parties.

 

Well, thanks. :) I actually joined Cruise Critic to do my research for our wedding cruise. And no, I live in Florida and so would never book a destination wedding during the peak of hurricane season! We always wanted to be married onboard on a sea day - one of the reasons we chose it actually is because we wanted outside at sea. My husband is an Army boat captain, my family are sailors and my DH and I share a love of the water, beach, diving, etc which is what eventually led us to chose a cruise wedding.

 

And here's the funny part -talk about being able to swing with the punches. We asked to be married on deck and were told by the pre-planning company "absolutely no, it never happens". (Which I knew to be not true from reading these boards.) And they tried to make it sound better, "it will be too windy", you can't have music" etc etc So we gave in adn booked it anyway. And then we get on board and guess what? We're getting married outside on deck over the Aft Pool. So very littel notice, but we were the happy kind of surprised. My dress got soaking wet on the bottom from them hosing down the decks and my SIL was horrified that my hair blew around, and how there were people in bathing suits looking down on our wedding from higher decks. Lol. We thought it was awesome! And my dress did dry. We sailed with a party of 18, but who knows how many we had in attendance. :) My parents actually met someone on one of their later European Princess cruises that had been on our cruise and remembered us! I think because my husband and others were in uniform, we stuck out. But how cool was that? My mom liked it.

 

Our's suited us, but after my SIL, I worry about others sometimes. I think it's great for some people, but not for everyone.

[Cupcake33]

Thank you again everyone for the helpful advice. I am planning the cruise in early march. March 6th!!! So I am hoping that this is too early for spring breakers and surely most lil' ones will still be in school. I really want to get married on the deck somewhere so I hope that princess is still allowing this. BobT172 these pictures are awesome! Thank you for posting them.

[lgt]

Our son & (now) daughter in law got married on the Carib. Princess 3 yrs. ago. It was fantastic. They got married on deck on a sea day & it was beautiful. We sailed with 50 friends & family. I assisted with the arrangements & planning & can give you some words of advice (&caution). We got quotes from several online t.a.s & went with the one we were most comfortable with (and the best price). The ta had quoted us prices for each major cat. that we could include in the save the date notes that were sent. It was up to everyone to make their own arrangements for their cabins. We had requested all late (fixed) seating, but we had so many people that when we got onboard the Maitre D left us a message to see him & he assigned us an area in one of the anytime dining rooms & that way we could change tables within the section each night & sit with different people. That worked out great.

We splurged & booked the Owners Suite for this cruise. It turned out to be the meeting place for all. Our dil got dressed in there along with the bridesmaids. We had several cocktail & sailaway parties in our suite & tipped our cabin Stewart well. He deserved it.

Our dil ordered silk flowers for herself & bridesmaids & corsages & boutonnieres from a company in Fla. & had them delivered to our pre-cruise hotel. You can't bring live flowers back into the states. The ship photographer was fantastic. The captain couldn't have been nicer & everyone had a great time. We took onboard with us several cases of wine to have at the wedding dinner in the Crown steakhouse; we had pre-ordered the wine thru Total Wine. 8 of us flew to Ft.Lauderdale 2 days before the cruise; everyone else came the day before. Most of us stayed at the Renaissance thru Priceline; a couple people stayed elsewhere. We had a pizza & beer party poolside at the Renaissance (they couldn't have been nicer). The hotel helped us arrange a charter bus to get to the ship (5 min. away). We had priority boarding. Lori sent monthly updates to those attending with suggestions for shore excursions, cabin assignments, etc. When we started getting deals for hotels on priceline & hotwire, she emailed everyone & let them know so they could bid as well.

I think that about covers it. If I can help in any way, let me know.

Congratulations & have a wonderful wedding.

Linda

[Cupcake33]

I'm so appreciative of all the posts and advice. I am so excited right now. I just booked the cruise and wedding so it is officially scheduled. Hope all goes as planned now. We will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Ruby Princess leaving on Feb. 27th. Our actual wedding date will be on March 1st an at sea wedding hopefully on the deck w/ fantastic pictures.

YEAH:D

[life.is.good]

I'm so appreciative of all the posts and advice. I am so excited right now. I just booked the cruise and wedding so it is officially scheduled. Hope all goes as planned now. We will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Ruby Princess leaving on Feb. 27th. Our actual wedding date will be on March 1st an at sea wedding hopefully on the deck w/ fantastic pictures.

YEAH:D

 

I'm getting married at sea also, on the Emerald Princess so please let me know if you have any questions. So far I've turned in my initial paperwork and found emailing the TWE (wedding people) gets you a quicker response and you also have proof if needed later. I'm also sending out monthly newsletters to our guests (35) and will start on the welcome bags once the final payments are submitted. Good luck!

[stephaniemichael]

I'm new to the cruise critic and have already found everyones posts to be very helpful in my research for my upcoming wedding. I am planning on getting married in March 2011 on a 7 day cruise in the carribean. I have been researching which cruiseline would be the best and least hassle to plan my wedding on. I'm really thinking that Princess cruiseline seems to be the best fit for me. Has anyone out there have any advice about getting married on princess???? I would love to talk to someone who has already gone through this and hear how their experience was. Thank you

 

Hi Cupcake,

great idea! We got married last year on the Tahitian Princess. Best idea EVER! It was as elegant or as simple as we wanted it. We wanted elegant Really it is very reasonable and they make it quite a memorable experience. Only 2 cruise lines do it where it is legal, I think,NCL and Princess. I recommend it with certain cautions. Iit takes abo ut 3 mnths to set it up. Do you have specific questions I can answer. Perhaps we can chat off cruise critic.

 

Stephanie

[Artemis908]

I am also getting married on Princess next year, thus far my experience with TWE has been fairly good! She generally responds to my e-mails within a few days and has been fairly helpful. The only problem I have had is concerning flowers, I am considering getting silk flowers and would like any opinions on that. I want blue hydrangeas but TWE says that is a special request and may become a problem. Any recommendations?

 

Also, I'd like to say that I do like to be in control, but I also know when to let go. I am a really organized planner and tend to write down and print every important thing I need. My mother is luckily the same way and I have appointed her to take care of things for me that day. I am not getting a cake or anything, so when it comes down to it, I don't think I am too concerned about most details. It's such a good idea to sit down with the coordinator when getting ready to board, I am getting married on embarkation day, so I hope it's not going to be too hard to speak to her.

[ggprincess2004]

I am also getting married on Princess next year, thus far my experience with TWE has been fairly good! She generally responds to my e-mails within a few days and has been fairly helpful. The only problem I have had is concerning flowers, I am considering getting silk flowers and would like any opinions on that. I want blue hydrangeas but TWE says that is a special request and may become a problem. Any recommendations?

 

Also, I'd like to say that I do like to be in control, but I also know when to let go. I am a really organized planner and tend to write down and print every important thing I need. My mother is luckily the same way and I have appointed her to take care of things for me that day. I am not getting a cake or anything, so when it comes down to it, I don't think I am too concerned about most details. It's such a good idea to sit down with the coordinator when getting ready to board, I am getting married on embarkation day, so I hope it's not going to be too hard to speak to her.

 

Yes, I do have a suggestion. I was married on board the Grand and had a fantastic experience...btw.

If you want blue hydrangeas and are considering getting silk flowers, then by all means bring along the silk flower bouquet that you want. If you are not happy with the selections that are available on the forms you fill out - do it yourself. Expecting them to handle deviations is an exercise in frustration and uncertainty.

 

You really are not going to have a whole lot of time to sit down with the on-board wedding coordinator - the most efficient way to make sure all it the way you want it is to take a copy the completed forms with you, have them ready to pull out at a moments notice, and use that to review the on-board arrangements.

 

Most importantly, relax and enjoy your special day!:)

[Kruisenut]

I was married on the Star 8 years ago in March. Princess is the only way to go, and all 40+ guests would agreee. One additonal perk is the web site for family and friends that can't make it in person can view live via the chapel web cam. Congratulations and enjoy!

[life.is.good]

I am also getting married on Princess next year, thus far my experience with TWE has been fairly good! She generally responds to my e-mails within a few days and has been fairly helpful. The only problem I have had is concerning flowers, I am considering getting silk flowers and would like any opinions on that. I want blue hydrangeas but TWE says that is a special request and may become a problem. Any recommendations?

 

Also, I'd like to say that I do like to be in control, but I also know when to let go. I am a really organized planner and tend to write down and print every important thing I need. My mother is luckily the same way and I have appointed her to take care of things for me that day. I am not getting a cake or anything, so when it comes down to it, I don't think I am too concerned about most details. It's such a good idea to sit down with the coordinator when getting ready to board, I am getting married on embarkation day, so I hope it's not going to be too hard to speak to her.

 

I'm was worried about the flowers also so I ordered the flowers that comes with the package and plan to give them to the MOH. I've ordered real-touch silk flowers from Hibiscus Floral online, I'm scheduled to receive my flowers next week and I'm really excited to see them. Mark, the owner has been really nice to work with. I can let you know how they turn out when I get them if you'd like. (http://www.hibiscusflorals.com/)

[Essiesmom]

Just FYI Celebrity now have their ships registered in Malta, so can do weddings onboard at sea. EM