Proposal help

[cantwait10]

Im planning a cruise on RCCL. I would like to propose to my girlfriend.. i was thinking either have someone from the cruise line place a bottle of champagne at the front of the ship, maybe on the helipad, so after dinner we could walk out there and it will be waiting for us, or something similar in our balcony room where i have them leave some champagne or wine on the balcony for me and i could take her out there after dinner when the sun is going down. will the cruise line do this? or maybe i could just order a bottle of champagne from room service? i dont know..im trying to come up with a good plan. if anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know. thanks

[drd-aus]

I would call the cruise line directly and outline your idea then ask if they can come up with any enhancements. I'm sure people have proposed while on a cruise and they might have an idea. If for some reason the phone rep is not helpful say thanks, hang up then try again. You will eventually find a helpful rep who thinks this is a super idea.

[cantwait10]

thanks...i emailed them yesterday, waiting for a response...another question..in the bar or champagne bar, can i purchase a whole bottle and leave with it with glasses? maybe after dinner we can stop in a bar, buy a bottle and i can tell her i want to go for a walk..?

[Abear2]

That sounds so sweet. :) Maybe you can order room service and when she opens the tray with chocolate strawberries and a bottle of Champayne the ring will also be on the tray.;)

[cantwait10]

i also have to figure out how to get ring past airpport security and cruise ship security in my carry on without them pulling me to the side for inspection in front of my girlfriend..that would really ruin it

[Dani24]

i also have to figure out how to get ring past airpport security and cruise ship security in my carry on without them pulling me to the side for inspection in front of my girlfriend..that would really ruin it

 

It's unlikely that you'll get pulled aside for inspection because of a ring. I carry all kids of jewelry on the ship with me (and on airplanes) and have never once been stopped because of it. Pack it in your carry on, and not in your pocket (carrying it directly on your person is more likely to cause a problem, since you're supposed to remove all metal from your pockets and off your body before going through the screener). Just stuff it in your carry on bag, and as long as you don't have anything else in there that is prohibited or could arouse suspicion (wires sticking out of an alarm clock, something that looks like a stick of dynamite, a big bag of unlabelled white powder even if it is just flour) you'll be fine.

 

For the proposal, tell us a little more about your girlfriend's style. Does she like being the center of attention, or is she more shy/private? How do you think she would feel about being proposed to in front of strangers? Would a large crowd not phase her? Would even just a couple of extra people make her nervous? Does she like grand, showy gestures of affection, or is she more into simple, sweet and thoughtful? Does she have any friends/family that have gotten engaged recently, and how did she talk about their proposal stories -- what did she gush over, and what did she seem unimpressed by?

 

You should definitely be able to get the staff on the cruise to help you out. If you can't get ahold of someone before the cruise, you can probably get ahold of someone once you're on the ship (like the cruise director, or the maitre d'). Come with a plan ahead of time, and maybe a backup plan in case something wont work with the first plan.

[cantwait10]

thanks for the responses.....she is definitely more quiet and shy...and i think would love something private and thoughtful...which is why the first ideas that come to my mind are at night maybe on helipad with some champagne (if i can figure out how to get champagne there waiting, or buy a bottle in a bar and sneak out with 2 glasses) or maybe in our cabin on the balcony with champagne...any other private, thoughtful type ideas are welcome and appreciated..thanks again for responses! also, no recent proposals that i could think of that she has talked about.

[xxoocruiser]

The helipad can be iffy. Sometimes passengers aren't allowed on it because of weather and high winds. So you'll need a back up plan.

 

You could make arrangements with your cabin steward and room service to have champaign, strawberries and perhaps flowers delivered and set up on your balcony while out at dinner. It would cost you a little extra in tips but the Cabin steward would probably be thrilled to help you pull it off. You might even consider buying some champagne glasses to bring on the ship with you. Her glass could be engraved with the proposal and date. Korny but she just might like that.

[cantwait10]

very good idea..i like the strawberries flowers and champagne on balcony idea.....would i have to get a hold of cabin steward when im on the ship already? id have to try and do that without her realizing...or can i plan this with them beforehand??

[trish1c]

DH proposed to me on a cruise. He enlisted help from all sorts of people. Everybody loves a good love story; they were all happy to help.

None of what you are considering is particularly unusual or hard to set up. I don't see why you would need to call in advance. Just ask when you get on board.

Congratulations & happy planning.

[Dani24]

I'm not as familiar with RCCL (since I cruise Princess), but here are some ideas (I perused the Gifts page on the RCCL website for some of these):

 

- The perfect time to sneak away and make plans is while your girlfriend is in the shower. During this time, you can usually sneak a phone call, or sneak outside to find your cabin steward. Maybe book a spa treatment for her, and tell her you're going to go relax by the pool while she gets pampered. Instead, go make all of your arrangements while she's occupied! Also, you can always type up a little note for the cabin steward explaining what you're planning on doing, and asking him if he can help. You can probably slip this to him quietly, without her noticing, on the first day of the cruise when your cabin steward cocmes to introduce himself.

 

- Reserve dinner at one of the specialty restaurants. Talk to the maitre d' ahead of time and arrange to have something delivered to her at the table. Perhaps a dessert plate with "Marry Me?" written on it in chocolate (and when it comes, as she's looking at the plate in shock, you get down on one knee). You can also arrange in advance (just talk to the maitre d') to have your waiter bring over a bottle of champagne with dinner. Maybe get a champagne flute engraved with "Marry Me" on it ahead of time, sneak it on to the ship and give it to the Maitre d' or your waiter before dinner. Then, order a glass of champagne for the two of you, as if you were just ordering it normally. But have the waiter bring her champagne in that special glass. When he sets it down in front of her, say "hey, what's that on your glass?" and wait for her to read it and react.

 

- Order a "special occasion" cake in advance, and ask to have "Will you marry me?" written on it. You can have this delivered to your stateroom, or at dinner one night.

 

- RCCL offers cupcakes you can have delivered to your stateroom as a "gift". Maybe arrange for those, and nestle the engagement ring on top of one of the cupcakes. Get down on one knee and hand her the cupcake. Say something cheesy like "I'm really sweet on you, and wondering if you'll be my love muffin for the rest of our lives?"

 

- RCCL also offers a package where you get a bottle of champagne and the petals from a dozen roses on your bed at turn down (under the romance pacakges). The picture it shows has the rose petals in a pretty heart shape. You could surprise her with this one evening when you return to your room.

 

- On formal night, arrange in advance with one of the photographers to propose while he's taking your picture. Have him direct your girlfriend to face away from you at first (as if he's just getting her in the right pose), and while her back is turned you get down on one knee. Then he tells her "actually... turn and face the other way", and when she turns she'll see you kneeling, and the photographer will be ready to capture a picture of the look on her face the moment you propose.

 

- You could also check out the Roll Call for your sailing, here on the message boards. Talk to the people in your Roll Call, and get them involved in the action. I'd be willing to bet they'd be beyond happy to get involved. You could have one of them talk to the maitre d' or the cruise director or your cabin steward on your behalf (if you think you really won't have any opportunity to sneak away). Or have one of them deliver something, or have some of them help set things up if you're doing something in a more public area. Or have each of them have a little sign with a letter on it (so that all together they spell "Marry Me", and arrange for them all to be in some area of the ship at the same time with their signs. Then you and your girlfriend go to that area, as if you're just going for a drink at the bar, or going for a dip in the pool, or walking through the atrium/lobby or whatever. But, once you're there, all of the people you recruited through the Roll Call line up, and then simultaneously flip up their signs to spell out the special message (just make sure they're well-organized, and know how to spell, so you don't wind up with "Merry Ma" or something!)

[cantwait10]

Dani.....i just looked at rccl website and saw the champagne and rose pedals package..very good idea..thank you....just have to find out what night they do it..didnt see a spot to request a night, and also have to find out what time so i know not to return to the room too early....i would like to do it on the balcony though, so when we walk in and there are rose pedals and champagne..it might give something away a little bit before i get her out on the balcony, right? that is something else i have to figure out....thanks so much! now just need to get a ring soon..lol

[xxoocruiser]

The package suggested is great idea. Suggest you RCCl to ask if you can order the champage and rose pedals package on board so you can properly coordinate the timing of it.

[Dani24]

Dani.....i just looked at rccl website and saw the champagne and rose pedals package..very good idea..thank you....just have to find out what night they do it..didnt see a spot to request a night, and also have to find out what time so i know not to return to the room too early....i would like to do it on the balcony though, so when we walk in and there are rose pedals and champagne..it might give something away a little bit before i get her out on the balcony, right? that is something else i have to figure out....thanks so much! now just need to get a ring soon..lol

 

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to do the rose petals on the balcony. They'll most likely get blown away, or at the very least blown around. Maybe you could have them make a trail of rose petals in your room leading to the balcony, and have the champagne in a bucket of ice waiting on the balcony?

 

Also, if you don't manage to find the perfect ring before the cruise, you can always get her a little toy ring to present to her and tell her that you wanted to take her ring shopping with you so she could pick out something she truly loves. Or, if you don't want to do the toy ring, maybe buy her a nice but not-too-expensive necklace or bracelet, still with the promise that you'll go pick out the ring together.

[beachchick]

It's unlikely that you'll get pulled aside for inspection because of a ring. I carry all kids of jewelry on the ship with me (and on airplanes) and have never once been stopped because of it. Pack it in your carry on, and not in your pocket (carrying it directly on your person is more likely to cause a problem, since you're supposed to remove all metal from your pockets and off your body before going through the screener). Just stuff it in your carry on bag, and as long as you don't have anything else in there that is prohibited or could arouse suspicion (wires sticking out of an alarm clock, something that looks like a stick of dynamite, a big bag of unlabelled white powder even if it is just flour) you'll be fine.

 

For the proposal, tell us a little more about your girlfriend's style. Does she like being the center of attention, or is she more shy/private? How do you think she would feel about being proposed to in front of strangers? Would a large crowd not phase her? Would even just a couple of extra people make her nervous? Does she like grand, showy gestures of affection, or is she more into simple, sweet and thoughtful? Does she have any friends/family that have gotten engaged recently, and how did she talk about their proposal stories -- what did she gush over, and what did she seem unimpressed by?

 

You should definitely be able to get the staff on the cruise to help you out. If you can't get ahold of someone before the cruise, you can probably get ahold of someone once you're on the ship (like the cruise director, or the maitre d'). Come with a plan ahead of time, and maybe a backup plan in case something wont work with the first plan.

 

Yes, but I've never been required to remove my wedding ring (or even earrings or a necklace). I think there would be a true uproar if people were expected to remove their wedding rings. Plus the issue of theft if wedding sets were required to be placed in the bins (that passengers can't always get to immediately). It would be all too easy for someone to casually grab a nice diamond ring...and I've no doubt it would happen.

 

beachchick

[cantwait10]

thanks everyone.....! the rose pedals leading to the balcony is a good idea...i will have to try and talk to someone while shes int he shower when we are on the ship since im guessing that i cant make these detailed arrangements beforehand

[shortstuf]

other nice touches - if you can get back to the room - are the battery votives - it will give the illusion of candle light and are very effective.

 

You might want to call crown and anchor - they are often very helpful with this sort of thing.

 

My dh proposed on carnival - I would avoid the deck - when he went up there with me - trying to be romantic - it was so windy that I did not want to stay up there - did not work - he also tried the karaoke - did not work - best place and where it did work was in the room. He had it set up after I got ready for bed.

 

Definitely put the ring in the carryon.

 

Another thing that worked for him - he had a decoy gift. I knew he was hiding something so at one point he gave me a necklace and said it was an early birthday present and shame on me for ruining the surprise. - completely threw me off.

 

I doubt you will be able to get the package for the first night but you can try - be prepared to have Rccl offer many other perks if you let them know you are engaged on the ship.

 

best of luck and congratulations!

[euro cruiser]

Rather than a package, which frankly anyone can purchase without much thought, I'd enlist my cabin steward in developing something more personal. Not necessarily big, just personal. The steward will usually be happy to help, and an extra tip would be nice as well.

 

Your steward could easily place a bucket of champagne and glasses anywhere on the ship that's open to the public (and wait there with it until you arrive, so it's still there :rolleyes:).

 

Does your ship have a chapel? I've never seen anyone in the chapel on a ship other than for a specific service or event, so odds are you could use that space and have it completely to yourself.

[shortstuf]

oh yes and the steward could probably do a towel heart or swans

[SBAnt]

I like the idea of the formal night photograph--my brother-in-law proposed to his wife with a friend of theirs (professional photographer) pretending to be trying out some new equipment, and I'm jealous that they have the photos of that exact moment of their life. Good luck with whichever plan you choose, and in your lives together.

[BrentCBaker]

Im planning a cruise on RCCL. I would like to propose to my girlfriend.. i was thinking either have someone from the cruise line place a bottle of champagne at the front of the ship, maybe on the helipad, so after dinner we could walk out there and it will be waiting for us, or something similar in our balcony room where i have them leave some champagne or wine on the balcony for me and i could take her out there after dinner when the sun is going down. will the cruise line do this? or maybe i could just order a bottle of champagne from room service? i dont know..im trying to come up with a good plan. if anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know. thanks

 

Talk to your cruise director. That's what I did with Carnival. They were really cool, filmed it, and put it on a DVD. I wanted to do it big. Here's the video!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C6HuSw5Qjk