Sensation Wedding Horror Story

[Traveler353]

How sad. I do hope this couple will receive the compinsation that they are looking for.

 

 

They already have. Read back thru the thread for the rest of the story and the happy ending.:p

[OrlandoD]

I wondered about the whole story based on the life jacket comment - we were on Sensation recently and there was no need to wear a life jacket....hope whatever really happened that brides-to-be take heed that they need to be flexible if some poop hits the windshield and would really hope that Carnival realizes they need a plan B, C and D when they are planning somebody's special day!

[midnightblue]

I feel really bad for this couple. It is a shame that things went so wrong. My wife and I were married on the Carnival Victory in Miami in 2002. It was a fantastic experience that we will never forget. We were treated like royalty. That being said, had ours gone as bad as this couple I would expect a full refund of the wedding expenses.

[imsulin]

Well, here's some news. Neither Carnival or any other cruise line plans weddings! They CONTRACT with an outside commercial company to arrange on-board or port weddings. The company most often used is "The Wedding Experience," but often goes by different names. On Carnival, it is "A Wedding For You". On RCI, it is "Royal Romance". But, it's all the same company. When you book a wedding cruise, you will automatically be directed to the cruise line's CONTRACTED Wedding Dept., which is completely different and separate from the cruise line's Individual or Group Reservations Departments. It's a completely different company from the cruise line, and is privately owned. Cruise lines also CONTRACT with food and beverage companies, shore excursion companies, stage performance companies, etc. Non-sailing guests are allowed on-board for the ceremony and reception, but are under pretty strict guidelines time-wise, for when they must be off the ship. Your Wedding Contract is with the Wedding company, and not with the cruise line. To my knowledge, Princess is the only mass-market line where a couple can be married at sea by the Captain. That's why most "cruise weddings" take place in a US port before the ship even leaves....to make the marriage easier and "legal". There are often several weddings scheduled for the same day, and often non-wedding groups have already secured a certain venue as part of the "group perks", so these venues will not be available for weddings. Port weddings can also be booked, but there are restrictions. Tender ports - all private islands except for Castaway Cay, and Grand Cayman are never a good idea, because there's no guarantee you'll get there. The Bahamas requires that the ship is in Bahamian waters for at least 48-hours before you can get married on-shore. St. Thomas/St. John are very popular as they are US territories, but there's never a guarantee you'll actually get there. In mid-September, 2005, my Caribbean Princess cruise was scheduled to do an Eastern itin., and two couples were planning to get married on St. Thomas. Due to HURRICANE activity, we were notified AT BOARDING that we would be doing a Western itin. instead. So....these two couples did not get married on St. Thomas (where family members and friends had flown to meet them), but got married on-board. You take your chance when planning a cruise wedding, as there are many factors that can come into play to make it a good, bad, or ugly experience. Check out the Wedding and Honeymoon Board to get a clearer picture. Again, you plan your wedding through the Wedding Dept. - not the cruise line. Carnival did the right thing by refunding the $2500, but technically, they didn't have to. And, I don't believe for a minute they would have suffered financially if they had chosen not to do so. I'll also bet that Carnival got that $2500 from TWE!!

[bigcraig]

They(Carnival) contract with an outside company to provide a Carnival sponcered product, companies contract out many functions, does not make them less responsible.

Did you know airlines contract out fueling services but it is the airline who is totally responsible for the fuel being loaded onboard.

[Kurbanfan]

Well, here's some news. Neither Carnival or any other cruise line plans weddings! They CONTRACT with an outside commercial company to arrange on-board or port weddings. The company most often used is "The Wedding Experience," but often goes by different names. On Carnival, it is "A Wedding For You". On RCI, it is "Royal Romance". But, it's all the same company. When you book a wedding cruise, you will automatically be directed to the cruise line's CONTRACTED Wedding Dept., which is completely different and separate from the cruise line's Individual or Group Reservations Departments. It's a completely different company from the cruise line, and is privately owned. Cruise lines also CONTRACT with food and beverage companies, shore excursion companies, stage performance companies, etc. Non-sailing guests are allowed on-board for the ceremony and reception, but are under pretty strict guidelines time-wise, for when they must be off the ship. Your Wedding Contract is with the Wedding company, and not with the cruise line. To my knowledge, Princess is the only mass-market line where a couple can be married at sea by the Captain. That's why most "cruise weddings" take place in a US port before the ship even leaves....to make the marriage easier and "legal". There are often several weddings scheduled for the same day, and often non-wedding groups have already secured a certain venue as part of the "group perks", so these venues will not be available for weddings. Port weddings can also be booked, but there are restrictions. Tender ports - all private islands except for Castaway Cay, and Grand Cayman are never a good idea, because there's no guarantee you'll get there. The Bahamas requires that the ship is in Bahamian waters for at least 48-hours before you can get married on-shore. St. Thomas/St. John are very popular as they are US territories, but there's never a guarantee you'll actually get there. In mid-September, 2005, my Caribbean Princess cruise was scheduled to do an Eastern itin., and two couples were planning to get married on St. Thomas. Due to HURRICANE activity, we were notified AT BOARDING that we would be doing a Western itin. instead. So....these two couples did not get married on St. Thomas (where family members and friends had flown to meet them), but got married on-board. You take your chance when planning a cruise wedding, as there are many factors that can come into play to make it a good, bad, or ugly experience. Check out the Wedding and Honeymoon Board to get a clearer picture. Again, you plan your wedding through the Wedding Dept. - not the cruise line. Carnival did the right thing by refunding the $2500, but technically, they didn't have to. And, I don't believe for a minute they would have suffered financially if they had chosen not to do so. I'll also bet that Carnival got that $2500 from TWE!!

 

That's not new at all.........and all contractors are responsible for their subs....;)

[DragonMouse]

I'm glad Carnival came to their senses and refunded their money. I would have thought too they SHOULD have offered the couple some on board credit as well.

 

Granted the bomb scare was not Carnivals fault...however the couple DID contact Carnival who assured them everything would be fine. Carnival was very clumsy at handling this.

 

Guests coming through eating their buffet was unacceptable as well. The last cruise I was on one set of doors were closed with a crew member standing guard and we had to go around. I guess this was a wedding.

 

I agree there SHOULD have been a "contingency" plan in place for "delayed" boarding. I figure the wedding plus 70 guests was a pretty BIG ticket. I can think of a dozen ways to have handled this better.

 

I guess personally I would prefer my wedding be "at sea" on deck with the wind blowing in my hair rather than in port.

[Kurbanfan]

I guess personally I would prefer my wedding be "at sea" on deck with the wind blowing in my hair rather than in port.

 

If you do decide to do this I believe Princess is the only cruiseline that offers this.......

[spacewoman]

This brings up a situation - what happens if your ship is delayed? Example - in 2004 the Legend was delayed returning to NYC because it diverted to Bermuda for a passenger who had a massive coronary. Ship should have arrived 6 a.m. got there 8 p.m., we personally didn't board until 1 a.m. - Now that 1 a.m. is the FOLLOWING day. Had that ship arrived say 10 p.m. there would be no way they could do a wedding before the day expired. The lawyers here can tell me if I'm right - if you're not married on the day stated on your marriage license the marriage is not legal in New York state ---

 

Next question is getting married while on board - you're in international waters - will your state recognize the marriage?

 

Things to really consider if you're planning a wedding.

 

We did a renewal for our 25th on the Miracle, they did a great job for us - but we're already married, no dates, etc to work with and we were flexible with their schedule. Another couple asked for renewal on the actual anniversary - they very nicely accommodated them. Just seems to me Carnival had no back up plan in place - this was a delay, mind you a bomb threat delay but, say no different than something making the ship get into port later. They've had delays before (look at us in 2004 - put into the next terminal over in a 90 degree sweat box and didn't so much as offer everyone a bottle of water and they knew Sunday afternoon the ship would not be back until Monday at 8 p.m.) why no contingency plans for every port?

[Kurbanfan]

This brings up a situation - what happens if your ship is delayed? Example - in 2004 the Legend was delayed returning to NYC because it diverted to Bermuda for a passenger who had a massive coronary. Ship should have arrived 6 a.m. got there 8 p.m., we personally didn't board until 1 a.m. - Now that 1 a.m. is the FOLLOWING day. Had that ship arrived say 10 p.m. there would be no way they could do a wedding before the day expired. The lawyers here can tell me if I'm right - if you're not married on the day stated on your marriage license the marriage is not legal in New York state ---

 

Next question is getting married while on board - you're in international waters - will your state recognize the marriage?

 

Things to really consider if you're planning a wedding.

 

 

If the ship is delayed that could be a problem. As far as getting married in port you are not in itnernational waters, you are in the city of that port.........so for instance if you are getting married on the ship that leaves out of Long Beach..... this is where you get your license.......

[dommer573]

So if Carnival gives them a full refund, does that mean they are single again?

 

Ask for a Do Over, maybe they will get a second cruise and wedding to replace the first one.

 

LOL:rolleyes:

[kelz66]

They(Carnival) contract with an outside company to provide a Carnival sponcered product, companies contract out many functions, does not make them less responsible.

Did you know airlines contract out fueling services but it is the airline who is totally responsible for the fuel being loaded onboard.

 

NO...but it does mean that it takes longer to rectify a situation since Carnival has to be the middleman between the 2 parties and cannot unilaterally make decisions for thier contractor.

 

:rolleyes:

[big_duck]

This brings up a situation - what happens if your ship is delayed?

 

Exactly this. The ship was delayed coming into port because of the bomb scare. The ship had to be thoroughly searched before it could enter that harbour.

[pinkiek]

I live in NY and got married in 2008 - our liscense was good for 30 days.

[katiel53]

I do feel sorry for this couple. I don't know what they wanted Carnival to do though. Did they want them to allow them and all their guests to board the ship while they were checking for a bomb? What if there had been one?

 

I think Carnival should have told people that this was a private party so that the jerk who started eating their food would have been told he wasn't invited--I say jerk because from looking at the pictures, all the guests were dressed nicely and this guy was in shorts and a backpack. Couldn't he see that others were dressed up and perhaps used a bit of common sense?

 

I do agreethe whole wedding was messed up, and it may just mean that in years to come they will have more memories of their wedding than most people do. Carnival did agree to refund all their money for the wedding. I honestly don't know when Carnival changed it's mind from refunding half to all of the money.

 

I do think this couple has had their fifteen minutes of fame in that they have been on so many TV shows etc. that they are now "famous" and are celebrities. I guess, had it been me that this happened to, I wouldn't feel the need to do all the TV shows to let the world know how my wedding day was. JMO.

[cruisee<3]

wow wat an awful story .. i think i would've been in tears like a bridezilla :p

[d-train]

Since I just booked my wedding cruise, I'll tell you why I did a wedding cruise.

 

I live in Atlanta with my fiance and my family lives in NY, I could bring them down here or go up there but it seemed pointless to have them come down for the ceremony and then rude for us to take off on our honeymoon. My wedding is small- just my parents, 3 sisters, grandma and my fiance's mom and sister, so the cost of a venue and catering and what not wasn't necessary- we wanted something affordable (just bought our first house and we're in school too) and yet nice and could be double as a vacation. We fell in love with cruising on our Christmas Cruise this past year and found out they did weddings........... a wedding luncheon is only 1475.....and that includes the venue, officiant, flowers, and food for my small amount of guests, and wedding cake. We told our families in January what our plans were and everyone was for it- they all wanted a vacation and what could be cooler than a cruise that goes to different locations (especially since we had so much fun at the 3 ports we visited in christmas). They also wanted to come to Atlanta to see my new house- so we decided to cruise out of Mobile.

 

 

 

 

We had a similar situation and had our wedding on the Sensation on December 27. While you do give up a fair amount of control to the wedding coordinators and need to be flexible, everything went off without a hitch. All the expectations that were described to us and the items that were contracted were all delivered as described. We had a wonderful experience, as did all our guests. The photos and video came out wonderful too. Plus after the "photo session" that happened after the reception was over, we went back to the room and there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us - from TWE, no less...

 

It is horrible to hear about other's tragic experiences, but there are positive experiences also out there.