Royal Romance Boycott

[Kirsten]

I have just returned from acting as a bridesmaid onboard the Splendour of the Seas. From beginnning to end it has been a disorganized money grab from Royal Romance.

 

Prior to the wedding:

1. Questions about the ceremony, reception, flowers, photographer and coordinators were directed to different people, companies and departments. Serveral times we ended up right where we started with nobody able to answer a simple question such as "What beach will the wedding be held on".

 

2. We were forced to pay and extra $250 for a second Wedding Coordinator because the wedding guests exceeded 30. We didn't mind this until the actual wedding when we only had one Coordinator.

 

3. Transfers for the guests from the pier to the beach were quoted at $22 per person. We found this to be steep so opted not to take it. Much pressure was put on us to utilize this service including a statement that if the guests are late the wedding would have to go without them. We paid $3 per person in local taxis to transfer the guests on our own.

 

4. The day prior to the wedding the Bride/Groom met with the onboard Wedding Coordinator to confirm the details for the wedding day. She was quite casual saying just to meet the taxi at the pier at 12:30 with their license and ID. The day of the wedding the procedures changed.

 

Day of the Wedding:

1. The Grand Cayman Wedding Coordinator contacted the Bride and demanded that both Bride/Groom come ashore to hand over marriage license and speak about the wedding. The Best Man and the Groom subsequently spent 2 hours on shore prior to the wedding trying to sort out last minute details.

 

2. Our Royal Carribean Coordinator was young, seemingly inexperienced and rude. She made demands, spoke down to the bride and called the groom a "#^*#@! Jack @#%".

 

3. The photographer had no ideas for pictures and continued to ask what we wanted to do. Thank goodness we had some creative people with a good eye.

 

I would recommend avoiding Grand Cayman as an island to marry on becuase of the issues we dealt with and because you must be tendered to shore. This means you risk missing the island if the sea is rough.

 

Good Luck!

[Flower76]

While I realize that the risk of missing the port is present, I refuse to deal with the wedding planning company used by most cruise lines (The Wedding Experience... known as Royal Romance on Royal Caribbean). After multiple calls and emails, I had the distinct impression that they could care less about their customers, and were completely inflexible. Also, that they were completely unwilling to communicate (provide specific answers to questions). I suppose they'd be fine if you were the kind of person to just go with the flow and do what you're told, but that doesn't work for me.

 

So, while we are going on a cruise with family and friends, we're dealing with a local wedding planner in Key West.

 

I did not need to feel like the people at The Wedding Experience made me feel.

[tree25]

I agree.. I refused to work with Royal Romance as well.. They don't answer their phone so why do business with them? Instead I chose Holland America and Royal Ocean Events.. atleast they answer the phone and they confirmed the time and location of the ceremony and reception aboard the ship 8 months in advance of the wedding date..

 

Haven't found any reviews of Holland America weddings by Royal Ocean events yet, but they are essentially the only cruise line that doesen't use Royal Romance aka "the wedding experience"

[NavigatorBride]

I'm so sorry that you had such an awful experience with Royal Romance. I'm going to have to play the Devil's Advocate, though, and say that our experience with Royal Romance was perfect. We had no trouble communicating with RR by phone and email and our coordinator was very professional.

 

We had the opposite situation as you.....we had a small wedding and were only supposed to have one coordinator but ended up with two...sometimes three representitives from RR all working together to make sure our ceremony and reception ran smoothly.

 

Maybe things were easier with us because we were married onboard in Miami where RR's head office is?

I would also discourage brides from getting married in Grand Cayman because our ship almost missed this port. The HAL ship ahead of us turned around and headed back out for a sea day because of the rough seas. We were lucky....

[SeaSeaRiders]

I also agree. We were interested in a small vow renewal ceremony & their "Royal Roamnce" was turning out to be a "Royal Pain".

 

We opted on contacting a coordinator ourselves & that worked out best. A lot less money & we got so much more. And best of all, we told them what WE wanted & got it.

 

I know a wedding would entail so much more, but if they can not handle a small renewal ceremony, I'd feel sorry for the brides that entrust their entire wedding to them.

 

If anyone is interested in a wedding or vow renewal in Aruba. We HIGHLY reccomend contacting: 2GoArubaWeddingPackages.com

[dcdiva]

Sorry that you all had such bad experiences with Royal Romance. I had a few blips in the planning process, but in the end was quite happy with the result. I confirmed and reconfirmed everything -- but would have done so with any vendor. My wedding onboard the Jewel was wonderful, and the minister who also doubels as a Royal Romance coordinate, did a wonderful job making sure our special day was, indeed, special.

[dcdiva]

Sorry that you all had such bad experiences with Royal Romance. I had a few blips in the planning process, but in the end was quite happy with the result. I confirmed and reconfirmed everything -- but would have done so with any vendor. My wedding onboard the Jewel was wonderful, and the minister who also doubded as a Royal Romance coordinate, did a wonderful job making sure our special day was, indeed, special.

[Dave D]

My wife and I were married on the Voyager Of The Seas in February in Miami. Dealing with Royal Romance over the phone from New England was very difficult. The employees who answer the phone clearly "do not care" about their customers. It was very frustrating waiting to hear from an employee of Royal Romance as the wedding approached. Once they did finally communicate with us things got even more frustrating. The inability of employees to return phone calls (or even just answer the phone), return emails or send faxes was pathetic. Thanks goodness that the actual people we dealt with from Royal Romance on the day of our wedding were excellent. They knew what they were doing and did an excellent job. But being made to worry and wonder about the details prior to arriving in Miami was extremely frustrating and totally unnecessary.

[rykersdad]

Just wanted to update this thread, with the info that I did write them and RCCL ,basically about the price of their vow renewal. $500.US ($623.00 Cdn) is way too pricey for what they do/offer.

I would suggest more people write to inform of their dissatisfaction. Maybe this will help with all the problems people are encountering.

[cappy2179]

I am so sorry to read sad experiences but I have had the best time planning my April 26th wedding with Royal Romance in St Thomas. I guess things can always go wrong but my level of service was 150%. I hope all goes as well on my big day as it has gone in the last few months. Good luck to everyone!

[stephp6]

I"m sorry to hear about all you RC brides being so upset. I am getting married onboard in Key West in less then 2 months and I have been working with Janet Wright at Royal Romance. She is the only one I've been working with and she has been great. I recommend her!