Carnival Pride - a pre-wedding review [with pics]

[brklyn78]

My fiancé and I just got back from a tour of the boat we'll be on for our upcoming wedding, the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore, and I thought I'd share some of the things I learned. I'd like to thank WendyinOC for her post, because I didn't even know this was possible. Especially since I am getting married on embarkation day, it was great to be able to see the procedure first hand!

 

We were instructed to arrive by noon -- an hour later than wedding parties are instructed to arrive in Baltimore. We arrived a little after 11:30. We told the first parking attendant we saw that we were non-sailing guests, getting a tour of the boat. He instructed us to drive to the far end of the lot, park, and get on a large white tour bus that would drop us off at the boat.

 

It's worth noting there that it was certainly walkable from our location to the boat, but since I'm recovering from a sprained knee at the moment, the bus was appreciated. It's also worth noting that there is NO CHARGE for parking in the special events area.

 

When we got to the main terminal, there was a long line of people in front of us, but a rather unassuming desk off to the right side of the room. Go here. This is where you check in (for tours and embarkation day bridal parties and guests). You present your IDs here, and non-sailing guests are given day passes to wear. Sailing guests will be escorted to the check in (past the long line of people).

 

In the terminal there is a large waiting room for general passengers while they wait to board. (More on why they must wait later). Behind this room is a second room with chairs...this is where the bridal party and guests will wait. The non-sailing guests will be brought here directly and the sailing guests will join them after they have checked in. The bridal party, which got there at 11 was here for an hour and a half. What this means is, if you are one of those couples that has your heart set on not seeing each other before the wedding, this may not be possible. Perhaps with a complicated system of blindfolds and friends telling you when it is okay to open your eyes you might be able to pull it off, but it's one big warehouse room. I wouldn't count on it.

 

Now, why was the bridal party in the waiting room for an hour and a half, you ask? Well, apparently, every three months, the crew of the Carnival Pride shifts out, and all of the new staff members need to go through customs! While I am sure this is a great thing for staff fatigue, it means that if you happen to be getting married that day, you are going to get on the boat late. The customs process in Baltimore is notoriously slow anyway (I've been told) but when the three months comes up, it's much worse. If your date is booked, perhaps you can use today as a starting point and count months to make sure your wedding day doesn't fall on one of the switching days. Or maybe the weddings coordinators could tell you.

 

During the wait, I got a chance to chat with one of the coordinators for A Wedding for You, Amanda. She was lovely, and had a few pieces of advice for future brides.

1. Do not pack your shoes, or anything else you need, in your suitcase. Your luggage will not arrive for hours after your wedding, and the fact that your dress is 6 inches too long and you really need your heels isn't going to get you your bag. (true story)
   
2. Do not forget your passport or birth certificate. She had a groom who forgot his, and had to call his EX-WIFE to ask her to go to his house and get it and fax a copy to the ship. Otherwise, they had given him a non-sailing pass and said they he could go ahead with the wedding, but if the EX wasn't able to get the birth certificate to them in time, he'd have to get off the boat. (true story)
   
3. You never know how long it is going to take for customs to clear the boat, so you really do need to be ready to get married when you get on the boat. Today's bride had about 45 minutes to get dressed and get to the chapel. If she hadn't had her hair and make-up done already, she'd have had issues. (I don't know if she is on this board or not, but I did happen to see her just after the ceremony, and she looked absolutely beautiful)
   

 

Once we got on the boat, they showed us Beauties Disco, the Taj Mahal lounge, the Butterflies Lounge, the chapel, the Starry Night lounge, and the Piano Bar.

 

Beauties Disco: It's two floors, and handicap accessible only via a crew elevator-- that they are more than happy to let wheelchairs use

 

 

Taj Mahal: HUGE - It holds over 1000 people. My 55 person wedding would feel silly in there, but if I had to I could probably make it work.

 

 

The butterflies lounge - there is an entrance on deck 2, right next to the Taj Mahal, with a stair case that takes you down into the room. I didn't even see this on the ship deck plan maps, but if you look at the Taj Mahal on 2, you will see a spiral staircases that look like they are part of the lounge. They are actually the separated by a wall and are the entrances to the butterflies lounge. She says the lower level entrance is hard to find, so that is why they use this as the preferred entrance. I asked if I could use the lower level entrance if I had my ceremony in here (I fear falling down stairs in heels during my entrance) and she said "of course."

 

The chapel: the cartoons on the wall ( that's how they look to me) are not as obnoxious in person as they were when I saw photos online. There are, however, omnipresent. This room is TINY, so there is a max 40 people. It is pretty.

 

 

The Starry Night lounge: this has been converted into a smoking lounge, so they don't really use this for weddings anymore. I suppose if you prefer a lounge where you could smoke, they would allow you to use this one.

 

The Piano Bar: she said this room isn't very popular for weddings. The room is a bit boxy, with a piano and bar in the middle, so you can't see everyone at once. I feel like this room would not be very conducive for mingling. It is, however, the only room with a piano as far as I could tell.

 

The couple today had their reception in the butterfly lounge. Here is a shot of their food table:

 

We took more photos, but there is a limit of 6 per post. You can see the others in my album.

[Sara62412]

Awesome! I had no idea you could do this! I have already been on the Pride (getting married on her on 6/24/12), but I know my mom would want to see it before my wedding. She likes to know things....and this hasn't been the ideal wedding for her so far! Thanks for the info.

[brklyn78]

So glad I could help. According to WendyinOC, they allowed up to four people on the boat she toured. In Baltimore, they only allowed two people, FYI.

[prekteacher1]

Our daughter was married onboard the Pride last year (1/12/11) It was a wonderful experience. She was married in the chapel and the reception was in the Ivory Piano Bar. We had so much fun. If you need any information, please don't hesitate to ask!

[jebuell]

Great post! I went to a cruise wedding once where the bridal party was put in a room like this and the bride and groom managed to NOT see each other before the ceremony. Basically, the bride hid behind a pillar and then they informed the wedding coordinator of their wishes and the groom left the room and went somewhere else (didn't see where) and went onboard about 10 minutes after the bride. I'm not sure about Baltimore but if this is what you wish they may be able to coordinate it for you if it's really important! Just be prepared to be flexible and hide behind corners!

 

Also, I'm curious who told you about the three month thing? I just ask because I know that most crew contracts run between 6 and 9 months depending on the cruise line and the position. I've had many friends who have worked on cruise ships in varying capacities and they've all had 6, 8, or 9 month contracts and then they get 3-6 months off. I've never heard of any cruise line doing 3 months contracts. It's more likely that it was just a standard customs check of the crew which is performed quite often at regular intervals just to ensure all of the staff members are still legally working. But, maybe things are different in Baltimore than Florida and California!

[brklyn78]

Also, I'm curious who told you about the three month thing? I just ask because I know that most crew contracts run between 6 and 9 months depending on the cruise line and the position.

 

It was the wedding coordinator and she did specifically say that this was the way it was done in Baltimore. When I was on board, I overheard some crew members saying something about it being a new shift and another crew member, in an elevator, asked me if it snows in Baltimore because he's really hoping to see snow this time. This was definitely their first week out.

[jebuell]

That's really interesting! I wonder why the contracts are only three months in Baltimore. It seems like it would take a lot of time and effort to switch the crew out every three months so there must be a special reason for it!

[Herbaltees]

My fiancé and I just got back from a tour of the boat we'll be on for our upcoming wedding, the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore, and I thought I'd share some of the things I learned. I'd like to thank WendyinOC for her post, because I didn't even know this was possible. Especially since I am getting married on embarkation day, it was great to be able to see the procedure first hand!

 

 

This pre review was soo helpful. I, too am getting married on the Carnival Pride next year. And like you, I scheduled my tour of the Pride after viewing WendyinOC post. So thank you very much Wendy!!!

 

My tour is scheduled for mid January & I'm hoping to also get a glimpse of our cabin in case we need to switch rooms. Were you able to see your room?

 

What did the cake look like? Of all the venues you saw which do you think is the best/ most beautiful?

[Herbaltees]

Do you think it would work to have a wedding and reception in the butterfly lounge?

[brklyn78]

My tour is scheduled for mid January

 

Mid January as in Jan 15th? As in, my wedding day? How funny would that be?

 

I'm hoping to also get a glimpse of our cabin in case we need to switch rooms. Were you able to see your room?

 

The "official" tour only includes the ceremony and reception venues. However, if "hypothetically" at the end of the tour, a couple asked the rep from the groups dept if it would be okay if they "walked around" for a bit before leaving, then gained such permission, and if said couple decided to go to the deck where their cabin would be, opened the door that said "do not open" to gain access to the hall where the rooms are, removed their non-sailing guest badges so that they would blend in, and pretended to be checking to see if their room was ready, that couple would find that the doors would all be open since they would still be cleaning at that point, and they would probably be able to take a quick look before anyone caught them.

 

Not that we would advocate such behavior, of course :o

 

What did the cake look like? Of all the venues you saw which do you think is the best/ most beautiful?

 

The cake wasn't out yet, so I didn't get to see it.

 

Honestly, none of the rooms are terrible. It's a cruise ship. If you wanted a traditional venue, you would be getting married in a church/temple/mosque etc, right? It was important for me to remind myself of that.

 

How many people are you having? If it's under 40, the chapel really is pretty. The "Vacation Bible School" images on the wall are a little weird, but they aren't that bad. If I ran the boat I'd offer an option to cover them with a curtain, but that's just me.

 

The Butterfly lounge reminds me of a cozy movie theater. I like that one the best for my group, so I'm going to ask to have my reception in there.

 

The Taj Mahal is very pretty... but I can't get over how big it is. I think you could have a perfectly wonder wedding with 10 people in there if you wanted to. It's just not for me.

 

Do you think it would work to have a wedding and reception in the butterfly lounge?

 

I asked about this, and the groups coordinator said that while it's possible, she's "never seen it done." For one thing, they need to set up the food ahead of time, so you'd have food present for your ceremony I'd imagine. They'd probably have to set up much earlier than normal, since there were people working on the reception set up while the ceremony was happening across the boat.

 

The other thing I thought about later is that the chairs are like pews, with people sitting in rows. For my reception, I'd like people to mingle. I think if they were sitting in rows, albeit wide ones, they might be less likely to move around freely. Having little clusters of tables and chairs, like in the disco or piano lounge, would be better for movement.

[JulieRose]

This is a wonderful idea. I don't live near where my ship is ported but my mother does. Maybe we can get her on there so she can send me photos of our options.

[Herbaltees]

Mid January as in Jan 15th? As in, my wedding day? How funny would that be?

 

 

Oh em GEE! What's crazier is YES, that's the date. Does it make you uncomfortable? If so, we can reschedule.

 

I was thinking of calling to see if there would be a wedding because I really wanted to see the available set up, etc.

[brklyn78]

Oh em GEE! What's crazier is YES, that's the date. Does it make you uncomfortable? If so, we can reschedule.

 

I was thinking of calling to see if there would be a wedding because I really wanted to see the available set up, etc.

 

As long as you aren't trying to come in during the ceremony or reception, I have no problem with it at all. They will probably time it so you see the room where my ceremony will be before the wedding starts (while guests are going in, probably), and then let you see the reception room while the ceremony is happening. We'll probably be in the same pre-boarding holding room, so feel free to say hi.

[Herbaltees]

As long as you aren't trying to come in during the ceremony or reception, I have no problem with it at all. They will probably time it so you see the room where my ceremony will be before the wedding starts (while guests are going in, probably), and then let you see the reception room while the ceremony is happening. We'll probably be in the same pre-boarding holding room, so feel free to say hi.

 

Ouch. I certainly would NOT disturb your wedding or reception, just as I'm sure you didnt interfere with the one you saw.

 

Hope your day turns out wonderfully!

[brklyn78]

Ouch. I certainly would NOT disturb your wedding or reception, just as I'm sure you didnt interfere with the one you saw.

 

I was kidding of course. I know you'd never do that. I considered adding a joke about not stealing food since you'll be in my reception before me, LOL. ;)

[Herbaltees]

I was kidding of course. I know you'd never do that. I considered adding a joke about not stealing food since you'll be in my reception before me, LOL. ;)

 

Ohhh. Lol. Well just for that consider one of the deveiled eggs "sampled" not stolen.

 

:D

[Carnival_Brides]

This is hilarious only because FI and I are going to watch the Pride pull into port on Sunday from Ft. McHenry. We just moved back to Baltimore and since we're getting married on the Pride next year and I haven't seen a Carnival ship in over two, she thought it'd be a fun way to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Now that I know the tour is an option, I'll contact my coordinator and see what I have to do.

 

Good luck with your wedding and thanks for the info!