Tipping @ a Carnival Cruise Wedding

[2013CruiseBride]

So, I have been wondering and haven't seen this anywhere else, but are you tipping extra to anyone involved in the wedding?

 

I've been going through 'regular wedding' books and magazines that discuss tipping, but those aren't really talking about an all inclusive package like the Deluxe Romance Package we have booked.

 

Should we tip the officiant, the wedding coordinator, the bartender, the social host (we didn't get the DJ), anyone else?

 

What are your thoughts, and if you have already had your wedding, what did you do?

 

Thanks in advance!!! :D

[sunlovingirl]

We are getting married on the Liberty November 10... I was wondering the same thing! I've read that some people do, but I feel like that should be included... but I have no idea!

 

Thanks for the post!

[Carnival_Brides]

Our ceremony is at sea, so we won't be working with any of CCL's contractors (TWE, AW4U, etc). We'll probably end up tipping the bartenders (I'm not sure if tips are included in the fee), but no one else. The captain will be officiating our ceremony, the photographers are being paid to be there and would normally be assigned elsewhere on the ship and the Guest Services coordinator would also normally be assigned elsewhere on the ship.

[2013CruiseBride]

Our ceremony is at sea, so we won't be working with any of CCL's contractors (TWE, AW4U, etc). We'll probably end up tipping the bartenders (I'm not sure if tips are included in the fee), but no one else. The captain will be officiating our ceremony, the photographers are being paid to be there and would normally be assigned elsewhere on the ship and the Guest Services coordinator would also normally be assigned elsewhere on the ship.

 

How are you doing a ceremony at sea on Carnival?

 

I was hoping that someone who has done a Carnival wedding already would be able to give us some advice. :(

[cruiseonthebrain]

We definately spent a bit of money on tips. We didn't go by the normal on land wedding tips- we figured a notary public as officiant was a little different from a family clergyman and the rest we went on service. I hope we weren't too frugal. We tipped our officiant $20, coordinator who met us in the terminal and set up all of our favors $40, onboard coordinator $20, bar staff $50 to split, DJ (because he was exceptional to work with beforehand and during the reception) $40, videographer $20, photographer (again above and beyond) $40. We also had a suite and tipped our steward $20 the first day for setting up the room so nicely and $20 the last night for taking care of us so well. We tipped the bartender at the bar we went to $20 on the last night for always taking care of us as soon as we walked up to the bar. I hope this helps.

[Carnival_Brides]

How are you doing a ceremony at sea on Carnival?

 

I was hoping that someone who has done a Carnival wedding already would be able to give us some advice. :(

 

 

Yes, I should explain that-- I apologize for the threadjack. We are having a two-bride wedding that will be questionably legal in Maryland come January thanks to the shiny new same-sex marriage law. However, there is a movement to place the law on ballot and hold a voter referendum on the law, which would nullify it and make our wedding ceremony in January, "symbolic and non-binding"--we'd have the embarkation wedding, we'd pay the upgraded wedding fees for the officiant and we wouldn't be married at the end of it. We also, would still have to drive to DC, Massachusetts, or NY and get married (of which there is a 48 hour waiting period and we'd have to stay or come back) 3-4 weeks before the wedding, per CCL's rules. Since final payment is due October 31 (days before the referendum) we didn't know which way it would go, so we opted to free up our slot in Baltimore (I think there are only two each embarkation) for another bride and have a VR at sea which would hold the same legal standing as the potentially not legal Baltimore wedding, and get around paying MD sales tax for a wedding they agreed to recognize and now won't. Oh--and we still have to get married ahead of time, but at least we could use the almost $3k in savings to help subsidize the trip to NYC, Boston or DC.

 

This only worked because our "deal-breaker" people are sailing with us, so we'll have our entire immediate family and a few extra special people with us. I apologize for the long-winded explanation.

[sunlovingirl]

Anyone who got married THROUGH carnival's program have an answer to this then?

 

I appreciate CarnivalBrides feedback, but ultimately I still am left with my questions too...

 

We are getting married on embarkation day.

 

Thanks!

[Cscl0206]

We definately spent a bit of money on tips. We didn't go by the normal on land wedding tips- we figured a notary public as officiant was a little different from a family clergyman and the rest we went on service. I hope we weren't too frugal. We tipped our officiant $20, coordinator who met us in the terminal and set up all of our favors $40, onboard coordinator $20, bar staff $50 to split, DJ (because he was exceptional to work with beforehand and during the reception) $40, videographer $20, photographer (again above and beyond) $40. We also had a suite and tipped our steward $20 the first day for setting up the room so nicely and $20 the last night for taking care of us so well. We tipped the bartender at the bar we went to $20 on the last night for always taking care of us as soon as we walked up to the bar. I hope this helps.

 

 

OMG thanks so much! I was wondering how tipping would be ... we are getting married next week on the Liberty and had no idea! Thanks again. :)

[chiclit07]

I got married June 16th 2012 on the Carnival dream, the entire "tipping" thing was on my mind, this is what I did. Before I left home, I put the money in the envelopes and labeled them ,so I would not have to worry about it. I tipped the Officiate, DJ, bartenders, photographer, and wedding coordinators. I gave them 20-25 dollars each. Hope this helps, I thought everyone did a great job except the two coordinators, but that is another story! :cool:

[jul1221]

Hi,

 

We were just married on the Miracle on July 1st. Here is how we tipped.

 

$50 to the officiant

$50 to the outside co-ordinator

$40 to the on board hostess

$50 to the photographer

 

We had the dj, but honestly we gave her a disc with the music that we wanted and our friend took over as MC. The waiters just stood around so we didn't feel that they went above and beyond to deserve anything extra.

[LilBlackDress]

I was married on RCCL, I don't know that the cruiseline changes what I did or would have tipped.

 

We had a small group and a ton of mishaps. I would have liked to think I was one of the few but back then it was all done by TWE and I was one of the many...

Keeping that in mind this was our breakdown

Officiant 30.00

WC/Host 20.00

WC Asst 10.00 (not sure why she was there she did nothing, we weren't told she would be there but we gave her something just because)

We did not tip the bartenders or the servers because they were told we didn't have an open bar (which I did pay for, again long story and mishaps) and my guests were charged for their drinks and tips were added on to their tabs!!

I tried to tip our photographer but he said he was not allowed to receive tips. I ran into him at a port during his off time and I bought him a bottle of rum that he was going to get.

 

Typically what I had read was to tip between 20 - 40 per head person involved (WC, Officiant, Bartender, head Server, head Wait Staff, DJ etc) and 10-20 optional between the remaining staff (Additional WC, asst bartender/bar back, cocktail waitresses/ food servers etc)

[HeatherC430]

I tipped similar to "cruiseonthebrain". We had several hundred in cash to allocate for tips. When the time came, my husband & I briefly discuss who was getting what as appropriate. Odds are some you'll feel are more worthy of the tips than others (at least that was the case at my reception).

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much in advance! This is one of the things about a cruise ship wedding that does not warrant stressing over!

 

Congrats ladies!