Getting Married on Carnival Legend 02-23-14

[shellyeicher]

In less then 1 month, my fiance & I will be doing a deluxe romance package on Carnival Legend. We have 50 non sailing guest & just us as sailing.

I am a bit of a control freak and the idea of not knowing is awful..

I have SO many questions and I can't find any new boards that have my answers so I decided to make my own thread.. Keep in mind my wedding coordinator isn't the best. She never contacts me back. In fact, I had to call 3 times just to make my final payment..

 

1.) Does anyone have any recent pictures of their deluxe wedding package?

 

I have booked the DJ so I know I will be in Medusa's Lair for the reception but I have no idea what to expect for my ceremony.

 

2.) The pictures.. I hear SO many mixed reviews about the photography service. My main question is.. Do you pay with your sail & sign card or should I bring cash, or a check, or a credit card??

 

3.) Has anyone ever not had ample amount of time to get ready? I have read like 2 threads where the bride had 10 mins to get ready.. I have a very fancy, corset back dress that takes 20 mins to lace at best.

 

4.) The lido buffet for when the guest get on, what if they want a drink like a beer or something?? How does that work I don't think they take cash.

 

5.) Is the food in the reception good?

 

6.) What kind of drinks do they serve during the reception?

[MEOWSMURPHY]

I'm sorry I can't answer any of your questions, but I just wanted to wish you well. We will be on the same sailing as you and I sure hope the jet stream goes back north so we will have nice warm temps :D..Congratulations and I wish you both a long and happy life together..take it from someone who will be celebrating our 48th anniversary this year..2 things to remember..communication ( you can never have enough communication) and pick your battles..don't sweat the small stuff..life is way to short to nit pick over little things..like a wet towel on the bed..which I've been dealing with all these years LOL..:D

[mommom of 7]

This will be a bummer because you thought someone answered but it is just little ol' me.

Don't have any idea but have seen a lot of wedding's after the fact & it looks to me like very nice.

We will be on ship with you, in fact I will be sitting in the lobby when you get on.

The chapel is so pretty, the crew is great & I know it will be wonderful.

We have been on the LEGEND four weeks of the last 3mth's.

[shellyeicher]

Thank you :)

[shellyeicher]

I know I don't get to be married in the Chapel because I have to many people attending the wedding..

My dad got remarried on a Carnival ship but for the life of me I can't remember anything :(

[HeatherC430]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! We were married on embarkation day back in April of 2011 on the Dream & also did the deluxe romance package which included the open bar 1.5 hour reception. There's a link to my review in my signature if you're interested in the details. I'll attempt to answer your questions to the best of my recollection. I really didn't speak to my coordinator other than the ONE time a few weeks prior to the wedding. Other than that, it was just confirming they had received all of our paperwork and requests.

 

1.) I do not have any recent pictures (my wedding was April 2011), but I'm happy to share if you want. We booked the DJ as well so our reception was in the ship's disco. Our DJ did a great job of playing a mix of dance type music for our guests. Almost everyone danced which was fun. Your ceremony will be relatively simple if you go with all of the standard options. They should have given you a list of the options available in terms of readings, etc. We went with the basic most short/sweet option available. The only option of the list we included was the "nautical reading".

 

2.) I thought the photography "service" was great. He took tons of fantastic photos of us. However, my recommendation is you need to be willing to pay to get an adequate amount. They were way more expensive than what I anticipated. Literally $500 got me 10-12 prints. Luckily, one of my guests took a ton of candid photos during the ceremony/reception that turned out amazing. You do have to pay using your sail & sign card for the photos. It depends on how you setup to pay for your sail n' sign (with cash deposit and/or credit card). But the actual purchase does go onto your sail & sign. They do not take cash. Think of it as if you were buying photos from the ship's photo gallery. Charged to your card the same way.

 

3.) I enjoyed some time on the lido deck with my guests and had a few drinks prior to going to my cabin to get ready. I had adequate time to get ready, but if you're concerned, I would go straight to your cabin to allow as much time as possible. You do not want to be late, because that will decrease the amount of time allowed for your ceremony/reception (and photos in between). I don't remember the exact time, but I had time to touch up my makeup, re-curl my hair & put on my dress. I had already done my normal everyday "get ready" prior to leaving the hotel that morning. I had plenty more than 10 minutes. Maybe 30-45 minutes?

 

4.) They don't take cash at any of the bars (just like they don't for anyone else on the cruise). If anyone in our party wanted an alcoholic drink, one of our sailing guests had to use their sail n sign card to pay for it. If you don't have any nonsailing guests, I would assume they wouldn't be able to get a drink?

 

5.) The food was really good. No complaints whatsoever about the variety, display, quantity, etc.

 

6.) It's open bar so the guests can order whatever they want.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[shellyeicher]

I tried to look at your pictures but Kodak site isnt loading :(

[Carnival_Brides]

In less then 1 month, my fiance & I will be doing a deluxe romance package on Carnival Legend. We have 50 non sailing guest & just us as sailing.

I am a bit of a control freak and the idea of not knowing is awful..

I have SO many questions and I can't find any new boards that have my answers so I decided to make my own thread.. Keep in mind my wedding coordinator isn't the best. She never contacts me back. In fact, I had to call 3 times just to make my final payment..

1.) Does anyone have any recent pictures of their deluxe wedding package?

The wedding photography in the last year has really improved. There are a bunch of new reviews on the Honeymoon Boards since there have been quite a few wedding on CCL this year.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=48098892

 

I have booked the DJ so I know I will be in Medusa's Lair for the reception but I have no idea what to expect for my ceremony.

They will tell you where your ceremony will be during your final call 1-2 weeks before your wedding. I got married on the Legend's sister ship and the options were the Chapel (not an option for you), the small lounge in the bow of the ship on the same deck as the disco (Firebird), and the large show room in the bow (Follies).

 

Word of wisdom since you're using the Disco for your reception--the only elevator that goes to the bottom floor of the disco is a service elevator. If you do not want to use the tight spiral staircase to make your entrance or you have handicapped guests, makes sure you let your coordinator know so they can make arrangements.

 

2.) The pictures.. I hear SO many mixed reviews about the photography service. My main question is.. Do you pay with your sail & sign card or should I bring cash, or a check, or a credit card??

 

You pay with your sign and sail card the day of your appointment. Your photographer will notify you of date and time and you go view all of your pictures. If you want to use a different card or payment option have it changed before your appointment. We paid ours using a chunk of OBC that we got from Early Saver price drops.

 

3.) Has anyone ever not had ample amount of time to get ready? I have read like 2 threads where the bride had 10 mins to get ready.. I have a very fancy, corset back dress that takes 20 mins to lace at best.

It depends on what's happening in your port that day. We were going to be married on embarkation in Baltimore in the dead of winter and had a back-up plan in case our ship was late docking. Galveston is notorious for fog in the winter. I'm not sure I've heard of them having a lot of problems in Tampa, but you never know. Just make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and your know where your wedding supplies are--do not check anything for the wedding.

 

4.) The lido buffet for when the guest get on, what if they want a drink like a beer or something?? How does that work I don't think they take cash.

They can get drinks, but they have to use a credit card and they have to go to a bar to do it. I JUST found this out the summer--I wish I had known the day of my ship tour. You should verify that with your coordinator during your final phone call because things change rapidly with CCL.

 

5.) Is the food in the reception good?

Delicious. My guests were so full from the reception that they did not want to go dinner after the wedding. Glad we didn't book the steakhouse :-)

 

6.) What kind of drinks do they serve during the reception?

It's open bar so pretty much anything. Our guests had everything from shots to Shirley Temples to glasses of wine and our bar waiter made sure we always had a drink in our hand.

[Spiralshell]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! First off... RELAX! Carnival knows what it's doing with weddings, they do them EVERY embarkation day, and they go great. We had a fantastic time at our wedding on the Miracle in April 2012. Just GO WITH THE FLOW! :)

 

1.) Does anyone have any recent pictures of their deluxe wedding package?

Here are some of my pics: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150704839852543.401373.703462542&type=1&l=a877b0103d

 

2.) The pictures.. I hear SO many mixed reviews about the photography service. My main question is.. Do you pay with your sail & sign card or should I bring cash, or a check, or a credit card??

The photographer was fantastic. You pay with your sign and sail. We spent about $800 on pictures and were very pleased. That seems like a lot, but remember that typical wedding photographers don't even show up for less than $1500!!

 

3.) Has anyone ever not had ample amount of time to get ready?

I had about 45 minutes to get ready. Be as ready as you can be when you board -- hair and makeup should only need touch ups.

The photographer came to my cabin in the middle of getting ready and I had to send him away -- the cabin was a disaster, and me and my 3 bridesmaids and a friend and my son were all in there. He wanted to do sweet posed photos on the bed, and I just did NOT have time for that! But otherwise it was fine.

 

4.) The lido buffet for when the guest get on, what if they want a drink like a beer or something?? How does that work I don't think they take cash.

Your guests really don't need the lido. They can head to a bar on the level where your ceremony is and grab a drink or just wait. It's not worth it to pay for all of them to get the lunch buffet when they can stuff themselves at your reception in an hour!

 

 

5.) Is the food in the reception good?

Delicious and plentiful! There are multiple menus -- be sure to ask your coordinator for the alternate menus so you have more options. We and our guests liked everything that was served.

 

6.) What kind of drinks do they serve during the reception? It's open bar so basically anything. Some of my guests were ordering their drinks, and others were choosing drinks from the trays that the Carnival servers were carrying around. Everyone made the VERY most of that open bar and had a great time at the reception.

 

Best advice I can give you is relax, don't sweat the small stuff, and have fun!