OMG Thank God I found this place!!! Cruise brides I need help!

[shortmomma]

I am glad I found yall! I have [B]just[/B] decided to get married on a cruise ship. We were looking for a cheap non tacky way of saying I do and my FH loves cruises. However, I've never been on one and I'm planning it. So I need help!

First off this is what we have "planned." We want to get married next March or April on the Norwegian Dream in port, in New Orleans, and then take the seven day cruise as the honeymoon. I am originally from New Orleans and most of his family is an hour away, so it's conveneint. I picked the Dream b/c of the destinations(Belize!) and they include your pictures in your wedding package. Also, the price of your cruise, for the length, is cheaper.

Here's my questions,(I apologize in advanced)

Where do I start?
When do I have to book?
What kind of deposit is usually required for booking a cruise?
What kind of input did you have into your ceremony?
What kind of turnout did you get?


I have a thousand questions basically my main concern is when should I book the cruise and when should I book the wedding? We probably won't have the money together until September. We want March or April(I'm trying to get it scheduled so that my daughter, who is in first grade and myself, in college, will miss as little school as possible) of 2005.

I know I should be working with a travel agent but our agent is my FMIL and she is planning his sister's wedding right now. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and go to another travel agent.

(and when I say planning, I mean everything, she may as well be the bride, she even registered them)

Oh would you mind telling, how many ppl you invited, how many came total, how many cruised?

Oh did you have a shower or no?

I'm sorry but like I said I'm new at this. Thanks for all the help!

~S~

[kimberly_s_s]

Ok, I will give you a little of what I've been through so far. Hopefully, it will help. My name is Kim and I'm getting married on Carnival's Imagination on 10/30/04. I DID NOT use a travel agent or A Wedding For You. I did everything myself. We decided to get married on our anniversary. It wasn't an option and I definately needed that date. So what I did was call Carnival's wedding department and they told me that I needed a booking number before I could book a wedding. They emailed me some wedding information and we decided to get married on the Imagination. So I called the reservation department and I booked the cruise for my fiancee and I. The deposit with insurance was a total of $518. It's $259pp. Ok, so I booked the wedding over the phone. At the time of the booking, THE WEDDING MUST BE PAID IN FULL. I chose the welcome aboard package which was $1350.00 plus tax which was a total of $1471.00. My package includes the ceremony, cake topper, 1 hour reception with hot and cold finger foods, and few other things. I booked my wedding in September 2003 for October 2004 because it's a 1st come 1st serve basis. Oh, my video was an additional $350 and my the dj was $171. I sent out my invitations October 2003 so people would have enough time to make reservations. I have 26 non sailings guest and 32 sailing guest. I have 1 best man and 1 maid of honor.

[MandyGirl]

My husband and I married on a Norwegian cruise last March (2003) on the beach of one of our destination ports (St John, US Virgin Islands). Using the internet, you can absolutely plan this yourself, and like you have probably already read, you can do it cheaper using a local wedding coordinator versus the cruiseship wedding coordinators.

We did use a travel agent, but only because we thought we might get a better deal on the cruise. Friends that booked within 60 days using Travelocity ended up getting SUITES for cheaper than some in my group paid for INSIDES.

I would get the cruise booking secure, and then go about the wedding plans next. Where exactly do you plan to get married? Embarkation port on the ship, or one of the destination ports on the beach? Don't forget about legalities of the license. (US Virgin Islands are so easy to marry in if you are a US citizen - and affordable).

You might want to read my review of getting married at a destination port while on a NCL cruise. I think it's about 6-7 pages if you print it and it's pretty detailed, including all costs, wedding license info, and links to the vendors we used (photographer, videographer, cake, florist, minister, etc). The review is linked in my signature "married on the beach" and pics are on the other link in my signature "wedding cruise".

Yes, we had two showers - one at each of our places of employment.

A cruise wedding is definitely the best way to go! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] But definitely read my review - it may give you some things to think about of 'things to do' and 'things to not do'. It's a learning experience! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

~ Mandy

[url="http://www.cmgoddard.com/pages/2/index.htm"]NCL Sky 12/2000[/url] - Western Caribbean
Celebrity Galaxy 12/2001 - Southern Caribbean
S/S Norway 03/2003 [url="http://www.cmgoddard.com/pages/3/index.htm"]wedding cruise[/url] - Eastern Caribbean
~~~~ [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=158097554&m=8703069907"] Married on the beach in St John! [/url] ~~~~
[url="http://www.cmgoddard.com/pages/2/index.htm"]HAL ms Maasdam 11/23/2003[/url] - Western Caribbean

[MandyGirl]

Ooops - I just re-read your post and see that you are planning to marry on the ship at your embarkation port. If marrying on the ship, then I do believe that you must use the ship's wedding coordinator group. I believe there is a bride who recently married in New Orleans on embarkation day (maybe this past April?) but on a different cruise line. You might be able to find a post by her to read her experiences marrying in New Orleans. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

~ Mandy

[EPD]

Hi shortmomma,

We are getting married this August while our ship is in port in Vancouver. We are getting married aboard Celebrity. So some things might be a bit different.

Well you are off to a great start by knowing the ship you want to get married on and the port of departure. That is the hardest part!!!! I would book ASAP because as one of the other brides said it is first come first served. So to get everything you hope for its always best to be first!!!! I booked our cruise in September of 2003 for August 2004 just to be safe!!!

We had to do a deposit of $350 per person for the cruise, and I had to do a deposit of I believe $150 US for the wedding. I couldn't book the wedding until I had a booking number for the cruise.

Input into the ceremony, well so far as good, my biggest thing was that I wanted a family friend to marry us and with getting married in Canada and being a Canadian citizen this was ok so I was happy. We are writting our own vows and that doesn't seem to be an issue. Our music will be recorded onto CD and they will provide a CD player. I will post a review after the wedding (only 80 days to go)

So far our turnout is 40 people for the wedding with 21 staying aboard to cruise with us. What I did was a mail-out of information to everyone on the guest list right after I booked our cruise(check with the ship to see how meny you are permitted for the reception we could have up to 98 people sailing and nonsailing total) I included ports of call, dates, cost for least expensive outside and inside staterooms, travel agent contact info (I recommend finding a TA you are comfortable with and getting everyone to book through them makes it alot easier) rough wedding day plan. Then at the begining of May I sent out formal invitations with RSVP cards and additional info (containing more info about the cruise, hotels, air ect) to that same list of people.

Let me know if you have any other questions!!

Erin & Brent
"Friends are the family that you choose for yourself"

[ddbecca]

I would recommend making a website so your guests can see the updates as you plan. Our families are in CA, CO, MA, GA, AL & MA, so it was helpful for them to get information without having to call us about every little detail. This was ours, just to get you started: [url="http://www.geocities.com/christopherandrebecca"]www.geocities.com/christopherandrebecca[/url]

[EPD]

Hi Chris and Rebecca,

Congratulations on your recent wedding. So how did it all go?

Erin & Brent
"Friends are the family that you choose for yourself"