**Cattie**

[esbie11]

Oh my gosh I am FUMING!!!!! My travel agent has been calling RC since July 2007 to try to book these reservations for Portofino's. Every time she has called, she was told that it is too early and she needs to call back. She called as recently as 3 weeks ago, and was again told it was too early and to call back in November. Well, she called again today (mind you, it isn't even November yet), and was told that someone bought out the entire restaurant for that night, so we can't make reservations. I am livid that for the past 16 months we have been trying to make the reservations, and now all of the sudden it is booked!!!:mad: I would bet a trillion bucks that whoever booked it has NOT been trying to do so for 16 months!! I am so angry I could vomit. So, now our entire wedding night plans are messed up. We were planning on having dinner at 6:30 and then partying afterward. Well now we have to eat in the main dining room, late seating, which means we won't even eat dinner until 8:15, and honestly, I think I am going to be pretty exhausted by then and may not have the energy to party at 10 at night after having such a long day. Oh, and because our wedding is now less than 6 months away, I couldn't wait any longer to order invitations. So TWO DAYS AGO I ordered invitations, and (assuming we could get reservations since we have been trying for so long) included that our reception dinner would be at portofino's. So I spent $335 on invitations that aren't even accurate! Oh boy, I am so angry I can't even type anymore:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Cattie]

OMG you are kidding me. I can't believe they gave you the run around all that time, only to book it out entirely.

 

I am so sorry. Is it possible to change you invitations since you just ordered them? I would be livid also, I'd try and write a letter to Royal and see what happens.

 

Maybe I should get on the ball and try and call tomorrow.

[sas80]

Do me a favor.... Call RCCL and inquire about booking Portofino's for that evening on your own. Just tell them you are thinking of booking that cruise and wanted to have a party there with eveyrone, are willing to pay for the rental of the entire restaurant, and is that date available. Be sure you write down whom you are talking to and the phone numbers you call so, in case they say "yes it is" you can relay this info to your TA.

 

Sometimes agents get it wrong. This is why I want you to check for yourself.

 

If you find out that the restaurant is truly booked, keep calling every week to double check that that reservation hasnt been cancelled. there is always a chance - especially since you are so far out from sailing.

 

What about speaking with a supervisor, explaining that you have been trying to book forever, and what happened and asking if they have any suggestions for you. It helps if you cry...seriously....

 

What about a pre-dinner cocktail party instead? It would be a private party, you can book it thru RCCL, and the cost is about $20pp for booze and appetizers for an hour.

 

Good luck...I hope that agent got it wrong...!

[esbie11]

Do me a favor.... Call RCCL and inquire about booking Portofino's for that evening on your own. Just tell them you are thinking of booking that cruise and wanted to have a party there with eveyrone, are willing to pay for the rental of the entire restaurant, and is that date available. Be sure you write down whom you are talking to and the phone numbers you call so, in case they say "yes it is" you can relay this info to your TA.

 

Sometimes agents get it wrong. This is why I want you to check for yourself.

 

If you find out that the restaurant is truly booked, keep calling every week to double check that that reservation hasnt been cancelled. there is always a chance - especially since you are so far out from sailing.

 

What about speaking with a supervisor, explaining that you have been trying to book forever, and what happened and asking if they have any suggestions for you. It helps if you cry...seriously....

 

What about a pre-dinner cocktail party instead? It would be a private party, you can book it thru RCCL, and the cost is about $20pp for booze and appetizers for an hour.

 

Good luck...I hope that agent got it wrong...!

 

Sas-I just called RC. First they told me they cannot accommodate a group of my size in the restaurant. I KNOW this is not true because I know of 3 different people who had groups larger than mine who DID make reservations, without buying out the restaurant. (Obviously there are no tables that fir 24 people, but they just put everyone in that group at tables next to one another). After telling her that, she said that it could only be done through a TA. I told her I did have a TA, and then told her my entire story. She said that if someone did "buy-out" the restaurant, those arrangements are done through TA's and she has no way to double-check to be sure it is in fact bought out for that night because she doesn't have access to those kind of reservations.

As far as the cocktail party goes, we are having a luncheon-type reception immediately following the ceremony in St. Thomas at the ceremony site. The ceremony is at 11am, and we are doing pictures from 11:20-noon, and then having a luncheon from 12-2pm. There, we will have cocktails and appetizers, etc. We wanted to then book portofino's for around 6:30, so that we could have a more formal, sit-down type of dinner. So anyway, we are already having a cocktail party type of thing following the ceremony.

I am just soo bummed that we have to eat in the main dining room, especially with late seating (which I did initially request, thinking it wouldn't be relevent on the wedding day because we would be eating at Portofinos) I feel like the momentum of the day will be lost with nothing to do from 2pm-8 until we eat dinner, and I worry that people will then be too tired to celebrate and party. I also wanted to wear my dress to dinner, and felt comfortable doing so in a more intimate setting like Portofino's...but I don't know if I want to mosey into the main dining room in my wedding dress. I am really wishing Explorer had a Chops on board now!!

[esbie11]

OMG you are kidding me. I can't believe they gave you the run around all that time, only to book it out entirely.

 

I am so sorry. Is it possible to change you invitations since you just ordered them? I would be livid also, I'd try and write a letter to Royal and see what happens.

 

Maybe I should get on the ball and try and call tomorrow.

 

I called the company that I bought the invitations from. The lady told me that the only part of the invitations that have been printed are the reception cards, but I can change anything on the response cards or invitations themselves. Yeah, so the ONLY part they printed so far is the reception cards....which I wanted to cancel. Ugh it is just not my day:(

[Mary loves to travel]

Esbie,

 

I am so sorry this happened to you!!!

 

Even with a "packaged" wedding, there is still PLENTY to arrange, get set in your mind, and then have it turn out wrong & really, really upset you.

 

today is probably not the day to listen to alternate suggestions..... so come back and read this later....

btw, it may well be that someone did indeed book out the entire Portofino restaurant, and even if you'd had your reservation, you could well have been bumped, anyway. Not great, but it can happen.

 

As you may know from reading my posts, my daughter had an on-board, sailing day wedding. (yeah, you got the whole packet from me, so you know all about it!). We did the lunch reception, and and then also had early dining in the main dining room. I wondered if people would even be hungry again, but we all managed to eat. My daughter wore her dress to dinner, and in fact kept it on all night and really enjoyed doing so! We asked everyone to stay in their wedding attire through dinner, and we all looked really nice and got a lot of nice comments from folks. Nikki so enjoyed wearing her dress to dinner in the main dr, and into the casino & dancing that night.

After all, when will you get to wear the dress again?

 

As far as what to do with all the time...... see what types of things are available in port for a few hours. After all, you have the Portofino dinner money to play around with .....

 

Hang in there. It's a rare wedding that doesn't have these moments.

 

Best,

Mary

[Pug3636]

You should totally wear your wedding dress in the main dr! I attend a friend's cruise wedding and she wore her dress and I think it made it more fun! I plan to wear mine in the main dr for our wedding too!

[hollidaygal]

You should totally wear your wedding dress in the main dr! I attend a friend's cruise wedding and she wore her dress and I think it made it more fun! I plan to wear mine in the main dr for our wedding too!

 

I agree!! Just because it is the main dinning room doesn't make it less special. You deserve to wear it all day long! Take a little nap in the afternoon (or spend some alone time together) and you'll be refreshed and ready to party with your guests later. I am sure they will find the energy to keep on celebrating! I wish you the best!

[sas80]

Sas-I just called RC. First they told me they cannot accommodate a group of my size in the restaurant. I KNOW this is not true because I know of 3 different people who had groups larger than mine who DID make reservations, without buying out the restaurant. (Obviously there are no tables that fir 24 people, but they just put everyone in that group at tables next to one another). After telling her that, she said that it could only be done through a TA. I told her I did have a TA, and then told her my entire story. She said that if someone did "buy-out" the restaurant, those arrangements are done through TA's and she has no way to double-check to be sure it is in fact bought out for that night because she doesn't have access to those kind of reservations.

As far as the cocktail party goes, we are having a luncheon-type reception immediately following the ceremony in St. Thomas at the ceremony site. The ceremony is at 11am, and we are doing pictures from 11:20-noon, and then having a luncheon from 12-2pm. There, we will have cocktails and appetizers, etc. We wanted to then book portofino's for around 6:30, so that we could have a more formal, sit-down type of dinner. So anyway, we are already having a cocktail party type of thing following the ceremony.

I am just soo bummed that we have to eat in the main dining room, especially with late seating (which I did initially request, thinking it wouldn't be relevent on the wedding day because we would be eating at Portofinos) I feel like the momentum of the day will be lost with nothing to do from 2pm-8 until we eat dinner, and I worry that people will then be too tired to celebrate and party. I also wanted to wear my dress to dinner, and felt comfortable doing so in a more intimate setting like Portofino's...but I don't know if I want to mosey into the main dining room in my wedding dress. I am really wishing Explorer had a Chops on board now!!

 

I hear you...I feel for you! I really do....

 

Consider Having your TA call once a week to try and make reservations anyways...you just never know.....

[MarinerBride]

I agree!! Just because it is the main dinning room doesn't make it less special. You deserve to wear it all day long! Take a little nap in the afternoon (or spend some alone time together) and you'll be refreshed and ready to party with your guests later. I am sure they will find the energy to keep on celebrating! I wish you the best!

Me too - I wore my dress all night! We went to our muster drill, had drinks out by the pool (I took pictures with the other bride that day still in her dress), ate in the main dining room (early dine), and went to the Welcome Aboard show in my dress. It was a lot of fun, and we received a lot of really nice comments all over the ship. My husband stayed in his tux (minus the bowtie and coat, plus tennis shoes), and my sister stayed in her dress. In fact, one of my favorite pictures of my sister and me was taken by the one of the photographers (not from our wedding) that night at dinner.

 

On another note - I know you will have already had a reception in port, but you could still potentially reserve a room onboard where you could all at least be together and continue the fun.

[esbie11]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I will continue to wear my dress throughout the evening, even in the main dining room. I also asked my TA to move us to early seating for dinner. I really don't want to eat so late on the wedding night, so if it means we have to eat earlier for the rest of the trip, it is an ok sacrifice. Hopefully My Time Dining implemented by April on Explorer and it won't even be an issue. It still bothers me that we are unable to book Portofino's, when I know we were the first to request it, but that's life. We are hoping to book it for the first night instead, and have a "Welcome Dinner" for everyone, where we will also be able to hand out our welcome bags. I suppose if this is the worst thing that happens regarding the cruise or wedding, I can live with that.:) Now if we can't be moved to early seating or get Portofino's for the first night, I may become enraged again...so stay tuned:D

[Cattie]

Keep us posted Esbie. I can only imagine how you feel. I know I'm planning after dinner on our wedding day going to the Chamber. I bought some of the glow bracelets since its Halloween but I do plan on changing out of my dress for that! I haven't decided if I'm going to get a cute dress or make us all shirts to wear.

[fairbrot]

Hi,

I'm so sorry this happened to you. As you may remember, I had our dinner in Choppe's Grill. However, our original reservation made via our TA through the RC group's dept. was at 6:30. When I got on board and went to check on the reservation I found out that I didn't have one for us and that they don't do reservations that early any way (they have to accommodate the other diners during regular seating). They were wonderful though and set up a reservation at 8:45 for us. I met with them the next day to go over arrangements for our 45 guests.

 

I recommend that you call the group's dept at RCCL to discuss options. I will also let you know that I don't think Portofino's can seat as many people as Choppe's so you might want to think about switching restaurants.

 

The other thing to remember is that your guests are going to be thrilled with everything anyway. How could they possibly be dissappointed after seeing a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting. And the most important thing for you is that you will be so happy as new bride!!!

 

Good luck. I know how frustrated you must be.

[esbie11]

from bad to worse---so my TA gets back to me and says that the "overflow" dining room areas that I asked for as an alternative to Portofino's cannot be reserved ahead of time, and I would need to talk to someone once I get on the ship about it. Then, she tells me that we are waitlisted for early dining. I realize that we are getting closer to the sail-date, but I cannot express how frustrating it is to be literally one of the first people to book this cruise and now we can't seem to get anything we request. I am not hopeful about moving to early dining. Maybe if it were just 2 or 4 of us, but with a group of 24 or so, I feel as though we don't have a good chance of getting early dining. I am at my wits end. I absolutely do NOT want to eat so late on the night of the wedding. I think my only hope now is for Explorer to start My Time Dining.

[esbie11]

Hi,

I'm so sorry this happened to you. As you may remember, I had our dinner in Choppe's Grill. However, our original reservation made via our TA through the RC group's dept. was at 6:30. When I got on board and went to check on the reservation I found out that I didn't have one for us and that they don't do reservations that early any way (they have to accommodate the other diners during regular seating). They were wonderful though and set up a reservation at 8:45 for us. I met with them the next day to go over arrangements for our 45 guests.

 

I recommend that you call the group's dept at RCCL to discuss options. I will also let you know that I don't think Portofino's can seat as many people as Choppe's so you might want to think about switching restaurants.

 

The other thing to remember is that your guests are going to be thrilled with everything anyway. How could they possibly be dissappointed after seeing a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting. And the most important thing for you is that you will be so happy as new bride!!!

 

Good luck. I know how frustrated you must be.

 

We are on Explorer, and I don't think there is a Chop's on that ship. RCCL won't discuss anything with me...they just throw me back to my TA. I think I may look into a different cruiseline for our honeymoon. I am not too happy with RCCL right now.

[Cattie]

Yeah, EoS doesn't have Chops. I so wish it did. Keep crossing your fingers and trying back Esbie, something may work out! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!

[Mary loves to travel]

Here's one more suggestion:

 

Call groups & pretend to be someone who is thinking about booking this cruise with a family group. Say that at some point, you'd like to have a private dinner, what options would there be? They may have something to suggest that could work out. I don't know, but it might be worth trying out.

 

Another alternative would be to have some sort of bus tour on the island, after your wedding - you could even use this as an opportunity to get a much bigger variety of wedding pictures at assorted locations. Then, when you got back to the ship, there would be a little break time before late seating dinner, but not inordinate.

 

Remember, whatever you end up planning to do, your guests will think is fabulous & wonder how you EVER came up with the idea!

 

Best,

Mary

[esbie11]

Here's one more suggestion:

 

Call groups & pretend to be someone who is thinking about booking this cruise with a family group. Say that at some point, you'd like to have a private dinner, what options would there be? They may have something to suggest that could work out. I don't know, but it might be worth trying out.

 

Another alternative would be to have some sort of bus tour on the island, after your wedding - you could even use this as an opportunity to get a much bigger variety of wedding pictures at assorted locations. Then, when you got back to the ship, there would be a little break time before late seating dinner, but not inordinate.

 

Remember, whatever you end up planning to do, your guests will think is fabulous & wonder how you EVER came up with the idea!

 

Best,

Mary

 

Thanks Mary. I am determined to figure something out. As far as the bus tour, our luncheon reception ends at 2pm, and we have to be back on the ship at 4. I am not sure if that would give us enough time for a tour, plus that would cost more money and we are done putting out more money for the wedding (We are hoping to move our Portofino's night to the first night for a welcome dinner, so we are still incurring that cost). And even with the bus tour, having to be back on the ship at 4, and not having dinner until 8:15 still leaves alot of time. I really appreciate the suggestions though! I have gooten a lot of good ideas from all of you:D

[esbie11]

So we are still unable to eat at Portofino's on the evening of the wedding. However we decided to try to get reservations for the first night of the cruise, so that it will be a "welcome dinner" where everyone can meet one another, we can hand out our welcome bags, and answer any questions (all of our guests are first-time cruisers). My travel agent just called me to tell me that they were able to make these reservations, and also that they will be paying for it! We fell one person short of qualifying for the free cocktail party, and I think she felt bad because the wedding day plans got messed up. So we have our welcome dinner reserved and it's free:D The only bad thing is that they do not allow children under 13 (actually I think this is a good thing because it is nice to have an adult dinner) however my nephew will only be 3 1/2. Since it is the first night, I am not sure how likely it will be that my brother and SIL will get a babysitter, so they may not be able to go to the dinner. But, I guess that is just part of being a parent, and sometimes that means missing out on some fun stuff. Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that we can move to early seating for dinner so that we won't have to eat so late on the wedding day:)

[hollidaygal]

That's great news! Glad something could be worked out and it's free!

[Pug3636]

How many guests do you have?

[esbie11]

How many guests do you have?

 

We will have 24, including us. My TA told me we need 25 for the free cocktail hour. But I am even happier with a free meal at Portofino's.

[Cattie]

Oh I'm so happy for you!! I guess I should get my act together and call Royal one of these days huh?

[Pug3636]

I totally didn't know they did a free cocktail hour for 25 guests! We have 21 booked in our group and 2 coming that booked separately. Congrats on the free dinner! That's WAY better than a cocktail hour!!!

[cruiser123cba]

Esbie,

 

I am so sorry this happened to you!!!

 

Even with a "packaged" wedding, there is still PLENTY to arrange, get set in your mind, and then have it turn out wrong & really, really upset you.

 

today is probably not the day to listen to alternate suggestions..... so come back and read this later....

btw, it may well be that someone did indeed book out the entire Portofino restaurant, and even if you'd had your reservation, you could well have been bumped, anyway. Not great, but it can happen.

 

As you may know from reading my posts, my daughter had an on-board, sailing day wedding. (yeah, you got the whole packet from me, so you know all about it!). We did the lunch reception, and and then also had early dining in the main dining room. I wondered if people would even be hungry again, but we all managed to eat. My daughter wore her dress to dinner, and in fact kept it on all night and really enjoyed doing so! We asked everyone to stay in their wedding attire through dinner, and we all looked really nice and got a lot of nice comments from folks. Nikki so enjoyed wearing her dress to dinner in the main dr, and into the casino & dancing that night.

After all, when will you get to wear the dress again?

 

As far as what to do with all the time...... see what types of things are available in port for a few hours. After all, you have the Portofino dinner money to play around with .....

 

Hang in there. It's a rare wedding that doesn't have these moments.

 

Best,

Mary

 

 

Mary:

 

Can you send me the link to the packet you mentioned? I'm just getting started with the planning. Thanks!!