Dream43011

i love everyone's ideas! we're planning a pre-cruise/wedding party (since everyone needs to fly into the port the day before). we think it'll be great to get everyone together for dinner & drinks the night before the wedding! i'm sure most of those cruising with us with get together on their own in the evenings each night (more of the non-formal group functions). i'm going to let everyone know which excursions we have booked (in case anyone wants to join us)...but i'd rather not have people feel as though they have to (if there's something else they'd rather do). how much is scheduling an "open bar" party for non-sailing guests on carnival? does anyone know?

I've always selected cruises based on the theory that more stops are always better! While the at sea days are fun too...there's nothing better than arriving in a new port each day! My vote's for the first option with more stops! Â At minimum you should get a room with a window! If you can swing the extra for a balacony room, I would definitely do it! It's SO much nicer! We got a balcony room on our last cruise and are totally spoiled! It's WELL worth the extra money in my opinion. There's no way you can go back to a regular oceanview room after having a balcony!

Usually Carnival only has itineraries for up to about a year and a half in advance. You're right...they only have through april of 2012 right now. I would suspect by the end of 2010...early 2011 they rest of 2012 should be available! If you're not already on Carnival's email lists, I would sign up so they'll email you when new itineraries are offered!

we decided to get married on embarkation day (on the ship) so that we could have non-sailing guests join us too (you can have up to 50 nonsailing guests)....since we have a bunch of people that can't come on the cruise for a week but can make it to Florida for a day or 2 (i guess I have too many teacher friends, haha) Â Â wow...67 booked! that's alot! have fun!

not sure about either of the lines you've mentioned (i've only been on Carnival - and NCL once)... Â but the last cruise i was on departed from San Juan (so i figured i'd provide some imput on that). most all the other cruises i've been on have left from florida though. i would say that your TA is right in regards to the weather in San Juan (much better than florida weather). Â my advice is to see if there's a large difference in price in terms of having your guests fly to San Juan as opposed to Florida. For us the flights to San Juan are about double what they are to Florida. You might want to take this into consideration before deciding on one over the other. Â also, the reason we decided to depart from San Juan on our last cruise is that it enabled us to have better ports of call (than the options we had on cruises departing from florida). the itinerary on our last cruise was BY FAR my favorite! we had a different port of call each day! Â St. Thomas Barbados Dominica Antigua St. Luciaw St. Kitts

Just submitted the DJ entertainment request (decided to go the safe bet...not to mention cheaper option). They wouldn't tell me in advance if anyone had booked the DJ or not for that date? I suppose if it's already taken (from what I gather only one person can have their reception in the disco on any given embarkation day?) I'll be going with the band.

Here's what I think we're going to go with as rsvp wording/choices... (i wanted to go with something nautical since the invites are nautical...and we're getting married on the ship!)  the favor of a reply is requested by the first of march  name(s)_______________________________________________  ___cruising the high seas (attend as sailing guest)  ___in port (attend as non-sailing guest)  ___lost at sea (regrets)  your rsvp is necessary to allow you to board the ship.  **I figure once everyone rsvps I can contact them separately for their birthdates & id numbers (which i need to supply to Carnival 3 weeks before)

Thanks! I'll have to look into these!

Did anyone's cruise leave from Port Canaveral? Can anyone recommend a hotel they stayed at the night before the cruise?

Does anyone want to share which options they put on the RSVP cards (if you used them). I need 3 options....sailing guests, nonsailing guests & regrets since we're getting married on embarkation day. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

I agree that the longer cruises are better! After you've done a week, it's tough to go back to a 3 or 4 night for sure! If you can talk him into a full week, that would be better (but the 3 or 4 night is a good introduction to someone who may be leary to try cruising!)

I thought about doing the personalized mint tins too! Thinking those would be pretty easy to transport onto the ship! Which ones did you order if you don't mind me asking? From which site?

Yes! those postcards did turn out beautiful! That's funny that you ordered the same ones! haha  We plan on having something for everyone the night before (for everyone staying at the hotel with us)...we'll probably call it a Welcome party? We haven't decided on a hotel yet. Once we do, we'll see if they have a restraunt in the hotel? Or one close by? We're leaving from Port Canaveral. Which port are you leaving from?  I got a few of the free totes too, but I didn't think they were big enough for the girls to hold beach towels, and stuff for the beach (which is why I ordered the larger versions). And at about 5 bucks each, they're MUCH nicer than the smaller ones!  I'm not having a bridal party. Just me walking down the aisle...  I was thinking the same thing about the albums...which is why I'm thinking it might not be the best idea. I do plan on sending a CD of all the pictures I take on the cruise to all those who come on the cruise for the week (figure it will only be 2 or 3 dollars per CD to have them made at target or somewhere). Maybe sending the photo albums in the mail with the CDs would be a thought? I guess I still have plenty of time to decide.  Working on the invitations (moreso wording) now...have you ordered yours?

Let me start out by saying that when me & my fiance first starting dating I took him on his first cruise (as his Christmas gift) on a 4-night Carnival cruise to the Bahamas (we had stops in Nassau & Freeport). It was enough to get him hooked! We've taken a handful of cruise since then & he's LOVED them all! We're getting married next april on a cruise (it will be my 7th & his 5th cruise). Â We've already been talking about what our 1-year anniversary cruise will be...and there just so happens to be a Hawaii cruise (15 nights!) out of San Diego...that will fall just before the 1 year anniversary marker! Â All of our cruises have been Carnival, with the exception of one was NCL. The whole trip we kept comparing everything to Carnival (maybe because it's what was familiar to us?). But we vowed only to do Carnival going forward! The shorter Bahamas cruise is a great introduction to cruising though! And you should be able to get them pretty cheap too! Â If you convice him to take a cruise...my advice is to sign up for excursions in ALL ports! They're well worth the money to have activities planned! And you get to see much more of the island than you would if you ventured out on your own! Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for your quick response! I was thinking that would probably be the answer that Carnival would give you (that it would be dependent upon which musicians are available on the ship). I'm sure you're right...that whatever they play will be good!