Any other cruise brides out there?

[sm316217]

It is funny . . . . It my FH was the one who pushed for the cruise. I’m the worrying that we wont get the alone time. I picked the Mariner of the Seas because it leaves out of Port Canaveral. I absolutely love Disney World and we have to fly into Orlando so for a little time before and after we spend some time in Disney World. Now he is asking his brother to come with us there. My FH really likes the idea that we will have everyone with us for the week. He thinks it is like stretching the celebrating (party) of our wedding for an entire week. I however feel like I’m loosing a bit of the honeymoon. He told me that we have the rest of our lives to take trips alone. I am really excited about getting the beach photos.

 

I have to say… dreaming of a cruise wedding has been a whole lot different than the reality of it. First off… some of the people who really want to be there can’t afford it. Then I have a sister that gets vertigo on cruise ships and she is worried she is going to spend the entire week sick. And don’t get me started on the different personalities that we will be cruising with… I told my FH that I may just hide in on the balcony in our room with a good book and let the family fight it out.

 

 

Even with all of that I’m still really looking forward to it. Also my FH said that he will take me for a nice romantic weekend after we get back to make up for it.

[TA Dina]

The Mariner is part of the Voyager class of ships. Some of the largest at sea (well, not as big as the Freedom class...but they're monster ships LOL).

 

Trust me, if you don't want to see your family during the week, it will be easy to hide. You really won't even have to try. You'll be surprised.

 

Most families that do want to stay together usually bring walkie talkies of some sort to help them find each other.

 

I'm sure you will have a blast!

[Tamster808]

Our family lives everywhere, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Washington State, Florida, Alabama, and we live in Georgia. Everyone is going to have to travel so we might as well all go on a cruise. My family loved the idea. They have been asking for the past two years when we were going on a cruise. His family is excited too. We are only going on a three night cruise so we won't be with them all week. I think it will be fun to spend more time with them than the standard couple hours. Although, I have requested for noone else to be on our floor and our parents will be the only ones that know our room number. At first I thought it would be cheaper but it does not look like when everything is said and done that we will save much money.

[sm316217]

Yes, We thought it would be cheaper as well. The Royal Romance Package for a shipboard ceremony is $1,500 and you really don’t get anything for that…. The room, a photographer (but NO photos), and flowers for the bride and groom. Crazy. We also had to give up another $500 for the filing of the paper work. We also get chocolate covered strawberries and champagne for two, my FH and I are wondering how to split this among our 40 guest. To get cake and fake champagne (Sprite) for everyone after it will be another $600. The photos are high. We would just like to buy a disk with the release and all the digital images. They want $1,000 for that. I have been looking at the photo packages and they are very high.

 

We are having a reception at home so this is getting expensive. Now it is very hard for me to justify another $600 for cake on the ship when you get all that food included. Here is what my FH and I were thinking…. When we get onboard the ship… booking a conference room around the time of the wedding. After the wedding we will all meet in the conference room for a little warm wishes gathering…. and try to get RC to provide us with a birthday cake (they are free). A well placed cake topper can turn a birthday cake into a wedding cake right?

 

…… oh my gosh…. I’m so tacky…. And cheap.

 

Still I’m super excited and I have been working so hard to make everything so perfect. I’m planning a scavenger hunt for my guest on our first day at sea as a “get to know everyone†type event. I’m working on our OOT bags and got the cutest bags from Bath and Body at the outlet mall for 75% off. I love a deal.

 

One more thing…. The voyager class ships have a wedding chapel on the ship that holds 40 people. Our guest list is rapidly approaching 40. Right now we are at 36. If we go over than we have to have a beach wedding and the cost is going to go up up up! They want $25 per person to take them to the wedding location AND… another $1000 for the new location… and on the beach they don’t provide music unless you want to rent something from them… another $500…. And cake and fake champagne for all…. Did I mention this wedding is a money pit?

 

I am bridezilla….. Aren’t I? I’m still very happy. This is going to be great and I’m sure that everything will be worth it in the end.

[ABeverage]

I'm a cruise bride, May 11, 2008 on Freedom of the Seas! I can't wait.

 

We got engaged on the Liberty of the Seas and figured why not get married on one too. We also have such a tiny family and we're paying for our own wedding so it just made sense to have a destination wedding. There will be 11 of us...we can't wait.

 

Weddings on a cruise ship is cheaper than a traditional wedding however they still charge up the wazoo for everything. (At least that's what we have found) and there isn't much leeway when it comes to schedule changes. For instance we wanted to have our extra hour of photography (that we paid extra for) come directly after the ceremony and then have cake cutting / toast once we were done. They flat out said no, they can not do that because they are on a schedule. So we have to have the ceremony, cake cutting/toast and then we can use the additional hour of photography. Ah well. Guess I won't be eating much cake or drinking. I'm afraid of spilling something all over the front of the dress.

 

On a positive note, it's definitely less stressful and instead of having a party/reception that lasts 1 night..you get a full week! We can't wait!

[Tamster808]

I orginally was not going to have a reception because I thought it was dumb to buy food when everyone has already paid for food. But I have changed my mind since. We are trying to keep the guest list under 50 so we can just do a hors d oveurs reception. I was going back and forth about getting a dj so we can have a first dance and a father daughter dance. But I don't think it will be worth the money. We can just go to one of the dance clubs and save money.

[ABeverage]

sm316217, I was actually trying to get an answer on the price of just ordering a CD with the images since we will be having a blessing ceremony when we get home we just want to have a slide show of all of our pictures and we don't want to have to scan them all in to a computer when we get back. Is it $1,000 just for the disk or is that part of the Photo package that comes with a cd of all images? If it's just the disk, I'm not surprised, but that is just outrageous. I mean, how many pictures can they really take in 1 or 2 hours? We wouldn't even pay anything close to that at home.

 

That has to be my one complaint. They know they have you over a barrel and can charge whatever they want. Pictures are the one thing that I really wanted but we really can't afford the packages. = / They have to give us some sort of a break somewhere.

[Meggie2008]

I'm a cruise bride. April 29th 2008. Carnival Liberty!!!

[bermudabride825]

I am unofficially a cruise bride. We are cruising from NJ to Bermuda, but then getting married at a resort in Bermuda. It is all very exciting! We made sure not to book near anyone though so we could have our down time too. I would be VERY interested in seeing how your cruise scavenger hunt comes out.

[sm316217]

ABeverage: Yes, the photos are so expensive. It has me a bit upset. My FH says no way but I can not imagine not getting it so he is coming around. I'm budgeting for it. It is $1000 for just the CD. No photos included. They have packages but I wrote them and finally got them to respond in writing with a quote for the CD. Here is the link that describes the photo pacakges.

https://www.image.com/html/pre_cruise.html

 

Images is the company the RC uses. They also handle several other cruise line photos. The photographers on the ship are actually part of this company. They are starting to make images that they take on the cruise availalbe on their website after the cruise. I hope they have this up and running before October.

 

bermudabride825: I'm excited about the scavenger hunt as well. My FH is super excited. We put alot of fun things on the list. If you would like me to send you a copy of it, send me a privite message with your email. Thanks.