Grand Cayman Wedding/Carnival Destiny Vac Review

[Tobi]

Ok so I am finally doing my review. We had a 5 night cruise with 35 guests and a beachside wedding in Grand Cayman at Grand Cayman Beach Suites with cocktail and hors 'd.

Cruise ship: C

Beautiful cruise ship with tons of activites to keep everyone happy. Clean and updated. Food was not that great with the exception of the lobster, nachos, and sushi bar! Service was not very good either. Our room stewart sucked and was not even friendly. I don't recommend taking a kid below the age of 6 to 8 on a cruise...it's really not very fun for them! All in all we had a WONDERFUL trip because we were surrounded by our best friends and family...you could put us in a cardboard box and we would have fun.

Grand Cayman Beach Suites: A+

The hotel where we had the ceremony and reception was beautiful! The food was great (a little on the expensive side so thank goodness we did appetizers) and the bartender service was great.

Wedding coordinator Caroline Deegan: D-

Comes with an wedding package at the Beach Suites. She sucks! She coordinated 3 details of my day and that was the officiant, flowers, and cake. The only time I saw her the wedding day was when I gave her the cake stand before the wedding and when we walked down the aisle she timed us out. How do you coordinate a wedding you do not attend? She gave me quotes on transportation for my guests and rental of a mic that were 4 times higher than what I got when contacting vendors. She also refused to coordinate the timing of the paperwork with the officiant so I had to contact him myself. Here are the pics of what I wanted my cake and flowers to look like compared to what they turned out as...in the end it didn't matter but FYI

Actual:

Requested:

Actual:

Requested:

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[Tobi]

Officiant: Rev. Godfrey Meghoo A

He got a little long winded for our taste but he was exceptional! He did a palm blessing after we read our handwritten vows and worked into the ceremony being barefoot on the beach with a biblical story. Guests commented on the great job he did.

Transportation in Grand Cayman: A

We used Majestic Tours for a bus to p/u our guests from port and take them to the hotel and back to port after the wedding. The bus we very nice and the driver gave an impormptu tour of the island which was great. We also used the company for a BMW for my DH and I to get back to port. I recommend having separate vehicles because it gave us some time to be alone and enjoy the moment. They were reasonably priced and reliable service.

Photographer: Summer Gibbs and Megan Kime A++

These 2 wonderful ladies came with us on the trip and went above and beyond with georgeous shots of the entire trip. They were a wonderful decision and I would recommend either of them over and over again. In fact one fo my bridesmaids is getting married this Oct and is using one of them. Our pics are on both of their websites if you'd like to check them out:

Summergibbs.com

Megankime.com

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[Tobi]

IPOD reception: A+

This was cheap and worked great. We did not miss the DJ at all. Since we had an absent wedding coordinator we knew the timing of certain events by the song that was playing. This kept us on time with garter toss, cake, etc.

Our first dance was to Red on a Rose by Alan Jackson:

When we got back onto the boat one of the GM had the reggae band play us a song so we danced again...

We thre our vows overboard as we left the port:

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[Tobi]

Next port was Jamaica where we did our TTD and the Dunns River Falls/Mahagony Beach excursion (not through the cruise ship but a private company).

TTD pics:

Jarva Shaw tour guide: A+

Then we used Marva Shaw tours and we had her son Jarva take us to Dunns Falls and Mahagony Beach. It was a BLAST! It was so cheap compared to the cruise excursion...I highly recommend them. My Aunt sprained her ankle on the falls when she fell down at the end and some of the guys rented a bananna boat at the Mahogany Beach and 1 ended up w a cracked rib! OOPS so be careful! It was one of the best parts of the trip.

[merocket59]

Good review, I'm a little sad to hear about the service on Destiny but I've read it in other reviews as well so I will go in knowing not to expect much, as long as we have our fam and friends there we'll have fun too! I completely agree that your photographer gets an A++ those pics are great!!

[Royal_lady10]

Welcome back.. and congrats on becoming the Mrs!! great detailed review. Your pictures are so stunning.. i love the one of the three of you with the little looking back.. how cute.. congrats once more

[Ana]

awesome review! your pictures are incredible!!! congrats

[Tobi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by merocket59 Good review, I'm a little sad to hear about the service on Destiny but I've read it in other reviews as well so I will go in knowing not to expect much, as long as we have our fam and friends there we'll have fun too! I completely agree that your photographer gets an A++ those pics are great!!

Well hopefully you will luck out. We had guests that had great service form their room attendant so we just got a sucky one =) I'm sure they are on every ship.
Like you said, you guys will have a blast no matter what.

[sunstarsmoon]

beautilful pictures

[Prettyhazardous]

Your pics are beautiful.