HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Newly engaged and Cruise wedding questions

[sassysd7]

I want to get married on a cruise from carnival (on the destiny) going to ocho rios jamaica on Dec. 19, 2011. After reading all the posts I feel so bad for choosing a cruise but it seems the most affordable. Can someone tell me about their experience with cruise weddings? Did you get married on the beach? I want to! What came in the package? How much is it to pick outside vendors and what vendors will I need? I wanted to do a cruise wedding for the price, but if it is no good then I dont want to do it. I prefer quality over price, but we really don't have a lot of money! Any ideas would be nice! Thanks!

[Aumuller]

I don't really know anything about cruise weddings. I am planning a cruise honeymoon. But I think you have no reason to feel bad. Your guests will love having a cruise and getting to see multiple destinations.

[sinesbride]

I am just in the beginning stages of it. The more I research the more I go back and forth on my decision, but in the end still am choosing a cruise wedding. We will be getting married on the ship ON EMBARKATION day that way...I can enjoy the rest of the cruise and not have to worry about anything since we got married at the very beginning. I don't know what the packages are for in port weddings like Jamaica. I was more worried about missing a port or the weather being bad in port. The major reason for doing on embarkation day for us, was so our grandmothers who are less mobile can get on the ship the day of the wedding to see the ceremony and celebrate and then they can leave the ship since they don't feel up to the cruise part of it. We also wanted our family members who couldn't afford to take the actual cruise to be able to attend the wedding as well which is the whole reason we chose a port close to home and is driveable..which for us is Galveston. I think the only thing iwill be stressed about is making sure everyone is at the port on time and that we are all together for the VIP boarding. hehehee...so it could be worse...

[katieandaron]

We're getting married on the Destiny in April 2011.  We chose embarkation day as well, for the reasons sinesbride listed.  Right now it looks like most of our guests are cruising with us, but there are a few that are going to get off the boat after the reception, so an embarkation day wedding means they can still attend!

 

I personally love cruises and am so excited about our cruise wedding.  I think I would be a ball of stress planning a wedding, either at home or at a resort.  With a cruise, I just have to show up with my dress   And my groom!

 

So far we have only had positive feedback from our guests.  Negative comments, if there are any, aren't reaching my ears, thank goodness.  We sent invitations out just a couple of weeks ago and it looks like we're going to have about 50 people, so that's pretty awesome.  I don't think we would have that many if we chose a Caribbean resort.  Most of our family members are driving to Miami from VA and MA, not flying, so that's cutting costs for them.

 

So if it helps, sassysd7, I think you made the right decision choosing a cruise!

 

 

 

[sherribritt]

We are planning an embarkation day wedding, too, for the same reasons. I'll be getting married on the Carnival Fantasy on August 8, 2011. We have cruised before and it was a lot of fun, so I know that once the stress of ceremony is out of the way, I will have a blast!

[goodtoglow]

Why would you feel bad for choosing a cruise? I know people can be opinionated on whether they like to cruise or not, but all of our guests (82 and counting) have been very receptive of us choosing a cruise. What better time to try out cruising, than when they will be surrounded by family and friends?! A few people have chosen not to come because they don't prefer to travel via ship, but the number has been pretty low (under 5) and we only found out through word of mouth, they didn't actually tell us that is why they are not coming. 

 

Ochos Rios is beautiful, we stopped there in October 2008 on a cruise. There were two negatives (amongst many, many positives): we noticed there was a strong sewage smell in the area around the cruise port (could have just been the winds the day we were there. I recall being told that the sewage plant was nearby, though). Also, the driver of the ATV tour we did accompanied us to a grocery store to pick up Blue Mountain Coffee and we did feel uneasy being there around the locals. I was getting a lot of stares and a few guys made comments to me. Not sure I would have been okay had the driver not been with us.

 

However we loved every other aspect of Ochos. My fiances cousin is honeymooning there in May. My friends went there this past year and loved the resort they stayed at. I've only heard good things from coworkers who have gone!

 

Start by finding a coordinator in Jamaica. They should include everything you need in their package - ceremony site fees. officiant, flowers, transportation. Other things are add ons (champagne after the ceremony, decorated aisle, chairs, reception food). However I would recommend just letting everyone do their own thing after the ceremony (give them a timeline well before the cruise of how much time they will need to set aside for the ceremony, so they can plan activities afterwards, or organize a group activity for after ie. Dunns Falls). Then have your reception aboard the ship (rent the Steakhouse!). This is what we are doing. It allows our guests to enjoy St Thomas and get in some beach time and snorkelling (we arrive at 9am - ceremony at 10:30am and we will pay for transport to the beach - then everyone can plan their own activities until they need to be back on the ship for 6pm - and the Steakhouse seatings begin at 7pm)

 

Good luck!!!! I think your wedding will be great!

[dmkn77]

We're doing a cruise for our wedding because everyone else seems to be doing destination weddings now. We wanted to be different! I believe cruising is cheaper then an all inclusive, but the flights we need to take to get to the port makes it priceier for us. But still, all the places we and our guest will be able to see will make it sooo worth it!

 

Good luck with planning your wedding! Try www.cruisecritic.com theres tonnes of good info and a cruise wedding section!

[SusanJeff2008]

Thanks for the info, we are still researching so I don't have anything to add at the moment but good luck with everything!

[dai69]

Your wedding is just that YOUR wedding.

 

For months we were trying to design a wedding to suit the needs of so many people that we started to lose 'us'.Then one day we realized that we should be having a wedding that we want and by doing so we decided to do a cruise wedding. After all it is our favorite way to travel when we can afford to do so. We realized that a lot of people would not be able to attend because most people that we know barely have money to survive let alone travel. This gave us the idea to do the embarkment day wedding in that way even those who could not travel could still be there on the big day. Although having a beach wedding would have been the ultimate there were two things that stopped us. One many island destinations will not do same-sex weddings and also, just the fact that if for some reason the cruise did not stop at our port where the wedding would take place, we would be so upset and stressed.