Just Booked Carnival Valor Wedding Cruise April 2012

[lrae]

Hello, My fiance and I just booked our wedding Cruise on the Carnival Valor in April 2012 leaving from Miami Florida. Ports of call will be Key West FL,, Georgetown Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios Jamaica. A six day cruise.

 

Here is what we are having a hard time deciding. We want to have a beach wedding which is why we choose a cruise for our destination wedding.  We have a group of about 20 people coming with us. And now picking the wedding package has been a hard decision.

 

My travel agent keeps pointing out that if we do an on ship wedding package with Carnival we can have up to I think 20 people attend with this package and then do a pp charge for the ppl over the limit. And the reception will be included.

 

Which may be a better choice than Carnival Beach ceremony which only covers the bride and groom. But our whole reason for doing this is a beach wedding.

 

Anyone have any ideas or any vendors you have used in Key West or Grand Cayman outside of Carnival to do your wedding? I have found a few but have not had a chance to talk on the phone with any of them.  Now my TA is worrying me because she says booking outside of Carnival runs the risk of "no guarantte" on the ceremony. Has anyone herd of the carnival not stopping at key west or grand cayman?

 

And then I have the recpetion...where beach? ship? So many questions. Open to any all suggestions please!

 

Thank you from an overwhelmed and very anxious bride to be!

[herbaltees]

Can you combine both? A wedding on the beach with a shipboard reception? The reception would be like a group dinner, and you can reserve a private room on board like you would any other group booking.

 

 

[lovepea]

There is a posibility that the ship could miss either of these ports due to weather.  Especially true of Grand Cayman, because you have to use tender boats to go ashore, the cruise ship doesn't actually dock there.  If the seas are rough, they may not be able to safely get people ashore, so you miss out on that stop.

 

I am not familiar with Key West, so I can't fully answer you about that one.

 

 

[luvfordalo]

Hi Irae!  I'm doing this exact same itinerary in August of 2012 (the rates are much cheaper lol).  We decided to get married on the island in Ocho Rios and I did lots of research before choosing a coordinator on the island.  As of Friday we had 39 rooms booked and counting.  As far as the cruise itself goes I went with a travel agent to take care of all the arrangements, as Carnival had too many requirements and wanted too much money up front. That is another reason why I didn't choose any of their packages as well.  To me they want everything up front and I want to be able to make payments as I wish.  We are looking into having a "dinner" in the steakhouse on the boat for our guests later that night.  We are also having an AHR about one month after we return for all those who couldn't make it.

 

Points that were important to me that I found out prior to any money exchanging hands...

 

1.  Inclimate weather contingency plans... there is an alternate indoor option since we are opting for a beach wedding

2.  Refund of any monies due to the boat not making it to the port 

[lrae]

Thank you ladies.  Here is what I have worked out so far.....

 

We are planning to do the ceremony in Key West, it is more affordable than the Grand Cayman. I plan to the reception back on board after spending the day in Key West. I think we will do the 1 1/2 reception package with Carnival.

 

Originally we had planned on getting married in Ocho Rios, but because it will be the last stop for this cruise we thought we would chage our plans to get married on the first stop in Key West then spend the rest of the cruise celebrating!

 

Alot goes into planning this, and it has been stressful getting things all together.  I would love to hear more about your plans luvfordalo. Good luck and happy planning!

[luvfordalo]

Irae.. I was thinking the same thing about the time frame, but we fell in love with Ocho Rios and just couldn't decide against it!

 

[DramaticAnnie]

I booked an April 2012 cruise on the Carnival Dream and we are getting married on the ship before it leaves Port Canaveral.. I have seen brides getting off the ship on embarkation days and they always look so stressed! So when I get on I want to get the wedding over with and then celebrate it with our family and friends all week.

 

I would book with Carnival's wedding department if you're planning a wedding at one of the stops.. and yes if the weather is bad they may not be able to stop at your stop, the tenders at Grand Cayman would be especially affected by weather like another poster said. I have been on these tenders. I am taking my parents including my dad and my fiancee's mom who both have limited mobility, I would not expect them to be comfortable getting on the tenders, so you might want to think about your guests as well.

 

Look into your Carnival wedding package more. I think you can have a beach wedding with more then just the bride and the groom, but the documentation I have is for on-board weddings so I'm not sure. For us the reception includes 20 ppl, and we have 34 booked so far, so for the extra 14 ppl I'll have to pay another $30 a head. Except for children under 7, which I have one of attending, which will be free for the reception, big woop, lol.

 

Happy Planning! Great hearing from another April 2012 Carnival bride! A woman messaged me on here actually that said she is getting married on the Carnival Dream the same day as me! So I'm sure we'll see each other somewhere, we'll be the only guests (maybe one other? I think Carnival does a max of 3 weddings per embarkation day) with wedding dresses on, lol.

[kks2012]

If you book with the wedding department, this is not an option.

[LC42312]

Hi!  I am getting married on that same cruise and same day in Key West!

 

We decided on having the ceremony and reception at the Westin Key West Resort & Spa.  I originally talked to both Carnival Weddings and AWFY and disliked them both.  Too expensive for not even realizing that you're paying for!

 

Congratulations!

[Sandra Hewlett]

We just got married on the Valor in Key West less than two weeks ago! Wedding on land reception on board. 53 sailed with us and total 83 at wedding and reception. It was amazing! We did the reception with carnival and the wedding on our own since we wanted a church wedding. You must try to get Patrick Venenoso as your photographer if he is still on the ship...the pictures were just breath taking original and unbelievable! !!!