New Royal Caribbean Bride Here!

[Ecofrugal]

We are still debating between two cruises but we have narrowed them down to RCI cruises!

 

We will be married on one of  RCI's private islands (Coco Cay or Labadee) while in port.  It won't  be anything fancy, just us and a few guests.  We're not even going through the cruiseline or hiring a planner or anything because I can't legally get married in the Caribbean thanks to some very outdated and sexist laws (I'm divorced).  BUT, we'll still have a great time and just make it legal later.

 

Any other RCI brides out there???  We just started planning and even though I've been to several cruise weddings (that's how Cody and I met, actually!) I'm still very overwhelmed by all there is to do!  Are you using a TA or just going through a cruiseline planner?

[AshleyW]

 

 

Originally Posted by Ecofrugal 

 

We are still debating between two cruises but we have narrowed them down to RCI cruises!

 

We will be married on one of  RCI's private islands (Coco Cay or Labadee) while in port.  It won't  be anything fancy, just us and a few guests.  We're not even going through the cruiseline or hiring a planner or anything because I can't legally get married in the Caribbean thanks to some very outdated and sexist laws (I'm divorced).  BUT, we'll still have a great time and just make it legal later.

 

Any other RCI brides out there???  We just started planning and even though I've been to several cruise weddings (that's how Cody and I met, actually!) I'm still very overwhelmed by all there is to do!  Are you using a TA or just going through a cruiseline planner?

 

 

Congratulations!!

 

My wedding sounds similar to what you're doing... nothing fancy, just some family.   I had no idea there were laws about re-marrying after divorce.. that's crazy!   Anyway, I'm actually going through Carnival instead of RCI - but I agree about how much stuff there is to do! We're going through Carnival for the actual wedding aboard the ship, and then we're using a TA to book the actual cruise and our guests booked through her as well.

 

Congratulations again, and make sure you look around the forums - there is a TON of information and helpful stuff on here!

[LadyLove]

Hi and congrats! I am an RCI bride too. I am super excited to take my first cruise with RCI and have heard nothing but good things. We used a TA for our guests and us to book and for the wedding we actually hired a planner ourselves in St. Thomas. It worked out to be a better deal than going thru the cruise line itself and so far so good. At first, my fiancé and I were thinking we'd have something fairly simple but having 50 guests book to come made us want to take it up a notch. Happy planning!

[Ecofrugal]

What ship are you marrying on?  We finally picked ours- Navigator of the Seas 6-night Caribbean.  The ports of Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Haiti (Labadee).  We'll be married on Labadee.

 

We also ended up going through a TA.  She's been great so far!  A little slow at replying to emails but that's honestly my only complaint and it's my bad for hating the phone and not calling her when something comes up!  But she got us a better rate on the cabins and extra OBC. 

 

Only 5 months... I'm getting REALLY excited!
 

Originally Posted by LadyLove 

Hi and congrats!
I am an RCI bride too. I am super excited to take my first cruise with RCI and have heard nothing but good things.
We used a TA for our guests and us to book and for the wedding we actually hired a planner ourselves in St. Thomas. It worked out to be a better deal than going thru the cruise line itself and so far so good. At first, my fiancé and I were thinking we'd have something fairly simple but having 50 guests book to come made us want to take it up a notch.
Happy planning!

 

[Ecofrugal]

Thank you!  You know, in the past year I've been to four (yes, four!) Carnival weddings and they were great!  

 

Yeah, in some countries (DR, St. Martaan, I believe Belize and a few others... mostly the Latin countries) a divorced woman cannot remarry for a YEAR after her divorce.  Now, a man can remarry the day after the divorce is final but the woman has to wait a year.  Learning that really upset me.  My ex and I have been separated for two years but didn't file the divorce papers until we were separated almost a year and then the divorce itself took a while to go through the system and then I completely forgot to sign the final papers until this last May.  But the cruiseline said that didn't matter, we couldn't get married on St. Martaan which is one of the ports we could legally get married in.  So we just decided to do a symbolic ceremony on the cruise.  And this way I can have my sister (who's in seminary)  perform the ceremony.  It's working out better in the end.
 

Originally Posted by AshleyW 

 

Congratulations!!

 

My wedding sounds similar to what you're doing... nothing fancy, just some family.   I had no idea there were laws about re-marrying after divorce.. that's crazy!   Anyway, I'm actually going through Carnival instead of RCI - but I agree about how much stuff there is to do! We're going through Carnival for the actual wedding aboard the ship, and then we're using a TA to book the actual cruise and our guests booked through her as well.

 

Congratulations again, and make sure you look around the forums - there is a TON of information and helpful stuff on here!

 

[LadyLove]

Hi Ecofrugal. Thanks for your suggestion on my Help with Reception thread. So from that you probably now know we are getting married via the Oasis in St. Thomas. I'm glad everything is working out for the better and that your sis can do ceremony. None of my many siblings are making the trip and that's working out for the best...lol

[CruiseWedding13]

Hi Ecorugal Im actually trying to plan a cruise wedding through RCI too fro 2013. What did you mean by the rates were cheaper through the TA than OBC? what is OBC? and do you recommend I use the TA for booking as a group even if I want to do the reception on the ship?

[crusnbride0512]

In Bermuda it's legal to get married. I am divorced and Bermuda Bride (wedding planner) had me mail in my divorce decree to prove it. Thats all. Where did you hear it's illegal?