Carnival Cruise Beach Wedding

[TLynn3123]

Hello,

 

I'm new to this blog site and recently engaged this month. We have chosen, what we believe to be, a less stressful and the least expensive route of a cruise beach wedding. We are crushing Carnival Sensation Feb 2017. The cruise leaves out of Miami and docks in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. After speaking to Carnival the amount of money charged only covers a few things. A vendor, who is responsible for the decor and other essential items, charges a separate pricing for those items. We are looking to have 20 guest to sail with us. Has anyone cruised and participated or participating in an upcoming beach wedding offered by Carnival? What did you all do immediately after the beach wedding? Are there some things I need to watch out for or hidden costs or hiccups? What are your experiences? All feedback is welcomed.

[Moments That Matter]

Welcome to our forum community TLynn3123 and Congrats on your engagement and wedding next Feb!!! There are lots of great resources here, so hopefully you'll find the answers you're looking for.

 

Wishing you happy research, and all the best with your plans - cheers!!! team MTM

 

[cruisebride2016]

@@TLynn3123 Congrats on your engagement and the decision to have a cruise wedding! I JUST got back from my wedding cruise yesterday We are veey happy with our decision to do a wedding cruise! We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas and got married at Firefly in Jamaica. We planned the ceremony through Tropical Weddings Jamaica instead of the cruiseline.

 

Here is a link to my planning thread: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/79586-cruisebride2016-cruise-wedding-planning-thread/.

 

Based on your itinerary, I would recommend you get married in Jamaica. Grand Cayman is a tendered port, so the weather is often too bad and the port gets skipped, therefore you wouldn't have your wedding if that happened.

 

Please let me know if you have specific questions and I would be happy to answer.

[TLynn3123]

@@cruisebride2016..... We booked the wedding for Ocho Rios, Jamaica....we are trying to determine if we want to purchase the "reception" package aboard the cruise. For one, we don't want to have to head immediately back to the boat following the ceremony since they are providing the transportation. We want to be able to explore the island (tour or something) before the ship departs the port. The ship leaves Ocho Rios for 4, so we are wondering if we should wait till dinner (6:15pm to eat n celebrate) or purchase this reception package for an hour then head to dinner which sounds like a waste of money to me. If we do the reception package it would be only for the guest since me and my fiancé are not really concerned about that portion. We are still brainstorming what to do after the ceremony other than going back to the boat

[acw271011]

@@TLynn3123 Congrats and welcome! A cruise is a beautiful way to celebrate your wedding!

 

I was actually going to suggest you look at @@cruisebride2016 thread but she beat me to it!! lol  

 

Ocho Rios Jamaica is gorgeous! It's a beautiful place to get married but I'm a Jamaica bride so I think I'm biased. I think a tour or something after your wedding is a great idea! Why not try and take in some of the beauty of the island after your ceremony and then just go back to the ship closer to departure time and have your reception in the evening? Sounds like a perfect idea to me. As @cruisbride2016 suggested, maybe there is something on the island you could do right after that could involve a cocktail and appies or something like that, that will help get your guests in a celebratory mood. Perhaps a "jolly roger" type tour that would serve drinks on board and let your party start. I'm sure there are a ton of ideas that would work for you. Of course it will also depend on the time you have your ceremony schedule for. If you're departing at 4, unless you're doing an early ceremony it doesn't leave a ton of time and then return to the ship before it leaves.

 

Definitely some things to think about and investigate! Good luck and happy planning!

[cruisebride2016]

@@TLynn3123 What time does the ship arrive in Ocho Rios? What time is your ceremony? Do you plan to get ready on the ship or in Jamaica?

[TLynn3123]

@@cruisebride2016 we arrive at 10am and depart at 5pm.

 

@@acw271011 @@cruisebride2016 we won't know for sure what time slot we will be given for the ceremony, but we hope it's for the earliest time being we arrive at 10am. I'm unsure if I would be able to put on my dress at the resort the beach is facing or if I have leave dressed which defeats the element of surprise for everyone if we have to all be transported together to the beach site from the boat. The ceremony itself shouldn't last long at all since we opted out of having a wedding party. I want to explore the island with the remaining time we have left. We want to go to Dunns River Falls and tour the island with whatever time remains. Once we make it back aboard, dinner time will be approaching which we are unsure if it would make sense to have a reception after we eat or to even spend the money to have a hour reception right before dinner time.

[cruisebride2016]

@@TLynn3123 Since the ship arrives at 10am, you can probably arrange to get your hair and make-up done on the ship prior to arrival. Then, you can get off the ship in normal clothes and just get into your wedding dress at the wedding venue. This will allow you to maintain some surprise for your groom.

 

I think it would be difficult to visit Dunn's Falls after your wedding. When we visited Jamaica last year to do site visits, we went to Dunn's Falls and just took pictures, but didn't climb the falls. It felt like a waste of time and money to do this. So, unless you plan to change out of your dress or do a trash the dress at Dunn's Falls, I don't know if it would be worth it to visit. You might be able to do a short island tour and visit another waterfall to take pictures.

 

You want to make sure that you plan to arrive back to the port at least an hour prior to scheduled departure because "all aboard" is usually 30 minutes prior to the posted departure time and you want to leave some cushion.

 

We brought a photographer with us. So, when we got back to the ship, my husband and I went around the ship for at least an hour with our photographer taking pictures. It was a very fun and memorable time for us!! We had our receeption back on the ship because it allowed us to focus on the ceremony while we were on the island. Although, since you are going into Ocho Rios and planning to get married at a beach near there, you may have time to do at least a mini-reception (cake, appetizer,and food) at the venue.