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Wedding under the Radar


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Hi!

My name is Gail. I booked my cruise for next spring. However, we are going super low key for our wedding and budget. While we are all booking (up to 40 people) we have decided not to go through RCCL. We are going to get married at port the night before by my father in-law at the hotel, who is a ordained minister. We will be technically married before walking on the cruise ship. I do not want the pressure of buying the photo package that comes with the wedding package. I also feel that a ceremony and a cake slicing is not worth the few thousand that I was quoted. My question is... Do you think the cruise line will give us grief if we preform a ceremony on board while sailing? We just don't want all of the extras that are not included without a huge price. We are going to find a place to get married, have a photographer of our own, and even just book at one of the specialty dinners for our reception. We know a night of dancing and fun will follow. I need advice about how the cruise line will handle a bride on a sail day. Will they give me crap about how its not legal, or will I be congratulated like all the other brides? I am just worried now that all my plans are in motion. I cam't wait to hear your thoughts.

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I don't know but I would think that as long as you are not trying to "block off a venue" they would not have a problem with you dressing up in your best and taking pictures, all booking the same restaurant at the same time and then all going to the night club together.

 

The only thing that might be a problem (IMO) would be a professional photographer working on board. A "friend" taking pictures would not be an issue but if this is a professional and obviously so that might get their attention.

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I can see some problems with this, depending on how low key and flexible you are of course.

 

Not sure where you could get 40 people together for a ceremony without taking over a venue on the ship...which may or may not be a problem.

 

I cant see having some take your photo's around the boat an issue at all.

 

The reception you are planning...defn some problems there. First off, unless you have everyone in your party book way ahead, it probably will all ready be booked with other guests. Second of all, the other guests eating there, do not want to be a part of your reception. So unless you are just ok with sitting there and eating a meal, it's not a great or practical idea.

 

And this has nothing to do with RCCI. This is my opinion no matter what ship or cruiseline you would be on.

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Thanks for the good points. Do they have weddings all day on the ship? From what I read it sounds like most are done in the morning because they only offer a luncheon reception? On average how many weddings happen on a cruise? I have been on a few and have never seen a bride. I may have just missed them but I can't recall ever seeing one. Can other people use the chapel on the boat if there is not a wedding or is blocked off unless you are part of a RCCL wedding? What if people just want to pray, is there a place for that? If need be we will just gather everyone on a deck (without blocking it off). I didn't think about the fact that we would have to book everyone's dinner so far out. We will have to figure out another plan for that. Thanks for that point. I have a friend who is going to take pictures. She is not a professional just very good so I am not really worried about that. I appreciate your advice and look forward to hearing more.

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Thanks for the good points. Do they have weddings all day on the ship? From what I read it sounds like most are done in the morning because they only offer a luncheon reception? On average how many weddings happen on a cruise? I have been on a few and have never seen a bride. I may have just missed them but I can't recall ever seeing one. Can other people use the chapel on the boat if there is not a wedding or is blocked off unless you are part of a RCCL wedding? What if people just want to pray, is there a place for that? If need be we will just gather everyone on a deck (without blocking it off). I didn't think about the fact that we would have to book everyone's dinner so far out. We will have to figure out another plan for that. Thanks for that point. I have a friend who is going to take pictures. She is not a professional just very good so I am not really worried about that. I appreciate your advice and look forward to hearing more.

 

I saw a bride (well, I assume she was a bride, unless she was wearing one heck of a fancy white dress) on my last cruise, but I assume weddings are held somewhere private.  I didn't see a ceremony on board but I wasn't looking for it either.

 

Rather than getting married right on the ship, I've met some people that got off the ship at an island and were married there on the beach, and then the rest of the cruise was their honeymoon.

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Agree. I have some dear friends that got married a few years ago in Grand Cayman. They made all of the arrangements pre-cruise directly with the wedding coordinators, got off the ship, got married and then got back on and finished the cruise. They had a GREAT time and it was far easier and cheaper than trying to organize/coordinate a wedding on the ship (so they said).

 

I also saw a bride on our last cruise (May 3 on the Freedom) but like you, bcarney, I wasn't overly curious about where or how they got married. I can't even remember if it was ship photographers taking pictures of someone from the wedding party. I just didn't look that closely.

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Are you looking to do the actual ceremony onboard or on shore?  

 

If you do it on shore and celebrate back onboard, no one will mind.  But if you're trying to hold a wedding ceremony onboard without anyone knowing to get around the cost, I do think Royal Caribbean will mind.

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You can rent a venue or ask to have a private venue for family events -but actually having a wedding they

will mind - you could call it a vow renewal if you are already married like the day before - you would have to

get in touch with the ship for this

Message me and I can help you look into this

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Thanks for the good points. Do they have weddings all day on the ship? From what I read it sounds like most are done in the morning because they only offer a luncheon reception? On average how many weddings happen on a cruise? I have been on a few and have never seen a bride. I may have just missed them but I can't recall ever seeing one. Can other people use the chapel on the boat if there is not a wedding or is blocked off unless you are part of a RCCL wedding? What if people just want to pray, is there a place for that? If need be we will just gather everyone on a deck (without blocking it off). I didn't think about the fact that we would have to book everyone's dinner so far out. We will have to figure out another plan for that. Thanks for that point. I have a friend who is going to take pictures. She is not a professional just very good so I am not really worried about that. I appreciate your advice and look forward to hearing more.

 

my Wife and I were recently (April 6th) Married aboard Adventure of the Seas. We were the only wedding on that particular cruise. From what we learned, ship board weddings nly occur on departure days while in port in mainland U.S. ports or while in intentional waters (on Sea days). We were able to have our wedding at any time of the day up to 4:00pm (it was a formal night in the dining room where our photographer would be needed after 5:30). Happy to answer any additional ?s if I can help

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Floatme, Congratulations! Did you and your wife have a RCCL reception? What did you think of it? DId you feel a lot of pressure to buy the photo package? I heard it is very expensive and we cannot afford to do so. Did you have a lot of people come with you? Thanks for the info.

 

I have looked into the idea of getting off of the boat as many of you have suggested. It is definitely another option. My first choice will still be to get married on the boat. Does anyone know if RCCL would be flexible with their wedding package? For instance, I would not want the majority of what they offer, like the photographer and the officiant. Do you think they would lower the price if I did not require these things? Thanks again.

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Floatme, Congratulations! Did you and your wife have a RCCL reception? What did you think of it? DId you feel a lot of pressure to buy the photo package? I heard it is very expensive and we cannot afford to do so. Did you have a lot of people come with you? Thanks for the info.

I have looked into the idea of getting off of the boat as many of you have suggested. It is definitely another option. My first choice will still be to get married on the boat. Does anyone know if RCCL would be flexible with their wedding package? For instance, I would not want the majority of what they offer, like the photographer and the officiant. Do you think they would lower the price if I did not require these things? Thanks again.

We had a very small affair. Including us, there were 13 people in our group. Also allow me to preface this with I think what royal charges for what they give you is steep. That being said if we tried to accomplish the exact same thing at home we would have ended up paying a similar price if not more. Additionally, both of us had previously been married so neither of us wanted anything to do with the "big wedding thing".

 

Now your questions, I never got the impression that RCCL would be willing to negotiate prices for various aspects of the package being omitted, i.e. the photographer. And I believe that our contract even stated that you were not permitted to have you own photographer follow the ships photographer. As a side note the photographer we had was GREAT. We had planned on only getting g the 20 photos that came withe the package but chose to add 10 more (under no pressure what so ever). however we could have paid half price for the additional 10 had we prepaid for them when planning the wedding.

 

As for the reception; We did not have a formal reception. After the ceremony (wedding was at 4pm), while we were taking photos, our guests went to our suite where we had prearranged appitizers and drinks. We arranged that through the consierge not the wedding planner (cheaper and bether selection). We joined our guests after photos in the suite where best man and MOH gave speeches/toasts and then we all went to our traditional 6:00pm MDR seating for dinner. After the main course we prearranged (through the wedding coordinator ) to have our cake delivered on a service tray and stand to our dinner table and did the cutting of the cake. our party was at two adjacent tables, so this was all easily executed without feeling like we disturbed the other diners. By the way the cake was wonderful!

 

the one area where RCCL dropped the ball was we had asked our wedding specialist (the one you talk to while planning) if we could get the cooperation from a DJ in one of the discos and do a first dance. She failed to communicate to the wedding "coordinator" on board the ship. And although she did make an attempt to accomidate our request,(meager attempt in our opinion ) it was not in a suitable venue in our opinion, and quite frankly not that important to us.

 

we got what we paid for and are generally happy what we got. I would be happy to answer any other ?s

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Gail, just curious, which ship you will be sailing? If you will already be married and just wanted to do something ceremonial for your guests I am guessing you could reserve any area of the ship, conference room, viking lounge, et al, particularly on a day that the ship is at a port of call and most people are off the ship. I just would not plan on getting much help from RC.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the good points. Do they have weddings all day on the ship? From what I read it sounds like most are done in the morning because they only offer a luncheon reception? On average how many weddings happen on a cruise? I have been on a few and have never seen a bride. I may have just missed them but I can't recall ever seeing one. Can other people use the chapel on the boat if there is not a wedding or is blocked off unless you are part of a RCCL wedding? What if people just want to pray, is there a place for that? If need be we will just gather everyone on a deck (without blocking it off). I didn't think about the fact that we would have to book everyone's dinner so far out. We will have to figure out another plan for that. Thanks for that point. I have a friend who is going to take pictures. She is not a professional just very good so I am not really worried about that. I appreciate your advice and look forward to hearing more.

My daughter was married on VOS the ceremony had to take place before the ship sailed they do not do ceremonies while sailing. This was 5 years ago

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My daughter was married on VOS the ceremony had to take place before the ship sailed they do not do ceremonies while sailing. This was 5 years ago

That has since changed.  Royal Caribbean now offers weddings onboard the ship while sailing.

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  • 3 months later...

We had a very small affair. Including us, there were 13 people in our group. Also allow me to preface this with I think what royal charges for what they give you is steep. That being said if we tried to accomplish the exact same thing at home we would have ended up paying a similar price if not more. Additionally, both of us had previously been married so neither of us wanted anything to do with the "big wedding thing".

Now your questions, I never got the impression that RCCL would be willing to negotiate prices for various aspects of the package being omitted, i.e. the photographer. And I believe that our contract even stated that you were not permitted to have you own photographer follow the ships photographer. As a side note the photographer we had was GREAT. We had planned on only getting g the 20 photos that came withe the package but chose to add 10 more (under no pressure what so ever). however we could have paid half price for the additional 10 had we prepaid for them when planning the wedding.

As for the reception; We did not have a formal reception. After the ceremony (wedding was at 4pm), while we were taking photos, our guests went to our suite where we had prearranged appitizers and drinks. We arranged that through the consierge not the wedding planner (cheaper and bether selection). We joined our guests after photos in the suite where best man and MOH gave speeches/toasts and then we all went to our traditional 6:00pm MDR seating for dinner. After the main course we prearranged (through the wedding coordinator ) to have our cake delivered on a service tray and stand to our dinner table and did the cutting of the cake. our party was at two adjacent tables, so this was all easily executed without feeling like we disturbed the other diners. By the way the cake was wonderful!

the one area where RCCL dropped the ball was we had asked our wedding specialist (the one you talk to while planning) if we could get the cooperation from a DJ in one of the discos and do a first dance. She failed to communicate to the wedding "coordinator" on board the ship. And although she did make an attempt to accomidate our request,(meager attempt in our opinion ) it was not in a suitable venue in our opinion, and quite frankly not that important to us.

we got what we paid for and are generally happy what we got. I would be happy to answer any other ?s

Hi floatme, did you think one hour was enough for photos? Were you given an option to prepay for photos only? I have only been given an option for 1 hour additional photography and 20 extra photos. The extra one hour is what I'm not sure about. I don't know if we'll need an extra hour. We are getting married on oasis and have never cruised before....Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!
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Hi floatme, did you think one hour was enough for photos? Were you given an option to prepay for photos only? I have only been given an option for 1 hour additional photography and 20 extra photos. The extra one hour is what I'm not sure about. I don't know if we'll need an extra hour. We are getting married on oasis and have never cruised before....Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

Yes, I believe we were given a price sheet for several different "additional" photo packages. I will try and find the menu. Adding the addition photos beforehand was significantly less expensive than deciding on board that you wanted more than the original 20. For us 1 hour was perfect but the photographer did a fantastic job getting us around the ship. And we had to keep moving. Also were n a smaller ship. I am sure yours will be equally as good. Keep in mind that they will take you all over the ship. Casino, spiral glass stair cases, carousel, aqua theater, helipad, outside prominade, etc. For us, an extra hour would have been a waste, but we aren't people to,stage every shot, and we told our photographer that she was the pro and we just follow her lead and directions .

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Hi floatme, did you think one hour was enough for photos? Were you given an option to prepay for photos only? I have only been given an option for 1 hour additional photography and 20 extra photos. The extra one hour is what I'm not sure about. I don't know if we'll need an extra hour. We are getting married on oasis and have never cruised before....Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

I was incorrect in my previous post. All of the options did include the extra hour. Email yur coordinator and ask if you if she can put some packages together that only includes the extra photos. They love to get money up front. Don't be surprised if they aren't terribly quick to respond. I will try to attach our options menu. Things have changed a lot even in the past 8 months and we weren't on an Oasis class ship. By the way the cake REALLY is great.

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thanks floatme! Sorry for the late response, I thought I would get a notification if someone replied but I didn't! Your selection sheet is a lot more informative than mine. Mine doesn't have the prices at the bottom of the photography page that shows prices onboard. Thanks for attaching it.

 

I haven't opted for cake because I'm the only that likes cake and I don't think I could eat it on my own! :( it'll end up going to waste.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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