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 Wedding Disaster On Carnival
Posted Tue August 14, 2012 12:00 pm, by Deborah P. written to Carnival Cruise Line
First I would like to say, that looking back on our experience with Carnival Weddings - We would NEVER
suggest to any engaged couple to proceed with a wedding onboard your ship. Let me take a few
moments of your time to explain what we endured.
We booked our wedding with Carnival in May 2012. We received approx. 12 pages of forms to fill-out -
which we promptly completed and faxed to the fax numbers indicated. Approx. 1 month later I learned
from my “Florida wedding planner” (little did I know - I would also have a California Wedding Planner!)
that the only page that had been received by Carnival was the page that was most important to Carnival
- the Carnival Contract! I immediately re-faxed all of the documents that were important to us - i.e,
wedding cake choices, req for flower up-grades (which I did not receive until approx. 3 weeks prior to the
wedding), tux rentals, etc. I at some point had a conversation with my Florida Wedding Planner because
I had some questions (I later learned that this person had been with Carnival for almost 30 years - which
is important because of some inaccurate info she gave me) - I asked my Florida Wedding Planner two
questions - 1) Would my groom and I be standing on the deck doing the muster drill? This was
something we did not want to do on a hot day dressed in formal attire - I was told, “No, that wedding
parties attend the muster drill in a lounge area”. 2) How much time would we have to get ready and
where would we be able to change? --- I was told, “You will have two cabins to get ready in - the one
you will be sailing in and another cabin for the groom to get ready in”.
Based on the answers to the questions above, my groom and I confirmed our date and paid for our
Wedding Package. Approx. 30 days prior to the wedding - The same Florida Wedding Planner informed
me that we would do the muster drill on the deck with everyone else and that we only had one cabin
available to us for 3 people to change in. Needless to say, we were not happy with these changes. I
contacted her supervisor and her supervisor contacted the ship to see if an exception could be made. A
few days later I was advised that we would be able to do the muster drill in a lounge. However, ONLY 1
cabin would be available.
After numerous request, I was finally able to receive a few pictures of flower upgrades. Now typically
when someone upgrades a flower package - you only receive one package! This was not the case. I
requested several times - pictures of what the tux’s would look like - NO pictures.
The above is just to name a few problems with the Florida departments. Now lets fast forward to the day
of the wedding.
When we arrived at the Port of Entry - there was total chaos - the Splendor had just started off loading
passengers from the previous cruise. No one was there to greet us. We made our way into a free
standing building where we were checked in ---- for some reason our package was not there and it did
not seem like the employee even knew that we were part of a wedding party!
After a few minutes he came back with our cabin keys. I told him we were a wedding party and asked
where we needed to go. He pointed us to the Queen Mary. So off across the parking lot we go -
wedding dress, formal attire, about 3 bags, a 15 year old and my groom in tow! We go to the front of the
Queen Mary and told them we were there to check in and they looked at us like we were from MARS!
The Queen Mary tried to send us back across the parking lot to Carnival until someone - who obviously
had a CLUE pointed us to a different door4 at the other end of the parking lot - so off we go again!
Once we were able to get inside the building we were greeted by our CALIFORNIA Wedding Planner!
Everything seemed to be running smoothly - our guest arrived and checked in and then we were cleared to
board. The Wedding Planner excused herself to retrieve our flowers. I glanced in the box - and not only did
I end up with the upgraded bouquet of flowers, but I also had a standard white bouquet! The flowers were
already starting to wilt! So it appeared to me that they were not previously kept in refrigeration.
We made it to our cabin and then met with our guest for a few minutes. At approx. 12 o’clock - I proceeded
to the cabin by myself to get ready. I told my groom to give me till 1:00pm to get ready and then he and his
son could get in the room to get ready. I was taken to a lounge area where I waited. My groom and his son
went to the room to get ready. The room was very hot! My groom was trying to get his son ready and
himself and then all 5 bags arrived!!!! As if the room wasn’t small enough already for two grown men trying
to put tux on - then you add 5 full size bags! Now lets add the photographer! Now you have three grown
men - the groom is stressed for time and the photographer is taking all these crazy pictures - and 5 full size
bags! NOT a pleasant experience.
So, everyone makes their way to the Board Room for the ceremony. The doors open and I walk in and the
first thing I see is my groom and his son standing there with NO boutonnières! The boutonnières were not
put on them until AFTER the ceremony - so a lot of the pictures taken during the ceremony were missing
their flowers.
A few pictures were taken and then we go to the reception in the Piano Bar --- very nice room - everything
was set up very nice. BOTH of my bouquets were on the table around the cake. We cut our cake and made
our toast! Our guest leave and then we here an announcement for the Muster Drill! At this point our
Wedding Planner is MIA and NO ONE told us where we were to be for the Muster Drill! So we made our
way back to the Piano Bar and there we sat until the drill was over!
In regards to my two bouquets - since I obviously paid for two - I was planning on using the white bouquet on
formal night so we could get more pictures. My flowers were THROWN away after the reception. Needless
to say - this was very upsetting.
As you can see - what should have been a stress free event for us, turned out to be anything but. We were
asked and continue to be asked by friends and family about our experience with the Carnival Wedding
Department - you can probably only guess our response!
Work on the wedding planning process
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by BethE Posted Tue August 21, 2012 @ 3:14 PM
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I was married Dec. 18, 2010 aboard the Carnival Freedom out of Port
Everglades. I cannot tell you how wonderful my Miami wedding planner
and the entire staff was! We arrived at the port shortly before 10 (as
instructed) and was greeted at the VIP check-in, escorted to VIP
check-in, and was seated separately until we were able to board. There
was another wedding going on right after ours, but the onboard planner
as well as the officiant where available if we needed either of them.
We were also given a hostess whom took care of us while on board. We
did go to the muster drill formally dressed because we were still
taking pictures. But they placed us in the front row so we weren't
part of the sardines. I'm so sorry for the troubles. I would write a
formal letter to the Miami office and demand answers. From what I've
read on other boards, this definately does not seem the norm.
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by DeeM Posted Sun August 19, 2012 @ 2:12 AM
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I hope you planning on reposting this on as many message boards as you
can find to warn other people away from doing the same thing!
Sorry it turned into such a major hassle for you, I can't begin to
fathom how disappointing it all must have been for you......
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by spunkyboy08 Posted Wed August 15, 2012 @ 1:20 PM
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I will be getting married sometime next year, & I would NOT even
consider doing this. I want a simple wedding. The less stress the
better.
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congrats
by Lisa H. Wed August 15, 2012 @ 3:16 PM
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Isn't the point of doing weddings on cruise ships to eliminate most of
the tedious details?
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