nl2134

I never thought about taking old suitcases & leaving them behind, but that's not a bad idea. I've seen some really cheap suitcases at Goodwill.

I've been discussing what to put in my bags with my frequent cruiser family and all agree that meds are a must. On our first family cruise, we all got some stomach bug on last day, so pepto would have been very welcome there. On my brothers last cruise, they hit some rough water for a day and everyone got seasick. Doctor, guest services, and gift shops all ran out of Dramamine. Those are things you hope aren't needed, but are definitely good to have nearby if they are needed.

We chose to do wedding in mid-late June because my fiancé, his mother, and brother-in-law all work for schools. Plus there are school age kids (nieces & nephew) that we want there. So we had to work around school schedules, so it had to be summer. Unfortunately, thats one of most expensive times to go. June should be okay, but any later gets closer to storm season. We shouldn't have hurricanes to deal with, but we have chance of rain & monsoon storms in June. One of our stops averages about 80% chance of rain on any given day at this time of year. But, most of those types of storms typically come and go quick (maybe an hour or two) and usually early morning or night, so I'm not too concerned. I plan to probably include umbrellas or ponchos in my OOT bags for guests just in case though.

Just booked my embarkation wedding in New Orleans on the Carnival Dream on June 22, 2014! 7-day cruise to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. My boarding pass invites are nearly done (just waiting to get a few more addresses from people to send out). It was hectic trying to figure out when & where to do it, but I feel more relaxed now that its booked. Also thrilled that we decided to get a spa suite... I've only stayed in interior cabins on previous cruise. I'm getting excited now... More for the cruise than the wedding though. I've never really been the girl that dreams of her wedding day. My mom was actually surprised when we said we were getting married. She always figured she would just get a call one day saying we eloped in Las Vegas or something. She didn't really expect me to have a "real" wedding. I'd be fine with a courthouse wedding, but FH wanted a more traditional ceremony. But that's why we love the destination/cruise idea... It's really the best of both worlds. Small, simple, can have out family there without getting too big and crazy. And minimal wedding planning. I love it. We have both our immediate families (parents, siblings, nieces/nephew) joining us on the cruise. We are inviting about 20-30 others, but we expect only maybe 5-10 will actually come. And some of those will probably be non-sailing. That's fine though... As long as our immediate families are there we are happy.

We are planning on doing wedding in port on Carnival Dream in June 2014. I was debating doing STD's, but decided there is enough info the need early to book cruise, so I decided to just go right out with invites. I plan to send them out next month (9-10 months before cruise). They will have basic trip info, booking contact info and link to our website, which has a lot more detail. With invite I'm including preliminary RSVP for early count estimate, due September. That leaves me time to contact people before they miss early pricing. Then at about 4 months before trip I plan to send out more info on cruise & excursions, along with a final RSVP probably due at final payment deadline. At this point I will ask for booking info for anyone that hasn't already provided it. So I should have final count on sailing & non-sailing guests along with needed info before I need to provide it to cruise line. I with probably also send out a final mailing about a month before trip with more details about boarding, pre-wedding & wedding day schedule, hotel accommodations, and any other details needed.