Opinion needed - past cruise brides!!

[pineapple princess]

okay - i don't mean this to sound as bad as it is going to sound but....

 

how was it spending the entire cruise with ALL of your guests?? We are considering a cruise wedding, and while a 3 - 4 day cruise would be more than fine, it is looking like it might be more like 7 nights!

 

My immediate family is MORE than fine. We have a blast and it is always good times. But i was more worried about perhaps my FI's family or extended family being there if / when i decide to CUT LOOSE! he he.

 

Also - i was really worried about splitting the time between all the guests (which is an issue at every wedding i guess). did you all just eat dinner with a different group every night??

 

and finally - did you mind spending the beginning of your honeymoon not alone?

 

thanks in advance!!!

[Ceci21]

Actually, that is why we choose a weekend cruise vs. a 7 day cruise. Basically, we will set sail on Friday, get married on Saturday in Nassau Bahamas while at port, and on Sunday we are at NCL’s private island then back to port (Miami) by 8:00 am on Monday. Then Monday evening we leave for our honeymoon. We look at it as a weekend of partying vs. 4 hours! We have approximately 50 guests sailing with us, our closest friends and family. The love the idea of a weekend cruise, it’s like a mini vacation.

 

I can totally understand you. I would not like to go with some of my guest to my honeymoon! LOL

 

 

Checkout my wedding website for info on the cruise....

 

Our Destination Wedding! - The Knot: Wedding Web Page Builder

 

Hope this helps!

[cruisebride0410]

I did the same thing and booked a short 3-day weekend cruise. That way you get to spend more time with your family than a typical wedding, but it's not a super long amount of time. Plus the three-day cruises are pretty cheap, so you can still take a honeymoon. Guests only have to take one or two days off work too - I thought this option worked out well for everyone.

I am wondering the same thing about dinner - if we can rotate between different tables.

[pineapple princess]

thanks girls! i was trying to find a weekend cruise, but since i was trying to have a catholic ceremony, i was kind of limited as to which islands i could travel to. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of having a 3 day reception. i think i will look to maybe get married right before the cruise instead of during. like maybe in miami or something.

 

originally, i was looking into the us virgin islands, but that was more like 7 days!

 

are you all going to do any excursions as a group?

 

i will also look more detailed into the "dinner roation" idea. i think that would be a good way to see everyone in a more intimate setting.

[Jenn79]

For me, it all went by so fast it hardly felt like we spent any time at all. Everyone was off doing their own thing most of the time, so there really wasn't any sense of being surrounded by our guests. There were also only about fifteen of us on the cruise, so it was easy to "hide" if we really wanted to.

 

We took a seven day cruise from Boston to Bermuda on NCL's Majesty, and loved every minute. Three and a half days on the island, three and a half at sea, then off on our honeymoon a few days after we got home. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

[RedHeadBride]

We are getting married on St. Thomas on a 7-night cruise. While we did like the affordable aspect of the short cruises, we really had our hearts set on the Virgin Islands. I really think the cruise ship is big enough to get away when you want to, but most of our family is spread all over the world, so we are really looking forward to seeing them more than we could in a typical wedding weekend! Go with your gut on this - if you don't mind the locations on a short cruise, do it!

[Banana11]

We considered a shorter cruise but decided to do a 7 day. We figured people were taking time off work and forking out the money, might as well make it a full week of fun! I think no matter what you will feel the pull in all directions to spend time with your guests. Even if they aren't expecting it from you. When I think back to my wedding cruise the word intense comes to mind. Something about seeing people from different parts of your life all spending time together is kind of crazy! And not just a little bit of time but an entire week! Plus traveling as a group and being together so much is an experience. We had no drama or bad times, it was just intense having everyone there all week long. I have two regrets from our cruise: Not hiring and/or bringing our own photographer for the wedding (we used the resort's photographer instead) and not taking a separate honeymoon.

[Prettyhazardous]

We are getting married on an 8 day cruise. To be honest we weren't expecting alotta ppl to go since it was so long but we have 40 ppl going and we are so excited. We have cruised with family before and as was stated earlier the ship is so big that we don't have to see ppl very often if we don't want to. We visit 5 islands and we plan to be alone on 2. Then we're doing St thomas for the wedding and san juan for the bach parties and lastly on nassua we're going to this small restaurant with our immediate family.

We ultimately decided on our dream cruise and felt very blessed that so many ppl want to share in this time of joy with us.

[sandinmytoes]

I think we are going to do a 7 day with a very small group of family and friends I think its easier if you know what people "mesh" and leave out the rest

[pineapple princess]

if we go the cruise route, i really would like to get married in the virgin islands or st martin. i started getting a little pushback because the shortest cruise i can find is 7 days. fi made the point that there are alot of people that cannot necessarily take that much time off of work. it seems like the only place you can go in 3 - 4 days is the bahamas and key west. and since we wanted to have the legal and symbolic in one, that won't work because you have to be in the bahamas for a certain period of time first.

 

i figured there was a short cruise from pr to st martin - but nada! that would be ideal.

 

we are now throwing around the idea of getting married before getting on the cruise. the issue we are having is that we wanted a catholic ceremony, and i am just not finding the right church. <sigh>

 

i did find a 5 day cruise to that hits the bahamas and turks and caicos though. hmmmm. off to find a catholic chapel in turks!