going on weddingmoon cruise

Hi there. . I'm a 1st time cruiser and going on the Explorer this
November w/ my Fiance and family and friends .. why?? I'm getting
married this November on the beach in St.Thomas when the ship docks for
day. Can anyone help and give me tips and pointers on what to do or
NOT do during our week long cruise which stops at San Juan, St.
Maarten, St.Thomas and Bahamas?? Also, I want to give "welcome gift
bags" to my wedding guests either as they arrive at desk to check in or
have in their cabin waiting for them-- any ideas as to what I can put
in bags that won't be expensive and heavy as I'll have to bring in
suitcase with me? or any idea on how to do this?? I would appreciate
anyone's help .. any excursions that would be of interest? or to
avoid?? Basically, anything you can tell me about your cruise on this
ship would help. Bringing about 25-30 people coming to wedding. Have
four children going so I hope the ship will have plenty for the kids
and I know my parents will love the casino . . You can reply to me at:
or here and I'll try to remember to check this
forum for the answers. . .Thanks everyone! Charlene

char wrote:
Hi there. . I'm a 1st time cruiser and going on the Explorer this
November w/ my Fiance and family and friends .. why?? I'm getting
married this November on the beach in St.Thomas when the ship docks for
day.

Congratulations.

Can anyone help and give me tips and pointers on what to do or
NOT do during our week long cruise which stops at San Juan, St.
Maarten, St.Thomas and Bahamas??

Tell us what kind of things you like to do. Do you want to plan things
revolving around the water? Are you into historic stuff? Is shopping
your thing?

Also, I want to give "welcome gift
bags" to my wedding guests either as they arrive at desk to check in or
have in their cabin waiting for them-- any ideas as to what I can put
in bags that won't be expensive and heavy as I'll have to bring in
suitcase with me? or any idea on how to do this??

Hmm. Well, getting the stuff into your guests' cabins shouldn't be too
tough, although you might not get it there before they go into their
cabins for the first time. With the help of the cabin stewards assigned
to the cabins, you should, for sure, be able to get stuff into the
cabins at the first night's turn-down cabin service. We've done this a
few times. Seek out the steward assigned to whatever cabin, ask them to
put the gift in the room, and that's it. We got a sense that they were
into the fun of the surprise. Maybe show up 5 or 10 minutes late for
that first evening meal. All your guests will be seated while you're
running around delivering gifts. The cabin stewards are usually out and
about at this time, too.

Your other option is to order something from the catalog that RCI has,
of gifts that can be delivered to the room - flowers, chocolate covered
strawberries, hors d'oeuvres, champagne, gift certificates for stuff on
board like casino, drinks, spa, etc. Usually, there will be a catalog
of stuff included with your cruise documents. Or, if you can't wait
until then, you can probably find what's available on RCI's website.

anyone's help .. any excursions that would be of interest? or to
avoid??

In St. Maarten, I think practically everyone has raved about both the
Golden Eagle Catamaran and the America's Cup Racing Yachts. I did the
catamaran, and it really was a lot of fun. Next time, I think I'm going
to taxi over to Marigot on the French side.

In San Juan, we took one of our very favorite excursions ever. It was
horseback riding on passo fino horses in Dorado, which was a bit of a
drive. We're usually pretty hesitant to book riding tours with
unfamiliar operators, because too often, the horses are in sorry shape,
not well cared for, and so used to the nose-to-tail kind of ride that
it's a bore. Not the case here. Horses were great, ride was great.

Aren't you busy getting married in St. Thomas? If you have a few hours
to hit a beach, I really like Coki for its great snorkeling, beach bar
and restaurant service and relaxed atmosphere. I think the cab is
something like $5-7 per person.

Bahamas - do you have a lot of time there? I don't know what your
itinerary is, but that port always seems to be either a morning or an
afternoon. Lots of people head over to Atlantis to check it out. I've
taken a really great snorkeling tour there. Or, you can just relax on
board - take advantage of discounted spa prices that often pop up on
port days.


Bringing about 25-30 people coming to wedding.

That should be great. We were lucky enough to attend a similar wedding
on Enchantment of the Seas last summer. We also had about that number
of people. The wedding was on Key West. For the most part, everyone did
their own thing during the day, but we all had dinner together each
night.

Best of luck to you. Post a review when you get back!

Lee

Thank You Lee for your helpful hints. We have a friend of ours who is
a wedding coordinator and helping us out. We were going to do the
wedding thru Royal but for what we want ( simple ceramony) we decided
against the ship wedding coordinator and went w/ a local company on the
island. So far she isn't impressing me and if this continues- I will
look for someone else to help us. Yes, we plan on everyone doing their
own thing but just be there w/ us when we say our vows to each other.
My two sisters cannot afford the cruise so they are planning on flying
in to see us get married. But for the rest of week, we are planning on
fun events to do and have our guests join in (loved the newlywed game
when I was in Jamaica) and thanks for suggestion about the cabin
stewards. We are planning on getting married first thing in morning so
our guest still have time to go off and explore before boarding back on
ship at five o'clock. I have a wedding website set up w/ information
and details for everyone to check on when we do updates. Our wedding
invitations we sent out was a CDRom of our first year of meeting and
falling in love and the last frame on it was the invitation. My
dissappointment came when the date we picked ( Oct 30th-Nov6) was told
to me by my TA that the ship was all sold out before my family and
friends could make their reservations. So, we had to move our date two
weeks later which now is Nov13-20th. It actually works better as my
Fiance and I went to Jamaica on our "engagment vacation" last Sept and
were stuck there when hurricaine Ivan hit. We couldn't get off the
island and it was a scary situation to be in but we made it and got
extra week off from work( hahaha). So, thanks for your help and I'm
sure I'll be back on to ask more stuff.

In article .com,
char wrote:

Hi there. . I'm a 1st time cruiser and going on the Explorer this
November w/ my Fiance and family and friends .. why?? I'm getting
married this November on the beach in St.Thomas when the ship docks for
day.

I hate to bring this up but have you thought about the possibility that
the ship could for various reasons either skip or be late to St.
Thomas? It happens for various reason. For example last year the ship I
was on was about 6 hours late to St. Maartin because of a medical
evacuation. We had a couple of hours there in the evening instead of
the regular schedualed port time.

--
Charles

Charles - I appreciate your concern and do thank your for it, but
PLEASE don't say that to me. I have had issues and problems already
with my original date I picked got sold out and I had to move the date
of the cruise and then to find out my sister couldn't come and then now
my other sister can't afford ( which is fine and I totally understand
their situation as it is expensive) but they both plan on flying down
to see their "baby sister" get married. I hope that from what YOU say
Charles, that we don't run into problems as I was stuck in Jamaica last
Sept when Hurricane Ivan hit and that was enough for me. So, thanks
for your concern and I appreciate your thoughts. Have a nice day

In article .com,
char wrote:

Charles - I appreciate your concern and do thank your for it, but
PLEASE don't say that to me. I have had issues and problems already
with my original date I picked got sold out and I had to move the date
of the cruise and then to find out my sister couldn't come and then now
my other sister can't afford ( which is fine and I totally understand
their situation as it is expensive) but they both plan on flying down
to see their "baby sister" get married.

It happens and it is something you should think about. I just read that
the NCL Dawn had engine problems last week and skipped Nassau. If
someone had planned a wedding at that port it would not have happened.
And while that late in the year hurricanes are not likely, they are
possible and the ship could end up on an eastern itinerary instead of a
western itinerary. I have read about people who had a wedding planned
at ports and the port was skipped. The safest option is to have the
wedding on the ship. If your sisters can not cruise then maybe you
could have the wedding on the embarkation day on the ship. I have seen
that happening many times.

--
Charles

"char" wrote in message
oups.com...
Charles - I appreciate your concern and do thank your for it, but
PLEASE don't say that to me.

Charles isn't trying to rain on your parade. I know Charles, I've cruised
with him. He's trying to alert you to potentilal pitfalls with the plan
you've come up with. It does seem a teeny bit risky to me. Wonderful. But
a teeny bit risky, none the less.

What will you plan to do if they show up, but for some reason the ship can't
make it?

Chance are it won't be a problem... but you never know.

You should at least understand the potential. And have a contingency plan.

St. Thomas is a very busy port, and rather close to other places like Puerto
Rico, so it's not like it's way out in the middle of nowhere. So the
chances of getting to St. Thomas are very good. But anything can happen.
And you won't know about it until it happens. So it's not like they'll tell
you 3 days before that the ship won't be going to St. Thomas.

Got my fingers crossed for you. Hope it works out.

--Tom

I have had issues and problems already
with my original date I picked got sold out and I had to move the date
of the cruise and then to find out my sister couldn't come and then now
my other sister can't afford ( which is fine and I totally understand
their situation as it is expensive) but they both plan on flying down
to see their "baby sister" get married. I hope that from what YOU say
Charles, that we don't run into problems as I was stuck in Jamaica last
Sept when Hurricane Ivan hit and that was enough for me. So, thanks
for your concern and I appreciate your thoughts. Have a nice day

Sorry, but most folks here have a busy and enjoyable life and could care
less about your marrige plans!
"Tom K" wrote in message
...

"char" wrote in message
oups.com...
Charles - I appreciate your concern and do thank your for it, but
PLEASE don't say that to me.

Charles isn't trying to rain on your parade. I know Charles, I've cruised
with him. He's trying to alert you to potentilal pitfalls with the plan
you've come up with. It does seem a teeny bit risky to me. Wonderful.
But a teeny bit risky, none the less.

What will you plan to do if they show up, but for some reason the ship
can't make it?

Chance are it won't be a problem... but you never know.

You should at least understand the potential. And have a contingency
plan.

St. Thomas is a very busy port, and rather close to other places like
Puerto Rico, so it's not like it's way out in the middle of nowhere. So
the chances of getting to St. Thomas are very good. But anything can
happen. And you won't know about it until it happens. So it's not like
they'll tell you 3 days before that the ship won't be going to St. Thomas.

Got my fingers crossed for you. Hope it works out.

--Tom

I have had issues and problems already
with my original date I picked got sold out and I had to move the date
of the cruise and then to find out my sister couldn't come and then now
my other sister can't afford ( which is fine and I totally understand
their situation as it is expensive) but they both plan on flying down
to see their "baby sister" get married. I hope that from what YOU say
Charles, that we don't run into problems as I was stuck in Jamaica last
Sept when Hurricane Ivan hit and that was enough for me. So, thanks
for your concern and I appreciate your thoughts. Have a nice day

WOW! geez, and here I thought this was a nice place to communicate w/
others? I guess not .. .That was very mean of you to say . .If you
don't want to read about my plans- WHY on earth would you even post
anything - just move along to other subjects that are more of your
interest and STOP putting down things of other people that you
shouldn't say things about. I think you are sad and I'm not interested
in dealing w/ someone who has nothing good to say about anything!
Good-Day! and Good bye!

my message is for "CLINT" in response to what he wrote. . actually, its
not even worth saying anything as he can't even spell correctly .
..hahahhaa