Tag Archives: destination weddings

With the right cruise line you can now say your ‘I do’s’ at sea

Posted on by alanwhitt

We’re romantics at We 2 R 1 Honeymoons by Allure Quest Travel Experience so we’re celebrating June brides (and grooms) with periodic blogs on destination weddings and honeymoons.

When cruise passengers ask if they can say their “I do’s” in front of the ship’s captain while at sea, the answer is usually “We can’t.”

Alan Whitt

Contrary to popular misconceptions it’s mostly illegal for a captain to marry couples at sea based on laws where the ship is flagged. There simply aren’t many countries that allow it.

Fortunately, that’s changing.

Cruise lines are beginning to re-flag their ships in countries – such as Bermuda and Malta – where it is allowed.

The move is mostly to capitalize on the billion-dollar destination wedding market. Brides usually want to spare little expense to make that special day even more special.

A cruise by nature is romantic. Being wed while sailing is even more so. Having the captain do it … that’s a genuine Memorex moment. Oops! Make that a Facebook moment.

Most of the cruise lines going through the re-flagging rituals are luxury lines. Cunard became the latest when the cruise line scrapped the United Kingdom in favor of a Bermuda flag.

Cunard’s first wedding at sea occurred in April aboard Queen Mary 2. Each ship – Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth – can handle one wedding a day on days as sea … with the captain performing the ceremony.

For those with a passion for cruising, this is the ultimate destination wedding. Cunard will assist the bride (and the couple’s pocketbook) to make sure the smallest detail is taken care of.

Other cruise lines that allow weddings at sea performed by the captain are Celebrity, Azamara and P&O Cruises. All are upscale cruises lines who cater to people who want a cruise beyond the ordinary.

Check out Allure Quest Travel Experience on the web for all your travel needs – including analysis of destinations, insightful videos, the latest travel news and vacations to book.

June brides are still No. 1, but surprising September closing fast

Posted on by alanwhitt

We’re romantics at We 2 R 1 Honeymoons by Allure Quest Travel Experience so we’re celebrating June brides (and grooms) with periodic blogs on destination weddings and honeymoons.

It’s no surprise that June is the most popular month for weddings. But it’s a bit of a shocker that September and October aren’t far behind.

Alan Whitt

Those numbers come from the research company The Wedding Report.

From a honeymoon perspective those statistics make sense. Summertime travel is most expensive, while deals can be had later in the year.

Another thought is with destination weddings on the rise, the costs for guests are minimized during the fall months.

Regardless of when your nuptials are scheduled it’s contributing to a resurgence in honeymoons as the economy recovers.

The average honeymoon costs about $4,000. But if you’re a bride or groom you certainly want your big day and most important trip ever to be more than average.

A good travel agent understands that. An Internet travel site doesn’t. My travel motto (even for my own trips) has always been “cheapest usually isn’t your best option.” It costs less for a reason … something is usually missing.

In order to get the honeymoon you want and not break the bank it pays to plan well in advance.

If you want to be a June bride in 2013 you’ve got plenty of time to make a decision on where you want to honeymoon and find ways to minimize costs. Today’s trend is couples paying for their own honeymoon, not the bride’s parents.

Early planning is always a prudent thing.

Want to reduce the cost of your honeymoon? Try Allure Quest Travel Experience’s honeymoon registry, including a free website, photo gallery and blog. 

Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Posted on by alanwhitt

Take her somewhere special or you'll pay a hefty price down the road. Make it extra special and you'll reap the benefits immediately.

You need more than a day to celebrate love so I’ve decided to buck tradition and declare this Valentine’s Week. Therefore, through Friday I’m blogging about romance travel.

Probably the toughest thing for a travel specialist to deal with is waiting for a client to return home from a trip he booked.

Alan Whitt

Talk about nervous, it’s even worst when it’s a destination wedding or a honeymoon.

Think about it for a minute. You’re entrusted with one of a couple’s most important moments in their new life … a signature moment. A great honeymoon can jumpstart a great wedding. A bad experience has the opposite affect.

Who wants that kind of pressure?

You’re out of the loop, so you wonder if the moonlight dinner you ordered went off OK … or if the excursions you arranged were as good as advertised …or whether or not uncle Ned made of a fool of himself (again) and disrupted the wedding.

You don’t call, because you never want to interject yourself into private or family time. You figure that if something goes wrong they will call … but you never really relax until you hear it for yourself.

When you hear the word “Perfect” you finally exhale. Whew!

The last thing you want to hear is … “I’ll get back with you later, I’m with my divorce attorney.”

Uh oh!

Destination weddings and honeymoons are big business. Folks may scrimp on regular vacations, but any guy with even half a romantic streak has to know that his bride has been dreaming about this moment probably from the time she hit puberty.

Maybe even as far back as when her Ken & Barbie dolls hooked up in marital bliss.

Now it’s time for her Ken to step up and come up with an original honeymoon.

On that note, here are five honeymoon planning sins every groom needs to avoid:

5. Never let the kids tag along, even if this is your second, third or fourth wedding. You’ll get enough bedtime interruptions when you return home. Map out a  family vacation later, but this time belongs to the couple.

4. Never surprise her with a honeymoon, even if you think you know that she will love it. That’s a decision for the two of you. Plan your honeymoon together, just as you should every important decision through the years.

3. Never tell her that it doesn’t matter where you go, and leave it to her. That’s telling her that you don’t care, and akin to telling her to buy her own birthday present.

2. Never take her to a sporting event for your honeymoon … even if its the Super Bowl or the World Series. Taking a four-hour break during the honeymoon is a bit different than building it around the event.

1. Never take her to a place you’ve taken another woman. She may not find out immediately, but women have memories like elephants and if you slip up and spill the beans even 15 years down the road … well, can you spell D-O-G-H-O-U-S-E?

ROMANCING THE WEEK

Monday: I’m rich and famous … if only while writing this blog

Tuesday: Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Wednesday: A sexy cruise provides many opportunities for ‘romance’

Thursday: Romancing the continent, Africa is a great travel destination

Friday: Do-it-yourself honeymoons? Call your travel agent instead

For more on travel please visit Allure Quest Travel Experience