I'll get the bad out of the way: I was getting married in St Thomas on 12/15, and had booked an updo for 8 am that day, months prior to departure. Emailed a month prior to confirm. Then called a week prior to confirm. Then stopped by the salon the day we boarded to confirm. Every interaction absolutely confirmed my 8 am wedding hair, so I could be off the ship at 9:15. My hairdresser didn't show up for work that day. So, by 8:20 I begged the receptionist for some bobby pins so I could do it myself, and headed to my cabin. As the front desk gentleman handed me the bobby pins, he asked "Don't you have someone who can help you - a sister, mother-in-law?" Well, no...I didn't. It was just the two of us on this trip. I was halfway through curling my hair when the stylist called, saying he was sorry and I could come to the spa for my updo; I declined. 5 minutes later he called back and offered to come to the cabin, I again declined (at this point I was partly frantic and didn't need the interruption). Shortly after, he arrived at my cabin, bag of hair tools and product in hand, and convinced me to agree to allow him to finish my hair. While styling my hair, he tried making small talk, which involved him asking me if this was my first marriage. I'm not making this up. We were far too pressed for time for him to do a decent job, so I wound up with a rat's nest of bobby pins and a semblance of a low bun, and after he left I took part of it out and tried to re-do but eventually gave up, reminding myself that hair is a superficial thing, and I get to marry the love of my life today.

Unfortunately this put us about 40 minutes behind schedule while the officiant waited at the port, and the photographer waited at the location. It pushed everyone behind, and family members who were trying to view the ceremony via periscope eventually gave up because they believed they had the time wrong, or had already missed the ceremony, or there were technical difficulties.

The good: Celebrity responded in an appropriate fashion by comping some additional spa services, two specialty dinners for us both, sending a lovely arrangement to the cabin, and offering a further credit to a future booking. HOWEVER. Their only initial response was to offer the updo at no charge, and pay for our previously-scheduled dinner at Murano. My husband had to go back and forth with Guest Services for further consideration. Also, I found out that because my services at the salon and spa were comped, the technicians did not receive any gratuity for their services. This I found to be unacceptable, and I did take care of each of them at 20% of what the normal charge would be. A massage therapist shouldn't be made to suffer a loss because a hairstylist didn't show up for work. Read more