gay wedding at sea - experience and/or suggestions?

[Bostonjetset]

Our Washington State Marriage License requires that we are married in the state. I guess most are the same.

Marriages at sea will be licensed by the country that the ship is flagged in I believe.

 

I am not planning a wedding at sea but I do think it would be very cool indeed. I know that in order for the marriage to be valid it has to be legal in the country of the ship's flag. With that said, HAL ships are flagged in the Netherlands where gay marriage is legal; I wonder if they will perform marriage at sea. Anyone happen to know the answer to this?

[frankc98376]

We were told that Holland America only does them in port. You might want to give Royal Ocean Events a call- they are Holland America's wedding planers.

They are doing ours and so far have been great and very responsive.

They handle weddings for several of the lines.

Cost was amazing compared to a land wedding.

[Carnival_Brides]

I am not planning a wedding at sea but I do think it would be very cool indeed. I know that in order for the marriage to be valid it has to be legal in the country of the ship's flag. With that said, HAL ships are flagged in the Netherlands where gay marriage is legal; I wonder if they will perform marriage at sea. Anyone happen to know the answer to this?

 

Per this PDF on the HAL site, they do not do legal weddings at sea.

[Bostonjetset]

Per this PDF on the HAL site, they do not do legal weddings at sea.

 

Thanks for the link. It is a shame they don't capitalize on the chance to do gay weddings at sea. As they are the only major line sailing under the flag of a country that allows gay marriage, it seems they would have a big demand for it. The PDF also makes not mention of same-sex marriages at all and specifically states "bride and groom" on the forms. I wonder if there is a seperate "gay" form? HAHA ;):rolleyes:

[Carnival_Brides]

The PDF also makes not mention of same-sex marriages at all and specifically states "bride and groom" on the forms. I wonder if there is a seperate "gay" form? HAHA ;):rolleyes:

 

Carnival's doesn't either. I made them change all of our forms and contracts to reflect Bride and Bride. It took some time to get this done because they had to approve them with legal before they sent them to me. Hopefully, Carnival Corp. as a whole will start re-evaluating this since they cruise from so many ports that allow for same-sex marriage.

[Bostonjetset]

Carnival's doesn't either. I made them change all of our forms and contracts to reflect Bride and Bride. It took some time to get this done because they had to approve them with legal before they sent them to me. Hopefully, Carnival Corp. as a whole will start re-evaluating this since they cruise from so many ports that allow for same-sex marriage.

 

I just checked out your post regarding your wedding. It was beautiful! Congrats! I LOVED your ship cake topper...what a cute idea!

 

P.S. I will be on the Glory out of Boston the week after you get back from your B2B on her. Can't wait!

[frankc98376]

Dutch law regarding marriage is very strict. I work for a company in the Netherlands and have many friends over there.

In order to get married in the Netherlands one of the couple must be a legal resident of the Netherlands. The Dutch Immigration Service will not allow a person to get a Residency Permit solely to get married.

We are getting married aboard Holland America as a salute to the Dutch for being the first to recognize marriage equality in 2000.

We also laughed about the "bride and groom" mentions in all of their literature.

They have performed many same sex weddings in Vancouver (Royal Ocean Events is in Vancouver), but is still new here as Washington is the first on the west coast for legal on-board weddings (California didn't have marriage in place long enough for anyone to be able).

Check out http://www.royalwed.com - Carnival, Princess, and NCL all offer weddings aboard in Seattle- some offer this in New York as well. Hopefully soon California will be added to the list!

[Carnival_Brides]

I just checked out your post regarding your wedding. It was beautiful! Congrats! I LOVED your ship cake topper...what a cute idea!

 

P.S. I will be on the Glory out of Boston the week after you get back from your B2B on her. Can't wait!

 

Thanks. My mom is a genius!! It's a shame we're missing you. The Canadian cruises are a complete 180 from the Caribbean and Bahamas--I absolutely love them.

 

Fwiw--I know there aren't many CCL fans on this particular board, but CCL will do legal ceremonies wherever SSM becomes legal. I think the current list is Baltimore, Boston, New York, Seattle, and possibly Long Beach pending what happens in June.

[cruisescouter]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding! NCL is great with weddings.

 

Great wedding website as well!

 

I know this thread is a few years old, but I found it when searching for information on other gay cruise weddings. I am so happy that things have changed so much since this thread was first started. We still have a long long way to go...

 

I am very happy to report that NCL has been great about planning our wedding with us. We will be married on the ship in NYC BEFORE the ship sails.

 

Here is a link to our wedding website..

http://www.robertralphbreakawayweddingcruise2014.us/