Cruise Wedding - Which Port to Get Married at?

[rcunni03]

My fiance and I have decided to do a cruise wedding next September (2016.) The biggest obstacle I'm facing in planning it is that I'm too laid back and I don't have strong opinions about a lot of the details. We just want to have a legal ceremony off the ship, a reception afterwards with an open bar, and we want it to be easy for our guests to get to and from the boat. We're going to have around 50 people and we're looking to leave from any Florida Port, New Orleans or Charleston. Possible wedding ports include Nassau, Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Grand Turk and more. Would love to know if anyone has any opinions about which port would be best to get married at? Which ones are more beautiful? Which are less likely to be hit by rain since we're looking at September? etc. Looking forward to hearing any of your opinions!

[Bo59rt]

My best advice for you would be to research all you can on your port options. I went into my planning with two important things.... I wanted to be married on April Fools day, and on an island where the marriage was legal (us territory). I lucked out when looking through itineraries that my favorite ship was going to be in St Thomas on April 1st.

 

You are lucky that you have an open time frame, but you are looking at the first half of hurricane season. If there was a hurricane ships have been known to switch islands or even whole itineraries (east vs. West Caribbean). My DH and i went into this knowing what would and would not get refunded if we were to miss the island. And what our back up plan was.

 

There are a TON of reviews for weddings on this board (including mine, there's a link in my signature). Research research research.... you will fall in love with something.

 

Oh, and on the islands, almost anything is possible for your wedding to be what you want it to be. My wedding planner offered packages including weddings on a catamaran and helicopter trip to more remote areas (if it was just the two of you).

 

Start looking, you'll eventually get too many great ideas from these other past and future brides/husbands!

[Bo59rt]

oh and honestly, I would be very weary of looking into any tendering port, for example Grand Cayman. Any hint of bad weather and the ship will not anchor there.

[Carnival_Brides]

oh and honestly, I would be very weary of looking into any tendering port, for example Grand Cayman. Any hint of bad weather and the ship will not anchor there.

 

I second this. Our last cruise (November) we couldn't dock at Grand Cayman and several ships couldn't make it into Cozumel. September is still hurricane season, so rain and storms are possible in every port.

 

If a legal ceremony is a must-have (you could get legally married before sailing and have a ceremony later in the cruise), than you should definitely research the ports and the "legality" of your marriage license in your home state. I know for Nassau (Bahamas) you have to be in Bahamian waters for 24 hours beforehand to get a legal license. You shouldn't have an issue with Key West as they don't have a waiting period for out of state residents and you can possibly apply by mail (I think licenses are good for 60 days). Plus, KW is gorgeous--it's one of my favorite ports.

[negn]

Many states have will not recognize marriages from other countries. NY would not recognize the wedding of my daughter when she married at sea on Princess. Had to get remarried at city hall by mayor with janitor as witness !

[zoncom]

Consider Miami Beach hotels .Parks or Beach. Several web sites; Miami Beach outside weddings and others. This would enable your non cruising guests to see wedding and no worries about missing ports or legalities. South Beach is the preferred site and 15 minutes from port.

[tropicqueen]

In July my Husband and I renewed our Vows on our stop in St. Thomas. Right before we had our Vow Renewal ceremony

there was a real wedding. They had gotten all the legal paper work picked up and then came to Bolongo Bay for the actual wedding. They had the same wedding planner we did

and the Husband of Janelle at Island Bliss can do a legal wedding.

We had come the year before to pick out our beach location.

If you put in a search of St. Thomas weddings on this site ,it will bring up a lot so you can

read about all the different ones and where they were.

We had 28 friends and family with us and one reason I picked Bolongo Bay was it is the

closes to where Carnival usually docks. We also wanted a catamaran cruise for the reception, which they had at Bolongo Bay. We chartered it and they furnished all the food and drinks. It was really nice.

That night in the dining room we had the cake I had ordered and they had decorated it

with sugar sea shells I had ordered from etsy and brought with me.

They couldn't have been nicer about doing all that for us.

If you look back about two weeks or so you can read my whole review. Look for tropicqueen and review of Islandbliss.

You can look at all the different beaches in St. Thomas, just google beaches of St.Thomas .

Hope this helps.