On Getting Married Aboard the Princess without getting the package - is that possible

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

As 'chengkp75' said - not on the Majestic Princess because that ship is registered in the UK. Ask Princess anyway, but it is better to be prepared. Most of us have had experience with the call centre operators not being fully informed. They might just say "There is no wedding chapel on the Majestic", when a chapel isn't a necessity. I have seen a few weddings on the Sea and Sun Princess, neither of which have wedding chapels. Consider a land option for the wedding.

Just to clarify my suggestion:  I wrote "ask to speak with a Wedding Coordinator" I was not suggesting speaking with an operator other than to be connected to a Princess Wedding Coordinator.

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Just to clarify my suggestion:  I wrote "ask to speak with a Wedding Coordinator" I was not suggesting speaking with an operator other than to be connected to a Princess Wedding Coordinator.

OK. They will know the full details of having a wedding on board. After all, their job is to sell the wedding package.

[TrakHack]

From my research, the easiest way to get married *at sea* (as opposed to in port, which is easier) is to be on a Princess ship with a Bermuda registry.  The marriage license is easy to get via mail from Bermuda, but not cheap (somewhere around $500 USD, although I may be a couple hundred off).   Princess does have wedding packages that I think start around $2500, but if you just need 15 minutes of the captain's time, they may be able to work out something less expensive.

 

Getting married at sea was one of my first choices, and I had it all planned  🙂  MIL doesn't like water, not even to look at, so Badlands National Park won out.  I'm planning to do a vow renewal in two years on Pacific Princess, assuming she is in Alaska at the end of May.

[dchip]

51 minutes ago, TrakHack said:

Getting married at sea was one of my first choices, and I had it all planned  🙂  MIL doesn't like water, not even to look at, so Badlands National Park won out.  I'm planning to do a vow renewal in two years on Pacific Princess, assuming she is in Alaska at the end of May.

 

That made me laugh! Badlands is a far cry from a cruise ship! I love it there. For our 30th anniversary, we had a land vacation planned in Tahiti, we ended up in Alaska. 

 

Cheers, Denise 

[AusQueen]

1 hour ago, TrakHack said:

From my research, the easiest way to get married *at sea* (as opposed to in port, which is easier) is to be on a Princess ship with a Bermuda registry.  The marriage license is easy to get via mail from Bermuda, but not cheap (somewhere around $500 USD, although I may be a couple hundred off).   Princess does have wedding packages that I think start around $2500, but if you just need 15 minutes of the captain's time, they may be able to work out something less expensive.

 

Getting married at sea was one of my first choices, and I had it all planned  🙂  MIL doesn't like water, not even to look at, so Badlands National Park won out.  I'm planning to do a vow renewal in two years on Pacific Princess, assuming she is in Alaska at the end of May.

 

Thanks for all these valuable info.  I have called Princess and they asked me to email everything to info@royalwed.com

 

For the couple's sake, opefully I will hear from them soon.  I also gave the couple a link to this thread so that they can read it and get all the opinions and wonderful ideas shared.  Thanks heaps.

 

[TrakHack]

12 hours ago, dchip said:

 

That made me laugh! Badlands is a far cry from a cruise ship! I love it there. For our 30th anniversary, we had a land vacation planned in Tahiti, we ended up in Alaska. 

 

Cheers, Denise 

 

Yes, Badlands is about as far as you can get from a cruise (literally, it's very close to the North American "pole of inaccessibility")!   

 

I even looked into getting married AGAIN at sea (vs a vow renewal), but will probably just do the vow renewal since it it much less expensive.  

 

OP, keeping my fingers crossed that things work out for your friends!

 

[greenie082756]

Well this has been an interesting and educational read! Thanks all!!

Live and learn..

[TNTLAMB]

Well one of the OPs could just get ordained in the UK https://unministry.org/pages/uk-home and perform the wedding her/himself.... Might actually have more meaning.

[AusQueen]

This is the final word from Princess with regards to weddings. A package indeed has to be purchased.  Thanks for all those who posted their ideas and suggestions.

 

""Thank you for your inquiry. On the Majestic we can hold a symbolic at sea ceremony.

Our Tie The Knot At Sea package does need to be purchased.

The package cost is $2500 USD.

This includes the following: - Location onboard the ship - Captain to perform the ceremony - Wedding Coordinator onboard - Ceremony music - Two fresh floral arrangements for the ceremony location - Rose bouquet (12 roses) - Boutonniere - Photographer service (1 hour) - 4 8x10 photographs - 9" wedding cake - Bottle of sparkling wine - Two keepsake champagne flutes - Keepsake wedding certificate - Bottle of wine - 4 chocolate covered strawberries - Deluxe breakfast for two - Dinner for two at a specialty restaurant - Rose petals on bed at turn down

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to check wedding availability on a particular date/itinerary. Thank you"

[Daniel A]

24 minutes ago, AusQueen said:

This is the final word from Princess with regards to weddings. A package indeed has to be purchased.  Thanks for all those who posted their ideas and suggestions.

 

""Thank you for your inquiry. On the Majestic we can hold a symbolic at sea ceremony.

Our Tie The Knot At Sea package does need to be purchased.

The package cost is $2500 USD.

This includes the following: - Location onboard the ship - Captain to perform the ceremony - Wedding Coordinator onboard - Ceremony music - Two fresh floral arrangements for the ceremony location - Rose bouquet (12 roses) - Boutonniere - Photographer service (1 hour) - 4 8x10 photographs - 9" wedding cake - Bottle of sparkling wine - Two keepsake champagne flutes - Keepsake wedding certificate - Bottle of wine - 4 chocolate covered strawberries - Deluxe breakfast for two - Dinner for two at a specialty restaurant - Rose petals on bed at turn down

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to check wedding availability on a particular date/itinerary. Thank you"

Well at least you got the definitive answer.  I also took note that it would only be a 'symbolic' at sea ceremony.  So they cannot do a legal wedding ceremony as has been posted here.

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Well at least you got the definitive answer.  I also took note that it would only be a 'symbolic' at sea ceremony.  So they cannot do a legal wedding ceremony as has been posted here.

Maybe the Princess response is indicating that the ceremony on the Majestic Princess would be symbolic. It was the Majestic that the OP was enquiring about. On ships registered in the Bahamas, the captain is able to conduct legal ceremonies.

[Daniel A]

29 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe the Princess response is indicating that the ceremony on the Majestic Princess would be symbolic. It was the Majestic that the OP was enquiring about. On ships registered in the Bahamas, the captain is able to conduct legal ceremonies.

I think the whole thread was about whether or not OP's friends/relatives could get married on board the cruise they were already booked on for the Majestic.  If we were discussing other cruises, we could have checked NCL and HA and Celebrity and Viking...  The Bahamas isn't the only country that permits Ship Captains to be Wedding Officers.

[AusQueen]

The package is still reasonable but the ceremony is only symbolic.  The couple in question will now look into other avenues in Sydney.  They want the ceremony to have some legality into it not just the symbolic ceremony on offer.

 

Our cruise is still on with the Majestic.   Speaking of Majestic,  am glad we are all going to have the cruise on that new ship.  I looked at the itinerary of 2020, it looks like Regal Princess will take over the route of Majestic in Australia.  Regal Princess is also a beautiful ship.  We traveled thru the Baltics with her about 3 years ago.  Am glad Princess sends its good ships to Australia.  Norwegian and the rest always only sends the oldest ships to out shores.

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I think the whole thread was about whether or not OP's friends/relatives could get married on board the cruise they were already booked on for the Majestic.  If we were discussing other cruises, we could have checked NCL and HA and Celebrity and Viking...  The Bahamas isn't the only country that permits Ship Captains to be Wedding Officers.

This thread has been discussing getting married on Princess ships, not other cruise lines. I agree that the OP was referring to a cruise they had already booked on the Majestic. Some of the ships in the Princess fleet are registered in London and some in the Bahamas. Both chengkp75 and I have pointed out that the Majestic is registered in London and that only captains of the Princess ships registered in the Bahamas can legally conduct weddings. Some countries other than Bahamas probably do allow ship captains to conduct weddings, but Princess does not have their ships registered in those countries.🙂