Wedding cruises - do's and don'ts

[tinkerbell333]

Can anyone share ideas from weddings had on cruises from what you wish you had done to what you wish you hadn't done and what extras people did for you or gave you for your wedding!!!!! Thanks!

[spongerob]

Don't try to schedule an on-shore wedding during a port call. There is never a guarantee that you will actually reach the port. Do it on board the ship. I would also caution against trying to hold the wedding on board the day of embarkation, since those seem to be fraught with difficulties due to all the other activity taking place on board. There is a page on this site devoted to on-board weddings and I'm sure you will find plenty of information there - and some of it might just scare you away!

 

Good luck!

[mii]

What you need to do is go to the top of the page where the page numbers are and where Search this Forum is just put in Weddings and all sorts of info comes up. There are some threads that have info about weddings on a princess ship.

 

Marilyn

[Shogun]

Hi there,

 

We watched a wedding in St Lucia, now not sure if they married on ship or on shore but the Princess Team did the flowers, filming etc, as such they had great photos of the ship in the back ground , archway of flowers in the small garden where the port shoops are.

 

I thought this was a great idea rather than just getting married on a sea day.

 

yours Shogun

[kandlwed]

I was married last January while on a RCCL cruise. You do have the risk of not making it to port or having your itinerary switched (which is what happened to us a month out), but I would not have changed it. We got married on the beach in Key West. It was beautiful. The only stressful part was when our itinerary did change, but all my vendors were able to accomodate the change, since the wedding ended up being on a Tuesday. We did not book anything through the cruise line, with exception to a mini reception when we got back on the ship, which was free due to us have a group of 95 guests on board. If the bride gets stressed out easy, I would suggest not doing it this way...but if she can go with the flow, I had the best day of my life and all worked out perfect for us. You will always have hiccups with any type of wedding, it is all about how you deal with them. The only thing I would change is to take at least a 7 night cruise, we did a 5 nighter and wished we had more time. Good luck. :)

[serene56]

Can anyone share ideas from weddings had on cruises from what you wish you had done to what you wish you hadn't done and what extras people did for you or gave you for your wedding!!!!! Thanks!

 

are you meaning guests? remember those guest will have to pay to get to your wedding--unless you are fortunate to live close to the ship.

then if they decide to cruise with you--

 

Weddings onboard are somewhat cheaper then getting a hall.

But you give up a lot of say on what is to happen.

 

On carnival- which owns Princess among others you get married the day you get onboard- depends on the number of people attending to what lounge area you get. Only 3 weddings will be held on any specific sail day.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31 here is the wedding/honeymoon board

[muffydawg]

Can anyone share ideas from weddings had on cruises from what you wish you had done to what you wish you hadn't done and what extras people did for you or gave you for your wedding!!!!! Thanks!

 

We were married on embarkation day on board the Dawn Princess out of FLL in 2005. In retrospect we did some things right and there were some things I'd do differently with the benefit of hindsight:

 

1. Getting married on embarkation day in the Port of FLL onboard the Dawn meant we received priority embarkation aside from even the Platinum/ Elite passengers. We were "stationed" in a separate waiting room and were the first to board. We sure did this one "right", as it ensured all of our guests boarded with us and we had one place to gather.

 

2. Another thing I did right was to do my hair & makeup before boarding the ship so all I had to do was get into my dress and shoes; DH only had to change out of his shorts & tee into his suit. We were taken to our cabin so I could change and DH was taken to my parents nearby cabin so he could change.

 

3. We did the "reception" thing in the Wheelhouse Bar after the ceremony and chose only light hors douvres, champagne and beer and wine..and the Princess package we purchased had a really nice cake; so one of the other things we did right was to keep the entire event within a decent budget.

 

4. We did another thing right by not getting too "customized" on the wedding package; we kept it simple..simple drinks, simple hors douvres, simple music, simple vows, simple flowers...nothing that could be too complicated or customized that it could go wrong..like trying to get the salon to open up special for me..or trying to get flowers that are only grown in South America flown into FLL for the wedding...stuff like that we avoided.

 

5. We did it right by not trying to get married while in a port outside of the US (even in San Juan which might have been on the itinerary)..the "rules" were too complicated and the fees too high

 

6. We received TONS of good wishes from fellow passengers as we were taken around the ship for pictures..and some passengers recognized us throughout the voyage, giving us more blessings throughout the cruise.

 

7. We also "did it right" by choosing a 10 day voyage...virtually zero kids on board in early-mid April

 

So..WOW..in retrospect I really can't think of anything I'd do differently....it worked out well for us and there really weren't any extras..Princess's Tie The Knot Package was great.

[dcrow72]

we attended our nephew's wedding onboard Carnival Valor 2 years ago. It was done on day of embarkation and many of the wedding guests chose not to take the trip. The entire wedding was beautiful. The ceremony short, sweet and perfect. We preboarded long before the rest of the passengers and basically had the ship to ourself. The reception was about 2 hours and held in one of the nightclubs with wonderful canapes and open bar with ice carving and beautiful cake. I wouldn't have changed a thing. The cost was unbelievably cheap compared to a similar experience on shore! We stayed onboard and took the 7 day voyage which was wonderful while the rest of the wedding guests left and went home. It worked out well since they lived in Florida which allowed many friends/relatives to attend the wedding and leave if they could not afford to take the voyage. I would'nt hesitate to recommend it if the circumstances were right.

[cbcaper]

We got married in St. Thomas at Megan's Bay on our last cruise in 2007. It was the best way to go. If you get married at home you are more worried about what others want and not what you want but on a cruise it is about you. We did not book with Princess but decided to go with Weddings The Island Way in St. Thomas. It was half the price of princess for the same ceremony so we upgraded it with lots of extras and still saved money and had a fantastic wedding. We never had to worry about anything at all. We told them what we wanted and they provided it. After the ceremony we went to Blue Moon Café on the other side of the Island and had lunch over looking Secret Harbor. We also had them pick up our wedding cake which we also bought from a local bakery ( VI Desserts). We were also worried about not making it into port but we decided to do it anyway. I have never heard of a ship not being able to call on St. Thomas so it made for an easy decision. I wish you luck and hopefully I was able to help you.

[pjs9876]

Just one tiny note. Costa Atlantica has small Chapel that looks like it came from a small village in Northern Italy. Stained glass and plaster (look) with seats. Tucked in way out of the way and very private. I loved the feel of it.

But their Captains don't marry you-at least they didn't a few years ago.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Don't try to schedule an on-shore wedding during a port call. There is never a guarantee that you will actually reach the port. Do it on board the ship. I would also caution against trying to hold the wedding on board the day of embarkation, since those seem to be fraught with difficulties due to all the other activity taking place on board. There is a page on this site devoted to on-board weddings and I'm sure you will find plenty of information there - and some of it might just scare you away!

 

Good luck!

 

When we were on our Hawaiian cruise, we had to miss Kona due to high waves. While many of us were sadly looking at Kona while the ship was heading away, someone said that there was a couple onboard who were planning to get married there (they were going to meet family members and friends on the island). That was a tender port, but even with a port that usually is gotten to, there could be mechanical problems with the ship that may keep the ship away.