Weddings and Honeymoons Are Smooth Sailing on a Cruise
Cruises are made for romance, from sunsets over the sea to intimate onboard restaurants to spacious suites worth the splurge. Cruise guests travel to beautiful white-sand beaches in the Caribbean, postcard-perfect Mediterranean villages, and Alaska’s stunning natural spaces — all perfect for couples to explore. It’s fitting, then, that cruise lines offer robust wedding packages that allow guests to get married and honeymoon aboard or in port.
From legal weddings to vow renewals, private ceremonies on private islands to big embarkation day celebrations, cruise lines offer a wealth of options to plan their special day. No need to plan a separate honeymoon — you are already on the ship.
Seamless planning, customisable options
The major big-ship cruise lines — such as Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, and MSC Cruises — have wedding departments that coordinate cruise weddings, both on board ships and in ports of call.
Captains on select cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises, can perform legal weddings in international waters or in select ports of call. Alternatively, couples can choose a symbolic shipboard wedding (and sign legal documents pre-cruise) or have their wedding performed by a legal officiant in port.
The options don’t end there. Guests can choose an intimate honeymoon or invite their guests to join them on the cruise. Embarkation-day ceremonies provide an alternative for guests who wish only to attend the ceremony and reception and not sail.
Cruise lines make the wedding planning process easy with pre-set packages at different price tiers and a host of wedding planners to coordinate pre-cruise arrangements and day-of logistics. Couples can customise their wedding with add-ons and choose from a selection of reception and dinner styles and spaces and flower and photography packages.
With spas, salons, restaurants, and bars on board, the wedding party has everything it needs for a bachelor/ette party, pre-ceremony primping, and post-wedding festivities conveniently at hand.
“Couples often share that one of the most memorable parts of a Princess wedding is how effortless the experience feels from start to finish,” says John-Paul Lamb, vice president, hotel operations at Princess Cruises.
Beautiful venues at sea and on shore
Couples have a world of choices for their ceremony location.
Onboard weddings can take place in restaurants, atriums, and lounges around the ship. Unique locations include the glass-enclosed Dome on Princess Cruises’ newest ships, Sun Princess and Star Princess; the open-to-the-sky Central Park on Royal Caribbean’s Icon and Oasis class ships; a themed piano bar or majestic Grand Hall on Disney Cruise Line ships; and the Rooftop Garden on Celebrity Cruise’s Edge class ships.
Select cruise line wedding departments will assist couples in getting married in port during their sailing. Holland America Line guests, for instance, can get married on a glacier in Juneau, Alaska; on a beach in Hawaii; or in a villa in Santorini, Greece.
Couples who want a beach wedding often choose a cruise line’s private island or beach destination in the Bahamas for their ceremony. Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay offers a wedding pergola set against a backdrop of palm trees, white sand, and crystal-clear waters; MSC Cruises’ Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve also has a dedicated wedding pavilion. Carnival and sister line Holland America’s shared RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay allows couples to select a beach wedding or a ceremony inside a small wedding chapel.
Wedding and honeymoon in one
“When couples get married at sea, their wedding does not end at the last dance; it becomes the beginning of an unforgettable journey,” says Laly Rodriguez, vice president of guest experience for Royal Caribbean.
Cruise ship weddings are unique because the ceremony, reception, and honeymoon are all combined. The convenience of arranging one destination (the ship) cuts down on wedding day stress. Newlyweds can customise their cruise honeymoon to be as social or private as they’d like.
“We frequently hear that couples value the opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends throughout the voyage,” says Lamb.
A shared holiday can also be ideal for second marriages with kids present, families who live across the globe and don’t get to spend time together, and any couples who feel that more is merrier. Cruise ships are popular venues too for vow renewal ceremonies, including on luxury lines such as Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Silversea Cruises. Couples can sneak off to the spa or book a private dinner in a specialty restaurant when they want some alone time.
Cruise weddings are not just for devoted cruise fans. The romance of the sea combined with the ease of planning a personalised celebration attracts first-time cruisers to ships. When asked if they wish to cruise again, these couples may be more likely to say, “I do.”
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