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Cruise Wedding????

peachee213peachee213
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in North Carolina-Raleigh-Durham
We had random idea of a cruise wedding? Has anyone ever had one? Been to one? We're kind of leaning towards the idea because it will be a vacation with family and closest friends. We're also toying with the idea of a reception after we return to celebrate with those who weren't in attendance...

Fellow Knotties... what do you think?

Thanks. Smile
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Re: Cruise Wedding????

  • GDWWed186731GDWWed186731 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'll be part of the wedding party for a cruise wedding on January 28th.  We're leaving out of Charleston on a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas, Nassau, and Freeport.

    I don't know much, but with Carnival, you get 2 hours total for the the ceremony and reception.  You can't bring on your own photographer (you have to use theirs) and you can't bring real flowers on the ship.  They charge a lot for the fake flowers they provide, so it's worth it to do your own.  Your guests get the option of cruising or just attending the ceremony/reception. Oh, and you should warn guests ahead of time to only bring cards or have all gifts mailed to your place because you don't want to pay a duty tax on them.  Lastly, everyone, cruisers and non-cruisers alike has to go through customs.

    I will say that all of my friend's guests are pumped about the vacation portion of the wedding.  Plus, it will be cool to know so many people on the boat.

    Good luck!
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  • laureneslaurenes
    First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    I've never been on one, but we toyed with the idea ourselves for awhile when we first got engaged. One of my father's coworkers had done a cruise wedding a few years back and said her family and friends were still raving about it (though whether it was because of the wedding itself or because the cruise was just a lot of fun, i dunno).

    If you do decide on a cruise wedding though, I would skip the at home reception. Once again, this is not something I've had personal experience with, but several of my friends have been invited to them and found them incredibly awkward, and felt as though they were being invited for gifts rather than because the couple cared enough to have them at the JV wedding celebration. Just their opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.
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  • mars08mars08
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I have never been to one, but I did go on a cruise this past year with Royal Carribean.  It was awesome.  I would definitely suggest looking into using them.
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  • amybaseamybase member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We're actually planning one for us, sort of.  You have to bear in mind, though, that it will not be legal to get married onboard, so you will need to "get married" beforehand. There are only a few captains that can legally marry people.  You can go through the procedure of it, but you will still need to legally do it back in the states. 

    What I think we will be doing is planning to get married on St. Thomas (U.S.V.I), as we do not like the idea of getting married beforehand.  This will be legal (research what is required, though).  Our thoughts are to plan a cruise that stops in St. Thomas, have everything planned out with the cruiseship and also a wedding coordinator there on the island, so that everything runs smoothly.  When I spoke to Celebrity (the cruiseline we had spoken to about this), we will get married on the island and then have the reception back on the ship in one of the private areas.  As the boat will only be in port for a limited time, this will allow us to get married in a timely manner and then get back on board before the boat leaves port.  All of our guests will be traveling with us...we are getting a lot of feedback from them that this will not only be a wedding, it will also be a great vacation for them!!! 
    Good luck with your wedding plans!!
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  • Robsgal85Robsgal85
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Princess cruises can marry you at sea. The wedding package is around $2500 and includes a whole bunch of stuff like pictures, etc. They alos do receptions on board starting around $70 a person, I think. We're starting to plan our wedding on board a princess cruise to mexico!
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  • kristi_k1052kristi_k1052 member
    First Comment
    edited January 2012
    The original post on here is about a year old, but I'll add my two cents incase someone new is reading this for ideas on their own wedding.

    I'm getting married onboard the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas on April 5 while it is still in port in Ft. Lauderdale. This way those that want to cruise with us can and those that don't want to don't have to. Also, since it's still in Ft. Lauderdale our marriage is legal because we will have a Florida marriage license.

    The Liberty is the first ship we ever cruised on so it has a special place in our hearts. On Royal there are only 2 packages to chose from if you get married on the ship so it's nice to not have to worry about it. There is a decent amount of paperwork that you have to turn in 45 days before the wedding (each attendees full  name as it appears on their drivers license or passport, their identification number, date of birth and nationality for all non-cruisers. For cruisers, you turn in their name and stateroom number.) You cannot change this info after you turn it in so you have to send out your invitations far in advance and make sure people pay attention to the information they give to you. I think this will help with people RSVPing and then not showing up for the reception. I doubt anyone would go to all of that trouble if they weren't going to really show up.

    The reception is 2 hours long after the wedding. We are all supposed to get on the ship together at 10:30 a.m., but the wedding isn't until between 1-2 p.m. Luckily I have my hair and make-up person coming onboard with me to do last minute touch-ups. They don't do your hair onboard if you are getting married on embarkation day so if you want it done you have to have it done on land in the morning before you board. They also won't tell you the exact room of your ceremony until two weeks before the event, but honestly that isn't that big of a deal to me. We will all be on the ship so it's just a matter of walking to a certain room.

    Well, I could go on forever, but those are my initial comments in response to your question.

    Congratulations on your engagement!
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  • mrsfoofeymrsfoofey
    First Comment
    We just got married January on Carnival and I wouldn't change it for the world! It was amazing! We left Miami, got married at Key West, and continued on the rest of the 6 day cruise. It was so cheap. We had 53 family members sail and 83 at the reception. We did the wedding on our own since we wanted a church wedding. .we just used the ship for the reception, cake, open bar etc.
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