What could go wrong with a cruise wedding package! Planning your wedding onboard a cruise ship doesn’t come without its share of potential problems. For example, packing your wedding shores or accessories in with your checked luggage. Or accidentally missing a name when submitting your list to the cruise line (especially if it’s your future mother-in-law). Or how about forgetting your ID or passport. These and many others are things you don’t normally need to worry about with a wedding on land. You don’t have to go through security to enter the church, or pass through immigration before walking down the aisle, or worry about long lost uncle’s wanting to come at the last minute.
Tips for getting it right.
To get married onboard a cruise ship you need to be cruising with them (although this may soon change, where they will offer non sailing packages). They currently offer numerous cruise packages that are widely used and very convenient. The list of packages can be found in each cruise lines website. If you chose to marry on boarding day, I assume you will be checking luggage. When you check your luggage out in the terminal, it won’t arrive to your stateroom until the afternoon or early evening, so make sure you have everything you need for the ceremony in a carry on bag. Also include a change of clothes for the compulsory boat drill, unless of course you want to attend the drill wearing your wedding outfit, along with a bright orange life jacket. If so, take the camera.
Since you don’t usually have access to your stateroom until after 1pm, the ship will have somewhere for you to get ready. Check with your cruise wedding consultant beforehand to make sure you have compatible power sockets for your hair dryers/straighteners and the like. Make sure you double check and triple check your wedding list before submitting it to the cruise line. Anyone who turns up on the day and is not on the list will definitely not be permitted to board. At the completion of the reception lunch or cocktail party, any of your guests that are not sailing will need to depart the ship, before you sail off in to the sunset on your honeymoon. Note: There are few ports in the world where your guests will be able to wave you off like you see in the movies. The terminal building is usually in between your guests and the ship. And once they leave the ship after the ceremony, they will not be aloud back inside the cruise terminal to wave you off. Similar to an airport, the front foyer is as far as they will get before security stops them.
Remember – The newer the ship, the better the amenities. New ships are now being built to cater for the wedding market, therefore the chapel and ceremony locations are suitably designed areas instead of make shift locations made up for your wedding day and then turned back into a conference room after it’s over.
Or get married in one of the ports of call, perhaps on a beach at one of the resorts… commonly called a destination wedding.
To make the most of your cruise, read my book Cruise Ship Secrets. It will help you with beating sea sickness, cruising with kids, saving money, what to expect onboard, what to pack, and a lot more.
