Weddings on Cruise Ships?

[maggiecharlie]

Is there a limit of how many guests can attend your wedding on a cruise ship while in port?

 

Are weddings reasonable on cruise ships?

[cb at sea]

I'm not sure that guests who aren't passengers will be allowed onboard. Have you checked with RCI about this?

[maggiecharlie]

Guests that are not passengers are escorted on and off the ship by a certain time I believe they have to be off by 3:30 PM.

[Kruzeagain]

Only booked passengers are allowed on ships in port. Homeland security rule, and I'm not aware of any exceptions.

Cruise weddings are touchy. Accountability is scarce. Wedding staff aren't always directly plugged into RCI and vice versa and the last thing you need is fingerpointing when results are what matters. Even though arrangements appear to be entirely RCI staff-based they often are not and are subcontracted out to others.

A compromise is to have a lovely wedding at a nice place near the port and after a quick change of clothes head for the ship in your limo with all the happy wedding guests clapping and waving good-bye.

 

Congratulations!

Alan

[bubbadog]

ya i got to agree,i dont think security will go for that,but having it close by is a good idea:rolleyes:

[Yeorwned]

Previously, guests we're allowed on for a specific period of time but they must be registered before hand and show the same proof of identity when boarding and exiting the ship. Only allowed through the cruise line wedding department of course...

[dforeigner]

Is there a limit of how many guests can attend your wedding on a cruise ship while in port?

 

Are weddings reasonable on cruise ships?

 

Try Princess, they do allow non-cruising guest to board the ship for weddings.

[Panhandle52]

My daughter got married on Sea Princess in November 2005, on a 14 day carribbean cruise. We could not fault them at all, we had a great day. The ceromony was carried out on a sea day by the captain. We then had a private table in the dining room. The ships photographer took hundreds of pictures. The day was fantastic. I am a RCI fan but my daughter wanted to get married on ship and for it to be recognised in UK so we chose Princess. We can't recomend it any better.

[CaptData]

My daughter and another wedding party were on Freedom of the Seas. You are allowed guest who are not booked but there are rules for this. They must be registered with the cruise line at least one month before. They get to go on first with the bride and groom. They are escortyed to and from the wedding. I belive for every 8 people you need a co-ordinator and this will run up the bill. You can book a room for the reception as well. All guest who are not sailing must be off the ship by 4 pm for a 5 pm sailing. If any have wheelchairs cruise line must be informed.

[serene56]

everyone will be checking in together.

You will pay for everyone since you give a head count a month before. (so if someone is very late--too bad)

 

usually first to board the ship- and your non sailing guests are taken off at 3:30. they will be given pass cards to let the crew know if they are on the ship-- and when they got off-- so one of your guests cant hide onboard.. :D

 

THis is only in the home port and cant be done in another port. (you cant get married in grand cayman and want a reception onboard with non sailing guests)

[sabast1]

CaptData and serene56 are correct.

 

DW and I got married on the Celebrity Galaxy in 2003. Call RCCL directly and tell them you are interested in having your wedding on the ship. Obviously...you (and your fiance) will need to be booked on that sailing (that leaves the day of the wedding). They will then put you in contact with a wedding coordinator who will take it from there and can answer the rest of your questions. The Coordinator we got through Celebrity was "A Wedding for You". I'm not sure if RCCL uses them or someone else.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions....

 

Scott

[Happy ks]

I attended a wedding onboard a Celebrity ship last summer. It was a lovely wedding, very sweet.

 

I do have to say, it is not the type of venue for anyone who wants to micro-manage their wedding. The timing is not exact, you may be kept waiting to board in port longer than you think. We had to be at the port by 10:30 am and did not board until 11:30 am. We then went to where we were directed for the ceremony (not chosen by the bride, but what is available onboard that day).

 

We had to wait for instructions. Guests were told to leave the room while the wedding party had their rehearsal. We then were allowed back into the room at 1pm, the wedding started at 1:30. All guests had to disembark at 3:30.

 

They did allow the wedding guest to eat at the buffet, although that was not open until 12:30 and it did not allow much time to eat and get back to the wedding site. I didn't eat as I was helping the bride (my niece) get ready. Not to worry, there would be food at the reception. Only, I had maybe two pieces of hors d' ouvres and I had to run after the waiter for that! My sis (MOB) only had one piece of food, so we were both starving after we got off the ship!

 

My advise would be to go ahead if you can handle all the above, but order the luncheon. Sis and her husband paid dearly for the little bit of food that was served. My niece and her new husband enjoyed their wedding and weren't concerned about anything other than getting married, it worked perfect for them.

[sabast1]

My Wife and I went all out and got the Catered Lunch and Wedding Cake. Our guest where amazed at how good the food was.

 

Our Wedding was held in the dining room, on landing of the stairs between the upper and lower levels. If you've been on the Galaxy (or Century/Mercury) you know what I mean.

 

You don't have as much control as you would if you planned your own land based wedding but.... boy was it different. Our family still talks about it.

 

Scott

[k9151]

My wife and I were married during a cruise. We got married at Megans bay in St Thomas. It was great. On the ship is expensive and sort of boring!!! We booked the Raiance and had a planner on the island set it all up. It was about half the price and 100 % more beautiful.

[SUSIEK]

I was married on the Navigator of the Seas in May of '03. We were married prior to sailing. All of our 63 guests came aboard, toured the ship, attended our ceremony and reception, then left the ship by 4pm. It was wonderful.

We did have to provide a list of all guests and driver's license numbers and date of births a few weeks prior to the wedding. I am sure they did checks.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I would be happy to help out.

[rjg41]

Only booked passengers are allowed on ships in port. Homeland security rule, and I'm not aware of any exceptions.

Cruise weddings are touchy.

 

Not true concerning weddings and some other events.

 

For weddings special arrangements are made and as stated all guests must be pre-registered and have photo ID that matches the list to get on the ship.

 

Travel agent events are also held before sailing and the agents must also be pre-registered and provide a photo ID that matches the list to board.

[magicolor_girl]

Go to http://www.rccl.com and under the heading "All about Cruising" there is a Weddings page. That gives you all sorts of links and information about what they can do for you and the costs and phone numbers to contact, etc... I was just checking it out the other week after getting engaged myself. :D

[mollyeilis]

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/Royal_Romance_Brochure.pdf

 

"As a complimentary service provided by Royal Caribbean, wedding parties may have up to 10 non-sailing guests in attendance at the wedding ceremony. If there are more than 10 non-sailing guests, a reception package must be booked. Additional cake and champagne does not constitute a reception. ....

 

"Wedding parties may have a maximum of seventy-five non-sailing guests board the ship for their celebration. Wedding parties with 25-50 guests require the services of an additional Wedding Coordinator and will be charged an additional $150. For each additional 25 guests, Royal Romance requires the services of one additional Wedding Coordinator."

 

That and more is on page 3 of that PDF.

 

And it looks like all the pricing is laid out there for ya too! :)

 

For me, a wedding on the ship wouldn't have worked. I wanted to hire EXACTLY who I wanted, get the exact cake I wanted (though I hired a bossy cake-lady so that didn't work out exactly as planned, LOL), etc etc. I couldn't have dealt with a photographer, cake, flowers, etc all chosen for me. I looked into Disney weddings, too, and that wasn't good for me, either!

 

But if you're NOT like me and can let those decisions be made for ya, I think it would be nice.

 

 

As for being reasonable, only YOU can figure that out. What's expensive for one is OK for another (even if they make the same amount of money!). It's all in what you value and how you value it!

 

Good luck!!!

[serene56]

when planning a wedding onboard a ship- you deal with a wedding planner here at the home port-- then all requests are made to the planner onboard.

[rainysundays]

We were married onboard a ship (Carnival Conquest) and had forty non-sailing guests. It's a lot of fun for the guests because they get to explore the ship a bit while you get ready for the wedding. We had some snafus with the staff but the wedding and reception itself were wonderful. We were married on embarkation day in Galveston (we live in the Houston area so it was pretty convenient for everyone.)

 

I'd suggest checking out the special Homeymoon and Wedding Cruises board on this site under Special Interests Cruises. That's where I learned the most about getting married onboard.

 

Good luck!

[KillaFee]

I'm so glad I found this thread! My fiancee and I just got engaged last week while on the Serenade and are trying to decide between a ship based wedding or island based wedding. Decisions decisions....:D

Laura

[WinterEscape]

I was married on VOS and non-sailing guests are allowed on board for port weddings. If you have over 10 non-sailing guests, you are required to spend a little more on food and such. My guests were on board the ship until 4:30, but before we departed port.

 

I hope this helps and check out the weddings and honeymoon forum on this board. It will help you finds lots of information!

[k9151]

Killl....We used Sensation Weddings in St Thomas......I couldn't be more pleased with every aspect......got married on Megans Bay....Carla at Sensations did a wonderful job....My wife knew nothing about St Thomas so I planned it all......She was blown away with it!!!!!!!We arrived on Radiance of the Sea

[rip]

Was married June of 03 on board the Enchantment. If you can give up total control and go with the flow it was absolutely fantastic. Had 12 non sailing guests and they all enjoyed the ceremony and reception.

[kbt2]

If you are getting married in port and have non-sailing guests, are you allowed to explore the ship and buy cocktails for them on your account?

I know they cannot go into dining room areas, but can we sit by pool and enjoy a drink...thanks!