Planning a cruiseship wedding

[gpiglet]

I'm a newbie cruiser (only been to RCL last May) and totally love the experiences. I'm doing my research on cruise ship wedding.

 

I have 3 choices - holland America, Regent seven and Carnival.

 

Which one do you prefer or did anyone married on these cruiseline before?

 

p.s. please excuse my bad english as it's not my mother language

[Travelcat2]

First, congratulations on our upcoming wedding. While I am not familiar with getting married on ships from these cruiselines, the experience is very different (as are the prices). Below are a few general comments.

 

Carnival is considered a mainstream cruiseline. It would be the least expensive. Most Carnival ships are quite large and tend to have many families on board -- lots of activities -- children, etc.

 

Holland America is a step above Carnival. There are more adults on board, some of the ships are a bit smaller. The passengers tend to be a bit older -- the atmosphere more serene.

 

Regent is a luxury cruiseline -- all-inclusive (drinks, tips, excursions, airfare). The ships only hold from 490 - 700 passengers. With the exception of the summer and school holidays, there are few children on board. The cost of cruising on Regent is considerably more than Carnival or Holland America.

 

I suggest that you go to the websites for these three cruise lines and look at the pricing, size of the cabins/suites, what is included in the price and what is not, etc. If you have not already done so, post a question on the board for each each cruise line asking about weddings on that particular ship.

 

If you have time, let us know which ship you decide to get married on:)

[gpiglet]

Thank you very much for your help Travelcat.

There is no set date for the big date because we are in a very stable relationship. I expected to get married in 2010/2011.

 

It will be a small family wedding only and I'm planning to paid for the parents, sister in law, brother and their baby for the cruise itself.

 

We have to choose a cruiseline that will depart from Vancouver to make it easy for everybody. And I checked onilne, it seems like only these 3 cruiseline will hit vancouver...

[marycang]

I don't know about 2010 or 2011 but Celebrity, Princess, Silver Seas and Royal Caribbean are sailing out of Vancouver this summer.

[Travelcat2]

I assume that Regent will still be doing their Alaska cruises in 2011. Again, it depends upon your budget. The good thing is that once you have paid for the cruise, everything would be included:-)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The question is, can the captains of the Regent ships perform weddings? I remember hearing somewhere that the captain of the Paul Gauguin can now perform weddings, but not sure about the other ships. And it probably depends on jurisdiction as well.

[xrvlcruiser]

http://web01.rssc.com/regentexclusives/destinationservices/#Weddings

 

Here is what is on the Regent web site.

 

I remember hearing (tongue in cheek) that a wedding by the Captain on board is good for the length of the cruise.

 

We had friends who were married on board last year but who brought their own clergyman. An alternative might be to arrange something in one of the ports.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

True, I guess in a place like Alaska you could arrange to have a clergyman come on board in one of the ports.

[Mike2131]

I'm a newbie cruiser (only been to RCL last May) and totally love the experiences. I'm doing my research on cruise ship wedding.

 

I have 3 choices - holland America, Regent seven and Carnival.

 

Which one do you prefer or did anyone married on these cruiseline before?

 

p.s. please excuse my bad english as it's not my mother language

First of all, your English is just fine - mother tongue or not. My girlfriend and I have toyed with the idea of a wedding at sea as well. If we go that route, it will be next year at the earliest and would probably not take place on the ship. We would probably opt for the ceremony to take place at a special spot in a favorite port. A follow-up ceremony with the Captain presiding would be romantic - if not legal in some cases (LOL).

 

I believe some of the lines offer the services of an officiant with their packages. I think there is a section on Cruise Critic with some details by cruise line, but I would contact all three directly for the up-to-date details.