Wedding cruises are commonly known to be an inexpensive, convenient, and fun way to say your "I Do’s", and if you’re not exactly sure a cruise wedding is right for you, allow us to provide you some valuable information to help with your decision!
1 – Planning a Cruise Wedding!
Planning a wedding on a cruise is easy, and depending on which destination country you plan on getting married, as long as your documentation is in order, it’s a matter of choosing your wedding date, sailing date, flight dates, applying the correct deposits, and then once you arrive, a cruise wedding coordinator will be there to assist you with all the planning. It’s a simple and stress free process that allows you to enjoy much of your time on the cruise ship, whether your wedding is on the ship or at a destination port of call.
2 – Budgeting for a Wedding Cruise is much easier!
When planning a wedding at home, you have so much going, and when you start to work with your budget, for some reason extra expenses and surprise costs seem to come out of nowhere. With a cruise wedding, you know exactly what you’re spending, and of course there are additional services such as photos, or you may want to have a specialty wine that’s not on the menu, but this will be discussed prior to your cruise, and you will know about these additional costs if you decide to go with them.
3 – Average cruise wedding budget?
Unlike a wedding ceremony in your home town, much of your budget may be based on the time of year, the amount of people attending, and other factors. The average wedding cost is estimated around $15,000 to $25,000. Now when considering a cruise wedding, you may still factor in the time of year, and this may due to the seasonality of the cruise, and also if you’re planning of having a wedding party and guests, the consideration of when they can take time off.
Many cruises have peak seasons, as well as low seasons, and of course if you can get everyone onboard (no pun intended here) to cruise during the low season, the savings can be drastically reduced. An average low season cruise can range from $700 – $1500 per person depending on the cabin category you choose. Your wedding package can range from $1000.00US up to $3000.00US, and when you add your air cost, you will quickly notice that a ceremony at Sea is far more affordable than an average ceremony at home.
4 – Which cruise line should you choose?
Depending on the cruise line you choose to sail with depends on a few questions. Like a resort wedding, with cruises there are many sizes of ships that range from the intimate ships carrying 900 passengers or less, to the large mainstream cruise ships that can easily carry over 5000 passengers/staff in a sailing.This decision will depend on what you want, and if you don’t want to share your special day with thousands of onboard guests, a smaller ship is more suited for you.
5 – Where do we want to sail?
Of course your cruise costs may increase or decrease depending on your destination choice. If you want to have a Caribbean wedding, or a wedding while cruising the Mayan Riviera, Mexico, there are many affordable cruise options to choose from that will fall within the budget I listed above. However, you may want a more elaborate wedding on a cruise ship that sails in Europe or South America with a longer itinerary, and exotic wedding features. Not only will costs be higher, but you may be more restricted on the dates you want to go in order to save money.In most cases, if your planning to sail the Mediterranean or northern Europe, you will probably consider taking your honeymoon there as well. You might as well since your there…
6 – Are family members and friends going to sail with you, or attend the ship wedding only and then disembark?
What’s nice about a cruise wedding is that you have options, and two popular options available are to either have your guests only attend the cruise ceremony in port before you depart for your cruise, and after the ceremony they would leave the ship. Or you have your guests sail with you while you have your ceremony on the ship during sailing, and/or have your ceremony at one of the ports of call.
keep in mind that in most cases family members may pay for some or most of your wedding expenses, and as you can see the average costs of a wedding at home, it can be very expensive. A cruise wedding of course may be more appealing to family and friends, because they pay for their own cruise cost, and chances are if you plan your wedding during a popular vacation time, people will be more receptive to spend the money, because they would be vacationing somewhere anyway!
Common Cruise wedding questions couples ask:
Is planning a cruise wedding difficult?
Not if you allow us to help you plan your cruise wedding! This is our specialty, and with all our resources and experience, your cruise wedding will be taken care of for you from beginning until you say "I Do".
Do I have to get married on the Ship?
Most cruise lines will have several wedding options and packages, and one will be whether you would like to get married at a select destination. If the cruise itinerary includes your choice of wedding destination, the cruise wedding coordinator will let you know if that destination allows weddings at the port of call. If they do, you will receive detailed information of what is required. That’s all!
Do many of the Cruise ships offer honeymoon packages?
Depending on which cruise ship you choose, many offer wedding and honeymoon packages that provide you additional amenities and upgrades. Some ships may charge an additional fee, some may include them in their wedding packages, and select ships may offer complimentary honeymoon amenities if you sail with them. It’s best that when we narrow down exactly what you want in your cruise wedding, we can contact the cruise line and see what they are willing to offer if you plan on honeymooning with them.
Who conducts our wedding ceremony?
When you select the cruise line you want to get married on, this is when you will discuss with your cruise wedding coordinator about what type of ceremony you would like to have. If available, you may have a religious ceremony, but it may be an additional cost. If you’re not requesting a religious ceremony, then the wedding coordinator will arrange to have an authorized justice of the peace present, or depending on what cruise ship you select, the Captain is authorized to conduct legal ceremonies onboard the ship. If you plan on having a wedding at a port of call, then you may be able to choose which services you want if available at that destination.
For quick reference: Princess Cruises, Azamara Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises all have the option to have the Captain marry you at sea. For destination port weddings, Caribbean Cruise Lines introduced "Explorer Weddings", which are unique customized ceremonies that range from beach weddings, a wetsuit wedding beside their radical Flowrider, and a really cool option of having a wedding atop an Alaskan glacier.
How far in advance should we plan and book our cruise wedding?
We always say plan and book as early as you possibly can, and if you happen to find exactly what you want, and the price is within your budget, then make the necessary reservations. Most cruise ships may require a certain time frame for you to submit them your documentation, and to guarantee your wedding date and location. Some ships may allow up to 35 days prior to sailing, and if available will handle everything for you in that short amount of time. It’s best to consult with us and find out exactly what your plans are, and what your timeline is to get everything confirmed.
Where do we begin finding a cruise best for us?
Once you make the decision that a cruise wedding is for you, we can start discussing details. Questions we would ask first are what is your chosen wedding date, is that date important or do you have optional dates if your first choice is not available. Are you going to have guests sailing with you, and what type of destinations would you be interested in visiting. I’m also going to ask what your initial budget is to spend, because if I don’t have a base to start with, we can end up way off course when trying to find the best ship that fits your needs.
Once we get those questions out of the way, we then take the time to find the cruise ships that fit all your requirements, such as ports of call, amenities, wedding services, price, and availability for your desired wedding and sailing dates. As we go through the process of elimination, we will then narrow down the choices until we come to a final decision.
In my opinion planning a cruise wedding is a really fun process, and when you get down to the final decisions, I’m sure you will be extremely excited when you finally select the perfect ship, itinerary, and wedding package that best fits all your needs.
