by Danielle Andrews Sunkel
I recently had the opportunity to learn about weddings aboard Carnival Cruise Ships first hand, on a family trip aboard the Carnival Glory.
Disclaimer: This trip was not paid for by Carnival Cruise lines, I am just reporting my findings from a personal trip. 😉
One thing I love that Carnival Cruise Line offers, is the room decorating. Your couple can have all of their guests’ rooms decorated for Debarkation (like Lynn St. Jean, of Carnival Cruise Line, surprised my kids with):
or if one of the guests is celebrating a special occasion. I got our room decorated for my husband’s birthday, complete with a chocolate gluten-free cake:
Having a cruise ship weddig means that you get to enjoy 4-7 days with all of your guests rather than just one night. You get to visit multiple ports and there is no shortage of fun for every one at every adventure level.
You are also guaranteed a gourmet meal every night. You and your guests can choose whether you want to spend a little time together, or all your time.
You can choose to have your wedding on the boat or in one of the ports, but remember, Cruise ship weddings have unique challenges:
- what if there is bad weather and the ship can not dock in the location your couple bought their wedding license?
- Ship Time and Local Time are two very different things, you must always run “Ship Time” if you don’t want to miss the boat, literally! That can make scheduling tricky as you need to always keep the two times in mind when booking vendors and making arrangements for the wedding.
- How do you get around 24-72 hour residency requirements? (Many Caribbean islands have special circumstance licenses that can be purchased for cruise ship weddings but these must be arranged and paid for well in advance of the wedding)
If the wedding is taking place on the boat, keep in mind:
- no outside professional photographers will be allowed
- the couple can not provide their own cake server and knife (considered a weapon)
- the couple can not bring on/take off any flowers in any of the ports (so the bride won’t get to keep her bouquet)
- fresh flower petals, bird seed, confetti, etc may not be used
- no outside food or drink is allowed on the ship (that includes favours, alcohol, candy, cake, etc)
- the boat must be docked (and the marriage license be for that port) in order for the ceremony to take place
Carnival has 5 different Wedding Packages available:
Leave a Reply