How to Plan and Book Your Dream Cruise Wedding

Have you thought about getting married on a cruise ship? Planning and booking your dream cruise wedding can become more of a reality because most cruise lines are now offering new programs to help you book destination weddings, renewal of vows ceremonies, and weddings on their ships in port as effortlessly, and as easily as possible.

Most all cruise lines now offer some sort of wedding, honeymoon, or renewal of vows package for their customers to choose from.

If you are planning a wedding in the near future, here’s why you should consider booking a cruise line wedding:

1. Get a Wedding Planner (Coordinator) for FREE: Well, kinda for free (we are sure that their “fee” is included in your package somewhere) BUT most cruise lines that offer wedding packages include your wedding planner. This means that you can let someone else iron out the fine details of your special day while you focus on other important wedding day items. The wedding coordinator is there with you from the time that you book all the way until your special day.
2. The packages are usually ALL INCLUSIVE: Most cruise wedding packages include your venue, the officiant that marries you, your reception hall, food, entertainment, flowers etc. If the package doesn’t include it all, you can usually purchase what you need a la carte.
3. Luxury for Less: This CAN be true. Cruise wedding packages can include “bare bones” packages that are low in price and go all the way up to wedding packages with “the works.” Cruise line weddings tend to cost less than a traditional wedding, but with add ons the costs (as with any wedding) can go up significantly.
4. All of your wedding guests can attend your wedding and may NOT have to sail on the cruise: This is true of in port Carnival Cruise Lines weddings, as well as some other cruise lines as well. Have your dream wedding in port aboard the ship BEFORE it leaves and invite all of your family and friends!

Your Honeymoon is taken care of: What makes a cruise line wedding even more cost effective is that you already have your honeymoon taken care of. Some cruise lines offer wedding registries where your guests can help to pay for a portion of your cruise as gifts, gift shore excursions, or onboard credits to use for drinks, spa treatments, or whatever else you want to purchase aboard the ship.
Do something different: Have a wedding that you and your guests will remember by having a cruise line wedding. Its a bit different than a traditional wedding, and the wonder of the ship, the atmosphere, and overall experience will be one that all of your guests will remember for years to come!

Here are some of the most popular cruise lines and links to their wedding package pages:

Now that you’ve learned all about cruise line weddings, I know that you’re wondering where to start. Starting to plan your dream cruise wedding is easy!

Steps to Start Planning your Dream Cruise Wedding:

Decide your budget and look over the wedding packages offered by the cruise lines (above)
Decide where you want to go and choose a cruise line, ship, and sail date
Get an idea of how many approximate guests you’d like to invite
Decide on whether you want to offer your guests to sail with you or not
Call your travel agent to begin planning

Black Cruise Travel DOES recommend that you work with a travel agent to coordinate your cruise line bookings and set up your wedding package with the cruise line. Most cruise line wedding coordinators will ONLY coordinate your wedding and have NOTHING to do with the booking process of your cabin. If you contact a travel agent, you will be able to have THEM book your cabins for you and start the wedding process with the wedding department of the cruise line.

Black Cruise Travel DOES partner with a travel agent that specializes in cruise weddings–and who has even had a cruise line wedding done for herself. If you are interested in a FREE quote on a cruise line wedding please fill out the form located here for our specialist to contact you.

Get a FREE Cruise Wedding Quote for:

The cost of the wedding with the number of guests that you choose
The cost of your cruise

Things to Remember after Planning your Dream Cruise Wedding:

Call your wedding coordinator if you have questions about your wedding package ASAP and don’t make any assumptions.
Make sure that you follow ALL instructions and meet all deadlines set by the cruise line. A helpful travel agent can help you with this. Your wedding is on a cruise ship so time is VERY IMPORTANT.
Make sure that you and all guests get cruise travel insurance. This expense (often less than $100 for a couple) can save you thousands of dollars if you need to cancel your trip, change dates, have lost luggage, change names, get injured/hurt etc. This travel insurance company will even cover children 18 years of age and younger for FREE. Cruise travel insurance can mean the difference in getting $0 back and the thousands that you spent on your trip.***We recommend getting a FREE online Quote here.***

We hope that this guide helps those who are looking into booking their dream cruise wedding!