How to Get Married on a Carnival Cruise
A cruise wedding can be a romantic way to start your life together, whether you marry on the deck of a festive ship or in a tropical port of call. Carnival Cruise Lines has several packages that can create a memorable shipboard or shoreside wedding. Like other lines, Carnival also has numerous restrictions and regulations on cruise weddings---you can't actually get married at sea or by the ship's captain, for instance---but its wedding specialists will help you navigate the complexities.
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Instructions
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Pre-Cruise Arrangements
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Contact the Carnival Wedding Department at 800-933-4968, at least 35 business days before you plan to sail. A sales agent will discuss details such as time and location and the various packages available. He will fill you in on shipboard weddings, which take place on the ship before it leaves port; and shoreside weddings, which are held on certain Caribbean islands away from port and are subject to various local regulations.
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Speak with a Carnival licensing coordinator about obtaining your marriage license, which must come from the port in which you are married. The agent will advise you of local regulations and can help you get your license by mail, but it is your responsibility to follow up and make sure you have it at your ceremony. The wedding officiant will contact you about two weeks before the wedding to confirm the date and time and other arrangements.
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Pay in full for the wedding at the time you book.
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Give cruise and wedding instructions to your guests. If you are being married on the ship on the day of embarkation, you may invite up to 50 non-cruising guests. If you are being married on the ship later in the cruise, give information to guests sailing with you so they can reserve their cabins. For a shoreside wedding, inform non-cruising guests of ceremony details in port.
Shipboard Weddings
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Arrive at the pier at the time indicated by your wedding coordinator, if you are being married on embarkation day. Your guests also must arrive at the pre-set time. For a ceremony later in the cruise, go through the normal check-in and boarding procedure.
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Go through priority check-in, along with your guests, if you are being married on embarkation day.
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Go to the wedding site, and have your ceremony and reception. When the celebration is over, you and your cruising guests will go through the normal boarding procedures once the ship is cleared by Customs. Non-cruising guests must leave the ship at least one hour before embarkation.
Shoreside Weddings
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Confirm arrangements with the officiant when he contacts you.
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Confirm arrangements with the Carnival coordinator.
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Arrange transportation from the ship to the wedding site, if necessary.
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Tips & Warnings
Carnival says it "strongly recommends" that the bridal party arrive at least one day prior to an embarkation-day wedding, to avoid missing the ship because of delayed flights or other problems getting to port.
Clarify all regulations for shoreside weddings in foreign ports, before committing to a location. Puerto Rico, for instance, requires couples to arrive two days before the ceremony. Other islands' wedding sites have limited capacity. Rely on the coordinator for expert insight.
When choosing a port for a shoreside wedding, first find out where your ship docks. If it docks offshore and "tenders in"---takes guests to shore on a small boat---you may find your wedding attire splashed by waves or stained by others' sunscreen. Choose a port where the ship docks right at the pier; it'll also be easier in case the best man forgets the wedding ring in his cabin.
References
- Photo Credit cruise ship at dock image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
