Want to get married on a cruise? Here’s what you need to know

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Glorious orange sunsets and shimmering turquoise waters - no wonder honeymoon cruises are so popular. But why not get married at sea, too? Many cruise lines offer wedding packages making it easy to plan and execute nautical nuptials. Before you deep dive into wedding mode, here’s everything you need to know about getting married on a cruise including the do’s and don’ts of saying ‘I do.’

Whether you want to get married on board your favourite ship or tie the knot at a shoreside ceremony, there’s a cruise line wedding package for you. Alongside Azamara, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, here are the best cruise line wedding packages:

• Celebrity Cruises
• Cunard
• Holland America Line
• P&O Cruises
• Princess Cruises
• Royal Caribbean International

Why?Celebrity Cruises’ take care of all the details. Whether you’re having a large beachside celebration in the Caribbean or an intimate cruise ship wedding surrounded by your loved ones, you won’t have to lift a finger.

Details: Celebrity Cruises offers three unforgettable wedding packages; the Get Married At Sea Wedding Package, the Shoreside Wedding Package and the Shipboard Weddings Package. All you need to do is choose your itinerary, review the cruise wedding packages available and get in touch with Celebrity to plan your perfect day.

Why?Cunard is synonymous with class and grandeur so what better place to get married than aboard one of their classic vessels? Like a Hollywood movie, Cunard has played host to many love stories and yours could be one of them!

Details: Cunard offers romantic wedding ceremonies on its three distinctive ships Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2. The happy couple can choose from multiple venues, all of which offer something unique.

Why?Holland America Line’s wedding packages make it easy to tailor your nuptials to perfection. Your wedding coordinator will handle all the details, so you can relax and enjoy your big day.

Details: Holland America Line offers a plethora of wedding services. Guests can choose to wed on land or at sea and organise their dream day alongside a Royal Events wedding coordinator.

Why? Whatever your celebration, P&O Cruises’ have the perfect package for you. Whether you wish to propose, get married or renew your vows, P&O are there to help you every step of the way.

Details: P&O offer two wedding packages, both of which have all the ingredients to create a magical wedding, with personalised extras available to make the day truly yours.

Why? A romantic journey awaits on board one of Princess Cruises’ beautiful wedding cruises. Create memories that last a lifetime with the cruise lines Tie the Knot weddings.

Details: There are three great ways to tie the knot with Princess Cruises; at sea, harbourside or at shore. Whichever you choose, Princess promises to make your dreams come true.

Why? Royal Caribbean doesn’t do things by halves. At one of the most exciting and important times in your life, Royal have everything you need to make your wedding as beautiful and seamless as you can imagine.

Details: From formal to fun, intimate to limitless, Royal Caribbean’s Wedding Packages make it easy to personalise your nuptials to unforgettable perfection.

Yes, cruise ship weddings are legal! But you’ll need to be legally married before you tie the knot aboard your favourite ship. British law states that weddings must be held in a public space. Sadly, a cruise ship doesn’t count as a public space so only symbolic ceremonies can take place on a ship whose port of registration is in the UK.

Cruise ship weddings can offer great value for money. When you consider how much is included (the ceremony, the celebration and the honeymoon!), a wedding at sea is far more reasonable than a wedding on land.

Most modern cruise ships are designed to cater to your every need - so when booking a wedding package, you can rest assured that every little detail will have been taken care of from flowers to photos, cake to music.

Cruise ship captains can only perform weddings if they are a judge, minister, justice of the peace or a Notary Public. Depending on which cruise line you sail with and where you sail to, the captain may be able to perform your ceremony.

All you will need to bring is your outfit for the ceremony - everything else will be sorted for you!

Joanne Byrne from accessible cruising and travel blog Byrne Voyage got married on a P&O cruise in 2019, she told us: “In May 2019, we tied the knot on a Baltic cruise aboard P&O Arcadia and it was a truly unforgettable experience! We love cruising and made the decision to get married at sea very quickly - we didn’t consider any other options! A traditional wedding wasn’t for us, we wanted something simple, intimate and as stress-free as possible and cruising ticked all the boxes with the bonus of having an incredible backdrop for our photos!

“P&O Cruises have a Ceremonies at Sea package which made the booking and organisation a breeze. Once on board, we met our wedding coordinator and photographer, who were both amazing and helped make our day really personal and special.

“Being married by the lovely Captain Luko Vojvoda in full ceremonial dress was an honour and really added to the occasion of nautical nuptials. He was very generous with his time after the formalities, sharing a champagne toast and slice of wedding cake with us whilst regaling us with stories of his career at sea.

“If, like me, you enjoy cruising, are laid back and can handle not having full control over certain aspects (such as being able to specify particular flowers) or you like the idea of an alternative, unique style of wedding to ‘the norm’ then I would definitely recommend considering a wedding at sea. It couldn’t have been easier to organise, with P&O taking care of all the formalities on our behalf. There were limitations but we were able to add plenty of personal touches to make the day our own. Best of all our honeymoon began as soon as we said, ‘I do!’”

You can read all about Joanne’s wedding at sea in part one here, and part two here.