In March of 2018, David and I got married on a cruise ship on the Norwegian Breakaway. However, it wasn’t a quick process – we spent over a year planning and organizing. Here’s how we pulled off our cruise ship wedding.
What This Post Covers:
Why We Chose A Cruise Ship Wedding
David and I got engaged on a (different) cruise in February 2016. We enjoyed being engaged for a while and really didn’t start looking at anything wedding planning-related at all. But about six months later, someone asked us when we were getting married and we realized we needed to put some thought into it if we wanted to get married any time soon. So, I started looking at different venues and locations and realized that almost everything I saw was either out of our budget or had an extremely short period of time during the day that we could use the venue.
Throughout our wedding planning, the biggest thing I wanted was to have a way to have as much time with our family and friends as possible. At this point in our lives, we had been to enough weddings that I knew that the best part of it all was having everyone you love in one room. Aside from the actual getting married part, the part I was most excited about was spending a lot of time with our friends and family. On the other hand, as long as there was a party involved, my fiancé left the specifics of the wedding to me. (I was lucky in the fact that he was pretty easy to please when it came to wedding planning and choices.)
However, the more I looked, the more I became disappointed with the options. No matter the location we went with, we were probably only going to be able to afford a few hours at our location, which meant only a few hours with the people we loved. And because we are from different states, our location was always going to be inconvenient to someone. I started to feel that there was nothing out there that would work for us. And, even though I hadn’t really even started at all, this made me feel like I was done with wedding planning. Somewhere in this time, I started looking for European elopement options (if you’re married, you understand where I was at in the wedding planning process…)
A few months into searching, someone suggested a cruise ship wedding to me. And it started clicking – a cruise ship wedding, why not? We got engaged on a cruise. Cruising was our favorite way to vacation. What better way to start our married life together than on a cruise? This would mean that we would not only get a great party (a week-long party at that) but also plenty of time with our friends and family.
However, the next thing we needed to work through was whether a cruise ship wedding was cost-effective for our guests…
Comparing the Pricing of our Cruise Ship Wedding
Before we decided on a cruise ship wedding, David wanted to see how much it would cost for our guests in comparison to a “normal” wedding. He said that if it was too expensive, then he wouldn’t feel comfortable asking others to come. This was fair, so I took a look at how it compared by looking at expenses we had paid to attend weddings in the past. I averaged this cost, since not every wedding had every activity. However, our expenses typically broke down like this:
- Looking at the price of a “traditional wedding,” I factored in the following:
- The bachelor/bachelorette parties.
- A bridal shower and gifts at the bridal shower.
- Travel for the wedding itself, including at least two nights of hotels (for example, we usually go into town the night before a wedding and grab a drink with the bride and groom after their rehearsal dinner, even if we aren’t in their wedding party).
- A wedding gift.
- Additional food and drinks, such as after-parties, food the morning of the wedding, brunch the morning after the wedding, etc.
- There were also some potential expenses that depended on our role in the wedding. These were a side-cost, but something we still kept in mind, especially for those in our bridal party:
- Rehearsal dinner costs.
- An outfit for the wedding, and/or a bridesmaid’s dress or groomsmen’s suit.
- Other optional events, such as an engagement brunch.
When I did that math, the median price of an off-season cruise would be equal to or cheaper than attending a wedding and all of the activities and costs surrounding it.
Now, my math maybe isn’t perfect. But, looking at these numbers, we decided it would cost the same to do a cruise ship wedding as a traditional one. Once we realized that, we said, “Why not?” It would allow us to have a week with the people we love the most while creating a unique memory with our friends and family. It also took the pressure off of finding the “perfect” location and venue for our guests, while also giving us the chance to make our wedding day what we wanted.
After a lot of back and forth with our parents and our friends, we realized that a good amount of the people we were inviting would be interested. In fact, many people said that as long as a cruise ship wedding was what we wanted, they would be there. It was surprisingly easy to convince everyone, which ultimately sold us on getting married on a cruise. And that’s where the planning part got started.
Picking the Cruise That We Would Get Married On
Once we realized we had plenty of buy-in from those we loved, I began deciding on which cruise line we wanted to get married on. Our friends love to drink as much as we do while on vacation, so we knew that a big selling point to them would be by making the trip “ultimate” in terms of including alcohol in the price. Not to sound like lushes, but I knew that we would struggle to market coming on a cruise to a bunch of twenty- and thirty-somethings without an alcohol package included or available for cheap.
So, when I started looking at cruise lines, I compared Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, and Princess cruise lines. I looked at all of their wedding packages, the price of cruises, the price of alcohol packages, and which port they embarked from. Since we live in Virginia, we decided that it would be extremely cost-prohibitive if we asked people to fly down to Florida to embark, as that would increase the total price (and time needed) to make the trip for our guests. This helped us to narrow it down to cruises that embarked out of either New York City or near Washington, D.C.
David and I had both sailed on both of the two ships that leave out of the Washington, D.C.-area before: Carnival Pride and Grandeur of the Seas. While we enjoyed the cruises we took, the ships were kind of small. We knew that we wanted to do something on a larger ship. Therefore, it was pretty easy to narrow it down to New York City, as that was the next closest cruise port, and the only other one our guests could feasibly drive to. We realized that this meant that we had two choices, based on which ships were homeported there: either Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas or Norwegian’s Breakaway. As we did this research, we realized that the cheapest pricing would be sometime in the spring, since that was technically still “off-season” timing for cruising. This also worked perfectly with many of our guest’s schedules.
We love Royal Caribbean (and prefer it over any other cruise line) but the perks offered with Norwegian’s group booking options eked their cruises out for our selection. When we booked, a group package with Norwegian meant that we each guest got to pick two free options from the following: free beverage/alcohol package, free premium dining, free Wi-Fi, free gratuities, or shore excursion credits. There were a few other options as well, but they were less tangible, such as 20 free photos from the ship’s photographer or a cocktail party for all guests.
Additionally, for every seven guests booked, we were able to get a percentage of the total booking price back, and that could be applied to any of our cruise expenses (including applying the discount back to every booking, making the total price cheaper for everyone in our group – which is what we did).
Other cruise lines didn’t really offer as many booking perks or discounts, (and especially no alcohol package) which meant that it was quickly decided. Thinking back, I didn’t really look at the wedding packages themselves – my decision was more based on making sure our guests would have a good time. So my research focused more on the perks and cruise ships, and the wedding and ceremony part came second. Once we chose Norwegian cruise line, dates were picked, a deposit went down and it was decided: our cruise ship wedding was going to be on the Norwegian Breakaway!
Cruise Ship Wedding Planning
Once we knew what cruise ships we were going to get married on, the details also started to come together. We sent our invitations out more than a year in advance. From there, however, there wasn’t much planning we needed to do until about four to five months before the wedding.
Invitations and Cruise Booking
Once we decided on the exact cruise, we almost immediately sent our invitations out to our guests. One of my biggest tips for a destination wedding, especially a cruise ship wedding, is to send your invitations out as soon as possible. This allows your guests to have plenty of time to fit your trip into their travel plans while also finding time to save money.
We invited about 100 people and, of those people, about 40 of them came. Rather than collect RSVP cards, we decided to push people to our wedding website. On our wedding website, we gave everyone the information about the cruise and asked people to RSVP by booking. I would then got a bi-weekly print-out from our group planner, listing who decided to book. We encouraged people to book even if they weren’t sure if they could come because it meant that they had a room reserved, even if the ship filled up. There was no consequence to cancel as long as it was done within 60 days before sailing. We had a few people utilize this (for illness or work problems) but for the most part, those who booked came with us.
Because we knew it was already a big expense to have people come to a cruise ship wedding, we asked that the only thing that people spend money on was themselves. This included not doing anything outside of our cruise (such as a bachelor/bachelorette weekend) or buying gifts. This also helped to keep the price of the cruise down for all of our guests – and, besides, the gift for us was our guests being willing to spend a whole week with us!
How We Booked The Cruise
As soon as I inquired with Norwegian about a group, I was assigned a booking agent named Janine. She was extremely sweet and if I were to ever have another group booking with Norwegian, I would 100% work with her again. Janine coordinated not only our group, but a lot of our accommodations on board as well (such as the conference room we played the newlywed game in later in the week, and our dining reservation the day of our wedding).
In order to RSVP with our group, all of our invitees had to call Janine, rather than call or book through Norwegian themselves. She would take their information and their deposit, and ask which of the two group booking amenities they wanted to choose. A majority of our guests chose to include the beverage package and gratuities with their booking, which helped everyone to keep the price down. All of our guests were not required to pick the same thing, so that meant that those who didn’t drink picked amenities like free dining or free Wi-Fi.
Wedding Website and Emails
To make sure that we had clear communication with our guests, we put a wedding website together that listed everything they needed to know. We tried to make the information that was on the website was extensive; it ranged from information about the trip itself, what amenities were going to be available on the ship, our wedding day details, how to travel to the port, and how to book. I updated the site regularly with information when things came up, like booking deadlines, and other information that we found our closer to our sailing dates, such as bus information and onboard activities.
We also made a listserv with our guests’ email addresses and, six weeks before we sailed, we emailed them once a week with pertinent information – such as a reminder to check-in to their cruise, information on when and where to get on the bus to the cruise (something we paid for ourselves), and everything people would need about the trip itself (such as what to pack and when/where our wedding would be). We even had multiple people comment when they boarded the bus that these regular emails made it easy to plan and pack, making it that much more of a vacation for them.
Working with Royal Ocean Events
Our cruise wedding was planned in tandem with Royal Ocean Events. This is a team that is external to the ship and is tasked to help plan onboard weddings for cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Princess, Carnival, and Norwegian.
Booking the Ceremony and Reception Rooms
Overall, our experience with Royal Ocean Events (ROE) was good, but it wasn’t the best. However, I choose to look at it positively because, in the end, we were able to get married in the venue we wanted, with the reception we wanted. And because that can be difficult for groups, especially with a bigger cruise ship wedding like ours, then that means I accomplished everything I set out to with ROE.
However, one of the biggest struggles I had with ROE was finding the right time to hold our wedding. When you first reach out to ROE, they send you a list of options for your ceremony and they encourage you to pick a date ASAP. This is because, once you choose a day and put a deposit down (ours was about $1,000), ROE reserves your date and no other weddings can be held on the ship on that day. I did this pretty quickly after we choose the cruise we were going on because I knew right away what day I wanted to get married and it was one of the only planning things I did over a year out.
Once I put our deposit down, I was also told of a few options that were available for us because the day we were having our ceremony was an at-sea day. They said that this meant I would have more options, one of which included being told that we could have an early afternoon ceremony time. They also mentioned one of my options could include getting married in the main dining room, which I immediately Googled and fell in love with. The room was big, bright, and airy – and reminded me of a 20’s dance hall. It was the perfect place to get married!
We were also given a “worksheet” that we were told would be used to reserve all of our selections for the ceremony and wedding day itself – such as spa appointments, entrance, and exit songs, the order of the ceremony itself as well as add-ons such as a microphone for the reception, etc. We were told that this wasn’t due until 60 days out from our wedding and reassured many times that all our selections would be available until then.
This is where things started to go wrong.
Sometime around 4-5 months out, my Mom made a good point – why not square away a lot of the basic things like ceremony location and time now, so that there weren’t any issues later on? That way we could put it on our wedding website, and our guests would have some more flexibility, especially if they wanted to do something earlier in the day, etc. I thought this was a great idea, especially since I hadn’t really made too many selections up until now. It would be fun to start planning! However, when I gave ROE a call, I found out that the planner I had been working with had left the company, and I was assigned to another planner named Jade.
Jade was truly a sweet person and, before we go any further, I will admit that she did as much as she could for us. However, ROE is a completely separate third-party company that is hired by the cruise lines to liaise between the ship and the person planning the event. That means that any decisions that are made have to be approved by the ship and planned around anything else that is supposed to happen on board that day. So, in Jade’s role as a cruise ship wedding planner, she is stuck in the middle: between a bride who has opinions about their wedding day, and a ship that is trying to also host and entertain 2,000+ people.
When we first met, Jade and I chatted a bit about what I wanted and she told me that she said that if ROE had mentioned it before, having a ceremony in the Manhattan Room was probably an option for us, and that she was more than happy to help with whatever we wanted. I hung up on the call excited to start planning and feeling confident about our choices! This was all dampened a few days later when Jade emailed me saying that she was only able to get us in the Fat Cats Jazz Club (it’s now called Syd Norman’s Pour Bar) for a 4 p.m. ceremony, with a 6 p.m. wedding reception in the same room.
They sent me some photos of the venue (see above) and I was so disappointed. Fat Cats was completely different than the Manhattan Room. While the Manhattan Room was a large venue that looked out over the ocean with a lot of natural light, the Fat Cats club was small, dark and had a very limited ocean view. While there was nothing wrong about Fat Cats itself, it just didn’t scream “wedding” to me.
This frustrated me completely. Again – it wasn’t Jade’s fault, but I felt that ROE shouldn’t have even mentioned a choice of venue or potential time if they weren’t going to be able to get it. All those months I spent dreaming of a wedding in the Manhattan Room were dashed. After a little bit of back and forth, we found out that there were no other venues that would be able to accommodate our wedding on the ship on that specific day and this was the only time and space we were going to get – take it or leave it. So not only did this go against everything we were initially told, but ROE/the ship was also completely unflexible about it all.
This was maybe about eight months before our wedding. So rather than get defeated, I tried to see what could be done. And that turned into about two months of Jade and I going back and forth on different time options, venue choices, dinner timing, etc. She was really doing her best, but things started getting weird. For example, I was once told, “Well, the ship said you can have the Manhattan Room, but only at 10 a.m. You’ll then have to wait until 4 p.m. until your reception in Fat Cats.” Lol, what?!
It was literally like this for a while – back and forth with odd timelines and just nothing we wanted. I finally was just so frustrated I called her one day and said, “Look. This is what I want. I was told at the beginning this is what I would be able to do and my heart is set on it. I think if I am not able to do it, I might have to go somewhere else.” I wasn’t looking to threaten her, but I knew that if we couldn’t try to compromise, then I would have to find another way to plan this wedding, without ROE’s help. And it was a bummer – because I knew that if I decided that, it probably wasn’t going to be an event on board, and maybe not even on the cruise itself.
Then finally, about a week later, I got a call that said, “Alright. We were able to get you in the Manhattan Dining Room for a 2 p.m. wedding. Unfortunately, this is all we can do in this space, as they have to prepare for the dining service. But would this be alright?” Yes, of course. That was all I wanted! While I still wasn’t a big fan of Fat Cats, I knew that we couldn’t ask the ship to stop dinner service for our reception without doing a buyout of the restaurant (which I found out later would have cost us tens of thousands of dollars). However, the ceremony was good enough for me! I was so relieved. I signed the contract almost immediately.
So, my advice to you if you end up working with ROE? Be persistent. Please note that I didn’t say, “Be rude,” or “Be disrespectful.” But I do think that you need to be insistent about what you want. If you know you want a venue on the ship, keep asking about it. If they are not able to get it for you, they will let you know. I will note that during my process they never said, “no” to the Manhattan Room for me, which is part of why I kept trying. Because if there is a chance that they can get it, you need to work together with them.
From my experience, I think ROE gets recommendations from the ship and then just runs with it. This is probably because it’s easier that way, especially when they are coordinating hundreds of events at a time. However, this may mean that the first recommendation with the ship may not be what you want – but ROE is hired to help you make your event perfect! So keep being insistent, in a nice way, and I think that you will eventually be able to find a compromise on how you want the day to be.
I will say that later in our cruise ship wedding week, I saw another bride heading into Fat Cats for her ceremony. I checked the time on my watch and guess what? It was at 4 p.m.! This really made me feel like this was the standard option that they offered people on Norwegian Breakaway, especially with smaller weddings. Not that it isn’t an O.K. option, but I am living proof that you can be insistent with what you want, and what you ask for, and they will do their best to give it to you.
Coordinating the Cruise Ship Wedding Itself
Outside of securing the venue, it was actually fairly easy to plan our cruise ship wedding ceremony with ROE. Once the venue was in place, they didn’t need anything from us except for the worksheet we were to turn in about 60 days before our wedding. This worksheet asked for anything we might need for our wedding ceremony, ranging from the order in which our bridal party was were going to walk in, to the songs we wanted to be played, and the script of vows that we wanted. It also asked some questions about the reception, ranging from the order we wanted the events to go and when in the reception we wanted to cut the cake.
Honestly, I really liked the worksheet; it was a great way to get organized and really think about the choices that we wanted. I didn’t have too many ideas in the way of some ceremony things like songs, which they suggested on the sheet, which also helped. We were also able to add in any “non-traditional” things we wanted to do – such as our sand ceremony and our readings from our parents during the wedding.
For our reception, we were able to get in the Fat Cats club for about an hour and a half with no venue charge. Jade booked it as a “group gathering” which helped us save more money (as our ceremony price was covered by the wedding package we paid for). However, to add on additional items, such as a DJ and waiters to serve drinks to our guests, it did cost a little bit of extra money. The DJ cost around $200 and the waiters were $100 apiece, with one waiter being required for every 20 guests.
Because a majority of our guests already had chosen the Unlimited Beverage Package as part of their cruise, we were able to hire a dedicated bartender and two waiters for about $400. This meant that we weren’t charged for alcohol at all during our reception (though I will note that if the two people who didn’t have an alcohol package – my grandparents – were to order a drink, which they didn’t, we would have had to pay for it. This was not a problem and we would have gladly paid for their drinks, though they didn’t order anything.) We were also able to tip all the DJ and waiters ahead of time, which meant that we had nothing to worry about day-of.
For both our ceremony and reception itself, we were lucky because our onboard coordinator Mary Ann was able to head into both spaces beforehand and set it up to our liking. The amount of time we had between events meant that she was able to move our guest book from our ceremony to our reception, set up our cake, etc. It gave such a special touch and felt like a traditional wedding in the fact that everything came together seamlessly.
The only thing left was to get everyone together for dinner. I did a lot of research on dinner and even looked into booking out a restaurant so we would have a completely dedicated space. However, since we were already planning on doing all of the wedding things during our reception, I decided that it was silly to book out a restaurant as well. What else were we going to do in a space all our own? Therefore, I decided to use what the ship already had. So after our reception, we headed back down to The Manhattan Room to eat dinner together. We were able to book this directly through our group booking coordinator Janine. This worked out perfectly, as we were able to have three semi-private tables of 16 people side-by-side to each other, which still enabled us to have a reception-style dinner. And like a “normal” reception, David and I got up and talked to our guests, thanked them for coming, etc.
After our reception, we planned to just bar hop around the ship and participate in anything that was happening while celebrating. However, it turned out that the newlywed game was happening at the end of the day, which was a fun way to cap our wedding day. (And the best part? We won!) After that, most of our guests were exhausted after 2-3 days of embarking, partying, and celebrating, so many of them went to bed. We finished the day off by having drinks with those who were still awake out on the ship’s deck. This was a great choice because we were approaching Florida and the weather was gorgeous!
Overall, I will note that we didn’t go too crazy about spending a lot of money on the ship and adding a lot of extras to our ceremony/reception. And we still had the perfect day! (This is one of the things I was initially tempted to do, but after experiencing it, I warn against it in my tips for making your destination wedding the best day ever.) Because if your venue has the capacity and areas to make your wedding just as good as if you paid for the extras – then why not save the money? You’re still having a cruise ship wedding and to me? That is the ultimate thing to focus on!
Planning the Cruise & Organizing a Large Group
Our Schedule During the Week
As we were planning, my mom and sister made a point that I (eventually) agreed with: part of the reason why we picked a cruise ship wedding was that we would be spending a week away with the friends and family that loved us the most. Why not get them together a few times during the week?
In the beginning, I was nervous that asking people to come together multiple times would take away from what was also going to be everyone’s vacation. Rather, I wanted to just meet up with people organically on the ship. But having a handful of activities throughout the week ended up being a great idea and a fun way to connect with everyone.
To facilitate this, we worked with our group coordinator to coordinate with what was happening on the ship each day. Our activities were a combination of attending things that were happening onboard together, like Rock of Ages, to a group excursion that we all participated in, to some gatherings we invented such as happy hours and a newlywed game. f scheduled events throughout the week. We also created a schedule that we sent out to all of our guests (and included in their welcome bag). And what surprised me? That almost everyone came to all of them! You can see the schedule below.
My future mother-in-law and I also made welcome bags to hand out to guests as they got on the ship. This was a great way to welcome everyone, and they included things such as Advil in case anyone was hungover, tide wipes if anyone spilled anything. We included the schedule in this bag as well so that everyone had a copy in case they weren’t able to access the emailed itinerary on their phones.
Something I would change if I did this again: I wouldn’t plan anything for the two days after our wedding. Only a few people ate brunch with us because everyone was so tired from the past few days. Most people ended up relaxing together by the pool that day anyways. Additionally, two days after our cruise wedding, we also had a happy hour-type thing that we actually forgot to go to (whoops!) Again, I think everyone needed a few days of “downtime” or, really, doing what they wanted instead of forced family fun ☺️
However, I did find that people attended many of our events later in the week. On Thursday we were all able to get together for a snorkeling excursion (more on that below). After snorkeling, a lot of our guests went off to explore Nassau. And then that night, Janine was also able to book reserved seating for our group so that everyone could sit together to watch Rock of Ages! We also had an impromptu Happy Hour beforehand and met at a bar near the theatre and had some drinks together. This led to us having a really great (read: tipsy) time while watching the show. I highly recommend doing something similar.
On Friday, we asked that everyone meet us at the conference rooms for (another) newlywed game. We didn’t expect to play the newlywed game on our wedding day; however, my family worked so hard on putting this one together, with personalized questions and a slideshow, that we didn’t want to cancel this one! We got a chance to play with my grandparents (who had been married for 60+ years) and a set of our friends who had recently been engaged! It was a much more intimate game than the one we had played with the whole ship and it was fun hearing our friends and family’s answers. Our maid of honor (my sister) and best man were our emcees, which made it just that much more fun. And, just like our wedding day, people were able to hop out to the atrium to grab a drink easily. (And, not to brag, but we won, again!)
Afterward, we had another reservation in one of the main dining rooms for all of our guests. They split our party up into three tables again, but they were all next to each other and everyone easily split up. It was another fun way to get everyone together before grabbing (more) drinks later that night.
On the last day of our cruise, we had planned to meet to do the escape room as a group. However, we were told that this wasn’t something we could book ahead of time – it was only able to be booked onboard. Turns out, this was because it was canceled for the whole cruise. But this just meant that people got together on their own and we all ended up running into each other and having drinks together throughout the night.
On Sunday morning, which was our embarkation day, our wedding planner Mary Ann (very kindly) added our group to the VIP debarkation lounge that met up in the Manhattan Room. Rather than embarking separate, everyone met there and had drinks and some breakfast. Once our bus was at the port, we then all embarked as a group and boarded the bus together. If you do something similar, see if your onboard coordinator can do the same!
Travel Planning
As we were deciding whether or not to do a cruise ship wedding, one of the biggest things I wanted to do for our guests was to reserve a bus to bring everyone to the port. Most of our guests were leaving within the Washington, D.C.-area, so I knew that it would be easy to coordinate getting everyone there on the same bus. I also knew that people would be more likely to want to come if getting there and back was easy, and it would save everyone some money on transportation at the same time.
We found that the bus line with the best pricing and the most flexibility was with Academy Bus. I highly recommend them, as they handled things really well. For example, one of the biggest things I was nervous about was making sure that everyone was at the port on time during embarkation day. I also got really worried about the bus breaking down, too. They assured me that there was nothing to worry about and if something happened, they would do their best to get us there before the ship left, including sending a new bus and driver within two hours if needed. I also left enough time in our itinerary that, if something like this were to happen, we would still be able to get to the port by the latest time possible (which was around 4 p.m.)
On embarkation day, we left from our D.C.-area park-and-ride around 6 a.m. We had everyone who wanted to take the bus “sign-up” beforehand, so we could make sure that we didn’t leave anyone behind. My sister made a checklist with everyone’s phone numbers so we could give someone a call if there was an issue. We also checked before everyone boarded the bus to make sure that everyone had their passports and check-in paperwork.
We left at 6 a.m. because it allowed us to get to the port early while also leaving enough time for people to go back to their houses or hotels if they, say, left their passport or something. It also left a lot of time for traffic as well. Luckily, there were no issues either way, and we made it to the port around 10 a.m., which was right on time. To make the experience more comfortable, my mom and I went and grabbed some breakfast items like muffins and croissants the day before, and we also grabbed some coffee from a shop near the park-and-ride, so our guests had snacks and coffee available if they wanted. Once we were on our way, everyone took a nap and we played some movies and some of our guests even brought some beer along solely for the bus ride. As we got closer and closer, the excitement mounted – we were all about to be on vacation, and David and I were about to be married!
Excursion Planning
Another big thing that we organized was an excursion with all of our guests. As we were emailing everyone in the weeks before we embarked, we asked if there would be interest in snorkeling together when we were in Nassau, Bahamas. And, while I didn’t think that there would be much interest, almost everyone wanted to come!
We decided to do a group booking for an excursion called “snorkel and sail.” This excursion included boarding a catamaran and then sailing out into the ocean to snorkel for an hour or two. The price also included all-you-can-drink alcoholic beverages onboard. Rather than plan this with Royal Ocean Events, I was able to plan this with Janine, our Norwegian group coordinator. Once people signed up, she was able to label us as a group and put us all together on the same catamaran. The best part? The catamaran didn’t hold too many people, so the excursion included largely our group with only a handful of others. So, it was almost like a private excursion for our guests without the extra price.
It was also another great way to spend time with our friends and family a few days after our wedding. Overall, it was fairly easy to plan, as we just encouraged people to sign-up via the Norwegian website and then Janine took care of the rest! And it didn’t take too much extra planning, either – all we did the morning of the excursion was meet in the embarkation area, which ended up being right next to the cruise ship, and then off we went! Snorkel and Sail was also a great excursion because they had a TON of booze served onboard – so more than a few people were feeling good by the time we finished
Other Cruise Ship Wedding Things to Note
Here are some small things I noticed during our cruise ship wedding that I would note for anyone who planned to do the same. I will say that some of these won’t make sense without reading more about our wedding day itself, so check that out before reading on! ☺️
- Our Cake – We did not finish our cake during our ceremony and it was then delivered to our table at some point after the dinner we at in the main dining room. But we didn’t get to eat it then because it was sent after we headed out to play the Newlywed Game. We kept trying to grab it during other meals that we ate during the week, only to be told it was going to be delivered to our room. It never was, and we also learned later that we were not allowed to take it off the ship due to potential contamination. So if you order a cake, make sure to eat it, as you won’t be able to take it off the ship with you at the end of your cruise!
- Video of the Newlywed Game – After we played the Newlywed Game, we asked our cruise ship wedding planner Mary Ann multiple times if we could have a copy of the video they took during the game. We knew that they had it because, during the week, we kept seeing it air on the cruise television channel. We didn’t plan to do anything with the copy other than keep it to reminisce on our wedding day. However, we were told that the cruise line does not release the cruise-board video. There wasn’t even a highlights video we could buy! It was sad and frustrating, as we lost a big part of our wedding day that we could have had as a memento.
- Collecting photos after the wedding – After the cruise, we decided to have everyone send their photos, whether we were in them or not, to a collective Google Photos album. This needed up being one of the biggest things I would recommend for anyone else planning a cruise wedding because it meant that we had every moment of our cruise captured. Even when I made a photo album capturing our wedding a few months later, I used many of these photos – because it was a great way to show off the fun that people had with us! It also gave us a chance to see what everyone else did during the week. I highly recommend doing this so that you can capture every single moment!
- Our Color Scheme – One of my favorite parts of having a cruise ship wedding was the choice I made for our color scheme. I decided to go with “ocean” colors – meaning, all ranges of blue. David had a blue suit and each of my bridesmaids had colors ranging from light blue/green to dark blue. I loved the ombre blue look and the color scheme fit in easily with our ocean-type decor.
- Our Wedding Party’s Attire – One of the biggest things for me during our wedding was making sure that people weren’t spending a lot of money outside of the cruise itself. Therefore, we asked that our wedding party to try to find a simple outfit – a sundress for the girls and khaki pants and a white dress shirt for the boys. Because I knew that my bridesmaids needed a little more guidance, I went to David’s Bridal and found a color combination that I loved. I sent it to them with the idea that they could go to DB’s and pick one if they wanted, but I also encouraged them to find something just as suitable on other sites such as Amazon. Most of them did, while others who didn’t want to shop just went to DB and found a dress they could wear in other situations. For the guys, most of them already had khakis and dress shirts, so not much effort was needed on their part. I didn’t mind if they had mismatching shoes, so I encouraged them to wear boat shoes or dress shoes, whichever made them comfortable for the day. It was an easy way to coordinate a bridal party without making anyone go out of their way – either monetarily or effort-wise.
- Flowers for our Ceremony – When we first considered a cruise ship wedding, I was all for buying flowers through the ship. However, I quickly found out that we were not allowed to bring on our own live flowers and, through the ship, the price for our bridesmaids’ bouquets and groomsmen’s boutonnieres would be in the hundreds of dollars, I changed my mind. Instead, my Mom went to a craft store and created mine and my bridesmaids’ bouquets for less than $10 apiece. When we were on the ship, our wedding package included David’s boutonniere and a bouquet of 12 white roses for me. Between this and the fake flowers, it ended up being exactly enough – and we used my white roses bouquet as the toss bouquet for the reception. Since the groomsmen didn’t end up wearing suits, we forwent any flowers for them and gave my bridesmaids their fake bouquets after the wedding as a souvenir. Now, my bouquet sits on my dining room table and makes me smile every day.
- Our Guest Book – For our guest book, I knew I didn’t want a book that would be put on a shelf and never opened again. So, I found a beautiful photo of a wooden anchor on Pinterest and decided we would use that instead. One of David’s co-workers was able to make something similar and we found some silver sharpies that people could use to sign it. One of the big things I asked was that people didn’t sign messages on the anchor itself (I was worried that we only had 40 guests and a small piece of wood – and that there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone to write something. Besides, it would be hanging on our wall – names would be sufficient). I genuinely loved our guest book because it not only had a nautical feel, which was my overall aesthetic, but it’s a fun piece that we look at on our wall every day. When we hung it up, I was very pleased – the writing is light enough that far away it looks like an anchor on the wall, but up close you can see its a guest book. It’s one of my favorite decorations in my house and I highly recommend doing something similar if you are planning a cruise ship wedding!
- Strawberries and Canapes – This is a specific thing only to Norwegian Cruise Lines, but we found that we were always getting deliveries of canapes and champagne to our room. In fact, on our wedding night, we had a tray of strawberries delivered that was so big, we knew it was impossible to eat and we brought it out to our guests (I was dozens of strawberries). We also received canapes every day and sometimes they would have extra room service and knock on our door to see if we wanted it. Nothing bad, but definitely something to note if you do a wedding with Norwegian 🤗
- Onboard Messenger – Throughout the week, we found that everyone found met up with us and others via the Norwegian instant messaging app. it wasn’t 100% reliable, but it was a great way to at least try to attempt to get everyone together – especially when we had scheduled events. If coordinating a big group, try to get everyone to download your cruise line’s instant messaging app before they board – it will definitely help to keep everyone in touch!
Would I Do a Cruise Ship Wedding Again?
Our wedding was one of the best things we ever did and it truly fulfilled everything I ever wished for, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. So, honestly, yes, I would 100% do this kind of wedding again. It was a great chance to spend so much time with the people we loved while also removing a lot of stresses like coordinating a wide variety of vendors. Looking back, there was still some stress leading up to it, but I felt like the wedding day very much reflected our personality so perfectly. Now, almost two years later, I still think of this cruise as the best time in my life. There were some hiccups, yes, but nothing outrageous and all of the good outweighs all of the bad in my mind. I highly, highly recommend a cruise ship wedding for anyone who is looking for a fun, unique destination wedding!
Looking for other destination or cruise ship wedding tips? Check out some of my other posts below:
- Our Cruise Wedding on Norwegian Breakaway
- How to Know if a Cruise Wedding is Right for You
- Eight Ways to Make Your Destination Wedding the Best Day Ever
Any Questions?
Hopefully, these tips helped you with your own cruise ship wedding planning! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask away in the comments and I will get back to you ASAP!
Want to see more of our other travels? Take a look at my Instagram stories. Did you and your significant other get married on a cruise ship wedding? How did you plan your own wedding? Are you thinking about getting married on a cruise ship wedding? Make sure to comment below.
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Omg, THANK YOU for this! My fiancé and I are also set on having a cruise wedding! I’ve been searching for more in-depth info from any other brides out there. There are a lot of wedding videos out there but no “walkthroughs” of the planning process. Your blog was exactly what I needed. We’re 2 years out from the date we want and I want to be prepared to book once the itineraries come out. Thank you again!