My partner and I just had our ceremony on the Carnival Destiny and it was AMAZING.
Since this was not a legally binding "marriage", we had to do our civil union ceremony before hand and then book the "Renewal of Vows" ceremony (which was perfectly fine because it was almost the EXACT same thing as a wedding for about half of the price). After booking, we exchanged emails many times with the wedding planners through carnival and they were always very prompt in answering our questions. One of the biggest downsides was that, because the captian performs the ceremony, we were not sure of the date/time until we got on the cruise ship so that was a bit unnerving HOWEVER...
Once we got on the ship, we were immediately put in touch with the special events coordinator, Jalena. She sat down with us for probably an hour the first day, asked us when we wanted the ceremony and showed us the different locations available. She then met with us several more times to make sure everything was in order. She was also there during the entire ceremony and reception to make sure everything went smoothly.
We also hired a "host" (I think his name was Bonz) to make the announcements during the reception. We were able to make a CD of the music we wanted to play during the ceremony and then a second CD we wanted played during the reception. Bonz was also OUTSTANDING and was such a great host.
The reception (an add-on but SO worth it) was beautiful. We had a one-hour cash bar and a one-hour open bar with finger foods. The food spread was so beautiful and had some awesome food like sushi.
I really cannot stress enough how awesome the crew was to us. Even though Carnival the company does not do same-sex marriages or civil unions, they certainly went out of their way to make this feel like a wedding instead of a "renewal of vows" ceremony. I couldn't have asked for anything better :)
Is Carnival Gay Friendly
in LGBTQIA+ Cruisers
Posted
My partner and I just had our ceremony on the Carnival Destiny and it was AMAZING.
Since this was not a legally binding "marriage", we had to do our civil union ceremony before hand and then book the "Renewal of Vows" ceremony (which was perfectly fine because it was almost the EXACT same thing as a wedding for about half of the price). After booking, we exchanged emails many times with the wedding planners through carnival and they were always very prompt in answering our questions. One of the biggest downsides was that, because the captian performs the ceremony, we were not sure of the date/time until we got on the cruise ship so that was a bit unnerving HOWEVER...
Once we got on the ship, we were immediately put in touch with the special events coordinator, Jalena. She sat down with us for probably an hour the first day, asked us when we wanted the ceremony and showed us the different locations available. She then met with us several more times to make sure everything was in order. She was also there during the entire ceremony and reception to make sure everything went smoothly.
We also hired a "host" (I think his name was Bonz) to make the announcements during the reception. We were able to make a CD of the music we wanted to play during the ceremony and then a second CD we wanted played during the reception. Bonz was also OUTSTANDING and was such a great host.
The reception (an add-on but SO worth it) was beautiful. We had a one-hour cash bar and a one-hour open bar with finger foods. The food spread was so beautiful and had some awesome food like sushi.
I really cannot stress enough how awesome the crew was to us. Even though Carnival the company does not do same-sex marriages or civil unions, they certainly went out of their way to make this feel like a wedding instead of a "renewal of vows" ceremony. I couldn't have asked for anything better :)