Advice for commitment ceremony

[hmp2z]

Hello! My sister-in-law lives in Virginia, and she and her partner are planning a commitment ceremony in September 2011. I'm trying to convince her that it would be a great idea to have the ceremony on a cruise ship, and incorporate a honeymoon with the ceremony! My husband & I live in central Florida, so we'd be a great base for her if she wanted to do it on a ship leaving from either Port Canaveral or Tampa. She absolutely loves Disney World, which gave me the idea, since she could do a combo honeymoon, on maybe shorter (3-4 night cruise), then spend the rest of the time at Disney, while staying with us before the wedding to take care of any last-minute arrangements. I've looked at ships leaving out of both of those ports in September, and it looks like it's limited to Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Disney (kinda pricey compared to the other two).

 

My questions are these: Has anyone had experiences with doing a ceremony on any of these lines? My sister-in-law isn't wanting to do a legal wedding or civil ceremony - she is looking for something celebratory and symbolic rather than legal. I've been to the cruise line sites looking for information, but can't seem to find any information on same-sex ceremonies; what I've found on wedding ceremonies say things like "the couple is responsible for acquiring a wedding license" or for vow renewals "the couple is responsible for providing documentation to show that they are married." Obviously neither of these would be the case for her & her partner, so I'm not sure which of the pricing schemes would apply: those for weddings, or those for vow renewals? Also, has anyone done a ceremony onboard one of these ships while the ship was still in the departure port in Florida? I was talking to my mother-in-law, and that might be a better option for them, since that way not all of the guests have to be booked on the cruise.

 

I'd appreciate any advice/thoughts/experiences that other couples have had!

 

Thank you for your help,

Heather W

[etoile]

I don't think you can do it on a ship in port. Don't they have rules that don't allow non passengers on board? All the shipboard ceremonies I've heard of are at sea. I could be wrong though. I do seem to remember, as well, that all ceremonies are at the discretion of the captain; I can't imagine they'd turn a same sex couple away, but it's something to consider. I do know celebrity does ceremonies for gay couples though.

 

However...you know what would be awesome? Doing it at Disney World. They are very open to same sex couples and don't require any legal stuff, so commitments are fine. My personal dream would be to combine that with a Land-and-Sea on Disney Cruise Line...now that would be the celebration of a lifetime!

[soldham]

HAL allows visitors on board in port - or they did in Amsterdam and Greenland on the Eurodam.

[etoile]

HAL allows visitors on board in port - or they did in Amsterdam and Greenland on the Eurodam.

 

Cool, I did not know that! My in-laws are now 4-Star Mariners so I am hoping to become more familiar with HAL soon. ;)

[hmp2z]

Thank you for the suggestions - on further research, I found that Carnival is not very gay-friendly, and I've read reports of them refusing to marry same-sex couples. That being the case, I won't suggest Carnival to her, for sure! My husband and I got married at Disney World, and it was definitely the celebration of a lifetime. My sister-in-law is on a very tight budget, though, so I'm looking into something more affordable. However, it looks like the Disney Cruise Line weddings start at $2500, which isn't bad at all. And several of the cruise lines that I've read wedding information on state that they will allow non-cruise guests to board for the wedding. That was one of the appeals, since I don't think that all of her guests, sadly, will want to join onboard the cruise.

 

I'd love to hear more experiences, specifically about certain cruise lines as opposed to others.

 

Thanks again!

Heather

[kylea_s]

I cant give you the up to date advice that your looking for, but I do have an idea. Knowing that you can find almost anything on the CC boards if you search, I tried that. At the top of this page under the logo, is a light yellow line that includes third from the end the search function. I put in the words 'commitment ceremony' and found several pages of posts that had those words. In just a brief bit of reading I think you might find a lot of good info there.

 

Also, often if you click on the name of the poster, it takes you to a page where they have included an email address. Of course, some of those emails may be from old accounts but its worth a shot if you have specific questions.

 

I also noted that you feel that Fort Lauderdale and Miami may be too far to be convienent. They do have a lot more choices of cruise lines though. I know Princess goes out of FL and does the weddings in port. Good luck.

 

Donna