If you want an easy to plan, low maintenance wedding or vow renewal, but still want the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding experience, a Disney Cruise Wedding might be the solution for you!
Disney Cruise Weddings are available on all four Disney ships, and on Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Celebrations start at $3,000 (plus the cost of your cruise) and are a great way to combine your wedding and honeymoon (or vow renewal and anniversary vacation!) into one very easy to plan and coordinate vacation box.
Important things to consider:
Some of these may matter to you; some may not, but I want you to be aware so that you can make the best decision for you and your partner.
This is a package wedding, designed to be simple. You will make a few choices and once you have, there will be literally nothing you need to do (or CAN do or find out) related to your specific wedding on your specific cruise until very near your actual cruise date or on embarkation day. Every cruise has an onboard coordinator that will handle your wedding on your cruise, but you will not be able to coordinate with them before your cruise. That’s partly why Disney doesn’t allow changes or substitutions in the Cruise line wedding packages. They do these weddings every week, they are very good at them, but you will not have control or any one you can send your questions to. If that will drive you crazy, this is not the wedding for you!
You ARE a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding bride so you DO have the option to book a Bridal Portrait Photo Shoot inside the parks in the wee hours of the morning. These are pricey, and of course would require a park visit after your cruise (within one year of your wedding) but are definitely something to check into if you are a Disney parks lover and obsessed with amazing photos in great locations. See here and here for more information.
Your Disney wedding ceremony will occur during the cruise, after the ship has entered international waters. Therefore, in order for your marriage to be legal, you will have a brief civil ceremony at the Port or on the ship before the ship departs for your cruise. Essentially, then, your ceremony on the ship (or in Castaway Cay) is a vow renewal. This has bothered some couples; for others, it’s not an issue at all.
You could also choose to get married at your local Justice of the Peace or courthouse; in Florida, notaries can conduct legal ceremonies. The civil ceremony is included and scheduled as part of your package. It is just for the couple, the officiant and the wedding coordinator; no other guests are permitted to attend.
This does mean you’ll have decide whether you celebrate your anniversary on the date of your legal ceremony or on the date of your Disney wedding. I have found most couples use the date of their Disney wedding ceremony, but it is up to you and your personal preference as a couple.
In most cases you as a couple will be sharing a room and getting ready together before the ceremony. It’s more challenging in the confined quarters of a cruise stateroom than at home to separate the night before or get ready apart. You can make arrangements with other guests to try and coordinate a switch or separation if this is important to you.
You may not have much control over which actual day of your cruise your wedding will occur. The Disney Fairy Tale Wedding coordinator alerts the ship’s onboard coordinator of the weddings booked for a particular cruise, including locations, if specified. That is communicated with the Senior Officers, who review the itinerary and any special conditions or events planned for that particular cruise. They will then work with the onboard coordinator to make the schedule, which will be communicated back to the DFTW coordinator, who will communicate with you. Again, this wedding works best for those who have a somewhat laid back approach towards wedding planning, and don’t want to worry much about details.
The wedding date and/or location itself COULD be moved. While this is unlikely, it can and has happened on occasion. Especially for weddings scheduled on Castaway Cay or on exterior decks; inclement weather can impact the location and even the date of your wedding. Severe storms can mean your ship won’t be able to visit Castaway Cay at all–If this happens, your wedding coordinator will work with you to move your wedding to one of the onboard locations, and ensure you still have a wonderful experience. As with any wedding planned for outdoors, you have to be prepared for contingencies! (If you will be bothered by printed Tshirts that end up with a different date on them, either don’t include the date or learn to adapt!).
Photography: Wedding photography is NOT included in your Disney Cruise Wedding package price. Disney does offer photography packages that can be purchased and added to your wedding package; however quality is often an issue and the photographers available on the cruise are not the trained and experienced wedding photographers that work with the Disney Fine Arts Photography department. The available packages are limited and don’t often allow as much time as land based photography packages offer. If photography is not a priority for you as a couple, this may not be an issue. I also feel they are pricey for what they include. Finally, they tend to rush you to choose the pictures for your album during your cruise, which I don’t love. I take forever to choose ONE picture, let alone 20 or 30. Of course, I am also a photography NUT, so your mileage may vary. If you have friends or family attending that are talented photographers, you may want to talk to them about taking pictures at your wedding.
If pictures are a priority, many Disney Cruise couples choose to hire one of their favorite Disney area wedding photographers to come on the cruise and photograph their wedding. Many experienced Orlando area photographers will offer special cruise wedding packages in exchange for couple paying for their cruise. Often, you can even book additional photography sessions, like “trash the dress” or family reunion pictures.
This is a very low maintenance, simple, easy to plan package. In other words, Disney is not flexible on this package. Your choices in each category (floral, cake, music, etc.) are somewhat limited–you make your choices, and that is what you will get. The benefit to this is that there is very little for you to worry about or fuss over. This is an easy wedding to plan and coordinate. You book your cruise, book your wedding, make your choices, pay your bills and get married. I’m simplifying a bit, but you get the idea. It’s a beautiful, elegant, lovely wedding in a glamorous setting with very little effort required by the couple.
Hair and makeup: Often for Disney Fairy Tale Weddings at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, brides will book hair and makeup professionals to come to their room before the wedding to do their hair and makeup, and perhaps the hair and makeup of the wedding party. This is not an option on a Disney cruise. The ships do not have full service salons, and they do not have hair and makeup service personnel on staff. The ships do have hair salons, but much like photography, the quality is not always reliable, and you may not want to deal with this uncertainty on your wedding day. You can book appointments with the hair salon at an additional cost, depending on availability and operating hours at the salon; any services will be charged to your onboard stateroom account. Note: The salons do not open particularly early, which has been an issue in the past for some brides. Since a big benefit of the Disney Cruise Wedding is easy and relaxed, I would try and plan on an easy and relaxed approach to hair and makeup with your bridal party–maybe plan on helping each other, or each doing your own. Just have a plan and try not to stress!
A Disney Cruise wedding was designed as a dream “getaway wedding package” for the small wedding. That doesn’t mean that if your dream is a large wedding, and you have a large group all willing to go on the cruise, you can’t make it a reality–you absolutely can. However, for wedding groups larger than 50, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings will have to coordinate with Disney Cruise Line to check for availability, so you might have to be flexible with your dates or specific cruise. The farther in advance you can plan, the better!
If your ceremony is on the ship, your officiant will be a Disney Cruise Line Senior Officer; often the Captain. If your ceremony is on Castaway Cay, your officiant will be a Bahamian government official.
You can bring your own officiant if you wish, but they must have a cruise reservation, and MAY be counted as a guest. The rules fluctuate a bit on this.
Every guest will need a cruise reservation and every guest will need a passport. If you really want Great Grandma at your wedding, but Great Grandma will likely never set foot on a cruise ship and will definitely never get a passport, you may need to reconsider your plans.
Who should consider a Disney Cruise Wedding?
In my opinion, Disney Cruise Weddings are perfect for the low maintenance bride who doesn’t want to deal with a lot of wedding planning.
The wedding package itself is also one of the more affordable Disney Fairy Tale wedding packages, so it’s perfect for the bride that has their heart set on a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, but doesn’t want to invest in one of the larger budget packages.
A Disney Cruise Wedding can also be ideal for the couple that wants to combine their wedding and honeymoon into one experience and one budget. Essentially, bundling all the planning and coordinating into one fairly simple package and getting it all done. It’s a high end, glamorous vacation and a beautiful, elegant wedding–but you don’t have to dot a lot of i’s and cross a lot of t’s.
If you have kids or an extended family that you want to include in the wedding and honeymoon/family vacation, a Disney Cruise Line wedding can be the perfect solution. Again, a fairly simple wedding package, not a whole lot of stress or pressure–tons of fun shipboard activities for the kids, and you can send them to the Kids Clubs when you need some couple time…can be the perfect honeymoon AND family vacation.
If you want to keep your guest count small, a Disney Cruise Line wedding might be a way to have a Disney wedding, but not attract the same guest response as a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, where people plan a “Park” vacation around your wedding. The Cruise Line is popular, but not as popular as the Parks. A Cruise Line vacation can also be cost prohibitive for some people, which can also keep your guest count down. People may surprise you though, so keep that in mind. A Disney Cruise Line vacation may be a bucket list item for some, or a cruise to your particular chosen destination may be wish list item, which, when combined with the attraction of your wedding, maybe be enough impetus to make them FINALLY book their dream vacation…so don’t be surprised if your guest count goes higher than you expected.
Cruisers: If you LOVE LOVE LOVE to cruise, a Disney Cruise Line wedding might be the right fit for you. Consistently rated one of the top large cruise lines in the world, Disney Cruise Line has it all–top notch entertainment, fabulous service, great food, terrific kids clubs and entertainment for kids, great outdoor activities, and outstanding adults only venues, bars and restaurants. You can have the romantic wedding and honeymoon of your dreams with a Disney Cruise Line wedding, and your guests can all enjoy the family vacation THEY dream of!
What if I’m a Want to be in CONTROL Bride? Should I NOT Consider a Cruise Wedding?
If you are a bride that wants to be in control and wants to do a lot of planning, I’m not saying you shouldn’t consider a cruise wedding, but I want you to be aware that you won’t have a lot to control regarding the actual wedding in this scenario. Again, the package is pretty laid out. You make a few choices, and that’s really it–they do not give you much flexibility. And to be clear….this is mostly because they have learned, logistically, that they can’t. Because the cruises have such tight turnarounds, they simply HAVE to have everything function mostly routine to ensure that devastating and disappointing mistakes don’t happen. The coordinators are always out at sea, here very briefly to turn the ship around and head back out again. It’s such a tightly woven tapestry…one wiggly thread seems to start all kinds of things unraveling. SO…package is what it is…You make your choices, you confirm everything with Disney Fairy Tale Weddings. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. And then you pack, and head to the ship. You’ll meet with your coordinator on Embarkation day and review and finalize everything then. Again, not much room for flexibility. On the upside, very little flexibility also means very little room for error.
However there are a lot of OTHER areas you can go completely nuts on planning, if you want to!
For example, you can plan gift bags for your guests to be placed in their staterooms before they arrive. You can plan (and make or buy) magnets for their stateroom doors. You can plan a couple of group activities on non-wedding days to bring everyone together (or smaller subsets of the larger group) to do something together.
You can choose to hire outside photography and videography and coordinate with them and book their cruises.
You can plan a custom designed photo scavenger hunt for your group, created for you by your favorite Disney Blogger, Disney Castle Dreaming Brooke 😉 Click here to learn more!
In other words, while you will have to accept that you will not be able to plan every minute detail of your wedding, you will have lots of other things you can plan, so hopefully you’ll be satisfied. However, if you know yourself well enough to know you WON’T be, I would suggest you plan a different kind of wedding, and consider a cruise as a honeymoon instead.
What’s Actually Included in the $3,000 Disney Cruise Line Wedding Package?
That’s the important question, right? If you’ve read this far, you’re probably fairly serious about a Disney Cruise Line wedding, and feel that $3,000 is reasonable. I agree with you. I think it’s actually one of Disney’s most reasonable packages.
The $3,000 package is based on 8 guests, plus the couple; 10 people total, Ceremony is on the ship. Each additional guest, age 3 or older is $20 per person. If you want to get married on Castaway Cay, the package price increases to $4,000, but everything else stays the same–8 guests plus the couple, each additional guest, age 3 or older is $20 per person.*
Of course the package price does not include the cost of your cruise reservation, and a cruise reservation is required in order to book your Disney Cruise Wedding; however, based on the cost of other all inclusive wedding packages I’ve reviewed, I think this one is pretty terrific. A note about your cruise line reservation: you can book an inside stateroom, lower level to get the cruise booked and book your wedding and then upgrade to a better stateroom later if budget (or honeymoon registry!!!) allows….
Here’s what you get:
- On site ceremony coordinator to coordinate your ceremony day events
- Choice of personal fresh floral for the couple. Basically, a bouquet and a boutonniere, two bouquets or two boutonnieres. (You can add floral for your wedding party, but that would be an additional cost, not part of the $3,000).
- Solo musician (pianist) for the ceremony and cake and champagne celebration that follows the ceremony.
- Officiant to perform the ceremony. On ship, a Senior Officer. On Castaway Cay, a Bahamian government official.
- Cake and champagne celebration on board the ship which includes a wedding cake, one bottle of champagne and one bottle of sparkling cider (non alcoholic) for the toast, served by host or hostess.
- Dinner for the couple at Palo on night of the ceremony. (Note: you can usually switch this to another night if you prefer to have dinner with your guests the night of your wedding.)
- Disney Cruise Line Commemorative Ceremony Certificate.
- Steaming for the couple’s ceremony attire.
- The ceremony couple also receives a $100 onboard stateroom credit that may be used to merchandise, spa treatments, other onboard activities and port adventures.
For Castaway Cay weddings, all the elements above are included, plus the following:
- Round trip transportation between the ship and the ceremony location for the couple and their guests.
- Soloist on Castaway Cay is a keyboardist, rather than a pianist.
- Cake and champagne celebration is back on board the ship. They sometimes will schedule this an hour after the ceremony to give you time for pictures on Castaway Cay with your photographers before the cake and champagne celebration; you would coordinate that with your onboard coordinator.
The fine print: the legalities of the wedding license must be taken care of before your Disney ship leaves the home port. You will be legally married on Embarkation Day during your scheduled meet and greet with your onboard ceremony coordinator before the ship leaves port. You, the couple, are responsible for obtaining and bringing the appropriate marriage license application to the meet and greet. You may also take care of the civil ceremony at home prior to sailing. If you are already legally married prior to sailing, the civil ceremony will be omitted from the meet and greet.
How do I Book?
I recommend you plan as far ahead as you possibly can. Disney usually releases cruise dates about one year out. Talk to your family, unless this will just be the two of you, and get a feel for when and where everyone might want to go. Will a seven day cruise work for everyone? This will give you the most flexibility for getting what you want, especially if you want a Castaway Cay wedding, but those are the more expensive cruises. Will a seven day cruise on an older ship work?
These are things a great authorized Disney travel agent can help you with (like me!) It doesn’t cost anything to work with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner–Disney pays us. And I can help a lot. I have access to the Disney system and can search for stateroom availability and any specials that Disney may be running–some of which may not be published or shared with travel retailers. I can also continue to watch for changes, price reductions, additional discounts, even after you book!
Working with an agent is not a necessity of course, but it can really help make things easier on all of you–especially when you are trying to coordinate a bunch of different people — having one person they can call or email to take care of everything can be a big help. And I can send you monthly spreadsheets of where we are with reservations, who is what stateroom, etc.
I have a lot of other ways I can help, too, but we can talk about that when you contact me!
Once your cruise is booked, you contact Disney (or your travel agent can do that for you too, if you are working with one, to get the ball rolling) at 1-321-939-4610 to let them know that the cruise is booked and that you want to book a Disney Cruise Line wedding. They will need your Disney Cruise Line confirmation number, and they will request your deposit payment, and boom, you will be booked.
Shortly after that, you will receive your planning packet, and you will be given a date by which to turn it in with your choices made. In my next post, I’ll talk about what options Disney gives you to choose from.
I hope you found this information helpful. If you have questions I didn’t answer, please drop a comment below, or email brooke@disneycastledreaming.com.
If you’re ready to check into available Disney Cruise Line cruises and dates, I’d love to help you find the best options Disney has available for you. Please contact me today at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com.
Happy dreaming!
Brooke
*Prices are based on Disney Fairy Tale Weddings pricing as of December 2018, and are subject to change without notice. While I check pretty frequently and will do my best to update when I am made aware of changes; Disney sometimes will change policies and pricing without updating their official materials.