If› you have a client who’s dreaming of a destination wedding, yet looking for something a little different, you might want to recommend a cruise wedding. Many couples find celebrating their nuptials while on a cruise to be the ultimate romantic experience.

Chris Caulfield married his wife onboard a cruise ship docked on Manhattan’s West Side 17 years ago, and many of their 70 guests are still talking about it, he says. “My wife and I wanted a smaller affair, and we loved going on cruises for our own vacations, so it was a way to combine the two,” says Caulfield, who 13 years later launched a career as a cruise-selling travel agent.

Convenience was another selling point. “It was one-stop shopping. The cruise line took care of everything, so the planning was easy,” recalls Caulfield, whose CruiseOne agency is in Crotonon-Hudson, NY.

The shipboard wedding, at the start of a seven-day cruise to Bermuda, also saved the couple money compared to the costs of a traditional wedding reception in New York. “Part of our rationale was that we wanted to take a nice honeymoon and use the money for other things instead of just on a one-day party.”

In the years since Caulfield and his bride enjoyed their shipboard wedding and honeymoon cruise, cruise lines have vastly expanded their wedding offerings. Today, most major lines offer wedding programs, and cruise weddings are an option for both traditional and same sex couples.

“Cruise weddings are the perfect combination – simple, customizable and affordable,” says Brandon Briggs, director of onboard revenue for Royal Caribbean International. “We’re seeing a significant number of couples choosing to tie the knot at sea. Wedding parties are about 30 or so guests, on average.”

For shipboard weddings, couples usually have a choice of venues, often a private lounge, boardroom, library or theater; some vessels have their own wedding chapels. For weddings celebrated ashore, settings are as varied and enticing as a private Bahamian island, a tropical garden venue, a Greek villa or even an Alaskan glacier. Except for weddings at sea, ceremonies are usually performed by a local nondenominational officiant.

For embarkation day weddings, cruise lines will provide priority check-in and boarding for the wedding couple and guests. Ceremonies usually take place around noon.

Most cruise lines offer wedding packages for a flat price, with a full menu of available add-ons. Wedding packages do not include the cruise itself.

While cruise wedding packages are not commissionable, agents earn a commission on the cruise fare, so when guests accompany the couple, cruise commissions multiple accordingly. Agents also can enhance earnings by pre-booking commissionable shore excursions for couples and guests.

Wedding packages vary considerably, but most include as standard features something along these lines: services of a nondenominational wedding officiant (or ship’s captain for weddings at sea); bouquet and boutonniere for the couple; simple décor for the wedding venue (such as an aisle runner and silk or fresh flowers on pedestals); wedding cake for two; bottle of sparkling wine or champagne; recorded wedding music; one-hour photographer services (photos are usually extra), and the services of an onboard wedding coordinator (or in the case of Disney Cruise Line a “fairy tale weddings services manager”).

Beyond the basics, there are optional add-ons aplenty, such as additional floral, decor and cake choices; champagne toasts; live wedding music (Cunard offers a pianist, a harpist or even a string quartet for $375 an hour); wedding favors for guests; keepsake champagne flutes; videographer services; hair and make-up, and even breakfast in bed for the wedding couple.

Reception packages run the gamut, from open bar and hors d’oeuvres to elegant sit-down meals to champagne afternoon tea.

“A common misconception is that couples have little to no options to make a cruise wedding their own. The truth is there are several ways a couple can personalize their special day, including creating playlists for the occasion and bringing their own décor,” says Briggs of Royal Caribbean.

Several cruise lines also offer online honeymoon gift registries that make it easy for couples to use online tools to invite family and friends to contribute to cruise add-ons, destination wedding components and upgrades.

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THINGS TO CONSIDER Travel agent Megan Amelio, owner of Romance & Leisure Travel in Chicago, began planning her first cruise wedding earlier this year at the request of a client. “They went on a cruise before and absolutely loved it. They liked the idea of having all their friends and family with them, like one big party,” says Amelio, who has been selling travel for three and a half years.

The couple and 75 guests plan to sail aboard Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas on a three-day cruise out of Port Canaveral in May 2018. Amelio’s clients will celebrate symbolic nuptials ashore in Nassau. They opted to arrange their ceremony through an in-destination wedding planner who was recommended to Amelio by another travel agent. The couple will use their GAP points (Royal’s Group Amenities Plus program) to cover the costs of a cocktail hour wedding reception on the ship.

Amelio found that there is a learning curve to booking a cruise wedding. Based on her experience, she suggests that cruise weddings are best suited to couples who don’t have detailed requirements for things like floral arrangements, since options are fewer than in a traditional wedding venue. Couples even need to be flexible about when and where their marriage will take place, since ships are sometimes forced to alter their itineraries.

Amelio recommends that agents qualify clients who are considering a cruise wedding extra carefully. “If they’re looking for a unique experience and they’re laidback, it would be perfect. But if they’re Type A and everything needs to be specific, no. They really have to understand the some things will be left to chance and be okay with that.”

There is also a good deal of fine print involved with cruise weddings. For example, some cruise lines allow wedding couples to hire their own photographer, provided he or she also books a cabin, while others insist that couples use the cruise line’s photographer. Also, limits on the number of non-sailing guests permitted at port-of-embarkation weddings vary considerably by cruise line, and some ports do not allow any non-sailing guests onboard the ship.

Amelio’s advice to agents? “Compare the packages of your preferred cruise lines. Learn all about them so you can speak about those.”

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LEGALITIES Couples who want to tie the knot legally during their cruise wedding, rather than merely ceremonially, will need to obtain their own marriage licenses. Legal ceremonies must adhere to the laws of the port of call, some of which may be unusual by U.S. standards. Some locales require that certain vows be read, and some cruise lines add their own rules. (Cunard prohibits religious content in music and verses used in the ceremony.) Cruise line wedding planning departments will walk couples through the process.

For weddings performed at sea, the marriage license must be obtained from the nation where the ship is registered. For instance, couples marrying at sea aboard Celebrity Cruises will receive a Maltese license ($750 plus mailing fees).

This year same sex couples wishing to marry at sea learned that they will soon have more options, thanks to a ruling by Bermuda’s Supreme Court legalizing same sex marriages. The ruling means that captains of Bermuda-flagged vessels can now perform same sex marriages at sea. Not long after the ruling, three Carnival Corp. cruise brands – Princess, Cunard and P&O Cruises – announced that in 2018 they will begin performing legal same sex unions at sea.

Same sex couples that wish to marry legally while in port can only do so in nations where same sex unions are legal. In those countries where they are not, cruise lines usually will arrange symbolic same sex ceremonies.

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CRUISE LINE WEDDING OFFERINGS Following are selected highlights of cruise lines’ wedding packages and programs.

J Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival offers shipboard weddings on embarkation day (up to 50 non-wedding guests allowed) as well as destination weddings in select ports of call – in beach and garden settings, at an island resort, or on the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay (beach or chapel). Carnival does not offer weddings at sea.

Prices for Carnival’s standard shipboard wedding package start at $2,495 and vary based on the port. Weddings ashore are priced from $2,645. In addition to the usual features, Carnival’s packages include a honeymoon dinner and chocolate-covered strawberries for the couple. Weddings ashore also include transportation to and from the location and a champagne toast.

Carnival also offers a free online gift registry that includes a personal website, social media share tools and announcement cards.

J Celebrity Cruises Celebrity offers legal weddings at sea on all its vessels except the Celebrity Xpedition. Weddings are officiated by the ship’s captain and performed under the Maltese flag.

Celebrity’s Nautical Nuptials at Sea Package, priced at $2,995, throws in a few special features – live ceremony music, special nautical vows, rose petals on the bed at turndown, logo bathrobes, chocolate-covered strawberries and fresh flowers in the stateroom.

Celebrity accommodates up to 200 guests for shipboard weddings, including as many as 150 non-sailing guests. Shipboard weddings on embarkation day in Miami and Port Everglades may be celebrated on deck. Celebrity also offers shoreside wedding packages in more than 200 destinations, as well as reception-only packages.

For clients who are on the fence about a cruise wedding, consider Celebrity’s Test the Waters package ($275 per couple). Couples spend 90 minutes onboard a Celebrity ship, including a 30-minute tour of wedding and reception locations, a 30-minute consultation with a wedding coordinator, and a 30-minute buffet lunch.

J Crystal Cruises Crystal confines its wedding packages to vow renewal services on the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony. A basic package, priced at $500, includes most of the usual features. An upgraded packaged, priced at $750, adds in live music, a nine-rose bouquet and matching boutonniere and a 20% spa discount voucher and waives the couple’s reservations fee for dinner in a specialty restaurant.

J Cunard Cunard offers legal weddings at sea with civil services performed by the ship’s captain under Bermudian law. Packages are priced at $2,800 on the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria and $3,400 on the Queen Mary 2. Weddings are available on most, but not all, sailings. Cunard only performs one wedding daily and weddings only take place on sea days. Cunard’s venues accommodate up to 50 guests.

Cunard adds a few special touches to its wedding packages, including: wedding invitations and thank you cards for guests, a bellman escort for the bride, pressing service for bridal outfits, license fees, and priority check-in, embarkation and disembarkation for the bridal couple.

J Disney Cruise Line Couples may marry onboard their choice of four Disney ships, indoors or on deck. The line also offers weddings on Castaway Cay in the Bahamas.

Disney’s shipboard wedding package starts at $3,000 for the couple and up to eight guests (additional guests are $20 per person), and at $4,000 on Castaway Cay. The price covers a few extra amenities, including: a keepsake cake topper, live piano or keyboard music at the ceremony and celebration, dinner for the couple at the adults-only restaurant Palo, a $100 shipboard credit for the couple, and steaming for the bride and groom’s wedding attire. (An event photographer and photography packages cost extra.)

Disney notes that Mickey and Minnie are not available to serve as best man or maid of honor during the wedding ceremony. However couples may be able to hire Disney characters to appear at the celebration afterwards.

J Holland America Line Holland America offers three wedding options: 1) symbolic weddings at sea, performed by a ship’s officer; 2) Anchors Away Harborside packages, for shipboard weddings in port, and 3) weddings ashore. (Holland America’s ship captains are not authorized to perform legal wedding ceremonies.)

Prices start at $1,399 for the At Sea Symbolic wedding package, which does not include the usual bouquet and boutonniere but does include one 8X10 photo, a wedding album (no photos), champagne toast for two and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Holland America’s Anchors Away Harborside package for shipboard weddings in port starts at $2,000. If clients want to invite more than eight non-sailing guests, a reception must also be booked.

Holland America’s weddings ashore program gives couples the option of marrying in beach, garden or glacier locations, and includes similar features as shipboard weddings in port, plus transportation for the couple. Prices range from $2,450 to $3,750 for most locations, with higher pricing for a glacier location in Juneau ($4,250) and in Sydney, Australia ($6,250).

J MSC Cruises Couples can legally wed onboard the MSC Divina and the new MSC Seaside (entering service in late December) while the ships are in port on Caribbean sailings. A new MSC program offers the option of marrying ashore in the Caribbean as well. For shipboard weddings, couples have a choice of indoor and outdoor venues. MSC permits up to 150 non-sailing guests on shipboard weddings in port.

MSC’s wedding packages start at $1,600 for a shipboard wedding and $2,200 for a shoreside wedding.

MSC also offers symbolic weddings at sea and provides a choice of silver, gold and platinum packages. Ceremonies at sea are attended by the ship’s officers and include a ceremonial certificate and booklet signed by the captain, among other features.

J Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line offers legal weddings at sea on the Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Epic. The line’s Wedding at Sea package is priced at $2,995, which covers a few extra amenities, including champagne toast, chocolate-covered strawberries, canapés delivered to stateroom, one 8x10 portrait, bistro dinner for two, three bottles of wine (sparkling, house wine, Prosecco) and priority tendering.

A Harborside package, also $2,995 and including similar features, provides for shipboard marriages in selected ports of call in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Up to 10 non-sailing guests may attend for no additional charge.

Norwegian’s Destination package, for couples wishing to marry ashore, is available in more than a dozen ports of call, from Santorini, Greece, to Cozumel and Kauai. Prices vary by port. (Photography is not included in some locations.)

Norwegian Cruise Line also has a honeymoon registry. A modest fee covers a personal wedding website, online photo album, wedding blog, printable announcements, use of an email announcement wizard and a social media share tool.

J Paul Gauguin Cruises For clients drawn to the romance of the South Pacific, Paul Gauguin Cruises has introduced a choice of two ceremonial (nonlegal) wedding packages for passengers on the MS Paul Gauguin.

When couples purchase the Bora Bora Wedding Ceremony ($950) the bride will be transported by traditional outrigger canoe to the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa where the couple will receive a Tahitian blessing by a local priest in an over-water chapel. The package also includes flower leis for the bride and groom, a certificate with the couple’s Polynesian name, a two-course lunch at the resort, use of resort facilities and transfers.

A Motu Wedding Ceremony package ($315) includes a Polynesian blessing ceremony on the private French Polynesian island of Motu Mahana, bottle of champagne, reception cake, box of chocolates, crowns of flowers, one floral arrangement, an 8X10 photo and an invitation to dine with the captain or hotel director.

J Princess Cruises Princess Cruises’ Tie the Knot program provides for shipboard weddings at sea or in port as well as destination weddings ashore. Couples can also create a personalized gift registry with the line’s free Honeymoon Wishes Registry.

The line’s Tie the Knot at Sea package ($2,500 plus $498 license fees) features several additional amenities, including four 8X10 wedding photos, two keepsake champagne flutes, deluxe breakfast for two, dinner for two at a specialty restaurant, bottle of wine, four chocolate-covered strawberries and rose petals on the bed at turndown.

For shipboard weddings on day of embarkation, Princess offers its Harborside packages, ranging in price from $2,000 to $3,000, depending on location. Princess allows up to 10 non-sailing guests at no extra charge. Additional non-sailing guests are permitted only if the couple purchases a wedding reception.

For couples who want to marry ashore, Princess will arrange ceremonies in beach, garden, gazebo or even glacier locations; prices range from $3,000 to $5,000.

J Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean offers a choice of four wedding packages. The line’s Vows at Sea Package is priced at $3,850 for up to 50 guests. An Embark on Romance package includes an embarkation day ceremony for up to 50 guests and is priced at $5,600.

For couples that want a smaller ceremony, Royal Caribbean offers its Intimately Yours package, priced at $1,950 for up to 10 guests. In addition to the usual features, all three packages include dinner for two at a specialty restaurant, a mimosas breakfast in bed, special stateroom décor and chocolate-covered strawberries for the couple.

Royal Caribbean’s shoreside weddings package, called Destination I Do, is priced at $4,650 for up to 50 guests and includes the following: bridal bouquet and matching boutonniere, couple’s wedding cake, bottle of sparkling wine, keepsake wedding certificate and couple’s transportation.