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Wedding Cruises
Nothing else can quite compare with the romantic notion of getting married at sea – but until recently such thoughts had to remain little more than a pipedream.
Happily, that all changed last year when P&O Cruises began offering the chance for couples to hold their weddings on board ship.
In the first full year to April 2007, more than 200 weddings will have been performed by the line’s captains and enquiries are running at around 20 a month.
The popularity has led P&O Cruises to extend the Weddings at Sea option to a fourth ship, Oriana, this year.
Princess Cruises is the only other cruise company to offer the marriage service at sea. The ‘Tie the Knot at Sea’ option was extended across the US line’s fleet of ships last year and the number of British couples getting spliced rose to 350.
So-called nautical nuptials have caught the imagination of many couples as more plan their weddings overseas, a 64% increase in eight years.
Cruising couples can expect to pay £675 plus £225 from April 2007 for a wedding on a P&O Cruises ship. With the average cruise price for a couple being £3,500, the total cost falls well below the £15,000 average spent on a UK wedding and £4,000-£5,000 for an overseas ceremony/honeymoon.
A variety of optional extras are available for couples getting spliced on board ship. These include flowers, photography/video and a variety of spa treatments. A Champagne breakfast in bed for the bride and groom is the favourite single item followed by hair and make-up for the bride and bride’s mother.
Weddings groups of between 20 and 60 people are not unusual as couples look to really push the boat out to mark their marriage.
The most popular itineraries are one-week cruises to northern France and Spain from Southampton, particularly for larger groups, followed closely by the Mediterranean and Caribbean.
And romance doesn’t end after the wedding. Both P&O Cruises and Princess offer couples the chance to renew their vows on board. More than 300 of these ceremonies were carried out on board P&O Cruises ships last year alone.
