Getting Married at Castaway Cay - Good or Bad idea?

CampbellzSoup · Aug 31, 2016

SERIOULSY contemplating this as I've been going through the motions wondering what the heck I should do...

Would you guys do it?

PrincessShmoo · Aug 31, 2016

CampbellzSoup said:
SERIOULSY contemplating this as I've been going through the motions wondering what the heck I should do...

Would you guys do it?

I wouldn't. It's just not worth the cost to me. In reality, you get married at Port Canaveral before you board the ship, and the ceremony on the island (or onboard) is just for show, not the actual marriage ceremony.

I'd rather be married by an official (minister, friend, whatever, someone who is part of my life) at home.

You also take the chance that you won't be able to port at Castaway Cay.

chik1987 · Aug 31, 2016

Castaway Cay? No. But we are getting married on board in October 2017. The main reason we decided not to do the island is it is sooo far from private (think having people in speedos in the background of your wedding ceremony pictures lol). It also costs more and if for some reason you don't get to dock at cc you have your ceremony on the ship and don't get that extra $ back. Also you waste almost all of your cc day between going out for the ceremony, having the ceremony, then going back to the ship for cake and the reception stuff. I would rather have the beach day myself.

Maistre Gracey · Aug 31, 2016

Any hidden issues getting married out of the country? I really don't know the answer to that.
Foreign marriage license?

Passports did come to mind if names are changed, but I honestly don't know how ICE would be aware.

MG

PrincessShmoo · Aug 31, 2016

Maistre Gracey said:
Any hidden issues getting married out of the country? I really don't know the answer to that.
Foreign marriage license?

Passports did come to mind if names are changed, but I honestly don't know how ICE would be aware.

MG

You don't actually get married there. As I stated there is a marriage ceremony before boarding the ship, in Port Canaveral. So, you're really getting married in Florida. The ceremony on CC is just for show.

Maistre Gracey · Aug 31, 2016

PrincessShmoo said:
You don't actually get married there. As I stated there is a marriage ceremony before boarding the ship, in Port Canaveral. So, you're really getting married in Florida. The ceremony on CC is just for show.

Apparently we were typing at the same time.

That said, if names are changed what does that mean for the validity of the passport and any other ICE paperwork?
If this is a common practice I assume they have all this figured out.

MG

PrincessShmoo · Aug 31, 2016

Maistre Gracey said:
Apparently we were typing at the same time.

That said, if names are changed what does that mean for the validity of the passport and any other ICE paperwork?
If this is a common practice I assume they have all this figured out.

MG

No. Often people get married just before cruising. As long as the reservation and name on the passport match, that's all that counts. Not everyone changes their names due to marriage. And often new brides travel with a passport/reservation in the maiden name.

CampbellzSoup · Aug 31, 2016

@PrincessShmoo do they do anything special for the wedding? I never thought just getting married beforehand, and then celebrating on board with friends/familys and taking photos that way as a cost saving feature!

PrincessShmoo · Aug 31, 2016

CampbellzSoup said:
@PrincessShmoo do they do anything special for the wedding? I never thought just getting married beforehand, and then celebrating on board with friends/familys and taking photos that way as a cost saving feature!

I'd hope they do special things. According to the Disney Cruise Line Wedding info the packages start at $3000.

https://www.disneyweddings.com/cruise/

Terapin · Aug 31, 2016

We are getting married on board a cruise in August. I think it's pretty great! The ceremony isn't a big or long one, and there are fairly limited options around cake and flowers etc. I really like the simplicity. It's way cheaper than a traditional wedding, even with the cruise fare and airfare. They only charge 3000 more than the cruise. We plan to do ours in the morning, have a family lunch together, then have an adults dinner at Palo. This is a second wedding for both of us so we don't need the pomp and circumstance of a church wedding and a traditional venue.

You can only get married on sea days, or at CAC. And yes, we will do our legal ceremony prior in our home town.

truck1 · Aug 31, 2016

CampbellzSoup said:
@PrincessShmoo do they do anything special for the wedding? I never thought just getting married beforehand, and then celebrating on board with friends/familys and taking photos that way as a cost saving feature!

Depends. We were married on the Magic in 2010. One of the perks in the package is a comp dinner at Palos, the night of the ceremony. One of the things they did was to spread rose petals around the table for us. Most of the other crew, like the wait staff, cabin steward, a something special also. We bought the wedding picture package which is separate from the reg pictures,between that package and our friends pictures we had close to 1000 pictures.

truck1 · Aug 31, 2016

CampbellzSoup said:
SERIOULSY contemplating this as I've been going through the motions wondering what the heck I should do...

Would you guys do it?

I would get married on the ship again in a heart beat. We would not do a CC wedding for a couple of reasons.
First, theres only 8 hours or so to enjoy the island. The ceremony uses the majority of that time.
Second its weather dependent. If the weather is bad on the island, youll end up on the ship anyway. That's something you cant preplan for to an extent.

Birdie dog · Aug 31, 2016

I'm going to a wedding on CC in October. After the cruise there will be a second reception during Illuminations at Epcot. I'm thinking it will be amazing and I'm lucky to be invited.

CesD · Aug 31, 2016

$3k for a ceremony that's about an hour (if that?) yikes.
I had a friend get married on CC years ago, it looked nice in pictures.
however, when we were there last october, the ceremony spot wasnt secluded at all- yes, the crowds can see you and you can see them. The price of that ceremony is a whole other honeymoon and it is not even your "real" marriage ceremony since you get married before sailing.

PrincessNP · Aug 31, 2016

What do you get for the $3000?

truck1 · Aug 31, 2016

PrincessNP said:
What do you get for the $3000?

Cake, flowers, night at Palo, ship officer officiant,wedding planner, comp steaming of dress and suit or tux, cake topper, cake knife, bottle of cuvee. That's what I remember off hand.

lorimay · Aug 31, 2016

They also give concierge privileges to you for the duration of the cruise.

bumbershoot · Sep 1, 2016

Maistre Gracey said:
Passports did come to mind if names are changed, but I honestly don't know how ICE would be aware.

Names don't just magically change once you're married. There's a choice (on both peoples' parts) to change or not change, and if one or both decide to change then there's a process.

The mistake many people make is that they think it just happens, so they book their honeymoon travel in their married name, when a honeymoon directly after the wedding will NOT have any sort of ID in your new name. Honeymoons need to be booked under original names if you're taking them shortly after the wedding. Govt needs time to change SS card, driver's license, and passport!

So if CS and his partner choose to get married overseas and want to change a name or two, they'll book everything in their original names, and do the legal name change after they get home.

Maistre Gracey · Sep 1, 2016

bumbershoot said:
Names don't just magically change once you're married. There's a choice (on both peoples' parts) to change or not change, and if one or both decide to change then there's a process.

The mistake many people make is that they think it just happens, so they book their honeymoon travel in their married name, when a honeymoon directly after the wedding will NOT have any sort of ID in your new name. Honeymoons need to be booked under original names if you're taking them shortly after the wedding. Govt needs time to change SS card, driver's license, and passport!

So if CS and his partner choose to get married overseas and want to change a name or two, they'll book everything in their original names, and do the legal name change after they get home.

Okay... I'll roll with that.

That said, I got married in NY in 1995.
I remember something we had to fill out as part of the marriage license/application process. It said either of of us could keep our names, take each other's names, or combine them. It was our choice. The caveat was we had to declare what we we going to choose before the license was issued, so therefor on day 1 the names were appropriately recorded.

Granted, that was New York, and it was nearly 22 years ago. Anything and everything may have changed.

MG

Terapin · Sep 1, 2016

Considering the prices of weddings here at home, I think the money is actually reasonable in comparison. A regular wedding reception is only a few hours long and typically costs 20k or more. Now they aren't the same, but the value of the ship wedding is very good. I don't look at the price per hour, but the price for the event.

You also get a $100 stateroom credit, and coordination of hair appointments, they can arrange a group Palo dinner, a cake and champagne reception, music, and access to a photographer. You can pay for extras like stateroom gifts, extra flowers, an appearance from Mickey and Minnie, and some other things.

Getting Married at Castaway Cay - Good or Bad idea?

Son. Husband. Father.

DIS veteran

Mouseketeer

DIS Veteran

DIS veteran

DIS Veteran

DIS veteran

Son. Husband. Father.

DIS veteran

DIS Veteran

Growing older but not up.

Growing older but not up.

DIS Veteran

Mouseketeer

Mouseketeer

Growing older but not up.

Strolling along...

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

Share this page

GET UP TO A $1000 SHIPBOARD CREDIT AND AN EXCLUSIVE GIFT!