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On the question about whether you can get married while travelling, Mark Mayo posted a comment that any marriage has to be on dry land or close to it.

But I'm sure all of us have heard of ships' captains marrying couples at sea.

From the movie Casablanca:

Say, why don't we get married in Marseilles?
...
Well, let's see. What about the engineer? Why can't he marry us on the train?
...
Well, why not? The captain on a ship can. It doesn't seem fair that...

So is this fiction after all? If not how does it fit with Mark's comment? What special rules and such should we know?

If I'm travelling at sea with a significant other and wish to tie the knot, can we do so with any captain on any ship on any sea? Must it be international waters?

Nean Der Thal
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hippietrail
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2 Answers2

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Generally No.

Again this depends completely on the marriage laws of your home country and possibly also the ship's home country. But according to this (German) article, most countries do not allow this. It even mentions a number of regulations (by the US Navy, the state of New York, and the British merchant navy) that explicitly disallow it. It also mentions some Swedish captains explicitly authorized to perform weddings on a cruise ship. This article claims that there are a number of companies that offer weddings at sea, but performed by an authorized official, not the captain. And I suspect that it would in fact have to be not in international waters, but the waters of the official's country.

There's also the concept of an "emergency wedding" - many countries (For example Spain, according to this forum article) allow weddings to be performed with relaxed regulations in situations when one or both of the prospective spouses' lives is in danger. This has then to be officially approved afterwards. Obviously, this is not something you can plan for.

Michael Borgwardt
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6

Most cruise ships have chapels for religious services, and for weddings.

As to the details, look them up, or confirm them with the cruise line beforehand. In some instances, the ships captains can perform the functions of a justice of the peace. In other case, you need a clergyman/woman. And location of the ship could make a difference, as could the nationalit(ies) of the bride and groom.

The answer appears to be "some captains on some ships for some people." But not "any captain on any ship" for anyone.

Tom Au
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