Departure port
Cruise weddings from Miami
The busiest cruise port in the world, with more ships, more sailings and more wedding-experienced vendors than anywhere else in the country.
The Cruise Bride coordinates the sailing, the cabins and the guest travel. The cruise line runs its own wedding program where one is offered.
Tell us about your celebration
A cruise wedding specialist replies personally, usually within one business day.
- Terminal
- PortMiami
- Nearest airport
- MIA
- Sails to
- Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean
- Season
- Year round, busiest December through April
PortMiami in Miami, Florida is one of the departure points we plan cruise weddings from most often. The busiest cruise port in the world, with more ships, more sailings and more wedding-experienced vendors than anywhere else in the country.
Sailings from here reach Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean and Southern Caribbean, and the practical season is year round, busiest december through april. That shapes the date far more than most couples expect — the itinerary you want may only exist for part of the year, and the wedding date follows the sailing rather than the other way round.
For guests, Miami International is about fifteen minutes from the terminals; Fort Lauderdale is a viable alternative and often cheaper. Because volume is so high, dockside slots exist on most days of the week rather than only on weekends.
A dockside ceremony here takes place under Florida marriage law if you want it to be legally binding, with that state's licence, waiting period and officiant rules. Requirements change, so we put the current ones in writing for your date before anyone books a flight.
Choose the port your guests can drive to, and half the objections to your wedding disappear before anyone answers the invitation.
Arriving
Getting to PortMiami without drama
Miami International is about fifteen minutes from the terminals; Fort Lauderdale is a viable alternative and often cheaper. We plan every flying guest into the city the day before, without exception — the terminal closes its gangway on a fixed clock and it does not wait for a delayed connection.
Parking, drop-off and porter arrangements differ by terminal here, and on a busy morning the difference between a smooth arrival and two hours in a queue is knowing which entrance to use. We send that detail to every guest, along with a boarding window that staggers your group so nobody stands in line as a party of thirty.
Sailings from Miami run year round, busiest december through april, which is worth knowing when you are choosing between a date that suits your family and a date that suits the fares.
Embarkation day
The morning runs to the port's clock, not yours
Boarding windows are staggered, the gangway closes on a fixed time, and a dockside ceremony has to sit inside that window with room to spare.
We stagger your group's arrival, arrange one transfer from the pre-cruise hotel, and hand every guest a printed time rather than a hope.
The day itself
Ceremonies that work from Miami
Because the ship is alongside for a fixed window on embarkation day, a dockside ceremony here runs to the port's clock rather than yours. In practice that means an early arrival, a ceremony in the late morning or early afternoon, and non-sailing guests ashore before the all-aboard call.
Ships from Miami sail to Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, Southern Caribbean, so if you would rather marry ashore in a port of call, the itinerary decides your options as much as the cruise line does.
We shortlist by ceremony type first and itinerary second — it is far easier to find a sailing that reaches the right place on the right day than to bend a ceremony around a sailing you already fell in love with.
The numbers couples ask for first
- $0.0k–$0k
- Typical cruise-line ceremony package, before the reception
- $000–$000
- Per guest, per night, inside cabin at double occupancy
- 00–00 mo
- Lead time we ask for when a group is coming with you
- $0
- What our planning costs you — the cruise lines pay us
Planning timeline
A realistic timeline for a wedding sailing from Miami
Eighteen to twelve months out, the only decisions that matter are the ceremony type and the sailing. Everything else — florals, attire, the reception menu — is downstream of those two, and locking them early is what keeps the rest calm.
Twelve to eight months out we open the group block and take the first deposits. This is the step couples skip and later regret: once a popular sailing crosses about eighty per cent sold, keeping twenty guests on the same deck stops being possible at any price.
Eight to four months out, the cruise line's wedding department confirms the ceremony slot, the venue on the ship and the package inclusions. In parallel we chase every guest for a passport that is valid at least six months past the return date.
Inside ninety days, final payment falls due, the guest list stops changing, and we publish the single page that tells each guest their flight window, hotel night, boarding time and what to wear. From that point your job is the dress and the vows.
What your guests spend
The number that decides who comes to a Miami departure
Attendance is set by the total a guest has to find, not by the fare you quote them. A seven-night inside cabin at $899 per person becomes closer to $1,400 once port fees, gratuities, a pre-cruise hotel night and travel to the terminal are counted, and that is the figure a cousin with two children is actually weighing.
We give every guest that honest total in writing before they book, along with a deposit schedule that spreads it over months rather than asking for it in one payment. Couples who do this see materially higher attendance than couples who send a fare and hope.
Where the group block earns amenity credit, we normally put it toward the things guests notice: a drinks package for the reception, or covering the gratuities on the wedding-night dinner. It is worth more as hospitality than as a discount split forty ways.
Questions couples ask
Answers before you commit to anything
Always, and we will not plan it any other way. A single delayed flight is the difference between attending the wedding and watching the ship leave. Miami International is about fifteen minutes from the terminals; Fort Lauderdale is a viable alternative and often cheaper.
Usually yes, for a dockside ceremony, subject to the cruise line's visitor policy, a per-person fee and an advance list of names with identification. Numbers are capped and the deadline is firm.
Year round, busiest December through April. We will show you how fares, weather risk and guest availability move across that window before you fix a date.
Keep reading
Where ships from Miami sail
Destinations on this port's regular itineraries.
Couples who sail from Miami
Planning pages for the states this port serves.
- FloridaFive major ports and no flights required — Florida couples have more sailing choice than anyone in the country.
- IllinoisNo nearby port, but O'Hare and Midway make almost every embarkation city a direct flight.
- GeorgiaJacksonville and Charleston are both within four hours of Atlanta's outer suburbs.
- MichiganDetroit has direct flights to every Florida embarkation city.
- IndianaIndianapolis has direct Florida service; most couples fly in the day before.
- WisconsinMilwaukee and Chicago airports both serve every Florida port directly.
- MinnesotaMinneapolis has direct service to Florida and Seattle year round.
- OklahomaGalveston is a long day's drive and the usual choice for a group.