The Knot lists zero Long Island boat venues, and half of WeddingWire's six are not vessels
The Knot's cruise and yacht filter for Long Island returns zero results. Its Port Jefferson cruise filter returns one, and that one is a hotel ballroom. WeddingWire's page headlined as the ten best boat wedding venues in Long Island returns six.
Of those six, Peconic Bay Yacht Club in Southold is a building on land and Dox in Island Park is a waterfront restaurant. Caliber Yacht Charters is a broker whose own wedding page names only New York and New Jersey home ports, with no Long Island dock. That leaves three actual boats. Wedding Spot's Long Island page returns one venue, Smooth Sailing Celebrations, and it sits in Weehawken, New Jersey.
Our research counted 38 named vessels boarding from Long Island docks, and we verified 14 closely enough to publish. Part of the problem is vocabulary: on Long Island the words yacht club usually mean a catering hall on land, and both marketplaces file those under boats.
Capacity is the first question, and only a handful of these boats clear 100 guests
Ask the capacity before anything else. Most Long Island boats are small, and the gap between one that holds your guest list and one that does not is the gap between a wedding and an elopement.
One thing applies to every number above. None comes from a Certificate of Inspection, because no Long Island operator publishes one. That document states the legal maximum a vessel may carry, and the ceiling cannot be exceeded. Ask for a photograph of the current certificate, and read the expiration date and permitted waters off it.
- The Moon Chaser publishes 200 people, first party, the largest published capacity of any vessel docked on Long Island.
- Captain Lou Fleet publishes 1 to 150 passengers each for Captain Lou VII, Starstream VIII and Atlantic Pearl, first party.
- The Lauren Kristy is called a 150 passenger boat in third party editorial only; the operator publishes no capacity we could read.
- The Freeport Gem publishes up to 130 guests, first party, on a two deck boat at 540 Guy Lombardo Avenue.
- Sapphire Princess publishes up to 127 guests, first party, corroborated at 1 to 127 on a second operator's own charter page.
- Bay Princess II states that it is licensed for 100 passengers, first party.
- Below that the fleet drops fast: 85 guests on the 122 foot Hamptons Event Yacht, 80 on the 85 foot hull and 75 USCG certified on Mon Tiki Largo, all first party.
A USCG licensed captain and a USCG inspected vessel are two different claims
A licensed captain is a credential that belongs to a person, not to a boat. It says the individual at the helm holds a Merchant Mariner Credential for that class of vessel. An inspected vessel is a separate matter: the boat holds a Certificate of Inspection stating a legal maximum passenger count and the waters it may work. Under 46 CFR 176.100 it may not sail without that certificate aboard, and the number on it is a hard ceiling.
Most operators here publish the captain claim only. The Freeport Gem says the boat is operated by a US Coast Guard licensed captain. Both Hamptons Event Yacht pages say all boats will be captained by a USCG licensed captain. Tiki Boat Long Island says its crew consists of certified USCG captains. None of those sentences says anything about a vessel's own inspection.
A smaller group points the claim at the hull. Mon Tiki Largo publishes USCG certified to 75 guests, first party, the clearest capacity disclosure we found. Bay Princess II calls itself Coast Guard approved and licensed for 100 passengers, first party. Captain Lou Fleet says its vessels are US Coast Guard certified, with no number. Luna, a 74 foot Sag Harbor schooner, is listed on Boatsetter as a US Coast Guard inspected passenger schooner carrying 41 guests, marketplace sourced, and that is the only such number published anywhere in this fleet.
Then there is The Moon Chaser. It publishes 200 passengers, the largest capacity on the island, and no USCG language of any kind: no inspection claim on the site, no captain's license claim either. A 200 passenger boat has to be inspected and has to hold a certificate. Ask, and ask in writing.
Two clusters nobody has written up: Freeport's Nautical Mile and the Captree Boat Basin
Freeport's Nautical Mile is the densest concentration of wedding capable vessels on Long Island, and no publisher has described it as one place. Within a few hundred yards you can board the Freeport Gem at 540 Guy Lombardo Avenue or the Sapphire Princess at 11 Richmond Street. The Captain Lou Fleet hulls sit at 31 Woodcleft Avenue at 1 to 150 passengers each, first party. One oddity: the Sapphire Princess is merchandised by two companies at two Freeport addresses, so establish which entity signs the contract.
The second cluster is the Captree Boat Basin inside Captree State Park, 3500 Ocean Parkway in Babylon. The Moon Chaser at 200 passengers and the Bay Princess II at 100 both sail from it, first party, and guest parking at the state park is free. They are very different products. The Moon Chaser runs a published 2026 calendar of dinner and concert cruises and never names weddings. The Bay Princess II is a fishing boat that lists weddings and invites your own food and drink aboard.
The honest objections, from couples who talked themselves out of it
Three worries come up over and over on the wedding forums, and almost no Long Island operator answers any of them in writing.
Seasickness is the one people raise first. Guests prone to it will spend your reception managing it, and some will decline rather than risk a bad afternoon. Not one operator here mentions seasickness on its site. Ask exactly where the boat goes, because a flat water bay cruise is a different proposition from the ocean side.
The second worry is that nobody can leave. A guest who feels ill, or whose babysitter calls, or who simply wants an early night, is aboard until the boat returns, and no operator here publishes an early departure policy. The written passenger count is filed ashore before the lines come off, and federal rules place the vessel's movement under the master at all times. The rule runs in reverse too: a late guest misses the wedding, and only Tiki Boat Long Island says so in writing.
The third is mobility. Boarding happens over a gangway whose angle changes with the tide, and upper decks are reached by stairs. There is no enforceable federal accessibility standard for passenger vessels, because the Access Board's guidelines were proposed in 2013 and never adopted. Exactly one Long Island vessel publishes accessibility detail, and that survey sits on a third party site. If a guest cannot manage twelve steps, verify the boat in person.
If two of those apply to your guest list, book a room with a water view and let the boat go. A boat is a bad venue for some weddings.
The captain can cancel your wedding, and three vessels publish a policy for it
Under 46 CFR 122.304 the movement of a passenger vessel is under the direction and control of the master at all times, and the master must operate with the safety of passengers and crew foremost in mind. Nothing lets a master weigh a deposit against that duty. The captain can cancel your wedding on the morning of it, and you have no recourse.
What you do have is a contract, and its weather clause decides whether a cancelled date produces a refund, a credit or nothing at all. Yacht Hampton publishes the clearest one, on both Hamptons Event Yacht pages: no sailing if a small craft advisory has been issued, or if it is raining, or if rain is imminent. The call comes about two hours before departure and a rain date is permitted. Layla, a Greenport sailing charter, publishes a similar two hour call for steady rain or high winds. Sail Selina NY publishes three bad weather ceremony modes, including a dockside canopy and an option below deck.
Both Yacht Hampton pages also state that there are no refunds except for inclement weather, and that a free date change requires 90 days' notice.
Your captain cannot legally marry you in New York
A ship's captain does not appear on the closed list of people authorized to solemnize a marriage under New York Domestic Relations Law section 11, and the State Department of Health says so in terms. The fix costs twenty five dollars: a one day officiant license under DRL section 11-D, issued by the clerk who issues your marriage license, carries authority anywhere in the state. We wrote the whole thing up at /guides/can-a-ship-captain-marry-you-in-new-york/.
How many guests can a Long Island wedding boat actually hold?
The largest published figure is 200, on The Moon Chaser at Captree State Park, first party. After that come three Captain Lou Fleet hulls at 1 to 150 passengers each, first party. The Freeport Gem publishes 130 and the Sapphire Princess 127. Below 100 the fleet is mostly elopement scale, and no operator publishes a Certificate of Inspection, so every one of those numbers is an operator claim until you see the certificate.
Is a USCG licensed captain the same thing as a USCG inspected boat?
No. A licensed captain is an individual's credential, held by the person at the helm. An inspected vessel holds a Certificate of Inspection that states a legal maximum passenger count and the waters the boat may work. Most Long Island operators publish only the captain claim, so ask specifically about the vessel and ask for the certificate.
Can the boat captain perform our ceremony?
Not in that capacity. New York Domestic Relations Law section 11 is a closed list and a ship's captain does not appear on it, and the State Department of Health states plainly that ship captains are not authorized to perform ceremonies in New York. A captain who is separately ordained, or who holds a twenty five dollar one day officiant license under DRL section 11-D, can officiate in that other capacity. Our full explanation is at /guides/can-a-ship-captain-marry-you-in-new-york/.
What happens if a guest is late?
They miss the wedding. The master files a written passenger count ashore before departure, and once the lines are off there is no mechanism to turn a chartered vessel around for one person. Tiki Boat Long Island is the only Long Island operator that publishes the rule, and it says the boat departs on schedule and missed cruises forfeit tickets. Put the boarding time on the invitation and put a real person in charge of counting heads.
Which operators publish a price?
Four of these vessels publish a rate on their own site. The Freeport Gem lists $4,950 for up to 50 guests with tax and gratuity included, and Tiki Boat Long Island lists private parties from $1,499. The two Hamptons Event Yacht hulls list $9,500 and $14,000 for four hours, first party. The Lauren Kristy's $1,509 peak season site fee sits on WeddingWire, marketplace, and every other vessel over 100 guests publishes no rate at all.
Do any of these boats publish accessibility information?
Only one, and a third party wrote it. The site destinationaccessible.org surveyed The Lauren Kristy at Bay Shore Marina. It records a boarding ramp from the wooden dock, twelve steps up to the upper deck with no elevator, and a single occupancy restroom that is not accessible. That survey is dated 13 September 2021, no federal accessibility standard for passenger vessels is in force, and no other Long Island vessel publishes anything at all.
Do public cruise ticket prices tell us anything about a wedding quote?
No, and two operators here make that trap easy to fall into. The Moon Chaser publishes $58 to $66 per person for Bay Jam concert cruises and Mon Tiki Largo publishes $75 for a Tiki Tuesday ticket, both first party, and neither publishes a private charter rate. Those are seats on a public sailing. A wedding charter is a whole boat for a set number of hours, and you have to call for the number.
Vessel facts read from each operator’s own site and, where named, its marketplace listing, on 10 September 2026. No Long Island operator publishes a Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection, so every capacity here is the operator’s own published number or a marketplace figure, labeled as such. How to verify a boat’s legal capacity. Run a Long Island charter vessel? Claim or correct a listing, free.
