I'm thinking about a cruise too. My ideas were to take a five day cruise. It's cheeper and you don't have to deal with the family for too long after your married. (You need some alone time!) I have also heard from family members that if they are going to spend time and money to go on a vacation wedding with us that they want to have an actual vacation and not some little quick thing like a 2, 3 or even a 4 day cruise. I guess if they are going to travel away, they want to get a trip out of it. ( But do what you want. It's your wedding and that is what everyone is there for anyways)
I wanted to have at least three ports of call. the first port people can go do what ever off board activities they want to do, the second port I wanted to arrange a group activity for everyone or at least for the close family and bridal party. The last port! The wedding and reception. I found most cruise lines offer a reception with an open bar for extra money. Try looking into that if you want to treat your guests to a reception. If I choose just two ports. I will spend the first port doing an orginized activity and hopefully there will still be time for everyone to enjoy an activity of their choice as well.
I also wanted to look into putting a gift basket in all my guest's staterooms. I'm not sure what the cruise would let me bring on the boat or how that would work. I would have to look into it but I would like to create an itinerary to go in the basket. I would add to the ships itinerary any extra orginized events I was planning such as dinners or activities so that people are aware of what is going to happen on their trip. Also, I was planning to put a thank you card in the basket as well.
Finally, my concern after I am married is that I will want the HM to start right away and the idea of running into family and friends after the reception will not be cool. So to deal with this situation I decided to get married at the last port because you'll usually only have one full day left with your famly milling around before you return to port. After the crusie I want to ship everyone home and stay in the port for a few days before flying home, as a mini HM. I was looking into Mami, FL for that. South Beach!
Hope this helps. I'm sure your wedding will be perfect any way you do it.
Tianna