Short answer. Only in articulo mortis. A ship captain may solemnize a marriage between passengers or crew members where one of them is at the point of death, whether the ship is at sea or stopped at a port of call. There is no general power to marry a healthy couple aboard.

What the law says

A marriage in articulo mortis between passengers or crew members may also be solemnized by a ship captain or by an airplane pilot not only while the ship is at sea or the plane is in flight, but also during stopovers at ports of call.

Family Code, Article 31 — Marriage in Articulo Mortis Aboard Ship or Aircraft. Read the full provision →

The article is about emergencies, not romance

The idea that a captain can marry anyone who asks is one of the most durable myths in the popular imagination, and Article 31 is where it meets Philippine law. Read the first four words: A marriage in articulo mortis. The captain's authority exists because someone aboard is at the point of death and no ordinary solemnizing officer can be reached in time. Take away the dying party and the authority disappears entirely. A captain who performs a ceremony for a healthy couple is not a solemnizing officer at all for that purpose.

Three limits packed into one sentence

The provision confines itself in three ways at once. The occasion must be articulo mortis. The parties must be passengers or crew members, so the vessel is not a venue open to people who came aboard to be married. And the officiant must be the ship captain or the airplane pilot — not the first officer, not the purser, not the cruise director. Each limit is doing work, and a ceremony that misses any one of them fails, because authority to solemnize is something the law grants specifically rather than something a role carries by implication.

What the stopover clause adds

The article extends the authority not only while the ship is at sea or the plane is in flight, but also during stopovers at ports of call. That is a sensible piece of drafting rather than an expansion. Without it, a captain would lose the power at the moment a vessel tied up, even though a dying passenger in a berth at a small port may be no closer to a judge or a priest than one in open water. The clause is about continuity of the emergency, and it does not turn the port call into an opportunity for anyone else.

If you want to be married on a ship

You can hold a ceremony aboard, and many couples do. What makes it a marriage is the same thing that makes any marriage: an officer with authority to solemnize, the requisites in Article 2 and Article 3, and a marriage license unless one of the Code's narrow exemptions applies. So the practical route is to bring an authorised solemnizing officer to the ceremony, complete the license beforehand at the registrar where either of you habitually resides, and treat the vessel as a location. Where a foreign flag or foreign waters are involved, take advice first.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.