<p>About a dozen gay and lesbian couples who arrived in Saint John on a cruise ship on Tuesday tied the knot in the port city, taking advantage of Canada's legal recognition of gay marriage.</p><p>The Norwegian Dawn, a cruise ship being rented by entertainer Rosie O'Donnell's tour company R Family Vacations, arrived in port Tuesday with about 2,200 passengers.</p><p>The couples, most from U.S. jurisdictions where same-sex marriage isn't sanctioned by law, were scheduled to be married in the city during their Canadian stop.</p><p>&quot;We're going to get married and take advantage of some very fabulous, liberal, open-minded Canadian laws,&quot; said Jill Wilcox, who was travelling from Texas with her partner.</p><p>&quot;We are really excited about that,&quot; said Betty MacMillan, manager for the Saint John Port Authority. &quot;I think it means we are growing in destination awareness and people really do want to come here.&quot;</p><p>The tour company caters to gay and lesbian travelers and their families. O'Donnell, her wife Kelly Carpenter-O'Donnell and their children were among the families travelling on the ship.</p><p>It is the first time that the R Family Vacations has docked in Saint John.</p><p>The couples scheduled to be married in the city were met by a chartered city bus, said Natalie Godbout, a Saint John lawyer and deputy clerk of the court.</p><p>They were transported to a Service New Brunswick centre to be granted marriage licences before their ceremonies, Godbout said.</p><p>The city also produced commemorative plaques to provide to each of the newly marriage couples, she said.</p><p>It's not uncommon for same-sex couples on cruise ships that call at the port city to get married, Godbout said.</p><p>Godbout was scheduled to perform marriage ceremonies for two of the couples off the R Family Vacations boat on Tuesday and has wed about 12 others over the past three years.</p><p>&quot;When we get back to Texas, our lives won't have changed. I mean, for all practical purposes we've been married for eight years, but now it's going to be legal,&quot; said cruise ship passenger Wilcox, who wed her partner Karen Langsley while in Saint John.</p><p>The luxury cruise vacations help build tolerance in the cities it visits, said Jennifer Chrisler, spokeswoman for U.S. Family Equality Council.</p><p>&quot;At the end of the day it will help people realize that our families are just like all other families,&quot; Chrisler said.</p><p>Gay marriage has been legal in New Brunswick since 2005, when the Court of Queen's Bench ruled the province's failure to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples violated their Charter rights.</p>