The most well-known luxury cruise line operator in Britain is Cunard, and for nearly 200 years the company has been associated with British maritime tradition. However, in order to capitalise on the booming business of weddings at sea, the company is going to be re-registering its ships in Bermuda so these events can legally take place upon the vessels.
Traditionally, the cruise ships operated by Cunard have sailed from Southampton, but soon enough this is going to be changed and the ships will be leaving from Hamilton in Bermuda. The cost of having a wedding at sea will be £1500, and previously the cruise company was unable to take advantage of this because British law forbids weddings at sea on vessels registered in the UK.
The history of why weddings at sea are banned is due to the government not recognising a cruise ship as a place accessible by the public, and the place must be accessible so people can openly come and object to a union.
In the past 10 years, the demand for wedding ceremonies at sea has risen by around 60 percent. They are very popular among people who are looking to cut down on the cost of a wedding while also seeking out a special location. Cunard is a subsidiary of the parent company Carnival, which operates out of the US.
Carnival have been offering weddings at sea for some time because of less stringent American laws, and last year over 2000 marriages were conducted on its vessels. Critics of the move by Cunard have said that they should have lobbied the government harder to make the change instead of simply moving the ships to Bermuda.
A Labour MP, John Denham, who is local to Southampton commented, “Many people in Southampton are quite disappointed by Cunard’s decision. They understand why the company want to be able to conduct weddings at sea but there is the general consensus that the company did not try hard enough to lobby the government to make a change to the law.”
Nautilus International is a maritime union and the general secretary is Mark Dickinson who has said, “I am worried about where the maritime industry in the UK is going. Cunard is a company with a long tradition in Britain and many of the company’s customers are going to be surprised to see that it has abandoned its British roots so easily.”
All of the vessels are named after British monarchs and are capable of holding over 2000 passengers each. Despite the change of location for the vessels they will all be coming to Southampton in the summer for the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen. They will also not be changing their designs and all of the restaurants and bars in the ship will remain the same. This will be pleasing for many customers as they are typically British establishments.
The president of Cunard is Peter Shanks, who has commented, “I understand why some people might be resistant to the move but the company is going to be maintaining its British roots. Bermuda is a British colony with strong links to the UK and despite the move of our physical location we are still proud to say that our ships are British.”
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