Thread: Cunard flag change?

You are right it still looks quite British.

Thanks for all your replies.

Originally Posted by timwilloughby

For the uninitiated, there are a couple of things at play here.

1. The new Equality Act of 2010 in Britain forces companies to pay all workers from EU countries (and on British-registered ships) to pay wages equal to those of British citizens.

2. Weddings at sea or not permitted on British registered ships since, under UK law, they must be held in a "publicly accessible place" Weddings are sea are a profitable and growing segment within the cruise industry.

Hopefully, this will force Cunard to focus even more on their British traditions and experience while on board their ships. Only time will tell.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts !

I can see where the new laws would have an effect on staffing costs. NCL America has a similar situation with the one remaining ship is has in Hawaii.

I would assume there may be other flagging costs that are reduced by changing the registry.

In the ever changing world of cruising changes to tradition will continue.

As far as I know the safety standards in Bermuda are about the same as in the UK.

We've gotten some thoughtful and passionate responses regarding this topic on the CruiseLineFans Facebook page that I thought I might re-post here for additional consideration and comment.

When informed of this thread and asked what they thought one Facebook fan replied:

What do i think? I hate it! Cunard has always been known for it's tradition and heritage; but I guess the last 171 years don't matter to anyone. Cunard needs to break away from Carnival UK and be themselves again. If they had stayed superior, this wouldn't happened. And what if they want to name another ship 'Queen ...'? What an insult to the Queen who has taken time out for Cunard, and now they just change their port of registry like it's no big deal. I would expect this from other lines but not Cunard!

While expert ship stalker and liner lover, Patty D. had a different opinion:

The Queen has more important things to worry about. After all, P&O did it and she's still Godmother to Oriana. Cunard haven't been themselves since 1998 because that's when they ceased to exist and became a trading name of Carnival Corporation. In 2004 they fell under control of Princess in Santa Clarita, moving their office there. At the end of 2007 they were transferred to Carnival plc and moved back to Southampton in 2008. Carnival don't give a stuff about heritage, hence selling the QE2 lock, stock and barrel and calling two Vista cruise ships the name Queen. If people didn't keep falling for their tripe they wouldn't have got away with it so long.

Both passionate responses on a controversial topic that really seems to strike a chord. I can't imagine any of this is going to sway Stephen one bit. "...to the last drop..." as they say, right Stephen.

Just thought some of you would be interested to hear some additional commentary.

Cheers! Thanks for reading.

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