What would be the effect of Cunard leaving the UK Registry?

[Salacia]

Not only is Bermuda in the Commonwealth, the queen is head of state - but not sure that the (British) Royal Mail would assign 'RMS' to a non-British register ship.....but it's the seventh veil....so what real difference will it make?

 

 

Guernseyguy, if your Head of State (or by whatever authority such distictions are bestowed) assigns a Cunard ship registered in Bermuda as "RMS" given Bermuda Admiralty Laws, I would be very perplexed. -S.

[guernseyguy]

As a passenger, it makes a great deal of difference to me personally.

 

I think you may be missing my point....after the seventh veil, how many are left?

[Salacia]

I think you may be missing my point....after the seventh veil, how many are left?

 

For me, not many. I have booked and paid for what might well be my last QM2 voyage.

[guernseyguy]

For me, not many.

In the "Dance of the Seven Veils" - none!

 

While I have no objection to Cunard being owned by an Anglo-American conglomerate (and am thankful for the investment), understand why they buy their ships from France & Italy, (but would prefer Germany) and appreciate their enthusiastic and helpful Eastern European hotel staff - who work hours and for wages very few of their British counterparts would accept - I do think abandoning the British Registry would be the last straw. This "weddings at sea" is a smokescreen for a wages/costs issue, and frankly, beneath them.

[Salacia]

In the "Dance of the Seven Veils" - none!

 

While I have no objection to Cunard being owned by an Anglo-American conglomerate (and am thankful for the investment), understand why they buy their ships from France & Italy, (but would prefer Germany) and appreciate their enthusiastic and helpful Eastern European hotel staff - who work hours and for wages very few of their British counterparts would accept - I do think abandoning the British Registry would be the last straw. This "weddings at sea" is a smokescreen for a wages/costs issue, and frankly, beneath them.

 

I think we are in agreement.

[Whitemarsh]

So which cruise line/s will you move your patronage to? And is there a central registry where you can find out where cruise lines register their ships?

[chinaiyf]

So which cruise line/s will you move your patronage to? And is there a central registry where you can find out where cruise lines register their ships?

 

Yes-you can look up the registration of ships online.

 

Cunard is a business first and foremost! Any decision about weddings, workers laws or registry is a money decision and is made with that in mind. If the UK Registry enhances Cunard's reputation and bottom line more than these other issues, they will stay with it. If not, they'll move and those of us who won't cruise on a non-UK vessel will be staying home.

[southwestie]

The problem is that I dont think Cunard are too worried if this it the last cruise/voyage for any of us, if we stop then others will follow, its a big world out there, lots of people want to try Cunard and Cunard know this.

 

We will have to wait and see what happens

[guernseyguy]

The problem is that I dont think Cunard are too worried if this it the last cruise/voyage for any of us, if we stop then others will follow, its a big world out there, lots of people want to try Cunard and Cunard know this.

 

We will have to wait and see what happens

 

I'm not sure that's right. Any brand's most profitable customers are it's loyal ones - they tend to be less price sensitive and require little expensive marketing- direct, rather than broad marketing works well. Indeed, at the Queen Elizabeth lunch, Peter Shanks kept referring to us as Cunard's most "valuable" customers - I think "valued" might have been a touch more tactful! But if another (older, and longer independent) "British icon" P&O can get away with off-shoring their registry with barely a murmur, I guess Cunard can get away with it too.

[BlueRiband]

Several Carnival ships are registered in Panama which is not part of the UK Commonwealth. If QM2 was re-flagged for Panama she loses RMS status. (Perhaps Cunard has decided that the RMS title is meaningless.)

 

As for on-board weddings, this negatively affects paying passengers because they would routinely be booted out of public rooms if the spaces were needed for private wedding gatherings. Like to read in the Commondore Club? "I'm sorry Sir, but this lounge is being closed in order to set up for a private party."

[nfcu]

Cruise lines like to tell their repeat "guests" how important and valuable they are and then reward them with such great benefits such as a few free hours on the internet, a cocktail party, a lounge to wait in when embarking/debarking, faster luggage delivery, etc., etc. When in fact, these "benefits" cost the cruise line nothing or almost nothing.

 

The dirty little truth is that cruise lines prefer the first time guest, not the repeater. First timers spend more money on board on shore excursions, photos, gift items from the shops.

 

Also, first timers do not complain as much to the on board staff. They do not know how things used to be or have no idea when the line cuts back on the little things that repeat guests notice right away.

 

Think about it.

[Leucothea]

Wrong area posted.

[southwestie]

I'm not sure that's right. Any brand's most profitable customers are it's loyal ones - they tend to be less price sensitive and require little expensive marketing- direct, rather than broad marketing works well. Indeed, at the Queen Elizabeth lunch, Peter Shanks kept referring to us as Cunard's most "valuable" customers - I think "valued" might have been a touch more tactful! But if another (older, and longer independent) "British icon" P&O can get away with off-shoring their registry with barely a murmur, I guess Cunard can get away with it too.

 

 

I think you are very wrong, I had a bussiness for almost 20 years before we sold and moved, Loyal customers were great, but with a small amount of outlay it was better to get as many new customers in the door, old customers would spend £XXX and you could always know what they would spend on any given week, new ones would come in wander round and spend a lot of money, so any bussiness needs new blood , people who will spend as well as loyal, thats why Cunard are always looking for them, thats why they so many deals, the loyals are only buying so many cabins

[guernseyguy]

I think you are very wrong

 

Well, that's me and Peter Shanks told! Given Cunard have more than trebled their number of berths in the space of a few years they need new customers - but these new customers need to be attracted via expensive marketing (possibly different from running a small business, I doubt many Cunard new pax wander past Southampton docks and say "Oh look - a Cunarder, shall we pop onboard for a cruise?).....while loyal customers - assuming the product meets their needs - need no such expensive marketing.

[southwestie]

Well, that's me and Peter Shanks told! Given Cunard have more than trebled their number of berths in the space of a few years they need new customers - but these new customers need to be attracted via expensive marketing (possibly different from running a small business, I doubt many Cunard new pax wander past Southampton docks and say "Oh look - a Cunarder, shall we pop onboard for a cruise?).....while loyal customers - assuming the product meets their needs - need no such expensive marketing.

 

 

The cost of attracting new passengers is passed onto the new passengers and indeed the loyal ones, profit and cashflow are main thing cunard wants, not loyal passengers, that way we all as stockholders are happy as well, also these days advertising to get them is much less than it was, so much is done via email , you say they walk past a ship in Southampton, maybe not, but they often stand outside a travel shop window and look at a poster showing Cunard ships and offering them a wonderful cruise, as you say the loyal passengers may just book anyway, or though many will wait for a deal also they too need the brochure or the said email to alert them to offers and dates etc

[Spartan kent]

IMHO, onboard weddings, like the "art" auctions and the champagne towers for wedding renewals, are supremely tacky.

 

When, then, can we expect to hear from the Cunard bean counters and their spokespeople about how much revenue is being missed out on from other "lucrative" venues for captive audiences such as rock climbing walls, flow-riders, movies under the stars, and the like?

 

That's a nice view of life I wonder if you have ever been to a wedding at sea :rolleyes:

Both of my daughters had their weddings at sea, it is well organized by the wedding co-coordinator, the ceremony is carried out by the Captain, the photographs have great backdrops, the wedding reception in a specialty dinning room is better than any London Hotel and it's a great opportunity for both sides of the family to get to know each other on a two week cruise. :D

[guernseyguy]

so much is done via email

 

IF they have your email address! As in a previous passenger.....if they don't have your email address they need to use print etc - much less effectively targetted.....and hence more expensive.....

[southwestie]

That's a nice view of life I wonder if you have ever been to a wedding at sea :rolleyes:

Both of my daughters had their weddings at sea, it is well organized by the wedding co-coordinator, the ceremony is carried out by the Captain, the photographs have great backdrops, the wedding reception in a specialty dinning room is better than any London Hotel and it's a great opportunity for both sides of the family to get to know each other on a two week cruise. :D

 

 

Sounds wonderful, we have been to a few Vow renewals, they were wonderful

[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]

I have nothing against Cunard conducting weddings on board per se, I have never attended one so am loathe to pass comment on the product being tacky or otherwise. As a matter of fact I have a feeling they would put on a very elegant and memorable event as long as Pol Acker wasn't offered to toast the happy couple.

 

What makes my blood boil is using this as subterfuge for avoiding paying the young workers what they are due under employment laws now applicable. Shameful really by a company which up to now I have admired and supported.

 

Watching with interest.

 

M-AR

[keithm]

Cruise lines like to tell their repeat "guests" how important and valuable they are and then reward them with such great benefits such as a few free hours on the internet, a cocktail party, a lounge to wait in when embarking/debarking, faster luggage delivery, etc., etc. When in fact, these "benefits" cost the cruise line nothing or almost nothing.

 

The dirty little truth is that cruise lines prefer the first time guest, not the repeater. First timers spend more money on board on shore excursions, photos, gift items from the shops.

 

Also, first timers do not complain as much to the on board staff. They do not know how things used to be or have no idea when the line cuts back on the little things that repeat guests notice right away.

 

Think about it.

Why is it that when we do a Cunard cruise, it costs much less for us than for a newbie?I checked rates online & it's quite a bit(sometimes hundreds) less than for regular pax.

[Spartan kent]

Somebody posted earlier that what many of these people want is to be married by the Captain, not clergy or notary. I wonder if it's a status thing, to have a wedding that is different and more special than one's friends had?

 

I've always thought that "destination weddings" were asking a lot of friends and family, in terms of both time and money.

 

Who got married in Boston after 9/11?

 

The costs compare very well with a shore wedding followed by a reception at a good hotel, the big plus is the whole wedding party gets a couple of weeks holiday :D

Then just throw on a buffet at a local club for friends when you get home

[LoveCruiseing]

I think if they loose the U.K. Registry the ships will no longer have the elegance they had b-4. U.K. needs to keep them from doing this. They have the only true ocean liner, and I think that the change would be the end of an era.

[doitallWMB]

This is what happens when government interferes in the operation of private business. Job Loss... ask any American who has lost their job to the Chinese communists...

[Salacia]

I have nothing against Cunard conducting weddings on board per se, I have never attended one so am loathe to pass comment on the product being tacky or otherwise. As a matter of fact I have a feeling they would put on a very elegant and memorable event as long as Pol Acker wasn't offered to toast the happy couple.

 

What makes my blood boil is using this as subterfuge for avoiding paying the young workers what they are due under employment laws now applicable. Shameful really by a company which up to now I have admired and supported.

 

Watching with interest.

 

M-AR

 

M-AR, I agree with you: it isn't about wedding ceremonies. And like you, I am also watching with interest.

 

Just to add that one night on QM2 there was a young woman dress in a very elegant bridal gown and a man dressed as a groom...accompanied by several young women dressed as bridesmaids, with a equal number of grooms' men. To me, it looked like a wedding party. Could I have been the only one who has witnessed such an occurrence?:confused: -S

[guernseyguy]

Another side effect of re-registering to Bermuda would be that Cunard's vessels could no longer be STUFT - Ship Taken Up From Trade - requisitioned by HMG - so no dash down to the Falkland Islands for the QM2 if Argentina re-invades as QE2 did, or trooping like QM/QE in WWII - how patriotic is that?

 

I presume, given Cunards considerable gay following they will also be conducting same-sex marriages? And if not, why not?