Cunard Is Not And Has Not Been "British" For A Long Time.............

One of the many guests I speak to regularly on the phone said this to me recently, passengers who travel with Cunard go with the misconception that they are going to be on a traditionally British cruise -many many cruise guests do not regard Cunard as a British cruise anymore.

Just stepping on board and buying your first drink will back up the fact that Cunard has lost its "Britishness" you pay for your favourite tipple in Dollars - as well as everything else on board -and with your drink will come your bill with your very American style 15% service charge - something that is not found on other British cruise lines like P&O and Fred Olsen.

Cunard has recently registered all of its ships in Bermuda instead of Southampton - this is according to Cunard to be able to offer weddings at sea which they get many many enquiries for - or is it to get around many employment laws that are in force if your ship is registered in the UK? -  The main law being that ships registered in Britain are required to pay all staff from European Union countries wages equal to those of British citizens. Registering the ship outside the EU will allow Cunard to avoid this law.

Cunard has been owned by Carnival Corporation since 1998 - the ships Queen Victoria - Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth were not built in the UK - the staff on board are mainly Eastern European and the currency on board Dollars....................so what IS British about Cunard?....just the history of the company? the food on board?

There is no doubt that Cunard provides a fantastic cruise experience, but is it going to lose its core cruisers that go with them year on year, for the clients that hold them in high regard as a UK company this may be the final push to another line that they need........................