Are Same Sex Marriages at Sea Heading for the Rocks?

A marriage at sea has been a dream for many of couples for forever.  What could be more romantic than a wedding on some of the finest and most luxury cruise ships out there?  With the legalisation of same sex marriage in more and more countries over the last few years, more cruise lines have been announcing that they are now to start offering same sex marriages at sea and in 2017 P&O and Cunard where one of the first to do so.

But I have been hearing along the grape vine that this dream for many couples could now be on the rocks.

P&O and Cunard register a most (if not all) of their ships in Bermuda, as do many other cruise lines, I am not sure of the details but believe it something to do with tax purposes.  A lot of the laws governing on board cruise ships are governed by the country in which they are registered in and this included marriage.  Last year Bermuda (a British overseas territory) announced that same sex marriage was now legal there which then allowed the cruise lines to follow suit in offering same sex marriages at sea.

Which, for 2017, is what you would expect to be in place, even more so now where in 2018.

All great so far.

But there is a twist that has appeared on the horizon.  Bermuda have announced that they are reviewing their legislation in place, and the legalisation of same sex marriage may be only extended to ‘domestic partnerships’ and not to those outside of the country, which would mean cruise ships.

This proposed amendment is apparently causing some problems for P&O and their customers who have booked their cruises with the plan of celebrating their big day on board.  I was reading in one newspaper, that they had cancelled one couples dream day as thy simply don’t know what is going to happen in this review and so can’t make any promises.

This is a shame really, as with what I have mentioned above, we are now in 2018.  Any consenting adult should be allowed to declare their love to another consenting adult anywhere they want, whether that be on land sea or even space.

What are your thoughts on this..?

Let me know J