Breakthrough – leading the way forward! Same-sex weddings at sea!

P&O Cruises and fellow British line, Cunard, have just become the first cruise lines to conduct same-sex weddings at sea.

The first ceremony will be held onboard P&O’s Azura next January in the Caribbean.  Azura is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.  This will be followed by Cunard cruise line, which will offer same-sex marriages from November 2018.

The new offering follows a landmark ruling earlier this year that legalised same-sex marriages in Bermuda, where seven of P&O’s eight ships (apart from the Britannia, which is registered in Southampton), and all three of Cunard’s ships are registered.

Wedding packages for P&O cruise ships are available from £1,200.00, while packages for Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 are offered from around £2,570.00 and from £2,117.00 for weddings onboard Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.

The ceremonies will be carried out by the ship’s Captain, while the marriage licenses will be issued by the government of Bermuda.

“This is very welcome news for us and I am delighted that we have become one of the first British cruise lines to take a booking for a same-sex wedding. We look forward to welcoming this couple and many other couples too,” Simon Palethorpe, senior vice president of Cunard, stated.

“Weddings at sea are very romantic and getting married by the Captain in the middle of the ocean is an unforgettable experience,” Paul Ludlow, senior vice president of P&O Cruises, said.

It has been more than three years since Britain legalised same sex marriages in 2014, when gay couples from Brighton, Halifax and London tied the knot for the very first time on March 29 that year. They were closely followed by hundreds more couples in England; later the same year, Scotland followed suit by introducing new legislature.

Wedding packages include:
• A ceremony at sea conducted by the Captain
• Wedding ceremony venue with floral arrangements
• Traditional wedding music
• Services of an on-board wedding co-ordinator
• Attendance of a professional photographer at the ceremony
• Commemorative wedding certificate
• An official copy of the marriage certificate
• The cost of the licence fees
• A bottle of Champagne in the cabin on arrival
• Champagne for a toast after the ceremony
• Invitations and thank you notes
• An additional 5kg luggage allowance for the couple if travelling on a P&O Cruises fly-cruise holiday
• Wedding outfit pressing service

Princess Cruises may be the next line to offer same-sex marriages across its 13 ships registered in Bermuda, but this has yet to be confirmed.

What are you thoughts on this news?  Do you think other cruise lines will follow suit, and if so which ones will be next?  Let me know what you think!