The move, which will see the word Hamilton, instead of Southampton, appearing on the stern of each ship, will pave the way for weddings at sea.

However, website cruisecritic.com says a change in British law requiring European Union workers on UK-registered ships to be paid the same as British workers is partly responsible for the move.

It says Cunard employs a lot of waiters and bar staff from Eastern Europe.

Announcing the change of registry, flagged several weeks ago, Cunard said yesterday that a weddings-at-sea program will be launched next year, after the ships have completed world voyages.

Bookings will be taken from this December.