One of the world’s oldest shipping lines could start flying Bermuda’s flag if Cunard makes good on “tentative enquiries” to register its ships here.Hoping to cash in on sea weddings, the UK-registered company wants its guests to be able to marry in the romantic setting of the open ocean but UK law stipulates that the ceremonies must take place while ships are in port, and must be officiated by a minister or notary public.Bermuda’s laws, however, permit captains to conduct weddings, and for couples to tie the knot at sea.Bermuda Maritime Administration director Desmond Howell said the Island could net thousands of dollars in fees, and boost its registered cruise shipping complement by ten percent, if Cunard makes the full switch.In the meantime, the Island faces competition from Malta another possible jurisdiction to sign up the company.“Obviously we’ve had a few tentative enquiries from Cunard, but so far there is nothing fixed,” Mr Howell said. “It would be nice if they did, and prestigious for Bermuda.”It could also be lucrative for the Island as well as the company. “At a guess, it could bring Bermuda $150,000 each year,” Mr Howell said. “Then there are the annual survey fees, though it’s difficult to say how much that would be.”Currently Bermuda has “approaching 30 or so cruise ships registered here”, he said.There are three cruise ships in today’s Cunard Line: the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, with a combined tonnage of just more than 330,000.Cunard director Peter Shanks has told Cruise Critic that no decision had been made, but that the company might switch all three ships to Bermudian or Maltese registry or designate one of its vessels a “wedding ship”.Sea weddings are “big business”, Mr Shanks said.It would mark the first time in the company’s 171 years in business that Cunard registered all its vessels outside the UK although their home port would remain Southampton.Useful websites: www.cunard.com, www.cruisecritic.co.uk