It is sometimes difficult to predict how the general public will react when a company changes something people have become used to. Sometimes they accept it without much ado – but now and then there is an unexpectedly severe backlash.

This might well be the case with Cunard’s decision to switch registration of the company’s cruise ships from the United Kingdom to Bermuda. The reason Cunard bosses gave to justify this – that they will now be able to perform weddings on board the cruise line’s ships – simply has not convinced all their supporters.

Critics say the decision was made because Cunard wanted to get away from stringent UK labour laws – so they can pay their staff less and would not be bound by UK rules regarding working hours and employment conditions.

To be fair, one has to remember that Cunard often registered its ships in Norway and the Bahamas in the past. It is only during recent years that the company switched to registering its ships in the UK.

Many loyal supporters are, however, enraged by the company’s decision to abandon what they see as its British heritage.

One of them, a certain Richard Chalu, wrote the following comment on Cunard’s Facebook page “How many cruise ships are there in the world? Hundreds. How many do I put on a pedestal? Three. We ARE Cunard. There should be none other like you. This tissue-thin wedding excuse is a veil for avoiding the UK’s National Minimum Wage laws.”