All Eyes on London for Royal Wedding

London & the World Watching

The Royal Wedding

Prince William & 

Catherine Middleton

Friday 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey

The wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton will be available to watch on the Royal Channel Live Stream, accompanied by a live multi-media blog put together by St. James's Palace.   Read more       Visit The Official Royal Wedding Website

Those in United States will have to get up early in the morning to watch the festivities live.  Of course there will also be rebroadcasts and news highlights, so you will have every opportunity to watch history in the making.

If you are on a cruise ship, there are many lines celebrating with special screenings and also parties.  

We featured one of them in a past blog post:  Cunard Celebrates Royal Wedding At Sea

Norwegian Cruise Line introduced Royal Wedding-themed "special dining events" on its vessels that come with an extra charge:

• The Prince and Princess Brunch, at $15 per person, will include eggs poached in champagne and served on English muffins, kippers, scrambled eggs with grilled lamb, toast with marmalade and fruit salad with clotted cream.
• Royal High Tea, at $10 per person, will include an assortment of sandwiches such as the classic cucumber, scones with jam and cream, lemon curd sponge and a selection of cakes.

Royal Caribbean International  offered an exclusive Royal Caribbean wedding package for couples looking to tie the knot at sea.

MSC Cruises will be broadcasting the Royal Wedding in English across the MSC fleet (excluding MSC Sinfonia and Opera, which will not be sailing in European waters).   Bars on board will be serving a great selection of champagnes and prosecco together with a special commemorative Royal Cocktail (sparkling wine, cognac and grand marnier).

Princess Cruise Line will be airing the Royal Wedding on the Movies Under the Stars giant screens. Also, onboard viewing parties will add a celebratory flair to the event with British-style refreshments and special royal-themed cocktails. Passengers can also test their knowledge with royal wedding trivia competitions and participate in a William and Kate look-alike contest.

Several cruise ships will be docked in Southampton, England.  The ships include Ventura, Independence of the Seas, Saga Pearl II, and Vision of the Seas.  CruiseSouthampton.com has posted a special day planner for cruisers that will be in port on the Royal Wedding day.   Southampton City Council has designated the newly refurbished Guildhall Square to be the venue to hold a free mass Street Party for everyone between 10am - 4pm.  Additional details are available on the site.


The world anxiously awaits the joining of this happy couple in the wedding event of the century.  There hasn't been this much excitement since Princess Diana and Prince Charles wed 30 years ago.  We'd love to hear your stories about how you celebrated this Royal Wedding, especially if you were on a cruise ship.

Cunard Celebrates Royal Wedding At Sea

Three Queens to Celebrate Royal Wedding at Sea

Prince William and Kate Middleton are to be wed 

on Friday, April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey.

After a week of speculation, the royal couple have
announced their wedding plans.

Prince William's private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton,
said the couple chose the 1,000-year-old abbey in central
London because it has a sense of intimacy.


The wedding day will be a national holiday in Britain,
known there as a bank holiday, and has been described
as a semi-state occasion. It's also the feast day of St.
Catherine of Siena, whose name Middleton shares,
though that is a coincidence.

Engaged at last

On Nov. 16, the royal family announced that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged. The prince had popped the question to his longtime girlfriend during an October 2010 vacation to Kenya, it was revealed. William and Kate pose for the media at St. James's Palace in London on Nov. 16, after they announced their engagement. The couple are to wed in 2011. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP) 

"The wedding of Kate and William will be a happy and momentous occasion," said Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday. "We want to mark the day as one of national celebration, a public holiday will ensure the most people possible will have a chance to celebrate on the day."

Three Queens to View Royal Wedding at Sea

Guests on board Cunard's three ships - Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth - on 29 April 2011, the day of the Royal Wedding, need have no fear of missing one second of the historic union of the future King and Kate Middleton.

Each of the three ships feature Royal Court Theatres - West End in style and West End in size - where the wedding ceremony will be broadcast live. 

• Queen Mary 2's Royal Court Theatre (capacity 1000)
• Queen Elizabeth's Royal Court Theatre (capacity 800)
• Queen  Victoria's Royal Court Theatre (capacity 800)

 Additional venues will be used, such as Queen Mary's Planetarium and lecture room, Illuminations, which seats a further 450 passengers, should demand exceed seating capacity in the theatres.

A Day of Celebration

The day will also be one of celebration on all ships, with that evening's dinner featuring a commemorative menu and a champagne toast.

"Cunard is a company with an enviable heritage and unparalleled links to the Royal family - our ships were named either by Her Majesty The Queen or by her apparent successor, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall," said Peter Shanks, president of Cunard. "It follows then that our passengers are likely to have an above average interest in the pageantry of a Royal wedding. We intend to cater for that and ensure they do not miss one minute.

"Royal weddings don't happen that often and with our impeccable Royal connections we intend to ensure that our red ensign ships lead the British merchant marine in marking this momentous day." 

At the time Queen Elizabeth will be at sea heading for Southampton, Queen Victoria will be at sea in the Mediterranean, and Queen Mary 2 will be on a seven-night Transatlantic Crossing.

Congratulations to the Royal couple and to Cunard Lines for quickly responding to the announcement and assuring that their guests have an opportunity to participate in this festive occasion.