Apparently, Cruise Ships Have Godmothers, Too
When someone asks you to be a Godmother, you can typically expect to be a provider of spiritual guidance, love, support, and plenty of gifts.
When someone asks you to be a Godmother to a cruise ship, you can typically expect a party—and lots of champagne.
How does one get bestowed such an honor? The tradition of cruise ship Godmothers stems from centuries, millennia even, of christening a ship before it sets off into the high seas. For thousands of years, ceremonies—often involving liquor and, once upon a time, even animal sacrifices—have been performed to bring a ship luck before its inaugural sail.
Related: How to Pack a Carry-On Suitcase:
Men and women have in the past been honorary guests at these ceremonies. But it wasn’t until the 20th century, when the private cruise industry took off, that the modern day interpretation of ship Godmothers began to take hold. Often sought to bring publicity to a new ship, Godmothers are typically public figures who agree to participate in the ship’s christening ceremony and often make additional appearances on subsequent sails. According to tradition, one of the duties of the Godmother is the ceremonial breaking of the champagne bottle against the ship.
Over the years, ship Godmothers have ranged from actors and royalty to athletes and astronauts. The directory of Godmothers reads like a who’s who in Hollywood, with Martha Stewart, Julie Andrews, Queen Latifah, Kristen Chenoweth, and Whoopi Goldberg all sharing the title. The qualifications of the ship sponsor are changing, too, with groups—like the Rockettes—and men now receiving the honor.
The latest Godmother to join the pack is none other than Oprah Winfrey, who was recently gifted the role for the Holland America Line’s newest ship Nieuw Statendam. As Godmother, Oprah will be present for the private dedication, and will host a three-day Girls’ Getaway cruise in January of 2019.
Sadly, tickets to cruise with Lady O are already sold out, but we still think it’d be pretty grand to sail anytime on a ship blessed by Oprah.
And doesn’t learning of cruise ship Godmothers in general make you want to find out which celeb blessed the last cruise you went on? BRB, we’re gonna go Google that right now…
