I just got back from a wonderful trip on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas . She was built in France and launched in 1997. Her operator is Royal Caribbean International, based in Miami. Currently, she calls on Galveston, Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. So, why is she registered in Oslo and flying a Norweigan flag? Her captain, and many of the command crew are also Norweigan. This ship is clearly oufitted for warm weather – I cannot imagine it sailing the North Sea or North Atlantic. On our trip, we saw other passenger liners and they also were registered to other countries. One ship was flying a Panama flag, yet had a small USA flag flying on the starboard side.
Where could I find what the various flags on ships mean? For example, sometimes Norway’s flag was flying at the stern. Sometimes it was on a forward mast. In port, it was flying on a small mast on the bow. When the ship was anchored off of George Town, Grand Cayman, a small disk was flying on this forward mast. I’m sure that all these flags have meanings, but I don’t know where to find out what they are.
I didn’t ask these questions while on board because most of the people passengers come in contact with are hotel and restaurant types. They don’t have anything to do with actually operating the vessel. Thanks to the current state of world affairs, bridge and engineering tours are forbidden. In fact, while the bridge clearly appears on deck maps, the door is hidden and unlabeled. If a passenger wanted to storm the bridge or enginnering spaces, he/she would have to figure out how to get there.
The small US flag on the starboard probably was flown as the usual courtesy flag when navigating in or approaching the waters of a nation other than the flag state. The disk indicated that the ship was anchored.
Norway has long had a share of the world shipping industry way out of proportion to its small population. In order to keep it that way, the Norwegian government gives Norwegian-owned shipping companies, including cruise lines, tax breaks and other incentives to keep their ships’ registration in Oslo. It isn’t a flag of convenience, exactly - it would still be cheaper and mean less red tape for them to go to Liberia, for example - but the idea is similar.