The Shifting Role of the Cruise Ship Godmother
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Seabourn
This story is part of the 2024 Bright Ideas in Travel, our annual list that recognizes the players, places, and projects that are approaching travel’s most pressing issues with thoughtfulness and zeal.
For as long as there have been ships, there has been some form of religious—or superstitious—blessing ceremony.
From Catholic blessings of Portuguese fishing fleets to the human sacrifices of the Viking era, different cultures took great lengths to ensure the success and safety of sea voyages. That’s because ships used to sink. A lot. (It’s perhaps worth mentioning that the Titanic was never christened).
Over time ocean voyages shifted away from a means of survival to a leisurely method of transportation, setting the stage for “pleasure cruising” as we know it today. With lower stakes and safer ships, holy water and blood were soon replaced with Champagne.
But one maritime tradition that has withstood the test of time is the naming of a cruise ship’s godmother, or a civilian sponsor (usually a woman) who is chosen to bless the vessel with good luck and protection. Modern day cruise ships have been blessed by godmothers of the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Malala Yousafzai, J.Lo, and Oprah Winfrey. The title typically requires very little beyond attending the cruise ship’s naming ceremony—bottles are smashed, speeches are given, perhaps there’s a concert or party—and then the cruise ship can go on its way.
Who is eligible for the role of a cruise ship godmother has shifted over the years from royalty to big-name celebrities, to more philanthropic figures. But now, as cruise companies reckon with their at-times contemptuous relationships with port communities over issues like pollution and overtourism, the industry is due for yet another overhaul of the godparent role: one that is not just a one-way christening of the ship’s good fortune, but a multilateral blessing of the ship and the communities it visits.
That’s the concept behind luxury cruise line Seabourn’s recent appointment of the Wunambal Gaambera people, an Aboriginal Australian community of the northern Kimberley region, as the “godparents” of its newest expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit. The ship departed for its inaugural voyage through Australia’s Kimberley region on June 22, 2024, with the official christening ceremony on June 29, when it ported at Ngula (Jar Island).
Over the past decade, the Wunambal Gaambera people have worked toward a sustainable return to their Indigenous land. During World War II, their ancestors were forced to relocate from their Country along York Sound off the Kimberley coast to Catholic religious missions in Kalumburu—a region over 100 miles away. Today, tourism to Wunambal Gaambera Country—also called Uunguu, the Native title holders’ name for their lands—plays a central role in funding infrastructure developments and job creation.
When Seabourn began planning its cruise itineraries in Australia’s Kimberley region, their expedition team met with local Aboriginal communities in Jar Island (Vansittart Bay), Yirinni (Hunter River), and the freshwater Country of Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau) over multiple trips to figure out how to best curate immersive travel experiences for their passengers while also giving back to the region.
Several months later, Seabourn president Natalya Leahy requested her team to write down who they thought should be selected as the godmother of Pursuit: “celebrity” or “local community.” Every stakeholder in the meeting voted for the region’s Traditional Land Owners, an industry first.
“When a celebrity is chosen for this role, they are obviously a highly accomplished individual—but it’s, sort of, a celebration of one person’s success,” says Seabourn’s president Natalya Leahy. “This partnership is a two-way street.”
Along with the godparent title, Seabourn has donated $100,000 dollars to support the Wunambal Gaambera’s development of tourism facilities and additional year-round resources for the Traditional Owners. This includes the construction of residential camps designed to withstand the remote and dry conditions on Jar Island during the harsh winter season (as in any tropical region, this means a long stint of heavy monsoons), which will help community members live on their ancestral land year-round.
“We, the Wunambal Gaambera people, have a communal need and responsibility to look after and prosper from our Country,” Catherine Goonack, Chairperson of the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation, said in a news release following the partnership’s announcement. “Seabourn’s contributions will assist us to be on Country, look after and keep our land and sea Country healthy, strengthen our Wanjina Wunggurr culture, and create economic opportunities for our people.”
The donation supports the terms of the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation’s Uunguu Visitor Management Plan, which sets goals and guidelines on how to best manage visitor access so that tourism economically benefits community members while also protecting their cultural values and natural environment.
Expedition ships like the Pursuit are one of the main ways travelers access remote Wunambal Gaambera Country. Cruises along the Uunguu Coast provide the majority of the region’s visitors each year, (approximately 65%, according to estimates from the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation).
All visitors are required to purchase an Uunguu Visitor Pass (UVP), an online permit that doubles as a responsible travel agreement. Since 2017, when UVPs were first launched, funds have been allocated to the community’s tourism leadership and facilities, the Uunguu Ranger Team (community members who tend to the region’s land), and the maintenance of cultural heritage sites. As part of the partnership, Seabourn has registered as a tour operator with the Wunambal Gaambera, granting each passenger on board an individual UVP (ranging from $50 to $100 per person).
In turn, visitors receive an immersive introduction to the region’s Aboriginal culture and traditions on and off the ship. Two Wunambal Gaambera community guides joined the Pursuit's expedition team, leading passengers on hikes through historic rock art trails, hosting welcome smoking ceremonies, and teaching lessons on Junba song and dance, among other excursions.
To kickstart a self-sustaining commercial art industry, Seabourn has committed an additional $10,000, which will support workshops led by Wunambal Gaambera artists who can then sell traditional art work, such as decorated pearl shells, to visitors. “Several pearl shells have been completed by our community artists and distributed to Seabourn guests during the 2024 season,” says Goonack.
“Seabourn bringing guests from all parts of the world to share our Wanjina Wunggurr culture will help us for years to come,” Goonack tells Condé Nast Traveler. “It will help us to build along our coast, to share our Country.”
Leahy says she hopes other cruise lines who visit Australia’s Kimberley region will develop similar community-led partnerships: “My true personal dream is that trends of the cruise industry will follow our lead to make more of these special [godparent] ceremonies and effectively invest in the local communities we travel to, and bring travelers to.”
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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