Every now and then you’ll hear/see the small print at the end of an ad for a cruise company that mentions that the Ship’s Registry is the Bahamas.

I know that you all come here to learn what random bits of information like this mean, so I will now oblige you.

A ship’s registry is like a car’s registration.  According to international maritime law all major seagoing vessels must be registered to some country.  It doesn’t really matter which country.  However, the vessel must comply with laws pertaining to safety, taxation, and environmental regulation for the country that registers the vessel.

So, certain countries have created open registries that allow foreign owners to register ships.  These countries have laws that are written to attract business.  This is much like how the state of Delaware has pro-business laws that attract corporations.  (Almost all of the Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.  So is my business.)

The Bahamas have created one of the most successful open registration programs, so they attract the vast majority of cruise ships. You could say they are the Delaware of cruise ship registration.

When a ship flies under a foreign flag it is typically referred to as flying a flag of convenience.

Source: here and here.