Cunard Sweepstakes Tied To 'Let Them All Talk' Offers Transatlantic Cruise Grand Prize

Cunard, the Carnival Corp. CCL cruise line, is trying to encourage vacationers to return to the open seas with a sweepstakes tied to "Let Them All Talk," a recently released film from HBO Max, a Time Warner TWX subsidiary.

What Happened: "Let Them All Talk" stars Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen under the direction of Steven Soderbergh. The film takes place aboard the Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2 on a cruise from New York to Southampton, England.

As a tie-in promotion to the film, Cunard is sponsoring a sweepstakes for U.S. residents to win a translantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2. The sweepstakes winner and a guest will get to enjoy the Queens Grill suite that was prominently featured in the film.

Sweepstakes entries are being accepted through March 31, with the winner to be announced in early April. Cunard added the winner's cruise must occur between April and December 2022, and the grand prize has an approximate retail value of $33,000.

Why It Matters: The cruise ship industry, along with the rest of the hospitality industry, has been badly dented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some countries are not eager to have cruise ships in their waters. Norway extended coastal restrictions on cruise ships until May 1, while Canada has barred cruise vessels from its waters until 2022.

Last month, Carnival Cruise Line extended the pause on its U.S. departures through April 30 while canceling the European itineraries for its Carnival Legend that were scheduled from May through Oct. 31 and rescheduling the start date for the Mardi Gras from Port Canaveral to May 29.

Cunard has canceled cruises scheduled to depart in May and June. "Let Them All Talk" gives Cunard a megadose of publicity for the Queen Mary 2, although whether the line can translate that publicity into the full resumption of transatlantic passenger travel remains to be seen.

(Meryl Streep and Lucas Hedges in "Let Them All Talk," an HBO Max film shot on Cunard's Queen Mary 2. Picture courtesy HBO Max.)