As soon as the boat sailed past and the women saw the banner they reacted with a mix of emotions from everything from tears and shock to unbridled laughter.

This was soon followed by the two men getting down on bended knee and producing rings and was followed by a unanimous "Yes!".

The proposal, painted on a 10m-wide banner, read "Will You Marry Me Bridget?, Will You Marry Me Donna?" and was draped over the rail of the boat near the bridge and was clearly visible as the boat steamed up the Mersey.

The two couples together with Warren and Donna's 19-month- old daughter Chelsea stood at the look out at Mussell Rock as the ship sailed past.

Donna said her immediate reaction was shock followed by laughter.

"I don't know ... it was all a big blow-out," She exclaimed.

"I didn't say yes straight away only because I was laughing too much and Warren kept saying `Well? Well?"

"Then there were a few tears all round."

Bridget was equally as overwhelmed saying through misty- eyes: "Was this your hare- brained idea Warren?"

Marty, a landscape gardener, said the event had been carefully staged and had even almost come unstuck because of the storm damage to one of the Spirits.

The ship that was originally going to carry the banner had to turn back due to rough weather.

However Warren said the Spirit of Tasmania's Gary Coates had been fantastic in organising things and had taken extra care to ensure the banner was placed aboard another ship that they could almost guarantee was going to arrive on time.

Warren, who runs Hobart's Adventure Tours, said it had been easy organising their partners to travel up to the North- West Coast.

He said they had been planning to travel up to visit Bridget's family at Mt Hicks anyway and all they had to do was convince their partners that they'd have a treat and spend a night in some nice accommodation in Devonport on the way.