Planning a sexy get-up for your upcoming cruise vacation? Don’t go overboard.
Carnival Cruise Line has established a new dress code banning passengers from wearing clothing “that may be considered offensive or contain nudity, profanity, sexual innuendo/suggestions.”
The new guidelines were published on the travel company’s website in December, along with an announcement on Facebook by Carnival’s brand ambassador John Heald. He published a complaint by an anonymous passenger of another traveler “threatening to wear disgusting and lurid shirts” on the cruise line.
“Will someone on the ship stop her from doing this?” the anonymous passenger asked in the complaint. Heald responded that that type of clothing will not be allowed.
Heald’s post also polled followers on the matter, with results showing that 97% of the 23,500 people who voted support Carnival’s new policy, which also bans any garment that appears to “promote negative ethnic or racial, commentary, or hatred or violence in any form.”
That kind of approval is much-needed for the embattled cruise line, which has suffered a slew of bad publicity this past year, including accusations in a lawsuit filed in June that they wouldn’t allow a dying passenger to leave the boat to seek medical attention. And in November, a widow sued the company for the death of her husband, claiming they’d hired an unlicensed doctor. Later that month, an Indiana father plunged four stories to his death off one boat.
Meanwhile in 2019, Carnival execs had to go to court over an ocean pollution case; one ship earned the line’s worst sanitation grade in the company’s history; and two ships collided off a Mexican port.
Vance Gulliksen, a spokesperson for Carnival, told Cruise Critic, “We want to make sure that all of our guests feel comfortable when cruising with us, and that includes being around guests wearing clothing with inappropriate images or language.”
Gulliksen explained that any cruise passenger found sporting offensive attire may be asked to change clothes.
“We will evaluate situations on a case by case basis and take appropriate steps as necessary,” he said.
Yet, some on Facebook feared that the dress code description is too vague and may be misconstrued by overzealous crew members and passengers.
“I can’t agree with a broad policy,” wrote one Facebook user. “Too many people coming from different areas with different reference points regarding what is offensive. Believe me I know! I have lived in the buckle of the Southern Bible belt for 20+ years.”
“I don’t agree with this at all,” said another. “The first sentence says anything that people find offensive. Well some people find everything offensive.”