A few years ago we were on the Carnival Ecstasy and noticed there was a wedding party on board. It's fairly typical for Carnival to have a lot of parties on its ships, wedding and otherwise, so it came as no surprise that a young couple decided to tie the knot on a ship.
On the same ships were a significant numbers of gays.
"Great," the bride was overheard to say in a not-so-stage whisper. "I'll be able to go home and tell my friends I had a bunch of gays at my wedding."
Her remark was uncalled for and insensitive, to say the least. But it is an example of not knowing, when you board a cruise ship, who else might be on board.
Like this one…
A family of four — husband, wife, son, daughter — was on the 3,600-passenger Freedom of the Seas. The cruise was to celebrate Mom's 50th birthday. Also at "her party" were 2,500 bikers, there to celebrate their "High Seas Rally."
Now bikers have as much right to go on a cruise as any of us, and for the most part these things are luck of the draw. However, the birthday girl's description of events would likely evoke sympathy from even the most insensitive of passengers.
Here's what she claimed the bikers did:
• Wore explicit T-shirts
• Fought
• Had sex in hot tubs
• Monopolized the swimming pools with rowdy competitions
• Generally made an excessive amount of noise
• Participated in heavy drinking, day and night
• Caused a departure to be two hours late because so many bikers were still on shore
The family, which was from England and flew to board the Freedom of the Seas in Florida, thought it would have been proper for Royal Caribbean to have warned one-third of the passengers that two-thirds of the passengers were bikers without their Harleys.
Where does that end?
Should a cruise line caution passengers that a ship will have a huge number of kids on board? Or nuns? Or lawyers? Or ethnic groups — pick one? Or teenagers? Or old people? The list goes on and on. In the end, it is luck of the draw and it's not the responsibility of the cruise line to decide, in advance, who might be offended when a large group is on a ship.
The only thing Royal Caribbean did wrong, in our view, was hold the ship for the bikers who were late for the departure time.
Then again, would you make bikers mad?
Norwegian Gem
7 nights
October 5, 2013
New York (return): Halifax, Saint John, Bar Harbor, Boston, Newport
Oceanview: $439
Cost per day: $62
www.ncl.com