Carnival Cruise Lines has changed course and will now allow passengers on a Dec. 2 sailing of Carnival Glory to dress in drag.

The cruise includes a large group booked by a gay travel agency in Sarasota, Fla., for a Drag Stars at Sea cruise.

Several celebrated drag queens are scheduled to perform for the group in the main theater. On Monday, Carnival told the group that only entertainers would be permitted to dress in drag, and that passengers who dressed up would be summarily disembarked.

In an e-mail, Carnival's vice president for guest services, Vicky Rey, had told group members that Carnival attracts a number of families with children.

"Although we realize this group consists solely of adults, we nonetheless expect all guests to recognize that minors are onboard and refrain from engaging in inappropriate conduct in public places," the message said.

The note set off a flurry of negative comments on social media and Internet forums after being posted by group members.

On Tuesday, Carnival President Gerry Cahill said Carnival had reconsidered.

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Originally posted by joe at travelpage:
Actually, it looks like they have reconsidered.

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"When the group was presented to us, we were advised that only the performers would be dressed in drag during the private events," Cahill wrote in a letter to passengers. "However, we are now aware that this was not clearly communicated to members of the group and therefore anyone who wishes to dress in drag may do so."

Cahill said that passengers on the Dec. 2 cruise will be allowed to cancel for any reason and get a full refund.

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• If Carnival had done its job properly, the group would have been told that they could not generally dress in drag and that only the performers could do so.
• Thinking that this had been made clear to the group, Carnival sent the 26 November message.
• When it turned out that (a) it hadn't been made clear to the group; and (b) the group would be very disappointed; Carnival decided to change its mind.
• Anyone else can therefore offload themselves if they don't want to be on a ship with a large group of people in drag.

A ship with a large group of people in drag probably wouldn't bother me, but I can certainly think of people who might be bothered by it. I remember once daring to suggest somewhere that quite a bit of drag entertainment was pretty mainstream and not at all outre: Dame Edna Everage was the first personality that came to mind. That got me quite a bit of flak. I don't know under which rock those people had been living.

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My take is that if children are so impressionable why are not more nuns in the world?

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Originally posted by Johan:
On my July 2004 cruise on board the SS Oceanic, admittedly Pullmantur Cruceros hadn't been taken over by Royal Carribean, there was a "transvestite" competition at night near the pool.
Lots of children (Spanish children go to bed late) were urging their fathers to participate and show their best feminine side.
It was rather fun, and a real family cruise, lots of intergenerational families onboard then.

It is more about adult sensibilities than children, I guess...

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And for those of you who are old enough, let's not forget Carnival's classic event on every cruise throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the "Male Nightgown Contest." Dozens of men would dress up in all manner of female nighttime attire, from sexy teddies to frumpy flannel pajamas. It was a shipwide drag event and nobody seemed too bothered by it in those days.

Older kids will understand....younger kids will get a laugh.

-Russ

[ 12-03-2012: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by Linerrich:

And for those of you who are old enough, let's not forget Carnival's classic event on every cruise throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the "Male Nightgown Contest." Dozens of men would dress up in all manner of female nighttime attire, from sexy teddies to frumpy flannel pajamas. It was a shipwide drag event and nobody seemed too bothered by it in those days.

Rich

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Yes Carnival and the group should have communicated better.

Yes people booking should have been warned.

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Originally posted by jeffrossatsea:
so...if young kids see a man dressed in drag...what do you think would happen?

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Originally posted by jeffrossatsea:
so...if young kids see a man dressed in drag...what do you think would happen?

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Originally posted by timb:
t...that said I would never consider taking them on Carnival to begin with.

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Originally posted by timb:
Jeff thus my first post...

I don't ask anyone to agree with whether I should or shouldn't expose my kids to particular things or not just give me the decision. I would expect the same courtesy to be extended to a group of alternate lifestyle cruisers if they were booking on a fundamentalist cruise.

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I have seen bad drag done by uber hetero Republican fraternity jocks.

I saw my first drag at age 6. It was Hansel and Gretel; a children's opera at the NYC Metropolitan Opera House in 1966. The witch was played by a man since no female opera singer could get that low a voice and fill an opera house at the same time.

I asked my parents: "is he not embarrassed to wear ladies clothes?"

As I said earlier, if kids were so impressionable why are there not more nuns in the USA?

I do agree that kids under certain age groups should not be exposed to certain things. I did not go to my first funeral until age 14.

I personally would NOT want to be on a ship with a huge group of people dressed in drag. Not because my rights would be violated or because I would be scarred for life….I just think it wouldn’t be a very pretty sight.

I recently read a review about a cruise on FREEDOM OF THE SEAS; there was a huge group of bikers on board. Now, just like people who dress in drag, bikers have every right to cruise...if they pay their money, no problem, right? WRONG! The review talked about fist fights, smoking rules being ignored, cussing like sailors, t-shirts with the f-word on them, cigarettes being stomped out on the deck, etc. Was it Royal Caribbean's obligation to advise potential passengers that this group would be on board? Or is that just not PC?

And if they were obligated, what would make it right for them to have to tell people about a group of bikers and not a group of people who dress in drag? Grant it there's a fine line between PC and stupidity....

Bottom line (for me anyway), I'll decide who I want to cruise with, because I have that right just as much as the next guy.

I would only hope that the next guy has skin thick enough to accept it.