Carnival Cruise Lines bans ‘offensive’ clothing

Not everyone is happy with the policy change

Carnival Cruise Lines (Getty)

Carnival Cruise Line has changed its dress code to ban “offensive” clothing.

The updated policy says that “All guests are expected to ensure their clothing and accessories are respectful to fellow guests.”

It goes on: “Specifically, items worn during the cruise should not contain any message that may be considered offensive or contain nudity, profanity, sexual innuendo/suggestions.

“In addition, clothing/accessories should not promote negative ethnic or racial commentary, or hatred or violence in any form.”

Carnival brand ambassador and senior cruise director John Heald, who has more than 270,000 followers on his Facebook page, announced the change.

He included a poll asking whether users agreed with the policy change. Some 97 per cent were in favour of the change, while just 3 per cent were opposed out of 23,500 votes.

However, the move has caused some controversy, with many of the 1,000 comments on the post raising questions about what would be deemed “offensive”.

“I don’t agree with this at all. The first sentence says anything that people find offensive. Well some people find everything offensive,” wrote one commenter.

Another said: “Totally a slippery slope Carnival is heading down with this new policy. As so many people have said anything and everything can be offensive to others. So I feel they really need to dive deeper into an approach on this policy that doesn’t go down the path of everyone wearing the official carnival vacation uniform.”

Others supported the change though, and were anxious that it should be put into practice.

“Enforce the policy!” wrote one Facebook user. “For too long, people have worn shirts I consider offensive.

“Freedom of speech allows for freedom of expression, but I believe there should be limits. Especially using the ‘F’ word on a shirt. There are children aboard Carnival ships…”

A Carnival spokesperson told The Independent: “Our crew is not onboard to be the clothing or expression police. We already have some basic clothing guidelines in place and our guests respect them and understand we are a family-focused business.

“This change came about after some incidents were reported in the media about other travel sectors where customers were wearing clothing with very threatening messages. That started a discussion about how we were prepared to handle such a situation and the need for clarification to both guests and crew. But we really don’t anticipate this being an issue on board.”

They added that the aim is to make “guests feel comfortable when cruising”, including ”being around guests wearing clothing with inappropriate images or language.”

When it comes to enforcement, Carnival staff will look out for guests wearing clothes with inappropriate images or language and ask them to change as needed.

“We will evaluate situations on a case by case basis and take appropriate steps as necessary,” said the spokesperson.​

It comes after a number of instances of passengers being penalised for their clothing.

In December 2019 American Airlines threatened to kick a woman off a flight because she was wearing an “offensive” T-shirt.

Swati Runi Goyal, 49, was travelling from Florida to Las Vegas on 30 October when her “Hail Satan” T-shirt attracted the attention of cabin crew.

She claims two flight attendants became “very angry” and demanded she get changed before the flight could depart.

“It’s an ironic shirt,” Ms Goyal told BuzzFeed News. “People usually laugh at it, or they give me a thumbs up because they understand the meaning behind it.”

Ms Goyal said she is not a Satan worshipper, but belongs to the Satanic Temple, a non-theistic and non-Satan-worshipping religious organisation.