Shame on Royal Caribbean for this...

What would you have done? We just returned from the Trans Atlantic crossing from San Juan to Southampton England on Adventure of the Seas on a phenomenal cruise. What was a perfect trip was marred by what occurred at the ship sponsored "Love and Marriage" show. Two men (BOTH WITH WIVES ON BOARD) poised themselves to be a gay couple on the adult themed stage show. Their responses to the questions were very sexual in nature, and an embarrassment to the gay community. The audience was shocked in what they heard. The cruise director Clo was appalled in what they were saying. They made a mockery of the gay/lesbian lifestyle, all in the attempts of making it vulgar. The next two days the game show was played on the Televisions in the staterooms......while promoting the "Buy the DVD of the ship". We feel this was a great dis-service to the many LGBT persons who by the way, spend A LOT OF MONEY with Royal Caribbean. Most of what they were saying had to be "bleeped" in the broadcast. Upper management was made aware of the situation and supposedly the British men who tried to pull off the prank were reprimanded.

I don't know if any of the management team will read this posting or not, but we made a lot of straight friends on this cruise and NONE of us are very pleased that this was allowed to happen, and promoted as humor. We would have loved to be a part of the show, displaying the humorous issues of our 23 year relationship, but unfortunately if fell victim to a bunch of British pranksters. I think they should give a sizable donation to a gay charity, or perhaps do some volunteering at a gay charity. Now THAT would make us laugh, not their made up crap they displayed for all to see and hear.

Sad to have to post this.....

Steven & Gary

In this day and age that is TOTALLY unacceptable. I could understand if no one knew what they were going to do and say, however, once they started, it should have been stopped and DEFINATELY not run over and over on the TV. Sorry you had to post and experience this. I hope this does not happen again

The cruise director carries a lot of the blame here. He is the one who should have stepped in and stopped the whole thing.

The cruise director carries a lot of the blame here. He is the one who should have stepped in and stopped the whole thing.

Agreed.

Awful. I hope you wrote a letter to execs at the cruise line.

The cruise director carries a lot of the blame here. He is the one who should have stepped in and stopped the whole thing.

Absolutely, he should have immediately shut their mouths...and even gone so far as to speak to their juvenile behavior on stage. There's no reason or room for bigotry or hatred, or making fun of others. Segregation needs to end, whether gay / straight / fat / old, whatever.

Sorry you guys had to endure that, I would have been angry and disgusted as well.

My partner and I, together for 44 years, were invited also a few years ago to participate in the Love and Marriage show by the CD on RCCL Jewel. We were one of three couples the audience would vote, who should go up on stage. We were not chosen. The CD told us after the show he was glad we didn’t go up as he would not know what questions to ask us, we agreed. Who was the CD? Yes I agree he should of stopped it. He was the one asking the questions. What would happen if it was a straight couple?

How sad that others sat and tolerated this behaviour as well. I would have gotten up and walked out making sure that those on stage knew why we were leaving. Hoping your next travel experience is a good one.

That's awful, it's as bad as racism which also has no place in society, we were on this cruise last year and met lots of family, never (thankfully) experienced any behaviour like this, it's a shame that the rest of us Brits are now 'tarred' with the same brush, if they are as bad as they sound I doubt they will make any contributions to a charity, in fact, boorish people like that are usually found in the WJ on the last night so they can stiff the waiters.

On behalf of Clo, the cruise director, she was NOT aware that the couple was a fraud until after the show. Most of the audience thought that this is the way that gay people act! The controversy began AFTER it was discovered. I don't fault Clo for this, but am not happy that Royal Caribbean continued to show the debacle on TV after it was brought to their attention. (Guess they saw it as revenue in selling more DVD's).

I can't believe the CD could be that dense.

It doesn't matter if the CD knew the couple was a fraud or not. The questions were embarrassing and even more so if the couple had really been gay.

Sounds like the CD needs training. My partner and I have only encountered the very best Customer Service from RCI Staff.

Sorry you had a bad experience. The Director should have made sure that the show did not air on the TV.

Interesting that in the first few replies to this thread the posters automatically assumed the Cruise Director was male (despite the OP stating the CDs name was Clo).

It sounds like the whole thing was a prank that was taken too far. I agree that once the OP (and others) had voiced their concerns it was insensitive of Royal Caribbean to continue screening the show.

Did you notify RCCL Senior Management of this incindent?

Did you notify RCCL Senior Management of this incindent?

Yes. It was brought to their attention on several occassions. The last time was during the "diamond plus & Pinnacle" reception at which ALL the senior mgmt was present. Several other passengers expressed their disdain as well. The cruise director had already informed them, as SHE was not happy with the prank at all. True, the audience picks the finalists, NOT the cruise director. The next day (last of the 14 day cruise) the video was taken off of the TV. Big deal....people were all busy packing and not buying the video any longer, after having 5 days in which to do so.

The response from mgmt.......wait for it, wait for it....."We'll check into it". They must still be checking, or hoping that we will forget about it.

Yes, we will cruise RCI again, as we still prefer traditional cruising over gay charters in spite of this little glitch.

On behalf of Clo, the cruise director, she was NOT aware that the couple was a fraud until after the show. Most of the audience thought that this is the way that gay people act! The controversy began AFTER it was discovered. I don't fault Clo for this, but am not happy that Royal Caribbean continued to show the debacle on TV after it was brought to their attention. (Guess they saw it as revenue in selling more DVD's).

The DVD is quite formulaic for every cruise. I am appalled by this story and had I been on this cruise I would have kicked up such a stink. Shame on RCL for letting this get out of hand.

The response from mgmt.......wait for it, wait for it....."We'll check into it". They must still be checking, or hoping that we will forget about it.

Yes, we will cruise RCI again, as we still prefer traditional cruising over gay charters in spite of this little glitch.

Sorry, I might sail with my favorite cruise line again... but not right away. The only way I'd feel good about what happened would be if I punished them by spending my cruise dollars somewhere else first.

If management had responded immediately and said "yes, it was a mistake and we promise to do everything to prevent it from happening again..." or sent you a letter to that effect... I would believe them and move on.

But they didn't.

They had an opportunity to undertake damage limitation and failed by leaving it on the tv. Sorry to hear of this bad experience

I find it so sad that a thread like this even has to exist. I apologize in behalf of the straight community, and assure that not all of us are narrow.

This is still such a touchy subject. Many people do not really understand Gay culture or issues.

My hats off to the CD. She did not know the Two were a fraud. 2 or 3 years ago two men would have never been allowed on the show. So we have made great strides in acceptance.

These two men were crude no doubt.

But many gays promote a negative stereo type with bad behavior too.

I would have been insulted too had I witnessed this show. My hope is that although it was disrespectful....perhaps it also educated some.

The CD told us after the show he was glad we didn’t go up as he would not know what questions to ask us, we agreed.

I have never seen the Love and Marriage show so maybe I'm missing something, but what kind of questions to they ask that the CD wouldn't know what to ask a gay couple??

As for this particular incident, I think the best thing to do is to notify management. You never know what you're going to get on a cruise ship and - just like walking downtown - so you never know who's going to be accepting and who is going to be an *****.

But I think it would be appropriate to send word of the incident to the shore-side management. Maybe with a link to this thread. I'm sure RCI isn't going to worry about a few gay folks upset over a small incident on one of their ships, but as a company that markets to the LGBT community through gay charters, they should know when something happens that might affect their standing within that community.