Carnival ships will have new dress code according to the company.
South Florida Sun Sentinel (12/28/2019) A new ban on clothing that might be considered “offensive” has frequent Carnival Cruise Lines travelers wondering who gets to decide what the word means.
Carnival’s announcement this month of the new ban has triggered a debate over the difficulty of regulating speech in an era when society is more divided than ever, socially and politically, and discourse seems to have no bounds. It also raised questions about whether the ban is even enforceable and whether it infringes on free speech rights.
Carnival’s brand ambassador and senior cruise director, John Heald, revealed the addition to Carnival’s dress code on his popular Facebook page, saying it was added to the FAQ section of Carnival’s website “in the past few days.”
The new section reads: “All guests are expected to ensure their clothing and accessories are respectful to fellow guests. 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.”
Asked what prompted the change, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said it resulted “after some incidents were reported in the media about other travel sectors where customers were wearing clothing with very threatening messages.”
Among competing cruise lines, websites of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian include no policies regarding offensive or respectful messages or attire. Disney Cruise Line asks guests to avoid wearing T-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics to its adults-only onboard restaurants. During nights in which guests are encouraged to wear costumes, Disney asks them to choose ones that are “family friendly, not obstructive, objectionable, offensive or violent.”
In an example of Heald’s social media reach, 23,500 followers responded to a poll he posted asking whether they agree with the policy.
A decisive majority — 93 percent — of respondents said they agreed.
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