An Italian couple has filed a provocative lawsuit seeking damages from a cruise that took them from Italy to Spain. After setting sail, the couple found out that they were on the “Revuelta” (“Revolution”) cruise for gay couples. They insist that it was a breach of their agreement not to inform them of the “theme” of the cruise while others are charging that they are homophobic.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.The mate was a mighty sailing man,
the skipper brave and sure.
The couple shelled out $4,500 for a cruise, which was Italy’s first all-gay cruise. There are even facebook sites for the cruise, here. They complain that the cruise had a series of “gay-themed” events and parties. However, Alessio De Giorgio, one of the organizers insisted “[t]his is a clear case of homophobia. Nothing scandalous happened. It’s a clear example of how prevalent homophobia is in this country.”
Here is a video from the cruise:
A breach of contract or an act of homophobia. What do you think?
For the full story, click here.
i agree with everyone on this. One error: it was an LGBT cruise, so lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people were invited, as well as gay men.
You can never trust those third-party deals; I’m sure we’ve all seen them on the internet.
Some snippets from the original article
“Organisers insist the three-day cruise featured no scenes of excess.
…
They had booked the holiday using loyalty points from a supermarket.
Buit when they arrived at the port, they found the ship surrounded by TV crews covering the ‘Revuelta gay cruise’ – Italy’s first all homosexual cruise.
…
‘My clients were also left embarrassed because among the passengers were people they knew and had no idea that were gay, which was uncomfortable for all parties.’ ”
Well that’s a whole other ball a wax right there.
1st – who says people would only complain about scenes of excess? I feel sorry for the middle aged wife in this situation. Maybe she was looking forward to meeting some other middle aged wives to hang out with. I certainly wouldn’t be excited about being the only female on the cruise. I don’t think lesbians would be too happy about it either – if they wanted to hang out with other lesbians and there was only gay men on board.
2nd – Awww. They used grocery store points!? Way to go, grocery store! And apparently this gay cruise was the big premiere gay cruise, so it’s not like the ticketing agent couldn’t keep track of all the gay cruises they offer. Seems like if it was a loyalty point thing, there was no ticket agent with a ‘personal stake’ here – In my experience these third party bonus type things are always trouble. Company A makes the deal with Company B and thier loyalties lie with each other and not with the customer who is the recipient of the goods or services. That would explain why nobody just gave these people thier money back in order to keep happy customers.
3rd – Geez, If I was one of the previously not-known-to-be-gay passengers and my neighbor Melvin and the Missus show up being not-gay on MY 1st gay cruise, I’d encourage Melvin’s lawsuit. Do they let just any ol’ hetersexual on a gay cruise? Would they let Fred Phelps and his minions on a gay cruise? Jeez, I hope not. Would they have to let Phelps on if he wanted?
I’m reminded at my confusion over the outrage of Disney’s acknowledgement of ‘Gay Days’. It’s a public accomodation and Disney couldn’t place people at the entrances keeping out “those people” even if it wanted to. It can’t throw people out of the park because, gasp, the wrong people held hands or made a wrong (but not obscene) gesture.
So it comes down to a very simple question. Does it turn a corporate blind eye to letting people know that they might not have the Disney experience they’ve been saving for for years? Or does it quickly reveal what it knows and then catch heat from social conservatives because it “isn’t doing enough” to prevent ‘Gay Days’? Even though there’s not much it can do anyway. No matter what it does a lot of people will be upset.
In this particular situation I think it’s entirely reasonable to be upset yet not homophobic. As others said there are plenty of speciality cruises that are perfectly fine but not our cups of tea. If the agent knows this (and the speciality cruises are usually advertised as such) then the agent should let the clients know that without prompting.
Was it an act of homophobia? I don’t know. I do know that there might be some cruises that I’d be unlikely to enjoy if I had made reservations on them without knowing that there was a special cruise “theme” that might not suit my personal taste–e.g., A Friends of FOX News Cruise or a Fundamentalist Bible Reading Cruise or a Fans of Reality Shows Cruise.
This is a case of the script being flipped.
If it was a gay couple on a romantic cruise that didn’t make allowances for gay pairings in their themes and events then there would most likely be several gay rights groups rattling their sabers right now.
“Imagine” they might say, “this loving couple forced to sit out of events and parties while ON VACATION because the cruise didn’t cater to their sexual orientation.” I think that it wouldn’t be long before someone would call the cruise managers homophobic.
The travel agency should have disclosed that it was a themed cruise, the couple is understandably upset just like a gay couple might be offended at being sent on a cruise themed for newly weds.
JT,
“A breach of contract or an act of homophobia. What do you think?”
Why couldn’t it be both?
Well almost everyone had a Gay Old Time. In reality I think that this was the first Gay Theme song:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByFDVwiQq8&hl=en&fs=1&]
isn’t it incumbent upon the buyer to check the fine print? Although if I was selling tickets and knew the couple was straight I might mention it, but one could assume the ticket agent might think they knew. I say too bad and enjoy the cruise. Didn’t they have some clue when they were boarding?
How would the gays feel if they thought they were booked on a gay cruise that turned out to be a hetro cruise? Probably the way I’d feel if I booked on a retired person’s cruise and discovered it was a teen cruise. Nothing wrong with it, but not mt thing.