Cruise passengers, at least some of them, seem to care more than they should about what other people are wearing.
Fretting over what other people wear to dinner has become fairly common. That's because Carnival Cruise Line's dress code calls for men not to wear shorts and T-shirts in the main dining room or in specialty restaurants.
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That dress code, however, almost never gets enforced. The cruise line might turn away someone wearing a bathing suit or a tank top, but even those incidents are rare.
The reality is that it's difficult for Carnival's crew to deny people entry to restaurants. Those situations lead to loud and angry passengers who slow down the line to enter the dining room.
It's much easier to overlook a man wearing shorts than it is to deny him access to the main dining room. But that, of course, leads some to passengers to grumble that they miss the days when people dressed up for dinner.
The main dining room, of course, is not the only place on board where Carnival Cruise line passengers take issue with the dress code. Some passengers also manage to work up outrage over people wearing skimpy bathing suits on the pool deck,
In that case, Carnival simply won't get involved unless someone literally exposes body parts that the cruise line's rules require to be covered. Short of a woman taking her top off, the cruise line isn't going to step in.
When it comes to what people wear off the ship, Carnival can only inform its passengers what the local rules are. It can't make them obey them and it has no ability to help them if they get in trouble with local authorities.
Image source: Carnival Corporation.
Carnival tries to warn its passengers
Before stopping at any port, the captain will make announcements about local rules. Before a stop in Mexico, for example, the captain will repeatedly warn customers that vaping in public places is illegal there.
In many cities in the Bahamas, camouflage clothing is not legal. That's something Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald addressed in a recent Facebook post.
"Having just replied to a gentleman his 'anger.' about being told to return to the ship in Nassau, Bahamas I felt it best to remind everybody that there are some places that absolutely do not allow camouflage clothing, military style camouflage clothing, to be worn there," he shared.
Heald made clear that Carnival has no say over local laws.
"These are the Island’s rules and we have absolutely no control over them," he added.
While many Americans consider camouflage clothing a fashion statement, parts of the world view it very differently.
"Currently, 18 countries regulate camouflage patterns and clothing, making wearing it illegal," according to World Population Review.
"Most of the Caribbean island nations have restricted its use. Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados. Also, the Hispania islands of Dominica and Jamaica have banned the print outside the military. The Leeward Islands of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad, and Tobago have made it illegal to wear camouflage."
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The Bahamas have outlawed camouflage to prevent public confusion of civilians with the military.
Wearing it when you leave the ship puts you at risk of a fine or even imprisonment.
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Carnival passengers are and are not sympathetic
Most of the responses to Heald's post blamed the passenger for not knowing the rule, given that the cruise line makes every effort to share it.
"If the guy knowingly wore camo when it's clearly known that it's forbidden in some islands that is his own fault and not yours! But he's obviously one of those people who blame everyone else for his ignorance. You should have let him get arrested by the police on the island. Would have served him right," Jennifer Silverwood Young wrote.
Others saw the issue in a similar light.
"American entitlement at its finest. It's funnier if you remain entitled and get arrested in these other countries. Sometimes these entitled adult children need a wake-up call and/or discipline their parents didn't provide," Lisa Anne Speer said.
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And some more sympathetic people also responded.
"I’m sure it was embarrassing for him. That’s probably the cause of his anger. I didn’t know this until recently and I cruise a LOT. A lot of people don’t get on their phones or other devices and seek out information. There’s very little printed info available anymore. Maybe Carnival could put this on those large signs before exiting the ship to save guests the embarrassment of being turned back," posted Billy Lynn Beasley Ammons.
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