What happens when 1300 Indian men get on board a cruise ship? Madness, debauchery and bad behaviour are answers that you’ll get from other vacationers onboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas who were unfortunate enough to join this group for a 3-night sail from Singapore to Sydney.
Image Author: Amnesiac86
As per Newsweek, over a thousand employees of Kamla Pasand, an Indian edible tobacco company went amok taking over the pool decks, buffets, and bars of the cruise ship in September. They even brought onboard burlesque dancers, who starred in parties on deck. Nothing surprising if this was a go-go bar in Bangkok, but this is a family-friendly cruise we are talking about.
Speaking of families, it is reported that some of these men also harassed other guest and filmed young girls on their mobile phones. Other shenanigans include drinking, complete disregard for cruise policy by bringing over tonnes of their own food. Ah, well.
Naturally, other passengers on board were not happy with this behaviour. Families were forced to stay inside their rooms to ensure that they would be safe from this rummaging mob.
These folks ended up becoming major party poopers in other ways too. Popular cruise ship staples such as Bingo nights and Trivia nights were canceled as there were not too many takers.
Passengers were up in arms about how could Royal Caribbean not inform them about the group booking on what is essentially a family boat. The situation got so bad that Royal Caribbean in the end, had to offer refunds to passengers. And we are not talking a few, but two-thirds of the ship, like 2,600 of them.
Bottomline
Time and time again, we see folks behaving improperly, be it in airports or in this, case a cruise ship. While we can blame it on the cruise company for displaying poor judgment by accepting this large booking, in the end, it is up to the people onboard to maintain decency and decorum. I think it is high time Indian companies started imparting sensitivity training to their employees heading abroad, given that they turn up unprepared a lot of times, and bring the rest of us a bad name.
What do you think about this incident? I would be abhorred had I been on board. Oopsie!
Well, what do you expect from Indians, that’s how they behave everywhere.
While cruise company has its own share of fault, it was definitely much more for the 1300 strong group to feel they “owned” the ship and hence can do anything. Leaves a bad impression on all of us. Sad ☹️ and avoidable. Also cruise company should in such cases ensure they designate a separate area irrespective of whom it was. Even most other communities would have created issues for others by sheer size of group.
Any large corporate retreat has such things, regardless of the nationality! Try visiting Riga or Budapest once! Has happened to me when i experienced a large western advisory firm creating all sorts of chaos in a hotel I had put up in. The reception immediately moved me to a higher floor, away from the group! Perhaps this type of firefighting is taught in hospitality 101! I fail to understand how can one blame the organising company or the employees in this case. If anyone is to be blamed, its the cruise company who accepted the booking and did not inform the other guests. Or maybe should have better trained people to manage the group by cordoning off some area! They just managed to ruin the holiday for 2600 guests on board, and publicly shame a corporate house in India!
It feels so bad by reading this , all 2600 of them whenever will come across any indian will look down on us.
That’s Wolf of Wall Street level partying for an entire firm like theirs. Guess these folks just weren’t prepared for what they got themselves into.
So true..
This is how Indians behave. Can’t expect much better from them
And the Brit’s and Americans don’t??
Ridiculous comment
you would be “abhorred”? Why? Perhaps you meant appalled?