Earlier yesterday, a gay charter cruise operated by RSVP Vacations on board Holland America Line’s ms. Nieuw Amsterdam was denied docking in Casbalanca, Morocco.
Before arriving in Casbalcanca, the Nieuw Amsterdam received a message from the local port authority claiming that they would not be allowed to dock, even though they had previously acquired permission to do so. Local authorities cited that the visit of a gay cruise ship had turned into a public and controversial matter.
Now here’s the confusing part. Morocco’s Tourism Minister, Lahcen Haddad, is denying that the ship was denied docking even though local authorities made it very clear that the ship was not allowed to dock. Haddad later said in an interview, “we don’t ban cruise ships here and we never ask our visitors about their sexual preferences…” He also stated that future gay charters would be allowed to dock in any Moroccan port.
The Nieuw Amsterdam later docked in Malaga, Spain, continuing its
Recently, gay cruises have become a very controversial matter. Many times, cruise ships that are operating gay charters are turned away at the port due to protests from locals with the most recent “turn away” in Grand Cayman in 2010.
So what do you think? Does the port authority have the right to turn away a cruise ship based on the type of charter? Who do you believe is telling the truth, the port authority or Haddad? Let me know in the comment section below.
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Header image: Holland America Line
5 replies on “Gay Charter Cruise Turned Away From Moroccan Port”
A country can turn away anyone they like for whatever reason they say… there is no equality. However turning away a gay cruise ship is pretty dumb as this group usually has a lot of disposable inncome and enjoys spending it. So economically the country lost out not only on the cruise passengers but on future tourism opportunities from this population.
I believe the port authority. HAL wouldn’t just not dock and sadly I can see this coming from Morocco. So Mikey you have asked us for our views on it, whats yours?
I believe that the port authority is telling the truth and I also believe that a country/port authority holds the right to turn away any ship for any reason. I don’t think it’s a very good idea though because of the loss of revenue and bad press.
Sounds to me like someone made an ill informed decision, then when it came time for accountability, the bureaucrats started passing the buck instead of allowing the passengers to spend their bucks, I agree Rindy.
I was a passenger on this cruise, and I can tell you that we were all very disappointed, but I’m sure would have been more disappointed if something bad would have happened as a result of our visit to Morocco. The ship’s captain announced over the PA system at 7am the details of all that had happened, and Holland America Cruise Line and RSVP both worked with Malaga to get a new port of call in less than 2 hours. I can tell you that they did indeed turn us away, granted they said it was for our safety, which I appreciate, but none the less, many of us booked this cruise because of that specific port of call. Had I known this would happen, I would have booked another cruise that was leaving out next week to the Greek Isles, also chartered by RSVP.
All in all, even though many of us were upset by the news, I for one would go on another all-gay cruise, definitely if it was on a Holland America Cruise Ship, in a heartbeat.