The Indian company representing Royal Caribbean International has defended the behaviour of travellers aboard the luxurious cruise ship, 'Voyager of the Seas', after reports in the Australian media of unruly behaviour by employees of an Indian tobacco-based product company.
The ship's capacity of just over 3,000 people, 1,300 were reportedly employees of an Indian company, Kamla Pasand Pan Masala, who joined the ship in Sydney.
Ratna Chadha, CEO of Tirun Travel Marketing, told the Times of India, “Some Australians complained of wild partying by the Indian group," shortly after leaving the port of Sydney.
"The Indian group was appropriately dressed and did not create any nuisance. The pool area was shut down after the mandated time. Even if the Indian group created a nuisance, why didn’t the Australians complain to the authorities on the ship itself?”
Ms Chadda says it seems only six Australians had an issue.
"The ship is always at liberty to take control of the situations if these are not in sync with the guest conduct policy. But there was no action required as the group was within the ship’s mandate. Over the 3,900 passengers on the ship, it seems that only six Australians had an issue," she told the Times of India.
A tweet from the Tirun Travels said, “Post Voyager of the Seas' three-night sailing on September 6th, we received feedback from a handful of our guests regarding our client’s group’s activities onboard, and we were able to provide them with a satisfactory solution.”
The cruise company has reportedly refunded the disgruntled passengers.
News of the alleged exploits of around 1,300 Kamla Pasand employees left many Indians angry on social media. Others defended them saying they were just having a good time.
The incident came into light when some Australian passengers shared their experiences of a cruise holiday with the Nine Network's A Current Affair.
According to the complaining passengers, more than 1000 men, who were reportedly employees of Indian tobacco company and maker of Kamla Pasand Pan Masala, took over the decks, bars and pools of the lavish Voyager of the Seas.
One of the passengers, a resident of western Sydney, Cassandra Riini told A Current Affair, “It was almost like a huge bucks party – a bucks night for 1200 people. Their doors would be open, and you would walk past and be like what am I going to be looking at when I walk past this door?”
Many Indians have expressed their anger over the behaviour of their fellow Indians. A twitter use Viresh said:
