Passengers on a P&O cruise were left shocked when members of the ship crew seemingly dressed up in KKK attire for an event.
But a spokeswoman for P&O Cruises Australia said the staff did not mean any offence and had dressed up as “snow cones”.
The group were housekeepers competing in a Christmas-themed event aboard the Pacific Explorer.
A spokesperson for P&O Cruises Australia claimed that staff “had no idea” and were “horrified” that the outfits resembled the KKK uniform.
Communications director Lynne Scrivens claims that the staff was simply dressing up and didn’t have a lot of materials for “fancy dress.”
“They’ve got to make do with what they’ve got. And they were wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve put something on their head that looks like a snow cone – an upside-down snow cone.”
“They were only in public view for a short time before management acted quickly and had them remove the costumes,” the P&O Cruises Australia spokesperson added. “The crew members were horrified and extremely apologetic when they learned of the distress their outfits could cause. We sincerely apologise for any offence this caused passengers and the broader community.”
Since then, the Cruise Lone apologized, “P&O Cruises Australia acknowledges an incident of inappropriate dress onboard Pacific Explorer has caused distress and wish to be clear this was not the intention of crew,”
