Carnival Cruise Lines won’t allow ‘cougar cruise’

MIAMI — Apparently cougars put on more of a party than the Fun Ships can handle.

Carnival Cruise Lines has turned away a singles
group that promotes cruises and other social events for cougars and
cubs — older women and younger men who, um, court each other.

Nearly 300 cougars and cubs sailed on a “very successful” group cruise onboard the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation in December 2009, according to Rich Gosse, executive producer of CougarEvents.com and chairman of The Society of Single Professionals.

But when the group’s travel agent, SinglesTravelCompany.com, tried to arrange another Carnival trip, the Miami cruise line said no way.

“We have decided not to have any future groups on our ships booked on this theme,” Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said.

De la Cruz insisted that “there were not any
particular issues on board” during the December cougar cruise, which
was put together by the singles’ travel agent, not the cruise line.
“However, we simply made the business decision not to have future
groups book on this theme.”

Stewart Chiron, a Miami
cruise expert and chief executive of CruiseGuy.com, figures cougar
cruises simply don’t fit Carnival’s family image. The line markets
itself around the idea of “fun,” and has shed the hard-partying image
of early days.

“Carnival has distanced itself from being Spring Break USA,” Chiron said.

The first International Cougar Cruise included a
group cocktail party before dinner each night, help hooking up for
shore excursions, and “the requisite hot tub party, of course,” said
Gosse, who is based in San Rafael, Calif.

The cougar theme may not make it on Carnival, but it
has turned up in TV shows, the movies and gossip columns, signaling
that cougars are hot. ABC is promoting its sitcom “Cougar Town,” which debuted last September and is set on Florida’s West Coast, with T-shirts saying “40 is the new 20.” New York Yankees’ star Alex Rodriguez, who is 34, was linked to Madonna, who is 51, and actor Ashton Kutcher married actress Demi Moore in 2005, when he was 27 and she was 42. Matt Damon’s character wooed a cougar — played by Ellen Barkin — in “Ocean’s Thirteen.” Indeed, Gosse noted that more younger men
signed up for the December trip on Carnival than older women.

He admits being a bit bewildered that Carnival would
turn away business, but said he had no trouble finding other cruise
lines to welcome the group. “It’s fine with us. Other cruise lines are
delighted to have our business — especially in this economy.”

SinglesTravelCompany.com is booking accommodations for a Mexican Riviera cruise May 16-23 on Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of the Seas from Los Angeles.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said her Miami-based
company had no qualms accepting the group booking. “We assume this
group will follow our guest conduct policy just like any other guests,”
she said. “We have no reason to think otherwise.”

Norwegian Cruise Line hasn’t balked, either. The cougar group is booking cabins on the Norwegian Sky for a three-day Bahamas cruise from Miami in December.

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