Oh My: Cruise Staff Dress Up As “Upside Down Snow Cones”

I don’t usually cover cruises much here at OMAAT, but I simply can’t get over this…

P&O Cruises staff dress up as… KKK members?

P&O Cruises is an Australian cruise line that’s part of Carnival Corporation. The cruise line is now getting quite a bit of publicity for a very bad reason. During a December 2024 cruise, staff on one of the company’s ships had a Christmas-themed event. During this, eight of the ship’s cleaners paraded in front of passengers dressed as… umm…

Well, according to the cruise line, they were dressed as “upside down snow cones.” They were wearing all-white outfits, including pointed hoods covering their faces, with little holes for their eyes.

In the video footage of staff parading on the deck dressed like this, you can see the shock on the faces of many passengers, given the uncanny resemblance to the outfits of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

P&O Cruises apologizes for incident, sort of

P&O Cruises has apologized for this incident… in a way. The company has apologized “if a recent incident on a Pacific Explorer cruise offended any guests.”

As P&O Cruises’ communications director explained, “c’mon… don’t… no one can seriously think that was their intention, our housekeeping crew were dressed as snow cones.” She went on to explain that “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.”

The company also emphasized that crew are from different cultures, and had never heard of the KKK before.

Look, I completely believe that the cruise staff didn’t realize what they were doing, and this wasn’t their intention. But what shocks me is that not a single person who saw these “costumes” prior to them stepping into public voiced concerns.

Presumably they got those “hoods” from somewhere, and were all trying them on before going into public. No one — not a single person — thought “hmmm, that doesn’t quite look right?”

Also, even if they had no clue about the KKK, these are some of the worst “costumes” I’ve ever seen. I mean, on what planet does this look like an “upside down snow cone?” If you ask me, don’t bother with a parade, if this is what the costumes are going to be like. This certainly doesn’t instill much confidence in the professionalism of this operation.

Bottom line

During a December 2024 cruise in Australia, ship staff were seen participating in a Christmas parade, dressed as “upside down snow cones.” I 100% trust this wasn’t the intention of the hardworking housekeeping staff, but I’m just surprised that not a single staff member who saw this decided to voice concerns.

What do you make of this P&O Cruises Christmas parade?