New Carnival Dress Code Bans Clothes With Offensive, Hateful Messages

(8:46 a.m. EST) -- A new Carnival Cruise Line dress code forbidding clothing with offensive, racist and obscene messages is drawing praise from the company's customers, as well as concerns about how it will be enforced.

The guidelines, which were discussed in a

Facebook post

by brand ambassador John Heald, has led to more than 1,000 comments and more than 23,000 votes in an online poll. So far, 97 percent of the respondents have said they support the new measures.

The dress code, spelled out in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the line's website says: "All guests are expected to ensure their clothing and accessories are respectful to fellow guests. Specifically, items worn during the cruise should not contain any message that may be considered offensive or contain nudity, profanity, sexual innuendo/suggestions. In addition, clothing/accessories should not promote negative ethnic or racial commentary, or hatred or violence in any form."

Many people on CruiseCritic's message boards say they favor the change.

"I like the new policy especially in regard to profanity or sexual innuendo," said momof3cruisers. "Little kids don't need to be seeing that. But I have a hard time believing anything will be done."

Joe817 agreed. "I, for one, hope their new policy is effective. I cringed every time I saw someone with a profanity-bearing T-shirt."

However, some think it's unnecessary.

"I really can't believe Carnival is doing this," said lottiegreen56. "There are so many other offensive things that people do that are a much bigger deal than 'bad' words on a shirt. Will the next step be warning then confining people to their rooms for wearing too much perfume/cologne?"

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said the policy is meant to create a welcoming environment for passengers. "We want to make sure that all of our guests feel comfortable when cruising with us, and that includes being around guests wearing clothing with inappropriate images or language."

He said if passengers wear clothes with inappropriate messages, they'll be asked to change. "We will evaluate situations on a case by case basis and take appropriate steps as necessary."