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Monday, 19 March 2007 17:00
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Travel Agent Calls it “Blatant Discrimination”
Hundreds of 'Bears' May Lose Vacation
By Norm Kent,
Publisher
For the second time in less than three months, Norwegian Cruise Lines has canceled a gay cruise involving a ‘Bears’ group.
As defined in Wiklpedia, ‘Bears’ are usually mature gay men with hairy bodies and facial hair, most of whom happen to be heavy set.
“This is discrimination based on appearance; on sizeism….almost like you are too ugly to go on a cruise. That is totally unjust.” says Paul Stalbaum, a popular and well known Fort Lauderdale, Florida based travel agent.
“Norwegian representatives were happy for our business, took our deposit, and welcomed us with open arms,” Stalbaum stated, who booked the tour for Chumley’s Bear Cruises in June of 2006.
“Chumley'sBearCruises have been running for years very successfully without incident,” stated Mark ‘Chumley’ Singer, 45, event producer and host of Chumley’sBearCruises.
Singer, a founding member of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, objected strenuously to the cancellation. “This is a clear error,” he protested, “we market to, and host guests of amazing quality and demeanor,” stated Pennsylvania based Singer, who has worked as an event producer with such non profits as the Philadelphia Skyline Project and Equality Forum. “How dare they put down our clientèle.”
The cancellation by Norwegian came without warning to Stalbaum or Singer. “On our October 2006 cruise we enthusiastically announced our 2007 sailing would be on the Norwegian Pearl in October of 2007. The guys were so excited that we accepted deposits on the spot, with NCL’s full blessing,” Stalbaum noted.
It is customary in the cruise industry to book a cruise for a large group at least one year in advance.
 DannyBoy Studios
Singer noted however that since beginning to offer large group sailings for the bear community, “Chumley’s has had an increasing number of imitators, groups which do not meet our standards.”
Stalbaum became concerned however later in November when he learned Norwegian was canceling a separate sail for another travel agency involving Bear cruises. As a precaution to insure the integrity of his sail, Stalbaum met with Norwegian Cruise Lines District Sales Manager, Barbara Cimmarusti, to make clear that the two groups had different styles of operation as well as a different client base.
By the end of the meeting, Cimmarusti reassured Stalbaum that their Bears cruise “was good to go.” In fact, it was even agreed that Norwegian Cruise Lines would split the cost of advertising the trip through Bear magazines and Bear specific promotional material.
 Mark Chumley Singer
The cruise reservations increased to the point that on February 28, 2007, Stalbaum went back to Cimmarusti one more time, seeking 35 more cabins.
“We received an instant confirmation to add more guests,” he noted. “Everything was a go,” he added.
Meanwhile, Daniel L. Farkas, the Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of NCL authored a March 1, 2007 letter to Stalbaum canceling the entire space being held by his travel agency.
“I came into my office last Thursday, routinely opened the mail, and there was this unbelievable letter,” Stalbaum remarked.
The terse two paragraph letter accuses Stalbaum’s Bear Group of misbehavior on recent Princess and Royal Caribbean sailing cruises, and advises that Norwegian was therefore unilaterally canceling all the booking space previously reserved for the October, 2007 cruise. Said Stalbaum: “This is going to be devastating to our clients. This is an annual trip everyone looks forward to.”
Said Stalbaum: “This is going to be devastating to our clients. This is an annual trip everyone looks forward to.”
In his letter, Farkas writes that the “same Bear group has disrupted normal cruise operations and the overall enjoyment of their fellow passengers” on other cruise ships. “Accordingly,” he added, “we are canceling the space currently being held by your agency.”
Stated Russell Cormican, a Fort Lauderdale attorney consulted by Stalbaum regarding a civil action against Norwegian: “On one hand it is a case of breach of contract. In another sense, detrimental reliance, that so many passengers relied on the booking for their vacation. But in a greater sense, it appears to be transparent discrimination against a particular segment of the gay and lesbian community.”
 Paul Stalbaum
Singer was equally aggravated. “Our Bear community is respectable. We are very comfortable assimilating with mainstream cruise passengers. We feel or see no need to sequester ourselves in any way. There is no basis for canceling our valid agreements,” he stated remarking that one group on one cruise ship has nothing to do with a separate group on another ship.
“We are being wrongly accused, and will not accept that simple ignorance of the facts is a basis for bad business practice or worse outright discrimination, “ Singer concluded.
Stalbaum attempts to patch things with NCL have not met with success.
Farkas, who authored the cancellation letter, will neither meet with them or take their calls. It is the same tack NCL employed in the November cancellation of another Bears group.
Added Stalbaum and Singer: “NCL has known for months we were booking a Bears group and our group was separate from any other. Farkas is being deceitful to say otherwise. In any case, what we have is NCL canceling yet another Bears cruise.”
The end result of the cancellation by Norwegian Cruise Lines is to force Universal Travel to find another accommodating carrier.
“It may be impossible to do that at this late date,” says Stalbaum, who is feverishly working to secure space with another cruise ship.
National Gay News. Com will continue to develop this story line as events unfold.
(Updated March 19th, 2007 5:00PM)
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