RSVP Vacations is being sued by Bel Ami and several of its models for hiring them for a cruise and then dumping them in godforsaken Tunisia.
According to court documents filed in California, nearly a dozen Slavic Bel Ami porn stars were hired by RSVP to “mix and mingle” with passengers on a gay cruise through the Mediterranean. Bel Ami maintains the models were told to keep the fact RSVP hired them on the down-low, “suggesting that the young men should lie and say the cruise was a ‘reward from Bel Ami for their hard work’ if anyone asked.” In exchange for providing the talent, RSVP told Bel Ami it could film the models frolicking non-sexually around the ship.
But rumors started circling before the boat even left port and, when the boys attracted too much attention, RSVP allegedly kicked them off the Nieuw Amsterdam, stranding them in Tunisia.
At the time, Tunisia was in the aftermath of the tumultuous civil uprising that became known as the Arab Spring; an uprising so powerful that it led to the removal of long-time President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The protests constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia in three decades and resulted in scores of deaths and injuries.
With RSVP supposedly holding their passports and belongings hostage, the models had no choice but to comply. Ironically, the Nieuw Amsterdam was just one day away from Italy, an EU member nation that would have allowed them to easily return home to Hungary and the Czech Republic.
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Instead they spent a sleepless night in Tunisia, with no contacts, no resources and unable to speak the language.
Bel Ami and the models are suing RSVP and Holland America cruise line for breach of contract, fraud, intentional interference with contract, negligence, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
This isn’t the first trouble RSVP has had in the Muslim world: Just a few weeks ago, a planned excursion to Morocco was canceled for reasons that remain unclear.
Source: GayPornGossip.com (NSFW). Photos QueerMeNow (NSFW)
scott ny'er
whoa. if that is true… that’s effed up. And so not an ally, much less what I considered a gay-owned co. should be doing.
sfbeast
whatever the guys were supposedly doing, they didn’t deserve to be abandoned in a muslim country where they could have been arrested or murdered for being gay. there is something very wrong going on here.
Triple S
This is a question for those that know;
In your experience, do you find most pornographic actors to be incredibly stupid and untalented? I know that’s the stereotype, but is it true? Cause there are plenty of smart actors in the limelight in Hollywood and such.
Surely that means that there would be smart porno actors, right? And this extends to straight, not just gay porn (although we all know which is better)
Thankyou very much 🙂
S
Bel Ami models are gay? Ha ha!
There’s obviously something more going on from the RSVP perspective. Wonder if Bel Ami let some of their “non-sexual” filming veer toward the sexual, and RSVP didn’t want that Dominica cruise ship experience.
Chris
@S: I don’t know why you think it is “obvious” that something else was going on .and NOTHING that could have been going on would require them to discharge passengers in Tunisia, when they could have left them off in Italy the next day. Read a more complete report.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47853.htm
Gigi
@Triple S
Is that a serious question? In all walks of life and in every profession you’ll find people who are considered smart and others who are considered stupid. My brother is a perfect example of this. He is a very accomplished and talented trial lawyer but, were you to meet him at a social event, you’d think he was one of the stupidest people on the planet. A total boor, no social graces and no ability to converse about anything other than golf. I believe it’s a stereotype that all good looking people, be they porn stars of anything else, are less intelligent. From my own experience I know a few men – four in total – who were porn actors and three of the four were very smart. Does that mean that 75% of porn actors are smart? No. But it doesn’t mean they’re all stupid either.
hf2hvit
@Triple S: And how many have you actually KNOWN to be making this kind of judgement???
Gyorgy
They said in the article Slavic Bel Ami porn star and later say “to easily return home to Hungary and the Czech Republic.”
Hungary not a Slavic country! Can somebody tell the writer of this article to correct this!
Jimmy Bobby
Wish I was on that cruise. Those guys would have been a riot.
Are they smart/stupid? Who knows. Stereotypes are just that.
the other Greg
I saw this wonky PBS show where journalists were discussing what NOT to do in news media.
One funny thing that came up was, they said you should never use the word “godforsaken” to describe anyplace.
It’s “unverifiable.” Technically, if you’re a journalist, you’re supposed to interview God to find out if he’s really “forsaken” the place. (Real journalists apparently take this stuff way too literally!)
Tough to do in this case because (a) God probably doesn’t exist and (b) if he does, would he really bother with a phone call from Dan Avery?
Henry Holland
@the other Greg:
C’mon Greg, God is omnipotent and omniscient, She can handle a phone call from Dan while smiting people and causing earthquakes and floods and out of control fires at the same time. She’s the original multi-tasker!
Joe
Oh let’s not play innocent here. It’s unbecoming. You know these ‘straight’ boys are gay for pay. They were probably hounded by all the passengers for sex. I am sure some of the passengers even offered some ‘sugar’ for some fun. They were probably stranded for engaging in business endeavors not approved of by the cruise line.
Cam
Look, WHATEVER the issue was, you don’t leave a bunch of gay porn actors in a country where being gay is illegal.
DouggSeven
Can we stop calling porn actors – models and just call them porn actors?
the other Greg
@Henry Holland: Great, can you get her phone number and send it to Dan? That would be an awesome Queerty scoop!
Lifer
Ok, so yeah, the porn stars were probably behaving like porn stars because that’s what you get when you decide to hire porn stars. So, why the f*** did RSVP decide to hire porn stars (high profile ones at that) to begin with?
Kurt
I think the section below from Courthouse News gives a hint to the rest of the story. I’m guessing this Entertainment Manager did not clear this with his bosses. They must have found out and raised holy hell.
“RSVP’s entertainment manager contacted Bel Ami, the producer of gay erotic movies, and requested that Bel Ami arrange for a group of its models to attend the cruise. However, the entertainment manager requested that the young men ‘not discuss with anyone including other representatives of RSVP or Atlantis Events ([its] parent company), that [RSVP] provided them with free cabins”
Callum
RSVP is, of course, owned by Atlantis Events, the SAME company that recently threw two gay men off a different cruise ship into the arms of a homophobic prosecution in the Caribbean. This is perhaps a gay owned company that should be exposed and blockaded by the gay community.
Aquarelle
@Callum: God you’re a moron. Atlantis didn’t “throw” anybody into “the arms of a homophobic prosecution in the Caribbean.” Two IDIOTS broke local laws by HAVING SEX IN PUBLIC, and got a SLAP ON THE WRIST for it.
And honey, I know you that in your head you’re Joan Collins in Dynasty, but in real life, not everything is some huge drama.
Aquarelle
@Cam: Another moron. You don’t get arrested in Tunisia for “being” homosexual; you go to jail for engaging in sodomy. These boys would’ve only gone to jail if they (a) had gay sex, (b) got caught, and (c) encountered an especially vicious prosecutor. Which means that, unlike what hysterical drama queens like you enjoy thinking, these kids weren’t in any immediate danger.
B
No. 17 · Kurt wrote,”I think the section below from Courthouse News gives a hint to the rest of the story. I’m guessing this Entertainment Manager did not clear this with his bosses. They must have found out and raised holy hell.”
In which case the appropriate response would have been to fire the entertainment manager and get the actors/models/whatever back home safely and with their legitimate expenses covered.
Chelsea
Those cute boys deserve a ride home.
Spike
There is more of this story to come, when the passenger return and give person experiences, much the two Palm Springs guys fucking on their balcony, who claimed they weren’t only, played the guy card then finally came clean when their were undeniable pics. I’m guessing not only were these guys turning tricks, RSVP tends toward and older clients then Atlantis, but they probably had party favors for sale as well. Cruise ships all abide by the same policy, any passenger/crew found to be doing anything deemed illegal, your off at the next port, deal with it. BTW, it’s up to the Captain, your not in the US where you are innocent until proven guilty.
B
No. 20 · Aquarelle wrote, “@Cam: …. Which means that, unlike what hysterical drama queens like you enjoy thinking, these kids weren’t in any immediate danger.”
They were dumped in a country that was in the aftermath of civil unrest, without visas, and possibly without sufficient cash if the deal was that all their expenses would be covered while on board the ship. Being dumped in a country in the aftermath of the most civil unrest in decades without visas doesn’t exactly sound safe to me – they could easily have been arrested for that reason alone.
The claim is that RSVP ‘”marooned them in an Islamic country in crisis,” without visas, without means of return or the ability to speak the local language.’ (from the http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47853.htm link Chris provided above). Given their line of “work”, and the likely publicity as to why they were booted off the ship, they would have a concern about being stranded in an Islamic country, if only due to the general level of homophobia and being easily recognized – there were probably not very many Europeans in Tunisia at the time due to the preceding civil unrest. Also, they had to sit on the curb for hours while visas were being obtained and were getting kind of hungry. When they got home, their friends started kidding them about it, possibly speculating on the reason they were thrown off the ship. It was very shabby treatment.
Unless there is a lot more to the story that shows the situation was quite different than described, I wouldn’t show the defendants any sympathy if I were on the jury.
Aquarelle
@B: The language of “Islamic country” and “civil unrest” are clearly being used by the lawyers are scary words to make the kids’ situation seem worse than it was. The “civil unrest” was over, and it was never violent to begin with; it was a series of peaceful demonstrations! This wasn’t Syria or Lybia. And as for the boys “getting hungry” and “being teased” — AYFKM?
This is hardly the gays-thrown-to-the-homophobic-wolves some people would like to think.
Chris-MI
There doesn’t seem to be any coherent account out there of what they could have been doing that would be so odious that RSVP would throw them off the ship. I doubt if it was prostitution–most of these guys are straight and Bel Ami fires models who get caught escorting.
One story I heard was that they were filming without permission, but the Bel Ami complaint makes it very clear that they did have limited permission to film. It’s been suggested that they were filming porno without permission and also that they were letting passengers give them their drink tickets. I’ve been at professional society dinners where non-drinkers gave me their drink tickets, so I guess I’d be in trouble on a cruise.
Bob
If it is true I hope they sue the speedos off RSVP and get their own cruise ship.
sillytee
boohoo. doe s anyone care?
David Jarrett
Whatever happened on the RSVP cruise ship, to force the young guys to leave in Tunisia, a Muslim country where they hate gays, is simply outrageous. I hope they win a huge legal settlement from RSVP, which puts them out of business. In any event, because of this event, I will never take an RSVP cruise!!!!!!!! And I will pass the word on. There are plenty of competing gay cruises, which are now available.
sdartnut
“Look, WHATEVER the issue was, you don’t leave a bunch of gay porn actors in a country where being gay is illegal.”
If you don’t agree with what RSVP did then don’t book their cruises.
Isail7cs
I spent a few days in Souse Tunisia and found the place to be quite Liberal with the booze flowing and so should most of the coastal port towns. Has anyone ruled out that these cute hunks might have tried to parlay this cruise experience into one where they could make some side money and it is that behavior that created the problem?
Spike
“With RSVP supposedly holding their passports and belongings hostage, the models had no choice but to comply.”
NEWS FLASH QUEERTY: RSVP is a US based travel company that charters cruise ships, they have no authority to request/hold anyone’s passport, the Cruise line on the other hand, does. Your insinuation and continued war on Atlantis/RSVP is apparent, I’m guessing it has everything to do with their not advertising on your website. Just saying.
jayboy
Way, way too dangerous! If it’s true, the gay community needs to take this company to task. Don’t like now, people, but people get killed in friendlier places…
jayboy
@jayboy: It’s supposed to be “don’t look now…” Sorry… JB
Aquarelle
@jayboy: Please, Jayboy, tell me what danger these boys were in? Or do you simply think that being surrounded by Muslims means that a white boy will get his head cut off?
I really love these articles about foreign countries because of how they highlight how incredibly fucking ignorant you undereducated queens can really be.
What did you expect from Atlantis RSVP
Atlantis owns RSVP. As in drug dealer enabling (at a minimum) Atlantis. As how many dead bodies Atlantis. As in who cares what kind of damage we do to the people their open and obvious repeated drug dealers crap all over Atlantis. As in visit and empower anti-gay regimes Atlantis.
Atlantis RSVP is a very bad actor preying on our community and inviting others to do so.
As far as dropping porn actors in Tunisia. That’s par for the course for Atlantis. If the actors were engaged in bad behavior and there’s no evidence this group was, the proper procedure is to call law enforcement. In the country of initial embarquement.
A better question is what were the actors doing on the boat in the first place. Was there a special profit to Atlantis? Was this disclosed to the customers?
JT
Those twinks were abandoned!
MikeyM
I’ve heard that RSVP does this to actually get people to come on board. People would much rather go on an Atlantis Cruise.
Houston Bill
@Cam: Why should Atlantis/RSVP treat Gay Porn stars any differently than its Gay customers? Seriously, they’ve been scheduling cruises to anti-Gay countries for a while now. They’re going to RUSSIA (!) in two weeks.
Derek Washington
Tunisia is not Godforsaken.
Houston Bill
@Spike: Nah, Spike, its just that Atlantis/RSVP can’t seem to hold one friggin cruise without an unnatural death, a botched port call, a massive drug bust, shockingly bad customer service, or having its’ passengers engage in behavior detrimental to the Gay communities in the nations they visit.
They’re going to Russia in two weeks. Completely disregarding the safety of their passengers, official warnings from western governments, and the wishes of the local LGBT community.
They’ll be hosting their Pacific Cruise this fall out of Long Beach. My prediction….massive amounts of drugged out twirlers, a few medical problems resulting from overdosing…It wont be the Love Boat IMHO…It’ll be the Drug Tug.
Why would Atlantis advertise on Queerty? I would think Treasure Island Media would be more its’ style.
Mike Sangster
I am quite shocked that this cruise ship line would leave anyone that was on board any of their ships in such a place as muslim Tunisia! Especially supposedly gay male strippers! In such countries homosexuals and even suspected homosexuals are not only imprisoned but put to death! Shame on RSVP! I guess this supposedly gay company is one I will have to boycott and make sure I pass on this information on to all my gay friends so they too will boycott such a homophobic company!
Aquarelle
@Mike Sangster: Right. Because all Muslim countries are exactly the same. I hope you know you’re a huge fucking moron.
Aquarelle
@Houston Bill: For Chrissake, nothing happened to these people! They were returned home safe and sound the day after. They weren’t chased down the casbah by scimitar-wielding men shouting “In the name of Allah, off with the fagg0ts’ heads!”
Houston Bill
@Aquarelle: Ignore.
Chris
What’s worse: the damage to RSVP/Atlantis’ reputation for hiring pornstars, or the damage to the RSVP/Atlantis’s reputation for forcing them off the ship in a muslim country? I would argue the second…by a mile!
Chris-MI
Leaving aside the question of whether spending a night in Tunisia is actually all that dangerous and whether being teased by your friends is actually all that bad, they still thousands of dollars getting back to Prague, plus they lost whatever income Bel Ami planned to get from the video footage, plus they had to pay the models and staff and got nothing out of it. But the most important thing though is the implied accusation that Bel Ami models are so wild and crazy that they need to be ejected from a cruise. Bel Ami goes to great lengths to present their guys as wholesome and sweet. This is why I’m still waiting for someone to say out loud what horrible stuff they were actually doing. If this bothers you, the correct answer is not “don’t book their cruises.” The correct answer is “laugh while Bel Ami sues their disorganized behinds off.”
Spike
@Houston Bill: Ah Houston Bill, still angry and bitter just a little bit?
For someone who advocates that taking an Atlantis/RSVP cruise, you sure seem to know A LOT about their upcoming cruises. Just a little obsessed with Atlantis are you? BTW, love how with a few broad generalizations and conclusions you make out the company and anyone who has ever gone on a cruise with them worse to the Westboro Baptist Church folks! Watched much Fox News by chance?
As for your prediction regarding the fall cruise out of Long Beach and all the drugged out twilers, twilers? Twilers? OK, I’ll just go with it. I’m sure if someone so much as looses their luggage or throws up from too many tequila shots, Queerty will be reporting on it.
And what is this about Treasure Island Media? A preference/obsession of yours maybe?
Aquarelle
@Houston Bill: Oooh, burn. I’m being ignored by one of Queerty’s most notorious xenophobes. Get over yourself, asshole.
Jim
This incident actually happened last summer. Here’s a comment I tracked down back when the rumors of this began surfacing:
“August 2, 2011 at 1:36 pm
They were filming w/o permission from Holland America, were asked to stop and continued anyway.
Yes, they were filming in the Hydotherapy Pool, a porno in fact. When word got to the Captain about them taking peoples Roomcards (LAME) in the bars and charging up rounds of drinks on them, he had enough. They are lucky they were not stuck in a hole in the bottom of the boat to await International Maritime Law Charges. RSVP had nothing to do with them being there or their departure. But knowing our gracious hosts, most likely they helped them get home though safely.”
http://thesword.com/report-bel-ami-models-booted-from-mediterranean-cruise-stranded-in-tunisia.html#comment-23615
Chuck Caldwell
If this story is true I would be shocked at RSVP. I would like to hear their
story and their side posted directly. I have taken 5 cruises with them and they have been completely stellar !
James
@Triple S: in my personal experience i have founnd thatPorn actors are about 50/50 split on the smart scale. The same as most people. Personaly i preffer the smart ones ehe.
Chris-MI
@Jim: Unlikely this guy knows what he is talking about. The lawsuit states quite clearly that BA had permission to film non-porn scenes and that the crew members were given discounted cabins. If that’s not true then the lawsuit is a waste of time. I don’t think the BA lawyers would make that mistake.
Jim
@Chris-MI, you obviously haven’t read a lot of lawsuits. :o) This is just the plaintiffs’ complaint, about as one-sided, truth-stretching and crucial fact-omitting account as you’re ever going to see.
The defendants have yet to file a reply (I just just checked on PACER). When they do I guarantee you you’ll see a FAR different version of events.
What did you expect from Atlantis RSVP
@Jim: If that’s the case, I restate my question: “What were they doing on the boat in the first place?” If true, were the customers reimbursed?
B
No. 25 · Aquarelle wrote, “@B: The language of “Islamic country” and “civil unrest” are clearly being used by the lawyers are scary words to make the kids’ situation seem worse than it was. The “civil unrest” was over, and it was never violent to begin with; it was a series of peaceful demonstrations! This wasn’t Syria or Lybia. And as for the boys “getting hungry” and “being teased” — AYFKM?”
I’m not kidding you about them getting hungry or being questioned by their friends at home – that was in the article I cited (thanks to Greg finding it). I merely stated what their claims were.
While the “civil unrest” may have been over, it would be incredibly naive to assume that the government wasn’t a tad paranoid about anything out of the ordinary, nor that publicity about them being gay porn actors/models might have made them unpopular with some of the locals (certainly not all) given Muslim taboos regarding homosexuality – unpopular enough for their to be a real risk.
Regarding No. 30 where sdartnut wrote, “If you don’t agree with what RSVP did then don’t book their cruises.” …. the issue is breech of contract or bait and switch. I would not have any sympathy for RSVP unless the facts are significantly different than presented.
Example: I once purchased a meal, a pay-in-advance brunch, at a restaurant in a national park. Some jerk decided to ignore the concession’s contractual requirement to provide service to all members of the public and ordered us to leave. I told them that we had just arrived, hadn’t eaten anything, and wanted either the meal we paid for or a refund. They said to leave anyway but after some arguing we got them to let us stay but we got zero service. By the time I was done with them, this guy’s boss’ boss was trying to explain to the park superintendent why the park service was getting questions from a member of congress. They tried to lie their way out of it, which didn’t work, and I ended up with a full refund. Too bad I didn’t get to see what went on their performance review after the boss was embarrassed.
Jim
@What did you expect from Atlantis RSVP: I don’t know first hand the answer to your first question. But if I were to guess, it sounds like RSVP had some unsold cabins on their 2011 Med cruise, and decided that giving some Bel Ami boys free cabins would generate some good buzz and PR, as opposed to just letting those rooms go waste.
As to your second question, now that is interesting; I just checked the complaint and sure enough, they are NOT asking for air fare or any other such expenses as damages. They are asking for $500K for damage to reputation, an unspecified amount for emotional distress, and “not less than’ $1 mil in general punitive damages. No mention of any air fare or any other out-of-pocket expenses. I can tell you that lawyers LOVE putting these sorts of incidental damages in wherever and whenever they can, so their absence in this complaint strongly suggests to me they had their air fare and incidental expenses compensated somehow.
Chris-MI
@Jim: Well I have read a few, but I’m not a lawyer. The thing is that it states pretty clearly in there that they had written permission to film, and if they can’t produce that then the result is that bane of all lawyerdom, the annoyed judge.
Anyhow I had a hunch, and lo, if I didn’t find this:
RSVP reserves the right to (1) cancel the trip at any time prior to departure and refund all monies in full settlement of its obligations, and (2) decline to accept or retain any person as a member of the trip.
…and this
By making your reservation and agreeing to utilize the services and accommodations of RSVP and Supplier, you agree that neither RSVP nor Supplier, nor their affiliates, agents, principals, employees, or representatives shall be liable for any loss, injury, or damage to you or your belongings, or otherwise in connection with any accommodations, transportation, or your RSVP trip, or for trip cancellations, delays, changes in itinerary or schedule, or other services whether or not resulting directly or indirectly from any occurrence beyond their control, including without limitation, Acts of God, breakdown of the Vessel, hostilities, blockades, labor conflicts, strikes aboard ship or on land, war, fire, collision, arrest, order or restraint by governmental authorities or others, acts of terrorism, civil commotions, weather conditions and considerations of safety of the Vessel, or other circumstances.
In other words, they can’t sue ’em for the cost of airfare back to Prague, nor, technically, can they sue ’em for booting the hotties off their boat. They are suing them for making Bel Ami look like a bunch of wild party animals and breaching the business contract.
Jim
@Chris-MI: 1) They may not have had “written” permission to film. The “contract” was negotiated by phone and email; if the disputed filming promise was by phone then we got a he-said-she-said situation, basically an oral contract.
2) In any case, let me ask you all this: Does anyone here seriously believe Bel Ami would send half a dozen of it’s models AND a professional film crew on a gay cruise, just to shoot a “documentary?” In other words, who here thinks they were NOT shooting a full-on porno in the Hydrotherapy Pool? If you do, let me know as I have a bridge you may be interested in …
BTW, I’ve been on HA ships before. The Hydrotherapy Pool is in the Spa area, walled off by opaque glass walls and thus very private. You can’t see in, and in fact the door to it is usually locked (you need to sign up at the Spa to use it), although occasionally I recall the door being open by accident. So throw into the mix they may not even were supposed to be there in the first place, on top of shooting a porno … well, needless to say, the (I’m assuming) Holland America staffer who walked in on that must have been less than pleased …
3) Throw in committing fraud by stealing another passenger’s room key to buy rounds of drinks, and yep, it’s off the ship you go.
4) You can sue anyone for anything, regardless of any contract term like you just quoted. And that’s what’s happening in this case.
B
No. 58 · Chris-MI ‘In other words, they can’t sue ‘em for the cost of airfare back to Prague, nor, technically, can they sue ‘em for booting the hotties off their boat.’
Don’t be so sure. What you quoted was the normal agreement this company makes with passengers. In this case, the Bel Ami guys were apparently asked to be there by RSVP. If so, their agreement may be quite different – they were acting as contractors. Booting them would be roughly equivalent to taking an employee working on the ship, firing him, and dropping him off at some random port and telling him to make his own arrangements to get home (assuming that is what happened). Even if RSVP paid for the flights, without a visa, they’d still have to go though some unknown process to get to the airport.
Nobody’s posted the contract they had, so a lot of important information is missing.
Chris-MI
@Jim: The contract clearly states (7:5) that they had written permission to film.
As far as whether Bel Ami would send the models out and not film a porno, you’re right, it does not sound right. Everyone on the ship thought they were filming a porno, and of course they all wanted to find it so they could watch. But on the other hand if they were told not to film a porno, and agreed not to film a porno, I don’t think they would be dumb enough to try filming a porno. They’re competent businesspeople, no matter what you think of porn.
The room key story comes from the same guy who says “they were filming without Holland America’s permission” which I do not believe to be true. They may very well have been filming *porn* without permission, but as I said before, they would be taking an awful risk to claim they had written permission to film if they can’t pull it out when the judge asks for it. And I’m pretty sure “Hi I am Bel Ami model! Give to me free drink card and maybe I unlock stateroom door after I am very drunk!” would be enough to get some passengers to hand over their room keys.
We’ll read the response together, should be fun stuff.
Houston Bill
@Spike: No. TMI is another awful company operating in our community.
Houston Bill
@Aquarelle: Ignore.
Jim
@Chris-MI: Yeah I see there was some writing involved, but the word “porno” doesn’t seem to be used, instead it’s “not disrupt, cause offense, or inconvenience other cruise guests or Holland America staff” which may translate to the same thing.
“I don’t think they would be dumb enough to try filming a porno.” I wouldn’t be so sure. That’s like saying “I can’t believe two passengers would be dumb enough to publicly lie about not having balcony sex, when they could have been easily photographed having balcony sex” and I’m sure we all recall how well that theory worked out.
In any case, yes I agree the replies should be fun. There will probably be two filed, one from RSVP and one from Holland America.
JD
Regarding the stop in Tunisia, did they stop there just to let the BelAmi boys off? Or was this a port of call for the entire ship?
I have no doubt they were trying to film sex scenes. Bel Ami doesn’t make documentaries. It also sounds like they were staging photoshoots, not just snapping pics, and I’m sure it caused a scene.
Jim
@JD: It was the first port of call on Day 2 of the cruise. Which should tell you how badly they must have pissed off ship security in a very short amount of time for that to happen.
Houston Bill
@JD: Oh, yes, Atlantis/RSVP stopped in Tunisia. Just like they stopped in Grenada, Dominica, St Lucia, and Barbados. And tried to go to Morrocco this year. And will be funnelling boatloads of cash to Russia in 2 weeks. That’s if Atlantis is allowed to land there.
Chris-MI
@JD: Actually Bel Ami films lots of documentaries. They tend to be about boys in various states of dress and undress frolicking around on beaches, in nature preserves and at historical sites, but not on cruise ships I guess. The boys inevitably end up being chased by baboons, falling out of trees, and ripped off by the locals. Afterwards everyone goes back to the room and cheers up with an orgy, but that’s typically a separate film.
Toby
In reply to “Triple s,” as someone who did porn when in my late teens and early 20s and enjoyed it,I would answer no. The models are certainly not all stupid and untalented. I have an MA in history and am now a college professor and magazine editor. I know of others with similar credentials. Regarding this horrendous episode with RSVP cruises. it really doesn’t matter what the boys did or didn’t do – NOTHING short of trying to sink the ship would justify forcing them off in a Muslim country that was in the middle of a revolution. RSVP and Holland America acted in an appallingly irresponsible manner and richly merit the heaviest of damage suits.
andy_d
Based on an experience I had on an RSVP cruise years ago in the Greek Islands – ship on, literally, its last cruise, travelers on the lowest decks being inundated with the stench from bilge, poor cruise staff service, poor quality food and, most importantly, RSVP’s attitude summed up best as (IMO) “we don’t give a f### about your complaints,” it’s not wonder that I have never sailed on an RSVP cruise since and have no plans to do so anytime in the future.
Therefore, I am not surprised at their RSVP’s (Bel Ami models being told to keep the fact RSVP hired them on the down-low and dumping them in Tunisia when the truth came out – if this is indeed the case.)
In addition to the above, I have found that the major cruise lines – including Holland America (HAL) – are very gay friendly (one year there were TWENTY-EIGHT of us meeting each evening in the Crow’s Nest lounge on a HAL ship), but their fares are much more reasonable and there is considerably less attitude among the gay cruisers.
It’s a shame that Bel-Ami feels that Holland America is liable for actions that appear to have been taken by RSVP on its own. Either they may not be aware of HAL’s commitment to its GLBT cruisers or could they be looking at “deep pockets?”
What did you expect from Atlantis RSVP
@Jim: That’s a good response but I’m not concerned with porn stars. If the allegation is that these porn stars were “rolling” or ripping off Atlantis’ customers, AFTER BEING INVITED ON THE BOAT BY ATLANTIS, did Atlantis do anything to either protect and compensate their own customers? I’m not asking if they got a free cruise because some trash (according to the allegation) charged some drinks. Im asking if Atlantis, if the claim is that the porn stars were engaged in theft of their customers charges or worse, provided any direct compensation to their own customers because it was Atlantis’ fault the alleged theives were on the boat in the first place. Did RSVP/ Atlantis, assuming what is reported as the cause these porn stars were tossed off, do ANYTHING for their own customers which were damaged by Atlantis’ own decision to invite these people on board to begin with.
The argument doesn’t make sense or makes Atlantis look worse. I dont think simply replacing the money for those, again assuming the story of why they were tossed off in the first place is true, who were able to catch the alleged thieves is anywhere near close to what a responsible company would do. So the cruise line may or may not have reimbursed Atlantis’ clients who were stolen from because Atlantis invited thieves on board. Or did Atlantis give any compensation to its customers? Or is it something else?
Jim
@What did you expect from Atlantis RSVP: Oh, ok I misunderstood. Good question. And the answer is I don’t know, obviously. But I notice, you, the lawsuit and others here keep making the same mistake: You keep saying “RSVP” when you mean to say “Holland America” or “RSVP and/or Holland America”.
Keep in mind there are three distinct parties here, Bel Ami, RSVP and Holland America. There are many areas of this lawsuit I call bullshit on, for example, RSVP throwing them off the ship. Bullshit. Holland America and the captain makes those sorts of calls, not RSVP. The lawsuit is very sloppy in not making these distinctions.
As far as compensation the passengers who had bills run up on their cards by rascally twink porn stars, RSVP would actually be out of the loop on that one too. The ship (HA) would make that call, and if I had to speculate I’d say I’m 99.99% sure they would have removed those charges when the scam was discovered. And hopefully stuck them on the Bel Ami tab where they belonged. They have the power to do that, so it’s difficult to imagine why they wouldn’t.
Houston Bill
So much about this just doesn’t make sense.
All I know is that Atlantis/RSVP is being irresponsible IHMO for scheduling trips to anti-Gay countries and for publically minimizing the impact of criminalization statutes as applied to local LGBT communities. That’s my big issue with Atlantis/RSVP. I’m not a fan of the drugs on the boat either.
As far as to the reasons why Bel-Ami was on the boat in the first place, and how they got kicked off the boat, the following would be my question.
Why is Bel-Ami suing in this case? If they were booted off the boat for hustling/theft (as has been alluded to/speculated by some in here – I have no idea as to the veracity of those claims), then I don’t see why they would be suing anyone. It looks like they are initiating legal action. This seems to point to some other issue here. Such as some sort of legal agreement between RSVP and Bel-Ami. Or to an onboard disagreement about services to be performed by the actors. Obviously, they did SOMETHING to get booted off the boat.
The court documents could get quite interesting.
Quite frankly, I think that if they were stealing from customers, then whomever (even if it was Atlantis) booted them off the boat did the correct thing IMHO. That doesn’t mean that Atlantis/RSVP was correct to schedule a cruise to Tunisia in the first place. Or to bring them on the boat in the first place without vetting them properly. In the Eastern Med, you can dock in Israel and Turkey and avoid the EU regulations.
In Atlantis’ favor, I do note that they only have two “illegal to be Gay” destinations in their future plans (Singapore and St Kitts). Much better than the 5 nations this year. And Singapore’s law is (unlike Morrocco’s, St Lucia’s, Barbados’, Grenada’s, Russia’s, and Dominica’s) really is not enforced. Baby steps, I suppose.
We will see how the visit from Atlantis to Russia proceeds in about 2 weeks. Here’s hoping they figure out some way to cancel/substitute for that stop. I hear Oslo is quite beautiful in Summer. And…its also not in the EU.
kennetho9322
I would have “gotten OFF” with all of them! (Snicker!)
Didaskalos
Did anyone else besides me have like a whole little narrative unroll in their head about GAY TOM CRUISE hiring a bunch of porn stars and leaving them sexually frustrated? I thought, WOW, he’s totally gone John Travolta on us after leaving Kate!
—Didaskalos
Larry Jenkins
@B: THANK YOU for having a very literate response to Aquarelle who is obviously an Islamist or apologist for the Muslim faith. In addition, he sounds like a representative for RSVP. I hope that Bel-Ami wins a fortune for the models that were abandoned in such an unenlightened Country. The experience sounds like it was a pure horror. Perhaps David Decoteau will make the models’ story the basis for one of his future films! Aquarelle needs to cool her jets. She sounds like someone one would automatically exclude from any social function one would host. I wouldn’t want to have a beer with her.
B
No. 59 · Jim asked, “2) In any case, let me ask you all this: Does anyone here seriously believe Bel Ami would send half a dozen of it’s models AND a professional film crew on a gay cruise, just to shoot a ‘documentary?'”
I don’t know if I’d call it a documentary, but they could certainly film some models having fun on a gay cruise and use it for promotional reasons or as part of some porn with the sexual activity filmed in Bel Ami’s facilities, not on the ship.
Porn companies sometimes send actors/models to various street fairs (e.g., the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco) so that people can get their pictures taken with the actors/models. It’s done in the hope that the visitors will subsequently buy the videos. It is possible that Bel Ami liked the idea of these guys going on a cruise ship for that reason – so that other passengers would buy videos of the guys they met after the trip ended.
So, yes, I can imagine several business-related reasons for sending these guys on a cruise ship other than actually filming pornography while on board the ship. It would be more attractive to Bel Ami if RSVP had agreed to provide free rooms and food for the models, and appropriate use of facilities, as a way of entertaining passengers – kind of a win-win for both companies if it had gone smoothly.
Aside from that, I’ve no idea what the actual reason was, but it will probably come out if there is not an out of court settlement.
Kenster999
Coming soon from Bel Ami: “Rocking The Boat”
Scene 1, exterior: 11 boys find themselves stranded at the docks in a foreign country, with no money and no ID.
A strapping young police officer, in tight pants and short-sleeved shirt, approaches.
Officer: “You boys will have to come with me…”
BryanC
@Aquarelle: So this wasn’t an Islamic country?
Spike
@Houston Bill: Still ranting about Atlantis are you, gawd you are worse then a right wing evangelical conservative republican with regard to gay marriage and abortion! If you don’t like where Atlantis and RSVP go, then don’t go on one. If you think there is a market for a gay cruise that stops at only the most gay friendly PC correct ports, then start your own damn charter. Do you always get in everyone’s business and tell them what they should and shouldn’t do? You remind me of the chihuahua lady at the dog park, short and fat and wears a bad wig, she brings in 6 chihuahuas, never picks up any of their poop and every new person at the park that engages her in conversation immediately regrets it.
EvonCook
Personally, I think Bel Ami boys should be provided on EVERY cruise. And, yes, I would give them my room key to charge a drink. Further, Islamic countries, Muslim countries (where there is usually a lot of very nice dl cock to be had. Usually you just ask for the “big banana”) and others would have people who would very much appreciate the beautiful Bel Ami boy look. These guys could have walked away pashas or caliphs or dungeon slaves. Don’t care if they are gay for pay, if they make movies, or are dumb or brilliant –Bel Ami certainly does its job well and makes a darn good product. And Bel Ami boys are welcome to visit anytime and I’ll treat.
Heh
Gotta love how the people defending these two corrupt cruise lines compare OTHER people to Republicans, when they’re the ones shrieking about how the victims in Dominica were “having sex, SEX!!!!11!” on a hookup cruise.
Morons.
Houston Bill
@Spike: Listen, when a company that represents itself as part of the Gay community engages in financial decisions that affirm or support nations that treat their local LGBT communities extremely badly, it is a legitimate subject for discussion.
With regards to Russia…the LGBT community in Russia has asked all tourists (including Atlantis) to stay away from St Petersburg. The Canadian foreign ministry issued a formal travel warning to Gay men regarding St Petersburg, the US and EU have condemned St Petersburg’s treatment of Gays there, and a 800,000 person organization has called for a boycott. A boycott that will be violated…by a friggin’ Gay company (!).
Atlantis’ comments belittling the impact of criminalization and discrimination statutes show a staggering lack of respect for the LGBT communities they visit.
Furthermore, Atlantis keeps landing in the news…for all the wrong reasons. Most of their bad news coverage could be stopped if they did three simple things. 1) Stop funnelling cash to anti-Gay countries 2) Perform some minimal policing of their boat in order to get rid of the most obvious druggies and dealers (I’m talking about obvious here) and 3) Stop defending the indefensible (criminalization of Gay men) in public statements. If they continue to ignore us, that’s their business. But everytime their apparent refusal to heed these three common sense requests that we would expect from any responsible member of our community results in predictable results (overdosings, drug dealer busts, arrests, cancelled port calls, etc.), some of us are going to point out that the bad result was, IMHO, the proximate result of Atlantis’ irresponsible decisions.
You might not be aware of the situation in Russia, but lots of people are.
Ron
Hope they stick it to RSVP, they are very arrogant, as well as their parent company, Atlantis!
Darklady
@S: I know a lot of porn stars; gay, straight, bi, trans, and kinky. Some are pretty dull average. They don’t tend to last long for a lot of reasons. Some are fabulously intelligent, fun-loving, hard-working, productive, and just plain great folks. Some are putting themselves through college and are hoping that having spent a year or so as a sex worker won’t be used to discriminate against them later.
Here in Portland we have several performers who have retired to live here. They’re all people I look forward to spending time with, especially the amazingly artistically gifted Tyger Hudson. He’s beautiful, has a heart of pure gold with a deep spirit to go with it, and an education in psychology. He’s a painter, a photographer, a model, and even makes some artistic furnishings!
Just because some people are beautiful doesn’t mean they’re stupid.
Darklady
@DouggSeven: Why? Some people in porn perform in videos and some just model. Most do both.
B
Re No. 76 · Larry Jenkins wrote, “@B: THANK YOU for having a very literate response to Aquarelle who is obviously an Islamist or apologist for the Muslim faith.”
Thanks but it would have been more literate if there wasn’t a typo where I somehow typed “their” when I meant “there”!
BTW, I’ve visited an Islamic country, not in the Middle East, and people were really pretty nice. Interestingly, some seemed to distinguish “religious people” from others, so I imagine that a lot of people put in an appearance at the local mosque once a week but don’t let their religion interfere very much with their lives. It is just like many church-goers do in the U.S. where “the wife” drags her husband to church to impress the neighbors, and the husband tries to not make his dozing off not too obvious to everyone else. The problem is not the average person, but the relatively small number of fanatics, who of course make the most noise.
B
Re No. 50 · Jim wrote, “This incident actually happened last summer. Here’s a comment I tracked down back when the rumors of this began surfacing: ‘August 2, 2011 at 1:36 pm
They were filming w/o permission from Holland America, …'”
I checked your link – the text you quoted was there, but it was an unsubstantiated comment that some random person had made with no citations to back it up. One person responding thought the person posting it must have worked for RSVP. I’ll decline to speculate on that, but do not consider the claim in that comment to be credible.
At this point, we don’t know why they were kicked off the boat.
Spike
@Houston Bill: HA HA HA, you are just like the evangelicals that call for boycotts of companies and/or products they have never heard of and/or have never purchased themselves. Your rants about Atlantis/RSVP are amusing and I would love to see you down on the pier while one of their cruises boarding, you’d be as sad as the Westboro Baptist Church people and their God Hates Fags signs. Your projections and desperate need to force everyone to abide by your limited opinion alone. Thousands of gays will continue to choose gay cruises as their vacation of choice, travel the world, party until dawn, some responsibly, some not so much, makes you crazy doesn’t it?
Jim
@B: Yet common sense tells us the reasons they got kicked off a cruise on Day 1, ejected on Day 2 has to be something FAR more serious than alleged in their complaint. So, Bel Ami is clearly either lying and/or covering something up.
The comment seemed to be the first hand account of a passenger. It certainly would supply the missing reasons, all of which are plausible.
In any case, the defendants have 30 days to respond, from the initial filing date of June 26th. So in about a week we’ll get to hear what Holland America has to say. That should be interesting.
Spike
Should have known, a simple Google search reveals that this so called incident occurred in early 2011, of course no mention of that ANYWHERE in the Queerty post.
This is ‘news’ now only because these porn boys are now suing R.SVP. Lets see, early 2011 to, err July 2012. Guess when you are getting fucked up the ass for pay both on and off camera and on a regular basis, it’s hard to get around to filing lawsuits in a timely manner.
Note to self, when reading a Queerty post, as it pertain to RSVP/Atlantis, always Google before assuming that the post is anywhere remotely connected to the facts.
Note to Houston Bill, why weren’t you ranting about this when it happened, back in early 2011?
Global Traveler
I’m confused. Was Tunisia a scheduled port of call? and if so, WHY????
I’m also annoyed by companies that cater to gay clientele and then hire ostensibly straight people to do jobs that any one of a number of unemployed gay men or women could do, i.e. when gay bars hire only straight bartenders. Surely there are plenty of cute gay porn actors that they could have hired.
Yes, I realize that it’s discriminatory. But there are many places that won’t hire you because you’re gay. The few places where that is an advantage should at least give you a chance.
mikeandrewsdantescove
Never a dull moment between RSVP and Atlantis (Couple Arrested for Having Sex on Their Balcony). Never should anyone be left in a country without resources or speaking the native language. The models will sue and win.
Allen A
http://moveamountain13.blogspot.com/2012/05/model-allen.html
Houston Bill
How much money should we give to Russia, Spike
the other Greg
@Global Traveler: “I’m confused. Was Tunisia a scheduled port of call? and if so, WHY????”
Don’t be silly, they probably just wanted to see the Carthaginian and Roman ruins, in between meth and X binges.
G
Couldn’t they just have had them stay in their rooms that extra day??
Spike
@Houston Bill: “Since 1992, USAID has provided more than $2.6 billion toward Russia’s social and economic development.”
I’ll let you do the math as far as how much it works out yearly. BTW, have you ever heard of Google?
Did you have a point?
Kayo
@S: I am sure some of the models are gay, and the ones who may not be are amazing actors.
Leo
Once again making money is more inportant the people lives. Shame on them all.
B
No. 89 · Jim wrote, “@B: Yet common sense tells us the reasons they got kicked off a cruise on Day 1, ejected on Day 2 has to be something FAR more serious than alleged in their complaint. So, Bel Ami is clearly either lying and/or covering something up. The comment seemed to be the first hand account of a passenger. It certainly would supply the missing reasons, all of which are plausible.”
The problem with your statement is that there is no indication, even in the link you provided, that this was the first-hand account of a passenger as to what actually happened. It might reflect rumors running around the ship, which were distorted as rumors often are after passing through several individuals.
Also, it is not clear that Bel Ami is lying or covering something up. What’s equally possible is that some low level “genius” came up with a marketing ploy and brought in some Bel Ami models. Then upper management got wind of it and sent an order to get those guys off the boat, possibly not realizing that they would be ejected in Tunisia instead of before the cruise started.
Spike
Or equally possible is that a bunch of porn boys who are use to getting paid for sex, openly prostituted themselves and the passengers found that offensive. Given Queerty just copy/pasted and filled in their own facts and failed to mention that this this happened in early 2011, the only thing that is certain is that Queerty was success in leading you into the continued Atlantis/RSVP bashing.
B
No. 100 · Spike wrote, “Or equally possible is that a bunch of porn boys who are use to getting paid for sex, openly prostituted themselves and the passengers found that offensive. Given Queerty just copy/pasted and filled in their own facts and failed to mention that this this happened in early 2011, the only thing that is certain is that Queerty was success in leading you into the continued Atlantis/RSVP bashing.”
Given Spike’s wording this seems to be a response to No 99.
Actually, what is very possible is that Spike didn’t understand what he was responding to, nor can he explain the lack of any statements from passengers that they had complained or even that they had been propositioned. Also, while others bashed Atlantis/RSVP, I didn’t: I just said they deserved to be sued if what was reported so far was the whole story.
BTW, http://gayporngossip.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/BelAmi-vs-RSVP.pdf has a copy of the court documents filed on behalf of Bel Ami and its models. It refers to both written and oral agreements between RSVP and Bel Ami, and the written agreements will presumably be used as evidence in a trial.
I might also point out that there were apparently rumors of a porn shoot – probably speculation by some passengers. If those rumors were being spread around, possibly a crew member heard them, and it got relayed to management as a fact.
jimbo324
…so much for the illusion of an allegedly glamorous and fun-filled life of porn stars!
jimbo324
@DouggSeven: Stop calling them actors altogether! they’re porn stars- acting requires talents other than getting on all fours or rolling over- my dog can do that!
B
No. 103 · jimbo324 wrote, “@DouggSeven: Stop calling them actors altogether! they’re porn stars- acting requires talents other than getting on all fours or rolling over- my dog can do that!”
The problem is that only some of them are “stars”. If you call them models, the real models will object and if you call them actor the real actors will object. But you have to call them something, and just about everything is already taken.
Of course, some people who do porn probably are actors or models and may just figure that it pays better than being a waiter until they get “discovered”.
matt
Unbelievable! Yet I believe it. How utterly reprehensible of this non-ally company…rsvp vacations. I think we should all boycott and put them out of business. I don’t look at bel ami, but, I am familiar with the name. They are not corrupt and sleazy to me. I think rsvp should be out of business. Have a nice day everyone…straight gay queer trans…peace
matt
@Toby: I want to say thanks…to the man who said he has a ma a degree of greatness something to be proud of …and he has acted in porn gay porn. I don’t like the snobbery the rather insensitive comments about the models, who are HUMAN,not having much sense to you. Well, first of all many do. And secondly if they don’t ….they are still human. And, people sure enjoy their videos. I think we should appreciate the humanity of these guys (that’s probably never been said?),and be against companies that say they cater to our community and , although there is nothing wrong with a company making money….uhh I guess they haha frown on the money these buff masculine early 20’s guys make?…well, there is nothing wrong with a conservative typical cruise line making mega money, and off of us, gay people, ….but they had better have more effing respect for young adult models or any human beings next time. I would love to see the boys lawsuit victorious.
paul T.
I’m going to second the motion to applaud the dude with the Masters who did gay porn!!!!
It didn’t mess him up.
He took the easy cash and now is living a productive live.
I don’t know if it’s because of good parents or just an internal will to thrive.
And why do people like Eric Rhodes go in the exact opposite direction when given the same opportunities and temptations.
I don’t know if it’s nature or nurture or just freaking random,
Seriously
1) To the people saying gay travel should stop going to countries with anti-gay laws —– ummmm, using this “RULE” until recently gay travel couldn’t even travel to places in the US let alone in other parts pf the world. Read some of the local laws in this country in the last decade… Bottom line unless our community (of every gender and belief) get their own damn island somewhere in the world and never left it — most of the time when you get on an airplane you could be going to an anti-gay destination.
2) Do a little google search about the attorney of record. He’s one of the lawyers in the internet entrapment scandal. Adult film companies upload a movie to a file share program. People grab the file. They grab the IP address and then the lawyer sends a nice letter offering a closed settlement payout to the copyright holder (and a nice commission for the lawyer) which some might call blackmail or take you to court where they will tell the world that ‘you’ were watching porno x,y,z.
I have been on many gay charters with many companies and many straight cruises as well. I have seen both gay passengers and straight on cruises be removed. For a person to get kicked off a ship that person has to have done some pretty major rule breaking (caught doing drugs, assaulting another passenger, behavior that put the boat or other passengers at risk, public sex etc) not just because word got out their were pornstars onboard. A couple of my best friends from ship board cruising are adult film stars.
There will be more to this story — just wonder if the blogs that cut down this travel company will ever bother to report the less dramatic truth.
B
No. 107 · paul T. wrote, “I’m going to second the motion to applaud the dude with the Masters who did gay porn!!!! It didn’t mess him up. He took the easy cash and now is living a productive live.”
Someone once introduced me to a guy who did some gay porn, and he said that it was not very sexual – I’d imagine as a result of all the distractions due to filming and direction. Also, besides all the heat from the lights, they’d want to move the cameras to different positions or change the recording medium, and ask the actors/models to “freeze” while they did that, sometimes while they were in awkward positions.
Sounds like the cash is not as “easy” as most people think.
B
No. 108 · Seriously wrote, “2) Do a little google search about the attorney of record. He’s one of the lawyers in the internet entrapment scandal. Adult film companies upload a movie to a file share program. People grab the file. They grab the IP address and then the lawyer sends a nice letter offering a closed settlement payout to the copyright holder (and a nice commission for the lawyer) which some might call blackmail or take you to court where they will tell the world that ‘you’ were watching porno x,y,z.”
First, someone other than the lawyer “entrapped” the customers and the porn companies probably just turned it over to a lawyer they had worked with and trusted.
I’ve read technical articles about the “entrapment”, and I’m putting it in quotes because some researchers managed to get take-down notices sent to a laser printer. The monitors use a “quick and dirty” algorithm to identify customers, and it is unreliable. You can read the technical details at http://dmca.cs.washington.edu/uwcse_dmca_tr.pdf where researchers managed to get take-down notices sent for machines that they knew were not downloading any copyrighted material, including network-attached printers and wireless access points. The researchers were trying to measure the real-world behavior of BitTorrent “swarms” and ended up getting take-down notices even though they had never downloaded anything. They realized that this in itself was interesting and looked into it further.
kewlsocr
Having been on these Atlantis/RSVP cruises a few times, I realized in talking with some of the beautiful boys on the cruise that they were paid by Atlantis/RSVP to be there and mingle with the normal passengers and pose for photos and their upcoming promo campaigns. Their pay was usually a free cruise. So this is no surprise they tried to do it with Bel Ami actors for this Euro cruise. Remember that RSVP is Atlantis which is Rich Campbell, who allows drug dealers on his cruises cause its good for business. So I would expect nothing less than another seedy scandal from these people.
Luther
I was on that cruise. They were filming a porn movie in public areas without permission, let alone image rights clearance from the hundreds of men who would have appeared in it. (Not a smart move on a boat filled with Americans well-versed in exercising their legal rights.) They did not desist so, as per standard cruise ship policy, they were put off at the next port. Totally their problem. And it’s not like Bel Ami lacks the resources to ship their pretty little pieces of fluff back to Bratislava. The worst thing that would have happened to them in Tunis is getting harrassed by guys in Abu Dibi Said selling plates. They gambled and took the risk. They lost. Boo hoo. Next!