Via: latino.foxnews.com
The cruise ship Nieuw Amsterdam, on its present voyage catering to a
gay clientele, docked Sunday in the southern Spanish port of Malaga
after Moroccan authorities prohibited it from making its scheduled port
of call in Casablanca.
The vessel, carrying 1,564 passengers and
869 crewmembers, docked about 7:25 a.m. and was scheduled to depart from
Malaga later in the day, Malaga Port Authority spokesmen told Efe.
The
RSVP Vacations travel agency, which specializes in organizing tourist
trips for gay and lesbian customers, said Saturday in a letter to its
clients that its agent in the port of Casablanca had reported that "the
authorities have cancelled the scheduled July 1 visit despite having
previously confirmed it."
The agency said that they considered
this to be "disappointing news" and added that the decision was made
after the "visit of a gay cruise ship" turned into "a public and
potentially controversial matter."
The ship, which belongs to the
U.S. company Holland America Line, had scheduled a program for its stay
in Casablanca that included a visit to the Hassan II Mosque and to
several souks - or traditional marketplaces - in the city.
After
the stop in Casablanca, which had been supposed to last for about 12
hours, the cruise ship was due to sail to Cadiz, also in southern Spain,
and then to continue on to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, then to the
eastern Spanish city of Valencia and finally to end its journey in
Barcelona.
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