Was the captain justified in ordering a very elderly couple booted from the Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 in a remote area of Canada following an “explosive” argument?
There’s no clear answer but the incident, which has attracted wide media attention, was first reported by the New York Post.
The Post says the captain of the Queen Mary 2 told Frederick Evans, 91, and his wife, Gloria Sher, 82, to leave the vessel at the next port of call. The order came after Sher, who is Jewish, erupted at a black-tie dinner at another passenger who allegedly made an anti-Semitic comment.
The story said the couple faced being stranded in a remote part of Quebec before other passengers convinced the captain to let them stay. The captain then confined the couple to their cabin for six days until the ship reached New York, according to the news outlet.
"I was treated with no respect and unbelievably rude and shockingly terrible," Sher — a Broadway producer — tells the Post. "I’ve been sick ever since."
The Post quotes Evans as saying the ship’s captain acted like a modern-day Captain Bligh, refusing to even listen to their side of the story. But another passenger told the post the couple was at least partly to blame.
In a statement to the Post, the line said the couple engaged in "multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behavior."
By David Wilkening
