UGAFan0829 said:
Now I know that there are places that this is acceptable and not out of the ordinary, but come on...she was the only one on the beach doing it...she had to have some kind of clue that it wasn't allowed.
I would respectfully disagree. To many foreign women, the act of taking their top off at the beach is as natural as removing a hat -- such people wouldn't necessarily notice whether other women had bathing tops on or not, because in their home environments, you see topless women as often as you see topless men -- so often it doesn't even register any longer. I would analogize this to you taking off your sandals. Would you necessarily notice right away if everyone at the beach was wearing flip-flops except you? I realize that's an inexact comparison, but the point I am trying to make is that in certain parts of the world, the sight of a woman's naked breasts on the beach isn't any more titillating
than if they were clothed by a bikini top.
This happens all the time here on Florida's west coast. I grew up in Naples and now I live near Sarasota, and in the winter it is not uncommon to see topless foreign women being gently reminded by the beach patrols that tan lines are an unavoidable consequence of enjoying the public beaches around here.
I'm sympathetic to banderson's "when in Rome" suggestion, and I do agree that savvy travellers might want to take the time to try to acquaint themselves with local standards and customs. But I also think there's something to be said for letting people be who they are, to a reasonable extent. If this debate were about wearing a veil, no one would begrudge a fellow female cruiser the right to dress differently by not uncovering her face or other parts of her body. But because our culture places a stigma on public nudity, there are many who would suggest that skimpy clothing has no place in a public setting where children are present.
Frankly, I can see both sides of the debate. I'm your typical guy, so I would never advocate reducing my opportunities to see women in skimpy clothing too vehemently, but on the other hand, I do think there's a time and a place for everything. I'm respectful of other cultures and customs, but I'm also respectful of our own, and in the context of a
Disney cruise ship, if one woman in a thong is going to upset a dozen fellow cruisers, I don't think it's asking too much for her to cover a bit more of her bottom for a few days.
