Cougars and cubs and cruises

Nobody knows which public relations genius came up with the term ‘cougars’ for older ladies and ‘cubs’ for the young men that they are interested in, nor why it’s even necessary to have such terms when older men and younger women aren’t referred to in any particular way. It may have been because of the first International Cougar Cruise which sailed in December from San Diego.

The cruise was hailed, by the organisers, as a huge success, ‘We probably doubled our expectations,’ said a spokesman for the Singles Travel Company, which organised the cruise in partnership with the Society of Single Professionals. Carnival Elation, where the trip was based, was apparently packed with both cougars and cubs, but the Carnival Line has said that it won’t host another such cruise. Apparently the space on a standard cruise trip was booked without it being indicated to the cruise line exactly what the demographic of the 300 passengers on the group booking, would be.

Should it matter? Carnival’s objection seems to be that they weren’t informed of the nature of the booking, not that they have a particular bias against single travellers, or against older women having fun with younger men, but the fact that they’ve said they won’t take any future bookings for this kind of group does suggest they think there’s something about the idea that could put other cruise passengers off. Despite this, the success of the first cruise has led the organisers to begin negotiations with another cruise line to host the second annual International Cougar Cruise and a similar cruise is planned for Australia this year.