Crude cruise

CRUISES used to be described as classy, stylish and sophisticated.

But the mass brawl during a black-tie dinner on P&O Britannia (Mail) has made me think that the rules of etiquette have changed.

Should you wear a football shirt to the captain’s table? Should you start a fist fight over your fellow cruisers’ tacky attire before or after the hors d’oeuvres?

Is it appropriate on such occasions to inquire of your fellow passengers if they ‘want some’ or would a more appropriate form of greeting be to inquire if they desire a knuckle sandwich with their dessert?

I will have to revise my idea of cruising, formed by watching cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, dressed in couture, falling in love in the film An Affair To Remember. PAUL CHARLES COOK, huddersfield, W. Yorks. HAD the cruise ship brawlers seen too many episodes of eastenders? JOHN EVANS, Wokingham, Berks.