A wealthy Briton and his Broadway show producer wife were ordered off the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship after an alleged fight with another passenger at a black-tie dinner.
Frederick Evans, 91, and Gloria Sher, 82, were told by the captain to leave at the next port following what was said to be an expletive-ridden row over anti-Semitic remarks.
The couple faced being dumped in a remote part of Quebec in Canada before fellow passengers came to their defence and asked that they be allowed to stay.
Argument: Frederick Evans and his Broadway producer wife Gloria Sher, who is Jewish, faced being dumped in a remote part of Quebec. The row erupted at a formal dinner when another passenger allegedly said: 'There are too many Jews on board'
The captain agreed - but only on the condition that they spend the remaining six days of their £12,000 cruise in their cabin under house arrest and handed over all their alcohol.
Miss Sher said she was furious about her treatment, especially as the ship's predecessor, the Queen Elizabeth 2, had special memories for her.
She met Mr Evans aboard the QE2 in 1991 and also knew Commodore Bernard Warner, the ship’s captain, from several previous trips aboard the QM2.
‘I was treated with no respect and unbelievably rude and shockingly terrible,’ she said.
‘I've been sick ever since. It has ruined our lives. It's changed us forever.’
The row erupted during dinner when another passenger at the formal dinner was said to have remarked: ‘There are too many Jews on board’.
Miss Sher, who is Jewish, was appalled and apparently said back: ‘F*** you!’ and ‘How dare you insult me!’ before storming off to her stateroom.
The next morning Commodore Warner knocked on their door and, citing regulations, told them: ‘You insulted a fellow passenger. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the ship’.
Luxury confinement: The elderly couple were kept under 'house arrest' on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship
He also suggested Miss Sher, who is slim of figure, had shoved somebody during the fracas.
‘He told two seniors we had to get off in Quebec and make our way home,’ said Miss Sher, who produced the Tony-nominated musical Shenandoah.
‘We begged him not to do this.’
Other passengers gave a different side to the story.
They said Miss Sher had been cantankerous during the journey and that on another night on the cruise she flew into a rage because a piano lounge was closed.
Mr Evans, however, disagreed, and said the captain acted like a modern-day Captain Bligh, a reference to the tyrannical leader of the 18th century vessel HMS Bounty that later saw its sailors rise up in a mutiny.
The couple claim they should be given far more regal treatment because of their connections.
Miss Sher says her husband is the illegitimate son of the Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, as well as a British knight.
Her ex-husband, Louis K Sher, owned an art house cinema chain and produced a porn film.
Cunard said in a statement that it only refunded the couple £529 because they engaged in ‘multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behaviour towards crew members and other guests'.
It added the company ‘fully supported’ the captain's decision.
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