A GOUROCK church minister says her holiday cruise was ruined after a 'provocative' DJ played music by a controversial American singer.

Reverend Teri Peterson, of St John's Church, was part of a group of group of female clergy, ministers, and community leaders from around the world who embarked on an eight-day cruise aboard the Carnival Magic liner from Miami.

Their group, known as the RevGalBlogPals, have filed a complaint against the cruise liner operators following an incident in the ship's nightclub.

They claim their trip was spoiled after the DJ refused to stop playing music by R Kelly, the R&B artist currently subject of multiple allegations of sexual abuse against women and underage girls.

Rev Peterson claims the women left the club, only to be made fun of again by the same man later that night in another part of the ship.

She claims that when they complained to guest services, security was called - on them.

Rev Peterson said: "The DJ started to play R Kelly and was asked by our group to put it off because of everything surrounding the singer

"He refused and then began singing and dancing along and mocking us."

Rev Peterson says that after five days of emailing the company, speaking with ship staff, and sitting in meetings with onboard management, they never received a resolution to their complaint, saying they were unhappy with the $100 on board credit offered as compensation.

But in a letter to the group, the company vehemently defended their actions and stated that the $100 settlement was 'appropriate'.

It read: "We have clear guidelines for music that is played in our public lounges.

"Some latitude is extended to the DJs in our nightclubs in order to accommodate the preferences of all of our guests.

"All music that is played is “radio version” recordings of popular music that is edited for offensive language.

"With regard the incident on Carnival Magic, we counselled the DJ and the entertainment team to be respectful of your concerns as you clearly felt that they were not."

Rev Peterson says despite the company saying they had done nothing wrong, the DJ in question was removed from his post five days later for the duration of their cruise.

She said: "The response from Carnival makes me really angry.

"They had so many chances to do better and do the right thing, but they made it worse."

The group have asked the company to undertake several measures following the incident.

Rev Peterson added: "We want Carnival to first of all apologise for a significant customer service failure and to make sure that there are better choices in their music and entertainment line up. Also to update their training so that this doesn't happen to anyone else."

A spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line said: "We had a small group of guests who took issue with two songs that our DJ was playing in a nightclub well after midnight.

"While we only play radio versions of popular music that have been sanitised so that offensive language has been removed, we do not make a habit of banning music as we have a broad cross section of guests. 

"Our shipboard team listened to the concerns of these guests and provided a goodwill gesture. 

"We are proud of the many ways we’ve been recognised for our commitment to diversity and inclusion and every day we work to make sure our guests and crew feel welcome and part of the Carnival family. 

"We’re sorry this group feels otherwise."