Cruise ship staff clad in pointed white hoods for an Australian costume party were “snow cones” not the Ku Klux Klan, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Video of the fancy dress faux pas showed staff strolling across the deck of an Australian cruise liner in all-white jumpsuits and cone-shaped hats.

The costumes evoked the distinctive white robes and masked hoods worn by the racist Ku Klux Klan in the United States.

But P&O Cruises Australia said the staff were actually dressed as “snow cones” for a Christmas-themed family fun day.

“Several crew members dressed up as snow cones for a Christmas family event, not understanding how their costumes could be misconstrued,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

“They were only in public view for a short time before management acted quickly and had them remove the costumes.

“The crew members were horrified and extremely apologetic when they learned of the distress their outfits could cause.”

P&O Australia communications director Lynne Scrivens said it was an innocent case of improvisation gone awry.

“They live and work on the cruise ship, and they have to make do with what they’ve got,” she told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“They are wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve got something on their head that looks like an upside-down snow cone.

“They had no idea, they were horrified when management said to them, ‘please take those outfits off’.”

Scrivens said 2000 guests were onboard the Pacific Explorer for the Christmas party in December, and that none of them had complained at the time.

- Agence France-Presse