A Carnival cruise in the South Pacific descended into violent anarchy

MSM/Washington Post ^ | 2/17/18

[nuconvert]

A Carnival cruise devolved into near-anarchy during its 10 days in the South Pacific, with some passengers locking themselves inside their cabins, others kicked off the ship and security guards brawling with vacationers in a bare-knuckles melee.

Carnival said it would investigate what happened after a video surfaced, showing the guards punching, kicking and threatening passengers during the worst of the fighting Friday. But the cruise line is already blaming “a large family group” for instigating the violence, which some passengers said escalated for days before security could contain it.

[BraveMan]

OK. I read the rest of the thread. Where do I send the check?

[HartleyMBaldwin]

“...decides to make life a living Hell for everyone on a cruise ship....Would make one Hell of a funny movie...”

You could call the movie something like “The Magic Christian”. Too bad Peter Sellers died, because he’d be great in it.

[grania]

I took a two-week Caribbean cruise on Carnival out of Baltimore in January. A lot of things went very well....the ship was well-maintained, it was expertly sailed, there were plenty of activity options. It was a nice time to travel....a long cruise so soon after the holidays had next to no children and an older, stable population.

I took this cruise with the attitude that after this extravaganza, if I never cruise again, that's okay. I love cruising, so it's not impossible I'll cruise again, but it isn't a necessity anymore.

I did notice something that I actually brought up with the desk where they address cruiser issues. There were two minor incidents...the night movie electricity shut off and wasn't restored and some cruisers were smoking in their allotted area when it was announced that they couldn't because of refueling. In both cases, crew members ignored it. My comments were that if the crew ignored situations, who would step up if there were serious emergencies? Are crew members treated in such a way that they're rewarded for leadership potential in unexpected situations, and are they given opportunity to move up to management if they show leadership qualities? Or are they treated like indentured servants who have no incentive to do more than just do what they're told to do?

What's my point? It sounds like something that probably started as an addressable situation escalated to a crisis. Perhaps my feeling was correct. The crew was not incentivized to be pro-active in handling situations when they occur.

JMHO

[SamAdams76]

Why is this news worthy when everyday there are 500 other cruise ships sailing the oceans without a fight or outbreak of norovirus?

Because nobody wants to read about cruise ships that complete their voyages without incident? Just taking a wild guess here.

Anyway, of all the cruise ship mishaps I do read about, it seems that Carnival is the common denominator. I think Carnival is the "Waffle House" of the cruise ship industry!

BTW, I've been eating in Waffle House for years and never had a problem. Just goes to show you that we only hear about the bad stuff in the news.

[lee martell]

I suspect the answer is your second theory; the crew is not given very much incentive to get involved in customer disputes. For them, it’s just not worth the headache or hassle.

[SamAdams76]

Carnival being the cheapest they attract low life trash. Imho.

Normally I live below my means. But when it comes to vacation, I splurge and go first class.

Life is too short to vacation cheaply. I learned that lesson the hard way many years ago. If you want to cruise, go Royal Carribean. I never had a bad experience with that line.

Bottom line, if you want to avoid low life trash on your vacation - go to places where they can't afford to go.

This past two weeks I've been vacation on Marco Island. I'm in a resort that costs $13,000 a month (splitting it with another couple). You need to go through a guard shack just to get to it. Well worth it, that I can tell you. But back to reality as my vacation ends a week from today!

[DoodleDawg]

btw: Been reading about a NCL cruise in the late fall where someone or some outfit gave away 100 cabins to needy folks from Puerto Rico homeless from the hurricane.

I believe it's an internet hoax. Some versions have NCL with the free cabins. Others say it was Carnival. But there is nothing from any source documenting such a cruise. NCL did send a ship loaded with supplies to assist with the relief, as did Royal Caribbean, but no free cruises.

[Larry Lucido]

How many people do you normally lose on a cruise? 30, 40?

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

Every single time without fail when I tell people I cruise with Disney they say, “Too many kids!” What they don’t realize is that Disney is the kid expert, so they’re occupied, and that there are seperate non-kid areas of the boat. When you add it up it’s actually comparable because there is no casino, which is how Carnival et al make their money.

[SaveFerris]

[I may be a Cockeyed Optimist]

Billy Mumphrey? Be careful; don’t get mixed up in the high stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue!!

[SaveFerris]

Oh darn

[Cuttnhorse]

The wife and I went on a Carnival cruise to the Carrib in 1993 and have never been on another cruise.
Being on a ship with almost 3,000 passengers and being herded around like cattle was not our idea of fun. The food was great, the Las Vegas shows were very good, but the entire thing was not for us.

We did, however, just return from a fantastic 14-day cruise on a passenger/freighter ship with accommodations for 200 passengers.

The ship, the Aranui 5, cruises from Tahiti to the Marquesas Islands and delivers cargo at various small villages in the islands, which are some of the most beautiful islands in the world.

Great crew, wonderful food and a very relaxing fun trip.

Aranui 5

[SaveFerris]

Is that a European Carry-All? No fur coat?

[SaveFerris]

I’m not going to shoot anybody.

Maybe that mime over there.

Bruce Willis - Die Hard with a Vengeance?

[SamAdams76]

Reports of freebee winners or freeloaders ... playing their boom boxes in all common areas of the ship, destroying all the vacation piece and quiet of paying clientele.

I'm thinking no Yacht Rock was being played on those boom boxes. No dulcet tones of Christopher Cross or breezy tunes from Air Supply or Steely Dan.

[SaveFerris]

I could see Air Supply causing a crowd to become unruly.

[SamAdams76]

Never go to a Waffle House after 10am. Great place for a quick hassle-free breakfast when you are traveling in the Deep South. 10am is when the "bad element" start waking from their hangovers the night before. Or so I'm told. As mentioned earlier, I never had a bad experience in one but I'm usually there around 6am with the long-haul truckers and other hard working folk.

As for Chuck-E-Cheese...NEVER AGAIN! When my kids were little, they were also clamoring to go there. Thin cardboard pizza and flat beer. The kids would spend hours playing arcade games so they could accumulate a pound and a half of "prize" tickets which would be exchanged at the end of the night for a cheap toy that was usually broken by the time we got home. Screaming, hollering kids for hours on end. The worst part was kids that were too old to be there trying to get into the cage with the plastic balls to make the little kids cry until their mommies pulled them out.

Hell on earth, that Chuck-E-Cheese. One of the happiest days of my life was when my kids moved up to the Applebees/Outback level of casual dining.

[SamAdams76]

A grown man wearing sweat pants in public with ADIDAS on them.

Sad. How very sad.

[SaveFerris]

[a passenger/freighter ship]

That’s an interesting combination. I had no idea such a thing existed.

[trisham]

Pics:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5402443/Family-removed-Carnival-Legend-cruise-deny-violence.html?ITO=1490