In recent years, there has seemingly been an increase in viral incidents of physical altercations between patrons on Carnival Cruises. A resurfaced video of an incident from 2022 shows a mass of people brawling over what appears to be a game of spades gone wrong. The minute-and-a-half-long clip appears to be a screen recording of a video uploaded to TikTok.
User FloridianKing93 shared the clip to X in September 2022, where text is superimposed over the video reading, “A big fist fight happened on my carnival cruise…” The caption on the post reads, “So this happened while we on #CarnivalSunrise we had just left from up there everybody was vibing and playing spades I guess the game got real.”
The video begins by showing a large crowd surrounding an altercation by the pool on the ship’s deck. Initially, it isn’t clear what is happening within the mass of people, but a myriad of shouting reveals the contentious atmosphere. The individual recording the incident can be heard explaining that a woman had “swung” at another person.
Suddenly, a fist can be seen flying through the crowd, appearing to strike someone as chaos erupts. Immediately, onlookers surround the fight in a futile attempt to break up the violence. Several people fall to the ground as what looks to be a man in a blue shirt pins somebody to the deck, relentlessly bashing them. Several men and women attempt to pull the attacker off to no avail.
A whistle is blown somewhere off-camera, but no security staff appear present for most of the recording. Eventually, the fight fizzled out as those involved in the altercation were separated and moved away from each other. Finally, what appears to be two security officers move in on the scene, trying to keep the crowd contained.
The comments section under the video featured a variety of reactions from social media users, engaging in dialogue about the fight and the nature of the fights on cruise ships. “What I do not understand is: They are on holidays, on a cruise ship, and these people have nothing better to do than starting a fist fight with each other?” one person asked, questioning why some people resort to conflict during a vacation.
Carnival is often known as a budget-friendly, more affordable cruise compared to competitors such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. As a result, some claim this strategic positioning in the cruise industry attracts more of a less-traveled party crowd. One person suggested that people “should probably book a Norwegian cruise” if they want to avoid the scene depicted in the video. Watch the incident below:
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Another person speculated, “I was thinking about booking one they are prob gonn raise prices higher now lol.” However, others have defended Carnival, explaining that such incidents are rare and don’t necessarily exemplify the true experience. “They are the cheaper of the cruise lines but I’ve been on several and always had a peaceful time. Don’t let a couple bad apples ruin it for ya. That being said I’m going royal Caribbean next time, but only because I want to visit a different place,” the user wrote.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.