A Carnival Cruise Line passenger searching for a late-night slice of pizza instead stumbled into a massive 3am brawl, and delivered running commentary as chairs and punches started flying across the dining room. Passenger Nick Richardson filmed the melee as several women fought aboard the Carnival Paradise. Security officers rushed to intervene while Richardson repeatedly tried to stay out of the violence. “I just want some pizza,” he could be heard saying as the chaos continued around him.
The fight happened on June 6th, 2024, during the final night of a five-day cruise from Tampa to Central America. Richardson, 43, was traveling with his fiancée and three children when he entered the ship’s dining area looking for a late-night snack. The Carnival Paradise had visited Honduras and Cozumel before beginning its return to Tampa. Richardson found a group of women arguing and quickly suspected the confrontation was about to become physical.
“Oh, better back it up! WorldStar! WorldStar!” Richardson exclaimed as passengers began moving toward each other. “Back up, my man! Back up! It’s going down.” The shouting rapidly escalated into an all-out fight, with women charging toward one another, throwing punches, pulling hair, and tumbling onto the floor. Richardson backed away as the action moved dangerously close to where he was recording.
The nearly seven-minute video showed one woman grabbing a chair and throwing it toward another group before other passengers joined the brawl. The New York Post reported that dishes were broken and furniture was overturned as the confrontation spread through the dining area. Security officers attempted to separate the women, but several continued fighting even after crew members arrived. The cause of the original disagreement wasn’t publicly established.
Richardson’s narration became nearly as memorable as the fight itself. “Oh s–t! Welcome to the motherf—–g cruise,” he shouted before quickly clarifying to an approaching passenger, “No, no, not me, man.” As the brawl continued, he exclaimed, “God—n! Welcome to the cruise! Holy s–t! Come on, man!” He later watched one participant go down and declared, “Someone got f—ed up.”
Richardson kept returning to the reason he’d entered the room in the first place. “I just want some pizza,” he said while passengers continued swinging at each other. He appeared to offer pizza as a possible solution, saying, “Let him know. Put a pizza out there.” His comical suggestion did nothing to stop the melee as more security personnel arrived and worked to separate the groups.
Watch the wild brawl and Richardson’s running commentary here:
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Richardson later said the group appeared determined to fight before he even began recording. “I’m like, ‘It’s definitely gonna go down.’ It’s why I got it on video,” he explained. “Those girls were already set on what they were gonna do. It just got out of hand very, very quickly. And that’s how it happens. You’re just drinking too much.” His interpretation of the original cause for the fight was apparently a misunderstanding among passengers who had likely been drinking heavily.
Carnival Cruise Line confirmed that its security team responded to the June 6th incident. “As is our policy, we will not tolerate such behavior and the guests involved were fined and will not sail on Carnival Cruise Line again,” a company spokesperson said. Carnival didn’t publicly identify the passengers or specify how many people received fines and lifetime sailing bans. The contemporaneous reports didn’t indicate whether any criminal charges resulted from the brawl.
Despite walking into the late-night brawl, Richardson said the fight didn’t ruin the cruise for him or his family. He praised the Carnival crew and said passengers had been friendly throughout the rest of the trip. Richardson had no plans to abandon the cruise line over the isolated confrontation. “I don’t knock this fight as a reason why I wouldn’t go back on Carnival,” he said. “I already booked another one for this spring with my family.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.