Wild Brawl on Carnival Legend Interrupts 10-Day South Pacific Cruise

Joseph Conrad once wrote about a conversation with an old sailor who had just signed off a ship. The sailor said something to the effect that “the ship was alright. The problem was the people on it.” The comment seems to apply to a recent 10-day South Pacific cruise on the Carnival Legend.  

According to published accounts, there was a three-day running brawl on the cruise ship involving 23 members of an unruly family group, resulting in what some passengers are describing as a “bloodbath” and “the cruise from hell.”   Exactly how it started and what happened is unclear but cell phone video of the fights in various parts of the ship are disturbing. 

The Daily Mail reports that the melee was triggered when someone stepped on a thong. “One of the passengers involved, named only as Zac, said the tension between his family and another group started over a thong being stepped on. ‘This is all over a thong – not a foot, a thong – being stepped on and being instantly apologized for. What happened there and then was apologized for,’ he told 3AW.

Carnival Cruise Line downplayed the events saying that “staff had taken action against a small number of disruptive guests.”

Ultimately, the ship was diverted and the group, identified as the Barkho family, was sent ashore in Eden. Not the garden of Eden, but the port town in New South Wales, Australia. NSW Police said six men and three teenage boys were removed from the ship and that a further 14 passengers, including women and children, left voluntarily. No one has been charged following the incident. Reportedly, insults and lewd gestures were exchanged as the family left the ship.

Carnival Cruise Line announced that passengers on the cruise will be offered a 25 percent Future Cruise Credit as “a goodwill gesture”. They also promised, “a full investigation to ensure that a situation such as this never happens again”.

In Melbourne, David Barkho, described as the family patriarch, who was not on the cruise, told the Daily Mail Australia, “It’s all lies. None of what is being said is true. It’s all in the hands of our legal team.”  He went on to say that several family members were in the hospital. 

The Carnival Legend is a Spirit Class cruise ship with a passenger capacity of 2,124 and a crew of 930. It operates in the respective Summer seasons in Alaska and in Australia. Cruise Critic gives the ship a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

EXCLUSIVE: Shocking violence aboard Carnival Legend cruise ship

Comments

Wild Brawl on Carnival Legend Interrupts 10-Day South Pacific Cruise — 12 Comments

  1. Carnage ensues after thong is trod upon.

    Truly fiction can’t stand up to truth. As comedic invention this would barely play because it’s so broad.

  2. I am shocked to see security putting the boot in. Not good policing. They are no better than the idiots brawling. Could be a few lawsuits against the company following.

  3. Can somebody clarify whether the thong was an item of footwear or a lady’s undergarment 🙂

  4. Sounds like the “drunken Russian wedding” YouTube” videos I’ve watched.

    And they are all related?
    Have fun next holiday!

  5. I was wrong. I thought that the “thong” in question was a style of bikini bottom. My friend Google, however, corrected me.

    Thongs are not skimpy underwear in the land down under, they are what our Aussie friends call flip-flops, a staple piece of footwear for every citizen. … Although thongs in Australia are, well, not as sexy as the thongs in America – they mean so much more there.

  6. And apparently they call Sellotape Durex, caused much hilarity when an Australian chap yelled out “anyone got any Durex” in a London art studio where I was working.

  7. Ah, I’d better explain, Sellotape is clear single sided adhesive tape and Durex are men’s contraceptives in the UK.

  8. Thongs, flip-flops, rubber slipper, go-aheads, whatever they really do not seem fighting over even by Aussies. As a former cruise ship Officer – definitely NOT with Carnival Cruises – the behavior of the uniformed crew member was not justified. This Barkho family seem to have a major social problem always a touchy issue with Aussies. One would point out however that as far as lawsuits are concerned, (I taught Maritime Law for a couple of years at College level when I came ashore after 50 years at sea), the Law that applies always even in Port – unless the Company chooses to call in local law enforcement – is that of the Flag State which is currently Malta. The MS Carnival Legend is a Spirit-class cruise ship which from 2002-2014 was registered in Panama and from 2014-present Malta. It would seem that as usual with Carnival they over did the spirit and partying. Their first vessel was named SS Mardi Gras and known as “Party Grass” in the Port of Miami, FL and it was well nicknamed !!
    One doubts if very much will happen since the Company handed these passengers over to the NSW Police jurisdiction was waived from Malta.

    Good Watch.

  9. Made it on national news in US.
    Never ask for scotch tape in the UK: if you’re lucky, they will correct you nicely.

  10. Usual chaotic response to a very minor incident. Everybody behaved badly. “Security” putting in the boot should be fired. Attempts to stop filming also a bad move. Nobody seemed to be in control. I don’t know whether the Master turned up, or whether he would have been effective. Situation was allowed to get out of control bypoor mahagement. Brain ken up fights like these on crowded ferry. The Master’s reserve, bearing andbehaviour are everything. If he cannot stamp his authority in a situation like this he should n’t be on the ship.