Some passengers are calling it the "cruise from hell." Carnival Legend, a 2,000-plus passenger ship on a 10-day trip through the South Pacific, faced trouble early on when members of an "unruly family threatened and assaulted other passengers and clashed with security staff," says the Sydney Morning Herald. The ship was forced to dock early, closer to Sydney than its final destination of Melbourne, and 23 guests disembarked (six men and three teenage boys were removed, while another 14, including women and children from the same family, also left the boat).
Videos and photos from the brawl made the rounds on social media this weekend, painting a frightening picture of passengers caught up in the melee (and security guards using extreme force to break things up). It's a rare thing, a fight of this size, and it's certainly cause to get kicked off a ship. (There are at least 10 ways you can be forcibly removed from a cruise—read on.) Ships are private property and lines reserve the right to remove guests who threaten the comfort or safety of other guests and staff. Carnival reacted quickly, noting that it has "a zero tolerance approach to excessive behavior that affects other guests," per an official statement.
"We have a zero tolerance approach to excessive behavior that affects other guests. In line with this policy, we cooperated fully with local authorities in Australia to remove a large family group who had been involved in disruptive acts aboard the vessel.
"Our security team responded in several instances to extremely unruly behavior by these guests while the ship was at sea. One particular altercation in the nightclub began when the group physically attacked other guests. The actions seen on the video by our security team are not in line with our values and policies. We are conducting a full investigation and will take appropriate corrective action as necessary."
All passengers got off the boat Saturday, February 17, in Melbourne, and were given a 25 percent future cruise credit "as a goodwill gesture," says Carnival.
This story is developing and we'll continue to update.