“Bloodbath” is not a word you’d typically associate with a 10-day cruise around the South Pacific. But it’s being thrown around now in the wake of what Carnival says were “violent and disruptive acts” committed on its cruise ship Legend.
Passengers say a brawl that erupted around 12:45am Friday—resulting in an unexpected stop and the removal of 23 family members—was the culmination of days of violence that left as many as 30 people injured aboard the “cruise from hell,” per 3AW.
Passengers tell 9News that people were left bloodied after clashes between two groups of passengers, including members of an Australian family, who threatened to stab others and throw them overboard.
“It was a bloodbath,” a man says, adding that some passengers were afraid to leave their cabins.
A woman on vacation with her family says certain passengers “looking for trouble” were responsible for fights seen over several days. When her husband told them to take the violence away from their kids, “five of them surrounded” him and “told us to watch our backs,” she tells 3AW. They punched and kicked another man apparently because he made eye contact with one of the group, a woman says, per the Age.
Footage of Friday’s brawl shows security officials kicking at passengers grappling on the ground amid screams.
<In what Carnival calls an “unprecedented” step, per News.com.au, nine males were kicked off the boat later Friday when it stopped in Eden, Australia, say New South Wales police. Fourteen others also left the ship.
Carnival says “a full internal investigation” is underway.