Twenty six members of an unruly extended family was compelled to be offloaded from a cruise vessel of Carnival Legend onto a small police boat after a mass brawl.
Passengers hurled insults like ‘Get off’ and ‘You’re not heroes, you’re deros.’
It is reported that there were a few days of fighting on board this cruise ship and it preceded the final violent fight and Friday’s unscheduled stop to offload the family. Some shocking details have been leaked from the ship including videos and passenger accounts that stated that guests were ‘scared for their safety’.
The Carnival Legend was forced to dock on the far south of NSW on Friday morning after reports of clashes between two groups of passengers on board believed to have commenced after a thong was stepped on.
NSW Police confirmed that it is presently investigating the incident.
The cruise ship that was scheduled to return to Melbourne on Saturday morning is currently docked in the NSW coastal town of Eden that is close to the border of Victoria.
Authorities were told about a fight that involved many men had occurred on board the ship following an argument about 12.45 a.m. pm Friday morning.
NSW Police said that the security intervened and detained the men prior to notifying the Marine Area Command. After speaking to passengers and crew for many hours police removed the extended family at Twofold Bat, Eden in an ‘unprecedented step’.
Jennifer Vandekreeke who is the vice-president of Carnival Cruise Line mentioned that the incident was a first for the brand and they had got in touch with the police in the hope of some assistance.
One of the passengers, Naomi, said that there were about 20 members of the family that included older people, young kids and teenagers on board the ship. And she added that they were quite loud, affected by alcohol.
She then went on to assert that there were several fights on board and this included a nightclub and also in an elevator the next day.
Naomi went on to reveal how they started yelling at each other for 45 minutes, and threatened people. The children inside the pool were then pulled out as they were scared and crying. Last night, Naomi said, that the passengers even attacked one of the security guards.
Passengers had locked themselves in their cabins as violence between two large groups broke out on several occasions.
They exclaimed that threats were made to stab and throw people overboard.
In a statement to a news media, the ship’s operator Carnival Cruise Line said that the staff had initiated action against a small number of ‘disruptive guests’.
