Cruise ship brawl “fuelled” by unlimited alcohol package
A mass brawl on a cruise ship is said to have been fuelled by passengers believed to be over-indulging in a “15 free drinks” offer that went horribly wrong.
Two cruisers, a 41-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, were arrested last Friday after a fight broke out on a cruise ship returning from a week-long journey to the Norwegian fjords.
Six people were injured and one eyewitness told Mail Online that they were left covered in blood after plates and furniture were thrown around the room.
Two groups of passengers began arguing around 1:30am in one of the ship’s restaurants on the 16th floor.
One traveller described the experience as “Benidorm on Sea” as many passengers pay for the unlimited drinks package (15 drinks maximum between 6am and 6pm).
A female passenger said her and her son were awoken by the aftermath of the messy brawl.
“From the moment we embarked on the ship we found many of the other guests to be rude, have zero manners or respect for others,” she said.
“The boat was basically Benidorm on Sea with a me, me, me attitude. We found many people were there purely to drink as much as they could with their unlimited drinks packages.”
US-based maritime lawyer Jim Walker, told The Times that the cases he dealt with involved drink packages offered by a number of cruise companies.
“Are we seeing a correlation between drinks packages and violence? Generally we are,” he said.
“We’ve had cases where passengers have been involved in bar fights and the alleged assailants have had a drinks package. They’ve said that they drank all 15 drinks, that they didn’t want to leave any money on the table.”