A large brawl aboard the “cruise from hell” forced an unscheduled stop to boot a large family, which other passengers say terrorized the trip.
The Carnival Legend docked in Eden, New South Wales in Australia, to evict six men and three teenage boys from a single family, local news outlets reported. Another 14 members of the family also disembarked the ship, which was met by local police at the dock.
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“We just disembarked from Carnival Legend in Melbourne. It was the holiday from hell. I would never travel with Carnival again,” Bec Dunn reportedly posted on the cruise line’s Facebook page.
The final brawl occurred at 1:30 a.m. on Friday (local time) although passengers on the ship say the trouble started much earlier, with some saying they hid in their rooms to avoid members of the family.
Cellphone video footage purportedly of the brawl on Friday, shows security guards fighting and trying to separate passengers amid shouting and kicking.
Passenger Jarrah Bolitho told ABC Australia that he witnessed about seven different fights on the Carnival Legend. He also says that a member of the “gang” proposed a fight to him.
“I was watching the fight and one guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to go too, bro?’” Bolitho told the Australian Associated Press. “My mum had to drag me away from it all. They were trying to pick on any Aussie they could find.”
Bolitho said that he locked himself in his cabin from that point forward.
Video of the incidents shows some passengers fighting on the deck in daylight which was reportedly a precursor to the late-night brawl in the nightclub. Video released of that fight show ship’s staff battling passengers.
Another couple saw their proposal interrupted after a brawl broke out. Michael Barsoum was proposing to his partner when the incident occurred.
“That moment is ruined forever now,” Barsoum told the Herald Sun.
He says he was forced to stop the proposal to help passengers who were pulled into the violence.
“Women and children were getting pulled into the fights … I was punched in the face trying to protect my fiancée .”
It has been reported that the Barkho family, from Melbourne, was behind the ship’s troubles, an accusation that the father of one of the teen boys denies.
“It’s all lies. None of what is being said is true. It’s all in the hands of our legal team,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“Members of my family are receiving medical attention at the hospital now.”
WATCH: The Barkho family is jeered by fellow passengers as they depart the cruise ship
Carnival is also offering affected passengers a 25 per cent future cruise credit as compensation.
“We sincerely regret that the unruly conduct and actions of the passengers removed from the ship in Eden yesterday may have prevented other guests from fully enjoying their cruise on Carnival Legend,” Carnival Cruise Line’s Australian general manager Jennifer Vandekreeke told news.com.au.
The cruise liner with more than 2,000 passengers was on a 10-day trip from Melbourne to New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific. It completed its journey Saturday in Melbourne.
*With files from Associated Press