An 18 year-old cruise passenger is facing a felony charge in Broward County after he and a gang of others beat and bloodied another passenger to the point of unconsciousness while on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas last Friday, according to WPLG Local 10 News.
Broward County police officers boarded the Liberty of the Seas after it returned to Port Everglades from a cruise to the Bahamas and arrested Michael White of Siler City, North Carolina.

At least two men were arrested (including White), although that person’s name did not appear in the Broward county court records according to the news account.
The Broward Sheriff’s arrest report indicates that the arrest followed a violent encounter in and around an elevator on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship. A couple of other passengers asked a group of teenagers and young men to “stop jumping up and down on the elevator” which was causing it to sway.
Investigating officers said the group started yelling and saying, “Bitch, who are you talking to?”
When the elevator stopped on the eighth floor, the couple tried to exit the elevator but were attacked.
“Once (the victim) got out, he said he started getting struck by individuals in the face area, causing him to stagger backward. After staggering backward, he fell to the floor and that’s when he started getting kicked. Also, at this point, (the victim) said he blacked out and the next thing he knew, he woke up in a pool of blood on the floor.”
White was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm.
BSO records show he was released from jail on Saturday after posting a $5,000 bond.
This violent attack follows at least one other dangerous incident when the CEO of a financial services company choked and threatened to kill a fellow passengers who was dancing on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship (the Resilient Lady):
Carnival Cruise Line has essentially cornered the market, so to speak, on shipboard violence in its nightclubs and pool bars over the years. Not surprisingly, Carnival has the most physical assaults “leading to serious bodily injury” as per the language of federal law with a total of a least fourteen (14) physical assaults with serious bodily injury reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2023. (In comparison, there are only eight (8) physical assaults with serious injury on all other cruise lines combined making the fleet of Carnival cruise ships by far the most violent cruise ships sailing on the high seas).
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Image credit: Liberty of the Seas – WikiEK at English Wikipedia GNU Free Documentation License; Michael White – browardcountymugshots via WPLG Local 10 News.