A newspaper in Australia is reporting that 16 cruise passengers, with ages between 18 and 23, were booted off the P & O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn cruise ship for fighting.  

The incident occurred late at night, with some newspaper accounts suggesting that the men were intoxicated and fighting over a woman. 

The Observer reports that one of the passengers was arrested after he allegedly assaulted a female crew member.  The newspaper quotes one of the rowdy passengers stating: "We got kicked off because we were having too much fun . . . It was awesome." 

Outbreaks of fights like this are one of the occurrences which mar the cruising experience.  How often these incidents occur is subject to debate.  Recently, 20/20 aired a cruise expose which showed lots of YouTube videos of cruise drunks and out-of-control brawls.  Many travel agents and cruise fans were upset with what they thought was a sensationalist television program.  

We have looked into the problem of too much booze and fights on cruises over the last few years in our articles:

Cruise Ship Brawls – A Problem that Will Get Bigger with Bigger Ships

More Cruise Ship Violence – A Drunken Brawl On Carnival’s Dream

If you were on the cruise and have photos or video of the brawl, please leave a comment below. 

Photo credit:  Christopher Cahn / Observer