Late-Night Buffet Turns Ugly Between Cruise Passengers Over Chicken Tenders

Being “hangry” is no joke. I am personally guilty of making some rather biting comments while hungry. Then again, who hasn’t?

But for some unruly Carnival passengers, strong feelings about some late-night chicken tenders might have been enough to resort to violence.

A large brawl broke out among a group of younger cruisers at around 2 a.m. in the Lido Marketplace, which usually offers late-night bites until the wee hours of the morning.

Video of the incident, captured by fellow passenger Mike Terra, is now circulating on social media. Cruise Hive has decided not to include the video.

The shocking footage shows guests shouting, punching, and tackling each other as the occasional cellphone and shoe go flying.

A woman can be heard asking, “Where the f— is security?” as one security team member tries to break up the fight and another speaks into his walkie-talkie and rushes out of the camera’s view.

Terra then turns the camera on himself to say, “Over chicken tenders is crazy.”

What exactly happened with the chicken fingers is unclear. Someone might have snagged the last piece in front of the wrong person or tried to hog the snack for themselves.

Carnival Cruise Brawl (Credit: @mikeisterra)

In an interview with the Daily Mail UK, Terra did clarify that there was more to the fight than just fried chicken, “but that is really the basics.”

Carnival Cruise Line has not yet commented publicly on the situation. It’s also currently unclear exactly when and onboard which ship the altercation occurred.

Carnival Cracks Down on Misbehavior

Carnival has a zero-tolerance stance for fighting and violence, and even if the consequences haven’t been shared publicly at this time, they were certainly severe.

The misbehaving guests likely received a lifetime ban from Carnival and could have been fined $500 for violating the code of conduct.

“All guests must acknowledge and commit to our code of conduct during the check-in process, and any violation may result in a fine of $500, possible stateroom confinement and removal from the ship,” reads Carnival’s policy.

Those involved could have also been sent to the brig, or the onboard jail, or confined to their staterooms until they could be disembarked, with no refund provided for the loss of privileges onboard.

Passengers Throwing Chairs on Carnival Sunrise (Credit: Priscilla Nivia Delgado)

Carnival also began the busy summer season by reinforcing its policies on curfews, smoking, noise, and illegal drug use onboard with the “Have Fun. Be Safe” guidelines.

Under these policies, guests under the age of 17 are not permitted to be in public areas after 1 a.m. unless they are accompanied by an adult over the age of 21. It doesn’t seem like any of the guests who participated in this brawl were under 17, though.

Additionally, all forms of marijuana and illegal narcotics are strictly prohibited. Guests who try to bring them onboard will be placed under arrest and banned.

But despite efforts to crack down on bad behavior, this isn’t the first brawl to break out among Carnival guests this summer.

Earlier in August, a large brawl with at least a dozen participants broke out just outside the terminal doors at California’s Long Beach Cruise Port.

In June, guests of Carnival Sunrise were banned for throwing both punches and chairs in a fight that broke out on the lido deck near the Pizzeria.

Also in June, another late-night fight broke out at the buffet onboard Carnival Paradise following a tense verbal altercation. All participants were again banned.

Catie Kovelman

Catie is an award-winning journalist and researcher. By day, she helps market new movies and TV shows as a senior research manager. But by night, she loves writing cruise news. In addition to Cruise Hive, Catie has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, and other online publications, such as The Plaid Horse, Unwritten, YourTango, Fangirl Nation Magazine, Chapman Magazine, the Orange County Register, and Voice of OC.