Rowdiness on board

I suppose just about everybody has heard about the how a family reunion on board the Carnival Legend ran amok. It was a 10-day cruise out of Melbourne, Australia. Members of the group picked fights with other passengers which led to violent confrontations with Carnival's security personnel (whose own conduct is, putting it mildly, open to further scrutiny) and eventually to the sequestration of some of the offending passengers and their ouster at the next available port.

If the topic has featured on this board, I've missed it. I would dearly love to believe that such episodes are unthinkable on board a HAL vessel. I personally have never witnessed any form of rowdiness on a HAL cruise -- not even with/from smokers or pool-lounger hogs! Decorum has been the rule and, thankfully, I've not encountered any exceptions worth mentioning. What is the experience of others? How bad has it ever gotten on a HAL cruise?

I've never witnessed bad behaviour on HAL even remotely like what just happened on the Carnival cruise. Thank goodness!!

Once on a Princess ship we saw a drunk man sit down at the piano in the piazza and start "playing" while a performer was playing a steel drum. Security came and ushered him away after a quiet talk with the man. No drama. However, the man seemed to be a happy drunk, not like the low-life bullies that were the trouble on the Carnival ship.

I've never seen a drunken brawl on a HAL ship, but I would not say it is "unthinkable". I have seen the occasional drunk so I suppose there is the chance that two (or more) could be in the same place at the same time and that jostling could lead to slugging.

On the whole, however, you are more likely to have the necessary "critical mass" on a "Fun Ship" - which attracts a younger, less sophisticated, breed of cruiser.

While incidents like this can happen anywhere at anytime on any line, it is more likely on ship's that promote a party atmosphere (IMO).

We have never witness anything like what happened on the Legend.

We did have one incident on the Noordam a few years ago.

Shortly after 4 PM when Happy Hour began, 3 young men came running into the Ocean Bar with only towels wrapped around their bathing trunks yelling that it was booze time and yelling for the bar tenders to start to bring on the drinks. Security was called and they were talked to and did quiet down.

The next was a sea day and many of us that witnessed what happened the next day waited to see if they would show up. Even security kept coming through the bar area and the 3 did not show up.

The next day was a port day -- they were escorted off the ship. We watched from our verandah.

I have never seen, nor heard of anything like a riot, fight etc. aboard any of HAL's ships. It's just not done. I've personally seen such behavior aboard NCL's ships, and I've only cruised aboard Princess once, without incident.;)

Nothing close to what happened on the Carnival ship on HAL or any other cruise line.:eek:

I suppose just about everybody has heard about the how a family reunion on board the Carnival Legend ran amok. It was a 10-day cruise out of Melbourne, Australia. Members of the group picked fights with other passengers which led to violent confrontations with Carnival's security personnel (whose own conduct is, putting it mildly, open to further scrutiny) and eventually to the sequestration of some of the offending passengers and their ouster at the next available port.

 

If the topic has featured on this board, I've missed it. I would dearly love to believe that such episodes are unthinkable on board a HAL vessel. I personally have never witnessed any form of rowdiness on a HAL cruise -- not even with/from smokers or pool-lounger hogs! Decorum has been the rule and, thankfully, I've not encountered any exceptions worth mentioning. What is the experience of others? How bad has it ever gotten on a HAL cruise?

I've never seen anything on HAL even close to the mess on the Legend.

Having seen the video and read reports, I am grateful for the excellent security on HAL. I think they are more professional and deal with incorrect behaviour (of which I have seen little) much more quickly so that things don't escalate.

Again, comparing HAL to the Legend, I believe HAL captains act much more quickly as well and put anyone who is causing serious disruption off at the next port. I remember the story of the couple who were argumentative and upset they were put off.

I just completed my 19th cruise. Our very first cruise was on the Carnival Valor in 2008. Witnessing the typical Carnival guests up close and personal for a week demonstrated that Carnival would not be our cruise line of choice for future cruises. We then discovered HAL for a great New Year's Cruise on the Eurodam in December of 2008. Our suspicions were confirmed that cruising was wonderful and that the guests catered to on HAL were more to our liking. Carnival has been widely known to be a ship for hearty late night party-seekers and their guests can get a bit rowdy and loud.

We just returned from the Veendam from a Cuba itinerary and the average age of the guests appeared to be in their seventies. We were on the young side on this cruise at age 68 for my husband and 54 for me. I don't think that you need to worry about rowdiness and violent behavior on most HAL cruises. We've been on 8 HAL cruises out of our 19. We have never experienced any rowdy behavior by HAL guests.

There was another thread on here yesterday about this but I can't find it. Anyway, my thinking after viewing the video is that the security guys made the situation worse and acted as badly as the original culprits - I firmly believe that HAL security would have acted in a more composed and professional manner.

I did see a small fight break out on a Cunard ship a few years ago.... and the participants were a couple of elderly men who should have known better. Don't know what it was about. It was quickly broken up by security and a couple of the dance hosts and the offending parties left the ship at the next port. The only casualty as I remember was one of the dance hosts who suffered a small bruise on the head. Guess it can happen anywhere.... fortunately it usually doesn't. Earlier in that same cruise we had a problem with other "gentleman" - he was also escorted from the ship.

I've been on a dozen Carnival cruises and have never seen any behavior that even comes close to what happened on the Legend. I have only seen one fight on a ship, and that was on a RCCL cruise. Security broke up the fight and hauled the two combatants away, not gently.

I think HAL has the reputation of being a bit sedate, although I have seen a couple of folks that had a few drinks too many on HAL. But they were well behaved and quiet drunks!

Some people will cause trouble no matter where they are though.

Another reason to never sail Carnival. I think their low cost cruise ship experience is not for us. You get what you pay for.

Bad apples can show up on any cruise line.

That being said, each cruise line offers a certain kind of cruise experience and people looking for the atmosphere that is the trademark of that cruise line will cruise that line.

I really don't see a drunken brawl breaking out at a HAL Lincoln Center Onstage classical music performance. :cool:

Bad apples can show up on any cruise line.

 

That being said, each cruise line offers a certain kind of cruise experience and people looking for the atmosphere that is the trademark of that cruise line will cruise that line.

 

I really don't see a drunken brawl breaking out at a HAL Lincoln Center Onstage classical music performance. :cool:

It's difficult to get drunk there. They stop bar service during the performance so that the audience is not disturbed by waitstaff. VERY civilized.

I can imagine a brawl on Hal . One piece of chocolate cake left at the buffet and several people from different directions making a run for it. Well, more like a quick walk.

It could end badly.

Sandra

We've seen two different confrontations in the last few years on two different HAL Ships. The one was in the MDR on the NA TA where Security had to be called and led out the passengers yelling at each other. The other a year ago was on Oostie where Security wasn't called and the Maitre'd's handled it (this, too, was in the MDR).

Regarding what happened with Carnival Security I'm not going to judge how they handled it. There is a difference dealing with two (2) passengers getting into a fight and thirty (30) passengers in a huge all out Brawl. Those passengers involved were causing problems on and off all week and should have been put off earlier!

There should be a Zero Tolerance on bad behavior of this type!

It actually did happen on the Koningsdam last year. Those of you familiar with the location of the Lincoln Center Stage proximity to the Billboard bar know that at times the noise from the Billboard area interferes with the LC performance. In this particular incident, a noisy drunk from the Billboard was in the hall area by the LC, very obnoxious. An elderly Asian gentleman asked him to be quiet. He got noisier, and the Asian gentleman got up and started waving his cane at the offender, whp then attacked the gentleman. It was quickly broken up and reported to the Guest Relations Manager. I really don't kn ow what the end result was...

I've sailed Carnival, Princess, and HAL, and have never experienced anything remotely like what happened on the Legend. I think it could happen on any cruise line. I think Carnival's mistake was not dealing with it earlier in the cruise.

Roz

It's difficult to get drunk there. They stop bar service during the performance so that the audience is not disturbed by waitstaff. VERY civilized.

True, but that wouldn't stop someone from arriving at the performance having already over imbibed.

Considering the average age of the HAL pax, I’m very doubtful this would happen.

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In all our years of sailing HAL, we have never encountered such outrageous behaviour.

I don’t expect that we ever shall.

In all our years of sailing HAL, we have never encountered such outrageous behaviour.

I don’t expect that we ever shall.

other than the segway guy threatening to run people over in the Lido ;p:'):loudcry:

other than the segway guy threatening to run people over in the Lido ;p:'):loudcry:

Ahh, Segway Guy. I had forgotten about him. He was a menace but he was taken care of after the complaints started rolling in.

I notice that Segways are now listed as prohibited items on HAL ships.

I've never seen any bad behavior like what happened on the Carnival ship on a HAL ship. I've witnessed a few marital "scraps"/fights on other lines, but not anything major. The only thing I've witnessed on HAL ships is the occasional "grumbler"/complainer/overly critical individual. You know the kind I am talking about. The one that gets on the elevator with many people and loudly exclaims that something is not to his/her liking and "this ship is not as good as XYZ line" etc. etc. Either the food, service, entertainment, or something is not quite up to par for this type of person, who makes their opinion known to anyone who will listen. A "grumbler" I call him/her. Good grief, I am just happy to be on vacation and be on a cruise to boot! Even if something is not perfect, I just deal with it. Happy to be lucky enough to be sailing!!!