Carnival Cruise bans passengers for life after chairs fly in onboard brawl
A group of passengers received lifetime bans after an incident of patrons throwing chairs on the Carnival Sunrise.
What was meant to be a relaxing holiday on the Carnival Sunrise turned tragic when a fight erupted between passengers, anyone involved has received a lifetime ban from cruising Carnival cruises from their altercation on Saturday afternoon, the ship was returning from Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
Video provided by a fellow guest shows the chaos unfolding rapidly - as one passenger was tossing a chair into the crowd of guests around the pizzeria on the Lido Deck. The videos posted by Cruise News Today With Doug Parker reveals shocked bystanders near the altercation. While there were no egregious injuries reported, Carnival enforced a zero tolerance policy and banned every person involved from their cruise line for life.
Carnival’s firm stance against onboard violence
For years, Carnival Cruise Line has enforced a strict no-violence rule, and the recent altercation strengthens the company’s policy. Carnival now intends to leave letters in passengers’ cabins outlining basic passenger conduct rules in an effort to reinforce order in with their "Have Fun, Be Safe" guidance.
The rules are simple: if a guest compromises the safety or comfort of others they could be removed from the ship at their own expense and may be banned permanently. According to another guest onboard, one of the offending parties was allegedly placed under security watch and remained in their passenger cabin for the remainder of the cruise.
Other recent incidents spark similar punishments
Carnival has run into this sort of problem before. For example, there was a bit of a riot back in April 2025 as passengers were disembarking from the Carnival Jubilee in Galveston, Texas. Tension flared while guests were retrieving their bags and a fight broke out right in the terminal. After it was over, the cruise line permanently banned 24 individuals who participated.
That same month, a young boy—just nine years old—was also permanently banned after reportedly wrecking part of the arcade and getting into a scuffle with another child. The decision left many shocked, especially the boy’s parents, though opinions online were mixed. Some said the punishment was too much, while others agreed it was the right call. Around the same time, another adult traveler got kicked off a ship and banned for life after sneaking alcohol on board and posting about it on social media—another violation Carnival takes seriously.
