Guests featured in a recent viral video as they caught a fish off their stateroom balcony have now been banned for life from Carnival Cruise Line.
The guests’ behavior was in violation of the several of the cruise line’s policies, as well as local laws in The Bahamas, where the incident took place.
Fishing Gets Carnival Guests Banned
Many people enjoy fishing, and some cruises even offer a variety of fishing excursions at different destinations. A pair of Carnival Cruise Line guests have learned the hard way, however, that it is not acceptable to fish off one’s stateroom balcony.
In an incident reported several days ago, two Carnival guests were seen fishing from their balcony stateroom in a video posted to TikTok. While the cruise ship and sailing date were not identified, one of the guests was clearly wearing a Carnival Sail-and-Sign card, with the blue card indicating it was the guest’s first sailing with the cruise line.
You can watch the passengers fishing from the Carnival cruise balcony below:
Background details in the video identify the port as Nassau, as the new dock structures nearing completion can clearly be seen, which does indicate the video was filmed relatively recently.
Carnival Cruise Line has reacted to the incident with a brief statement: “Fishing from our ships is prohibited. We have identified the guests and they will not be cruising on Carnival again,” a cruise line representative stated.
Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, also noted the prohibition on his popular Facebook page. “Fishing from our balconies or from anywhere else on board is not permitted,” he said.
To protect the identity of those involved, the names of the passengers have not been released, nor has Carnival confirmed which ship they had sailed on. The TikTok video and its associated account have since been deleted.
Policies Violated and Laws Broken
While there is no precise policy in Carnival Cruise Line’s ticket contract that prohibits fishing from a balcony stateroom, the action does violate a number of other policies that are outlined.
First, in section 9(a), every guest “agrees to abide by all shipboard rules and policies” and any violation “may cause Guest to be prohibited from sailing with Carnival in the future.”
Section 4(e) explicitly states “No Guest is permitted to bring on board the Vessel live animals” other than qualified service dogs with appropriate advance notice. The fish that was caught is seen alive in the video, and most definitely brought aboard the ship to the guests’ balcony.
“Fish of any kind” are also explicitly listed on Carnival’s prohibited items list, with the note that any fish caught during an excursion must be shipped home rather than brought onboard the ship.
Depending on how the incident is interpreted, the guests involved may be in violation of section 9(j) with respect to the cruise line’s environmental policy, which covers “releasing any unauthorized item overboard” – and an illegally caught fish could certainly be regarded as an unauthorized item, thought the video does not show whether or not the guests did return it overboard.
Finally, all Carnival guests are subject to “local requirements in respect of immigration, border patrol, customs and excise, agriculture, health, environment, or any other government regulation whatsoever.”
This means the implicated guests may have broken local laws by not securing the proper permits for fishing, which would be under environmental jurisdiction as well as Customs and Immigration for foreign visitors to The Bahamas.
When Can You Go Fishing?
Fishing is a popular hobby, and guests can choose from different shore excursions that offer fishing experiences, depending on their ship’s sailing date, itinerary, ports of call, and seasonal conditions.
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For Carnival guests, fishing excursions are occasionally offered in The Bahamas, Mexico, Alaska, St. Lucia, Bermuda, Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and even Fiji. The types of fishing vary from sport fishing to reef fishing to deep sea fishing depending on the destination.
On these authorized tours, the tour operators arrange for all proper permits and ensure safe fishing conditions. Some tours even include “eat what you catch” or “cook your catch” opportunities for the freshest seafood imaginable.
