Violent Passenger on Ruby

[KISS Kruiser]

Has anyone ever experienced a violent passenger on a cruise ship and if so, what was done about it?

 

I got off the Ruby yesterday and the people in the cabin next to us were constantly slamming doors, had kids yelling every morning, etc.  I did nothing about it because I figured that having noisy neighbors can be a part of cruising.  On the third day of the cruise I was sitting on my balcony and heard this loud noise from the balcony next door that I assume was someone standing on the balcony furniture and jumping down onto the balcony.  It sounded like someone dumped a pile of bricks on their balcony and it scared the heck out of me.  I said "knock it off" and then "have some respect for the people below, above and next to you".  Next thing I hear a knock on my door and an irate guy is standing there and asked me if I just told his kids what to do.  He said no one tells his kids what to do, they are just kids, they are only 10 and 13 (10 and 13 are kids whose behavior he can't control???). I told him what I said to his kids and he started cussing at me.  I decided I wasn't going to be yelled at and went to close my door.  Right when I was closing it I saw his fist come up and he stopped my door from closing with his fist. He dented my door.   I don't know if he was trying to stop the door from closing or trying to hit me and the door got in the way.  I then attempted to close the door a second time and he was pushing against my door preventing me from closing it.  On the third try I finally got it closed.  I'm a 53 year old female and my husband was in the shower when this all occurred. 

 

I called Guest Services and they sent someone up to talk to me.  They also talked to him and I heard him say "what else are you supposed to do when someone says something to your kids?" and "what else are you supposed to do when someone tries to close the door when you're talking?".  I was told to go to Guest Services and make a complaint.  Guest Services typed up my complaint (I have no idea what it said) and called Jerry from Security to speak with me.  He told me I did the right thing reporting this, that the man violated the passenger contract and that where he is from in the UK it would be a crime.  He told me to go enjoy my day and they would get back to me.  Guest Services asked if I want to switch rooms and I told them I had E730 which has the extended covered balcony and why should I be inconvenienced when I hadn't done anything wrong and why can't his room be moved.

 

Later that night while going to the International Cafe Guest Services saw us and said they have been trying to reach us (we'd been back on the ship for hours) and told us to call Guest Services if anything happens and the incident is still being reviewed. The following morning I asked Guest Services what was being done and they said nothing.  He was spoken to and told not to do it again.  I was extremely upset and they took me to a little office to talk to a higher up in Guest Services who was very condescending and no compassion whatsoever. I told him how terrifying it is to be on the other side of a door someone is trying to get into and I shouldn't have to deal with this on a cruise ship. He said yes the man broke the passenger contract but everybody agrees to that contract and everybody breaks it.  He said it is like an iPhone terms of service contract where everyone agrees to the terms and then everyone breaks them??????  They said they cannot move him to another room and maybe we would like to  move.  There was another officer in the room and he asked him if they had any suites left and was told no.  In a very condescending tone he said maybe he could move us up to a mini suite.  I told him we are already in a mini suite.  He told me they cannot control the actions of other passengers, that it was basically a "he said she said" situation and if anything further happened either by me or the other passenger it would be dealt with. 

 

I have been on over 20 cruises including 11 charter music cruises and have never experienced anything like this.  Is this normal passenger behavior?  Is this the way Princess deals with violent passengers?

[Lady Arwen]

Honestly, never in 30+ years of cruising have I experienced anything even remotely similar to this on any cruiseline!  I think my husband would have taken over and handled it because I would be having a major anxiety attack.  Sorry to hear about this terrible behaviour!

[brisalta]

Seems that is something security should have dealt with as should the senior officers.

Perhaps Jan Swartz should be informed of the incident.

[PrincessLuver]

We have seen two physical fights on Princes and both were in the Piazza on separate long cruises.

 

Both time people scattered and were in a state of shock and security came and took each party away each time.  In about an hour both times they were back in the Piazza like nothing happened.  Never really learned what the provocations were about but it involved couples.

 

I think on many cruise there is really a pretty high tolerance by management and security for what constitute atrocious or criminal behavior.  Maybe others have seen it differently?

Edited April 24, 2022 by PrincessLuver

[1emerald1]

What a terrifying experience and what a horrid lack of response from Princess!

[dog]

Thanks for sharing. A lesson to remind us to go through proper Chanels to make a complaint.  The rudeness, as you can see, on social media sites is spilling over into horrible situations like this.

I would have moved to an equal cabin category and not felt safe staying next to that moron.

[KISS Kruiser]

5 minutes ago, dog said:

Thanks for sharing. A lesson to remind us to go through proper Chanels to make a complaint.  The rudeness, as you can see, on social media sites is spilling over into horrible situations like this.

I would have moved to an equal cabin category and not felt safe staying next to that moron.

There wasn't another cabin that had the covered extended balcony. Luckily I never ran into the guy in the hall or heard him on the balcony.

[VibeGuy]

I’m appalled.  He tried to enter your cabin without an invite. He should have been disembarked over it when he admitted to holding your door open. 

[voljeep]

20 minutes ago, KISS Kruiser said:

There wasn't another cabin that had the covered extended balcony. Luckily I never ran into the guy in the hall or heard him on the balcony.

Exactly - those coveted covered extended balconies are so much more important than ...

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, KISS Kruiser said:

it was basically a "he said she said" situation

Did you mention the dent he put in the door?  If that happened to me, I'd be real sure I wasn't dinged for "damage to door" after the cruise, AT THE LEAST.

[wowzz]

Not a great experience. 

However, not sure what the OP expects by posting here. 

Not sure why the UK reference is relevant either ?

 

[KISS Kruiser]

3 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Did you mention the dent he put in the door?  If that happened to me, I'd be real sure I wasn't dinged for "damage to door" after the cruise, AT THE LEAST.

I did mention that and they didn't care.  A lot of the doors have dents but most are lower down which I assume are from luggage.  Mine was a few inches below the peephole.  

[KISS Kruiser]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Not a great experience. 

However, not sure what the OP expects by posting here. 

Not sure why the UK reference is relevant either ?

 

As I stated in my post I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this and what was done.  I assume the UK reference was because the person I was speaking to was from the UK and knew that what had happened would have been illegal there.  

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, KISS Kruiser said:

As I stated in my post I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this and what was done.  I assume the UK reference was because the person I was speaking to was from the UK and knew that what had happened would have been illegal there.  

Surely it would also have been illegal in the US, Canada,  France, Italy etc ?

[pms4104]

Rather than saying anything to the neighbor or kiddos on the balcony ...

 

Would a call to Security have solved this issue?

 

Not always worth the altercation or interaction with other pax ...

Edited April 24, 2022 by pms4104

[KISS Kruiser]

Just now, pms4104 said:

Rather than saying anything to the neighbor or kiddos on the balcony ...

 

Would a call to Security have solved this issue? ...

 

Not always worth the altercation or interaction with other pax ...

I don't know.  Do people call security because of noisy people next door?  

I also didn't actually address the kids next door so how did they know I was talking to them and not someone in my own cabin?

[ocean sounds]

7 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

Rather than saying anything to the neighbor or kiddos on the balcony ...

 

Would a call to Security have solved this issue?

 

Not always worth the altercation or interaction with other pax ...

Yes, I’ve read multiple times on these boards to report it to  Guest Services (or Security depending on situation) to handle problems with other cruisers.  Don’t try to handle it yourself.

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by ocean sounds

[KISS Kruiser]

1 minute ago, ocean sounds said:

Yes, I’ve read multiple times on the boards to report to  Guest Services (or Security depending on situation) to handle problems with other cruisers 

 

 

Thank you.  I just didn't know if noisy neighbors was a legitimate complaint or just a normal part of cruising.  

[pms4104]

Sure ... I would rather call them for unacceptable noise than to wonder if I could have prevented something even worse ... use your imagination.

[Thrak]

Given the father's response it's easy to understand why his children are misbehaved. Once security has spoken with the passenger there isn't much more they can do without having witnessed the incident. Had they witnessed it - and possibly if some other neutral bystander had witnessed the incident and been willing to corroborate your account the outcome may have been different.

 

I feel fortunate to have never encountered behavior of this sort on a Princess cruise. The only time I ever saw any sort of unpleasantness it was a passenger berating a crew member for an imagined slight. In that case it was fortunate for the crew member that my wife and I were there to back him up as the passenger filed a complaint and an officer had to follow up on that complaint. The passenger was being an incredible jerk.

[jc foster]

I once dealt with incidents such as this one and most much worst on a daily basis. Personally, I would have taken the cabin down grade  and  would have gotten as far away from this guy as possible.  Nothing is as important as your safety.   It sounds like the Princess security officers simply want to pacify both parties and then be on their way. Im sorry this happened to you.

[KISS Kruiser]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

Given the father's response it's easy to understand why his children are misbehaved. Once security has spoken with the passenger there isn't much more they can do without having witnessed the incident. Had they witnessed it - and possibly if some other neutral bystander had witnessed the incident and been willing to corroborate your account the outcome may have been different.

 

I feel fortunate to have never encountered behavior of this sort on a Princess cruise. The only time I ever saw any sort of unpleasantness it was a passenger berating a crew member for an imagined slight. In that case it was fortunate for the crew member that my wife and I were there to back him up as the passenger filed a complaint and an officer had to follow up on that complaint. The passenger was being an incredible jerk.

Thank you.  

Yes I have seen a few passengers being jerks to crew members and I feel so bad for them.  

[ontheweb]

Wow! How many times have I read that things like this only happen on Carnival, not Princess.

[ocean sounds]

17 minutes ago, KISS Kruiser said:

Thank you.  I just didn't know if noisy neighbors was a legitimate complaint or just a normal part of cruising.  

In this case, you indicated  the noise on the balcony was very loud and unusual.  

If you felt it was a concern enough to correct them, then the proper party to investigate and say something to them would be Guest Services (who may or may not send Security to the room. Or Guest Service manager may have called the room.  Either way, you would not be on the receiving end of the father’s wrath.  
 

Glad you did not get hurt!

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by ocean sounds

[KISS Kruiser]

2 minutes ago, ocean sounds said:

In this case, you indicated  the noise on the balcony was very loud and unusual.  

If you felt it was a concern enough to correct them, then the proper party to investigate and say something to them would be Guest Services (who may or may not send Security to the room. Or Guest Service manager may have called the room.  Either way, you would not be on the receiving end of the father’s wrath.  
 

Glad you did not get hurt!

 

Thank you so much!  In the future I will call Guest Services.