Cruise Ship Passenger Captured Climbing Between Balconies

An unusual video from Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras has been circulating online in recent days, and could lead to the passengers involved being banned for life from the cruise line due to their risky and unauthorized behavior of climbing between balconies. Details of the incident are not clear, however, and there is much that could be going on out-of-sight.

Video of Risky Incident

A video circulating on social media shows risky behavior by a group of guests aboard Mardi Gras. Posted to TikTok in mid-April, the video has gained traction through dozens of social shares, and may be highlighting dangerous and prohibited behavior.

Just under a minute in length, the video – apparently taken from a different cruise ship by the viewing angle – shows a group of cruisers on a balcony. One of the cruisers, apparently a male guest, is climbing on top of the stateroom balcony area, outside the railing of the next higher deck’s balcony staterooms.

You can watch the footage below:

The climbing guest briefly interacts with a guide from a higher stateroom, seeming to retrieve a small white object – possibly an earpod or something similar. The climber then returns to the lower balcony, stepping onto a chair another guest put in place for assistance.

In total, five guests appear to be from the lower stateroom, and they appear to be younger cruisers, perhaps in their teens, both male and female, but ages are indeterminate.

Several of the guests are clapping and cheering when the climber reaches the balcony floor. The hashtags #mardigras #havingtoomuchfun and #carnival are posted with the video.

What Happened?

Because the video begins as the climbing guest has already reached the next deck, it is unknown what behavior led to this incident.

It appears the young cruisers may have been tossing an earpod or earbud around and it inadvertently landed one deck up on another stateroom’s balcony.

The climbing appears to have been an attempt to retrieve the item, but there is no explanation or indication that the guests tried any other, safer way to get it back, such as going upstairs through the ship’s hallway to knock on the stateroom’s door or calling Guest Services for assistance.

They may not have known anyone was inside that upper stateroom at the time and could have believed they had no other options, but such risky behavior is never acceptable.

Will There Be Consequences?

At this time, it is unknown whether or not there will be consequences for this very risky, obviously unacceptable behavior. While the guests in the video were not taking selfies or otherwise playing on the balcony or railings, climbing across dividers and up to another deck is most definitely prohibited behavior.

This could be considered a violation of Carnival Cruise Line’s Code of Conduct, which explicitly states:

“Consistent with our commitment to safety, disruptive behavior is not tolerated and any guest whose conduct affects the comfort, enjoyment, safety or well-being of other guests or crew will be disembarked at their own expense and banned from sailing on Carnival in the future.”

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In general, “disruptive behavior” has been interpreted as fighting or violence, but the broad term could certainly be applied to this situation. Guests in violation of those guidelines can be subject to a $500 fine, stateroom confinement, or removal from the ship.

This incident follows just weeks after other unacceptable behavior was videoed from a Carnival Cruise ship, when a guest filmed fishing exploits off their balcony while docked in Nassau. Those guests were banned for life from sailing with Carnival.

What Could Have Happened

While it may seem that the video is an “all’s well that ends well” situation with the guest returning safely to the lower stateroom balcony and not demonstrating any further outrageous behavior on camera, the situation could have ended very differently.

The railings and outdoor fixtures of a cruise ship – such as the small ledges the guest is climbing on – can be very slippery, and it would have been easy for the guest to fall and be severely injured, or worse.

This behavior could also have caused damage to the ship through bent railings that are not meant to support that much weight, especially as when the guest climbs back down, he appears to step on the balcony door handle.

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Glorifying the video could also lead to copycat acts and imitations, with additional guests staging similar stunts for social media fame. Doing so would create additional risks and dangerous situations, and it would be only a matter of time before a tragedy could occur.

Parents should always speak with their children – even older teens who may be more mature and responsible – about what is and is not acceptable behavior, and all guests should abide by cruise ship rules and safety guidelines at all times.