Guest Spotted Fishing Off Carnival-Owned Cruise Ship

A short video has been captured of a guest fishing off P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Explorer during a recent sailing, behavior that is absolutely prohibited.

The cruise line is aware of the incident and is currently investigating, and as this is a clear violation of the cruise line’s policies, the consequences could be severe.

Cruise Guest Fishing Off Pacific Explorer

Two men were spotted fishing off a balcony of Pacific Explorer recently, with their actions captured on video by another passenger. The incident happened on Wednesday, February 21, while the ship was en route toward Kangaroo Island as part of a 4-night “Southern Getaway” itinerary.

Pacific Explorer had left Adelaide on Monday, February 19 and visited Port Lincoln on Tuesday. Wednesday, when the men tried their luck with cruise ship fishing, was a day at sea, followed by Kangaroo Island on Thursday. The ship returned to Adelaide on Friday, February 23.

The video clip shared by 10 News First Adelaide, which is just a few seconds in length and was recorded at approximately 6:45 p.m., clearly shows a fishing rod extended beyond the side of the ship and the men maneuvering the rod and winding the reel as if to entice a bite. No fish are seen and it is unknown whether or not their attempt was successful.

In a statement provided to Cruise Hive, P&O Cruises Australia has acknowledged the incident. No further details have been made available, as the investigation is ongoing.

“P&O Cruises Australia does not permit fishing from our ships and this incident is being investigated,” the statement read.

Pacific Explorer has already departed on her next sailing, a 3-night roundtrip “Comedy Cruise” from Adelaide. The ship sais from Australia and New Zealand year-round, switching homeports periodically to bring cruise travel to new regions. Pacific Explorer will remain homeported from Adelaide through the end of March, followed by Fremantle, Cairns, Brisbane, and Sydney in the next few months.

The 77,441-gross-ton, Sun-class ship can welcome 1,998 guests aboard, and is also home to just over 900 international crew members who provide excellent service to all travelers.

Consequences for Fishing Off a Cruise Ship

While P&O Cruises Australia has not announced the consequences of this type of irresponsible behavior, a lifetime ban from sailing with the cruise line is likely.

This incident is similar to a guest who was videoed fishing from a Carnival cruise ship balcony in April 2023 while docked in Nassau in The Bahamas. After that incident was investigated, the associated guests were banned for life from Carnival Cruise Line.

While there are differences between the incidents – the Carnival ship was docked at the time and no fishing rod was used, while the incident on Pacific Explorer happened while at sea using a rod – the consequences are likely to be similar, as Carnival Corporation & plc owns both cruise lines.

In cases of poor behavior, recklessness, and violation of maritime laws or port restrictions, cruise lines tend to have zero tolerance policies. If leniency were to be used on a case-by-case basis, copycat incidents would become much more prevalent and it would be difficult to stop such inappropriate behavior.

A wide variety of guidelines and laws were potentially violated by this incident, including bringing prohibited items onboard (depending on the gear used for fishing), littering (if gear might have been lost overboard), disturbing wildlife (if a fish were to be caught), poaching (if a proper license was not obtained before fishing), and more.

Read Also: Can You Fish Off a Cruise Ship?

Travelers who want to fish while on a cruise can often take advantage of shore tours offering amazing deep sea fishing opportunities, when they could even enjoy their fresh-caught fish for a lunch or have their catch shipped home. Other types of shore tours often involve opportunities to snorkel or dive to see fish, enjoy fresh fish meals, or shop for local fish delicacies.