Cruise Crew Pepper Sprays Angry Passengers

The crew of the MSC Meraviglia – fearful that brawling passengers were about to turn their anger into mutiny after not being able to dock due to a coronavirus scare – used pepper spray to control the crowd earlier this week.

The fight broke out in a dining room aboard the Meraviglia, which was denied the chance to dock at two different Caribbean ports because of the potential that some passengers and crew might be infected.

The ship was denied permission to dock in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Georgetown, the Cayman Islands – both on its itinerary – on Tuesday, February 25.

The Meraviglia received a clean bill of health from Mexican authorities and was permitted to dock in Cozumel on Friday, Feb. 28. The ship will return to Miami on Sunday, March 1.

In a statement to cruisecritic.com, MSC Cruises said health officials boarded the ship to check the medical condition of one crew member and one young female guest who had seasonal flu. In addition to the checks that are customarily run to give a ship a clean bill of health, out of an excess of precaution, they conducted overnight additional tests on both of them.

The results were tested at a Mexican Ministry of Public Health laboratory in the city of Chetumal and determined that the condition of both the crew member and guest was “in no way whatsoever” associated with the COVID-19 coronavirus. The ship was given a clean bill of health.

MSC confirmed that every passenger would receive a full refund “due to the disruptive nature of their holiday.”

In a statement to England’s Daily Mail, a spokesman for MSC Cruises said: “Security officers were called in response to two male passengers who became aggressive and violent towards musicians during evening entertainment held on the ship. The two passengers, who appeared intoxicated, acted in a physically violent way towards the entertainers during their performance and our security officers were called to contain the situation and restrain them both.”