13 Costa Smeralda Guests Face Prosecutors After Shipboard Brawl
Surveillance footage and crew accounts traced the confrontation to a comment near the nightclub before it moved into corridors and a nearby elevator bank.
Thirteen guests aged 18 to 20 have been referred to prosecutors in Palermo for aggravated brawling after a fight aboard the Costa Smeralda while the ship was sailing between Naples and Palermo. One guest was temporarily hospitalized after being knocked unconscious and kicked in the head, but medical checks found no serious injuries.
Local authorities, including the Palermo Maritime Border Police, reconstructed the incident using surveillance footage and accounts from crew members. Investigators traced the confrontation to a comment directed at a young woman near the ship’s nightclub.
Fight spread through public areas
The guests belonged to two groups, one from Salento and the other from Sicily. The Salento group boarded Costa Smeralda in Civitavecchia, while the Sicilian group embarked in Palermo. It is not known whether members of the groups had met before the cruise.
The initial verbal exchange escalated into physical violence and moved from the nightclub area into corridors and a nearby elevator bank. Video released by the Palermo Maritime Border Police showed a chair being thrown and furniture displaced during the fight. Footage also showed several participants continuing to kick a guest after he had lost consciousness.
The precise date of the incident has not been disclosed. The ship is operating regular Mediterranean itineraries with weekly calls along the Italian coast. Its listed calls included Palermo on September 10, 2026, and Civitavecchia the following day.
Legal and shipboard consequences remain unclear
It has not been confirmed whether the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Palermo formally charged the 13 guests or whether any participant was taken into custody.
Costa Cruises’ passenger terms require that guests’ conduct not affect the “safety, comfort, wellbeing or enjoyment of other Passengers.” Section 10.2 authorizes the ship’s master to disembark guests, confine them to their staterooms or restrict their activities in response to unruly behavior.
Separate cruise-related fights in June 2026 led to penalties. Six guests arrested after a brawl in Nassau that continued at a police station received combined fines exceeding $52,000. In another case, Carnival Cruise Line banned 16 guests following a fight at PortMiami after a three-night Carnival Conquest sailing.
Costa Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation, has not confirmed whether it imposed any measures on the guests involved in the Costa Smeralda incident.
