NORFOLK, Va. — A passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship is accused of attacking another guest.
A statement from a Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson said it happened Friday night when an assailant attacked a guest with a bar glass in the theater.
The person who was attacked received medical treatment, while the assailant was confined to their room for the remainder of the cruise, according to the statement.
The spokesperson said the FBI and local law enforcement came aboard the ship when it got to Norfolk Sunday morning.
"Carnival security and medical officials fully cooperated with law enforcement should the guest decide to press charges," the statement said. "We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and the assailant guest has been permanently banned from sailing on Carnival in the future but this is now a matter for law enforcement."
Tammy Spruill, of Edenton, North Carolina, was in the theater when the attack happened. She said it happened during a production.
"Out of nowhere, we heard this horrifying scream, multiple screams, louder than the production itself," she told News 3's Jay Greene. The cruisers who were sitting next to me on my left said, 'Oh, that's just part of the production.' But by the way, the screams were, you could tell it was not part of the production, that something was happening."
Spruill, an experienced cruiser, said she then heard people yelling to turn the lights on in the room.
"And when they turned on the light, everybody on that side of the theater was scampering around moving trying to get out of the way," she said. "We were on the opposite side of the theater and had no idea what was happening over there, but I knew it wasn't anything good."
At one point, she said she heard someone shouting for medical personnel. Then, the passengers were asked to leave the theater and go back to their rooms.
"It was terrifying," she said.
According to the itinerary, the ship departed Norfolk on Oct. 14 before sailing to Portland, Maine, and then on to points of interest in Canada including New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
