A Royal Caribbean cruise on Liberty of the Seas turned violent last week, resulting in the arrest of an 18-year-old North Carolina man. The violent altercation took place after a couple requested that a group of younger passengers stop jumping in the elevator.
Michael White, of Siler City, faces felony charges based on the altercation that left another passenger unconscious. This happened during the ship’s four-night Bahamas sailing from Port Everglades.
CUFFED AFTER CRUISE: A North Carolina man is facing a felony charge in South Florida after they said he joined others in beating and bloodying a fellow cruise passenger to the point of unconsciousness over an elevator dispute. https://t.co/0HgG5Dbkj5
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) April 23, 2025
Elevator Attack
According to news reports and a policeHome report from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the incident took place last Thursday while Liberty of the Seas was at sea. The victim and a female passenger who was also in the elevator reportedly asked a group of young people to stop jumping in the elevator.
Reports say that they had expressed concern that the movement was causing the elevator to sway. If this movement is too extreme it could cause an elevator to stop operating temporarily, something no one wants to experience on any elevator, never mind one at sea.
The group of youths allegedly replied to the request with verbal threats, shouting profanities at the couple. The situation only got worse when the elevator reached the eighth deck, and the two cruise passengers attempted to leave.
The report states that the group blocked their path, leading the victim to push past them.
“We got to get out of here,” the victim reportedly said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Demetrius Williams wrote in the report,
“Once he got out, he said he started getting struck by individuals in the face area, causing him to stagger backward. After staggering backward, he (redacted) fell to the floor and that’s when he started getting kicked.”
Williams stated that the victim blacked out and later woke up in a pool of blood.
Arrest Aftermath
White and an unidentified co-defendant were arrested by BSO deputies on Friday, April 18th, after the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale. Court records indicate that White was released the following day after posting a $5,000 bond.
A judge has issued an order for him to have no contact with the victim. No information regarding the second suspect has been immediately released.
While Royal Caribbean has not publicly commented on this specific incident just yet, the cruise line is known to take passenger misconduct seriously. Incidents like this usually result in lifetime bans from both the cruise line and its sister cruise lines.
Liberty of the Seas continued its scheduled itinerary after the incident, with the majority of passengers unaffected. Michael White’s next court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
Elevator Lessons
The average cruise passenger on a 7-day sailing spends anywhere from 15-30 minutes in an elevator over the course of a sailing. While most of these vertical trips range from entertaining to slightly annoying, I always encourage passengers to follow basic cruise ship elevator etiquette.
You can read the 16 rules for avoiding the madness of cruise ship elevators here, but after this horrible story, I may have to add a few more to the list.