Last year, some passengers on the P&O cruise ship Ventura went on a mini-rampage while the ship was at sea. In September, six US tourists spent a couple of nights in jail in Antigua after a punch-up with local cops over a dispute with a taxi driver.

Now, some UK newspapers have been indulging in a bit of hand-wringing over the latest brawl, wondering if the cruise lines were to blame for enticing “chavs” onto their ships with discount tickets.

BBC2 television host Jeremy Vine even took Carnival Corporation chairman CEO Micky Arison to task about this during a recent interview. Arison, whose company operates 11 – massive – cruise ships, played it down.

“Cruise ships are a microcosm of any city or any location and stuff happens,” he told Vine. “The negatives of discounting might be less commission for agents and less revenue for us but the positive is it opens up the product to a wider audience.”

And there’s nub of the matter. Once upon a time, cruise ships were much smaller vessels, rarely carrying more than 1 000 passengers. Modern ships, on the other hand, really are floating cities, carrying thousands of people. Royal Caribbean’s 225 282-ton Oasis of the Seas can carry 5 400 passengers.

I can’t think anything I’d rather less do than go on holiday with five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine other people. Imagine the rush for the boats – or taxis – during shore excursions. Imagine the stress of finding a space by the pool. Or queuing for dinner. One may as well go to the Med and scrap with the Russians and Germans for sun loungers. No wonder people get punchy. Who wouldn’t?

Back on Antigua, the six Unquiet Americans were last week fined a total of $2 300 and sent home. Carnival also dropped Antigua as a destination for the Carnival Victory from next year, which works out at an 80% reduction in traffic from the cruise line to the island. The company says its decision has nothing to do with the brawl.

Still, the ugly spectacle of passengers slugging it out with cops not wearing uniforms outside a scruffy, and allegedly unmarked police station over a $100 taxi fare when the taxi driver first agreed to $50, leaves a bad taste.

It might really have been just a misunderstanding. Or maybe it’s the same old story of what happens when the happy and careless rich collide with the hungry and resentful poor.

PHOTO: Carnival Cruise Lines

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