Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line has issued a public statement after a video of a woman scratching her foot with a dinner fork went viral.
- The cruise line confirmed that the fork used by the cruise passenger has been removed from service.
- Additionally, the brand reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining high standards when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene.
The internet has had no shortage of comments about a viral video of a passenger using a fork to scratch her foot onboard Carnival Sunrise, and now it’s Carnival Cruise Line’s turn to speak out.
One passenger who goes by lucky_charmedcourt on social media posted a series of six videos documenting the saga of a woman who felt compelled to use a dinner fork to scratch her potentially infected foot.
As of the time of this writing, the first video has received over 32 million views on TikTok, with a subsequent “part 2” video raking in more than 7 million hits.
In the clips, the unidentified woman can be seen aggressively scratching as dry skin or fungus flakes away onto the floor.
Unsurprisingly, the clips were met with a mixture of disgust and horror among the cruise community, with guests worried that the fork in question would go back into circulation and could be used by other unsuspecting passengers.
“I do have a close up of her foot and it looks horrible, it looks infected with something, and the fact that that fork is in limbo throughout this whole ship, you’re putting the whole ship at risk. We can’t eat,” the cruiser tells guest services in the fourth installment of the TikTok series.
Carnival later confirmed in an email to Cruise Hive that the crew members took prompt action to speak with the scratching guest and to address the uncouth behavior.
Action Taken Onboard
When Cruise Hive first reported on the viral video on July 21, the series consisted of four short videos. But as of July 24, two more videos have been added to the saga.
The fourth video captured audio from the poster’s attempt to tell guest services what she had witnessed, but it was unclear at the time what would happen next.
In the fifth video, the cruiser gets to speak directly to the captain about what she saw. In the video, she was told that the fork had been put through the dishwasher with other utensils and was not immediately discarded.
“The Captain said they put it in the dishwasher… hmmm but I thought you threw it away,” she captioned the TikTok.
In the sixth video, the guest continued to discuss the situation with the captain, insisting that the fork should be discarded instead of cleaned and reused due to potential health risks.
Fork Removed From Service
With the video series making waves across social media, Carnival was quick to issue its own public statement, which has been shared across the cruise line’s social media and on Brand Ambassador John Heald’s public Facebook page.
The cruise line’s response has been going viral on social media in its own right, with nearly 40,000 likes between Instagram and Facebook.
To ease your suspense, the cruise line confirmed that the fork used by the itchy guest has now been identified and permanently removed from service.
“We can confirm that forks are intended for food, not foot care,” Carnival quipped.
“Once we became aware of the situation, our team quickly addressed it with the guest and removed the utensil from service,” the cruise line wrote.
Carnival went on to reaffirm the brand’s commitment to cleanliness and hygiene, which is no laughing matter.
“While the video may be generating laughs and gasps online, cleanliness and hygiene are no joke to us,” the statement added.
The statement concluded with a quip about crew members working hard to maintain the fleet, with the word “feet” crossed out just before “fleet.”
For context, every Carnival cruise ship has at least one dedicated onboard officer who is onboard at all times to monitor daily sanitation, food safety, water systems, and pest control to ensure everyone stays safe from health risks.
US-based ships like Carnival Sunrise, which is currently operating 4- and 5-night sailings to the Bahamas from Miami, are also held to extremely high standards by the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program.
Like all ships operating in US ports, the 2,984-guest vessel is subject to two surprise health inspections every year to ensure the onboard sanitation protocols are up to snuff.
And for the record, Carnival Sunrise received a perfect score of 100 for its most recent health inspection on February 12, 2026.
