The Way Too Much Fun Ships

The cruise ship company Carnival uses the slogan "The Fun Ships". But the Australian branch of the P&O cruise line has the way too much fun ships. In fact, the fun turned deadly.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Passengers on P and O Cruises who engage in "excessive behaviour" will be removed from the ship, the company's Australian branch said, after it emerged that nudity, streaking and sex in public were common on one luxury liner.

The announcement comes as coroners investigate the death of an Australian woman, who died from an overdose of the date rape drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate less than 24 hours after boarding P and O's Pacific Sky ship in September 2002.

A former night manager on the liner told the inquest on Monday that as many as 20 people would be seen running around the ship naked every night.

Asked if nudity, streaking and sex in public were common during her more than 10 years working on board cruise ships, manager Kathleen Ann Taylor said: "All the time".

P and O Cruises Australia said that from now on, unruly passengers would be disembarked at the next port of call and would not be refunded their fare.

"We accept that in the past the conduct of a small minority of our passengers and crew has clearly been unacceptable and our response on occasion has been inadequate," the company said in a statement.

"This does not represent our company's values and therefore, with immediate effect, we have introduced a policy to take strict action against excessive behaviour."

There's having fun, then there's being obnoxious. In the case of anyone who uses date rape drugs, there should be a very, very harsh punishment for the perpetrator.