THIS is the shocking moment a huge brawl erupts on a Carnival Cruise ship after an apparent row over chicken tenders.

Wild footage shows dozens of passengers throwing punches and kicking each other as security struggles to break up the clash.

The carnage unfolded in the dining area of the giant holiday cruise at around 2am on Monday morning — the final day of its voyage.

As the cruise was heading back to Miami the late night brawl suddenly kicked off.

Footage shows around 20 passengers, both men and women, becoming involved in the violent scrap.

Several chaotic punches are thrown as more and more people join in.

Some passengers are left flailing around on the ground after being hit.

Others attempt to wildy swing at fellow diners before missing and ending up on the floor themselves.

People are seen falling to the ground after being hit as others wildly throw punches.

At one point, a pair are both caught in headlocks surrounded by shoes which have fallen off during the fights.

Two women can be seen filming the carnage from what appears to be on top of the buffet area.

Another female passenger can be heard screaming: “Where the f*** is security?”

Three male guards can be seen in the footage with one phoning in extra support as the two others try their best to pull people away from the melee.

All of those involved appear to be under 30 with many being much younger.

Content creator Mike Terra filmed the brutal scuffle and posted it online.

He can be heard in the footage explaining the suspected reason behind the brawl.

Mike reveals: “Over chicken tenders is crazy.”

The content creator later replied to several comments on Instagram about the brawl as he said it actually escalated over “more” than just food.

Speaking to the New York Post, Mike admitted: “We weren’t close enough to know why [the fight] really started we just knew they were in line for food.”

The Sun has reached out to Carnival Cruise for comment.

It comes as another Carnival Cruise trip was plunged into chaos in April.

Violence erupted when the passengers were getting off the ship after a week-long journey in the Western Caribbean.

Dozens of passengers started to brawl with each other – before they were all slapped with a “do not sail” order.

A spokesperson for Carnival confirmed that 24 passengers were banned from the cruise line as a result of the violent altercation.

It follows a fiery cruise ship brawl that broke out between female passengers over a slice of pizza last year.