Ashley KosciolekA towel on a poolside sun lounger here, a lone cocktail glass abandoned in an elevator there: These are seemingly small infractions, but they violate the unwritten – until now – rules of cruise etiquette.
When you sail, keep these tenets in mind to avoid being rude or causing problems for yourself, the crew and your fellow passengers. Here’s a list of what not to do on a cruise.
Cruise Etiquette During Embarkation
Don’t Cruise if You’re Sick
Nobody wants your germs, and we’re pretty sure you don’t want anyone else’s, either. If you’re feeling sick, stay home so you don’t ruin someone else’s vacation by spreading illness. If you’re unwell a day or two prior to your voyage, cancel and use your “cancel for any reason” travel insurance to recoup the cost of your sailing.
Don’t Ignore Your Boarding Time
When you check in prior to your sailing, most cruise lines will ask you to select a boarding time in order to reduce port congestion. Please adhere to it so as not to contribute to overcrowding at the terminal. If you arrive too early, port workers might ask you to wait outside or come back later, neither of which is conducive starting your trip on the right foot.
Don’t Forget to Tip the Porters
If you’ve brought large bags for your cruise, you’ll have to leave them with a porter who will ensure they arrive safely onboard. Although it’s not required, cruise etiquette considers it a polite gesture to tip a dollar or two per piece of luggage.
Don’t Pack Contraband
For the smoothest embarkation experience possible, pay attention to your cruise line’s list of banned items, and avoid packing any of them. If ship security finds out you have something you shouldn’t in your carry-on bags, you’ll hold up the line. If you try to smuggle these items onto the ship in your checked luggage, security will withhold your bags, forcing you to report to the “naughty room” to claim them from security and receive a slap on the wrist. To add insult to injury, the items in violation will likely be confiscated.
Don’t Try to Sneak Alcohol
This is a subsection of the above contraband rule, but it’s worth mentioning separately. Yes, we know alcohol is expensive on cruises, but you should build it into the cost of your sailing by budgeting for it or purchasing an alcohol package. Not only is sneaking booze onboard tacky; it also opens you up to humiliation when you’re caught.
Cruise Etiquette Onboard Your Ship
Don’t Miss the Muster Drill
International maritime law requires all cruise passengers to complete a muster drill before they’re allowed to set sail. Pay attention to instructions from the crew after you board. Some cruise lines offer e-muster, which is entirely digital, either by watching the drill on your cabin TV or a mobile app. Other lines require you to report in person to the designated muster sta tion printed on your keycard. Still other lines use a hybrid method that includes elements of both e-muster and in-person drills. If you skip the drill, you’ll have to complete it at a different time or disembark if you refuse.
Don’t Skip Handwashing
One of the easiest ways to keep yourself and others from getting sick is to wash your hands frequently – particularly after using the restroom and before eating. Crew do a great job of cleaning high-touch areas like stair rails and elevator buttons. But, with how many people are on your ship, cruise etiquette requires you to do your part, too.
Don’t Use Your Hands at the Buffet
If there’s only one piece of buffet etiquette you heed, let it be this one: Don’t ever grab buffet food with your bare hands. It’s rude, it’s unsanitary, and just like you wouldn’t want someone else touching your food, they don’t want you touching theirs either. There are utensils for a reason; use them. If germs from the tongs or spoons concern you, wash your hands both before and after you touch them, prior to eating.
Don’t Cut in Line
This should be common sense, but with the number of grown adults we’ve seen line-jumping onboard, we’re calling it out. Lines exist for a reason. It’s polite to wait your turn like everyone else, whether you’re queuing at the buffet, to disembark for a day ashore or to catch a show in the theater. The only exception is if you have priority access via a suite booking or a paid perks package.
Don’t Save Seats
Again, this is just courteousness. If the theater is packed and you’re saving an entire row of seats for people who are “on their way,” you’re being rude. Cruise etiquette doesn’t allow you to save seats. Although some people might be polite enough not to sit in them when you say they’re taken, don’t be surprised if others disregard your claim. The pool is another place where chair hogs tend to congregate, reserving sun loungers they aren’t using by dropping towels and personal items on them and then disappearing for hours. If this is you, stop. It has become so blatant that cruise lines are removing items from chairs if they’re left unattended for a set amount of time – usually 30 minutes.
Don’t Board an Elevator Until You Let People Out
We get it: you’re in a hurry to get wherever you’re going. But instead of rushing onto the elevator as soon as the doors open, know that you’ll reach your destination much more quickly if you first allow people exiting to leave the car before you enter it.
Don’t Show Up Late for Set-Seating Dinner
If your booking assigns you to a specific dining time in the main dining room on your cruise, please be on time. You might or might not be assigned to sit with tablemates who will have to wait for you to show up if you’re late. Punctuality is especially important if you’ve got the early seating. Arriving late will force you to rush through your meal because the dining room staff needs enough time to reset the table before the late seating begins. If you’re running more than 15 minutes behind, it’s best to just dine elsewhere.
Don’t Leave Dishes or Drinkware on the Floor
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen passengers leaving dirty room service trays in the hallway outside their cabin doors or abandoning drink glasses in stairwells or elevators. This is not only disrespectful to the crew who have to clean it up but also to fellow cruisers who have to smell your leftovers or dodge half-full cocktails. Call room service, or ask your room steward if you need your tray removed. For drinks, find the nearest bar or table in a bar area, and leave your cups and glasses there.
Don’t Turn Your Cabin Into a Disaster Area
Yes, your cruise cabin is your home base for the duration of your sailing, and yes, we understand that maybe you’re messy at home. However, turning onboard digs into your own personal pigsty is an example of what not to do on a cruise. Your room steward will show up at least once a day to refresh towels and tidy up the space, but expecting them to dodge piles of dirty clothes or mountains of trash where it shouldn’t be is completely unreasonable.
Don’t Leave Your Balcony Door Open
One of the best reasons to book a balcony cabin is to enjoy fresh air, but if you leave your balcony door open to aerate your room, it can cause problems. First, if you do it while the ship is at sea, it makes the vessel less aerodynamic, which burns more fuel. It also creates a massive wind tunnel if you open your main cabin door while the balcony door is open. Not only will it potentially make a huge mess by blowing things around, but it can be dangerous for anyone inside at the time. And, most importantly, because the in-room climate control shuts off when the balcony door is open, it means your heat and air-conditioning won’t work. On older ships where the HVAC system powers blocks of cabins – not just yours – it can shut off the system for your neighboring rooms, too.
Don’t Flush Items You Shouldn’t
Cruise ship toilets don’t work the same as land-based commodes. Cruise plumbing is far more sensitive and susceptible to clogging, which means a good rule of thumb is to only flush toilet paper and anything natural that comes out of your body. Don’t flush diapers, feminine hygiene products or wipes of any kind (even if they claim to be flushable). It would be awfully embarrassing if you had to call maintenance to fix a clog you caused. Plus, clogging your own toilet can trigger backups elsewhere on the ship, too.
Don’t Allow Children With Diapers in the Pool
Please be respectful of your fellow cruisers by not allowing your kids in the onboard pools if they aren’t potty trained. Even supposed swim diapers won’t contain everything, which means others will then be swimming in your child’s waste. Some ships offer kiddie splash pools where kids in diapers can wade without submerging diapers. Look for one of these for some watery fun with your kiddo.
Don’t Allow Kids in the Hot Tubs Alone
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that children younger than 5 years old not use hot tubs at all. This is because the water can be too hot for them to handle, but it also helps to prevent the spreading of germs – both from un-potty-trained kids to others and from others to young kids in the form of bacteria and skin infections. As for older kids, we’ve seen plenty of unsupervised teenagers taking over hot tubs with rowdy behavior and not allowing room for adults.
Don’t Let Your Children Run Amok
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with kids laughing, playing and having fun – especially on vacation. There is, however, a lot wrong with kids sprinting up and down hallways while screaming; congregating in stairwells to hang out, thereby blocking the area for others; pushing every single elevator button; and touching food at the buffet with their bare hands. If you’re cruising with your children, embracing cruise etiquette (and your responsibilities as a parent) means keeping an eye on them when they aren’t in the onboard kids club. Remember that you’re likely to be sharing a ship with several thousand other people. You might not mind your child’s raucous behavior, but I promise you other cruisers do.
Don’t Dine in Your Bathing Suit
Cruise ship dress codes offer a guide for passengers so they know what’s appropriate to wear in each venue during various times of the day. Sure, gray areas – like jeans in the restaurant during dinner – exist. But one clear rule that should be obvious is that no swimsuits are allowed in restaurants at any time without some sort of cover-up. That includes the buffet. The only exceptions are counter-service poolside venues located outdoors next to the pool area. Please consider changing into something dry before dining so you don’t leave a wet seat for the next person.
Don’t Walk Around the Ship in Your Robe
This one makes us cringe. If you’re headed to the spa for a treatment or day in the thermal suite, that’s one thing, but this isn’t your bedroom. There’s no reason why you should be walking around in a bathrobe to grab your morning coffee, have breakfast or do anything else without putting on some actual clothes first.
Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol
If you’ve purchased an alcohol package for your cruise, we hope you enjoy it, but for your own safety and the sake of everyone around you, please know your limits. We understand some packages cap the number of beverages at 15 per day. However, 15 is a lot for some people. Inebriation can cause them to behave violently or take risks they wouldn’t normally take. Plus, when you combine hot weather with alcohol, it’s much easier to become dehydrated. If you’re going to drink, make sure at least some of what you consume is water.
Don’t Fight
It seems like fights on cruise ships are all over the news lately – so much so that some lines have implemented new policies that fine passengers involved and ban them from sailing for life. Don’t start or otherwise involve yourself in an altercation in a place where people – including you – are meant to be escaping from stress. Walk away, and seek peace doing something fun onboard instead.
Don’t Smoke (Except in Designated Areas)
To cut down on the effect smoking has on nonsmokers, cruise lines have rules against lighting up in most public areas, as well as in cabins and on cabin balconies. The last thing your nonsmoking neighbors want is a whiff of tobacco or vape while they’re trying to enjoy some serenity on their verandah. Keep it to designated smoking areas – usually on one side of the ship in or around the pool area and in some casinos – or your cruise line could fine you. Some ships also have cigar lounges, where passengers can smoke pipes and cigars. Cruise lines do not allow marijuana products onboard at any time, even if they’re legal in your state of residence.
Don’t Disrespect Crewmembers
Crewmembers work hard to enhance your vacation experience by cooking, cleaning and providing excellent service so you can relax. However, remember that they’re also people, and they aren’t your servants. Saying “please” and “thank you” and showing basic respect will go a long way.
Don’t Remove Your Gratuities
Part of showing respect to crewmembers is tipping them for a job well done. There are lots of debates about tipping culture. The bottom line is that it exists, so you should build tips into the cost of your sailing. In addition to having a few small bills on hand for those who deliver your luggage and room service orders, you should expect your cruise line to add a daily gratuity or service charge to your onboard account. You shouldn’t remove it. Doing so only hurts the crewmembers – including the ones you don’t see, who wash your dishes, towels and sheets – who have worked hard to make your sailing special. Frankly, if you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to cruise.
Cruise Etiquette in Port
Don’t Crowd the Gangway
Everyone is just as excited as you are to head ashore for some exploration, shopping or beach time, but crowding at the exit only slows down the process. Wait until you hear an announcement on the ship’s intercom before proceeding to the gangway to disembark. If you’re taking a shore excursion through your ship, pay attention to the meeting time and place on your ticket. That will ensure you’re off the vessel in time to catch your tour.
Don’t Misplace Your Manners
If you’re in a foreign place, embrace it. Read up ahead of time on the history and culture of the areas you’ll be visiting, and be open to learning more about them during your time there. Set your expectations by understanding that you might not be able to find your favorite North American food or toiletry brand when you’re abroad. Don’t openly mock or criticize local customs, dress or cuisine. They might not be what you’re used to at home, but that doesn’t make them wrong.
Don’t Confuse the All-Aboard Time
All-aboard time is the time at which all passengers must be back onboard their ship – usually about half an hour prior to the vessel’s departure from port. Keep in mind that ship time can be different from local time, so be sure to set your watch accordingly, and double-check it with a crewmember at the gangway before you disembark. If you’re late returning from anything other than a ship-sponsored excursion, your vessel likely won’t wait for you. You’ll have to either make your way home or to the next port of call at your own expense. If it does wait, you’ll be responsible for holding up thousands of other people and costing the cruise line money.
Don’t Skip Tips for Your Tour Guide
If you booked a shore excursion, whether through your cruise line or independently, have local currency available to tip your tour guide and bus or shuttle driver at the end of the tour if you feel they did a good job. The amount is up to you, but it’s a kind way to adhere to cruise etiquette and show your appreciation.
Cruise Etiquette at Disembarkation and Post-Cruise
Don’t Put Your Luggage Outside Late
If you require assistance taking your luggage off the ship when your cruise ends, crew will request that you place your large bags outside of your cabin door by a certain time the night before disembarkation. The bags will be removed from the ship for you the next morning, and you’ll claim them at the terminal. Don’t miss the cutoff time, or you risk either inconveniencing the crew or having to struggle with your own luggage when leaving the ship.
Don’t Forget a Change of Clothes
If you put your big bags outside of your door in preparation for disembarkation, don’t forget to keep your important items with you, along with a change of clothes. Your fellow passengers do not need to see you doing a humorous walk of shame in your pajamas the next morning.
Don’t Ignore Your Debarkation Time
Cruisers who choose to carry their own bags off the ship can often disembark at any time. But those who put large luggage outside their doors will have received luggage tags with a specific color, number or other identifier as a means for telling passengers when to disembark. Usually it’s done by deck, which helps to avoid overcrowding and bottlenecks at the gangway. Listen for when the voice on the speaker calls your identifier so you know when it’s your turn. Trying to leave earlier or later is unfair to other passengers and the crew who are in a rush to turn the vessel around for the next voyage.
Don’t Put Off Taking the Survey
After your sailing, you’re likely to receive a survey from your cruise line via e-mail. Don’t ignore it. If you fill it out, you will help the cruise line to improve and also have a chance to call out crew members who provided you with excellent service – something that can earn them bonuses and other rewards, including promotions.
Comments
Do you agree with our list of things that you should not do on a cruise? Is there any other cruise etiquette that we missed? Drop us an anchor below to share what cruiser behaviors annoy you the most.
