Don’t Break These 6 Rules Or You’ll Drive Other Cruisers Crazy (Podcast #503)

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This is Tips for Travelers,

helping you make the most of your precious time and money

on land, at sea, and on the rivers of the world.

With me.

Your host, Gary Bembridge.

Did you see a recent story about an 18-year-old boy

who convinced his parents to take him on the family's very first ever cruise?

It was to celebrate graduating from high school.

It cost the parents dearly, as they broke an absolute fundamental cruise rule.

While shopping in a Caribbean port after they'd been on an excursion,

the boy kind of nagged and told his parents they should return to the ship,

because he'd noticed that the cruise was closed.

The parents shrugged it off, saying that the ship wouldn't leave without all passengers.

He wasn't convinced, so he left them and returned to the ship.

But by the time the parents got to the port,

much later, they found that the ship, along with their son, had sailed.

It cost them an absolute fortune to join the ship at the next port.

They were absolutely furious.

Both the captain for not waiting, and their son for somehow not stopping him.

This story of rule-breaking and its consequences got me thinking about other cruise rules that I

see being broken often.

It struck me that some of those rule-breaking things bothered me, and some did not.

For while they might have nasty consequences for those involved, like those parents,

many rule-breakers and rule-breaking doesn't have any consequences.

It's also hard to call them, because I don't think the use of a cruise rule-breaking

rule is bad for you.

So I wondered if everyone felt the same.

So I did a poll of cruisers and discovered there's six key rules that, when broken,

drive cruisers crazy more than any others.

Here they are.

Let me start with the one that annoys cruisers the most.

I was surprised, by the way, that this was the top, but 88% of cruisers, nine out of ten,

said this one drives.

them crazy. One threat cruisers face is with many people on one vessel norovirus,

the gastro illness that can cause vomiting and diarrhea. It can be spread

fairly easily if passengers don't follow the simple prevention rules. There's a

few rules passengers regularly break that can lead to outbreaks. First, before

boarding we're supposed to report if we have signs of norovirus, upset stomachs

or vomiting, so then the medical team from the cruise line can assess us. But

some people worry that they're going to be isolated for a couple of days in

their cabin until it's passed, so they do not own up. Now while this particular

rule breaking annoyed people in the poll, the issue that actually drove most of

them mad is not following the rules on stopping norovirus from spreading and

basically causing an outbreak. And that is by washing hands frequently,

especially after using the bathroom and

before going to the buffet, or if not hand washing using the hand gel, which is

a fairly good alternative. Now norovirus spreads through touching a surface with

it on and then touching one's mouth. So someone handing for example tongs in the

buffet could actually spread it quite easily. Now norovirus, when it breaks out,

can cause really big issues on a cruise. For example, just before making this

video, P&O Cruises Ventura had a really big

outbreak. Some medial

reports saying that up to 250 passengers were affected and being made to

quarantine, of course ruining their trip. Rigorous following of the hand washing

and the gel rule should have been able to stop or certainly slow this down.

That's why this rule breaking drives so many cruises mad. Now I suspected this

next rule breaking would be high on the list and it was, with 81% of cruise

passengers saying it really really grates them.

Yes! 8 out of 10 cruises said that others reserving seats and chair hogging drives them

crazy. Every cruise line I've ever been on has rules about this. From the most

upmarket small ship line to the largest resort line, every daily programme

constantly asks passengers to stop reserving seats on the pool deck and in

the theatre. On many ships' pool decks I also see signs about not reserving deck chairs and lounge chairs.

loungers as well. Most cruise lines have rules saying a lounger with personal effects on

that has not been used for a set amount of time, often 40 minutes, will have those items

removed. However, this rule is just not followed by many passengers. Partly because although

cruise lines do say they will enforce the rule, most do not. I can see why crew are

reluctant to because they will end up getting so much hassle.

Many people know it is just worth breaking the rule because almost always they are going

to get away with it. Every now and then a cruise line will say they are clamping down,

like Carnival and Pinot Cruises UK did recently. They said they were going to get the crew

to put notices with timestamps if they noticed that any lounger or chair was not being used

and had items on it, and it would include the time on that document that they would

remove the items. But from what I hear, that approach didn't

last long.

The next rule breaking that upsets people has probably grown as an issue, with 75% of

passengers saying this one is a big issue for them right now. Perhaps it is because

more cruise lines are actively targeting and attracting more families after the cruise

shutdown in the last couple of years. I see more passengers complain about this set of

rules being broken than ever before, with lines and crews apparently reluctant to enforce

the rules.

I saw this first hand on a Majestic Princess Alaska cruise last year, which I went on that

had loads of families on, as normally happens in Alaska. The kids ran a bit crazy. They

took over the adult only pool. Babies and toddlers with diapers were using the swimming

pool despite rules posted against it. Kids constantly filled the hot tubs, despite signs

with different age restrictions. They used and messed about in the gym, again despite

rules like no under-16s allowed. They would run about the ship in hallways all day and

late into the evenings.

I have noticed on cruises since then, that because rule breaking is getting worse, a

couple of lines have added more rules around families and kids. For example, on my recent

Norwegian Viva Mediterranean cruise and Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas Caribbean cruise,

both of them introduced a curfew.

I noticed that there was a curfew. I noticed that there was a curfew. I noticed that there

is now a curfew!

With children aged 17 and under not allowed, unaccompanied, anywhere on the ship after

1am. And there were constant reminders in the daily program and in the daily Captain

updates reminding parents to basically supervise and ensure that the rules were being followed.

Talking of disruptions around the ship, the next set of rule-breakers were the next biggest

thing I saw in the poll drove cruise passengers who have booked a balcony cabin crazy and

also the rest of the crew. They have come to the reception desk to check the car and

with 58% or around 6 out of 10 saying that this one really got them steamed up.

There are a few specific rules around cruise ship balconies, including things

that can spill over to affect people's balconies next to, above or below the

people breaking the rules. In the embarkation safety briefing, I've

noticed that the captain always lays down several balcony rules, two of which

really rile up passengers if they are broken. Almost every cruise line does not

allow smoking nor vaping in the cabin or the balcony, but inevitably, as I often

find, there's occasionally people that vape or smoke cigarettes or in fact I've

noticed even something stronger on their balconies, and it wafts of course onto

the neighboring balconies. There is also a safety reason cruise lines have banned

smoking. To avoid more risk of smoking, cruise lines have banned smoking. To avoid more

incidents of fires being caused by people throwing cigarette butts, which

they thought were out, over the side of the ship. The most dramatic of these was

on the old Star Princess in the Caribbean, where it's believed a cigarette

was thrown overboard. It was blown back into another balcony, setting the

furniture and the dividers on the balcony alight. It led to one passenger

dying, 11 people being injured and over 100 cabins burnt and damaged. But loud

cruise behaviour on the balcony is also something that has grown as an issue. I

faced this on the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas cruise with loud music and partying on the

balcony below me. This trend has led to lines to target the ability to play loud music with more

rules. For example, recently Carnival Cruise Line announced that large speakers and radios

were prohibited from the fleet.

They also added a rule that all guests must use earphones when listening to music or watching

shows and movies in public spaces. Bluetooth, portable and wireless speakers are only

permitted to be used within the stateroom and not allowed on the balcony. Even when

they are being played within the cabin, they need to be played at a respectful sound level.

I've seen reports of people being thrown off ships, partly through cruisers,

for breaking the smoking and loud music on balcony rules. So as well as driving fellow guests like

me crazy, the consequences could be devastating and rather costly.

Then there's the other rules the captain reminds passengers about when it comes to balconies,

like not leaving items like towels or clothes on the balcony due to the risk of them being blown

off into the ocean and causing a threat.

Now on this next rule, I have been affected by this on a few cruises in the last 18 months,

so I am one of the 37% of passengers that gets annoyed by the next rule breakers too.

It is a rule the captain also always lays out in their embarkation day briefing. There's a sign

above the toilet reminding about the rule, and often in the daily program too. It is of course

about the toilets. Cruise Ship Toilet Plumbing System is

a suction-based one, and it is easily blocked if anything is flushed down the toilet other than

the supplied toilet paper and natural human waste. The main culprits for blockages on those cruises

that I have been on have been sanitary products and wipes. I have been on several cruises where

the toilets in my section stopped working for a period of time because people have broken that

simple rule, and it is quite disruptive having no toilet while waiting for the plumbers to unblock

and remove panels in the hallway to get to the pipes. The next rule breakers, I thought,

would be more annoying based on the amount of discussion and argument they cause on things

like Cruise Critic and Cruise Facebook groups, although only 33% said it winds them up,

but it is one that is really controversial. This is when passengers do not follow the

cruise line dress codes. While it only annoys a relatively

limited number of passengers, opinions run high, and passengers are divided on the rule breaking.

One camp argues that they choose a specific cruise line because of the ambience that a

certain dress code creates. For example, some people choose Cunard because it is renowned for

its dressing up nights with glamorous gowns and black tie tuxedos. Even on the more casual nights,

there is still a fairly smart dress code. The people in this camp argue that if you don't want

to follow the dress code rules of a cruise line, then why not consider other lines.

So for example, you could go to Norwegian or Disney, which basically don't have a dress code

rule. You could wear shorts for dinner. Though most cruise lines do have dress code rules,

and as there are rules, some religious simply get annoyed when they get broken.

Because they argue there is a code, there is a rule.

Now those who don't care

why people break the rules argue that others shouldn't be bothered by what other people

around them are wearing, and it shouldn't affect their enjoyment of a cruise.

Now while I don't get hugely annoyed by passengers breaking the dress code rule,

I'm probably more in the camp that feels if the cruise line has a dress code rule,

and it's made clear when booking, then simply it should be followed and they should enforce it.

If the cruise lines don't want a dress code, they don't want a dress code rule,

they shouldn't have one, and perhaps they could just lay down what's kind of not acceptable.

Perhaps certain things may not be acceptable to wear.

Now for example, when I go on QNOD, I choose QNOD because I'm in the mood to go on an itinerary where

I'm going to be dressing up and I feel very smart. So let me give an example. The cruise that I'm on

right now that I'm recording this on is a Viking cruise in Alaska, and I chose it partly because

I didn't want to come to Alaska and have to dress up because the place and the ports were the main.

I could have booked a similar itinerary on QNOD Queen Elizabeth, but I didn't because I didn't

want to have to follow those dress code rules when I was in Alaska. There were several more

serious rules that I see getting broken frequently, but like me, other cruises in the pole didn't rate

them high at all on an annoyance level, which I realized they did for all of those because they

didn't affect their cruising experience directly, even though there's some pretty serious rules in

there. Things like people taking food off the ship in ports, where countries ban this to protect

their environments, and particularly in places like the Arctic, Antarctica, Greenland, or people

try to bring banned items on board, having fights and those kinds of things. So while they support

these kinds of rules, they kind of

take them off because while the consequences for the rule breakers are going to be high,

they hardly ever affect them. And that's kind of the camp that I'm basically in.

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