Being on vacation isn't an excuse to do anything you want, and sometimes cruise ship passengers are guilty of things that annoy the crew.
Most passengers try to do the right thing and act according to the rules, but there some that do things that leave you scratching your head.
I remember I was waiting in a line for a show in the theater on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship when a passenger walked right past the crew member without waiting in line because they were "a Diamond member".
I was astounded by the audacity of the passenger to flagrantly ignore the crew member. That sort of rudeness, unfortunately, isn't isolated to that one person.
YouTuber Jasyon Judson shared a short video of things that annoy crew members, and I couldn't agree more with the list.
Going to cabin before they open
On any Royal Caribbean cruise, you'll need to wait for your cruise cabin to open before you can access it.
Before they open, crew members are busy cleaning and preparing the cabins for the guests arriving on embarkation day.
Usually you have to wait until 1pm or 1:30pm for cabins to be ready for passengers. On my Anthem of the Seas cruise in Europe last summer, I had to wait until 2:30pm, but that was unusual.
While the cabins are being prepared, the fire doors are closed to block access to the hallway and there's a large sign warning passengers when cabins will be ready.
Some guests ignore the sign and open the fire door to get into their room.
Aside from the possibility your room is still being cleaned, you're getting in the way of crew members that are working hard to get it all ready. Passengers walking into their work area is going to hinder what they're doing, even if all you're doing is dropping off carry-on bags.
If you truly want to relieve yourself of carry-on bags, you could buy The Key, which has that option.
It's possible these passengers are used to another cruise line that does allow you to access your room before it's ready, like Celebrity Cruises.
However, it's prohibited on Royal Caribbean.
Bringing own toilet paper or wet wipes
I almost made this mistake until someone told me I'd be creating a problem, rather than solving one.
The toilet paper on a cruise ship is pretty awful. It's single ply, super thin, and has the soft texture of sandpaper.
Bringing your own toilet paper or wet wipes will break Royal Caribbean's toilet system and result in a major delay until it's fixed. One clogged toilet can inconvenience hundreds of passengers because of the nature of the suction plumbing cruise ships have.
Cruise ship plumbing is very sensitive, and it cannot handle things you might flush at home. It's important that you don't flush anything down the toilet aside from the toilet paper that Royal Caribbean provides.
Moreover, "flushable" wet wipes aren't allowed either to be flushed. While the wipes might be flushable they are not flushable on the ship and are almost guaranteed to clog the plumbing. That then requires the maintenance crew members to come out and fix it.
Complaining about the weather to Guest Services
I really don't know what someone thinks a crew member can do about it, but some people go to Guest Services to complain about the weather.
I suspect they think the ship's Captain can steer the ship away from clouds or rain and find better weather, but it's not quite that simple.
Cruise ships have a strict schedule to adhere to, and they need to get passengers to the next port of call on time, or deal with far more frustrated guests.
Plus, weather systems are big, and chasing rays of sunshine isn't practical. Not to mention deviating off course wastes fuel.
No matter what the weather, no crew member can do anything about it, so don't bother complaining to them.
Asking crew members to break rules for you
I've witnessed guests being told about a rule, and then asking for the rule to be bent or broken.
A classic example is in the Suite Lounge, when someone is staying in a suite and wants to bring their friend that isn't in a suite into the lounge.
Every suite guest receives a letter in their stateroom informing them in bold letters that this practice is not allowed.
Similarly, some passengers ask crew members to allow their kids that are too short to go on water slides, sneak people into reserved seating, or serve their underage kids alcohol.
Not only will you annoy the crew member with the request, you're putting them at risk to get in trouble or even fired for complying.
Not speaking up if there's a problem
Things break and issues arise on a cruise ship, but the crew can't step in to make it better if you don't say something.
This is actually a pet peeve of mine too, as I'll read about someone's "horrible" cruise experience after they got home, but didn't say anything about it while onboard.
Whether it is a malfunction in the cabin, accident onboard, disagreement with a crew member, or anything else that stops you in your tracks, problems should be addressed onboard and not after the cruise.
If you have a billing discrepancy on your bill, speak to Guest Relations on the ship. If something is not working properly in your cabin, alert your stateroom attendant.
