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Avoid Doing These 6 Things Or Risk Driving Cruise Crew Crazy
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Oct 8, 2024
Until recently I used to think of myself as a self-aware and understanding cruise passenger, but that changed after I caught up with some crew members I know over dinner on a recent cruise. They told me there are 6 things blissfully unaware passengers keep doing that really wind the crew up, but most passengers don’t realise they are doing it as crew members have to hide their frustration when they do these. I want to reveal these so you can avoid doing these from here on. GET 10% OFF YOUR "THE CRUISE MAPS" AT HTTPS://WWW.THECRUISEMAPS.COM/TFT For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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This video is sponsored by thecruesmaps.com
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Until recently, I used to think of myself as a self-aware and understanding cruise passenger
0:09
But that changed after I caught up with some crew members I know over dinner on a recent cruise
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They told me there are six things blissfully unaware passengers keep doing that really wind the crew up
0:22
but most don't realize they're doing it because crew members have to hide their frustration when us passengers do these things
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Welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bembridge and I want to reveal these so you can avoid doing them from here onwards
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The first includes issues that actually many cruises themselves get really annoyed about too
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but looking at it from the crew perspective puts a very different light on them
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These are actually things that passengers complain about frequently arguing that crew members do not do enough to stop them
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but I discovered how stressful they are for the crew by talking to these friends
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The first are pool deck chair hogs which put the crew in an impossible situation
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Most cruises I've been on there are always people reserving lounges by leaving items on them
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in the prime pool locations before disappearing, sometime for many hours. While most cruise lines have rules saying that crew will remove items on lounges left unoccupied
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after some time like say 30 minutes or 40 minutes, it drives the crew crazy because often
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if they remove people to items, they get aggravation from the passengers whose items are removed
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And of course, if they don't remove them, they then get it in the neck from passengers complaining they aren't enforcing the rules
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They can't win either way. Plus, of course, having to monitor loungers is an extra job on top of what they're supposed to be doing out on the pool deck
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whether it's serving drinks, getting food, keeping the pool area tidy and clean and so on
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The next one is passengers that do not follow the line dress code
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This is also another lose-lose for the crew, which is why cruises not follow
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the code does drive crew crazy. Now if they deny entry to the restaurant or a particular
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venue to passengers for not following the dress code, passengers often react
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really negatively, they create a huge big fuss, and if they turn a blind eye to
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avoid any confrontation then the other passengers following the code get upset and
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complain to them that the rules aren't being followed. The third rule area is around
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the behavior of kids on board, playing in the lifts and the corridors, especially
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when rules around adult-only venues or facilities are ignored like families and kids
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using the at only pool or hot tubs or fitness centre, which often has rules around 16-year-olds
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or under not being allowed to go unsupervised, and so on. Now, crew find trying to enforce the
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rules is another lose which of course drives them crazy Because if they start telling kids what to do often the parents get upset with them and give the crew a hard time If they don tell kids what to do then other passengers give the crew a hard time instead
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So again, another lose-lose. There is, though, one other rule-breaking that absolutely drives the crew crazy for another reason
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And this is when passengers don't follow the hygiene rules, particularly hand-washing after using the bathroom and before dining in the buffet
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So why does this annoy the crew so much? Why should they get so wound up
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Well, frequent hand washing and the use of sanitizer gel to a lesser degree
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is the requested to stop the spread of norovirus, that's the gastro disease that can cause vomiting and illness
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It's spread by infected people touching and leaving on items like food, tongs that other people then touch, then touch their mouths, and it spreads that way
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Now, if it spreads through the ship and causes an outbreak, it creates an enormous amount of extra work on top of the crew existing duties
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because they then allocated extra cleaning tasks, they might have to start serving food in the buffet
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they have to provide more room service for people isolating, there's extra duties are cleaning for people who are isolating their cabins and so on
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All of these duties are in addition to their normal job. It cuts into their already limited free and downtime
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So that's why it does drive them crazy. Before I talk about the next thing that drives crew crazy, which will prove controversial, I know
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TFT on checkout. Now back to the issues. Another thing that drives crew crazy is when
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passengers remove gratuities as there a real misunderstanding about what role they play Most cruise lines that don include gratuities in the fare auto add gratuities to our passenger onboard accounts Though if you pay attention you see there now usually not call gratuities these days
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but things like crew service charge or crew appreciation fee, things like that
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So what's the significance of this and why does removing them drive most crew absolutely crazy
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The reality is whether we like it or not, gratuities are part of our cruise fair, and the
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The way cruise lines pay and set wages for the crew is including the gratuities
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They're not on top of the wage the crew are promised when agreeing a contract
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They make up the wage that they're actually offered. If you want the crew to get something on top of their set wages, you need to then tip on top
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of auto-added gratuities. That's the reality. These charges are not a way of rewarding crew on top of their promised wage, but the way
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of basically making our cruise fare look lower. one, not even those crew I know, will tell me directly and it does seem to differ by
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cruise line, but crews sometimes do know which passengers have removed auto gratuities
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So something to bear in mind. The next issue was one that crew members I met spoke about a lot, as it's one that many
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cruises are unaware of how many issues it creates as crews do have to hide their frustrations
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when this one happens. This is passengers being late, arriving at the last minute, or even lingering in a place too long
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and it does drive the crew crazy across a wide range of areas including restaurants
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bars, excursions and even in the shops. So why on earth does it drive them crazy
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Well simply it messes up their job, their ability to get things done in time
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and even cuts into their limited rest and downtime. Now here's a few of the most common ones that those friends of mine spoke about
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First of all, the mustard drill. While most embarkation day muster drills are now done as e-musters
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so basically where cruises we have to report to to a specific location and check in. The crew member must stay there for many, many hours
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and can only leave to get on with the other regular tasks once everyone in that grouping
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have actually checked in. So being late kind of messes things up. The shore excursions team
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can't send out the tours on time if passengers are late or slow it to checking in for the tours
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which gets other guests giving them a hard time, for them having to hang around, they get the blame
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for it. But probably the biggest of all was in the dining room and restaurants. And there's
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actually three kind of issues here. First of all, people that don't arrive on time for fixed dining because waiters are not supposed to start
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serving the rest of the table if it's shared with the people who are there waiting
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getting frustrated and then stop giving them a hard time. They have to wait for everyone to be
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there. Secondly, passengers arriving at the very last minute before the closing time of the restaurant
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So for example if the restaurant closes 9 a for breakfast or 9 p for dinner passengers arrived five minutes just before that closing time because it means they have to stay on and keep serving And thirdly people lingering So for example if cruisers have finished their breakfast or their dinner and they basically hang around at their table
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chatting long after the restaurant is closed. The waiters have to reset and prepare the restaurant for
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the next meal and they can't leave until that's done. So for example, after dinner, they have to
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set up the tables for breakfast. Off breakfast, they set up the tables for lunch or dinner. They have to
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wait around, they can't do their tasks and head off for their breaks or sign off for the day
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Another interesting thing raised was crew find it frustrating when passengers have issues and don't
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raise them with them first to solve, but instead raise it with their supervisor or more senior
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crew because they think more will get done and quicker. So why does that actually drive them
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crazy? Well first of all, if you raise it with them, they have a chance to solve it. But secondly
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if it gets escalated, they're more likely to get into trouble. And on most lines, if crew is seen
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is getting complained about or things that they control complained about, it can affect the ability
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to get another contract and even in some cases have a contract terminated. So if you have an issue with
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your meal, something in your cabin or something around the ship, that's not quite right. The crew says
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it's always important to talk to the person who you're dealing with directly first, your
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camera steward, your waiter. If they can't resolve it, they can and will escalate it. And that
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will actually be received well by their supervisor manager because they've shown how they've tried
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to solve it. They can't and they're now looking for help. The next is probably a surprising one and one that few cruises realize is so important
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I asked the crew that I dine with about something I'd heard Lucy Southerton
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who makes YouTube videos as cruising as crew talking about. In one of her videos, she spoke about how many crew whose English isn't their first language
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gets stressed by being called out about their English in public by passengers
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So why does it drive crew so crazy? Well, most crew we interact with, we have to remember come from countries where English is not
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their first their home language. Not only do they have to learn and work in English, but also
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importantly they have to deal with understanding what cruises are asking or saying
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when we all have a wide range of accents. We can actually be really really
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challenging. Think about it even when you travel. So for example here in the UK
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when visitors come I know that many of you will struggle to understand people with
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Scottish or Northern English access or Liverpool accent or whatever. Crew have
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to deal with accents from all around the world but bearing in mind when English isn't their first language. So being called out can not really be
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embarrassing for them but kind of undermines their confidence, particularly if they're early on
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in their contract and it's kind of really kind of drives them crazy and gets them very stressed
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Now did you know that even polite and considerate passengers can unwittingly cause problems
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for crew? I found this off the hard way where I did something I thought was really helpful
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but I actually could have got my cabin steward fired. I talk about in this video, so I'll see you over there
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