Sometimes, when trying to be helpful, even the person with the best intentions can wind up making things worse. It happens in the travel industry all the time.
A while back we talked about things passengers do that flight attendants wish they’d stop. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the same thing can be said for the things guests do that hotel employees wish they wouldn’t. So it’s not much of a surprise to discover there are plenty of things cruise passengers do that ship workers wish they’d stop. Here are some of them:
Reusing cups or plates at the buffet
There are a lot of people on cruises and a lot of people means a lot of dishes. Some passengers, in an attempt to decrease how many dishes need to be washed, may try to reuse their cups, dishes or utensils for refills.
The problem is that reusing items that have already touched a passenger’s hands or mouth is a great way to quickly spread germs. The best thing to do is start fresh and get new cups, plates and utensils for refills.
Leaving room service trays inside the cabin
You decided to splurge and get room service (or “Ship Eats on Virgin Voyages). Your meal/snack is done and you’ve got your dirty plates, the serving tray, etc.
You don’t want to leave a mess in the hallway for people to see (or *cough* trip over, if they’ve over imbibed *cough*), so you leave it in your cabin, for your cabin attendant to take care of in the morning.
Unfortunately, that may not be the best move.
Although you might leave leftover room service “stuff” in your hotel room so that housekeeping could collect it in the morning, it doesn’t work that way on a ship. Many cruise lines would rather guests leave their dirty dishes just outside their door because they have crew members who have the responsibility of picking up those things. This is more efficient than knocking on the door to see if you’re done yet, or your cabin attendant contacting them, when they get in the room, to let them know they have a “pickup.”
Leaving room service trays outside the cabin
On the other hand, some cruise lines PREFER that leftover dishes from room service stay in the cabin.
Best thing to do? If you know you’re going to be utilizing room service at some point, ask your cabin attendant where would be the best place to leave your things when you’re done.
Not mentioning problems
People would like to hope there are no problems on their cruise, but, of course, things happen. Your main course at dinner has been cold every night. Your cabin attendants don’t fix your room up until the late afternoon. Your neighbor has been smoking weed on their balcony every day and you can’t stand the smell.
Some people don’t like to complain. At least, not at the time. Instead they’ll hold it in and not say anything. Either that, or they’ll blast the cruise line all over social media, either during their cruise or after it’s over.
Instead, cruise lines prefer if you mention the issue at the time, so things can be fixed. Tell the maître d’ about the food. Talk to your cabin attendant and see if they can fix your room up earlier because “whatever the reason is.” And definitely tell security about the neighbors smoking weed; using any marijuana or CBD products on a cruise ship is a violation of maritime law. On top of that, smoking anywhere except in designated smoking sections is a fire hazard (just ask anyone who knows about the ill-fated Star Princess cruise).
Giving positive feedback to the wrong people
On the other hand, sometimes a crew member will do something wonderful and you want to tell their boss about it, so the person gets credit. Make sure you’re telling the right person.
Telling the cruise director about how great a singer was in the show won’t do anything for the singer; the cruise director isn’t their boss.
Cabin attendant A seems to tell cabin attendant B what to do all the time. Assuming they’re the boss, you tell cabin attendant A how friendly cabin attendant B is. Except cabin attendant A isn’t their boss; they’re just bossy. 
You’re welcome to tell a chef how terrific the new menu is – and the chef will definitely appreciate that – but it’s the chef’s bosses who need to hear such compliments, too.
Or maybe you save up all the compliments and tell Guest Services how great these people were.
The problem is that you want to make sure the people in charge hear your accolades. So, take note of who these special employees are. When you’re done with your cruise, you’ll get a “how did we do?” email; mention in THAT how much you appreciated the singer, cabin attendant B and chef were – their bosses will get a report about it, and that, in turn, can help the cruise employees in question.
Talking with crew for too long
Most staff members of cruise ships seem to be very nice people. You may even feel some sort of “bond” with certain crew members and wind up talking to them quite a bit. Try not to take up too much of their time; they have a job they need to do. And even if you catch them while they’re not working (on Virgin Voyages, crew are allowed to hang out in the guest areas when they’re not working), that doesn’t mean they want to spend all their free time talking to guests.
Keep in mind that they’re getting paid to be friendly and helpful. It’s not an invitation to talk with them endlessly.
Talking with crew about their personal lives
Again, when a cruise staff member is so nice, you want to get to know more about them. So you may ask about their non-work lives…if they’re married, have kids, what they like to do in their spare time, etc.
Please don’t. Questions like that are intrusive, and, depending on circumstances, might even appear creepy. Keep discussions lighthearted and non-personal.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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