Renee Langton recently cruised with P&O for the first time in five years, and while she left singing the praises of the ship and its amenities, she couldn’t help but notice one change. Langton felt that attitudes of cruisers had dramatically switched since she last stepped on a ship.

At one stage she was even being brought to tears.

Langton wrote on a P&O Facebook group: “I cannot overstate how much cruise culture and attitude amongst guests has changed since my multiple P&O cruises over 5 years ago. The amount of dirty looks and stares I got around the ship, the amount of times we got told off for singing along during shows or talking in bars, which even brought me to tears one night. And the amount of complaining and entitlement around the ship was baffling.

“We witnessed multiple arguments and fights amongst guests which I’ve never seen once on my 5 previous cruises. I am strongly considering not cruising again purely because of how little fun people were willing to have and how nasty some people were.”

Fights in the pantry

Cruiser Horstman agreed on the bad attitudes of cruisers, having cruised on Pacific Explorer recently. 

“There were so many people pushing in front of people inline for food and without regard for others. I saw quite a few fights in the pantry over this, there is plenty of food and no need for this.

“Also we experienced waiting for lifts and people closing the door when you’re clearly trying to get in a near-empty lift!”

Cruiser Eliza Kay also had interactions with other cruisers that lead to tears.

“I was reduced to tears one morning because of rude entitled passengers. Another day I spoke up for myself as a rude older couple barged past us in the marquee and then complained that we didn’t move. I couldn’t help myself and commented ‘a simple excuse me and we would gladly have stood (aside) for you’, and that did not go down well.”

But it’s not just P&O or Australians.

Lucy Southerton, 28-year-old cruise ship worker who has sailed on Royal Caribbean and Virgin, was shocked to watch passengers walk around the ship barefoot, for the entirety of their holiday.

She said those who dare to bare their tootsies will be “made fun of” by the crew members for being dirty.

She told The Daily Star: “Crew members generally make fun of passengers who deem it acceptable to walk around the cruise ship with no shoes on. They will weave in and out of shops with no shoes on they will even think it appropriate to go to the theatre with no shoes on because technically they are indoors.”

Treatment of children 

Earlier this year Cruise Passenger reported that parents of children on Royal Caribbean ships were unhappy with passengers being rude to their children. It lead to much debate on the treatment of kids on cruises and whether the blame falls on entitled passengers or lacklustre parenting. 

Many Royal Caribbean passengers shared stories of how they felt upset or uncomfortable with how other cruisers acted towards their children.

According to cruiser Nita Crawford, these issues are present in P&O ships as well.

“On our recent cruise people were pointing and carrying on at my daughter’s choice of clothes. It was obvious spite.

“Another night a drunk abused us. His mate came over to us and apologised and said he’d been like it with lots of people. I spent more time than not in my cabin trying to avoid the entitled fools.”

Cruise mattresses on balconies?

Cruise Passenger reported on a new cruise trend where cruise passengers are taking their mattresses onto their balconies.

Cruise Passenger readers were shocked at the behaviour, writing comments such as: “That’s ridiculous. Go with Virgin, every balcony has a hammock!”, and “Tried that on a carnival ship. A big no-no had to bring it in.”

It’s become a significant debate amongst the cruise community, as to whether its a fun cruise hack, or actually entitled behaviour that damages the mattress supplied by the cruise line.

One cruiser wrote: “I’ve heard of people doing this [and] it is a bad idea.

“It rains out there. It gets wet out there. The furniture that cruise lines put on their balconies is not the same type of furniture that they put inside the cabin.”

Another wrote: “You will [regret it] when your mattress is covered in salt and moist from the humid air and I bet the cruise company don’t like that much either for those reasons.”

Cruise ship jails 

A cruise-related TikTok caught headlines recently after cruiser Theresa Rowley revealed that an incident she had onboard nearly landed her in “cruise ship jail”. 

Rowley ended up in an altercation with a woman she claims was being rude to her mother. She posted on TikTok that she faced the prospect of going to the “brig”, a cruise ship version of prison.

Emma Le Teace, owner of the website Emma Cruises, wrote on her blog explaining how the brig works.

“The onboard jails are small and used as a place to hold guests suspected of breaking the law or those who are acting dangerously or recklessly.

“It isn’t the intention of the cruise line to keep guests here for any great period of time.”

An act of recklessness could force a cruiser to stay in their cabin under guard. If the act is particularly heinous, they may even end up in the brig.

What’s you view about the attitudes of cruisers? Leave a comment