Norwegian Cruise Lines has banned door decorations on its ships, citing fire safety requirements.

Decorating cabin doors is a cherished tradition among long-term cruisers, with special occasions celebrated by hanging flags, banners, and stickers, while round-the-world cruisers use magnets and flags to show where they’ve been.

Others put up simple decorations just to locate their rooms more easily.

Lines like Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean also decorate the doors of guests celebrating special occasions with signs and balloons when the crew is informed.

Passengers on several Norwegian ships noticed the new rule announced on the daily cruise planner from early August.

“As per safety requirement, stateroom door decorations are strictly prohibited. Your Stateroom Steward has been instructed to remove and place all the decorations inside the room. Thank you for your understanding and compliance with this safety policy,” states the daily planner on board.

A NCL spokesperson says, “We have often communicated that the safety and security of our guests and crew is always of the utmost importance. As such, we have specific requirements in place, including prohibiting stateroom door decorations, which can be a fire hazard.”

Cruisers have been split in their response to this new ban. Some feel sad to see this tradition banned on NCL, but others applaud the move saying that the decorations are not only unnecessary but can also get excessive at times.

“I usually don’t decorate, but on my two month cruise last winter, a door near the elevator was decorated and it was really helpful to me in going to the right side of the ship to my room… I love the door decorations, hope they are not banned,” writes Carol Munnchen in a Facebook group.

“I personally like reading the signs along the hallway. We always hang signs and never cause any damage to the doors. It’s also an easy way to find your cabin. It’s fun and I’ve never, ever seen signs falling off and just laying on the floor. Norwegian has bigger things to address other than fun signs on cabin doors,” writes CruiseCritic forum user, Sea Legs.

“Last Christmas we saw actual lights around the door things are getting out of hand in this area,” writes Gary H Langford in a Facebook group.

“You can thank your fellow cruisers for decorating doors with things that do damage or not remove the decorations at the end of their cruise causing additional work on an already crazy busy day,” writes CruiseCritic forum user, esm54687.

“I’ll try decorating the inside of my door. Won’t be the same though. This has become a tradition for me and my daughter. We never left a speck behind,” writes another forum user, 1bets1.

Let us know what you think of door decorations in the comments below. Should they stay or go?