Risky Rules I’ve Seen Guests Break on Cruise Ships (Dangerous,

I’ve seen somebody break a cruise rule on almost every cruise I’ve been on.

Some are the type that just make you roll your eyes, others are things people knowingly or accidentally do that are against the rules.

The worrying thing is that many of the people I’ve seen make these mistakes didn’t even realise they were breaking the cruise lines’ rules and regulations!

Cruise lines terms and conditions are long – and quite boring to read. Its not surprising people don’t read them in full – but common sense is a must when onboard.

In this post we look at things people can easily get wrong when cruising.

Temperamental Toilets

I recently took a cruise with the British cruise line Marella, and when I came back from the cruise, I was telling my friend about the toilet in my cabin.

That might seem like an odd choice of conversation, but the toilet in my cabin did behave a little strangely.

When I pressed the flush button it would sometimes decide that it wanted to flush once, sometimes twice, sometimes three times. 

It wasn’t a big problem. It didn’t do it every time – and the ship was from the 1990s, making her relatively old by cruise ship standards, so you do expect the ship to have some quirks…

To be honest, I’d much prefer my toilet to flush too much than not enough! 

Broken Rule #1 – Failing to Report a Problem

Cruise ship toilets are notorious for breaking, and my friend told me that he had been on a cruise and had gone to the toilet, tried to flush, but the flush just didn’t work. 

He suspected that the toilet was clogged with something but he was so embarrassed that he didn’t tell anybody. He just – you know – put the toilet seat down and went on with his day, hoping that it would be fixed by the time he came back. 

It sounds silly now, but I think he just kind of panicked.

There are lots of things that you can’t put down on cruise ship toilets – like wipes or tampons – and I do wonder if maybe he did something like this, and didn’t want to admit to it. I didn’t want to ask! 

The thing is, if this was on land it wouldn’t be as big a deal, but on a cruise ship if your cabin toilet breaks it’s linked to lots of other cabin toilets in the same corridor.

You might think the problem stays in your room, but it can affect not just the cabins on your corridor but even those above and below yours.

When my friend returned to his cabin later in the day, he saw a maintenance man working away in one of the areas between the cabins, further down the corridor.

It was fixed later and is not a huge deal in this situation, but most cruise lines require guests to report anything broken or damaged. 

The cruise line just wants to minimise the damage, and if they don’t know about it, they can’t fix it – its common sense.

Find out about the last cruise I took with Marella here. I don’t think I broke any rules – but I did have to report an important maintenance issue:

Broken Rule #2 – Using Facilities When They’re Closed

Another way that cruise lines try to minimise any damage is by closing things such as the swimming pools and rock climbing wall out of hours.

They do this particularly if it’s things that need to be monitored – such as ropes courses or water slides. This really is for the passenger’s own good, but sometimes people don’t understand that.

If you tried to use a ropes course or a rock climbing wall when it was closed, you’d be in big, big, big trouble. 

Sometimes, the swimming pools close much earlier than I’d like, or the ropes courses might not be open for very long, but I’d still never break these rules. 

I very much doubt you’d be disembarked for a first offence. I suppose it depends on how dangerous you were being, but to me, it’s not worth it.

I can’t bear the idea of being told off at all. Confrontation isn’t my thing! 

I took a cruise years ago with some friends. I can’t remember which cruise line we were on but it was a cruise line where the main swimming pool closed particularly early.

On most cruise lines you’ll be able to go swimming after dinner and the pool will close in the evening to try and stop people from having too many drinks and taking a swim.

On this cruise, the signs around the ship said the pool would close at 6 pm or something quite early. 

When cruise lines close the swimming pools they’ll usually put a net over the top, the net isn’t designed to be able to hold the weight of somebody should they jump in, but it’s just a deterrent.

To learn more about when cruise ships close their pools, check out this post:

Cruise Lines Drain The Swimming Pools at Night – Here’s Why

I was on the pool deck with my friends as it approached closing time, they wanted us to go back into the pool to go swimming again – but I said I didn’t want to and that the pool was closing.

I made my excuses to leave and I’m pretty sure my friends went into the pool after closing time.

Not trying to snitch on them, this was a long time ago!

The Net Wasn’t On The Pool

They were able to carry on swimming but I imagine that if the crew saw or came to close the pool and put the net on, they’d have been asked to leave.

They were lovely, polite people, so they wouldn’t have minded or made a fuss – but they could have been asked to leave the ship. I wouldn’t take that chance.

On some cruise lines, you’ll find that there are lifeguards on duty, but not all cruise lines do.

Drownings do happen on cruise ships, and if you were trying to swim out of hours, this would be much more likely as other people wouldn’t be around to see you were in trouble.

Usually, I’m quite strict on the rules. If something says it closes at 6 p.m., I’ll be away by 5.55pm just to make sure. On one cruise, I accidentally broke a rule though… 

Broken Rule #3 – Leaving Items Charging in The Cabin

When I mentioned the thing that you shouldn’t do in a YouTube video, I have received so many comments since that said:

“I didn’t know that wasn’t allowed”

There were lots of comments saying that they didn’t believe it was true or that they were never told, but it has been a written rule on every cruise I’ve ever been on. 

On most modern cruise ships the electricity in the cabins is controlled by a switch by the door.

The lights in the cabin will only be turned on when there is a cruise card in there. Other cards do usually work but I find that having my card in the door means that I know where it is, without any doubt. 

The electricity in the cabin usually works the same way meaning that in theory, the electricity should only be on when you are inside your cabin. 

I have to admit that on occasion I did forget to unplug things before leaving the cabin, I thought that once I removed my cruise card the electricity to the cabin would switch off completely, but that wasn’t always the case. 

I’m not sure why but you might find that one or two plugs, or maybe all of them still work when the card isn’t in the door. It must just be to do with how the cabin is made.

I only noticed that my things were charging because when I returned to my cabin, I would find things fully charged when I didn’t think they would be.

Sometimes I’ve returned to the room and find that the cabin steward had unplugged whatever I had left charging.

The idea behind it is that if you leave things charging when you’re not there, it could be a fire risk. If it overheated, nobody is there to monitor it.

If somebody were in the cabin they’d hopefully notice the device getting hot and unplug it before it caused any damage. 

#4 Smoking

One rule I am never at risk at breaking is smoking in an undesignated area, neither me or anyone in my family smokes.

Smoking is a BIG fire risk on cruise ships, particularly if people smoke in places it isn’t allowed.

I have seen passengers smoking where they shouldn’t before – and if you ever see it, please report it to the reception desk, they’ll usually get a warning – and a telling off. 

A few cruise lines still allow you to smoke on your own balcony, but they are in the minority. Find out about that here:

Cruise Line Balcony Smoking Policies – On These Four Lines You Can Still Smoke On The Balcony

You might be thinking, “What harm can one small cigarette do?” it can do a LOT of damage..

Watch this video next to learn about the damage that was done by one carelessly discarded cigarette:

Endangering the Lives of Yourself and Others

Cruise lines make it pretty clear that if you endanger the lives of yourself or others, you will be removed from the ship – and probably be banned for life.

Luckily, I have never seen anyone do this!

Some cruisers still make ridiculous decisions, though. Find out some examples of that in the video below:

Find out about some things you are agreeing to when you book a cruise here – you might be surprised:

9 Things You’re Agreeing to When You Book a Cruise Without Realising

Before You Go

Find out the five things most regularly confiscated by cruise lines here:

These Are The 5 Items Most Regularly Confiscated by Cruise Lines

Find out about some of the strange and bizarre things that were once allowed on a cruise ship below:

6 Things Once Allowed on Cruise Ships But Are Now Banned (For Good Reason!)