A cruise ship worker has revealed the ultimate faux pas passengers make while on holiday.
Lucy Sotherton, 28, from Birmingham, has been working on cruise ships for nine years, since she was 19.
She recently opened up about what life is really like at sea – the good, the bad, and how you could be getting on the crew’s nerves without realising it.
The Brit warned that the main thing you should avoid doing if you don’t want to be made fun of, is taking your shoes off.
‘Crew members generally make fun of passengers who deem it acceptable to walk around the cruise ship with no shoes on,’ she admitted to the Daily Star.
Lucy revealed: ‘Surprisingly there is always one passenger per cruise that is comfortable walking around the entire 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.
‘However any space outside of your cabin really, you should have your shoes on.
‘And if you do want to walk around the cruise ship with no shoes on just now that the crew members will be making fun of you.’
However, it’s not just getting your feet out that will cause workers to turn up their noses – being impolite is another blunder.
Lucy said: ‘I think the biggest mistake that people can make when they are on a cruise is not being polite to every crew member.
‘You don’t know what you’re going to need and which crew member is going to be able to solve your issues and it has happened before where a passenger has been incredibly rude to a crew member that they have later needed during their cruise.’
If you’re nice to the staff, it could even bag you some free luxuries.
The 28-year-old shared that the best way to get free things and upgrades is to ‘make genuine connections with crew members’.
She added: ‘And this goes for your cabin Steward your waiter and any crew member really.
‘If you are a nice person and you have a connection with a crew member they are more likely to go above and beyond for you.
‘This is why it makes me laugh when passengers are rude to the crew members because they’re only doing themselves a disservice.
‘No crew member is going to want to go above and beyond for a passenger who is disrespectful and rude.’
The cruise ship worker claims that the worst type of passenger are those who are ‘determined to be miserable’ no matter what you offer them and that ‘happy passengers are the best.
So, if you’re heading to sea this year, make sure to wear a smile and keep your feet in check if you want to make a good impression.
It comes just after a singer who used to work on a cruise ship has lifted the lid on the morbid reason why they have ‘free ice cream parties’ on board.
TikTok star Dara Starr Tucker opened up about her experience with cruise ship disasters and deaths in a series of videos on the platform, where she has more than 1.1 million followers.
When a commenter noted there is a correlation between the amount of ice cream given to passengers and the number of bodies in the morgue, she confirmed that ‘this is unfortunately often true.’
‘If the crew suddenly makes a bunch of ice cream available to the passengers — free ice cream party — it’s often because more people have died on the ship than they have room for in the morgue,’ she said.
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