The Rudest Things You Can Do On A Cruise, According To Etiquette Gurus

There are a few ways to avoid a faux pas at sea.

Cruises are many travelers’ preferred way to vacation. They often offer all-inclusive discount packages, and there’s certainly something appealing about getting to visit multiple destinations without having to repeatedly unpack and repack your suitcase.

But the lure of relaxing and letting loose on a mega-ship filled with endless buffets, pools, entertainment spaces and more is not an excuse to throw all sense of etiquette out the window (or overboard).

“You’re essentially sharing a huge house on water with a large number of people you’ve never seen and perhaps will never see again in your life,” Jackie Vernon-Thompson, the founder of From the Inside-Out School of Etiquette, told HuffPost. “But your attitude should not be, ‘Oh, I’ll never see them again so I can do whatever I choose.’ There are protocols to follow to ensure you do not cause another guest to have an unpleasant experience.”

With that in mind, we asked etiquette pros like Vernon-Thompson, as well as cruise experts, to share some common rude behaviors you should avoid as a cruise passenger, and what to do instead.

Hogging Chairs