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Treating others how you wish to be treated is an age-old saying but according to some cruise guests, not all holidaymakers remember this when enjoying their trip overseas. While some people think that tipping crew for their services is a good way to show appreciation, experienced cruise-goers have shared their frustrations about those who fail to show basic respect to the staff on board the ship.

Though it’s not up to you how fellow guests speak to or treat the crew, one passenger wrote on a Cruise Critic forum that they are shocked by people who are openly rude to staff members.

The cruiser who goes by the name garycd wrote: “It amazes when I see cruise passengers (guests, if you prefer) treat cruise servers or other staff as if they were mechanical robots, not acknowledging them, not saying please or thank you, or some equivalent display of civility, but treating them as if they are a different class of people than themselves. 

“I find that much of the enjoyment of a cruise is getting to know and interacting with the staff.

“It’s worth the time when passing an employee scrubbing away at the stairs or the deck, to learn a bit about where they are from, how long they have worked on the particular ship, etc.”

The frustrated traveller added that from his own experience, getting to know the staff by their names and greeting them when seeing them around the ship can make a holiday “much more fun”.

Gary explained: “If they have taken a position for the adventure of working on a ship, they are still away from their family, friends and the village, town or city they grew up in.

“They really don’t need or deserve rude treatment from ‘entitled’ passengers. Seems to me, since we are the fortunate ones able to take cruises, that we should be at our very best when interacting with the people working on the ships.”

Many other cruisers agreed that seeing people treat others poorly breaks the “golden rule”, as pointed out by Keith who wrote that “people need to think about that before they get on the cruise ship.”

He noted that the “amazing crew” is one of the main reasons why he chooses to go on cruises over hotel stays on land.

In some cases, however, guests have noticed that going out of their way to help staff hasn’t always been well-received.

Another member of the forum revealed that they think that some cruise lines “facilitate situations that almost encourage abuse by guests”.

They reminisced on a cruise they had done in the past when they were seated around a booth for dinner with five other guests, which was difficult for the assistant server to access.

He wrote: “We decided in order to help her, we would collect and stack the dirty dishes at the end of the meal in order to make things easier for her.

“When she returned to collect the dishes, she became upset and said we would get her in trouble with her superiors as it implied she couldn’t do her job.

“We did make sure her superiors knew we thought she was wonderful and very good at her job, but felt sad she had to fear being given assistance.”

While many cruisers agreed that staff can “make or break” the experience, one user named NanaChar agreed that it’s not always the guests that are a problem.

She noted that “the vast majority of staff give 100 percent if not more” and that if they are enjoying their job, it means guests will enjoy the cruise more too.

While the forum user shared that she was “in awe” of the hard work and positive attitude shown by cruise employees, there has been one instance where she complained.

NanaChar wrote: “The only time we ever complained about the staff was when one of the officers reprimanded a bartender (in the suite guests’ lounge) in front of us.  

“I’m not sure what she had done wrong, but you never reprimand staff in front of guests.”

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