10 things cruise lines won’t tell you
Cruiser industry insiders reveal the secrets that cruise lines choose to conceal from passengers.
1. “Our ships might sink, but we won’t.”
Not necessarily sink, but there are numerous examples of accidents, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at sea waiting for assistance.
2. “Feeling queasy? It might be more than seasickness.”
Remember if the food seems strange, it might be best not to eat it.
3. “We’ve got a drinking problem.”
The cruiser liners WANT you to drink as much as you can. It’s where the money is at.
4. “Hire a tour guide, just not through us.”
If you book excursions through the cruise liners, you are paying an inflated price. Go to a local operator at your cruise destination instead, or even book online.
5. “We’ll find a way to hit you up.”
The cruise liner is always going to try to convince you to pay for all sort of extras. And like travellers stuck at an airport, passengers on cruises are a captive audience.
6. “You need a Ph.D. to choose your cabin.”
With thousands of passengers and therefore thousands of rooms, choosing the right cabin is an art. Space is limited and rooms are inevitably near engines or decks.
7. “Running late? See you later.”
Don’t expect your cruise to give you your money back the closer it is to your departure date.
8. “There is still plenty of peril on the sea.”
Cruises sounds like a nice, relaxing, safe holiday option but there’s still plenty of danger on board. Because of the heavy drinking, rates of sexual assault are 50 per cent higher than on land.
9. “Labour laws don’t always apply to us.”
Passengers rarely appreciate how hard the staff in the cruising industry work, and since cruise liners can be registered in other countries, it means sometimes staff don’t get minimum wage, over time or sick time.
10. “Don’t swim in our wake.”
From sulphurous engine emissions that contribute to smog to so-called blackwater (essentially what goes down the toilet), cruise liners leave a lot of waste in its wake.
Images: Getty