Our Whine Wednesdays topic this week is about cruise ship passengers who have no control over their behavior and are totally oblivious to what is acceptable when being in a hospitality environment where cleanliness is paramount – truly PIGS on the high seas.
With all the issues surrounding hygiene and sickness prevention on cruises, one would think that all people by now got it into their head that some common sense should prevail but apparently not so.
While Celebrity Cruises is not known for rowdy behavior among its clientele and prides itself on being a bit “above” in terms of ambiance and class, I have still witnessed some pretty grotesque behavior as far as hygiene is concerned during my current Alaska cruise on Celebrity Solstice (and previously on the Millennium as well).
I took the above-posted picture on the Celebrity Solstice a few days ago when I came back from the pool and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this tastefully dressed man resting his bare, filthy feet on a coffee table at the library.
The next person after him puts some pastry or his coffee there, yummy!
An even worse situation occurred while making the rounds to look at some cabins with the hotel director and an intoxicated man who was earlier heard yelling for a bathroom stood in the corner of the 12th deck next to the stairwell and URINATED ON THE CARPET (after he had already visibly left the majority of it in his pants). When do cruise lines finally put a stop to such behavior?
A lot might have to do with alcohol intake, but cruise lines should start cutting people off and disabling their access to alcohol on the Seapass card. Urinating in public areas on a cruise ship, are you kidding me???
On Celebrity Millennium, a cabin that housed passengers in sickness isolation for the better part of the week had a garbage bag thrown out in the hallway labeled Biohazard – Infectious Waste. It wasn’t picked up for hours.
Add to that the many passengers who don’t bother to wash their hands before/after attending self-serve stations at the buffet or who visibly play around with the food, as in touching it with their bare hands.
Conclusion
I think there should be a mandatory element to the safety drill that includes basic hygiene protocol so that it hammers home to passengers that in order to maintain a safe cruising environment, common sense is paramount and that behaving like pigs in the mud field isn’t contributing to that. A closer watch on alcohol intake might also be one component of that, but this is usually not a contributing factor to scenes at the buffet of the individual in the library with his feet on the cocktail table.
I really enjoyed cruising during Covid when ships were at half capacity, and people were somewhat on guard as far as health and cleanliness were concerned. Now it’s back to basics, ships are full, and people let their guard down. Not sure this is an environment I can enjoy much longer, and I’m even more glad I completed 9 cruises in the past two years, seeing lots of interesting things, and I could probably just move on and go back to land-based trips. Not that people behave much better there.
