If you have ever sailed on a cruise ship before, the chances are that there was at least one thing that left you confused or simply wondering why nobody had told you about it when you booked the cruise.

Sadly, many of those issues occur over and over again and are completely the fault of the cruise line whilst some are out of the control of the line, but they still don’t keep passenger informed, or at least they don’t tell you until they have to do.

So just what are the secrets that cruise lines love to keep from cruisers? That is exactly what we look at in this list as we take you through what we believe to be the top 10 secrets cruise lines don’t want you to know.

Some of the things in this list are hidden deep in small print of your cruise contract whilst some just go unmentioned.

Our Top 10 Secrets Cruise Lines Don’t Want You To Know

Ports Are Not Guaranteed

If you have booked an itinerary to visit a particular port of call that you have always wanted to visit, you may be in for a shock just a few hours before you are due to get there, as a visit to any port isn’t guaranteed.

There are plenty of reasons why that happens, with some such as bad weather or issues in the destination itself been out of the control of the line but sometimes lines or captains just choose not to visit somewhere for the dreaded ‘operational reasons’.

Sometimes lines will not be honest with cruisers, presumably to not have to deal with complaints, as we have firsthand experience of a captain announcing that due to high winds, they couldn’t dock at a port to only see online that the port was fully booked but with no booking for the ship in question.

Itinerary Changes

This is something that we always dread when booking a cruise holiday as, for me and my wife, a cruise is all about the places that we visit.

Thankfully, it is something that only ever happens rarely but when it does, you will get a dreaded email from the line to tell you that you will no longer be visited the port you wanted to visit and will be heading somewhere else instead.

This happened to us on our journey to America from Iceland where we were supposed to visit the port of Qaqortoq in Greenland but would have to change to the Nanortalik.

We were given plenty of warning from Celebrity, the reason why and in the end it was a great day ashore.

A much worse experience was with NCL who cancelled a visit to Leixoes, close to Porto, which was one of the ports we were looking forward to the most.

It was cancelled just days before setting sail and no reasons was given.

One of the worst aspects of itinerary changes is that you can receive an extra charge if the port fees are more to visit somewhere you have no interest in visiting.

Hidden Costs

This is one of the most frustrating aspects of cruising for us as if you are trying to stick to a tight budget, as likely most will do, having an unexpected extra cost can cause you problems including having to miss out on an experience you were looking forward to.

One of the worst experiences we had for this one was on an Iberian cruise where there was a $20 shuttle charge at just about every port we visited just to get from the ship to where we were supposed to be.

This would have added nearly $200 dollars extra each to the holiday if we did pay it at every stop along the way.

Another hidden cost that crops up is extra taxes added to purchases when in some ports, including to drinks even if you have a drinks package.

Special Offers Can Cost You More

This is just something that gives the industry as whole a bad name and causes some people to either not want to cruise or to never cruise again after their first experience as the marketing of holidays is rife with lies and mis-selling.

It is sadly an embarrassing fact of the industry that it is the majority of cruise lines that undertake such underhanded tactics to sell holidays.

Things to look out for include special offer discounts that actually cost you more than the full price of the cruise the week before, 2nd guest discounts offered after the price of a cruse has been doubled and the often used tactic of putting the price of a cruise up by an amount, for example $500 to then offer people a special offer of $500 onboard credit- i.e. it costs the same but you are now limited in where you can spend your money to only spending it with the line.

You May Not Dock At The Cruise Pier

Many cruise ports that you visit are part of a vast commercial port that can stretch for miles and miles, which usually isn’t a problem until the cruise port is full and you are the last ship in port.

That can completely change the experience you have in a destination from one where you dock centrally with great views of the destination from your ship before strolling from your ship into town at your own pace to docking in an industrial area with only views of run down warehouses and then having to que for shuttle buses to the port gate.

Much Less Time On Shore

When booking a cruise holiday, we often look at the amount of time we will have ashore before deciding on the itinerary to book.

In the main, the schedules announced are what you will experience, but it isn’t always the case as sometimes you will get much less time than schedule.

If like us, you like to plan what you are doing whilst onshore and even pre-book experiences and attractions, this can really ruin your day and end up costing you money.

To be fair to the lines, in the main it is often for reasons out of their control, such as bad weather, delays at previous ports or the port just not been ready for the ship but in our experience, the issues can often be down to the line or ship itself.

One of the worst experiences we have had is a long delay of well over an hour in getting off the ship due to poor organisation on the ship.

It was only a half day onshore to start with, so it cost us around a quarter of the time we should have had exploring.

You Are Constantly Watched

From CCTV to Ring Doorbells, we are all used to been on camera whenever we step outside out our front doors, but you may not expect the level of security onboard a cruise ship.

Just about every room, corridor and outdoor space is overseen by security cameras and there are security guards walking around the ship to keep an eye on things.

In the main, it is a good thing that the security is there as just like any place with people, crimes do happen, but it is something to keep in mind and that the ships don’t really tell you about.

Cruise Ships Will Not Wait For You

In fairness to cruise lines, they will make it perfectly clear that if you are late back to the ship, they will not wait for you, and it is up to you to get home or to the ship.

What puts this on a list like this is for those who book on shore excursions with the line that they book with as they always hint heavily that if you book with them and a problem occurs, the ship will always wait for you.

It does of course depend on the line you are sailing with, but with most, the ship will still only wait for small delays but if you are caught up with a long traffic jam, break down or something else that will take hours to sort, the ship will continue with its itinerary.

Most lines you book a shore excursion with will organise you going on to the next port of call to meet the ship but in more remote places, this can mean you miss days or even the rest of your adventure.

Gratuities Are Not Compulsory

On just about every cruise ship from every cruise line, you will have to pay gratuities at a daily rate.

Sometimes this will be built into the cruise fair, sometimes you will pay a set extra price and sometimes you will be charged a daily rate but no matter how you pay for them, they are not compulsory.

To start with, we will say that you really should pay it as sadly it is a big part of the wages for many members of staff including many that you will never actually meet so simply tipping serving staff instead is never a good idea.

If you do have a really bad experience on a ship to the point where the service from numerous members of staff really ruins your getaway, you can go to reception and ask for your gratuities to refunded or taken off of your account.

Your Ship May Be Chartered

So, you have spent hours trying to decide on the perfect holiday and trying to work out your budget and how to fit the trip into it.

Should you splash out on a balcony or enjoy some more excursions, should you book on a huge mega ship or an older one and should you visit your destination at the perfect time of year or try and save money going out of season.

That all takes time and effort to come to the answer but when it all clicks, you often end up with the perfect itinerary and in the end, a dream holiday but let’s be honest, cruise lines don’t care about any of that.

If they get a better offer that guarantees a bigger profit for the ship for the same time you should be on, they will cancel your itinerary and allow the ship to be chartered.

Not all lines allows chartering but a surprising number do including some of the biggest mass market lines.