When cruising, one of the great parts of it for many is the people that you meet as there are few opportunities for most of us to meet people from across the globe in our everyday life.

Some people can make new friends for life on a cruise getaway, some will make new friends for the cruise, some will make have a night to remember to with somebody new, but most will just have a interesting chat with somebody on the next table to them in the restaurant or who they are on an excursion with.

In many ways, your cruise ship can become like neighbour hood where you fellow passengers become like your neighbours, who you nod and smile at and have a quick catch up every now and again.

That may seem like a rose-tinted look at things, but it really is the experience that I normally have, especially when on longer repositioning cruises on smaller ships but the experience can often be much different on the huge resort style ships and on shorter getaways.

One thing that does seem to be consistent however is that there are always some people who just seem to wind up fellow passengers and are, well, just annoying.

If you have cruise, I am sure you know the people I am talking about, and I don’t mean passengers who actually ruin other people’s cruisers or just people who maybe have a different outlook on life to the majority of those onboard, what this list is looking at is how to avoid been that one person who does things that will be annoying the vast majority of other cruisers on the ship.

So just what are the top 10 ways to avoid annoying fellow passengers on a cruise and making sure that you don’t become THAT person onboard your ship? I answer just that in this list.

Our Top 10 Ways to Avoid Annoying Fellow Passengers

Keep Quiet Near Staterooms

If you have enjoyed a few cruises, or stay in hotels before, I am sure that this is one that will resonate with you as are lying fast a sleep in bed only to be rudely woken by somebody coming back to their room late at night, shouting to their friends and then slamming their stateroom door.

That is a bit of a worst-case scenario for this one, although it does happen often, but it can also be annoying when you get up early or come back late and are jut talking loudly as there isn’t too much soundproofing between cabins and the corridors.

Try to remember that not everybody is on the same schedule as you, so when you are in and around cabins, just keep quiet.

Get Back to the Ship on Time

Ships have a schedule to keep and if you don’t get back onboard on time, the ship will leave without you.

Even of you are only a little bit late, you are all set to become public enemy number 1 onboard your ship as hundreds will stand on the side of the ship, just waiting to slow clap you.

This will lead to a certain amount of infamy onboard the ship as you become known as a ‘pier runner’ and noticed around the ship.

Most of all, you will just annoy people onboard, annoy the crew, annoy the captain and potentially make the ship late for your next port, annoying everybody all over again.

Get Back to the Coach on Time

If you are on an excursion, make sure you arrive back at your coach either on time, or preferably a few minutes before.

There is nothing more annoying for those who do make the effort to get back to the coach on time than to have to sit and wait for somebody else.

Those who did make it bad probably had to miss something that they wanted to see, or hurry around other bits and when you sit their waiting for somebody to get back that just leads to frustration, so all of those late back will quickly become infamous among all those on the coach.

This can also have a knock-on effect as you are often late to your next stop and have less time there or you are late back to the ship.

Don’t Hog Tables in Buffet

Outside of dining time, there are many cruisers who love to sit in the buffet, enjoy a cup of tea and maybe reading a book or paly card games and that is perfectly fine.

In fact, it is one of me and my wife’s favourite places to sit on a sea day as you have great views, drinks and snacks at hand and air conditioning we know that when people start to arrive for dining times, we either need to have a meal ourselves or move.

Sadly, you see so many people not do that and even when people are struggling to find tables, they sit there with no food or drink and just hogging the tables, and well, just been annoying.

Don’t Hog Sun Loungers

This is one of those things that will quickly get you a reputation onboard your ship as it is something that is amongst the quickest to draw attention and the ire of other cruisers.

Many lines will have a rule that if you leave a lounger unattended for 30 minutes, they will take your stuff off of it but it is rarely followed through on.

If you manage to grab some prime real estate around the main pool and after a morning of sunbathing want to go for some lunch, you really need to take your stuff with you and hope to find somewhere when you get back.

Don’t Play Music Around the Pool

The pool deck, especially for warm weather cruises, is a place to relax, party and just have fun and most lines will add to that with games, entertainment and music acts and that all adds to the fun for those up there.

What will take away from the experience for most is to have somebody playing loud music through their phones, or worse through Bluetooth speakers (I mean who does that!), so whilst it can seem like having access to your favourite tunes is a great idea for you, the chances of everybody else wanting to listen to them is slim to none, so just enjoy what is on offer to all.

Avoid Hot Button Discussions

This is probably something that should be adhered to in everyday life outside of your close circle of friends and maybe family, but when you are out in public, there are somethings that people just don’t want to get into a discussion about.

That is especially true onboard a cruise ship where you will have people from across the world, with totally different views on life but who are all just wanting a fun holiday and to relax a bit whilst getting away from all of the stresses of life.

If you have an opinion that you just really cannot wait to share, maybe load the Facebook or X app on your phone- there’s loads of people wating to ‘discuss’ things there with you and let everybody on the ship just enjoy the escapism of travelling.

Keep Your Complains for Staff

If you have a bad experience onboard a cruise ship, the chances are that it will be something that happened to you, and only you, or it was just something that happened in a way that you didn’t like rather than it actually been an issue to attract everyone.

Of course, there are something that happen on a holiday that get everybody talking, such as the experience I had with Indian immigration staff that everybody onboard the ship had to go through, but if it is just a small thing, simply talk to appropriate crew members who maybe able to help you and sort anything that needs sorting.

If you just start moaning to other cruises, the chances are that at best, they just don’t really care or at worst, you can end up spoiling their night.

I remember one incident on a cruise holiday where me and my wife were queuing for lunch and were having a great getaway.

We got into a bit of small talk with the gentlemen behind us, as you do, before he just started to moan about how poor the coffee was in the suite only lounge and that he didn’t like mingling with regular cruises (such as me and my wife presumably, not sure if he quite realised he was suggesting that) but was forced too to be able to get decent coffee with his lunch.

Yeah, we didn’t really need to hear that, nor did the people behind in the queue who he started to relay the same complains to after he finished with us.

Don’t Play Card Games in Lounges/Cafes

This can be a bigger problem on resort style ships where there are often no quiet places to sit and play games, such as a library, so cruisers tend to migrate to places such as lounges or cafes.

There is no problem with that when there is nothing happening in the lounge, such as activities during the day or musicians on a night but if you are taking up space when others are after a table to join in with what happening, it’s probably best to wrap up or move elsewhere.

The same can be said for cafes, as they make a great place to have access to food and drink whilst playing cards or games, but if get busy and you are there for a decent length of time taking up tables and stopping others from been able to use the space, it quickly gets annoying for your fellow cruisers.

Don’t Nap in Public Areas

Holidays are meant to be relaxing, and a cruise certainty can be if you want it to be, but it can also be as busy as you want, with early starts to head on shore and late nights partying and drinking.

That often leads to any downtime that you get, when you just sit in a chair for a short period of time leaving you to nodding off.

If you find yourself in that situation, head back to your room for a nap as there is nothing worse than heading into a lounge and finding that you cannot get a seat whilst there are people sleeping there.

It’s annoying to those wanting a seat, its annoying to those relaxing in the lounge and having to listen to your snoring and the chances are that it isn’t all that hygienic as you slobber and sweat over the seat.