Celebrity Cruises passenger shares surprising cruise hack
One simple onboard habit can really level up your cruise experience.
Whether the topic is travel, food, home improvement, or life in general, the internet loves to offer you hacks for saving time, money, and effort, or improving your life overall.
Cruise vacations have their own collection of hacks that promise smoother sailing or a more enjoyable onboard experience. But according to cruise enthusiasts, most of the cruise hacks circulating on social media are not all that noteworthy or are already widely known by most experienced cruisers.
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One cruiser recently turned to the Cruise community on Reddit to try to uncover some unexpected, lesser-known cruise tips that truly carry weight in improving the cruise experience.
“There are so many ‘cruise hacks’ out there, but most of them are pretty basic. What's a less obvious tip that actually made your cruise better?” wdwmeg asked.
Although this question received a bunch of responses ranging from money-saving tips and cruise planning strategies to packing tricks, one surprising tip stood out to many cruisers in the community and sparked a secondary discussion of its own.
The frequent cruiser who shared the advice noted that they had one of their most memorable cruise experiences on a recent sailing with Celebrity Cruises, thanks to their attention to this often-overlooked cruising hack.
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Getting to know the crew will improve your cruise experience
“Take a genuine interest in the crew that serves you. We have had so many experiences become richer because we befriended crew who were happy to share their lives with us,” politicsandpancakes explained.
“We’ve been on lots of cruises and lots of ships but the memories that stick out have always been the ones where we had that great relationship with our dining servers/entertainment staff/bartenders, etc.”
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This cruise hack received more than 750 upvotes and prompted many cruisers to share personal stories of how making meaningful connections with crew members made their cruises more memorable.
“I can’t upvote this comment enough! Remember that many of the people who serve you on cruise ships are far from home and haven’t seen their families in many months,” Mundane-Scarcity-219 replied. “Being nice, saying hi, asking where they’re from, etc., yields a lot and I’m not just talking about better service…the smiles on their faces are priceless.”
Cruise ship crew members appreciate being treated with dignity
A former cruise ship crew member even chimed in to share how this approach to cruising improves the experience for crew members, and can lead to perks for cruise passengers too.
“Agreed! Especially if you’re on a long cruise with lots of sea days. I would be so bored as crew [and] it was always nice to chat and actually get to know guests,” lofrench wrote. “I worked for a line where we had more leeway with handouts and making things happen, but you’d be amazed on little things crew can do behind the scenes to up your experience when you treat us like real people.”
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The discussion also led to some doubts about crew members’ desires to form friendships with passengers and suggestions that making passengers feel special is something crew members are trained to do. But that’s not really worth debating, as other cruisers pointed out.
“Regardless of whether it is ‘genuine’ or simply a part of their job, being pleasant and kind to the staff just makes it a nicer experience for both parties. Watching how some cruisers treat the staff makes me want to be extra kind,” OGHyfn8r noted.
Even if you don’t form friendships, being kind and respectful to crew members absolutely improves the cruise experience for everyone.
“It’s great to make friends with the staff, but in my opinion it’s more important is to treat all staff with respect,” FastEddyJrk pointed out. “They are great and appreciate being treated as you would like to be. Get to know their names!”
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