The 'entitled' cruise faux-pas that's as bad as reclining your seat on a flight

No one wants to break the unwritten rules of travel etiquette - and with soaring in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, to embarrass unwitting Brits abroad. While aeroplane-related no-gos, including reclining your chair on a flight and taking both armrests, are well known, the world of cruise-related missteps is less defined, though arguably more important.

Frowned-on offences include cutting into the line for restaurants, but one expert said the worst breach of etiquette of all is also one of the most common. Travel pro Jessica, who posts on TikTok as 'Jesstravel7', recently took a trip on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas, and said the most unforgivable faux pas while cruising was to hog sun loungers by putting towels on them. Sharing a clip of multiple rows of loungers covered by towels, she said: "This is what you call entitlement on a cruise ship".

"Do not do this," she added. "If you are here, do not save the seats, people are looking for seats."

When other social media users suggested the lounger occupants had just popped off to grab a drink, Jessica doubled down on her claims that the move was a clear demonstration of "entitlement".

"These people went on an excursion and didn't come back [until] five hours later, expecting their chairs to be there," she said.

Some argued back that the passengers were just "planning ahead", but others took Jessica's side, suggesting that travellers who wanted to use the loungers should just remove the towels.

Royal Caribbean policies mean that staff will remove towels and other belongings from loungers if they are left unattended for more than 30 minutes.

They also cannot be reserved and are available on a first come first served basis, as is the case on most cruise ships.

Despite the possibility of battles waged over sunbeds, cruising has spiked in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 35 million passengers embarking on cruise ships last year - a number that is expected to rise in 2025.

The industry also soared to 107% of its 2019 levels in 2023, with 31.7 million people embarking on liner journeys worldwide.