The Wildly Common Cruise Ship Habit That Gets On Passenger's Last Nerves (And We Don't Blame Them)

When it comes to escaping your worries, cruise lines have a monopoly on leave-the-world-behind relaxation. After all, they carry guests hundreds (if not thousands) of miles from their everyday stresses and daily annoyances. These floating vacation hubs welcomed over 37 million ocean-going guests in 2025 (according to the Cruise Lines International Association), yet one particularly annoying phone habit has managed to irritate a wide variety of passengers regardless of itinerary, cabin class, or cruise line.

Passengers on Cruise Critic and other cruise forums highlight taking speakerphone calls in public spaces as an unacceptable behavior that's on the rise. "With the widespread use of starlink and vast improvements to internet service has come the proliferation of people taking phone calls, many on speakerphone (or FaceTime), in public spaces on cruise ships," opined one disgruntled cruiser.

Since entering the cruise industry in 2022, Starlink has become a sought-after amenity, offering reported download speeds of roughly 50 to 200 Mbps via SpaceX's satellite network. You may have Starlink to thank for that post-pool binge of "The White Lotus" season 3 in your cabin, but faster and more reliable internet speeds have created a new crop of cruisers who have no qualms about carrying on private conversations in public. Evidence of this unfortunate trend is mostly anecdotal, but travelers present a dismal picture. "I've seen it in dining rooms, the crow's nest and bars throughout the ship," shared one unhappy passenger on Cruise Critic, while the comment "Hold the phone up to your ear and quit annoying all those around you!" earned over 550 reactions on a Celebrity Cruises Facebook forum.

Poor phone etiquette extends beyond video and audio calls during cruise vacations. The Internet contains many firsthand accounts of people blasting music without headphones (via Cruise Critic) or watching videos with full sound in restaurants (via Reddit). One passenger writing on Cruise Critic even had to ask another guest to turn off sounds while playing phone games in the designated quiet zone of the ship's wellness area. As of this writing, most cruise lines don't appear to have a ban on speakerphone conversations or other phone volume-related offenses in public. However, Carnival and several other cruise lines have banned portable speakers on ships in an effort to keep communal spaces quiet, or at the very least free from competing playlists.

Despite the lack of clear guidelines on phone use, some passengers have had success asking staff for assistance in particularly noisy situations, while others take matters into their own hands. "I find that standing at the shoulder of the caller and making faces to camera works! When they turn to me and say in an irritated voice, "this is a private conversation," I respond with a gentle ... "obviously, it is not," shared one creative guest on Cruise Critic. In lieu of official rules, unspoken cruise ship etiquette dictates that it's considerate to use headphones when taking a video call, watching videos, listening to podcasts, playing music, or otherwise creating noise on your phone that may bother other guests.