Cruise trend labelled 'disrespectful' after passengers spotted on balcony

An image of a couple lying on a mattress on the balcony of their cruise suite has again ignited debate with numerous people calling out the move, labelling it "disrespectful" and a "bad idea".

Cruise passenger etiquette is often a hot topic and while this trend of moving a bed from inside to outside first made the rounds last year, it has again become a talking point after two people were seen on a Royal Caribbean Cruise reading their books on a mattress they'd dragged onto the balcony. "Omg really? Wondering if this guy got in trouble?" the person who spotted the them wondered in an online cruise forum.

After seeing the image, Cruise planner Mandy urged people not to follow suit. "I've heard of people doing this [and] it is a bad idea," she said. "It rains out there. It gets wet out there. The furniture that cruiselines put on their balconies is not the same type of furniture that they put inside the cabin."

In March 2023, Sarah Goodwin filmed herself setting up her mattress on her cruise balcony, telling people to put their "bed on the balcony" and that they would "not regret it". "This is purely for an afternoon read guys not to sleep overnight," she explained.

But since the apparent "trend" has reportedly spread, people have expressed their reservations, particularly after her video was shared recently in a cruise group. "That is a big no no," one said. "I find it incredibly disrespectful," another responded.

"You will [regret it] when your mattress is covered in salt and moist from the humid air and I bet the cruise company don’t like that much either for those reasons," a third added.

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Cruise planner Mandy argues she knew a person who found a "tonne of mould" underneath her mattress on a cruise, which caused her to struggle with allergies. She said at the time nobody could understand how this would happen to the mattress but she believes now someone likely "took it out on the balcony and it probably got wet" — triggering the mould.

"Please be considerate and think of the people that are going to sail after you, " she said.

Yahoo News Australia contacted cruise operators popular among Australians including Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises and P&O with questions about their policies on moving furniture but at the time of publication, none were able to comment.

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