Steward Told Me: NEVER Do These 13 Things in Your Cruise Cabin

You pick up the phone beside the bed to tell someone back home the weather is nice. Royal Caribbean lists that call at $7.95 a minute. A cruise cabin looks like a hotel room. It does not work like one, and cabin stewards see the same mistakes every single week: jewelry that disappears into the laundry, clothes hung where they become a safety problem, and a hearing aid, a dental appliance or a ring wrapped in a napkin and sent straight into the trash. I'm Calvin Rusk. I'm sixty-five, and after enough cruises I've learned that a good cabin is not just about choosing the right location. It's about knowing how to use the room once you get there. Here are thirteen things I never do in a cruise cabin anymore, from the toilet lid and the tap water to the curtains in port, the balcony railing and a phone charging under your pillow, plus number six, the fire-safety habit that makes stewards nervous for a good reason, and number one, the habit to remember before housekeeping ever touches the bed. What is the strangest or most expensive cabin mistake you've ever made? Put it in the comments with the cruise line and what happened. Next time: what I check the moment I walk into the cabin, before I unpack one shirt. #CruiseTips #CalvinRusk #CruiseAfter65