Some cruise ships have modernized their rooms so the "do not disturb" sign has actually become electronic. On those ships, which are rare, a passenger hits a button so their room attendant knows to not come in, while another signals that the room needs cleaning.
Virgin Voyages has gone a little further building technology into its app where passengers can request towels and other small services. On most cruise ships, however, passengers use an old-school system to tell their cabin steward when to not bother them.
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Most cruise use a version of the hanging tag that hotels have used for pretty much as long as hotels have existed. Instead of a "do not disturb" card that hangs on the door, most cruise lines use a magnet.
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) , however, does use the hotel-style hanging door tags, at least on some ships. They say "Snoozin'" and come in a few different designs. Royal Caribbean ships offer a magnet that says "Sleeping Off the Adventure."
In some ways, these signs are impenetrable guards that keep your room steward from waking you up. There are, however, exceptions where your cabin attendant can ignore the sign and still enter your room.
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How Carnival and Royal Caribbean cabin stewards work
When you board a cruise ship, usually on the first day, your room attendant or cabin steward (the name varies by cruise line) will introduce themselves. On Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships, unless you have a suite, they will ask you whether you want morning or afternoon/evening cleaning.
In addition, your cabin steward will ask if you have any preferences. Some people might want ice delivered or extra towels. Others might need something special like distilled water or a real refrigerator for medical reasons.
When you meet your room attendant, you also have a chance to share any details unique to you. In my cases, I explain that if it's after noon and my do not disturb sign is up, it's fine to knock, because there's every chance I left the room and forgot to put the sign away.
In all cases, your cabin steward will knock and announce themselves before entering. That's designed to prevent an unfortunate, getting dressed, or just got out of the shower situation.
Your room steward wants to avoid any embarrassment or uncomfortable situation and will make every effort to determine if the room is empty or, if it's not, is it okay to enter. There is, however, one major exception.
Carnival explains a key safety rule
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald recently posted a message from an angry passenger on his Facebook page.
"How would you like it if the cabin cleaner walked in on you John Herald. Our cleaner knocked and walked in on us ignoring the do not disturb sign we had out. This was not acceptable. We took away the gratuity and gave it to other crew people. Is this how Carnival trains their workers?" the angry passenger wrote.
Heald offered a wider perspective and explained what happened and why.
"The reason I am sharing this post is because when it was made, early last week, it had lots of you adding your thoughts saying that this was indeed wrong and that it should not have happened. I have since spoken with the Housekeeping Manager who explained what had happened. The guests had their 'Snoozin' sign out for more than 24 hours. So it is company policy that we check the safety and well being of the guests and that is what happened here," he answered.
This was not a case of a worker barging into a room. It was a required safety procedure that followed a strict protocol.
"The stateroom attendant did knock as they always do before entering and as there was no reply they entered the room with the floor supervisor also there," he added. "The crew member was simply doing her job."
