Having sailed on Royal Caribbean dozens of times, I have been lucky enough to befriend a few of the on-board musicians.
Solo musicians, at least on Royal Caribbean, have full passenger privileges when they're not working. They don't need to wear name tags or uniforms in off-hours, and they're allowed to socialize with passengers as long as that socialization is not physical and happens in public areas of the ship.
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As I've watched a guitarist friend of mine play on various Royal Caribbean ships, it was clear that some women in the crowd became enamored of him. Some would brazenly slip their cabin numbers in his tip jar while others might try to get his phone number.
This was flattering, but it was also something he fully had to ignore (or politely refuse) because hooking up with guests strictly violates Royal Caribbean's rules.
He had full passenger privileges but still had to be careful to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
One night, for example, security asked him to leave a hot tub because a woman who had been a regular at his shows got in after him. He did not know that or recognize the woman and she made no effort to talk to him, but security thought it best he find a different location to relax.
On another occasion, he told me about a Schooner Bar piano player who got in trouble for reenacting the "I'm the king of the world" pose on a public deck with a passenger. She did not get fired but easily could have been because crew members are not allowed to become physically involved with passengers.
That's a hard-and-fast rule but one that does get broken, according to a popular Reddit user who claims to be a Royal Caribbean crew member.
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Image source: Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean crew member says key rule gets broken
There's no way to fully verify that the Reddit user who identifies himself as RoyalCaribbeanTea actually works for the cruise line. His posts appear credible, however, and some of the insights he described match with discussions I have had with crew members.
He recently was asked about a crew member hooking up with a passenger.
"My best friend was a passenger on one of your boats and had uh, relations, with an engine room guy (Oiler). They met on Grindr and Oiler said he could do whatever he wanted if a guest invited him into their room. But he couldn’t proposition guests or invite them to his crew stateroom. How true is that?" asked a Reddit user.
RoyalCaribbeanTea was quick to correct this Reddit user.
"Oiler must not have read company policies well," RoyalCaribbeanTea wrote. "It isn't allowed at all. Zero tolerance — can be a cause for termination. If a guest invites a crew to any activity, there is a form from the HR department that has to be filled out by the invited crew and the inviting guest, signed by the department head, the HR manager, and the Staff Captain. It’s a whole drama."
Royal Caribbean rules do get broken
Just because hooking up with a passenger is against the rules does not mean that it never happens, according to RoyalCaribbeanTea.
"BUT! Crew can always sneak in inside guests' staterooms. As long as nobody reports it to security, ain't nobody gonna check the hallway CCTVs," he added.
The cruise line has cameras monitoring all public areas of its ships, and crew members do sometimes get disciplined for being in parts of the ship they are not supposed to be in.
Even musicians who have cabins in passenger areas of the ship (which is somewhat common) are supposed to be only in the area where their cabin is, not other passenger cabin hallways.
A second poster asked RoyalCaribbeanTea in a crude way whether he'd had sexual relations with any passengers.
"Me personally no," RoyalCaribbeanTea answered. "But that's quite a common thing. It isn't allowed so they just sneak around to get nasty."
Royal Caribbean, it should be emphasized, strictly prohibits crew members from entering passenger rooms. A friend of mine, a piano player, was almost fired because she entered her aunt's room to collect a present. (She was forgiven once she proved the familial relationship.)
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The cruise line's official policy is quite clear.
"Crew members are prohibited from engaging in physical relationships with guests. Crew members are not permitted to socialize with guests beyond their professional duties, and are not permitted to be in guest staterooms, except for the performance of their shipboard duties."
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