Woman who worked on cruise explains why passengers don't consider sleeping with someone on board to be cheating

A woman who worked on a cruise has spoken about what it's like to be in a relationship onboard the ship, explaining why it doesn't count if people cheat.

Destiny - who goes by @destinybenway on TikTok - recalled how she worked as a dancer on a cruise ship a couple of years ago, and was stunned at how 'normal' it was for crew members in relationships to cheat on their partners.

Working on a cruise ship while your partner is at home inevitably means long periods of time away from one another.

But Destiny explained it's not just long-distance relationships that are impacted by the culture onboard, but also those between staff members.

"If you guys think hook up culture is bad on land, wait 'til you hear about it on ships," she said.

"I worked as a dancer on a cruise ship last year and I am low-key scarred.

"It's basically just a lot of cheating. Whether it's on your wife back at home or with other crew members onboard, but the crazy part about the whole thing is how normalised it is."

Destiny explained that essentially, the consensus is that if you're on the ship, sleeping with somebody who isn't your partner doesn't count as cheating.

"Where I'm from, cheating is like 'oh you messed up'. But on ships they literally use the phrase 'ship life' as an excuse to cheat," she continued.

"And when I first came onboard I was so confused, I was like 'what do you mean, ship life? It's just real life', and they were like 'no it's just ship life, I can do what I want'.

"I don't know the ins and outs of everyone's relationship, maybe they have some sort of agreement, but it rubs me the wrong way."

Destiny also explained that if you do get into a relationship onboard the ship and then you leave, it's basically as if you never existed.

People in the comments were quick to agree, with one person writing: "This was honestly my biggest shock my first contract."

While another said: "Haha 100% true! It’s wiiiiiiiild!"

And a third said: “Oh yeh I have a girlfriend… But it’s a ship relationship so let’s sleep together.”

Meanwhile, others were concerned for their own relationships, with a fourth writing: "The fact my bf is on a cruise rn crying."

And another added: "Bro my girl is going on a cruise without me nah that's worrying me so much I hate this so much."