Cruise ship workers reveal ‘so weird’ experience in ‘hilariously’ small staff cabins

Two crew members readying to set sail on the maiden voyage of Royal Caribbean's newest billion dollar cruise ship have revealed the 'so weird' experience that they are going to have to go through on a daily basis.

Utopia of the Seas, which cost $1.35 billion (£1.04 billion) to build, is the world's newest cruise ship and is set for its first commercial trip on Friday (19 July).

With more than 2,200 members of staff set to wait on almost 5,700 passengers, crew have been living on the ship for weeks now as they test the vessel's features to make sure everything is in tip-top condition before heading on to the open seas.

That has included partying, using the customer food areas, and testing all the entertainment facilities.

And with crew flown out to the French coast - where final preparations have been made - to get everything checked out, it is all eyes on Port Canaveral in Florida for the first trip with paying passengers in just four days time.

But it hasn't, and isn't, all sunshine and rainbows for those who are going to be working on Utopia.

One member of the crew is musician Bryan James, a guitarist and singer who works on cruise ships for the vast majority of the year.

Documenting his cruise ship life on TikTok and YouTube, Bryan has lifted the lid on what crew have been experiencing as the prepare to launch Utopia.

The tiny bathroom and its proximity to the person you share it with is something else (YouTube / BryanJamesCruises)

That has included showing off the 'hilarious' size of his room on the brand new boat, which left some of his viewers in total shock.

In the video, Bryan shows off the somewhat tiny cabins given to him and his friend and bandmate, Jeff. But the worst bit? The absolutely minuscule bathroom that the two of them share, with it plonked in the middle of their two dorms.

And the reality of this was brought to life in Bryan's latest video, which was a Q&A about life on Utopia and the cruise industry in general.

During the video, Jeff has to stop him and say: "I think I have to use the restroom real quick sorry... I don't mean to be a burden.

"Make sure my mic's off, okay?"

Incredibly close quarters (YouTube / BryanJamesCruises)

While Jeff attends to nature's call, Bryan addresses the camera and says: "Oh yeah, the weirdest part about these bathrooms is they don't actually fully close.

"There's a slit at the bottom of the door and you can hear everything that happens in that bathroom. Love it, love it."

When all is done and the door reopens, a laughing Bryan adds: "I know the door is open right now but imagine the door is closed.

"This is how close you are to someone at any given moment while they're on the toilet.

"That's what's so weird about this man. This is where I brush my teeth [at a sink right next to the bathroom door] and Jeff is right here."

"And the only thing holding it back is just this little dinky door dinky door with the gap this big underneath the door," Jeff adds. You get really close to people living on ships, really fast."

Commenting, one person said: "That bathroom is something else."

Another joked: "You should definitely go with labelling these segments 'Toilet Talk with Brian and Jeff'."