A woman who works on cruises has opened up about how dating works on board, referring to it as a "free-for-all."
Cruise employee and content creator Wanderlust Alley recently peeled back the curtain on love, hookups, and emotional rollercoasters at sea in her YouTube video, Working on a Cruise Ship – Expectation vs Reality.
And spoiler: the rumors about shipboard romances might not be as exaggerated as you'd think.
Alley starts off by addressing the one question she says she’s constantly asked: intimacy and dating on cruise ships.
“The expectation is that it’s just a massive free-for-all,” she says - before confirming that, yes, that perception holds up, at least in her experience.
From there, she opens up about her own relationships formed while working onboard, explaining that things tend to move much faster than they would back on land.
“I would like to note that ships are a very expedited environment; if you enjoy someone’s company, it is beyond tangible to spend so much time together and get to know each other,” she says.
“So maybe on the outside looking in, it may look like the situation is a bit rushed.
“But you can just form relationships super quickly here.”
And those fast-moving connections aren’t always short-lived. Alley reveals that it’s not uncommon for cruise staff to tie the knot after finding love onboard. But it’s not all serious either.
“That doesn’t mean that casual relationships aren’t happening as well,” she admits.
One of her colleagues jumps in to echo that reality: “You have to control yourself.”
Another coworker shares his own take on what he calls a “ship relationship,” saying it came with an expiration date: “It was agreed that it would come to an end when they disembarked.”
But not everyone treats cruise ship relationships casually.
Another cruise worker says: “For me, if you have a girlfriend, you’re not having a girlfriend to just play around – if you are committed, you have to be committed.
“But I know that other people have families at home and they have agreements where they get on a ship and then they have ship wives, ship husbands.”
That reality adds a complicated layer to the already unique cruise culture. As Alley puts it: “There is a lot of opportunity” onboard if you’re open to it or “want it.”
She closes by comparing dating at sea to dating on land - and points out how cruise life shifts the whole dynamic.
“I think the major difference here is that the bar is as easy as a four-minute walk from your house and that just means it’s simple to meet people.
“And on top of that, because we’re in a confined environment, everyone just may seem to know about it.”