9 of the Most Unusual Things You Can Do on a Cruise

The basics of what you’re going to do on a cruise are simple. You’ll eat good food, hang out by the pool, watch a show, have a drink, and maybe gamble in the casino.

It’s designed to have broad appeal with activities that we all know and most of us enjoy. But there are also some unusual things you can do on a cruise that many people don’t even realize. From simply offbeat to downright “adult” in nature, these things may not be as heavily advertised as the pool or dining, but they are included on the cruise all the same.

Learn Some Wild Things About Fellow Passengers’ Personal Lives

Many ships have their own versions of The Newlywed Game where passengers play as contestants and share some very revealing insights into their love lives.

If you were to go up to a passenger and ask them personal questions, such as “Where is the strangest place you’ve ever made ‘whoopee’ with your spouse?” then you’d expect to get slapped.

But some passengers share these details willingly, with literally hundreds of passengers!

Several cruise lines offer their versions of The Newlywed Game. Here, three willing couples are selected from the audience and asked questions about their personal lives. Match their spouses answer and they win a point. The questions range from fun and innocent to much more revealing, including insight into what goes on in the bedroom.

To us, it’s a can’t miss on a cruise and one of the most entertaining shows on the ship. Still, the fact that people are willing to share these details with total strangers is a bit unusual.

Sunbathe Topless

Want to get a tan… without the tan lines? Well unless you are sailing on a nudist cruise (more on that in a moment), then you can’t go “au naturel” while sunbathing. The mass market lines may have had topless sundecks in the past, but those days are long gone.

However, if you do want to get sun without a top on you have a choice with one cruise line. Virgin Voyages is well-known for being an adults-only cruise that only allows passengers 18 and older to sail. As a benefit to not having kids onboard the line can cater to adults. That includes everything from more adult entertainment on the ship to more adventurous food options in the restaurants.

But it also means they allow you to sunbathe topless on the highest deck on the ship if you please. With no kids to worry about, there’s no risk of young eyes accidentally getting an eyeful.

Get Your Picture Taken… In Front of the Titanic Staircase?!

One backdrop we’ve seen is the staircase from the Titanic, which seems unusual to have on a cruise ship.

Perhaps the most unusual thing you can do on a cruise ship is one that we’ve never quite been able to figure out why it’s actually a thing.

Cruisers are familiar with the photo opportunities on the ship. When you board on the first day or debark in a port or dress up for formal night, many lines have roving photographers that will take your photo for you. If you want to, you can buy copies in the ship’s photo store.

The backgrounds on many of these are always a bit cheesy to us. It’s usually things like a picture of the ship in the ocean or taking a photo with people dressed up in costumes in a port.

But on at least one Royal Caribbean ship we’ve seen a backdrop of the famous Grand Staircase on the Titanic. That’s right, you can imagine you are on the Titanic… while sailing on a cruise ship. If that’s not a little strange, we don’t know what is.

Play a Skill Crane For Cash Money

We all know the crane games that allow you to try your luck for a stuffed animal. But what about one for real cash?

We’ve all tried the skill crane at least once in our lives. If you were a kid like me, you begged your parents for a quarter (back when arcade games cost a quarter!), only to line it up perfectly on that stuffed animal and see it slip through the claws.

Now you can do that same thing but for real money. And the only place we’ve ever seen it is on a cruise ship.

Ship casinos have skill cranes but instead of stuffed animals they have stacks of money that you try to grab. But understand that these machines are well-known to be programmed to only have enough strength to pick up a prize after a certain number of plays. It’s likely the same on the ship. If it was as simple as being able to line up the crane over the top of the cash, then someone would be able to win consistently.

Watch Sports You Never See at Home

I am a fan of the Australian T20 cricket league, known as the Big Bash League. How do I even know that this exists given that I live literally on the other side of the world from it?

Because when I took a cruise a few years ago I was worn out from a day in port and wanted to just hang in the room. As on most ships, the TV had a sports channel that shows international feeds of sporting events, and its stuff we normally don’t get here in the U.S. So there I am watching Australian cricket in the middle of the Caribbean, learning how the game is played and really getting into it. That’s certainly not what I envisioned for my cruise.

In fact, the TV in general is kind of strange on the ship. Most channels are related to the cruise itself, with safety information or port info. There are only a handful of regular channels and most of those are news.

Watch the Big Guys Have a Sexy Legs or Belly Flop Contest

Belly flop competition
The poolside games can include a belly flop contest or sexy legs contest. Not exactly what you’d expect on a luxury cruise.

If you sail one of the big mass market lines like Carnival or Royal Caribbean, then you can see some unusual things poolside. Perhaps the most wild are the contests.

Depending on your cruise, there can be a belly flop contest (which is typically won by the biggest guy to participate), a sexiest man contest, or a sexiest legs contest.

All of these typically involve some healthy-sized gentlemen dancing around for female judges while the crowd goes crazy. To us they are a lot of fun, albeit a bit tacky. But there’s no arguing that it’s something unusual you don’t normally see on vacation.

Peruse (and Buy) Interesting Art For Sale

The art offered at auction can be… unusual. That includes this print showing a ship burning and people abandoning to lifeboats.

Go on vacation and buy… art? Souvenirs, sure. Duty-free shopping, we can see that. But it’s surprising that selling artwork is such a big deal on a cruise ship.

Most ships you sail will have an art gallery somewhere onboard, usually near the main promenade. But this isn’t just for show. The artwork is for sale and there are auctions and sales on the ship. You’ll likely receive a notice on your stateroom door.

To us, it’s unusual enough that you go on vacation to buy art. But the art itself is wild. It seems to commonly feature the same artists from ship to ship and, well, it’s just not our taste. If you’re into artwork that features anthropomorphic olives or Disney characters in Thomas Kinkade works, then you’ll love it.

Sample Wide-Ranging Menus (Ribs & Sushi at Once?)

They say variety is the spice of life. To us, that can be unusual when it comes to dining on the ship. Where else can you go for fine dining and get an option of cheese ravioli next to BBQ ribs next to a veggie burrito?

Typically you go to a restaurant on land and you have a theme — Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc. And it’s like that on a cruise ship too if you go to a specialty restaurant. But the large included restaurants like the main dining room cast a wide net. So you can start with eggrolls for an appetizer before having bruschetta and then chicken piccata before wrapping up with chocolate cake.

Now personally, we think that focusing on one type of food would likely improve the quality overall instead of trying to be everything to everyone. Still, if you like a wide variety of food styles, you’ll be in heaven.

Take a Cruise… In Your Birthday Suit

Perhaps the most unusual thing you can do on a cruise? How about cruising in your birthday suit?

Now, this isn’t the case on a normal cruise. So I’m not saying go on just any cruise ship bare unless you want to be kicked off. But there are themed cruises where companies charter ships, create an entire cruise wrapped around a theme and then sell rooms for a profit. You see them with music-themed trips or Star Trek or 1980s or nudism.

The most famous is the Big Nude Boat, which sails annually with a ship full of people interested in the natural lifestyle. And while you need to be clothed when docked in port and in dining venues, the rest of the time you are welcome to show it all.

Unusual? There’s nothing unnatural about the human body, but thousands of nudists together on a cruise ship? It’s a little different to say the least.

Popular: 39 Useful Things to Pack (17 You Wouldn't Think Of)

Read Next: Park & Cruise Hotels for Every Port in America

Popular: 107 Best Cruise Tips, Secrets, Tricks, and Freebies

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here