The wildest events on a cruise ship are off-limits to guests — no suite or loyalty status will get you in.
Bryan James, an entertainer for Royal Caribbean, revealed that these secret crew-only parties are sometimes so large that they need to close down one of the public spaces to accommodate the crowd.
"Crew parties can get so big that there's no place that you can throw them below deck," James says in a recent TikTok, which has amassed over 130k views.
"So, to solve this, the cruise ship will shut down a place like the ice skating rink or the Solarium, and they'll lock the doors and say it's a private event."
According to James, the parties are typically thrown about once per month, and they’re massive. They sometimes draw more than 1,000 crew members on mega-ships like Utopia of the Seas.
On smaller ships without ice skating rinks, they will throw a "provisions party," where the crew parties "deep, deep below deck in one of the large storage areas."
Some vessels are even notoriously known as party ships, and James says that he knows plenty of crew members who don't care about the ports of call:
"If the crew bar is good, then they're good to go."
Special events for Seafarers' Day
Seafarers' Day is an annual holiday dedicated to those who work on ships. It takes place on June 25 and isn't just for cruise ship crew; it's for seafarers of all stripes who work on ships and play an important role in the global maritime industry.
To celebrate, cruise lines often go all out with special events for the crew. After all, there wouldn't be cruise vacations without the hardworking crew members!
"[It] kinda feels like Christmas, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving all wrapped up in one," James says.
James celebrated Seafarers' Day while working on Allure of the Seas in Europe (he will be onboard Allure until August 21, 2025).
One of the highlights included a huge raffle for prizes like PlayStation game consoles, iPads, and GoPros. The crew mess was also transformed into a festive banquet hall with a chocolate fountain, freshly carved turkey, plenty of desserts, decorative ice sculptures, and more.
However, the star of Seafarers' Day was the massive party thrown for the crew — with unlimited free drinks like beer and soda.
Speaking of food, did you know that crew members sometimes get leftovers from the guest buffet?
In a previous video, James revealed that uneaten food doesn't necessarily get thrown away at the end of the night.
"If there's something really good leftover, it winds up downstairs at something that we call 'midnight mess,'" he explains, "And the sooner you get there, the better the food is. I'd say after an hour, it ends up just being normal crew mess food."
In this particular TikTok video, James shows that the special dishes available for the crew included grilled pork chops, sautéed spinach, and shrimp curry. Although it's small, the midnight mess is a well-deserved treat for those who help keep the cruise ship running.
Read more: Crew member reveals that uneaten food on cruise ships isn't always thrown away
