Cruise Lines

A cruise ship bathroom is a compact, private ensuite with a toilet, a small sink and (usually) a stand-up shower. In a standard cabin it measures roughly 25 to 30 square feet, while suites have bigger bathrooms that may include a tub, double sinks or a second toilet. Every cabin on the major ocean lines has its own bathroom, so you never have to share with strangers.

The details, though, vary more than most first-time cruisers expect: some lines split the bathroom into two rooms, some give you only a dispenser of all-in-one shampoo, and the toilets work very differently from the one at home. This guide answers the questions people most often ask about cruise ship bathrooms, from size and showers to outlets, toiletries, accessible bathrooms and what you must never flush.

Does every cruise cabin have a private bathroom?

On mainstream and luxury ocean ships, yes. Every inside, oceanview, balcony and suite cabin has its own ensuite bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. You will not find shared corridor bathrooms on lines such as Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, MSC or Disney.

The only places you might still come across shared facilities are some very small expedition vessels, tall ships or older river and coastal boats, and even those are rare today. If you are booking a niche expedition or sailing-ship trip, check the cabin description before you pay.

How big is a cruise ship bathroom?

The typical cruise ship bathroom in a standard cabin is about 25 to 30 square feet in total, and that figure includes the shower and the cabinets. Usable floor space is much smaller. Expect a couple of feet of counter beside the sink, a shelf or two around the mirror and a cabinet underneath. Two adults can’t really get ready at the same time.

Here is roughly what to expect by cabin type:

If bathroom space matters to you, it is one of the clearest differences between cabin grades. Our guide to suites vs mini-suites vs balcony cabins explains what else you gain as you move up.

Which cruise lines have split bathrooms and bathtubs?

A split bathroom divides the toilet and the shower or tub into two separate small rooms, each with its own sink, so one person can shower while another uses the toilet or brushes their teeth. Disney Cruise Line is the line best known for it: the split layout is the most common arrangement in Disney staterooms, although some inside categories (including all inside staterooms on Disney Wish, Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny) have a single bathroom instead. Elsewhere, true split bathrooms are uncommon outside of suites and some family cabins.

The table below summarizes what you typically get in a standard cabin. Amenities change by ship and over time, so always check the description for your exact cabin.

Upscale and luxury lines go further: Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn and Cunard all supply branded bottled toiletries, and suites across most lines get upgraded products.

Cruise ship showers: what to expect

Most cruise ship showers are stand-up cubicles, a little narrower than a typical hotel shower. On many ships they are rounded or curved to save space. You will usually find:

• A handheld showerhead on a hose, mounted on a sliding rail so you can adjust the height. Newer cabins often add a fixed rainfall head.
• A curtain or a glass door. Older ships and many standard cabins still use a curtain, which can cling when wet; many newer cabins have a glass door or sliding panel instead. A couple of clips or magnetic hooks can stop a clingy curtain.
• Wall dispensers for shampoo and body wash on most mainstream lines.
• A retractable clothesline above the shower for swimwear and hand-washed items.

Water pressure and temperature are usually good, but the bathroom fan runs continuously and can’t be switched up, so a long hot shower can steam up the cabin. Leave the bathroom door ajar afterwards to let it clear.

Outlets and hair dryers in the cruise bathroom

Most cabin bathrooms have a single low-power outlet, often near the mirror light, and it is normally labeled for shavers only. These outlets are fine for an electric toothbrush or an electric razor, but they are not built for high-wattage appliances, so never plug a hair dryer into one.

You probably won’t need to bring a dryer at all. Norwegian, for example, says every stateroom has a hair dryer, and the same is true on the other big lines. It is usually tucked in a vanity drawer in the main cabin rather than in the bathroom, and it is often a modest, low-powered model, so pack your own if you have thick hair and use it at the desk outlet. Curling irons and flat irons are generally allowed; clothes irons and steamers are banned on most lines for fire-safety reasons.

Toilet paper, toiletries and towels

Toilet paper is supplied and restocked by your cabin steward, as are soap, shampoo and the other toiletries listed above. The paper is thin by design, because it has to break down quickly in a vacuum system. Many cruisers pack a small bag of their own favorites (conditioner, face wash, cotton pads) rather than relying on the dispensers.

Each bathroom has bath towels, hand towels, washcloths and a bath mat. To save water and energy, many lines replace towels only if you leave them on the floor or in the tub; hang them up and they will be refreshed less often. Cabin towels should stay in the cabin: pool and beach towels are provided separately on deck or at the gangway.

Storage is the real squeeze. A hanging toiletry bag, an over-the-door organizer and magnetic hooks on the metal walls all help, and you will find more space-saving ideas in our tips to make your stateroom more livable.

Accessible cruise ship bathrooms

Every major line has a limited number of accessible cabins with larger, step-free bathrooms. Royal Caribbean’s accessible staterooms, as one example, feature:

• Bathroom doors 32 to 34 inches wide, depending on the ship
• Ramped thresholds and a five-foot turning radius
• A roll-in shower with a fold-down bench and handheld showerhead
• Grab bars, a lowered sink and raised toilet seats (mostly 17 to 19 inches)

Commode or shower chairs can usually be requested before sailing. Accessible cabins sell out early, so book well ahead and contact the line’s accessibility department.

Relief areas for service dogs

Service dogs can’t use the cabin bathroom, so ships set up dedicated relief areas on an outer deck. On Royal Caribbean these are 4-foot by 4-foot boxes filled with cypress mulch, shared by any service dogs on board, and you need to request one through the Access Department when you book and no later than 30 days before sailing. Other lines have similar arrangements, so ask when you book.

How cruise ship toilets work

A cruise ship toilet uses vacuum suction rather than gravity and lots of water. When you press the button, a valve opens and the contents are pulled at speed through narrow pipes to the ship’s treatment plant. The result is a loud whoosh that can be heard through cabin walls, so late-night flushing may wake a cabinmate.

The flush is fierce, but the system is easy to block. Because the pipes are narrow and a section of cabins can share the same vacuum line, a single blockage can sometimes affect several neighboring bathrooms until the engineers clear it.

What not to flush on a cruise ship

Only toilet paper and human waste should go into a cruise ship toilet. Put everything else in the bathroom bin:

1. Wet wipes, baby wipes and “flushable” wipes
2. Tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products
3. Diapers and swim diapers
4. Paper towels, tissues and napkins
5. Cotton swabs, cotton pads and dental floss
6. Hair, contact lenses, cigarette butts or anything plastic

If your toilet does stop working, call guest services rather than trying to fix it yourself; it is a routine job for the maintenance team. It is also sensible to close the lid before flushing.

Where does the waste go?

Everything flushed travels to an onboard wastewater treatment plant. According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), its member ships do not discharge untreated sewage anywhere in the world during normal operations, and ships carrying around 84% of member passenger capacity use advanced wastewater treatment systems. These combine biological treatment, filtration and UV disinfection, and the cleaned water can be reused on board for non-drinking purposes.

International rules under MARPOL Annex IV only allow treated discharges at set distances from shore, and many regions, including Alaska and the Baltic Sea, apply stricter standards. Leftover solids are dried and either incinerated or offloaded in port.

Is the bathroom tap water safe to drink?

Yes. Royal Caribbean, for example, explains that its drinking water is either distilled from seawater or loaded on board in port, and that it meets U.S. Vessel Sanitation Program standards, with inspections throughout the year. The water from your bathroom tap is the same treated supply used in the restaurants and bars, so you can fill a reusable bottle and brush your teeth with it. It can taste slightly of chlorine; the buffet’s chilled water stations are an easy alternative.

Quick tips for your cruise ship bathroom

• Check the shower and toilet as soon as you board so any problem is fixed on day one; it is one of the things to do as soon as you get to your cruise cabin.
• Pack a night light: the cabin is pitch-black, especially in inside cabins.
• Bring a few magnetic hooks and a hanging toiletry bag for storage.
• Use the public restrooms near the dining room, pool deck or theater during the day if you share a cabin.
• If you need a tub, check deck plans and book a cabin category that clearly lists one.

Once the vacuum toilet has done its job, the waste heads to an onboard treatment plant, as explained in this guide to cruise ship waste management.

FAQs

How do cruise ship toilets work?

Cruise ship toilets use a vacuum system. Pressing the flush button opens a valve and suction pulls the contents through narrow pipes to an onboard treatment plant, using far less water than a toilet at home. That is why they are loud and why only toilet paper should go in them.

Can you drink the tap water in a cruise ship bathroom?

Yes. On major lines the cabin tap water is made by distilling or filtering seawater, or is loaded in port, and then treated to U.S. Vessel Sanitation Program standards. It is the same water used in the ship’s restaurants and bars.

Do cruise ship cabins have bathtubs?

Most standard inside, oceanview and balcony cabins on big ships have a shower only. Tubs are mostly found in suites, Princess mini-suites, many Disney Cruise Line staterooms and some Holland America verandah cabins, so check the cabin description before you book.

Can I use my hair dryer in the cruise cabin bathroom?

Not in the bathroom outlet, which is usually rated for shavers only. Almost every cabin already has a hair dryer, often in a vanity drawer in the main room. If you bring your own, plug it into a desk outlet.

Are there public bathrooms on cruise ships?

Yes. Public restrooms are near the main dining rooms, theaters, bars, pool decks, the gym and the spa, so you rarely need to go back to your cabin. Some, but not all, have baby-changing tables.

Have you ever wondered how a massive cruise ship stays anchored in one spot? Me too.

Well, with the help of my cruise ship pilot friend, John, who has generously given up some of his time to help me with the technical stuff, we’ll break it down into simple terms for you.

Most ships have multiple anchors

Typicall a cruise ship will have two anchors, one on each side of the ship.

There’s an old saying that the starboard anchor is used in the southern hemisphere and the port anchor in the northern hemisphere. This is due to the Coriolis force, which causes storm systems to rotate clockwise in the north and anticlockwise in the south. Using the appropriate anchor can prevent cables from getting tangled when a second anchor is dropped.

But in reality, the anchors are alternated so that they wear equally. 

Sometimes, if you’re cruising into a place and you’re going to be turning into a current slightly, it’s more prudent to put down the anchor which is on the current side of the vessel.

Anchor weight varies – some are really huge!

The weight of the anchor is determined by the size of the ship. On a large cruise ship, the anchor may weigh in the region of 8 tons. That’s about the same weight as an African elephant or a standard school bus.

Here’s a photo of the anchor of an average-sized cruise ship, the Norwegian Jewel, next to a person…

And below, you can see me with the anchor of the S.S. Great Britain – the world’s first ocean liner which sailed from 1845 until 1886.

As you can see, the size is similar, although the shape of cruise ship anchors has changed quite a lot over the past 170 years.

Anchor chain length

Anchor chains are measured in lengths called shackles. One shackle of the chain is 15 fathoms long, this equates to 90 feet or approximately 27 metres.

Most cruise ships have chains that are either ten or eleven shackles long, but it could be up to 13 shackles long. So the anchor chains are around 900-990 feet or 270-297 metres long. 

For comparison, Wonder of the Seas is 1,188 feet or 362 metres long. So the anchor chain is roughly as long as the ship, but it may be a bit longer or a bit shorter.  

The chain’s pretty heavy too…

For a large cruise ship, each link in an anchor chain weighs around 50 kg – that’s roughly the same weight as a 12-year-old child.

There are around 1,000 links in the chain, so the whole anchor chain will weigh around 50 tons. Of course, with smaller ships, the anchor and the chain will weigh less than this.

Not all of the chain is let out. When it comes to dropping the anchor, the general rule of thumb is to lay out four to five times the length of the water’s depth in chain.

So, if the water is 25 meters deep, you’ll need approximately 100 to 125 meters of chain. The length of the chain can vary due to wind and currents, and sometimes it’s necessary to let out more of the chain, or shorten it.

Anchor chain storage explained

Anchor chains are contained in a chain locker on both the port and starboard sides. This is located underneath the windlass (the winch that recovers the anchor from the ocean floor), towards the front of the ship.

The end of the chain is secured to the ship, which is called the bitter end. In emergencies, the chain can be released by knocking out a pin in the bitter end. In dry docks, the entire chain can be removed and then reversed and put back in. This equalises the wear on it.

The pipe that the anchor cable chain goes down from the windlass to the outside of the ship is called the hawsepipe. The anchors are hauled up into this hawsepipe and secured in place. When a ship anchors, it does so at zero speed over the ground or with a very small amount of stern way.

When the anchor drops…

When a ship is brought to anchor, the speed is reduced to the minimum necessary for steering. The engines are then put into reverse to generate sternway, and the anchor is dropped onto the bottom.

The machine that’s used to drop and recover the anchor is called a windless. This handy contraption is usually electrically powered on cruise ships, but usually hydraulically powered on tankers and cargo ships.

Letting go of the anchor is known as ‘walking the anchor out’. The anchor will be brought to just above the water where it hangs free. The nautical term for this is a ‘cockabill and anchor’.

When it’s time to drop the anchor, an officer on the bridge will give the command to release it, and the brake on the windlass is released.

The anchor cannot be dropped all at once or it will pile up. The speed at which the anchor drops is controlled by a brake.

This can be a pretty noisy and messy process, with dust and rust flying around. The anchor will hit the bottom of the ocean, and then the ship will start to lay it out.

Watching a ship come to anchor early in the morning can be quite the spectacle. If you’re lucky enough to see it, you may notice the wash from the propellers come alongside the vessel as it comes astern. Once the wash reaches the middle of the ship, it’s a sign that the ship has stopped moving through the water.

This interesting video shows how an anchor is dropped on Island Princess…

Then it gets to work…

A ship is not held by an anchor when it anchors. So when you’re on a cruise and it anchors to tender, the anchor will go down on the bottom and the hooks in the end, which are called the flukes will lay towards the bottom and will usually bury themselves. Then the chain is laid out across the seabed.

When you’re in the tender boat, you’ll see that the chain is almost vertical. That’s called the catenary of the chain.

The catenary of the chain is what holds the ship in place and the ship will swing around this but not drift very far.

Anchors don’t always work

Some places are better for anchoring than others. On a chart on a ship, it indicates the nature of the bottom – whether it’s what’s known as ‘good holding ground’ or ‘poor holding ground’.

Good holding ground would suggest that the anchor will sit on the bottom there and will hold successfully. On poor holding ground the anchor would not sit successfully on the seabed and would drag.

Mud or softer ground is very good holding ground, but harder ground generally isn’t. If an anchor drags, in other words, the ship is moving away from the anchor and the cables come tight, the anchor breaks away from the bottom. Dragging can be caused by a number of things like wind or current.

There are a number of remedies for this. The first method would be to lengthen the cable so you have a longer catenary. If this is unsuccessful, then the crew may have to pick the anchor up again and re-anchor in a different position.

If this is unsuccessful again the vessel keeps tracking anchor, the only remedy is to pick up the anchor and go and steam off somewhere safe and just drift.

Anchors can be used for manoeuvring

Anchors can be used as a manoeuvring aid. While cruise ships typically have various tools such as bow thrusters, propellers and Azipods or rudders, there are occasions where an anchor can be useful.

The process involves lowering the anchor until it just touches the bottom, causing the ship to turn on that position. This transfers the steering point of the vessel to where the anchor comes out of the ship and the ship will turn on that position.

Raising the anchor

To recover the anchor, the process of dropping it is reversed. The officer on the bridge lets the captain know which way the cable is laying and how much weight is in it. Then, the ship will turn towards the cable to take the weight off it, and the anchor will be heaved back up onto the ship.

You can tell when the anchor comes off the bottom because starts to sway very gently. This will be relayed to the bridge as ‘anchor away’.

The anchor is hauled up and when it breaks the water the term ‘anchor sighted’ will be relayed to the bridge. Then, it’s hauled all the way back up into the hawsepipe and the message is ‘anchor home’.

When the anchor is sighted, the ship can commence moving safely forward.

The bottom line

I hope that this article has answered your questions about cruise ship anchors. I find all this info fascinating and am very grateful to John for helping me learn all the details.

If you have any questions, please make use of the comments section below to ask. Otherwise, why not check out some of our other technical cruise ship articles:

If you found this interesting, please share!

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

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