Cruise worker reveals secret reason parts of the ship will get sealed off from guests

If you've ever been on a Royal Caribbean cruise and found that certain areas are mysteriously closed off to guests, there's likely a very good reason for it.

While you might be wondering if the ship is doing some emergency maintenance or cleaning to areas that are closed off in the middle of a cruise, the truth is, fortunately, a lot more fun.

According to cruise worker Bryan James, the vessel he works on will close an area above deck around once a month, to host a spectacular staff party.

It's well documented that cruise staff work incredibly hard, maintaining exceptionally high standards 24 hours a day to ensure guests are happy and having a wonderful holiday, so they definitely deserve an opportunity to unwind and let their hair down.

Taking to Instagram, where he shares regular updates and behind the scenes of crew life, Bryan explained: "Crew parties can get so big that there's no place you can throw them below deck. So to solve this, the cruise will shut down a place like the ice skating rink or the solarium and they'll lock the doors and say that it's a private event.

"On my ship we get one of these parties about once a month and about 1,000 crew members show up."

Many of Bryan's followers were quick to agree that staff were well deserving of parties, with one commenting: "The crew on cruise ships work so hard. You all deserve the recognition and parties."

Meanwhile, another questioned who is working at the parties and in other parts of the ship if all the staff are invited to the celebration.

In another post, Bryan revealed more secrets about life below deck, explaining that the vast majority of people working on a cruise ship have a roommate. In some instances, crew will be in a room with bunk beds, or in others they might have their own room, but share a bathroom in the middle.

"You can hear everything that's going on in the other room by the way," he said, explaining that the doors between the bedrooms and the bathroom don't actually reach the ceiling.

"If you want your own room, you have to work your way up the pecking order, either by being an engineer, running a department," he explained, before showing off an impressive cabin which belongs to the cruise director.

"Only the captain gets a better room than this."