‘Most important’ rule you need to follow on a cruise ship to avoid personal disaster

While holidays, for the most part, are relaxing times to enjoy yourself, let loose and unwind - it's clear there are some unavoidable rules we all have to follow to ensure a smooth-sailing trip.

Whether it's making sure your passport is in date and obeying baggage restrictions all the way through, to keeping an eye on the clock throughout your journey, it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to travelling.

So, if you've got a cruise booked for this summer, listen up as one cruise ship worker has shared the 'most important' rule you need to follow to avoid a major mishap.

A family-of-nine was recently left completely stranded and forced to pay thousands after a cruise ship left them behind.

The Gault family, who hail from Oklahoma in the US, were excited to board the Norwegian Encore for a family reunion trip which ended up costing around a hefty $30,000 for the group of 16.

So, we thought it was important to share some golden advice on how to avoid a similar disaster happening to you.

The worker, who is part of an entertainment team on board a cruise ship, took to TikTok to share his pearls of wisdom.

Outlining the importance of a travel phenomenon known as 'ship time', the Aussie dancer explained: "So I've seen a lot of people miss their ship and I will see a lot of pier runners, people running when we leave port.

"I've been getting a lot of questions and comments about it, so this is why a lot of people do miss their ship."

Beware of 'ship time' when cruising this summer. (olesiabilkei / Getty Images)

He went on to outline that cruise ship workers all abide by 'ship time', which he also hailed as the 'most important thing' you need to keep in mind when cruising.

"Lets just say you leave from Miami and it's 3pm in Miami, you're going to be on Miami time," he went on, being sure to warn holiday-makers that they need to be mindful when travelling through time zones to ensure their phones don't automatically adjust the time.

"Always manually set it to what the ship time is," he outlined before recounting an anecdote of one couple who sadly missed the ship due to time difference confusion.

"So as we were leaving we saw them running, because they realised they missed the ship," he finished up before warning in the video's caption: "Don't be that one person we all laugh at."