You could get booted from your next cruise if you ignore these ship rules

You’re in trouble now. In fact, you’re going to get kicked off your ship. Why? Because you stayed in your cabin reading a book during the muster, that inconvenient but mandatory safety briefing that cruise ships demand you attend at the beginning of each cruise.

Missing the muster is just one of 11 reasons you can get booted off a ship, according to research by CruiseCritic.com.

Among the others: being rude to the captain or other ship personnel, not having the correct travel documents and refusing to go through the screening procedure.

You can even get kicked off for being sick — too sick, that is.

“We mean really sick, like a heart attack or stroke or a serious injury that shipboard doctors and medical facilities don’t have the ability to treat,” according to CruiseCritic. “If you need hospital-level care, the ship’s doctor will have you whisked off the ship at the next port of call and taken to the nearest hospital.”

Among the other reasons you can be sent ashore: getting in a verbal or physical fight with another passenger or crew member; dropping things overboard, even something as small as a cigarette; and failing a cabin inspection because you have something illegal stashed there, such as drugs.

But one of the most common reasons passengers don’t complete a cruise is that they literally miss their boat. They don’t show up on the dock on time, and the cruise ship sails off into the sunset without them.

ALSO

Listen to top artists and jump in to jam on JazzFest at Sea cruise

Head around the world in January on one of three cruises from L.A. for three- to five-month voyages

Watch the Great American Eclipse from the Atlantic Ocean on Oasis of the Seas cruise

Cruise passengers can peek under the sea in Ponant’s new underwater lounge

travel@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimestravel