Dirty work or working dirty? Deceiving cruise tourists

Evidence suggests that some cruise ship employees engage in work that aligns to the poor working conditions, servile roles, or stigmatized positions of ‘dirty workers’. Accordingly, we adopt Routine Activity Theory from criminology to generate insights into research into employee misbehavior, the interactions of tourists and service workers, and the dirty work of cruise ship personnel. We begin with a review of contemporary research into crime, deception, and tourism before outlining existing insights into cruise ship work. After outlining our research approach, we present the result of a study into the convergence of likely offenders, potential targets, and opportunities to deceive passengers in the context of cruise ships. We conclude with a series of implications of theory and practice.