The Popular Fruit That Holds A Scandalous Secret Message While On A Cruise

You're walking down the hallway of your cruise ship when you spot something unusual on one of the other passengers' cabin doors: An upside-down pineapple. Decorating the door to your cabin is a big thing on a lot of cruises, but this symbol can have a meaning beyond loving tasty tropical fruits. Sometimes, a magnet or sticker of an inverted pineapple is a symbol that the people in that cabin are swingers — couples interested in meeting new sexual partners while on their trip.

While enjoying your overpriced cruise drink package on your thrilling voyage through the Caribbean's best ports, you might spot a few pineapples around the bar, too. Interested couples are also known to occasionally show off pineapples in other places, like jewelry, clothing, or stickers in noticeable spots, such as on their cruise cards or cocktails. Of course, there are other reasons a person might have pineapples on their clothing or door while on a cruise, so before you make any assumptions about your fellow passengers, you might want to make sure they're signaling what you think they're signaling. When in doubt, you can always discreetly ask.

Even within the swinger community, the pineapple symbol seems like more of an inside joke than a legitimate signal, considering how much easier it would be to post on a designated dating app or social media community to meet other interested parties. However, you may still spot a few upside-down pineapples on your next cruise.

As silly as the idea of using an inverted pineapple magnet to signal to other passengers on your cruise that you're not single but still ready to mingle might seem, people definitely do it. According to one Reddit user who claims they and their partner always put an upside-down pineapple on their door, people rarely knock out of the blue looking to party just because they spotted a magnet. Instead, they're more likely to flirt with other couples in common areas like bars and use the pineapple symbol as a way of signaling their interest to other people who are already in the know.

Of course, many swingers are more likely to choose cruises where their lifestyle won't be a secret. There are nude cruises like Bare Necessities, which is exactly what it sounds like. Other cruises are specifically designed to appeal to adults on the hunt for an erotic adventure, like Bliss Cruise, Desire Cruises, or Temptation Cruises.

While some swingers use the pineapple as a tongue-in-cheek way to represent their lifestyle while on cruises, that's not the only reason people might have pineapples on their doors or clothing. They could be obsessive collectors with a knack for pineapple accessories, fans of the show "Psych," excited to be cruising through a tropical area or find the fruit delicious. It's also worth noting that pineapples symbolize hospitality, so cruise employees might have the fruit visible for entirely innocent reasons.

A particularly obvious upside-down pineapple may not even be a reliable sign, either. Some people may buy pineapple magnets, especially those with suggestive phrases, and stick them on other people's cabin doors as a prank. Further, a lot of summer and beach attire features pineapples as a design element, so spotting one on somebody's shirt isn't always a sign that they're on the cruise to enjoy anything but the sea air with anybody but their partner.