Jan115

Thanks for the heads-up! Is it safe to say that those traveling just the inside passage will be snow-free?

It's time for a repeat!

I like the fact that when the ship sits in port for several days, you can go off the ship and not have to worry about getting back at a specific time. Bermuda cruises are very relaxing!

You are getting ready to book your first cruise, but don’t know your “fore” from your “aft”. Have no fear – help is here! Listed below are some common words and phrases – or “cruise-speak” – to help prevent you from sounding like a rookie when discussing cruises with your friends or browsing through the cruise forums. For instance, “On which deck is my stateroom located?” sounds much more cruise savvy than “What floor is my room on?” Some definitions are “by the book”, and others are my own personal interpretation! Aft: Near, towards or at the rear (stern) of the ship. Atrium: An interior, centrally located & multi-level open area of the ship B2B: Short for “back-to-back” cruise, or two consecutive cruises (usually on the same ship) Berth: (a) a cabin bed; (b) the dock or pier at which ship sits when in port (not to be confused with “birth”, which is what happened behind the scenes nine months after every “Love Boat” episode! Bow: The front of the ship (rhymes with “cow”) Bridge: The ship’s navigation and command center; also a structure used for crossing over a body of water or ripping the mast off a ship sailing beneath if said bridge is too low Deck: The "floors" of the ship, connected by elevators ("lifts") or staircases Document Dance: The excited creative movements your feet make when your cruise documents arrive! Chair Hog: (a) a thoughtless and rude person who saves many deck chairs in the morning only to leave them totally unoccupied for the rest of the day; (b) s of the earth. Drydock: a magical place where a cruise ship goes to get a makeover, eventually emerging “like new” without a blemish (or so its future passengers hope!) Debarkation: Leaving your ship when the cruise is over (boo-hoooo!) E-Docs: Electronic documents (as opposed to paper documents which seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur) Embarkation: Boarding your ship when your cruise begins (yahoooo!!) FCC: Future cruise credit – a credit toward a future cruise, usually given as an incentive to book a cruise while on board another Forward: Toward the front (bow) of the ship; the direction the ship is heading (means the engines are working) Galley: The ship’s kitchen where culinary magic happens Gangway: (a) A ramp or steps by which passengers enter or leave the ship; (b) the place where a passenger is accosted by the ship’s photographer each and every time stepping off in port. Guarantee: A type of cabin booking in which the cruise line promises accommodations in a specified category or cabin at a specific rate, and guarantees you will receive a cabin in that category or better Homeport: The port in which a ship is based and most often sails from, and to which every cruiser wants to live within close proximity. Inside cabin: Cabin with no window Itinerary: The route the ship will travel, detailing arrival and departure times and ports visited Keel: (a) The ship’s “backbone” extending underneath from bow to stern; (b) what a passenger does when receiving the bill at the end of the cruise, i.e. “keels over”. Lido deck: The ship's deck consisting of swimming pools, watersides, rock-climbing wall, wave pools, ice skating rinks, movie screens and every other amusement park ride. Knot: (a) A unit of speed equal to one nautical mile; (b) the way one's stomach is configured when an apprehensive individual is about to swim with stingrays for the first time M.S.: (a) abbrev. for “motor ship”; (b) could also mean a "mega ship"; i.e. "Mega-mammoth of the Seas" Maitre d’: Supervisor of the dining room (next to the ship’s purser, he’s the person to whom people most like to complain) M&G: Meet & greet: meeting of a group of cruisers, sometimes scheduled in advance of the cruise Midnight Buffet: Really? Do we need to eat more? Muster drill: Mandatory practice drill whereby passengers and crew are sent to a preassigned area (muster station) and instructed in safety regulations. Thanks to Concordia, everyone now shows up, awake and alert. Naughty Room: The secret place where the cruise line sends people who try to sneak booze onboard. OBC/SBC: Onboard credit/shipboard credit: An amenity given by a travel agent or cruise line as an incentive to book Onboard Account: A mysterious cashless system onboard a cruise ship whereby the passenger registers a credit card at the beginning of the cruise, and on the last day presented with a bill containing an absurdly large numeric figure. Outside Cabin: A cabin with a window providing a view; in some cases the view is obstructed by a big orange lifeboat Port: (a) The left side of the ship, facing forward; (b) the place the ship docks and the most likely place to empty your wallet © a wine which you may have while in port. Ex: “I exited the ship portside, took a taxi from port to a pub for a glass of port.” Promenade: Open walkway running almost the entire length of each side of the ship, sometimes encircling the ship entirely. Or at least it used to. Private balcony: A veranda that is attached to your cabin. The term “private” is debatable. Purser: (a) The person in charge of onboard accounts and guest relations; (b) the crewmember passengers line up for in droves at the end of the cruise, as if he was some kind of rock star. Single occupancy: Sole occupancy of a cabin designed for two or more passengers, for an absurd amount of money Stabilizers: A fin-like device extending beneath the ship’s waterline from both sides of the ship to the front, making the ship more stable, and therefore, making it less likely you’ll lose your lunch. Starboard: The right side of the ship, facing forward Stateroom: Your cabin, ranging from the size of a teeny closet to that of an apartment Stern: The rear of the ship (Aft) Steward: The person who attends to your cabin; sometimes fondly referred to as “Stewart”. TA: (a) Short for “Travel Agent”: The individual with whom cruisers seem to have a love/hate relationship – i.e. the TA is either loved or despised; (b) can also mean a "Transatlantic" cruise Tender: (a) A small motorized vessel to move passengers from the ship to shore if the ship must anchor; (b) how your skin will feel when you’ve spent too much time baking in the Caribbean sun. Upper: A single bed or bunk usually recessed into the wall during the day Upper and Lower: Bunk beds Towel Animal: Cute (or incredibly scary!) animal fashioned from towels by “Stewart” There you have it. Feel free to add your own cruise-speak words!

The new enhancements sound exciting, and I can't wait until I'm aboard in October when we cruise Brilliance to Canada!

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Great advice Larry! Yet another fantastic benefit of cruising: it makes spending time with the extended family so much better! The majority of my extended family has never cruised, and I can't get them to take the leap. Drives me nuts!

After recently reading a book about stupid people doing stupid things on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and falling 8,000 feet below, I guess it could happen. A person could be a fool, inebriated, playing a dare or just looking for attention, and believing accidents don't happen to them, falls from the railing.

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Good points, Mike&Amy - thanks!

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From Facebook today: Add Princess Cruises to the list of lines sending a hot new ship to New York City. The soon-to-debut Royal Princess will cruise out of the Big Apple in the fall of 2014. Read more: http://usat.ly/16kRJwa I am SO excited to see more and more options from a northeast port, especially NY. It's not as close as Boston for me, but still within a 4-hour drive. Maybe I won't have to move to Florida after all!!

My girls want to go to Japan next year, and I'm trying to convince them to do a cruise with Princess, as there are some nice 7-9 day sailings much less expensive than any land tour they'll find. So much less complicated to plan, too. Wish they would listen to me for once! *winks*

Very cool - sounds like fun! Glad to hear the eye-high kick wasn't attempted. Anything resembling this would have landed me in the hospital!

I totally agree. We did a land tour of Portugal with the family 2 years ago to visit birthplaces of my husband's family. My philosophy of "if I can't cruise there, then I don't want to go" didn't apply here because of the nature of the trip, with small towns and a lot of driving involved. While we got a fairly good deal on air and hotels, the cars were super expensive due to the fact that none of us wanted to drive a stick, and we needed two of them for our 10-day trip, double the gasoline. Not only that, but the meals really added up. Fortunately, we took turns picking up the tab. Then there's the "family in your face" factor. On a cruise, there are opportunities to go off and do your own thing. On the Portugal vacation, there was no escaping each other. By the time the vacation was over, it was obvious that some of us had more than enough of each other.

Exactly! And this is especially true for families and kids with cell phones, and I mention this from experience. I monitored my own phone and data usage, but forgot to educate my daughter in the art of cell phone usage on a cruise ship, and was hit with an enormous phone bill. You live and learn!

Spotted this on Facebook this morning: With double the dining options, new technology & more, the newly enhanced Brilliance of the Seas is ready to WOW guests! Join her this summer as she sails the Baltic's most sought after destinations. http://bit.ly/13xSApD Can't wait for my turn on Brilliance of the Seas in October!

As I've said before, Cheryl - makes me want to pack up and move to sunny Florida!

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Thanks, Kevin. I wrote this article from experience, when I came back from the British Isles cruise last summer to find a hefty phone bill. I was aware of many of these suggestions but, of course, didn't think about any of them while on the ship.

Thanks so much for the video, Tim. The resort looks SOOOOO inviting!

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad you had a great time!

Thanks for reporting back, John. Nice review!

Thanks for taking the time to read!