A guide to a few of those cruise phrases and jargon

It's not just those people who are new to cruising that struggle with the phrases, jargon and acronyms that are used.

So time for a little bit of help, it is nothing to worry about hopefully the list will explain things in plain English. Just read on.

• Aft - Towards the back of the ship. 
• Alongside - When the ship is beside the pier (or another ship).
• At Anchor - When the ship is anchored offshore (as opposed to docking alongside). 
• Astern - Behind the ship, beyond the stern.
• Balcony - A Balcony space outside, sometime referred to as a Veranda on some Amercian Ships
• Beam - Width of the ship at it's widest point. 
• Bearing - Compass direction, expressed in degrees from the ship to a particular destination. 
• Berth - The beds in your cabin are sometimes called berths, and when the ship is docked, it's also in a berth.
• Bow - The front of the ship. 
• Bridge - As it sounds the place where the Captain steers the ship. If you can get to have a look it's well worth seeing. Why not look at my time on an Inside Access tour with Celebrity.
• Bunkers - Fuel storage area.
• Cabin - What is a 'room' in a hotel is a 'cabin' afloat. Sometimes known as staterooms, your cabin has all the facilities you'd expect from a hotel room.
• Cabin Grade - E1, B3, F5? Confused by all the letters and number combinations,  especially as each cruise line has their own code, call me and I can help. 
• Cabin steward/stewardess - This is the lovely lady or gent that takes care of your cabin every day, turning it down at night and maybe even leaving a chocolate or towel animal on your pillow.
• Cashless system - No need to carry cash around the ship as your boarding/swipe card can be used to make purchases on board. 
• Colours - Ship's emblem or Flag of nationality.
• Crew - All those people on board there to make your holiday extra special. From the Captain to the laundry people, from the wine waiters to the spa therapists. 
• Disembarking - Quite simply, this is getting off the boat 
• Dock - The act of bringing the ship alongside the Quay.
• Draft - Distance from the ship's waterline to the bottom of it's keel. 
• Embarking - Getting on ship.
• Emergency drill - A requirement of maritime law, it is compulsory for guests to attend an emergency drill. The purpose of this is to familiarise you with the safety procedures on board and the actions you must take in the event of a real emergency. 
• Forward - Towards to front of the ship.
• Funnel - Ship's exhaust.
• Galley - Ship's kitchen.
• Gangway - The ramp linking the ship to the land. 
• G.R.T. - Gross Registered Tonnage. This geeky, but is the  ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of 100 cubic feet (2.83 m³). It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. This is basically how big and heavy a ship is. 
• Inside Cabin - A cabin situated in the middle of the ship. Ideal if you're happy to go up to the deck for your sea view.
• Keel - Longitudinal extension of the ship's underside. 
• Knot - Term for speed at see, 1 nautical mile per hour. 
• Life Boat - For use in an emergency. 
• Life Jackets - 1 per person can be found in your cabin on arrival. To be used at the emergency drill and in the case of an emergency. There are others on board at strategic points in the ship.
• Midships - Towards the middle of the ship. 
• Muster / Muster Station - Assemble guests and/or crew at  your emergency assembly point. This is a mandatory requirement and in the first few hours of your cruise, the alarms will go off, you'll don that gorgeously fetching looking life jacket of yours and head to your muster station. 
• Nautical mile - 1,852 meters (10 knots = 10 nautical miles per hour = 11.5 land miles per hour)
  Outside Cabin - A 'sea view' cabin. Outside cabins means you'll have a window to enjoy the scenery floating by.
• Pilot - Independent navigational adviser who comes on board to guide the ship when entering and leaving port. 
• Pontoon - Used and lowered to the side of the ship for guests to walk on prior to getting in the tender boat to go ashore when the ship is at anchor.
• Port - Listen up, there are two meanings. Port means the left of the ship. But it also refers to places you'll visit...basically, all those fabulous destinations you'll be visiting on your cruise.
• Porthole - If you've booked an outside cabin, you'll have a window, AKA a porthole. 
• Pullman Bed - This is a pull down bed from the wall for some of the beds in the cabins.
• Quay - Dock, pier, or berth.
• Rudder - The bit of the boat that steers it usually but some propulsion systems use a rudderless system.
• Satellite Navigator - The global positioning system (GPS). A system using 24 satellites to fix the ships position.
• Stabilisers - Wing shaped fins on the bottom of the boat that helps minimise the side to side rolling movement. There to make the cruise as as smooth sailing as it possibly can be.
• Starboard - To the right of the ship.
• Stern - The back of the ship. 
• Swell - The motion of the ocean.
• Tender - If your ship cannot dock in the port, you will get a tender to the shore, could be the ships lifeboats or tenders from the port.

Your P&O Cruise Personaliser. Are the changes better for you?

All the cruise lines have different ways of obtaining your pre-cruise information and offering you excursions and packages that they have available on board.

P&O, have recently up dated their Cruise Personaliser with new features and facilities but are all the changes better for you the passenger?

Well, the actual look of the system is now much clearer and I think it is easier to navigate around, see the pictures below:-

So what can you do, well you can see personal detail, flight details, cabin details and you can amend who the beds are set up, dining information with dress information, you can access and print eTickets and luggage labels when they are available, purchase gifts and luxuries and even add your own notes.

All of these seem to be an improvement for the customer.

Then you come to excursions. You can view and book as you could before but here comes the rub, when you confirm those you want you have to add your card details and pay for the excursion up front. This is a big change for P&O, but you are right to say no different to Royal and Celebrity.

However, what happens if you have some on board spend, historically you booked the excursion and the cost was charged through your on board account, so paid at the end of the cruise and if you had any on board spend it could go towards these excursions. Now, you pay before the cruise and therefore if you do have some on board spend it can't be offset again the cost of the excursions!

Now, the answer from P&O is that you can use the on board spend for purchases on board, so you could wait till you were on ship and then purchase your cruise line excursion. But would you do that for St Peterburg or other ports where it is perhaps better to do the cruise lines tours than your own thing? Perhaps not.

I do understand that things change, but I bet that this will come as a big surprise to many long standing P&O customers who may have booked their excursions like this for many a year. You do have the option to cancel and get a refund, within terms and conditions but how many people will?

So, overall the changes appear to be an improvement but just be aware of that unexpected cost! Of course, also watch for Cunard although I don't have any information I can't imagine that their personaliser will not change in the same in the future.

A bit of nostalgia - Queen Mary

Well I'm now back after my well-earned rest and thought I'd start with a little story about The Queen Mary, no not QM2 but the historic ship that is moored in Long Beach California.

In June I wrote an article about what happens to ships at the end of their life, read here,and this is the classic case of a ship with an historic value that can have a 'second' life. In fact she has been in Long Beach for over 30 years as an attraction, events venue and hotel, although at various times in that 30 years bits have been closed or changed.

This blog will cover 2 parts, the hitoric attraction parts and then the current hotel offering. 

The Queen Mary was launched in 1934, with construction having started in 1930 in Glasgow and being delayed because of the effects of the depression. Government funding was eventually needed by Cunard to get her finished, and part of that involved Cunard's takeover of the struggling White Star Line, that of Titanic fame.

 

The Maiden voyage was on May 27 1937 and She boasted five dining areas and lounges, two cocktail bars and swimming pools, a grand ballroom, a squash court and even a small hospital. The Queen Mary had set a new benchmark in transatlantic travel, which the rich and famous considered as the only civilized way to travel. She quickly seized the hearts and imaginations of the public on both sides of the Atlantic, representing the spirit of an era known for its elegance, class and style.

For three years after her maiden voyage, the Queen Mary was the grandest ocean liner in the world carrying Hollywood celebrities like Bob Hope and Clark Gable, royalty like the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and dignitaries like Winston Churchill. During this time she even set a new speed record, which she held for 14 years. But when the Queen Mary docked in New York in September 1939 that would be the last time she would carry civilian passengers for many years.

As World War II started, the Queen Mary's transformation into a troopship had begun. She was painted a camouflaged grey colour and stripped of her luxurious amenities. Dubbed the "Grey Ghost" because of her stealth and stark colour, the Queen Mary was the largest and fastest troopship to sail, capable of transporting as many as 16,000 troops at 30 knots.

Interestingly, during that period she did not have to fire her guns in anger or suffer damage from any war action even though Hitler had put a price on her head!

After the end of WWII, the Queen Mary began a 10-month retrofitting which returned her to her original glory. On July 21, 1947, the Queen Mary resumed regular passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean, and continued to do so for nearly two more decades.

The increasing popularity of air travel helped signal the end of an era for the Queen Mary. By 1965 the entire Cunard fleet was operating at a loss and they decided to retire and sell the legendary Queen Mary. On October 31, 1967, the Queen Mary departed on her final cruise, arriving in Long Beach, California, on December 9, 1967. Since then she has called Southern California her home. 

 

There are historic bits you can see, the lounges, foyers and even down into the engine room – it’s not often you get to see the original propeller in place.

In addition, as the ship was built in a different era you can open the portholes - current health and safety would have a problem with this now. 

You can only see the cabins if you stay in the hotel, each is different but are the same as when the ship sailed, although I have to say the bathrooms are a little on the dogey side!

 

Now onto the 'hotel', if I had taken any notice of the comments I read on a forum website I might have not have stayed for more than 1 night, but the 'bargain' of a price swayed my decision. I have to say the service in the hotel was the worst I have had in any hotel let alone a hotel in USA!

There are more of my pictures for this, why not visit here.

So my advice, is do the attraction stay 1 night in the hotel so you can experience the cabins but no longer.