Sometimes it can be a dizzying frenzy trying to dissect the alien-esque garble of nautical lingo while researching a cruise for the first time or even while aboard as a first-time cruiser. It’s a lovely world out there on the sea, but a world all to its own. We’ve developed a quick crash course in the basics to help you make sense of it and make you feel travel savvy in just a matter of minutes. Hopefully this cruising glossary will help you strut your stuff like a regular sailor. If we missed a term that you need a little enlightenment on, please leave a comment below! We’d love to share our insight. In return, please share your first-cruise memories with us! Take us through that first encounter with the endless buffet stretching seemingly for miles or the shore excursions that made you smile the most. We’re here to help craft any and all memories in the making!
Aft: This is a directional term specifying the back of the ship.
Abreast: This specifies the ship is alongside something else, usually another ship or a dock.
Alternative Restaurant: An intimate, more specialized onboard restaurant where guests can eat for a small fee.
Bow: The front of the ship.
Cabin Steward: The lovely individual delivering hygienic magic to your cabin by cleaning and turning down the room at night. They also assist with simple requests like bringing ice to your room and taking your laundry.
Closed-loop Sailing: This is any itinerary that returns to the same port it began in, or simply, a roundtrip cruise.
Cruise Director: The head honcho in charge of all onboard hospitality, entertainment and social events. This will be a familiar face that you’ll start recognizing over the course of the cruise as they keep busy directing activity programs, voice public announcements and work as one of the main liaisons for the ship.
Cruise Tour: An adjoining bus tour offered and operated by the cruise line that will either put an enchanting spin on the cruise before you set sail or add a sweet finish at the end.
Disembark: Leaving, or sadly, abandoning the ship to go ashore.
Embark: Arriving to board the ship to start or continue your mystical sea adventures.
Forward: A little more self-explanatory, this is another directional term that refers to the front of the ship.
Freestyle Cruising: Norwegian Cruise Line’s lenient staple of cruising, offering casual dress and no set dinner times in comparison to the more schedule-heavy operations of usual cruise lines.
Friends of Bill W: A code name for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings onboard, named after Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Friends of Dorothy: Another code name, this one denotes GLBT activities and socials while onboard the ship.
Galley: This is kitchen in the ship, where all your delicious meals are birthed.
Gangway: This is a ramp or stairway that allows you to get from from the ship to the pier; otherwise, your Narnia portal for your shore excursions and exploration off the ship.
Guarantee: A low promotional fare that enables the cruise line to select your cabin number in your desired category. This price is lower in comparison to regularly assigned cabins because you agree to be flexible in where the cruise line places you and when they decide to alert you on the assignment.
Inside Cabin: This is an economically friendly choice while cruising; relatively a smaller sized stateroom without a porthole, window or balcony.
Lido Deck: This is where all the aquatic fun lives: the pool deck.
Maiden Voyage: This is the first voyage of a new ship, which means, it becomes your duty to break in the fresh trimmings!
Mini-Suite: The smallest, most affordable suite on a ship.
Main Seating: This is the earlier option between two dinner seatings offered for the main dining room.
MDR: This is the main dining room.
Muster Drill: A mandatory emergency drill.
Muster Station: The specific location to meet in the case of an actual emergency.
OBC: This is probably one of the acronyms that will interest your wallet the most—“onboard credit,” a monetary value added as a perk or as compensation to your onboard account to spend as you wish.
Oceanview Cabin: A cabin on the outside of the ship with a large porthole, picture window or verandah.
Open-Jaw Sailing: This is the opposite of a closed-loop sailing; here you begin your cruise in a different port than the one your itinerary ends with.
Portside: The left side of the ship when facing forward; an easy way to remember this is that ‘port’ and ‘left’ have the same amount of letters (four).
Porthole: A stateroom with a round window, generally a little smaller than the standard picture windows in outside cabins.
Promenade: This is an open deck that encircles the ship.
Purser: The officer overseeing the financial accounting, billing issues, important documents, paperwork and general customer service.
Repositioning/Repo Cruise: Generally a lower cost cruise, as the ship is geographically rearranging itself from one cruising region to another with very few visiting ports along the way. These cruises allow you more time to enjoy the onboard amenities.
Starboard: The right side of the ship.
Stern: The back of the ship.
Tender: While the ship is docked, you generally go to the gangway and walk off the ship to disembark. In this case, you arrive at a platform to board a smaller boat that will escort you to land.
Upper Berth: This is a hidden bed that folds out of the wall or ceiling, similar to a bunk bed.
Verandah: A private balcony adjacent to a stateroom.
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