8 Curious Cruise Ship Secrets Hiding In Plain Sight!

I look at 8 things we cruise passengers see all the time on cruise ships but don’t realise they are there, what they mean nor the significance of them.

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00:00 Start
00:36 Face Up To It
02:48 Signs Are There
05:15 Hidden Within
07:26 Jokes On Us
08:45 Funnel Your Gaze
10:30 Walk This Way
12:30 Nice Pad
13:20 Got Our Number

[rondini]

The reason pools are kept small, aside from the weight issue, is something called the ‘free surface effect’. Basically it means that as the water moves around when the ship is rolling, for example, it causes a pendulum effect. And it can become stronger as the motion increases, and in fact, will cause the rolling to increase. This is why any liquid tanks, for example fuel tanks in the ship’s double bottom, are subdivided into multiple compartments. So if the ship rolls, the liquid may slosh, but only within the confines of the tank. It’s not going to flow from one side of the ship to the other. There’s probably some videos online that will demonstrate this. This was all part of my education as a merchant mariner.

[safarigirl]

I went on a cruise in 1989 on a famous cruise line - I was the only young person on board aged 22 - the crew took me under their wing and invited me to cruise parties and to spend time in crew areas. It was great fun. We used hidden doors and staircases, parties were like those in the film Dirty Dancing. The crew had pet cockroaches and had great fun racing them. I had a brilliant holiday both in the passenger areas and crew areas. This would be absolutely forbidden now. 😁

[patsutherland]

HAL has the best carpets telling you the day of the week as well as direction.

[FraserAtSea]

That shallow water rim around the pool is being used now by so many lines. As a non-swimmer, I love it - the newer Princess ships do it particularly well, especially the aft pools - a great spot to chill with a drink in the sun without needing to be in the pool!

[FildaDreams]

NCL fish going fwd is brilliant! I loved it, no matter how drunk I got! All ships should do this!

[goldmelb]

I was interested in your explanation of the funnels. Many years ago I travelled as wife of an officer on a cargo ship, and the story was that the funnel design was also used by crew to find their way back to the quayside after a big night on the town!

[LibbyRal]

Fascinating information, Gary. I knew a lot of the shiply stuff thanks to a Dad who took us on tour of every military ship or other open ship that stopped in New Orleans, where we grew up. He'd been in the Marines and loved being at sea. We also lived 1/2 a block from the Mississippi River and would watch ships go by from the levee. My favorite are the rat barriers, which were HUGE on the ships we saw in port. Thanks to doing primitive backpacking, I knew how heavy water was and realized immediately on my first cruise why pools were so small. I wish that ships would create indoor pools on the lowest decks with lighting that mimics daylight and video walls to create the impression of being outdoors. The first cruise I ever took was again, thanks to our Dad, who booked us on a freighter going to San Juan. He talked the crew into giving his kids a tour of the entire ship. My absolute favorite part was the hold where we saw the propeller shaft. It. Was. Gigantic.

[mickeymorgan]

Another mark on the hull is a circle with what looks like a strange F. It's the Plimsoll Mark. It indicates the maximum depth that the hull ca be submerged in different conditions, Summer, Winter, fresh water etc. It also indicates who inspected the vessel for documentation, AB for the American Bureau of Shipping and LL for Lloyds of London etc.

[cbpd]

I do love when a relatively simple thing, like those rat guards, are all it takes to solve a big problem. Thanks for sharing, the whole video is great!

[kevindelaney]

I’ve subscribed to your channel at the beginning of the pandemic. You are a great presenter. Your clips are most informative & enjoyable. Someday / one day I might take a cruise. I’m more interested in the European river cruises. However as a single traveller costs are an issue… lol.

[MelvisVelour]

First off, yet another excellent and very well presented video Mr. Bembridge!

If you happen to be someone who's served in the national Navy of any country, mention that to someone in guest services and if you're lucky, you may find yourself getting an amazing behind the scenes tour of the vessel by their rightly proud staff officers. We were at a Captains cocktail party and I was explaining something somewhat obscure about navigation markers on the route map to my husband and a couple of other people and was overheard by one of the Captains staff Whilst on a sea day, we were both given a very long and delightful tour of the bridge, engine room (within limits of course) and other engineering areas and I received a hard hat from the ship with all of its specific logo stickers as a souvenir on our last night.

[cherifurr]

Very interesting. I didn’t know a lot of this either! When you go on the Disney cruise, ask about the “hidden Mickeys.” Also, the stateroom doors have starfish on them if they are on the starboard side (that word has the same number of letters as starboard) and fish on the port side (both words have four letters). There are also compass motifs in the carpet in corridors that point in one direction. I HAVE noticed that you cross paths with a lot of the retail areas going from main dining rooms to the theater or an observation lounge and suspected the bottom few decks were hiding a small city. I also noticed that facial software recognition was being used on Regent in May, my first cruise since the pandemic began.

[garganega]

Interesting insights Mr. B. That yucky ship (worst food we have ever had at sea) you in Alaska you just posted a show for is a prime example of the spending above all design philosophy. The lines have lost sight of the people who love the ocean but don't want/unable financially to endure the complexity of owning their own vessel.

[PaulCashman]

I highly recommend taking a behind-the-scenes tour when you have the chance. I've really enjoyed Carnival's "Behind the Fun" tours, as you see more crew-only areas than on Royal's tour and it's slightly cheaper. :)
I've learned something new -- and sometimes gotten to see a previously unseen area, like the Captain's private dining room, an unoccupied crew cabin, or the Captain's cabin (!) -- on EVERY Carnival tour I've done (ten so far).

[MAGGOT_VOMIT]

Talk about something staring me in the face for all my 40yrs of driving, was the small arrow on every car's fuel gauge that tells you which side of the vehicle your filler port is on.

[emilymeyerding]

My wife and I took a cruise, years ago, and when they found out that I was a marine engineer and naval architect, they upgraded "our" cabin and sent me down into the bowels of the ship to fix things that were broken. Many of these were components of redundant systems, but the cruise line had difficulty finding competent experts, particular in command and control systems, which was my specialty. My wife had a wonderful time and lots of free perks of a first class fare instead of our bargain basement fare we had paid for. I didn't see much of her for the next ten days.

[cruisingforone]

DIsney refers to the passenger/guest areas as “on stage” and the crew/cast area is referred to as “back stage”.

[ChrisAbbey]

Related to the odd/even cabin numbering, many ships have different carpet on the port and starboard sides aisles. Even if it's as simple as the color of the margin... teal on starboard, dark navy on port for example on the last cruise we were on. This can allow you to get your bearings trivially when exiting a lift or staircase to know which side you want to be on.

[kathryncashner]

The Disney Magic, way back in 1997, had a radio station in a funnel as well as, at one point, the teen club area.

[dshack]

I also loved at 8:12 the "artwork" explanation - very clever to store spares so creatively, it's presented so beautifully perhaps technically it is also art afterall! =)