Visual Glossary of Cruise Ship & Cabin Vocabulary

Carnival Family Friendly

Accessible cabin

The main features that accessible cabins have are wider doorframes to fit wheelchairs and scooters and modified showers with seats, and a roll in shower. All bathrooms and cabins have bars though. If you will need to find an accessible cabin, let us know at the time of booking.

MSC Divina Wheelchair Accessible Cabin Military Cruise Deals
MSC Divina Wheelchair Accessible

Aft

The back or near the back of the ship.

Balcony

A balcony is a cabin with a private balcony for your stateroom.

PCLroyal Class Balcony
Princess Cruise Lines Royal Class Balcony

Boardwalk View

An ocean view or balcony that faces inward toward the boardwalk and not toward the water

Boardwalk 1

Bow

The very front of the ship.

Bunkbeds

Cabins for 3, 4, or 5 (or sometimes 2 on Carnival) may have a drop down bunkbed for the extra passengers.

Bunkbeds DISFantasy
Bunk beds on the Disney Fantasy
CostaDiademaFamilyOceanView
Costa Diadema Family Ocean View
RCLFamilyInteriorCompressed Copy
Royal Caribbean Family Interior Stateroom

Central Park View

An ocean view or balcony that faces inward toward the central park and not toward the water.

Central Park
Central Park View Balcony on Royal Caribbean

Cove Balcony

(Carnival Cruises) This is an enclosed balcony. Enclosed Balconies on Disney Cruise line are called Navigator Balconies.

Cove Balcony
Cove Balcony on Carnival Cruise Lines
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
If the two upper bunks in a Carnival Sunshine inside cabin are above the other two bottom singes, the two bottom singles cannot be connected to form a king – for obvious safety reasons.

Docked

When a cruise ship is hitched up to a dock that the passengers can disembark onto. When docks are not available passengers disembark into small boats called tenders.

Front HarmonyOTS
Harmony of the Seas at Dock

Forward

The front or near the front of the ship.

Lanai

On some Holland ships these balconies open to one connected wrap-around balcony deck rather than separated private balconies.

Midship

The middle of the ship.

Obstructed View

An ocean view or balcony cabin with a view that is blocked by a lifeboat or other part of the ship.

Prideobstructed Kinside
Carnival Pride obstructed view

Picture Window

A large window with a big, clear view.

PicturewindowNCL
Picture window on Norwegian

Porthole

A circular smaller window in an oceanview room

Porthole View of the Boardwalk
Oceanview cabins (cabins with a window) will cost less than balcony cabins (cabins with a private balcony.) Royal Caribbean has less expensive versions of these cabins that face inward instead of toward the ocean. This boardwalk view was fun to have!

Rollaway bed

Cabins for 5 may accommodate the 5th passenger by bringing in an extra rollaway bed.

Priderollawaybed
Carnival Pride Roll-away Bed

Sofabed

Cabins for 3,4 or 5 may have a sofabed for the extra passengers.

Standard Inside Stateroom Cat11IDIS
Sofa Bed in the Standard Inside Stateroom
HollandFamilyVerandah
Holland Family Verandah
MAGNIFICAsuite
Suite on the MSC Magnifica

Stateroom

Another name for your cabin or berth.

Suite

Suites are larger, more luxurious, and more expensive than other staterooms

HavenPenthouseEpic
This is the Haven Penthouse on the Epic!

Tender

A boat for carrying passengers to or from a ship close to shore. Some ports have docks where you can walk off of the ship. However, others require tenders to disembark.

Lifeboat Tender 1
Lifeboat Tender

Virtual Balcony

An inside cabin with a video screen on the wall that projects what people with balconies are seeing. (Only on Royal Caribbean)

Virtual Balcony

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