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8 Curious Cruise Ship Secrets Hiding In Plain Sight!
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Jan 28, 2025
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. ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 94 cruises I have done to date. Links mentioned in the video: * Chris Wong Vlogs https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristopherWongVLOGS * Michelle Tiller https://www.youtube.com/c/MichelleTimrox * Cruzely You Tube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/Cruzelycom/ BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- * Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn
View Video Transcript
0:00
it was 10 o'clock in the evening on a
0:02
viking cruise i was chatting to the
0:04
cruise director when an innocuous
0:06
announcement came over the public
0:08
address system she immediately turned
0:10
and ran away now when i discovered how
0:12
the bridge knew she had to run and how
0:14
they let her know it had got me thinking
0:16
about other hidden things on cruise
0:19
ships that are staring us in the face
0:21
that we have no idea of there or simply
0:24
we're missing the significance of
0:26
welcome aboard i'm gary bembridge let's
0:28
explore these secrets lurking in plain
0:31
sight all around us on cruise ships
0:35
the viking cruise director had fled to
0:37
the rear infinity pool as the bridge had
0:39
seen a man having a late night swim
0:42
collapse getting out of the pool on the
0:44
cctv
0:46
there's cctv everywhere on cruise ships
0:49
next time on a ship look up and you'll
0:52
be amazed at the volume of cameras
0:55
monitoring us for example on my recent
0:57
queen mary 2 cruise there were eight in
0:59
the fitness center alone i think the
1:02
only places without cctv were the public
1:04
bathrooms the spa changing rooms and in
1:08
my cabin
1:09
now this of course helped the man who'd
1:11
collapsed on that deserted pool deck
1:14
late at night get medical help quickly
1:16
but i found there is another aspect to
1:18
it that was staring me in the face
1:21
literally
1:23
facial recognition software is being
1:25
increasingly used by the cruise lines
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that photograph taking of me at check-in
1:30
is not just a security can check it's me
1:32
leaving and returning to the shipping
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port it is so
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much more
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most lines have stopped printing out
1:40
photographs taken by their photographers
1:42
for me to go and find facial recognition
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software using that invocation photo now
1:48
identifies if i'm in any photo and
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allocates it to my cabin i just tap my
1:53
cabin number into a screen and all
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photos with me are there despite the
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photographer never
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asking who i am
2:02
as shut down eased and lines were
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recording my temperature daily most use
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screens where all i had to do was walk
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up to it put my face in a circle and it
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would recognize me and record my
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temperature on a recent oceania panama
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canal cruise i didn't even swipe in and
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out with my cruise card imports i step
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into a screen briefly and it used facial
2:24
recognition to identify me and talk me
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in and out
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royal caribbean also advised that they
2:31
used cctv facial recognition to do
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contact tracing of people who came up
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with covert
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while i've not thought about the
2:40
significance of this new technology
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staring me in the face on one of those
2:44
trips i realized there were other signs
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that i'd also missed
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coming back from an excursion on that
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recent oceania panama cruise someone
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pointed to a key shaped symbol on the
2:56
hull
2:57
and asked me
2:58
what it meant looking closer there were
3:00
signs all over the hull staring in the
3:03
face that i also had no idea of their
3:05
significance so i went to find out that
3:08
key shape symbol or bottle lying down as
3:11
some see it
3:12
shows where the ship's stabilizers are
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these are the arms deployed in rougher
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seas to help keep the ship more stable
3:19
and more comfortable for us passengers
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the c-shaped symbol with a line going
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upwards near the front of the bow warns
3:27
everyone that the ship has a bow bulb
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this is the chunky bulbous area
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protruding in front of the bow it's just
3:35
the water line and helps the ship push
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through seas much more efficiently
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there's a circle with a cross through
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showing where the bow thrusters are
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these are sideways pointing thrusters
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that a ship uses mostly to push away
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from or get close to the dock or for
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maneuvering at slow speeds
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i noticed numbers running up the hull of
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the ship and going under the water line
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this i now know is known as the draft
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scale and shows how deep the very bottom
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of the hull is in the water
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though of course nowadays of course
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there's modern technology up in the
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bridge telling them all that information
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another thing i saw in port which i
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noticed in my early cruising days on
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queen elizabeth in bergen are circular
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wooden disks placed at the end of the
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ropes tying the ship up to the key
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imports i asked the crew who told me
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they are actually rat guards they date
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back to early sailing days when it was
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discovered rats would scurry up and
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scurry down those ropes and be exported
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and imported to foreign lands as well of
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course playing havoc in the ship these
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stop that i realized just how important
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they were when i was on my panant
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antarctica cruise in 2021 where it
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explained that rats had been brought by
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ships by whaling ships to south georgia
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and had devastated much of the bird life
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by eating their eggs and their chicks
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and eventually millions and millions of
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dollars had to be spent over years to
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eradicate them
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now while these signs and symbols are
5:06
hiding things within the hull inside the
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ship inside the hull there are also
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signs staring us in the face that hide
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something huge like me i'm sure you
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notice crew-only doors but also never
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really think about the scale of what's
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hidden behind those doors
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you also like me look at deck plans and
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focus on the brightly colored areas
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showing our cabins bars lounges dining
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rooms restaurants theater casino pool x
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and so on not noticing or dwelling on
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the blank white spaces
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their significance nor the fact that
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there are missing decks often those deck
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plans start at deck 3 or deck 4.
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they hide another whole world a ship
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within a ship
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the passenger part of the ship i like to
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see is an outer case for a whole other
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ship hidden within a vast
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and sprawling ship too on ultra luxury
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lines like seabourn silversea region 7c
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there are almost as many crew as
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passengers sleeping eating and living
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inside that ship inside the ship we
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inhabit on huge mega ships like those of
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royal caribbean msc norwegian and even
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new ships like carnival mardi gras those
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all have around 2 000 crew living and
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working within that parallel ship it has
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cabins
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crew bars fitness centers restaurants
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and a galley that serves different menus
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for multiple nationalities medical
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facilities open deck areas some have
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pool some have hot tubs within that
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hidden ship are also what crew on
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american ships call the i-95 on british
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ships they often call it the m1 this is
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a long passageway running the full
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length of the ship it's designed to be
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the efficient and quickest way for crew
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to get to and from where they're working
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and also for transporting goods say from
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storage areas to the galley of course
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there are also all the storage areas the
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engines the laundry and all the other
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things that are needed to operate the
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ship that we actually inhabit now this
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hidden ship
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within is one of the biggest things
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staring us in the face on board that we
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miss or under appreciate in my view
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but so is the next one although it is a
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bit
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more subtle many cruise ships have
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in-jokes or items on board that have
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huge significance which are literally
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staring us in the face and we pass by or
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use them every day without realizing
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their significance for example on that
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recent cunard queen mary 2 crossing i
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was talking about there were so many
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there's a homer simpson buried in one of
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the artica panels near the golden lion
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pub so samuel's coffee shop is named
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after the original founder of cunard
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corinthia lounge is named after the very
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first ship to ever do a world cruise
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which cunard did on that ship in 1933
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g32 the nightclub is the name of the
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hull of the ship when it was being built
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and before it was officially named queen
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mary 2. what appears to be some modern
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art sculptures on the bow of the ship
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are actually spare propeller parts many
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ships have all these hidden jokes
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memorabilia and names of significance
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and it's definitely worth asking about
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especially if you go on one of the ship
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orientation tours on embarkation day
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you'll be surprised what you discover
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now while these all take some
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investigation and are less obvious there
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is one other thing staring us in the
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face that we all assume we know what
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it's there for
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but it's not the case the ship's funnel
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is hard to miss but they have always
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played a different role to what we
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passengers think they do
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hiding that in plain sight as it were
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way back in the days when liners like
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the titanic were fueled by coal engines
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the lines would often add additional
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funnels because they symbolized power
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and speed many many liners had extra
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fake funnels with no purpose other than
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for marketing
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funnels still play a massive marketing
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rather than functional role still today
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of course they still expel and direct
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exhaust fumes out and they pull air into
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the ship for various equipment that
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needs it but they are bigger and much
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grander than are actually needed they're
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designed as symbols to identify and help
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the line be instantly recognized and to
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stand out which is why each line has a
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different shape funnel and uses
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different colors for example
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carnival has their famous wing funnel
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holland america their oval sort of shape
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celebrity have their chunky one with the
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x logo the funnel makes ships easier
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also to identify import and out at sea
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from a distance it's certainly what i
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use to tell which line is out there at
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sea
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as there is much much wasted space
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inside these funnels as they're bigger
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and grander than needed some cruise
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lines are starting to use funnels to
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incorporate different venues
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disney wish for example has a suite
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within the funnel and carnival miracle
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actually has a restaurant
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there's something else about ship design
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that is staring us in the face and we're
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missing what the lines are actually
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hiding have you ever noticed the layout
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of the ship is designed to make us spend
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more
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it's most obvious on the main promenade
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decks for example
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the main dining room
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is at the very rear of the ship normally
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and the theater at the very front of the
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ship
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these are the two places that most of us
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visit every evening thinking about a
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recent holland america cruise for
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example to get to and from the dining
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room to the world stage theater i had to
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walk through or pass through the music
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walk bars so four of those different
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lounges the casino art gallery and shops
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all of those are revenue generating
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venues another design feature staring us
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in the face that has a big significance
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is up on the top deck we want our pools
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up top and in the sunshine but this
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caused all sorts of issues have you
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noticed that the pools are much smaller
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than they would be on land at a hotel
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for a similar number of guests as on the
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ship they're often made to look bigger
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by having a shallow water room around
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them and they're also emptied when the
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ocean gets rough if not you should
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notice this water is very heavy even
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those modest sized pools on ships have
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over 250 000 pounds of weight added to
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the top of the ship risking making it
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top heavy and challenging to keep the
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ship stable so as well as limiting size
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pools are placed dead center of the deck
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and as mid-ship as possible pools at the
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rear of the ship you'll notice are much
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much smaller for this reason hot tubs on
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a pool deck will mirror each other on
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each side to balance out the weight
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counterbalancing weight is then added at
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the very bottom of the ship to try and
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keep it stable and when the ocean gets
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rough draining the pool helps with
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stability especially when the pool water
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and that weight starts moving about
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while on the pool deck or above
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high up in the ship there's another
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feature staring us in the face that i
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have missed until it was pointed out
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most times cruise ships have areas where
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helicopters can land to do medi-vacs off
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the ship and they can normally be pretty
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well hidden
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but still staring us in the face on
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celebrity i stumbled across it only when
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i was invited by the hotel director for
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a sell-out party from costa maya on the
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bow celebrity solstice and i found it
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there on that queen mary 2 trip i
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noticed a large yellow dot on a wide
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open space up on deck 12 sports deck on
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your next cruise when you're on a big
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open deck space look down to see if
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there's a bigger darts or a big letter h
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and the helicopter pad will have been
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staring you in the face all along which
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brings me to something i can't believe
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has been staring at me that i missed as
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i could have used it to stop my mother
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and my mother-in-law getting lost every
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single time we went cruising with them i
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learned this from one of my favorite
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youtube channels
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cruisley who pointed out that cabins are
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numbered from the front of the ship to
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the back of the ship and even cabin
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numbers are port side and odd numbers
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are starboard side so if i or my mum
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want to head to the rear of the ship we
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go in the direction where cabin numbers
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are going upwards are getting higher and
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higher and follow cabin numbers falling
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again lower and lower to go towards the
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front of the ship cruisely also pointed
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out that on norwegian cruise line the
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carpets have tons of little fish motifs
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in the carpet design pointing in the
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direction of the front of the ship and
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royal caribbean cruise line cabin number
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signs often have ships or small
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indicators pointing again towards the
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front of the ship things i had been
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staring in the face didn't realize i now
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have an easy way to find my way forwards
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or to the rear that lit has been staring
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me in the face i've been on dozens of
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cruises without even realizing it
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if you found this interesting watch this
14:25
video about things that make no sense on
14:27
a cruise ship until you know why i start
14:30
with one thing that confuses me more
14:32
than anything else see you over there
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