Cruise ship workers have a tough job. While they are constantly faced with intense situations, they are forced to deal with them in the calmest and quietest way possible.

To avoid causing a panic with passengers when serious circumstances arise, staff on cruise ships have developed a secret lingo to communicate with each other in secrecy.

If you have ever heard any of the code words used on deck in the past, then you are probably still wondering what they mean. 

Expert traveller Brandon Presser informed Bloomberg on both the harmless and the more concerning codes he learnt when he became a cruise director for a week.

Read more: 6 things you should do if you’re going a long cruise

Most of the common code words that are used daily are harmless. They can include a “30-30” which simply means maintenance has been called to clean up a mess or, the more unpleasant call, “PVI” meaning a public vomiting incident. If you hear that being called over the loud speaker, you might want to avoid the area for a while.

While safety is the number one priority for cruise ship workers, there is still the potential for a lot of things to go wrong in a floating hotel. So when a situation starts going south, staff are expected to respond immediately to resolve the situation.

A “Code Red” states the outbreak of noroviruses or illnesses. This means all staff must contain sick passengers in their rooms and begin a deep clean of the ship to completely disinfect the area. This could be followed by an “Alpha” call meaning there is medical emergency on board.

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The dreaded call for any worker is “Oscar” which means a passenger has fallen overboard. According to Cruise Critic, if someone goes overboard, fellow passengers may feel the movements of the ship coming to a halt and turning around. 

As soon as the person has fallen, the crew will hit a button to pin the exact location of the incident for the ship to return and conduct a comprehensive search and rescue operation.

Other dangerous codes to listen out for can include “Bravo” if there is a fire, and in the case of an evacuation “Kilo” will be called for staff to report to their emergency posts. A more worrying call is, “Echo” which means the ship is either drifting or facing a possible collision with another vessel. 

While the more dangerous codes are less likely to be heard by passengers, they are extremely helpful to know for general safety or even just to avoid the dreaded PVI!