P.O.S.H

Some of you may have heard of P.O.S.H when it comes to cruising, but do you know the real meaning?

And I’m not talking about POSH Spice, I don’t even know if she has been on a cruise – do you?

It stands for:-

P – Port
O – Out
S – Starboard
H – Home

There are a few theories as to what it actually means, here are a few:-

In early days when cruises were just for the more well off customer they would stay in a cabin on Port side on the way out to start the cruise but change to a Starboard cabin to return home. Why? Apparently it was sailing from UK to India so Port was shaded out and Starboard shaded home. This was due to there being no air conditioning in those days so the cabins were cooler.

Some people think it is because you get the sun Port out & Starboard home.

Port out – view the coast as you sail but this depends in which direction you are sailing in.

How true this is we’ll never know. There were also rumours that P&O printed this on the tickets but this has never been proven as not a single ticket showing POSH has ever been located.

The meaning according to the Oxford Dictionaries:-

The story goes that the more well-to-do passengers on ships travelling between England and India used to have POSH written against their bookings, standing for ‘Port Out, Starboard Home’ (indicating the more desirable cabins, on the shady side of the ship). Unfortunately, this story did not make its appearance until the 1930s, by which time the term had already been in use for some twenty years. Added to this, the word does not appear to have been recorded in the form ‘P.O.S.H.’, which would be expected if it had started life as an abbreviation.

Personally I prefer port side cabins as I like to see what’s going on in the morning when the ships docks – but this is not always the case as now some ships dock on the Starboard side. With so many ports worldwide now it all depends on the currents & the winds to which side the ship docks.

The way I remember the difference between PORT & STARBOARD is easy:-

PORT – LEFT (4 letters)
STARBOARD – RIGHT (R in the word)

May be sad but it works for me and has done for years.

2 ships docked port side.

Ship docked Starboard side.

2 ships – 1 docked Port & opposite 1 docked Starboard

What is your preference to which side of the ship to sail on?  I’d be really interested to hear your views.

So if you want to book a cruise and discuss PORT or STARBOARD cabins call me on 0800 408 6108 or email me at [email protected].