Cruise secrets: Ex cruise ship worker reveals the most difficult thing about life at sea

It’s not just romance between crew members that can spring up on board cruises, however.

Cruise passengers can often be keen to develop a fling with crew even though it’s forbidden – and they sometimes have a codeword for it. 

Jay Herring wrote in his book The Truth About Cruise Ships: “Even though it was company policy not to sleep with the passengers, it happened so often that we had a nickname for it,” he wrote.

“It was called ‘coning,’ from the infinitive ‘to cone.’ Passengers were referred to as ‘cones.’

“Some say it’s because, during boat drill, the passengers look like the neon orange traffic cones, but others say it’s from the 1993 movie Coneheads where, just like the aliens in the movie, passengers ate everything in sight.”