AN: I do not own the Suite Life of Zack and Cody or the movie Poseidon, or any character from those shows, only my OC's.

This story begins in the time period between The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Suite Life on Deck. I started it before the premiere of "On Deck" so the ship in this story is not the SS Tipton as we have come to know it in the show, but it is the ship Poseidon from the 2006 movie of the same name. At the time I began this story I knew only that the characters on "On Deck" were going to be attending a semester at sea program provided by Mr. Tipton so I incorporated that into my story by having the semester at sea program be on board the Poseidon. Anyway, enough explaining, enjoy the story!

Chapter One: News

In her suite on the 23rd floor of the Tipton hotel, Carey Martin waited eagerly for her twin sons to arrive home from school. The news she had to tell them was big, bigger than big. She only hoped her boys would be as happy as she was.

It was a hot day in Boston and Arwin was working on the air conditioning on the 23rd floor so Carey had left the door open to let whatever cool air there was to come in the suite.

She heard the sound of Zack and Cody exiting the elevator and walking down the hallway talking.

Instantly, Carey jumped up from the couch to greet them.

"Boys! Come have a seat on the couch I have some great news to tell you!" Carey bubbled over with excitement.

Zack and Cody looked at each other with suspicious expressions before seating themselves on the couch.

"Okay, get this, London's dad has decided to venture into the cruise ship industry and he has had three new ships built for transatlantic and Caribbean cruises!" Carey began.

The boys sat quietly waiting for her to continue.

"Staff from various Tipton hotels have been chosen to relocate to the ships and guess what...that includes us!" Carey concluded brimming from ear to ear with barely contained excitement.

Much to her immediate dismay, her boys only looked back at her with blank stares and open mouths.

"You mean we have to leave our friends!?" Zack began standing

"And our school!?" Cody added also standing

The thought had occurred to Carey that her sons would be disappointed about leaving their familiar surroundings and she was prepared. Recovering quickly from her initial letdown, she launched into mother mode and began the long process of convincing them that this would be the experience of a lifetime.

"I know it will be hard to be away from all the friends you two have made but this is a big step for us. It'll mean a lot more money, we'll get to travel the world on big ships, and since they are Tipton cruises, people will be bringing their kids along for you two to make new friends" Carey said.

She could tell by the looks on their faces that they weren't buying it.

"You expect us to get excited over leaving our friends to go on a ship and make friends with people we'll only be with for a week before they leave and we never see them again!? The Tipton is our home mom! Boston is our home! What'll I tell Max!?" Zack launched, furious.

"And what'll I tell Barbara!? And I bet there is no bird watching club on the ship!" Cody added.

Zack looked at his twin and shook his head.

"If it hadn't been biologically proven to me, I'd swear we weren't related" he said.

"Okay…" Carey said, sighing.

She motioned for Zack and Cody to sit down again and she sat across from them on the coffee table.

"Boys, remember when we first moved in here and we were getting settled in, do you remember what I told you?" she asked gently.

"Yes" both said at once.

"You said that the Tipton was not our permanent home…, that until we actually lived in a house there would always be the chance that we'd have to move again" Zack said.

"That's right honey, and if this wasn't such a big salary hike, I wouldn't dream of making you leave your friends and your school where you've gotten used to things" Carey said.

"Are we even going to get decent schooling out on a cruise ship!?" Cody interrupted, looking suddenly panicked.

Zack just shook his head once more looking at Cody.

"Well, before you two went ballistic on me I was going to explain that Mr. Tipton has used his influence to expand the Semester-at-Sea program to include high school students. Entire decks of his ships have been set to be "floating schools." And as for the quality of the education Cody, Mr. Tipton only hires the best, you know that!" she finished.

Zack could tell his twin was finally beginning to cave and had to try and reel him back.

"But, we'd still be leaving our girlfriends, Cody…what about Barbara?" Zack said.

Before Cody could answer, Carey responded with a "hmmm."

"Hmmm what?" Zack asked.

"Something I just thought of…I wonder if Barbara's and Max's families would be interested in sending them on the Semester-at-Sea program" Carey said.

This momentarily excited the twins, but their smiles soon faded as a realization hit them.

"Max's family is not very rich, I don't think they could afford something like that" Zack said.

"Yeah, and even though Barbara's dad is fairly well off, I doubt they could afford it either" Cody added.

"Couldn't afford what!?" London Tipton said suddenly standing in the doorway of the suite.

London had been coming to see Carey when she overheard part of the conversation while standing in the open doorway.

Zack and Cody stared at each other with a look that each knew to mean play this right and we can take our friends with us

"We just found out about your dad's Semester-at-Sea program that our mom is taking us on while she sings on one of his ships…" Cody began.

"The only problem is...we don't want to leave all our friends…"Zack added.

"It'd be great if they could enroll in the program too and come with us, but we don't think their families would have the money to put them in the program" Cody said.

"Well, its funny you bring that up, daddy says that enrollment is low as it is and he said he'd be willing to wave at the tuition for up to 30 students so more people would experience the program and then tell others about it…Cody, what does he mean by 'wave at the tuition'?" London said.

"He said he'd waive the tuition, which means he'd pay for them…" Cody said.

"Oh, yaay them! That's why I was coming up here, to ask Carey to ask you two to spread the word at your school!"

"You mean we can each pick 15 friends to come along!?" Zack said.

"No, I'm going to ask Maddie and Mia…so what does that make?" London said quickly.

"14, and that's still awesome!" Cody said.

The twins did their trademark high five and Carey smiled.

"Just keep in mind boys, some of your friends may not be allowed to go" Carey cautioned.

"Yeah, yeah" they said in unison, half hearing her as they raced to their phones to start calling their closest friends.

"This is gonna be great!" Zack said.

"Yeah,if they get to go!" Cody said dialing Barbara.

"Yeah, I hope they can!" Zack said dialing Max.