Zack & Cody hit the deck with seafaring sitcom

LOS ANGELES — A change of scenery is keeping things fresh on the Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody."

The slapstick sitcom and its 16-year-old identical-twin stars — Dylan and Cole Sprouse (can you believe they are 16!) — have officially moved to the high seas.

A spinoff of the original show, "The Suite Life on Deck" features twins Zack and Cody Martin and their spoiled-hotel-heiress-of-a-friend London Tipton (Brenda Song) as they circle the world on a luxury passenger cruise liner, the SS Tipton, owned by London's father.

Zack, Cody and London play host to the ship's tourists while attending classes at SS Tipton's Seven Seas High School with several other kids.

"It's going to be really, really fun," says a sweet, fast-talking Song, 20. " 'The Suite Life on Deck' is kind of like the same crew, but it's a new show. It's all the same great things rolled into one, with a different concept. We're doing a semester at sea, so we're on a cruise ship, and it gets crazier and crazier each week. I think fans are going to love it."

The dutiful Mr. Moseby (Phill Lewis) is reassigned from the Tipton Hotel to be the cruise ship's accommodations manager.

Joining in the high-jinks are London's new roommate, Bailey (Debby Ryan) and Kirby, the security guard (Windell Middlebrooks).

"I love the writing because it lets us be expressive and gets kids' attention right away," says Middlebrooks.

"With kids, you have a small window of time to get their attention and keep it, and this show does that and then some."