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There are a few small things I do that significantly transform my cruises, including one tiny thing I did this week for my next cruise that took me less than 3 minutes and saved me almost $2,000. I have pulled all these small but transformative things I do together as I want to share with you five small and simple things that you can do that, I genuinely believe will transform your next cruise.
There are 5 small and easy changes I made that have had a huge positive impact on my cruises and on-board experience. They have really improved my cruising no end. You should try these 5 things as I am confident you will find they make a huge difference to your cruise, and should also leave more money in your pocket too...
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Links mentioned in the video:
* CruiseWatch: https://www.cruisewatch.com/cruise-price-alerts
* ShoreTrips: https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com
* CruiseExcursions: https://www.ventureashore.com
* CruiseCritic Roll Calls: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/20-roll-calls/
* CruiseCritic Meet & Mingle:https://boards.cruisecritic.com/meet-mingle/main/
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there are a few small things that i do
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that significantly transform my cruises
0:05
including one tiny thing i did just this
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week for my next cruise that took me
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less than three minutes and left me with
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almost two thousand dollars of hard cash
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in my pocket i put all of these small
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but transformative things that i do
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together because i want to share with
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you five small and simple things that
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you can do that i genuinely believe will
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transform your next cruise by the way if
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you're new here i'm gary bembridge and
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it's my goal to make it fun and easy to
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discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
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cruising vacations on my next cruise as
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i record this in the mediterranean on
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azamara quest i did a dummy booking a
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month before going and i found that my
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cabin grade was now half the price i
0:47
paid half a staggering 1
0:50
800
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less i asked my travel agent to contact
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them and they slashed my fare to that
0:56
price returning 1 800 to me now if i had
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not checked and asked i would have been
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sailing having paid twice the price that
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people booking close to the selling date
1:06
had done now before going on a cruise
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one small thing i always do is to check
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if it's on sale cheaper than when i
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booked or paid for it initially so if it
1:17
has i usually get money back additional
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onboard credit or i get an upgrade i
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find that quickest and easiest is to do
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a dummy booking on the cruise line
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website the advantage of this is the
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website defaults to whatever region
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you've booked so it's the most
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comparable to your fare i also which
1:34
again takes a few minutes add a tracker
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for my cruise cruisewatch.com cruise
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price alerts they send alerts whenever
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prices change so i then know to go and
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double check my specific cabin grade as
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cruisewatch.com doesn't track all cruise
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lines like uk based lines for example my
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alternative is cruise critic i search
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for my cruise then i'm going to fair
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insight where i can set up that price
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tracker there are a few watch outs by
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the way and need to knows a couple of
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things you need to check so here they
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are
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with one exception that i know of saga
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cruisers the lions will not proactively
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adjust your fare down if they cut fares
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you must
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contact them now there are lines that
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make it much easier because they're
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guaranteed to match low fares
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if you contact them at the time of
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recording this includes your caribbean
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celebrity and azamara but this guarantee
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keeps changing so always ask when you
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book your cruise what happens if the
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price goes down make sure you know the
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answer now i'm seeing some lines being
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trickier at the moment like most of the
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carnival group for example i've had
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great success with cunard where i've
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managed to get upgrades when fares have
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fallen but other people have struggled
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to get them to budge when prices go down
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cue not arguing that the fare was locked
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in because of the terms and conditions
2:54
of a specific promotion when they booked
2:56
so as i said when you book a cruise ask
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what happens if the price goes down by
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the way once you've paid your final
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balance the lions are also less willing
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to match any fare reductions so always
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do that dummy booking at least before
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you pay your final balance
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finally be prepared to push for upgrades
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of which i've had quite a few of my last
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few cruises because prices have been
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falling
3:22
or ask for extra onboard credit if they
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won't cut the fare a really big tip by
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the way if you do have to settle for
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onboard credit check once you're on the
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ship if unspent onboard credit is
3:33
refundable or non-refundable because if
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it's refundable you just don't spend it
3:38
and you get the cash at the end anyway
3:40
the second small thing that you can do
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comes with some risk it may transform
3:45
your cruise
3:46
but perhaps for the worst and this is
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around the whole area of getting
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upgraded this will confirm just two days
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ago when a channel follower donna
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messaged me to say she'd been upgraded
3:56
from the ocean view cabin she'd
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carefully chosen and booked into a
4:00
balcony cabin that was in a terrible
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position above a noisy nightclub and
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next to a rowdy bar she was very very
4:06
upset so what small things can you do
4:09
when it comes to upgrades and how do you
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avoid
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donna's issue to put you in line for an
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upgrade the small step that you can take
4:17
is when booking is making sure you or
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your travel agent has the will accept
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and auto upgrade option ticked however
4:26
i never ever do this
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as because usually if you're auto
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upgraded you have no choice but to
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accept whatever cabin the line upgrades
4:35
you to
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so you could find yourself in a cabin
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like donna's now my small step is
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actually to do the exact opposite and i
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make sure that the will accept in order
4:45
to upgrade is not ticked because i like
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to choose my cabin i like to choose my
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location and i don't want to take the
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risk the so-called upgraded cabin is in
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a location that i dislike but if you're
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not concerned about location or happy to
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risk it then make sure you take that
5:00
small easy step to opt into an auto
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upgrade if you are concerned then make
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sure like me that it's not ticked
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another quick thing that could transform
5:10
your cruise but will cost is to bid for
5:12
an upgrade many lines will send an email
5:14
asking you to bid for an upgrade if
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you're going to be for an upgrade
5:18
bid low don't over bid and end up like i
5:21
see so many people do paying the same as
5:24
you would if you'd actually just booked
5:25
the cabin anyway also by the way don't
5:27
assume just because you get in the email
5:28
there are actually upgrades also take a
5:31
few minutes on the second day of your
5:33
cruise to swing by the front desk and
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ask if they've got any upgrades most
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people actually go on embarkation day
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when upgrade prices will actually be at
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their highest but the next day all the
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ones that haven't been taken
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the prices will have gone down and of
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course you get a chance to check the
5:50
cabin out before you go for it
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while there's some risk in how these
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particular steps that i've just spoken
5:56
around upgrades could transform your
5:58
crews the next one that i'm going to
6:00
tell you has no risk and lots and lots
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of upsides in my experience i found this
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one has transformed many of my cruises
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for very little time and effort
6:11
and it's the part way through crew's
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questionnaire many cruise lines will
6:17
send out a questionnaire to your cabin a
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few days in or partway through a cruise
6:21
asking how are things going
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it can really transform things as i
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found out what's really important to
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understand in my view anyway is the
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hotel director is the most important
6:33
person on cruise and that's where the
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mid cruise questionnaire comes from many
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people of course think the captain is
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the most important person of course he
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is in terms of safety and sailing but
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all the departments we as guests
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use they report the hotel director the
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cabins uh housekeeping bars dining shore
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excursions and entertainment i've had
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many changes that have transformed my
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cruises through just taking a minute or
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two to use the part through cruise
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questionnaire
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for example i was moved on day three of
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a 10-day cruise from an ocean view to an
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incredible balcony cabin on silver sea
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silver cloud in antarctica there was
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some annoying but not cruise ruining
7:14
noise in the cabin from some machinery
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underneath at random times in the night
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i actually mentioned this in the
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question i said it was a bit annoying i
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was finding a bit disturbing but you
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know that was it but the hotel director
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called me on getting that questionnaire
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ask if i wanted to move he moved me to a
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better location to a balcony and it's a
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really quiet cabin the person next door
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by the way did the same thing and they
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were also moved i had vibrations from
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the engine on a crossy europe mekong
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river cruise again it was a little bit
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annoying it wasn't a disaster i
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mentioned it to the director chatting
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one day at reception and immediately
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said we've got another empty cabin up
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front if you'd like to move
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so really important understand the hotel
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director has the power to make these
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decisions the power to make and change
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things and the questionnaire
7:59
is a great direct line to them usually
8:03
so use it and remember the hotel
8:05
director getting that questionnaire
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could transform your cruise
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but
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why limit transformation to just on the
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ship i have another small and powerful
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thing that i do i've also transformed my
8:18
time in ports by making this small and
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not very time consuming change for
8:24
example on my recent azamara
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mediterranean trip that i spoke about
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earlier the line offered me a choice of
8:29
seven trips in marseille
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so i went on to an independent tour
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provider
8:34
site shaw excursionsgroup.com where they
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offered me a choice of 18 excursions
8:40
their options included many more active
8:42
ones unusual ones they had e-bike tours
8:44
they had gastro tours things that the
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line didn't offer me in monte carlo on
8:49
that same cruise azamara had just three
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tours plus two private van tour options
8:55
that they cost over a thousand dollars a
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day shaw excursions group site had six
9:00
times as many tours 17 tours in all
9:03
including driving exotic cars and their
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private car tours were almost half the
9:09
price of the cruise line so just taking
9:11
a couple of minutes checking independent
9:13
tour provider sites could transform your
9:16
whole experience in ports as it's done
9:18
with mine with different more exotic
9:20
options but also they often will cut
9:22
your budget for excursions the sites
9:25
that i personally look at include
9:26
shoretrips.com and
9:29
shoreexcursionsgroup.com but there are
9:30
some others now those i like because
9:32
they're really easy and simple because
9:34
you just input your cruise line you
9:35
input your ship and your departure and
9:37
they bring up your itinerary and all the
9:39
excursion options on the day to ship is
9:41
there so it's really really simple
9:43
because in a couple of minutes you can
9:45
transform the port into a more
9:47
interesting and very day than the cruise
9:50
line is offering
9:51
there are a few small things though that
9:54
you can still do on top of all this to
9:56
actually get your fellow passengers to
9:58
help transform your cruise for you this
10:01
is something that i do one thing that
10:02
takes little time to set up but provides
10:05
a minor information help are two
10:08
features that i like on
10:10
cruisecritic.com first of all i sign up
10:12
for the roll call for my cruise and
10:14
secondly i sign up for the meet and
10:16
mingle on my cruise too
10:18
in the roll course i can chat and
10:20
discuss tips and tricks for my trip it's
10:22
particularly good by the way when you
10:23
when i'm going as a solo traveler or
10:25
perhaps when i want to have a couple of
10:27
familiar faces or names when i arrive on
10:29
a cruise in those roll calls people will
10:31
be arranging getting together for
10:33
pre-tours post tours or even clubbing
10:35
together to book private tailored van
10:37
tours and some ports the meet and mingle
10:40
is also a fantastic thing many lions
10:42
will host a cruise critic meet and
10:44
mingle at the start of the cruise there
10:47
are free drinks and snacks which is
10:48
always good but you get a chance as i do
10:51
to talk to people who are in the roll
10:52
call
10:54
right at the beginning of the cruise you
10:55
get to know some familiar faces you get
10:57
to know people you can arrange to go to
10:58
dinner with go on tours with meet up
11:00
with but importantly
11:02
i discover surprising tips surprising
11:05
tricks because there's always die hard
11:08
fans of the line and those who know
11:09
their ship inside out or have been on
11:11
that itinerary before and they love to
11:13
share their tips and tricks for example
11:15
the first one i ever went to the first
11:17
video mingle i went to was on holland
11:19
american new amsterdam in alaska i
11:22
discovered some fantastic little-known
11:24
shops and places to go in skagway and
11:26
the other ports which were really just
11:28
fantastic
11:29
now some lines are official partners
11:31
like azamara carnival celebrity msc
11:34
silversea
11:35
royal caribbean viking so they have
11:37
official partnerships but there are some
11:39
unofficial partners in the program like
11:40
holland america as i mentioned and went
11:42
to princess norwegian and they still
11:44
host events they're just not as official
11:47
as the others if you want to know other
11:49
key things that i think you should do
11:51
and not pay for on a cruise join me in
11:54
this video where i start with one of the
11:56
big things that i regret paying for on a
11:58
cruise see you over there
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