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I have some tips and tricks that while kids absolutely shouldn’t know about, I’ve found that too few adult cruisers know about them either. Buckle up as I share my sometimes saucy, occasionally naughty, but always eye-opening things only adults like you and me can do, or get away with, when cruising.
Links mentioned in the video:
Smuggling Booze Onto a Cruise: https://youtu.be/xTICZTwMYkY
Crime on a cruise ship statistics by quarter: https://www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/cruise-line-incident-reports
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0:00
I have some tips and tricks that while kids absolutely shouldn't know about
0:04
I found that too few adult cruises know about them either. Buckle up as I share my sometimes
0:09
saucy, occasional naughty, but always eye-opening things that only adults like you and me can do
0:16
or get away with when cruising. So welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bembridge, helping you to get
0:20
cruising right, especially if you're aged 18 or over. I want to start with a more unusual
0:26
and niche adult tip before getting into those that will apply to most
0:30
of you. I stumbled across a whole other side to adult cruising some years ago when views of one of my
0:35
videos about MSC Davina cruise ship blew up. On investigating, I discovered they were coming from a link
0:41
on the website of a company chartering the ship for a cruise, a rather unusual and very adult cruise
0:50
While I knew I could book an adult only cruise on lines like Viking, Virgin Voyages and Saga
0:55
all were offering me regular cruisers just without kids, but my investigation revealed
0:59
Swingers Cruises for adults-only keen on partner swapping were also taking place on some of the best-known
1:06
family cruise lines, including MSC cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Celebrity and even the Ultra Luxury
1:13
Silver Sea. I was amazed at how many options there are, so many that there are even travel agents
1:20
dedicated to Swinger Cruises, like The Swinger Cruise.com. The two main companies that run them are
1:26
desire cruisers and bliss cruisers and they promise clothing optional pool areas and indoor and outdoor
1:34
playrooms. By the way, if you do fancy swinging but you don't want a whole cruise of it
1:40
there is a swingers code or symbol used on regular cruises too. Just pop a pineapple door decoration
1:47
on your cruise door, ideally upside down, or start wearing clothing heavily featuring them
1:52
I've seen both of these on several of my cruises in the last
1:56
last year alone. But if that's all a step too far, what about a nudist cruise? These are also
2:04
really frequent on ocean and river ships. Some I've seen advertised recently are even taking
2:09
place on the expensive and swanky scenic yachts, as well as lines like Carnival and Norwegian
2:14
Cruise Line. The most famous of these is run by company that started back in 1991 called
2:20
Bare Necessities with their big nude boat charters. In the gay world, there are many
2:26
many adult-only charters of all types from sedate river cruises upwards. But the most infamous of those
2:32
are run by Atlantis events. They have run cruises with a reputation for hard partying and lots of
2:38
adult fun on many, many cruise lines across the years. All of these themed cruises and adult cruises may be a
2:44
bit way out for most adults, but I do have some tips for any of you on a regular cruise planning some
2:49
adult fun with your partner Something that I really wish the couple next to me on a cruise not too long ago had known and acted on It really important to remember that other than in your cabin and public bathrooms everywhere on a cruise ship has CCTV coverage including in most cases the balconies
3:09
So if you decide that you want to have some fun on your balcony, bear a mind you could be captured by the cruise lines CCTV
3:17
But also bear in mind that cruise balconies on the balcony, on the balcony, bear in mind, that cruise balconies on the balcony, bear a mind
3:19
not that private, with large spaces underneath the barriers and the ability for your neighbors
3:25
to see your reflection in the glass panels. And of course, they can hear you. These are all things
3:31
that I really do wish the couple on my crews recently had thought through and acted upon
3:37
But while if you are single and hoping for some adult fun on your crews, I've got three tips
3:42
First, don't bother coming onto or trying to hook up with the crew, no matter how much you fancy
3:47
them. Hooking up with passengers and even taking you into crew areas is a sackable
3:51
offence and really strictly enforced. Second, single friends of mine who use dating and
3:57
meetup apps tell me that these don't work for location identifying matches when
4:02
you're cruising of course because satellite Wi-Fi no phone signal. So what do they do
4:07
What they say is on embarkation day before Sailorway is the best time they find to
4:13
check who's on the apps and who's on board and looking to meet up. They then also
4:17
will check in again in port to see if any new profiles pop up at that time. Of course, the other
4:24
option is to go to the solo traveller meetup, but do remember that solo traveller and
4:30
single traveller looking for romance or more is not the same thing. For example, I travel
4:36
solo often, but I'm married and I'm not looking for anything along those lines when I'm on
4:40
board. If you want to come back from your cruise with a nice all over tan or a lady wanting
4:45
no tan marks up top, you do have some options, but not many. With one exception, only one line
4:52
focused on North American cruisers will allow topless sunbathing, but most lines will actually
4:57
turn a blind eye if you do it on your balcony discreetly. Even the supposedly stuffy CUNR's
5:03
should you wish to sunbathe topless, this should be done on the privacy of your own balcony
5:08
and that's in the frequently asked questions. But if you do want to do it on your balcony
5:13
What are your options? Virgin Voyages, the adult only line, does allow topless sunbathing on
5:19
what they call the perch on deck 17. Then several non-English speaking lines offer it too. For example
5:24
the German haplagloid line has a topless sunbathing area on the Europa ship
5:29
while the more mass market German Aida has a whole screen of nude sunbathing area
5:34
Celestial cruises, the Greek line and Costa the Italian line also allow topless sunbathing
5:40
on their top decks. But enough about the racier side of cruising as I want to give some important and sometimes little known tips and advice around something that many people like to do on a cruise as an adult and that drinking First who can and cannot drink does actually vary by cruise line and by region
5:59
As my partner's 18-year-old niece keeps reminding me, while she's happy to go cruising with us
6:03
in Europe, she does not want to go cruising with us in the Caribbean or anywhere that goes
6:08
in and out of the US until she's 21, because she wants to be able to drink on board
6:13
lines sailing in and out of the United States have the drinking age set as from 21 as it is on land
6:19
But when in Europe and most of Asia, the drinking age on land is 18 and the lines usually follow that
6:25
So if you're taking friends or family or on age range 80 to 21, bear that in mind we're planning where to cruise
6:32
Although it's important to note, as I keep telling my partner's niece, in many ports in the Caribbean
6:36
while she couldn't drink on the ship, she would actually be able to drink in bars in most of the ports
6:43
later tip is taking advantage of the cruise line allowance. As while most won't allow you to bring
6:48
hard alcohol and beers on board, they will let you normally bring wine or champagne, usually
6:53
one bottle per person, but it does vary. Now if you try and bring anything else on board
6:58
on embarkation and it's spotted in either your carry-on or your checking bags, the cruise line
7:03
will confiscate it and many lines, including say, Royal Caribbean, will never return it to you. Across my
7:09
years cruising, I have made a surprisingly large number of passengers who, small
7:13
I was so fascinated about the tactics and even the products made to facilitate it, that it made a video about them
7:21
It includes things like simple mouthwash switching to fake accessories like binoculars and umbrellas
7:27
It's really quite bizarre. Of course, I'm not suggesting you smuggle booze and the lines are savvy to many of these tactics
7:35
but it is worth watching that to just admire the pure ingenuity
7:39
Now, my next tip is a more serious one and is sort of linked to
7:43
drinking because that's when people's guard tends to be down. You do need to be cautious as ships
7:50
are not crime-free zones, even if it's something that's not discussed much. All ships sailing in and
7:56
out of the United States must submit stats on crime and the number one reported crime is
8:02
sexual assault. In fact, just under 70% of crimes reported on ships are sexual assault and almost
8:09
always committed by a passenger. The statistics themselves are public because, the USA Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 requires reporting and a quarter report is published online
8:20
So you can go and keep a check on that. The next major crime after sexual assaults is assault with serious bodily harm
8:27
which seems to be largely from drink-fuelled fights. The amount of crime reported, by the way, is not particularly high
8:33
Looking at those reports, it's around 43 incidents per quarter, but it happens. And if it happens to you
8:39
then being one of a small number is irrelevant because it is everything and devastating to you as a passenger So do take care particularly when drinking that you don let your guard down And of course
8:49
don't pick a fight either, obviously. But there is one other thing that could get you as an adult
8:55
into a lot of trouble that I do need to talk about. It is a total no-no to bring recreational drugs
9:00
on board, including cannabis and related products, even though it is legal in some countries and, of course
9:06
in some states in the United States. Cruise lines ban them. And if they have, find you smoking it or have any cannabis products on board, you can be thrown off the ship at
9:14
an export and possibly be banned from cruising with them for life. Now, I wasn't sure if I needed to
9:19
mention this one, but as a surprising large number of passengers have been caught by cruise lines
9:23
and the authorities doing it recently, including as I was preparing this, I decided I probably should
9:29
do. And that is, don't smuggle drugs in large quantities as several people have tried to do on
9:34
largely repositioned cruisers from one continent to another. The lines and authorities are
9:39
are actually on the lookout for this. Even an elderly English couple in their 70s tried to do it
9:44
and they spent time in prison in Portugal. I saw recently some Instagram-style party girls tried it
9:49
and were caught in Australia and just in fact so many more examples
9:53
I also want to talk though about prescription drugs and what to do as an adult
9:58
Of course you can bring your prescription drugs on board. In some places though like Mexico
10:02
you can buy prescription drugs in a local pharmacy without a prescription
10:06
including Viagra, Darmazepan, Tramodol and a. other really powerful drugs. Now I've met a number of cruisers who like to stock up on prescription
10:15
drugs on cruis imports like this because they're cheaper and actually just easier to get
10:19
Now a couple of things to think about three things. First of all, there is a risk that they're
10:23
not genuine. There have been some Mexican pharmacies I've seen in press reports closed for
10:28
selling fake drugs. Secondly, the USA FDA rules don't appear to allow the importation of
10:35
prescription drugs purchased outside of the US at all. And then thirdly, the US
10:39
The US FDA guidelines also recommend that you never bring more than a 90-day supply of medication
10:45
when entering the US, whether you've bought those in Mexico or wherever, or they're just
10:49
part of your normal prescription. So at least that's worth remembering. There is a saying that goes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas
10:56
But these days, what happens on a cruise does not stay on a cruise
11:00
All you have to do is take a look at TikTok, YouTube shorts, Instagram Reels, or even main YouTube
11:05
videos to see loads and loads of videos recorded on the ubiquitous
11:09
mobile phone of people doing things they shouldn't on a cruise. Every fight, every
11:14
peer runner, every idiot climbing on the balcony railings, every bit of bad drunken
11:19
behaviour. So bear in mind if you are going to do something crazy, it's probably
11:23
going to be filmed and it's probably going to be shared. If you'd like to know more about
11:28
the best adult cruisers to go on beyond those slightly naughty ones I mentioned
11:31
join me in this video where I talk about your best options, including why your
11:36
choices are narrowing and what to do about it. See you over there
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