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How can you get free things on your next cruise, and get much more bang for your cruising bucks? I discuss the 6 main areas of cruise freebies that are available, if you go and ask for them or seek them out. They are not things that cruise brochures and websites usually reveal, or talk about. I tell you the things to focus on and how to get as many free things as you possibly can, including drinks, special food, gifts, spa treatments, better and improved cabins and more.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.
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0:01
you're about to discover things that you
0:03
can get for free
0:04
on a cruise if you simply ask for them
0:08
hi i'm gary bembridge this is another of
0:10
my tips for travellers
0:11
i'm going to tell you things that you
0:13
can get for free on a cruise
0:15
that the brochures or the cruise lines
0:17
don't necessarily tell you about
0:19
simply by asking you can get more bang
0:22
for your buck
0:23
on a cruise first of all extra
0:26
free food on pretty much every single
0:29
cruise line
0:30
you can actually order more than one
0:32
main course
0:33
now some cruise lines try to introduce
0:35
charges for ordering extra but they soon
0:37
backed away but you can ask for more
0:39
than one main course so if you want the
0:41
lobster and the steak
0:42
you can order both of those for no extra
0:45
cost
0:45
the other thing to do is go off menu now
0:48
on some premium cruise lines they allow
0:50
you to go off menu however
0:52
if there's nothing on the menu that
0:53
appeals ask the waiter
0:55
if you can have something off menu
0:57
particularly if it's something
0:58
that was on the lunch menu or perhaps
1:00
the night before
1:01
you often find that they have courses or
1:03
dishes that they can do it very short
1:05
notice now some cruise lines
1:06
do have some standard items that they
1:08
offer every night whether it's steak
1:10
or chicken but a lot of cruise lines if
1:13
you ask for something
1:14
of menu you might find that you actually
1:16
can get it
1:17
if you're vegetarian or vegan that's a
1:19
great way of getting extra food that's
1:21
particularly not on the menu
1:23
most cruise lines now have some
1:24
vegetarian or vegan options but the
1:26
secret is
1:27
if you are interested in that or you
1:28
want different food talk to the matridge
1:30
talk to the waiter and they will often
1:32
start to cater for you and create very
1:34
specific dishes
1:36
for you to meet your very specific needs
1:38
so if you have any
1:39
dietary needs you can often get extra
1:41
free food that is different to everyone
1:43
else is having
1:44
and especially created for you if you're
1:47
a big fan of ice cream
1:48
lots of cruise lines will now have
1:50
gelato and ice cream shops however
1:52
most of them do offer free ice cream
1:54
you'll either find that
1:55
up in the lido buffet you'll sometimes
1:57
find that on the pool deck
1:58
and certainly in the restaurants pretty
2:00
much at
2:01
lunchtime and dinner if you ask for ice
2:03
cream you'll get it free without
2:05
any extra costs another great tip is
2:08
room service
2:09
a couple of cruise lines will charge for
2:11
room service but many of them do not so
2:13
if you want an ice tea or coffee in the
2:15
morning phone room service
2:17
certainly room service is a great way to
2:19
get extra
2:20
food and you'll often find they have a
2:21
slightly different menu to
2:23
the main restaurant
2:26
secondly free drinks most cruise lines
2:29
charge for drinks
2:30
there are a couple of ways of getting
2:32
free drinks first of all
2:33
and the most obvious is attend the
2:35
cocktail parties so the welcome party
2:37
the farewell party
2:38
you'll normally find there's quite a big
2:39
selection of drinks that are offered for
2:41
free
2:42
if there's any other events on board so
2:44
you'll often find the shops will have
2:45
special events
2:46
the art auctions will have special
2:48
events and they will provide
2:50
drinks for free now normally that's
2:51
champagne but not necessarily
2:53
but attend those events you don't have
2:54
to buy anything and you'll find you get
2:56
free drinks another really important
2:59
thing to note is that tap water
3:01
is drinkable on cruise ships now some
3:03
people say they don't like the taste
3:05
but it's 100 safe to drink bring along
3:08
a refillable water bottle and perhaps
3:10
bring along a couple of sachets or some
3:12
cordial
3:13
and use that to give your tap water a
3:16
little bit of
3:16
taste tap water is free it's completely
3:19
drinkable
3:20
and by bringing those little sachets of
3:21
flavor you can really spruce it up
3:23
and probably save a lot of money on
3:24
buying things like sodas or other soft
3:26
drinks
3:27
another great way of getting free drinks
3:29
is sign up for a cruise critic meetup a
3:31
lot of cruise lines will have meetups
3:33
for members of cruise critics so if
3:35
you're on
3:35
cruise critic have a look for your
3:38
particular cruise find out there's a
3:40
meet up
3:40
sign up for it and go to it because
3:42
you'll find there are free drinks
3:44
and there are often little nibbles and
3:45
snacks also remember that
3:47
tea coffee juices things like lemonade
3:50
are often available 24 hours a day in
3:53
the lido buffet restaurant so no matter
3:55
what time of the day or night
3:56
you want some teal coffee you're going
3:58
to get those free
4:00
up in the lido deck my third tip on free
4:03
things you can get on a cruise by asking
4:05
are gifts
4:06
and there's quite a few options here
4:08
first of all
4:09
one of the things to do is take part in
4:11
all of the activities
4:12
you'll find that many of the activities
4:14
whether it's trivia games
4:16
deck games run by the entertainment team
4:18
if you go to those you will have a
4:20
little card or you'll build up points
4:21
and at the end of the cruise
4:23
you can redeem those points for gifts
4:25
and prizes a lot of people
4:27
take part in activities don't do that
4:29
and they miss out on getting little free
4:31
bits and pieces of gifts they often tend
4:33
to build branded merchandise
4:34
so if every cruise you go on you do that
4:36
collect the points you can collect a
4:38
whole lot of
4:39
free gifts another way of getting free
4:41
gifts is going to the shopping talks now
4:43
this tends to happen
4:44
much more in places like the caribbean
4:46
or alaska where duty-free shopping is a
4:48
really big thing
4:49
but on board there will be shopping
4:50
advisors and they have lots and lots of
4:52
free gifts and incentives
4:54
to get you to go into the shops again
4:55
you don't normally have to buy anything
4:57
but by simply going to the talks you'll
4:58
get free gifts and then by going to some
5:00
of the stores
5:01
simply by going there you can redeem
5:03
different vouchers for free gifts so
5:05
it's definitely worth
5:06
doing that because you'll come away from
5:08
the cruise with all sorts of things
5:09
whether it's t-shirts
5:10
little lucky charms or free samples
5:13
another thing to do if you've forgotten
5:15
some of your amenities
5:16
so that might be a comb or a brush or
5:19
stuff for
5:20
shaving or toothbrush and items like
5:22
that instead of heading straight for the
5:24
shop
5:24
go to the guest services desk and ask
5:26
them if they have an amenity kit
5:28
because you'll often find like in many
5:30
hotels you can often get those
5:32
for free the other thing to do is you'll
5:34
often find
5:35
in your cabin or by going to guest
5:36
services you can often get stationary
5:39
you can get envelopes you can get
5:41
writing paper
5:42
pens and postcards one of my
5:45
favorite ways of getting free gifts is
5:48
to
5:49
take part in some of the raffles now
5:50
final embarkation day
5:52
you'll find a couple of the places
5:54
around the ship will have
5:55
raffles to get you to go there so one of
5:57
the best ones to go to is the spa
5:59
they will enter you in a raffle they'll
6:01
often give you a free drink and you just
6:02
have to be at a certain time normally
6:04
just after the mustard drill so five
6:06
o'clock or six o'clock and they do a
6:07
draw
6:08
and you have to be there to get the
6:09
prize but on a couple of cruises i've
6:11
won
6:12
packages with free massages facials so
6:14
that's definitely something to do
6:16
you'll also find sometimes the shops
6:18
will do that particularly if they're
6:19
launching a new range where they'll have
6:21
a raffle
6:22
and they won't of course want you to go
6:23
there look at the new merchandise
6:25
but definitely look out for little
6:26
raffles around the ship where they're
6:28
giving away
6:29
free prizes my fourth tip
6:32
is a very easy one to do and that's
6:35
actually
6:36
cruise when there's a special event
6:38
taking place
6:39
so if it's your birthday or a very
6:41
special anniversary
6:43
make sure that the cruise line knows
6:45
that it's a special event
6:46
so let your cabin steward know let your
6:49
way to know
6:50
most cruise lines will make a fuss over
6:52
a special event if it's your birthday
6:54
they'll often to get dinner bring you a
6:57
cake
6:58
if your cabin steward knows that it's a
7:00
special anniversary or your birthday
7:02
they will also normally do something so
7:04
they might bring a cake they might put
7:05
up some decorations
7:07
or bring you a bottle of something
7:09
bubbly so definitely
7:11
make sure that they know that you're
7:12
cruising on a special event
7:14
one of the key things to do is pick
7:16
cruisers when you do have a special
7:18
event
7:18
because it's very likely if the cruise
7:20
line knows they will make a fuss
7:22
and give you something free
7:25
the fifth thing that you get free is
7:27
medication
7:28
and the medical center now medication
7:30
and seeing the medical center can cost a
7:32
lot of money
7:33
but there are two pieces of medication
7:35
that you can get for free
7:37
first of all sea sickness tablet you'll
7:39
find that the cruise line
7:40
at the guest services desk will normally
7:43
give seasickness medication away for
7:45
free particularly the sea
7:46
or they know that it's getting rough the
7:48
second is around
7:49
if you have stomach upsets and you need
7:51
anti-diarrheal now very important
7:53
if you think that you have any of the
7:55
signs of norovirus
7:56
so you're either vomiting or you have
7:59
diarrhea problems if you contact the
8:02
medical center they will pretty much
8:05
every single time
8:06
see you for nothing you will normally
8:07
get a consultation by the doctor or
8:09
nurse for
8:10
free if you think they have those
8:11
symptoms and they will give you the
8:12
relevant medication
8:14
my sixth tip is one that i have used
8:17
quite a lot and works for me and this is
8:19
around getting your cabin
8:20
improved if you have any issues with
8:22
your bed so it's too hard it's too soft
8:24
you don't like the pillows
8:26
speak to your cabin steward and see what
8:28
they can do so often you'll find they
8:30
can bring in new mattress toppers they
8:32
can give you feather pillows they can
8:33
give you
8:34
memory foam pillows and you normally
8:35
find that you can get your bed
8:37
adjusted and improved so that really
8:39
suits you and
8:40
that's things they can normally do very
8:41
easily so don't suffer if you're not
8:43
happy
8:44
with your bed the second thing that you
8:46
can do is if you have a
8:48
problem in your cabin there's a noise
8:50
problem or something's not working
8:52
always make sure that your cabin steward
8:54
knows it that they've also reported to
8:56
their supervisor
8:57
and once they've done that then go and
8:59
report it to guest services very
9:00
important
9:01
that sequencing of events so i've had
9:03
problems on different cruises where i've
9:05
had a noise problem or something hasn't
9:07
really worked
9:08
i made sure the cabin students known
9:09
about it i know that they reported their
9:11
supervisor and then i've gone
9:12
to guest services telling them that i've
9:14
reported it so the cabin steward is
9:16
verifying that you have a problem
9:18
and when that's happened i've actually
9:20
been moved to better cabins
9:22
because everyone's agreed that there is
9:24
a problem so the guest services
9:26
know and the hotel manager knows that
9:28
it's not just you creating a fuss for
9:29
fuss a sake
9:30
that your steward agrees there is a
9:31
problem and i have been moved when of
9:33
course
9:34
there's availability to better cabins as
9:36
a result so cabin improvements
9:38
definitely can happen
9:39
by asking and working with your cabin
9:42
steward
9:44
as you can see simply by asking there's
9:46
a whole lot of things that you can get
9:48
for free to give you more bang for your
9:51
buck on your cruise fare
9:52
hope you found that helpful i have loads
9:54
more videos with lots of tips and advice
9:56
about cruising
9:57
so why don't you watch one of those
9:59
right now
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