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I was tired of seeing cruising tips that don't understand and reflect the reality of cruise passengers like me in magazines, newspapers and online. They seem to think that cruise passengers like me fall into a narrow stereotype of what they think we should or are. So, these are the tips that I think are for cruise passengers like me - and work as I have proven them to be right for me and others like me
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TikTok: @garybembridge
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0:00
i was frustrated in reading an article
0:02
in a cruise magazine like this recently
0:04
with cruise advice targeted at people
0:06
like me it was full of out-of-date
0:09
stereotypes about us and was out of sync
0:12
with today's 50-plus travelers we're
0:13
adventurous active love to explore try
0:16
new things and none of that was
0:17
reflected i decided it was time that
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people like us get what we deserve
0:21
advice and tips proven to work
0:24
by someone over 50 for other over 50s so
0:27
that's what you're about to get if
0:28
you're new here welcome aboard i'm gary
0:30
bembridge and my goal is to make it fun
0:32
and easy to discover plan and enjoy
0:35
unforgettable cruise vacations
0:37
i can see the cruise lines are obsessed
0:39
with getting younger people to cruise
0:41
this push means they're attracting more
0:42
families because let's face it people
0:45
younger than 50 in their 30s and 40s are
0:47
likely to have kids even onlines that
0:49
have been much more adult focused i'm
0:51
noticing more families and children
0:53
every time i cruise for example on all
0:55
my recent trips on celebrity princess
0:57
and cunard
0:58
mostly over 50 travelers i talk to like
1:00
me want to avoid families with kids as
1:03
some have left that behind because their
1:04
kids have grown up some haven't had kids
1:06
like me some are looking to basically
1:08
just escape from their kids or grandkids
1:10
so how do we get around this now i've
1:12
got a few tips which also will save you
1:14
money as well as a bonus first go on
1:17
adult only lines in the uk there is saga
1:20
which are for the over 50s
1:22
and lies like pinot cruises and morella
1:24
they have adolescent ships in their
1:25
fleet viking cruises and virgin voyages
1:27
both which i've been on are only for
1:29
over 18s however as you can see our
1:32
options are limited
1:34
the second thing we can do is use the
1:36
fact that families with children cruise
1:38
during school holidays and public
1:40
holiday times we can use that to our
1:42
advantage we're not
1:44
constrained by that timing i choose to
1:47
cruise out of school holidays and around
1:49
any public holidays if i'm going to one
1:51
of the three biggest cruise regions the
1:53
caribbean
1:54
the mediterranean or alaska instead i
1:57
focus on shoulder periods at the start
2:00
and the end of the season so for the
2:01
caribbean i will go in november into
2:04
early december or mid january to
2:06
february for example
2:08
for the mediterranean i'll go in june
2:11
and early september into mid-october so
2:14
again after school holiday period for
2:16
alaska i'll go in may or early june when
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the season starts all of these times
2:21
normally have good weather
2:22
are cheaper and the ships are quieter
2:26
another way to ensure less kids is go on
2:28
longer cruises as families take these
2:30
less for example what i like to do in
2:32
the caribbean is go on the 10 or 12
2:34
night trips like the holland america
2:36
southern caribbean i've booked for my
2:38
next caribbean trip repositioning
2:40
cruises around april and october time
2:42
when the cruise lines move their ships
2:44
between the caribbean and the
2:45
mediterranean are another great solution
2:48
they really have families and kids on
2:51
and are great value too
2:54
exotic and long-haul trips have fewer
2:57
families on families mostly stick to
2:59
caribbean mediterranean and alaska
3:00
cruises exotic trips to asia south
3:03
america and expedition cruises that
3:05
involve flights get really expensive
3:07
when traveling with a couple of kids of
3:09
course an obvious option is to focus on
3:12
lines that tend to cater for us 50 plus
3:15
travelers primarily that's what i do a
3:17
lot people often ask me why they don't
3:19
see much about royal caribbean carnival
3:22
norwegian cruise line and msc cruises on
3:24
my channel it's because they generally
3:26
are not the best at catering for people
3:28
like me but are for families the lines
3:31
that i cruise on most and i find best
3:33
for travelers like me are in the premium
3:35
area celebrity princess hot america
3:38
viking and now virgin voyages i find the
3:41
smaller ship lines are really good for
3:43
me and i like oceania azamara and
3:46
windstar they're well geared for us 50
3:48
plus they don't have any kids clubs or
3:50
any facilities for kids so families tend
3:52
not to go on those they also tend to
3:54
have more interesting itineraries
3:55
because they can call on smaller ports
3:58
if you have the budget all the ultra
4:01
luxury lines work seabourn crystal
4:03
silversea region 7c as few families go
4:06
on those because they're so expensive
4:08
i've never been on a cruise on one of
4:10
those lines with families on board
4:11
though it does happen i swear to people
4:13
where it's happened however
4:15
while i stay clear personally on family
4:17
friendly cruise lines like msc carnival
4:19
norwegian royal caribbean if they do
4:21
appeal to you i have two really
4:23
important tips first
4:25
those four all offer what they call
4:27
seniors discounts to over 55s one or two
4:30
for over 50s
4:32
they offer them on their settings
4:33
especially those out of school holiday
4:34
periods because they need us to help
4:36
fill their ships then make sure you ask
4:38
for that discounted booking through an
4:40
agent or tick the box on check out if
4:42
you're booking direct secondly consider
4:44
cruising in the ship within a ship
4:46
option because you'd like to find fewer
4:49
or have no families in those look at msc
4:51
yacht club and norwegian haven
4:53
should you avoid disney cruise lines now
4:56
friends with our kids tell me there are
4:58
many adult only areas many other
5:00
activities and they offer a really good
5:02
quality out of experience so i'm
5:03
actually booked on disney
5:05
using my own tips i booked to a
5:06
destination that's popular with families
5:08
with kids norwegian fjords and in
5:10
september after the schools have gone
5:12
back
5:13
once on board many of the lines i spoke
5:16
about that cater for us 50 plus
5:17
travelers i still find they do not offer
5:20
enough diverse
5:22
challenging and interesting excursions
5:24
to really excite me this was actually
5:26
brought home to me just this past week
5:28
because i've been looking at ports and
5:29
excursions for a panama caribbean cruise
5:32
i've got coming up and a western
5:33
mediterranean cruise that's basically a
5:35
month after that one
5:36
the excursions are all rather stodgy
5:39
they're bus tours they talk about how
5:41
little walking there is how many few
5:43
steps there are they assume i think we
5:45
want low octane very high brow low level
5:47
activities so i want to tell you what i
5:49
think we should be doing as 50 plus
5:51
travelers when it comes to ports and
5:53
touring the best tip i've got is don't
5:57
google things like things to do in
5:59
export buy a guidebook or look at the
6:01
cruise line excursions it's actually to
6:03
join the roll call for your cruise on
6:06
cruisecritic.com there you'll get to
6:08
engage with others on your cruise and
6:09
there's always people in there who've
6:11
been to each port recently they found
6:14
out what the best thing to do the best
6:16
value the most interesting unusual
6:18
fascinating thing to do and importantly
6:20
how to do it don't fall into the trap of
6:23
defaulting into what the cruise line
6:24
offers
6:25
you might want to and i of course do
6:27
that sometimes too if you know
6:28
particularly the regions has a
6:30
reputation for being high risk for
6:31
travelers or the ship is really really
6:33
far from the main sites of course it's
6:35
really easy they have the guarantee they
6:37
won't leave you behind you know if i get
6:39
delayed that's very reassuring but
6:41
instead what i do is i look at their
6:42
options and i ask myself are these
6:44
really going to stretch me excite me and
6:46
be a memory for life now include that
6:49
last point because the best experiences
6:51
i've had have not been on cruise line
6:53
excursions they've been when i've been
6:55
out more independently either in a small
6:57
group
6:58
with my partner or myself
7:00
so in places i feel i need more
7:03
reassurance because i'm unsure about the
7:04
area or i want guarantees about getting
7:06
back to the ship or someone who can sort
7:09
out if i've got an issue i
7:11
then look at larger independent tour
7:13
providers first like shoretrips.com
7:16
cruisingexcursions.com and viator.com
7:18
now i find though that they tend to be
7:20
very similar to cruise line ones smaller
7:22
groups and a bit cheaper though
7:24
but much better is going on independent
7:27
one-to-one or small group tours now i
7:30
usually find those through the
7:31
recommendations in those role call
7:33
groups i was talking about earlier
7:35
now these are usually local tour guides
7:38
and drivers and i i discuss with them
7:40
what i'm interested in and they work
7:42
something out around what i'm interested
7:44
in i've got the reassurance then that
7:46
i'm with people who know the territory
7:47
the areas to avoid the best things to do
7:49
and importantly they know the timing and
7:51
how to get back and make sure i get back
7:53
to the ship on time
7:55
though i do most like to self-explore
7:57
and do that armed with two things a
7:59
guidebook i rely on dorlin kinsley
8:01
guidebooks or the local app as most
8:03
destinations have these now and they
8:05
tell me how to navigate public transport
8:08
tells me about the places to see and
8:10
secondly with the daily program with the
8:12
ship cruise agent contact details
8:14
if i have a problem on running late i
8:16
can then rely on that
8:18
my best experiences by far have been
8:20
doing this my part and i did 10 weeks of
8:23
a world cruise calling on 35
8:25
destinations but the ones i remember
8:27
best are the ones where we did our own
8:29
thing using kuala lumpur crazy public
8:32
transport but finding an incredible
8:34
local food market exploring tokyo and
8:37
stumbling across and playing the crazy
8:39
pachinko arcades
8:41
watching a school traditional dance
8:42
competition we literally came across in
8:44
the middle of ho chi minh city these are
8:46
the stories we tell not the ones about
8:48
the organized tours we went on so my tip
8:50
for ports is to push myself and live a
8:54
little bit
8:55
of course it's all well and good saying
8:57
gary go and live a little and push it
8:59
but of course i'm not as young as i
9:01
think i am so there are a couple of
9:02
watch out tips that i do think i need to
9:05
talk about for us as 50 plus travelers
9:07
and certainly guide the way that i
9:08
travel first
9:09
some of our needs are going to take some
9:11
planning ahead because the lines are not
9:13
always on top of this
9:14
most lines are focused on the bulk of
9:16
guests able-bodied couples in reality so
9:19
for example here's a simple one solo
9:21
travelers
9:22
many of us travel sell at times i do it
9:24
quite a lot and want to try and avoid
9:26
paying for two it takes a lot of
9:28
planning now i've created a list of all
9:30
the lines and the ships that have solar
9:32
cabins because i found it really hard to
9:34
find in one place it's on my website at
9:36
tits or travellers.com
9:38
solar cabins these fill up really fast
9:40
especially when you do say a
9:42
transatlantic crossing on queen mary 2.
9:44
it's a good starting point but you need
9:47
to plan way ahead because there aren't
9:49
many solar cabins so that's one example
9:52
i update that solar cabin list you know
9:54
many more ships are adding solar cabins
9:56
but they're limited so what i also do is
9:58
they use an aggregator site like
10:00
vacations2go.com
10:01
they have a very specific tab on there
10:03
which lists all the solo deals and so i
10:05
or i also asked my travel age to track
10:08
those another example is some 50 plus
10:10
travelers are not that mobile anymore
10:12
have accessibility needs that also takes
10:15
planning if you want to get a cabin
10:16
that's going to cater for mobility
10:17
issues you need to plan ahead because
10:20
the number of accessibility cabins on
10:22
ships are limited
10:24
there are three other things i always do
10:27
now that i didn't do when i was younger
10:29
first
10:30
travel insurance which and i now make
10:32
sure it's crew specific so it covers
10:34
medevac off the ship getting me home if
10:36
i'm disembarked in a port i have to go
10:38
to hospital and of course make sure
10:40
includes covert cover secondly i've
10:42
created a first aid kit with all sorts
10:44
of over-the-counter remedies for
10:46
ailments to reduce the need to go to the
10:48
medical center or to try and buy
10:50
unfamiliar brands and local pharmacies
10:51
it always includes a home tooth repair
10:54
kit because ships don't have dentists
10:56
thirdly plenty of prescription
10:58
medication with some of my hand luggage
11:00
some of my main luggage a photo of the
11:02
bottle and a copy of the prescription
11:05
although
11:06
i'm young at heart and i think i'm young
11:08
there's still some reality that i have
11:10
to live with so of course we're
11:12
contemporary or modern we want to do
11:14
things but hopefully these are much more
11:16
realistic now to find out more about the
11:18
best lines for us as over 50 travelers
11:21
click to watch this video here where i
11:22
start talking about one of the least
11:24
obvious cruise lines for us i'll see you
11:27
over there
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