Up next in 10
7 Cruise Mistakes That Will Cost You Dearly if you are not careful. I discuss 7 easy-to-make and common cruising errors that cruise passengers make that ends up costing them money that could be spent on better and more enjoyable things. Many of these cruising slip-ups I learnt the hard way. Learn how to save money on your next cruise
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0:00
i want to tell you about seven things
0:01
i've learned usually the hard way
0:03
that we can cut back the amount of money
0:05
we spend when we're cruising leaving us
0:07
to spend more on the things that really
0:10
do matter
0:10
if you're new to my channel welcome
0:12
aboard i'm gary bembridge
0:14
and i'm here to help make it easier to
0:16
find plan
0:17
and have amazing cruise vacations with
0:19
that in mind
0:20
let's get going the first mistake i
0:23
learned
0:23
was that not regularly checking cruise
0:26
fares
0:26
after booking could be costing all of us
0:29
a
0:30
sizable amount of cash now since
0:31
tracking fares i've managed to get
0:33
lots of benefits like an upgrade from an
0:36
entry level suite on cunard to one of
0:37
the very glitzy
0:38
penthouse suites upgrades from ocean
0:41
view into premium balcony cabins on
0:43
other lines
0:44
and i've quite frequently had my onboard
0:46
credit boosted
0:48
by quite a lot of money quite a few
0:50
times and that's simply by keeping an
0:52
eye on fair changes for the cabin grade
0:55
that i've booked so if the line drops
0:56
the fare
0:57
for the common grade that i've booked i
0:59
get my agent or when i used to book
1:01
direct
1:01
get onto the cruise line myself and i
1:04
point out
1:04
that we've seen that the grade is now
1:06
being sold cheaper
1:07
and basically ask them what they will do
1:10
and
1:11
as a result i've had those perks and
1:13
benefits that i've mentioned
1:15
however if you do actually contact them
1:17
and they say we're not going to do
1:18
anything
1:18
and you have a refundable fare then what
1:20
you should do is actually cancel
1:22
and rebook at the lower fare you'll find
1:24
if you say you're going to do that more
1:26
than often they will actually start
1:27
offering those various
1:28
upgrades or on-board credits now the way
1:30
that i track fares is first by signing
1:32
up
1:33
for the cruise line marketing emails if
1:35
they start
1:36
doing various deals that cover my booked
1:38
cruise i go in
1:39
and check if they're now selling it much
1:41
cheaper but it's so much easier to use
1:43
one of the websites that track
1:45
all of this for you now there are a
1:47
couple of options but the
1:48
absolute best by far in my view and the
1:50
one that i use
1:52
it's free and it's called
1:54
cruisewatch.com
1:55
now you can sign up for a free account
1:57
you basically select your cruise
1:59
you set some parameters so you can set
2:00
the grade of cabin you can even specify
2:03
a very exact grade in most cases and
2:05
then basically
2:06
you're getting email alerts when prices
2:09
change
2:10
so you can then also track of course
2:12
cruises you're interested in
2:13
and they'll let you know if prices are
2:14
going up or prices going down
2:17
which could help you decide when to book
2:19
so not
2:20
tracking your cruise fare is the one
2:23
mistake that
2:24
so many cruise passengers make and you
2:26
could save a lot of money
2:28
now my experience almost every on-board
2:30
activity that you have to pay for so
2:32
things like wi-fi
2:33
drinks packages especially dining spa
2:36
and so on
2:37
it's generally cheaper if you buy it
2:39
online in the manage my cruise
2:41
before you go on board of course the
2:43
lions want to get us to lock these in
2:45
and of course get us to pay for them up
2:46
front so i always check what promotions
2:49
and offers they have versus the sort of
2:51
regular
2:51
onboard price that's listed now the
2:54
advantage
2:55
is also that if you do that you can lock
2:57
in things like spa
2:58
and dining you can get the popular days
3:00
the popular times
3:01
because if you don't they'll usually be
3:03
gone by the time
3:04
that you get on the ship now again of
3:07
course if i get on the ship and find
3:09
that they are discounting even deeper
3:10
than i paid online in advance
3:12
i simply go and ask what they will do
3:14
and i've found that they'll normally
3:15
adjust
3:16
in some way so not checking and buying
3:18
those add-ons before boarding
3:20
is definitely another mistake i've
3:22
learned to avoid
3:23
one area that lions do not often
3:25
discount in advance are their excursions
3:27
though some will actually offer you
3:29
packages so if you book say a certain
3:30
number of
3:31
excursions the price overall is lower
3:33
but it doesn't happen that often
3:35
so there are two big mistakes that i see
3:37
cruisers make on excursions that do have
3:38
a cost implication
3:40
first of all if there are any that i
3:43
really want to do
3:44
any excuses that i really really want to
3:46
do i actually book them in advance
3:48
even if they're not cheaper because
3:50
often
3:51
you might find by the time you get on
3:52
board they sold out now i've learned
3:54
this again the hard way a few times
3:56
so although i may not save money
3:57
directly i won't be disappointed so it's
3:59
kind of
3:59
good money spent if you like but much
4:01
more important is i
4:02
always compare cruise line excursions
4:05
with alternatives now these include
4:07
private independent local tour guides
4:09
but the easiest to do
4:10
is with one of the independent cruise
4:12
excursion providers
4:14
now they almost always have the standard
4:17
and the
4:18
most popular cruise line excursions but
4:20
they often will have much more unusual
4:22
ones so that
4:22
is great too really importantly they'll
4:25
always be cheaper
4:26
and they have smaller group sizes than
4:28
the cruise line ones
4:29
now the two that i look at are cruise
4:33
excursions.com and shore excursions
4:36
group so what you do is you input your
4:38
cruise ship
4:39
and dates they basically show your
4:41
itinerary and they'll show you port by
4:43
port all of the tours
4:44
importantly they also have a guarantee
4:46
that they'll get you back to the ship
4:48
before the all aboard and departure time
4:51
and they guarantee they will cover
4:52
getting you to rejoin the ship
4:54
if they don't now of course you should
4:55
double check that if you're using them
4:57
when
4:58
you actually book those now bearing in
5:00
mind that you can
5:01
easily spend hundreds of dollars on
5:03
excursions on a cruise
5:05
and you know up to thousands of dollars
5:07
if you're going to alaska for example
5:08
so not checking alternatives could be a
5:11
very costly mistake
5:12
indeed now one reminder that is one very
5:15
costly mistake is if you miss
5:17
the ship departing from a port the line
5:20
will
5:20
only wait for their own excursion so if
5:23
you decide to save money
5:24
by only self-touring be really careful
5:27
really cautious about getting back in
5:29
time because that could cost you
5:31
an enormous amount of money not
5:33
researching and not planning excursions
5:35
before a cruise
5:36
in my view is a really big mistake
5:39
especially
5:40
is if you don't do that when you go on
5:42
board you pretty much
5:43
only option left for you is the cruise
5:45
line excursion which is pretty much
5:47
going to be more expensive
5:48
now one easy mistake i often point out
5:50
to people heading off on a cruise
5:52
is that they're not taking the alcohol
5:55
the water or the soda allowance
5:57
on board especially if they're not
5:59
buying a drinks package this is
6:00
a silly mistake because every line
6:03
allows you to bring a certain amount of
6:04
drink onto the ship
6:06
normally around two bottles of wine
6:07
certain amount of beer or sodas so check
6:09
what you can bring
6:11
as that of course is going to save you
6:12
some money for sure particularly if
6:14
you're not going for the drinks package
6:15
so bring
6:16
your allowances on board it's a mistake
6:18
not to falling into a habit of
6:20
double tipping has cost me a small
6:23
fortune
6:23
over all the various cruises that i've
6:25
done now this is much more tricky
6:27
than the other mistakes and you really
6:30
need to decide if this is a cost you
6:31
want to have
6:32
or not have because there is actually in
6:34
this one a case for doing both
6:36
now gratuities for the crew as most
6:38
lines call them are usually set by the
6:40
line
6:40
at a rate per day it's rounding about 15
6:44
or more per person per day so that could
6:46
end up being a couple of hundred dollars
6:48
on top of your cruise cost now they
6:51
usually give
6:52
the option to either pay them before
6:54
traveling with your final balance
6:56
payment
6:56
or to have them added to your account on
6:59
board
7:00
so that's between two hundred and ten
7:02
dollars to two hundred fifty dollars per
7:04
couple per week at least
7:05
now of course some lines will include
7:07
them in the fair so the ultra luxury
7:09
lines do that
7:10
and also lines like celebrity and piano
7:13
cruises
7:14
you know so more and more lines are sort
7:16
of bundling than the fair
7:18
however i always feel pretty bad if i'm
7:20
not actually
7:21
handing over a gratuity at the end of
7:24
the cruise now this probably is partly
7:26
because that's the way it was when i
7:27
started cruising the lines would leave
7:29
envelopes
7:30
you put cash in and you'd then hand
7:32
those over to your steward
7:34
your cabin steward and the waiting staff
7:36
the problem is i now have that guilt so
7:37
i end up
7:38
double tipping now just how much this
7:41
mounts up to across all my cruises
7:43
really came to sharp focus when we were
7:45
on a 10 weeks
7:47
segment of a world cruise and i realized
7:49
we had through
7:50
auto charge paid a hefty sum of money
7:53
but we felt we had to pay
7:55
pretty much the same amount again so
7:56
we're talking like a thousand dollars or
7:58
so
8:00
of course great service and
8:01
relationships may mean that you do want
8:03
to double tip
8:04
but it could be costing you a fortune so
8:06
you need to decide what you feel most
8:08
comfortable with
8:09
and budget if you do plan to double step
8:12
now what do i do
8:13
well i tend to extra tip above the fixed
8:15
charge but it's certainly not double
8:17
tipping so it's more just
8:18
a gesture if you like so really
8:20
important have a think about it it's a
8:21
mistake that you could be making
8:23
and could cost you a lot of money over
8:25
all your cruisers
8:26
the next one is potentially the most
8:28
costly mistake
8:29
of all now many of you will see this as
8:32
a cost
8:33
but it could save you untold amounts of
8:37
money
8:38
and this is having proper cruise travel
8:41
insurance now post the pandemic not
8:43
having it may actually not be an option
8:45
anyway
8:46
because what i'm seeing many lines is
8:48
then they return to service
8:50
they now require you to show it at
8:52
boarding versus
8:53
just declaring you had it in the online
8:55
check-in process you just had to say you
8:57
had it before
8:57
now they're checking importantly those
9:00
lines that are checking
9:01
will deny boarding without having proper
9:04
cruise insurance
9:05
they're asking for it to have three key
9:07
elements one
9:08
be cruise specific and that includes
9:10
elements like emergency evacuation from
9:12
the ship
9:13
repatriation that kind of stuff two it
9:15
has to have certain minimum medical
9:17
cover limits
9:18
around about three million dollars as a
9:20
minimum and thirdly and importantly it
9:22
has to cover
9:23
covert related issue and illnesses so
9:26
not having it may cost you a lot if
9:28
you're denied boarding and lost travel
9:29
costs to get to the port
9:30
and based on refund policy or cruise
9:33
costs but
9:34
much more important much more
9:36
significant is if something goes wrong
9:38
you could be thousands and thousands and
9:42
thousands
9:43
out of pocket so importantly take it out
9:46
when you
9:46
book and ensure that it has a cancel for
9:49
any reason if you possibly can
9:51
then if you cannot go you don't lose
9:53
your deposits if they are
9:54
kind of non-refundable by the cruise
9:56
line but
9:58
most importantly if you fall ill or
10:00
injure yourself
10:01
and have to go into a hospital in a
10:02
foreign port in addition to the onboard
10:05
medical costs
10:06
you'll have to cover all the local costs
10:08
of medical treatment
10:10
and then also getting yourself and your
10:12
travel companions home
10:13
the lines will not assist financially in
10:15
any way and probably not even
10:17
logistically
10:18
so having that medical help from the
10:19
insurance company is really important
10:22
now a couple who were travel bloggers
10:24
that i knew they were on a trip in south
10:26
america
10:26
the husband slipped and really badly
10:28
damaged his back on an excursion
10:30
he eventually had to be flown back to
10:32
the united states on a private
10:34
medical flight evacuation their costs
10:37
would have been
10:38
over 150 000
10:41
but it was all covered because they had
10:43
insurance now another traveler was on
10:46
part of the kunard world cruise we did
10:48
in 2016.
10:49
he was hit by a car crossing the road
10:52
outside the port in honolulu hawaii
10:54
he broke his leg pretty badly so he had
10:56
to go to the hospital
10:57
he and his travel companion were
10:59
disembarked and he had to stay there
11:01
sort out all the medical
11:03
treatment get his leg fixed and once it
11:05
was okay
11:06
to travel again he had to get back to
11:08
the uk once he was able to do that
11:10
travel
11:10
enormous costs were involved but they
11:13
were insured so they didn't have to
11:15
worry
11:15
of course none of us plan to get ill
11:17
none of us plan to injure ourselves on a
11:19
trip
11:20
but it happens so the cost of that
11:23
travel insurance is really really
11:25
important
11:25
it's an easy thing to do it could save
11:27
you vast
11:28
life changing amounts so don't make the
11:30
mistake of not having
11:32
proper cruise travel insurance now one
11:36
simple and really silly mistake i made
11:38
cost me
11:39
just over two hundred dollars a couple
11:41
of cruises back
11:43
showing how you need to keep ahead and
11:44
on the ball with all of these mistakes
11:46
because it is easy to slip up
11:48
what was it well it was not sticking to
11:50
my habit of putting my phone
11:52
into airplane mode as i boarded the ship
11:56
really really important to get into that
11:57
habit if you're not in airplane mode
11:59
when selling your phone will connect to
12:02
the ship's satellite
12:03
phone service services like telenor
12:06
maritime and cellular at sea which is a
12:08
pretty common one
12:10
they will cost you around 2.70
12:13
per minute to send and receive calls and
12:16
much much more for data now when you're
12:18
in port your phone will then connect to
12:20
a local provider
12:21
but again depending on the roaming deals
12:23
that your provider has
12:25
the charges in port could be as high as
12:27
that as well
12:28
i forgot to put my phone into airplane
12:31
mode on
12:31
a caribbean cruise my phone was using
12:34
the cruise satellite
12:35
to update apps and run email in the
12:37
background now i only realized that
12:39
after a day or two at sea when we came
12:41
into port
12:42
and the local provider sent a text
12:44
message saying i was now connected
12:45
to their service by then i had run up a
12:49
200 bill on my phone for absolutely
12:52
no benefit so what do i do to stay in
12:54
touch instead many people ask me this
12:56
well many ships have incredible wi-fi
12:58
it's getting better and better and
12:59
better
13:00
it's been bundled into the fair or is
13:02
now becoming at more reasonable rates
13:04
so i always get a package where i can
13:06
stay connected all the time
13:08
and then i use my phone in airplane mode
13:10
to do imessage or whatsapp
13:12
or do facetime calls to home it really
13:14
is that good
13:16
and then it means that i'm controlling
13:18
the cost and have those
13:19
crazy roaming costs if you want more
13:22
tips
13:22
on saving money cruising i've put
13:24
together a short playlist
13:26
of two videos that i think will help so
13:28
click
13:29
and watch these right now
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