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9 Top Cruise Hacks, Tricks And Tips For 2019 / 2020. How To Have An Amazing Cruise
Jan 28, 2025
I reveal my top and best cruise hacks, tips and tricks that will help you make the most of your cruising vacation in 2019 and 2020. These cruising tips are things that I have learnt to help me get better cruise fares, save money on board a cruise ship, pack better and smarter, find the best cabin, find and save money on excursions and lots more. These are all proven and should help you. Enjoy these cruising hacks, tips and tricks.
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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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0:00
hi I'm Gary beverage and this is another
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of my tips for travelers I'm gonna share
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with you my favorite tricks tips and
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hacks that I use to get better fares a
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better cruising experience better
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excursions and overall just a better
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time cruising
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first of these is sign up for the Cruise
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Line newsletters this might sound a
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really simple and basic one however if
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there's certain cruise lines that you
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are fans of I strongly recommend you
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sign up for those newsletters that's
0:29
where they push out if they're doing any
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special deals free upgrades or free
0:34
drinks packages or gratuities thrown in
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or solo traveler deals so you get
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alerted when there's any special
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promotions I always make sure that I'm
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signed up to any of the cruise lines who
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I think I may want to cruise with or
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I've enjoyed cruising with so I am
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alerted when there are great deals and
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offers my second tip is to use a cruise
0:55
agent so even if you've sign up for the
0:57
newsletters it doesn't necessarily mean
0:59
to book direct not only can their help
1:01
guide you and make sure that you're
1:04
going on the right Cruise Line or you've
1:05
got the right cabin or the right deal at
1:07
that time they will always be able to
1:09
match and often you'll find they can
1:11
beat those incredible offers so even if
1:14
you've seen a great offer on the email
1:16
newsletters that you sign up for often
1:18
the cruise agent will be able to improve
1:20
on that or it may be as simple as they
1:23
actually have an inside track to get you
1:25
an even better cabin for the same price
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which has happened to me cruise agents
1:29
are really really important to the
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Cruise Lines it's where most of their
1:32
business comes from so they work really
1:34
closely with travel agents and Cruiser
1:36
agents to make sure that they have
1:39
incentives and offers that will be a
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really big plus for travelers even
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though I have done you know 67 cruises
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at the time of recording us I still use
1:48
a cruise agent when I go cruising my
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third tip and trick is around cabins how
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do you get a great cabin so there's two
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ways of approaching us first of all if
2:00
you want to get the best deal go for a
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guaranteed cabin however you have no say
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on where that cabin is going to be so a
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guaranteed fare basically means that you
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choose whether you want an inside curve
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an ocean view a balcony or a suite
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it's normally a lower price and the
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cruise line decides exactly which cabin
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you're gonna have and you normally only
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know that really close to the cruise and
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you have no say of less the second thing
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which is what I should prefer and I
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really recommend you think about is
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actually go for a fare where you pay a
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slight premium and you can choose a very
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specific cabin and a couple of key
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things first of all focus midships
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that's where you gonna have the least
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amount of movement then absolutely
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critical when you look at the deck plan
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and choose a cabin make sure you're
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surrounded on all sides by other cabins
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so a cabin above you below you to the
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left and to the right of you and ideally
2:49
opposite you as well
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so that makes sure that you're away from
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any of those things that could be
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creating a lot of noise
2:54
also make sure unless you need it that
2:57
you don't have a interconnecting door to
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the next cabin because that can also be
3:01
waiting a lot of noise and sound and
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disruption from my next step may not
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sound very exciting and it may sound
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like you're just spending more money and
3:09
that is you should really get travel
3:11
insurance and when you get travel
3:13
insurance make sure that it also covers
3:16
cruises a lot of travel insurance
3:17
companies have very specific insurance
3:19
policies for cruising because there are
3:22
quality if you have to be medevacked of
3:25
a ship verrah matter if you do fall ill
3:28
you obviously have the onboard cost you
3:30
know it's quite expensive to use the
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medical center onboard if you have
3:34
something more significant the cruise
3:36
line will offload you in a port and
3:38
pretty much leave you to your own
3:39
devices so you eventually have to think
3:41
about how do you get home or those
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medical costs and it could be many many
3:46
thousands of dollars don't take it out
3:48
just before you go on the cruise take it
3:51
out at the time of booking your cruise
3:53
and that's really important because then
3:54
if you have to cancel your cruise you're
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not going to lose your deposit when you
3:58
pay deposit on a cruise pretty much
4:00
every Cruise Line it's non-refundable so
4:03
if you cancel your cruise before you go
4:04
you lose your deposit travel insurance
4:07
should cover you for that
4:09
my next tip is make sure that you get to
4:12
the port where you're joining a cruise
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the day before the cruise don't aim to
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arrive the day that your cruise departs
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anything could disrupt your travel if
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you missed the cruise leaving it's gonna
4:23
beat your own costs and stress and
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hassle to join the ship later on my next
4:29
trick is around excursions if you go on
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excursions through the Cruise Line it
4:34
could add a huge amount of money onto
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your cruise fare so what I like to do is
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look at alternatives most cruise lines
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will have Port guides they might have a
4:45
library which have travel guides in a
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lot of them will give talks which often
4:50
have trying to sell excursions but it
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will often give you a lot of tips and
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advice around the port themselves many
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Cruise Lines bring on board
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representatives from the port when you
4:59
get off a ship many many ports nowadays
5:01
will have a representative from the
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tourist board or even just different
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tour guides offering alternatives one
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things I really recommend you do is take
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a look at that and plan to do self
5:11
touring one of the great things is hop
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on hop off buses these are very popular
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with cruise passengers I love them and
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they're really inexpensive way of seeing
5:21
a place and getting around because
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you'll have commentary on board you will
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find that many of those hop on hop off
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buses nowadays will start and you can
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get off at the actual port so you're
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right by the ship it's a really
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inexpensive way of seeing a particular
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port if you are one of those people that
5:41
does prefer to go on a more organised
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excursion obviously look at the cruise
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excursions
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but then compare them to independent
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providers there's lots of companies have
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set up they didn't offer excursions in
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every single port you'll normally find
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they're very similar to the ones the
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cruise line are doing something that
5:57
even the same as the cruise line are
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doing often be small groups and they
6:01
will be cheaper the reason that most
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passengers like to do the cruise line
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excursion is the cruise line guarantees
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that any of their excursions running
6:08
late or there's problems the ship will
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wait until all of their excursions are
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back on board before they depart if
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you're an independent traveler or going
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with one of those independent providers
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they do not have that guarantee so a lot
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of people do of course prefer to go with
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the cruise line so if you're kind of a
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or nervous traveler and you want that
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reassurance then stick with the cruise
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line excursions because it's going to
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give you that reassurance but seriously
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do take a look at some of those
6:31
alternatives it could save you a lot of
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money and you could actually see more
6:34
and different things the next thing I'd
6:38
like to talk about is a couple of tips
6:40
around packing first of all look at the
6:43
dress code
6:43
what do you absolutely have to wear to
6:45
meals particularly dinner and make sure
6:47
you bring those who don't be fine that
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you can't go to the dining room so you
6:50
want to go to because you don't have the
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right dress code link to that also have
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a look if there's any themed parties
6:55
white knights Scarlet Knights 70s
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Knights that you want to bring some gear
6:59
with suit you can actually get into the
7:01
whole spirit of those think about the
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excursions you're going on thirdly and
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are you going to need any specific
7:06
equipment here if you're going cycling
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hiking when you're packing anything
7:10
that's valuable anything that you'd hate
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to lose put in your carry-on obviously
7:13
all these things like passport money
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credit cards but if you've got expensive
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cameras medications make sure that those
7:20
are in your carry-on another really
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important thing that I recommend you
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pack is your own little personalized
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first-aid kit and in here put all the
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little treatments that you use around
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the home to deal with anything from
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headache stomach upsets take a look in
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your bathroom cabinet and bring a little
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personalized kit because it can be very
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expensive if you have to go to the
7:38
medical center on board to get it it can
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be quite difficult to navigate the
7:42
pharmacy was different brand names and
7:44
products and language also in that kit
7:46
make sure you bring a tooth repair kit
7:48
cruise ships do not have dentists and
7:50
bring them a little tooth repair kit so
7:53
if you have a filling fall out or crown
7:54
come off you can deal with that - either
7:56
tire over to the next port or even for
7:58
the whole cruise the last thing I'm
8:00
packing is make sure you bring the right
8:02
adapters and all the charges for all
8:04
your gear luckily most cruise ships are
8:06
now have USB charges but not all of them
8:08
some of them have us-style plug some
8:11
have euro style plugs so check what your
8:13
cruise ship has and make sure you bring
8:15
both the right adapters
8:17
next I have a couple of tips around
8:18
saving money on board first of all check
8:21
what allowance you have for bringing
8:22
onboard alcohol soft drinks whatever and
8:25
consider bringing that on board because
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that's gonna obviously save you money
8:29
when it comes to drink secondly when you
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embark the ship there will be loads of
8:34
offers going the spa that drinks
8:36
packages dining packages excursions
8:38
you'll find there are loads of offers
8:40
you'll find incredible packages
8:42
particularly on Wi-Fi as well if you are
8:45
planning to do shopping on board near
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the shops wait till the very end of the
8:49
cruise before you do that because you'll
8:50
find that there's often discounts or
8:52
special days particular based on how
8:54
cruise lines are hitting or not hitting
8:56
their targets for that particular cruise
8:58
so always shop towards the end of the
9:00
cruise onboard if you want to use the
9:03
spa use it on port days you'll again
9:06
find the cheapest time to use the spa is
9:08
on port days a couple of easy tips to
9:12
save some money when you're on board if
9:16
you want to avoid putting on a lot of
9:18
weight on a cruise there's a couple
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things you can do that will mean that
9:21
you still party have a great time first
9:24
of all use the stairs not the lifts in
9:26
elevators also means you're not waiting
9:27
around all of the ships are really huge
9:29
and you'll burn a lot of calories just
9:31
walking around the ship and using the
9:32
stairs secondly most cruise lines will
9:35
have a spa menu and take a look at the
9:37
spa menu because you're often fighting
9:39
over starter main course and dessert and
9:40
you could have great food but it's not
9:43
going to have huge amounts of calories
9:44
the third thing is look at some of the
9:46
excursions which have perhaps more
9:48
exercise involved even if it's walking
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hiking cycling those have activities
9:54
again you're going to see the sights
9:55
have a great time but you are again
9:57
gonna be burning calories consider
10:00
really carefully if you want to take the
10:01
drinks package drinks packages are
10:03
relatively expensive and they enable you
10:06
to have a lot of drink and of course
10:07
there's a lot of calories packed and
10:08
drinks particularly cocktails you'll
10:10
find if you do the couple of those
10:11
things you'll come back from the cruise
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not only having had a great time but
10:15
also not having to go on that post
10:16
vacation diet to try and shift all those
10:19
pounds hope you find this helpful I have
10:22
loads more videos with loads of crazy
10:24
tips and advice I'd love you to watch
10:26
those right now
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