9 Top Cruise Tips And Tricks For When Cruising Resumes

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you're about to discover 9 essential
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tips if you're planning to go cruising
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in a post shutdown world
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I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
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cruising tips for Travis I want to share
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with you nine things that I think you
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should think about plan and do if you're
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planning to go cruising in a post
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shutdown world whether that's as soon as
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cruising start or heading right back
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into 2021 or even later than that these
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are things that I really think you need
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to think about plan for and prepare for
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starting with this one
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embrace the volatility booklet and
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retain flexibility why do I say that as
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we head into cruising we should assume
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that things are going to be volatile for
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a while no one really knows finally what
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how many ports are going to open how
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many ships they're gonna want to take it
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anytime and how much traditional item
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ease are gonna be able to run as
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cruising gets back into its stride and
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as they start to confirm cruises and
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start to run cruises some of that will
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settle down but there's a lot of
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volatility out there a lot of
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uncertainty around there a lot of
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worries up there and so there will be
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much more capacity than perhaps even
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existing bookings show because other
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people who would have booked a long time
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ago still have a long time to make up
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their mind you know you pay 90 days six
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days before I think a lot of people will
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drop out I think there'll be lots of
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late minute capacity coming on board and
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lots of uncertainty around the way
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things gonna be no one really knows what
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the procedures are going to be what the
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rules and regulations of getting to a
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ship are going to be boarding the ship
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what's gonna happen on the ship so
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there's lots and lots of uncertainty and
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there's going to be a lot of volatility
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in prices and availability so actually
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my big tip if you're planning to go
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cruising is retain flexibility and be
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able to make decisions much later and
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closer to when cruisers go and be able
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to take advantage of knowing exactly
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what the final items are going to be
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what the ports are going to be and
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actually work the system to find
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phenomenal deals Barrowman if you book a
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cruise now in a broad area the cruise
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line within the cruise contract can
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change the ports that you go to so the
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cruise you think you're booking may not
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happen you may still go around the Med
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or the Caribbean or wherever that may be
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but the actual ports may change quite
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dramatically and quite significantly so
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by basically holding back retain
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flexibility make sure you're ready to go
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pencil when you want to go and work the
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whole system as
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deels come up wait until cruises are
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actually up and running before you make
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any decisions my second real tip for
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cruising in a post shutdown world is
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stay local and I said that for a couple
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of reasons one of which is a practical
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reason in that it's gonna be much easier
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to get to the ports it also appears as
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travel gets up and running there may be
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lots of challenges even with airports
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and Airlines we don't know what the
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whole process that's gonna be it could
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be more expensive for example to travel
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and much less availability so actually
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staying more local it would be a really
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good idea because that takes one less
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hassle out of traveling to your cruise
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it's also going to be an area that you
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know well understand well you probably
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understand how the governments work
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there how the system works that you're
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not that far from home so that could
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provide extra reassurance if anything
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does happen one of the challenges in the
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pre shutdown world is all people were
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very far away from home in very exotic
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locations but it was quite complex and
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difficult to eventually get home they
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didn't know the system they didn't know
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a thing
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the things worked so actually staying
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local is a really good idea so if you as
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one of those people that can drive or
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train or take a short flight to get to
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cruise that might be a good idea so for
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example if you're a based in the US sort
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of in Florida or New York or places like
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that which do the Caribbean you may want
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to stick to the Caribbean if you're in
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Europe you you may want to stick to
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brown the UK or cruises that go in a
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certain region like Northern Europe the
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Norwegian fjords wherever that is so
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kind of close and local to home could be
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a really good idea as you head back and
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try out cruising once again the other
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thing that may happen certainly in the
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early phases of a post shutdown wall is
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lots of countries are talking about
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creating his travel bubbles so
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protozoans been lots of talk of
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Australian New Zealand forming a kind of
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a travel bubble before international
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travel comes there's been some talk for
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example in Europe a place like Greece
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and Croatia forming I could travel
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bubble to enable people to move more
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easily between them so you might also
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find actually staying more local or
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staying within those bubbles becomes
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particularly feeling silly in the early
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stages of the end of shutdown my third
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tip is another one that I think is
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really important about the way that you
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approach cruising differently now you
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might have been of those people that
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love going on small ships so you might
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even those people like the big mega
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resort ships with really funky and wild
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things like
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ice-skating rinks and go-kart tracks and
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rock climbing wars all that kind of
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stuff but one of things I really
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recommend you think about is as you head
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back into cruising in a post lockdown
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post shutdown world is think a lot about
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the type of cruise ship that you want to
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be on one of the things we're becoming
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more and more used to is the concept of
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social distancing which may or may not
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exist in any form moving forwards but
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we're getting more used to having more
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control over our space being further
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apart from people so you might want to
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think about what type of ship do you
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want to be on do you want to be on a
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ship that has lots and lots of deck
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space so you know that you're gonna be
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able to spread out there's gonna be lots
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of space are you gonna want to be on a
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crucial which has a very high passenger
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to space ratio bit which has big rooms
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have example queen mary 2 has a very
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high space per passenger ratio so you
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might want to think about the type of
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ship you want to be on all you want to
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be on the ship that has much fewer
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passengers than you're used to in the
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past so you want to look at an Oceania
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and Azamara those small ships you know
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with a couple of hundred passengers so
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think around the type of experiences
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you're gonna feel most comfortable in of
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course we also need to understand how
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the whole onboard experience is going to
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operate and be the same or different but
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just think about the type of environment
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you want to be and this may be even more
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important than the type of facilities
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than it was in the past so think about
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the process of deciding which type of
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ship you want to be on and that whole
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experience of the ship and the things
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that are important to you because you
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may find space and fewer passengers is
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more important than the attractions were
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perhaps in the past my fourth tip is
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around the cabin many many people that I
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know like to go in an inside cabin it's
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inexpensive and it means that then go
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cruising more often but do have a think
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around as you head back into cruising in
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a post shutdown world what type of cabin
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do you want to be in we heard many
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stories for example in the ships that
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were quarantined to pre the whole
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shutdown lockdown of people who were
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then in inside caverns and kind of small
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cabins landing lights and fresh air and
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that was kind of really frustrating for
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them you might want to think moving
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forward back to cruising do you want to
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be perhaps a little bit more cautious I
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think we'll probably find that the
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processes and the procedures going to be
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really restrict so hopefully never gets
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to that situation again but do think
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about the type of cabin you do want to
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be in do
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I should reassure yourself by going in
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for example a balcony cabin which is
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slightly bigger than you perhaps might
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have gone before but you know that
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you've got the outside space the reason
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I say that is you also might find as we
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head back cruising after we so used to
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the social distancing and lock down that
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you actually value your own space much
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more and instead of perhaps getting hang
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out in public spaces you might wish you
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want the ability to go out and sit in
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your balcony much more so just think
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around the kind of crazy experience
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you're gonna want an are you gonna want
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to have much more of your own personal
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space with lights and air to actually
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enjoy and I think that's going to be a
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big trend personally a lot of people are
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gonna be looking increasingly at balcony
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cabins and moving forwards another
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really important areas around the whole
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payment and cancellation terms what we
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have got increasingly used to through
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this whole process of the shutdown is
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cruise lines introducing much more
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flexible cancellation policies however
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when you look forwards they seem to be
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bringing back the stricter ninety days
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60 days payments high percentage of
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cancellations I mean a couple of
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developments recently there's a tie my
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video this with for example the Royal
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Caribbean group actually extending
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they're much more flexible cancellation
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right into next year into 2021 and we
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might see more of that but when you
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start planning to go back cruising
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really think about how far ahead do you
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want to commit to and what the
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cancellation terms also look even more
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than you ever did before about what is
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the payment time that you have to make
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before you going to cruise and what are
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the cancellation options should you
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change your mind I think we may find
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more and more flexibility coming in
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because people got used to it and also
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to encourage people back also really
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importantly is wait and understand what
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the whole procedures are as we know in
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the pre shutdown world if you declare on
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the health declaration form that you
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were vomiting or have upset stomach you
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will often be quarantined in your cabin
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you wouldn't have any options of
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cancelling so did actually encourage
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people who perhaps 100 percent well to
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go on cruises it's also understand and
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wait I think to understand what the
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process is so if you're not feeling well
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quite close to the cruise are they going
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to give you a way of cancelling and
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giving refunds or future cruise credits
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and if you are through the new process
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is denied boarding
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what is the refund and cancellation
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process so make sure that you understand
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what that is and I actually think it's
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worth waiting to see
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how that all settles down before you
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restart committing to cruising a lot of
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money in a post shutdown world I think
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for that one of the things that I think
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is really important if you are planning
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going cruising in a post shutdown world
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and certainly for the next year or two
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is travel insurance what we're seeing in
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most places in all the policies I've
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seen and the discussions I've seen is
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most insurance companies are excluding
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any claims related to covered 19 so if
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you head on a cruiser you need to cancel
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a cruise for any reason link took over
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19 insurance won't pay out and they'll
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tell you that you need to look at either
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the cruise line or the airline or
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whatever so as you plan to go about
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cruising really understand what travel
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insurance that you can get because if
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you do have to cancel or you have some
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problem which might be not related to
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even took over 19 all you do have some
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sort of cope at 19 related issue
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well that policy payout or will it
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actually be just not valid at all
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cruising without travel insurance is a
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really bad idea because some of the
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costs not related to the pandemic can be
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enormous if you fall ill in a having to
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go to a hospital in a foreign country
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all you can get medevacked so really
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really understand before you commit to
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cruising in a post shutdown world that
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you understand what travel insurance you
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can get and what it will cover my other
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big tip and watch out for cruising in a
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post shutdown world is fares I do
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believe that we're going to see lots and
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lots of deals which is why I said retain
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flexibility but even more importantly I
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think fares will be quite volatile for
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quite some time as supply and demand to
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demand wanes over time so I think we can
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see lots of lots of deals coming along
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what's really important is once you've
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booked your cruise subdue leave you've
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booked at far ahead keep an eye on the
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fares if the fares drop and you approach
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the cruise line they will normally give
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you something to compensate that I'll
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upgrade you to a better cabin or they'll
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give you a crumpled credit or they'll
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give you future cruise credit really
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really important because I do think
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fares are going to be volatile I do you
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think the trend might be downwards so do
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focus a lot on tracking your further
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through your travel agent or do it
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yourself now some of the cruise lines
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already start to acknowledge this again
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I've seen some recent developments from
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Royal Caribbean Group which do
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acknowledge that if fares to go down in
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the next year or so they will be willing
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if you contact them to give you some
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extra benefits but the important thing
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is you need to track it
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and you need to approach the cruise line
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my next one is around budgeting so when
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you're budgeting for your cruise think
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door-to-door I've seen a lot of studies
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where various market trackers have said
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that on average cruisers will spend
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between 50 percent and a hundred percent
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of their fare once they're on board so
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there's that whole bunch of costs but
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also very importantly there's a lot of
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costs associated with getting to the
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cruise we know that there's lots of
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volatility uncertainty around Airlines
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we don't know how many are gonna survive
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we don't know what the costs going to be
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based on the restrictions so we might
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find air fares going up so it cost of
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getting to your cruise becomes more
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expensive we might find that the onboard
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cost so there's a whole bunch of onboard
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cost you need to really bear in mind so
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you've got gratuities which often get
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auto added because it add two three
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hundred dollars to your cruise per
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person even across seven days you've got
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Wi-Fi which can be pretty expensive
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again that could be another couple of
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hundred dollars if you use Wi-Fi you've
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got drinks drinks packages can be pretty
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expensive I actually recommend you kind
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of avoid drinks packages and buy drinks
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individually as a way of controlling
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costs especially dining that can add a
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lot of costs and excursions you know it
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can be spending many hundreds of dollars
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on excursions between if you've got a
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report in terms of cruise so as you
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start to budget keep a real eye out for
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whether those costs are going up I think
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there's a chance of course they may be
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pushing those up because the model of a
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cruise is get people onto the cruise as
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cheaply as possible and then try and
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make as much money as possible on the
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Chris you might find many of those costs
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going up and then the whole process of
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course of getting home so really look at
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the whole budget so don't be just drawn
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by cheap entry fairs because the overall
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cost of cruising could actually be
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increasing so really budget really
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carefully and understand one of the ways
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of course of mitigate against that and
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we're seeing a lot of those deals at the
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moment is quite a few Cruise Lines are
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offering fair where they'll bundle in
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some of those extra so gratuities Wi-Fi
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drinks that kind of stuff so that may be
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something to really focus on to help
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manage your over costs a big tip of mine
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is look for those deals and you know
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focus on try those down to manage your
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budget of course you could also look at
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some of the lines which throw more of
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those in so for example Virgin voyages
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has more stuff included Oceania they
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have their Olaf where you can pick those
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different things and I've seen quite a
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few deals coming through
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celebrity princess where they are
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offering bundling much more into the
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fair another really important tip that I
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have for cruising opposed to shut down
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waters even if you haven't done it
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before think of actually working with a
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cruise travel agent so lot of people
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like me historically I'd like to sort of
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put my own packages together book my
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airfare in one place but minor hotels
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put my flights booked my cruise my
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transfers all kind of separately however
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moving forward you might want to do that
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through an agent it means you have one
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point of contact so if anything goes
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wrong if there's any of this volatility
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or things change
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you only have one call to make one email
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to make and they will sort it all out
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and if you are actually out on a cruise
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and there's a problem you have one
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person you can then sort everything out
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for you those are the things I think you
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need to really focus on heading out back
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cruising in a post shutdown world hope
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you find that helpful
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I've loads more videos packed full of
14:12
tips and advice on cruising so why don't
14:14
you watch another one of those right now

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