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What are the pros and cons of staying loyal to a cruise line? I explore the best and worst things to being cruise line loyal. Most cruise lines have a cruise loyalty program where you can build up tours and benefits based on the number of nights you cruise with them. But, is it really worth building up status on a cruise line, or are the perks and loyalty benefits not worth it? I explore the 2 worst things and the 6 best things, where the downsides could out-weight the upsides.
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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 77 cruises at time of making this video.
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you're about to discover the best things
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and the worst things about staying loyal
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to a cruise line
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I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
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cruise tips for travelers I'll take a
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look at Lottie programs with Cruise
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Lines and look at the pros and the cons
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of staying loyal to one particular
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Cruise Line well what is a cruise line
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log program they're free to join you you
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normally get signed up when you go on
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your very first cruise on a cruise that
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often you need that to be able to get in
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to manage your cruise booking for
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example you then earn points based on
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the number of cruises you do now most
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cruise lines it's based on the number of
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nights you do so most of the different
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tiers that you hit and move up depend on
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the number of nights the great thing
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about that is they not like many loyalty
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programs say on Airlines they don't wipe
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the nights free and you have to reset
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every year so basically all nights keep
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building up so as you get to a new tier
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you keep it that tier and you keep
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working your way up the tiers that then
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enables you to redeem those various
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points for either three benefits or at
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certain tier levels it unlocks a whole
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range of benefits so all of the cruise
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lines have loyalty programs I thought I
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might just mentioned five of them for
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the five biggest based on the number of
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passengers cruising on them so Carnival
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Cruise Line for example their loyalty
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program is called the VI FP the very
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important fun person the chrono anchor
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Society is rock Caribbeans loyalty
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program Norwegian Cruise has their
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latitudes rewards program MSC has the
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MSC voyagers Club and princess which is
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the fifth biggest cruise line in terms
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of number of passengers in the world
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they have the captain's circle so what
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are the worst things about staying loyal
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to one particular line before we look at
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the upsides of those worth talking
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little bit about some of the downsides
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there's two kind of worst sides or two
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key watch outs the first of those is
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that for most cruise lines as you earn
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status and tear points on one Cruise
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Line it's strictly for that cruise line
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only
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unlike airline law to programs where
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airlines tend to be part of bigger
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groups so you have for example one world
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you have Star Alliance you have the sky
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team so groups of Airlines belong to
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those
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and as you build up status with those
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you can use that status on other
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airlines and you can often move the
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points between them this is not
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necessary the case on cruises for
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example Carnival group I have very high
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status on Cunard so I have platinum
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status kind of which i think is the top
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of status but if I go on other Carnival
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Corporation brands like carnival Seaborn
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Holland America Costa ií'd for each
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individual program have to build up a
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status the same I think is also true of
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Norwegian cruise lines the other part of
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the Norwegian loyalty program or your
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part of Oceania launch program or your
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part of region 7c loyalty program the
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key difference for those is as follows
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so if you actually cruise with Royal
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Caribbean group you find that your
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status moves between their different
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brands so if you cruise Royal Caribbean
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and you build up status on their Crown
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and Anchor Society you're fine if you go
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for example on Celebrity or you're going
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as a mara you'll find that your status
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actually keeps building and adding and
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your status applies across the different
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cruise lines so that's a little bit more
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similar to the Airlines situation
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the other great thing to understand is
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with MSC Cruises they do a status match
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so if before you go on a cruise you are
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perhaps very high status like I am sound
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Khun audio very high status on Royal
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Caribbean they will match that status if
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you apply in advance so you then unlock
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all the benefits on MSC so as you look
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to choose who you're gonna be loyal to
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you want to bear in mind do you want to
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be loyal to one particular cruise line
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where you can't transfer that loyalty or
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do you want to be lured to one cruise
3:49
line that's part of a group that will
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let you move stuff around that is the
3:53
kind of the worst side of being a lotta
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club but interview cruise lots of from
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Cruise Lines like I do you kind of don't
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have status on many of them because
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you're chopping and changing so often
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and you can't transfer that across the
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other kind of worst thing and or risk
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and watch out is you should never let
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status get in the way of a great deal so
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you shouldn't only look at that cruise
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line because you might find you get
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great other experiences or you get
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phenomenal deals to cruise the Caribbean
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cruise the Mediterranean go to Alaska on
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another cruise line don't just turn down
4:22
because of the perks that you might get
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because in practices you'll see in a
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little while whilst
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some great perks they're not necessarily
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so magnificent that it should stop you
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chasing a great deal so this is probably
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the two worst things about cruise
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loyalty programs so what are the six
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best things about staying loyal to a
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cruise line and building up status so
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the best thing of all is you get
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discounts upgrades and potentially even
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free cruises by staying law now the
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different perks differ by cruise line so
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you need to check into the detail so for
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example on Celebrity you can often get
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cabin upgrades you can get discounts on
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voyages on pretty much all lines silver
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sea as you build up and get a free
5:01
sailing you can get free specialty
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dining on MSC get discounts on future
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sailings with most cruise lines
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especially Seaborn Fred Olson you can
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get saving on shore excursions on Fred
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Olson you can get fares at special rates
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for third and fourth passengers in
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Holland America so a whole mishmash of
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discounts upgrades and benefits you can
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get through status the second big plus
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of staying loyal is services and
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amenities are often bundled in so you'll
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find all sorts of things will come as
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you hit the different status levels so
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you'll get things like photos internet
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access you might get alternative dining
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included you might get a champagne
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breakfast so all the different lines
5:42
offer different benefits so for example
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on Cunard you'll get things like Wi-Fi
5:47
which builds up you'll get some free
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laundry services and all sorts of
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different little features are built in
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as you build up including things like
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special dining so again on cañada
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different states you get especially
6:00
dining for free
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the third perk which i think is a really
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great one is you get faster invocation
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and disembarkation and this is
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particularly great if you're on a cruise
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line which is really big so you don't
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necessarily traveling in a suite so
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obviously if you travel in a suite you
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get fast invocation but as you go up the
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priority you get to get on the ship and
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get off the ship quicker so that's a
6:20
real big plus and you'll find often
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those little special lounges for
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different cardholder levels where you
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can have teas and coffees and
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refreshments before you go you might be
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sitting in a nicer lounge and different
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facilities we get off so definitely fast
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invocation just some vocation I think
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it's a real big classic it just makes
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the whole cruising experience much
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smoother the
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big plus and this appeals to a lot of
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people is they have different events
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they have different parties and
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different activities available for
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people as they go up tiers most of the
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cruise lines will have some sort of
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cocktail party or captain's or officers
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party for members of their different
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loyalty programs and sometimes depending
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on your level of I didn't have the
7:01
smaller much more intimate and special
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ones often you're fighting you've got
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status you'll get invited or the chance
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to do some of the things like behind the
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scene tours or go on the bridge which is
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increasing difficult to do and they
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offer those often first to people who
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have status you also find often people
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with status are more likely to get
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invited to the captain's table or to be
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hosted by officers and member of the
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crew if that is something that your
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Cruise Line does so activities parties
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and events is a real big plus and often
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bundled in the fifth big plus is often
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the cruise line will give you little
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gifts and various bits and pieces as you
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build up status so it could be as simple
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as for example again using our example
7:39
you get different little pins to
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indicate your level of status some of
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the cruise lines will give you luggage
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tags some of the cruise lines will give
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you special bags which you can use to go
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off on excursions you know nice little
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canvas bags and so different little
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gifts are bundling again a difference a
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lot by cruise line the other big plus is
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as you build up status you'll also often
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be given access to concierge services
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it's often that's only available for
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people traveling in Suites but you'll
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often find they will have special
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services available people with status
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and it's normally hosted by the person
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who manages the actual club on board so
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you can go to them and they'll help sort
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out excursions or dining or bookings
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they'll give lots of tips and advice
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you've got any problems that help solve
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it so you actually have somebody other
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than just guest services or your
8:24
chemistry's you can go to to help sort
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out problems and that can be a real big
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plus obviously most cruise lines will
8:30
have some sort of service like that for
8:31
sweet members but you'll find it pretty
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much on every single cruise there'll be
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one person allocated who looks after
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people who members of the loyalty
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program and particular people with
8:40
status and they're often the ones that
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will organize the special treats and
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bits and pieces so it's always good to
8:45
build a relationship with them because
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they can often organize lots of bits and
8:49
pieces that could be added to improve
8:52
your cruise experience with this and
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a bottle of wine some champagne some
8:56
chocolate-covered strawberries whatever
8:57
that may be
8:58
those are my view are the best things
9:00
and the worst things about staying loyal
9:02
to one Cruise Line bear in mind no
9:03
matter how loyal you are don't let it
9:05
get in the way of constant looking for
9:07
new experiences new destinations and of
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course make sure you don't lose out on
9:12
great deals because you're sticking
9:14
loyal to just one Cruise Line in my view
9:16
there's great perks as great benefits
9:18
however they they don't always outweigh
9:21
that savings you could make by finding a
9:23
better deal on another cruise line and
9:25
also you might get a different
9:26
experience I have many more tips and
9:29
advice videos so why don't you watch
9:31
another one of those right now
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