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Cruise Q&A Live: Sunday 23 November (10am PT/ 1pm ET/ 6pm UK)
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0:08
[Music] Well, hello everybody and welcome to another live. It is an hour later than
0:15
usual. So, thanks everybody for that. Now, some of you may wonder why it was an hour late. It's literally uh a family
0:22
related issue. So, and also a chance for me to indulge in one of my favorite
0:28
things of all time. So today, this afternoon, we went to the Seavoy, which I guess many of you have heard of, the famous uh iconic Seavoy Hotel, cuz my
0:35
sister and mother-in-law were down staying with us, and we had their festive afternoon tea. I just want to
0:41
make sure that I could get back in time for that. It was a fantastic afternoon tea. Um, as you know, I am a complete
0:47
addict, addicted to afternoon tea. So, it was great to get to the Seavoy. I'd actually realized I've never actually been to the Seavoy. We've taken our my
0:55
sister and mother-in-law and my mom when she was alive to different afternoon teas. Anyway, so that's why I was late.
1:01
So, a couple of the housekeeping things. Of course, if you've got a question, write the word question. Uh, ideally in
1:06
capitals if you can. It helps me make sure that I um spot the questions from the chat. And then I have a few other
1:14
bits of housekeeping things. One of which is one of the things I'm going to start doing on the lives is uh perhaps
1:21
throw up an offer or a special offer or whatever that I know people are responding to. So, I thought I'd bring this one up because it's proven
1:28
incredibly popular. I mentioned it once in one of my one or two of my videos and a lot of people have used it. A lot of
1:33
people have thanked me for it. So, I thought I would just bring it to everyone's attention again as everyone's joining and so on. And that is around
1:40
shore excursions. So, many people um are often looking for alternatives to cruise
1:46
line excursions. They're quite pricey, perhaps looking for smaller groups, tours that don't really uh perhaps
1:51
exist, more specialist tours. So, I've partnered with Shore Excursions Group uh
1:57
as one of the providers, obviously Via Tour, there's um Venture Shore and so on. Um but what's great about Shore
2:03
Excursions is if you book one of their tours on top of promotions actually running at the moment because they're running some Black Friday promotions, if
2:09
you use the code TFT5 just before you check out, you'll see at the bottom there before you add them to your basket, you can check out, you'll get a
2:16
further 5%. So, just something to course affiliate link, so I do get a commission if you book that. But I thought I'd just
2:23
throw up some of these kind of offers. One last housekeeping thing is this will
2:30
be the last live stream, but not forever. Just for sorry, next week will
2:35
be the last live stream. Not this week. Next week will be the last live stream. Not ever, just for 2025. And the reason
2:43
for that is I'm heading off uh at the beginning of December uh to do this what's built as a 19 South Pacific
2:50
archipelago trip from Sydney to Papieti. And certainly when I was in Australia
2:55
two Christmases ago with my when we took my mother-in-law there, it was very problematic trying to sort out with time
3:02
zones uh you know live stream. So next week when I'm still in the UK will be
3:07
the last live stream for 2025. So, we'll think a little bit about that and how we make that perhaps a bit special or
3:13
something like that. Maybe we'll do a quiz or a draw or something exciting. So, anyway, so that's hopefully given
3:19
people a chance to join because lots of people have joined. Uh, a couple of uh questions. Um, so let's get stuck into
3:26
some of the questions. Uh, John S6C,
3:33
uh, which cruise line would you recommend for seeing the southernmost part of South America from Wanes are
3:38
Aries to Santiago? Thank you. So, John, I will tell you a couple of thoughts. I'll tell you what I Whoops, I've just
3:43
thrown my pen on the floor. I'll tell you what I've chosen. Uh, I did that trip a couple of years ago on Holland
3:50
America on their ship. Uh, which is the two-week. I'd actually did it the other way around from Santiago to Bonosures.
3:57
Obviously, you don't actually leave from San Diego because that's landlocked. I actually left from Val Parisio, but uh
4:03
normally the ships leave from San Antonio. Uh it was a fantastic trip. Holl America were fantastic. Really good
4:09
immersion. They had a a cruise director who isn't on doing it anymore, guy called Kevin who's absolutely
4:16
phenomenal. He lives in Buenos Aries. He knows all the ports. He gave the most amazing talks. But anyway, so I'm
4:22
actually booked next year uh to do a bigger part, actually threequarters of the way around. So I'm going from WA
4:28
series all the way around. Not doing the little Antarctic um South Pass part, but
4:33
going all the way around and then uh through Lima. I'm going to do the Machip
4:38
extension. Uh but I keep going through Panama Canal. Ends up in Miami. I think it is bizarrely unusually because
4:45
normally No, it's it ends up in Florida, I think. Anyway, um and I've chosen Holland America again partly because
4:50
it's quite affordable for a long trip like that. Obviously, they have the wide range of cabins. Um certainly they do on
4:56
on cruise like that there's quite a lot of C days, so it's nice to have something that has quite a lot of entertainment and stuff, but certainly
5:02
they're very good at that. So that's one thing to look at in the premium category. Very strong. Um I would also
5:08
though take a look if you uh want to go a little if your budget stretches a bit further. Um I would take a look at say
5:15
Viking. Viking do some very nice uh immersive uh again they do that route.
5:21
You know what's good about Viking is they have very good enrichment. They have a story on board. They have someone who knows the region very well. So then
5:28
you really get a great dive into the region. I think you want to understand kind of the both the the history, the
5:35
fauna, the flora, all that kind of stuff. Plus when you're going through things like the, you know, the glacia
5:41
area, you want somebody who really can talk about the glacias and stuff like that. So, they're a really good option uh as well. They would certainly be high
5:47
on my list to look at, but you also have other options. You know, Oceanania does it. Um I think uh if you're from the UK,
5:54
I think even Saga does some of it on our last trip, Saga, where they that's obviously much longer trip because
5:59
you're coming out of the UK. Um what else? Uh you could also do a more uh
6:05
there are some that do a more kind of I guess expedition focus although they tend to go more Santiago down and then
6:12
may go down and do more of Antarctica but a couple of them for example like
6:17
Seaborn I know do uh also you've got uh silver sea do some but they tend to do
6:23
more part beginning and end of those but certainly I had great experience on America obviously Holland America is not
6:28
for everybody but it's it's it's quite a appealing thing so I'm just going a note here saying that my live stream is not
6:34
showing up on LinkedIn. So I guess LinkedIn people won't know because it won't show up. Uh so I I need to have a
6:39
look at that. So a lot of regular here. Hit is here which is great. Uh Jeff's here. Lou's here. Uh Andrew's here. From
6:48
Ohio. Hike Hike is here. Now Haki, I I suspect that I might have actually been in Miami when your Queen Elizabeth came
6:54
in because on the last day that I was flying out, I noticed the Queen Elizabeth was in. I think you might have been uh on on I think that's the one you
7:01
might be getting um off. Uh so Sarah from Brooklyn is here. Tom, good. So
7:06
Lisa is working on Facebook. Um if you survive in November weather after being sunny, warm Caribbean.
7:13
Sorry. Sorry about that. So yes, I mean certainly there's this cold snap coming in through the UK when I got back. So I
7:19
came from like 28 29 degrees Celsius blue skies into the sort of minus1 Celsius to 6° Celsius lots of rain. So
7:27
it's quite nice escaping in a couple weeks heading down to Sydney and warmth although though that French Parania area
7:34
was setting through. I guess it's sort of kind of rainy season but it's it's it's warm as as well. A couple of people
7:40
sitting on the west coast talking about being able to join because the timing is better. See uh CM Anderson for example.
7:46
Hi there. um warrants here. Let's have a look. Uh Harriet, we're going to be in
7:53
Istanbul the last week of August 2026, just three nights. It seems there are several different neighborhoods in which
7:58
to stay and I'm at a loss. Any advice or suggestions? So, I do not know a lot about Istanbul. I've only been to
8:04
Istanbul once and that was actually many many years ago on a work trip. So, I had no kind of control around where to go.
8:11
So, I know you obviously got the two different sides. Um, so if anybody has some good tips on Istanbul, uh, please
8:19
add those. I've got a feeling maybe Lou you might have done Istanbul. I can't remember. But if anyone's got great tips, uh, please let us know because I I
8:26
think I get asked quite a lot about Istanbul. So if there's uh, you know, good good things then uh, then then do
8:34
let us know. Scott, very kindly. I've been praying for your health. How you doing? Doing very well. Thank you. I have my six monthly checkups and that's
8:40
all going very well. touchwood and hopefully that keeps growing. Oh, Kevin, sorry. Yes, I need to apologize to
8:46
people. So, um those of you who've watched the Silver Sea video
8:52
uh where I had a look at my experience on Silver Sea, particularly Silverova and comparing my experience on Silver
8:59
with a lot of the recent reviews which have been more critical of Silvery. Um at the end I refer to uh one of the
9:06
series of videos that I've done looking at in depth comparing cruise lines in a
9:11
particular category. So I've done one for the uh mass resort lines. I've done one for the premium lines that's your
9:17
America Qard and so on. Done one for ultra luxury. So that video is you're right not out yet. So I do refer to it
9:23
at the end but that I think video if I remember correctly will be already and coming out on Saturday. I thought it was
9:30
supposed to be out this Saturday but it's out next Saturday. So it will be out now. Uh I have got an early release
9:35
version of that to patrons. So they have um seen that um of that, but the full final thing with all the ads and stuff
9:42
will be out uh next week. Sorry, I need to take a slug. It's got a frog in my throat.
9:49
So sorry about that. Normally, sorry. Normally what I try to do is if I've got
9:54
a video that it's even scheduled ahead is I have that um you know on um unlisted so it kind of people who get to
10:01
the end and want to watch it but that one just hasn't quite hasn't quite worked. So Caroline um did the Viking
10:07
trip. Oh so actually did the same trip. So that's good to know Caroline as well.
10:13
Cruise for everyone. Good to see you here. The Norwegian Prima class seems to cater for a slightly different market
10:19
than Norwegian older ships. What are the differences and does the Haven differ?
10:24
Okay, so that's that's a good challenge. So certainly for those I'm sure most people may know but let me just explain.
10:31
So uh obviously Norwegian has different classes of ships. The most recent class
10:36
is the Prima class. So Prima was the first one then they had Viva then they bought sort of u made it slightly
10:42
bigger. So you've got Aqua which is now out and sailing. I booked on that uh next year. I can't remember when. sort
10:49
of first half of the year, I think, um because I want to try that out. Um and they made some changes like they don't
10:55
have the go-kart on that. They have more of an aqua thing. And then they've got
11:00
another in that bigger prima class the name skip the name skip me coming
11:06
out I think next year. So the key difference is so you're right
11:11
of the uh there's quite a big change as they move into prima class. Prima class
11:17
to me I done a whole video about it as well. So uh you have a look at that video um and you anything I forget to
11:24
mention you I'll pick up there but one of the key differences is they're following I think what's a new concept or the new way of doing cruise ships. I
11:31
saw it a lot uh when you look at the Virgin Voyages ship I think the new some princess ships follow a similar concept
11:39
which is actually having smaller venues more venues a little bit more spread out
11:44
around the ships. I guess the idea as these ships get bigger is you want to push people further around the ship so
11:49
you disperse some of the people a little bit more. Now the challenge with the first round of the Prima class is some
11:55
of the venues were actually too small compared to the demand. So things like the you know the the buffet was a little
12:03
bit too small. the food hall, which is fantastic. Um, where you order things
12:08
from lots of different stations on a sort of a a lap a tablet and they bring
12:14
it to your table is so popular that certainly unless you're on warm settings where you can use the outside gets a
12:20
little bit b too busy. The sort of the the the rock room uh and so on gets a
12:25
little bit busy. Uh the atrium probably lacks some of the the drama. So what a lot of people like about many of the
12:32
ships like Encore uh Breakaway is that atrium is sort of becomes a hub of
12:37
entertainment uh where you often have the big screen you'll have maybe some of the trivia and stuff going on. You'll
12:43
have uh you know some of the bars and restaurants looking down onto the atrium on the preclass ships that's no longer
12:49
there. So the atrium is more kind of an atrium and there are some stuff there like guest services, future cruise sales
12:55
and stuff like that but you don't the the atrium is no longer a hub like it has Starbucks in there as about as viby
13:00
as it as it gets. Uh quite a big Starbucks area short excursion. So it's it's less kind of of a entertainment
13:06
center and that's sort of been uh been spread out. They do have though largely speaking the same sort of especially
13:13
added to restaurants. Um the other thing which is kind of interesting so you still have that choice of many bars and
13:18
things a little bit more dispersed across the ship. The the main pool is surprisingly small. The pool is really
13:23
really small. They do have other you know um around the the sort of prominard
13:29
deck uh which is quite nice. It's quite big and wide. They have sort of infinity plunge pools but the actual main pools
13:36
are kind of small. Uh so um uh so that's so those are some of the key differences
13:42
concept wise. So that's why I'm really keen to try Aqua to see if they've addressed some of those issues. Um, in
13:48
terms of the Haven, the Haven is pretty different. So on if you take like Breakaway and so on, the Haven if if
13:55
you've been in the Haven is they have a pool in the center and then you've got all the sort of the cabins and stuff
14:01
around. What they've done with the prima class is at the rear of the ship across
14:07
multiple decks is the haven and you have um so so again you know you have to get
14:14
with your card so it's a closed area. It takes a up a lot of the ship so quite a few decks have haven cabins in on the
14:21
main haven deck. Um then you actually have a pool at the rear h and you have a
14:27
on the top of the an adult area then you have the sort of the pool area. Uh so it's yeah so it's more open to the you
14:34
know you have nicer views in that because it's not pool's not kind of inside uh there's a many more cabins
14:40
wider range of cabins the decor of the cabins is you know is a different look and feel quite modern I quite liked it
14:46
now personally I quite like the prima class chips but they were definitely the diehard Norwegian people found them
14:53
quite a different concept so um hopefully uh that all makes sense as I
14:58
said if you take a look at the video I'll dive into that in a little bit more detail. So, I'm going to do this again. Sorry, I
15:06
got like in my throat. So, let me have to keep covering that to make sure
15:11
I don't blast out your uh eardrums. So, there's a question here about one of
15:16
my favorite topics, selling with Sabina. Where in London would you say has the best afternoon tea? Also, what time of
15:24
the year is best for British Als cruise to reduce the chance of stormy seas? So in terms of afternoon tea, there are
15:30
many many amazing places, some of which are incredibly expensive.
15:35
People who are coming to London sort of the first time or looking to go to afternoon tea sort of for the first time
15:40
uh in London, I tend to steer them towards Fortn Masons. The reason being, you know, Fortn Mason is such an iconic
15:47
store. It has such a long history. It has obviously the uh you know, it's it's got the royal seal, uh, you know, as an
15:53
official supplier. The store itself is very beautiful. It sells all its own proh products. It's it's it's a great
16:00
place to visit, but also it's got this very iconic history with afternoon tea.
16:05
So, it's up um on the is it the fourth floor? There's this kind of a beautiful
16:12
T- room which was opened in its day not that long ago or it probably is now actually but it was opened by the late
16:19
Queen Elizabeth II now Queen you know Queen Camila and by um you know
16:24
Katherine as well so all those three generations of the the leading woman in
16:30
the royal family um and it's a beautiful place to go so that's kind of an iconic
16:36
place it's very popular so certain times of the years particular like This time of the year it's kind of sold out so you have to plan. But that's always where I
16:43
send people. The Ritz is of also a very famous afternoon tea. I find a little bit stuffy. You do have to wear things
16:48
like jacket and tie. It's quite formal. The the Langum I really like. Now the Langum sort of makes claims that they
16:55
were sort of the first hotel to really serve afternoon tea. Half tea was
17:00
originally created by the Duchess of Bedfordshire. Was it B? Yeah, I think it was Dr. Bedfordshire then. So it's more
17:07
commercialized there. I really like it there. Um, but I tend to steer people towards Fortn Mason. So, in terms of
17:14
best time of the year for a British Isles cruise. So, the British Isles cruise only really operate in a fairly
17:20
limited time of the year. So, they tend to be you're really talking sort of about May to about Septemberish time.
17:27
Um, obviously July, August is the best weather you're going to get. It's also the school holiday time. So, you also
17:34
may want to be fairly cautious about which cruise line you choose because there's a chance, you know, unless you're traveling with kids and you want
17:39
loads of kids on your cruise. You might be traveling with family and and you want good lots of kids for kids to have
17:46
in the kids club and play with. But if you're looking for a more adult cruise, bear in mind July, August is uh you very
17:52
popular time, family time. July, August is when you're going to have the nicest weather, less chance of rain and stuff.
17:58
So, that's that's kind of the balance. um September, so towards the end of the season, you often have quite nice
18:04
weather. The schools go back, so if you're looking for less kids and stuff, that's quite a good time to go. Um you
18:10
know, the the seas, uh you know, if you're doing a full around the thing, you know, it's again like all things,
18:17
it's kind of hit and miss, but that's that would be the time um that that I would that I would recommend. Lee, I
18:25
don't know if this could that's fine. Feel happy to ask me on questions. this like looked like a train cruise. I saw a
18:31
video on Sajjourney Vietnam. I haven't heard of that one. I haven't heard of
18:36
them at all. So, one of the things I would suggest is take a look at Trek Trendy's channel because he covers, you
18:43
know, he covers mostly flights. He covers a lot of train stuff and of course now he covers cruising as well.
18:48
But if that if that's a good train journey, he's probably covered it. Um, and I don't think he has because I love
18:55
his channel and his videos and I don't um I don't uh recognize that one. So,
19:01
sorry I couldn't help you more. Um, SL asked me how did it rank. It ranked
19:07
pretty highly. It's it's you know the Seavoy is such an iconic thing. It's a very beautiful venue. Uh, being a
19:12
festival afternoon tea, it was it was great. So, it's pretty pretty high up on there.
19:19
Brian uh asking the question as a firsttime solo traveler can you suggest an itinerary so Brian that's quite hard
19:26
to do without knowing um more uh a lot of it depends on what sort of experience
19:32
you're looking for on board you know do you want to be more formal do you want to be very heavily on enrichment do you
19:39
want more partyike and so on but one of the things that I say it also depends where you're coming from I one of the
19:45
things I tend to recommend for first-time solo travelers is think about the three most popular
19:51
regions in the world to cruise. They're the most popular for a reason. First of all, because what you can go and see is
19:59
great. Secondly, because there's a wide choice from ultra luxury to affordable
20:04
mass market. Uh thirdly, in the ports because it's quite developed, there's a lot to do. And fourthly, even if you
20:10
aren't local, they're linked to be with good gateways. So, you know, gateway airports, etc. Those three are the
20:18
Caribbean, which is about half of all cruises take place in the Caribbean worldwide. Uh so mostly out of Florida,
20:26
but you can sell other places like I did recently out of New York or Galveston's a big port for example, Tampa. What
20:32
Tampa um so there I would also say that you
20:38
have the Eastern Mediterranean, the western Mediterranean, but I quite like the southern Mediterranean. it tends to be a little bit longer, but you go to
20:44
ports which are a little bit less manic in terms of numbers and um you know
20:49
visitor stuff. So you might go to Kurissowl you know go places like Williamstat uh Aruba
20:56
kind of all these sort of places Barbados and so on. So that's the first one. The second one which I which is
21:02
very good uh which is not the second most popular but Alaska is a great
21:07
itinerary to go to uh again because there's great things to do also because
21:13
there's a lot to do in the port. So if you're a little bit worried about you know I I want to also have lots of things to do u I'm not sure you know as
21:20
a solo traveler you know I don't want to ne have a lot of time on my hands to myself perhaps Alaska is a great one.
21:25
The third one of course is the Mediterranean. Again, you have the eastern Mediterranean, the western Mediterranean. I often recommend uh
21:33
people go with the east, the western Mediterranean, you know, out of Barcelona or out of Chvichuia for Rome
21:40
because you get to tick off a lot of iconic places. You know, you can see Barcelona, you can see Rome, you can see
21:45
Florence, you can see Pisa and so on. So, those are the ones I recommend. Then the the the key, so whichever kind of
21:52
makes sense. Then the really key thing is to decide what sort of experience you want because that'll determine the kind
21:57
of uh which cruise line is is right. As a solo traveler, as you've done any stuff, you'll know in most cases you're
22:03
going to have to assume that you're paying the price of two people. So there are some solo options. I have a video uh
22:10
so if you just search on the channel solo about how you can get better deals, avoid some of those supplements and and
22:16
so on. Um so hopefully that helps. Brian uh cru for everyone. Good to see you
22:21
here. Who has the best buffet casual food offering in the premium and luxury classes? Okay, so without a shadow of a
22:28
doubt in the sort of more luxury side, Explorer Journeys definitely have the
22:34
best. They have their emporium sort of marketplace which is uh kind of a more
22:40
food hall concept. A lot of the food is prepared uh you know to order. Um so and
22:48
also it's just a be it's a very nice venue that they're open breakfast, lunch and dinner where a lot of the more
22:54
luxury ultra luxury certainly don't tend to have the buffet open for dinner. So that they are really really good. Um and
23:01
you know obviously if you go ultra luxury you know you're on a seaborn or a regent the buffets are kind of good but
23:08
they don't really necessarily stand out. The quality of the food's very good but in terms of standout I think um explorer
23:14
journeys has sort of set the gold standard there. Now in the premium class so between sort of celebrity so premium
23:20
is really celebrity kunard Holland America Princess Disney's in the kind of
23:26
premium uh side there. I'm not sure that any really stand out massively. They're
23:32
all pretty similar and they all follow a pretty similar concept. Um and people
23:40
have different views you know so I have had very good experience on celebrity on Holland America for example um but
23:47
probably the one that does stand out uh which is also in this category is Virgin
23:53
so Virgin Voyages h they claim they don't have a buffet they have more of a
23:58
uh that food hall concept they don't have as much choice as you would get once you go luxury with explorer
24:04
journeys but I quite like uh their approach So they have the different stations as I said not as many. They
24:10
also have kind of a grab and go concept where they have stuff that you can grab and go which Norwegians actually picked up as well but not to the same degree.
24:17
So for me if I was forced to choose one I would probably choose Virgin. I know a lot of people find a little bit limiting
24:22
and I would choose Explorer Journey as the kind of the standouts um in in that in that side um there. Warren asking me
24:31
a question around um how often do you factor in other
24:36
requirements such as inoculations visas? I I assume you're meaning Warren when I'm choosing a cruise. So I guess I've
24:44
learned probably the hard way uh not enough is the answer uh when it comes to
24:52
inoculations. So I had booked I really really wanted to do this itinerary and I
24:58
booked it a long time ago and I had booked a West Africa trip uh on regent
25:03
um which went from uh Barcelona and ended up in Cape Town. It was almost a month long calling it lots of ports. It
25:11
was really fantastic. Um, and I hadn't really thought it through because, uh, closer to about
25:18
final payment, time, just after final payment time, um, there's a notification saying that you had to have a yellow
25:23
fever vaccine to go to two of the ports to get off the ship in two of the ports.
25:29
And actually, when the ship ended in South Africa, the South African regulations were that if you had called
25:34
on any place that required a yellow fever vaccine, you had to have a yellow fever vaccine. Now, I did discover that
25:41
you could get a certificate saying that you didn't need one. Now, what happened is I spoke to my oncologist and I spoke
25:48
to my doctor and they were adamant that I should not have a yellow fever vaccine. Yellow fever vaccine certainly
25:53
in the UK, I don't know if it's different other places are strongly uh most of the medical profession recommend
26:00
against them if you're over 60. Uh it's a live vaccine. Um certainly my oncologist was adamant I was shouldn't
26:06
have it and would give me a certificate. um which I checked with regent and they
26:12
said that you know they recently they done a similar itinerary and the ports had accepted it but I didn't want to go
26:18
to a place where you it's serious enough that you need a yellow fever vaccine without a yellow fever vaccine so I
26:24
actually had to cancel that trip now luckily regent allowed me to switch it to the one that I did the Caribbean one
26:29
so probably the answer is not enough because often I I I don't really think
26:34
about you know I hadn't really thought about that um which I should have um so
26:40
on terms of visas that doesn't really put me off. Now, one of the advantages
26:45
that we have I guess living in London is all the embassies uh are in London. So anyway, if you need a visa, I can do it
26:52
directly with the embassies myself. So like I got a Chinese visa, I've had a Vietnamese visa, Egyptian visa, all
26:58
those kind of visas that you proper, you know, visas you have to get before you go because some of them you can just buy
27:04
when you arrive as you know. So, that doesn't tend to put me off. And I know in the past you can use some um agencies
27:12
like CIBT uh that most of the cruise lines recommend. It's interesting actually because um for the Holland
27:18
America trip that I'm doing both for my um group cruise coming up which America
27:25
and also my South America they have a partnership with CIBT where you can go to CIBT and you can input your passport
27:32
you have. you input the the cruise and it then tells you if you need any visas
27:38
uh with including you know ETAs now these days as many of you probably know
27:43
you need those electronic travel authorization things increasingly so the
27:49
UK if you're coming to the UK you need one I know for my Australia one I've had to redo it going to the US going to
27:55
Canada um Europe is introducing one so those you know those I I don't worry
28:01
about so probably the inoculation ones Hopey that answers it. I not enough is the thing. L suggesting it enjoys the
28:08
the the buffet in the edge class ship. Um let's have a look. I think there's
28:15
some chat there. Okay. Another question from uh so Lou
28:22
sorry Lou has answered that he's done a symbol but didn't so didn't do didn't stay there. Okay. But thanks thanks for
28:28
asking that. Don't say don't. Thanks for answering. Thanks for answering that. Before I
28:35
answer the next one, Paul and Carol here, great to see you here. Paul and Carol, of course, you you're heading down to do your uh your big trip, aren't
28:41
you? Your 30 something day trip. So, just remind if you don't know, I'm sure most of you do. Paul and Carol love to travel, have a very good YouTube
28:48
channel, very popular YouTube channel, run lots of group cruises. I went on there. In fact, I have something I won
28:55
from Paul and Carol's group cruise on my little display thing here as it may or
29:01
may. Um, so I was very excited to win that in one of the the trivia questions.
29:06
Anyway, um, have a great trip Paul and Carol. And of course, I look forward to following that. So, let's jump back to
29:12
the question. Cruise for everyone. Who are the most familyfriendly premium line and why? Okay. So just to
29:19
clarify for everybody and also how I'm going to answer. So premium category in the cruise industry is defined as uh
29:27
Princess Holland America uh Virgin uh did I say Princess Kunard. Did I leave
29:34
everyone in there? And Disney okay is also kind of in pre in that premium category. Now when I do videos around
29:41
this people say oh but it's not premium but that's just how the uh it's defined
29:46
by so obviously within that by definition the most familyfriendly premium line is actually Disney because
29:53
they uh are heavily targeted at families but of course they're incredibly expensive. Uh obviously you know there's
30:01
all that big emotion and people may not be massive big Disney fans. Uh so um I
30:08
would say of those the line that is the most active there's two lines that are most actively looking at recruiting
30:14
families are first of all Princess although they probably skewing a little bit towards multigenerational travel but
30:21
they're new ships with the sphere uh sphere class which is sun princess and
30:26
star princess those are definitely targeting much more families there's more family cabins on board the program
30:33
the kids uh program the kids clubs are very expansive. Um, so Princess is
30:38
really leaning into more and more families. Uh, and Celebrity is also leaning more and more into families,
30:44
particularly with their edgeclass ships. So those are the two that are definitely there. Now, Holland America does a
30:49
pretty good thing with the How Club, but it's not really it's a still more a
30:54
couples older coup's crowd. Obviously, Virgin is completely out because that's 18 only plus. I would probably focus a
31:01
lot on Princess, particularly those sphere class ships, really big ships. Um, they are big ships, but they are
31:07
definitely much more um much more family focused. Oh, look, some other tips uh in
31:14
terms of uh places to stay in Istanbul. So, that's great to know. Love the ship
31:20
model behind you. Yes, this is great. I get asked about this model uh every now and again. So, I got this quite a long
31:25
time ago. I also That's Queen too. We also have up top there the QE2 the
31:32
original QE2. Uh they're fantastic. Now I actually somebody recently had found
31:39
someone that had started selling the similar models to these again and I think they had found them on eBay in the
31:45
US. Um so but when I got these like ages ago, 15 years ago, something like that
31:50
they weren't that they weren't that they weren't that crazy expensive. Um,
31:56
let's have a look. Traveling fool 1996
32:03
solo cruiser here. I've exper All I've experienced is Norwegian cruise line. I got a January 27th Antarctic cruise with
32:09
Celebrity. The solo program is awesome. How different will celebrity pro solo program be? So it's quite interesting
32:16
actually that you are so enthusiastic about celebrity and solos because I get
32:21
a lot of messages from seller travelers very unhappy with celebrity. So what
32:27
we're seeing happen with celebrity is other cruise lines are sort of doing this is it's very clear that celebrities
32:34
sort of only want a certain amount of solos. It would appear because I don't know this for definite. It would appear
32:40
that Celebrity only want a certain amount of solo travelers on their ships. Now on their new age class ships, they
32:45
have solo cabins. Not many of them, but they have them. But certainly if you try and book, so if you're looking for a
32:50
cruise and you put in say for two people, it might throw up a whole bunch of cabins. Someone messaged me, one of
32:57
my patrons messaged me this week. So they were looking at Aqua, they put in two people, load of cabins came up.
33:04
They then changed that for one person because they're actually traveling solo. number of cabins dramatically disappeared and the prices went through
33:10
the roof. So, it wasn't even just a 100%. So, it's kind of dumb because someone could just book for two people and then only have one person pick up.
33:18
So what it appears is they certainly only want a certain amount of solos because I guess if you think about the the mechanics of a ship is um you don't
33:27
want a whole ship if you're from a financial perspective you don't want loads of solos because you only got one
33:32
set of people spending money on drinks and photographs and chore excursions and
33:37
so on. um what we're even seeing so I'm going to do a little side I will come back to this question is what we're also
33:44
seeing on some lines for example I've had people uh contact me and I've also seen it online in some Holland America
33:50
settings people who've booked a cabin couple who booked a cabin have been bumped out of the cabin they booked to
33:57
another cabin and the reason for those shift is very full and people are looking to book a cabin for three people
34:04
or four people you know family and they chosen a cabin which can hold three or
34:09
four people and they've been moved to a cabin that's designed for only two people. So this is the thing about you
34:15
know I guess optimizing it anyway as a complete aside. So celebrity program is
34:22
sorry celebrity program is nothing like the Norwegian where you've got the separate lounge and so on. So if you've
34:28
ever done Norwegian in the solo studios as you know you've got the lounge uh for solos you don't won't have that at all.
34:35
What you will have on solo on celebrity is they will have um suggested solo
34:41
meetups but they are unhosted. So they don't have anybody that hosts the solo meetup but they will say solo meetup uh
34:48
depending I don't know what ship you're on um I think it goes down to I think it might be one of the solstice
34:54
scholarships but it will say in whatever um bar or whatever so it you you so that
35:01
will kind of be it. So it's really up to solar to kind of connect and stuff. So you won't find it as organized. They
35:07
won't have a social hostess organizing hosted meetups, uh, dining and so on. So
35:12
it it it will be quite different. Um, so you're doing the January 27th Antarctic cruise. So you're doing, I guess, South
35:18
America with the the sail down sale past in in Antarctica. So I hope you have a great time, but certainly you you'll
35:24
find it a much less structured uh solo program. Um, and unless on those
35:29
particular settings they have uh hosted, but it's normally unhosted.
35:34
Um, so it's kind of up to solos to then kind of uh connect. Um,
35:41
uh, let's have a look. Here we go. Thanks for writing the word question. I'm hoping there's a lot of
35:48
chat, so I'm hoping I'm not missing any of the the the question. uh interested
35:53
in some of the Alaska cruises that HX offers, especially the one that visits the Alutians. How would this compare to
35:59
a more classic Alaska cruise? So, just to clarify for those who don't know, so Hertin uh used to have two divisions,
36:06
the the ones that sail up North America and then they used to have Hudigutin Expeditions. Now, the ship the company
36:13
hit a couple of financial challenges. I think that's the polite way of putting it. And they split the company off. both
36:18
actually owned by private equity now actually private equity in the UK interestingly but anyway so the Hutigrin
36:25
now only focuses on those Norway sailings and the expedition uh group has
36:30
been renamed um uh HX uh so they focus on that so certainly I think I know the
36:38
cruise you looked at because I've had a look at this cruise remember it's is a two week cruise or 10day cruise I can't remember how long it is um so what's
36:45
very interesting is in how it differs is a couple of ways is um Andrew Andrew retiring soon um is first of all uh if
36:54
it's the one I looked at you'll find it doesn't have any of the traditional places so it doesn't call on Ketchan
37:00
doesn't call on Juno it doesn't call on Skagway so you avoiding those kind of normal kind of classic cruise places and
37:06
it will focus much on much more remote places so you won't do traditional excursions so you won't dock somewhere
37:13
and go off and do a traditional excursion you will do stuff on zodiac s or hosted by the expedition team. So
37:19
you'll have an expedition team on board that will run talks, give you immersion, but then they will take you out on the
37:24
zodiacs, either zodiac touring to perhaps try and find wildlife bears or whatever, or you'll do some landings and
37:31
they will escort you. So you won't kind of book separate excursions. So if you were doing a classic Alaska cruise, you
37:37
know, you'd go on Celebrity or Seaborn or Norwegian or whatever, you you know,
37:43
they the line would offer you a series of excursions which you'd paid extra for. Of course, you might go on the Skagway, you might go on the Yukon
37:51
train, which I always recommend you should do, or Juno, you might do a helicopter ride up to the Mendle Glacia
37:56
or go hike to the Mendle Glacia. This will all be kind of in an expedition
38:01
way. Um, so you it'll be very focused with an expedition team dedicated. They
38:08
will host those tours. So, that's kind of included in the price, which is why the price is also that bit higher. Obviously, it's a much smaller ship. Um,
38:15
and I'm trying to remember. Do they do the more today there? I'm trying to remember which ship they do. Um, I think it's a great idea now. I've had a look
38:21
at that and I really would like to do that. It's on on my list of to-dos. Um,
38:26
hopefully that's given you enough information on that one.
38:32
Ludy, hope that's right way pronouncing it. You mentioned Hall America. We'll be going to Amachu Picchu next year as part
38:37
of their South American trip. When will that be? We recently America after been away for a while. Enjoy them. Yes. So,
38:42
basically, I'm going to just have a look at that. So basically I'm on a trip uh the trip that I'm on uh Ludy leaves um
38:49
Weries on the 8th of March and ends in Florida on the 8th of April.
38:57
Um but so two weeks it's two weeks to get from Buenosaris to um to uh let's
39:06
call it Santiago. It's actually San Antonio but Santiago. Then in Santiago, I think it's about a week later, uh it
39:14
stops in in Lima. Well, actually stops at the port. It's called Cal Calo Calo, but it's called Lima there. So, the ship
39:21
then stays um there for three nights, I think it is. And then you could book
39:27
very crazy prices, but you can then book uh a Machu Picchu extension where I think you're away for two nights if I
39:34
remember correctly. So you then get off the ship. You fly uh to uh you fly to I can't remember the
39:42
name of the place. Sorry. You fly to a place you spend overnight. You have some tours and things. You then get the
39:48
train. Now depending whether you've gone gold or silvered type of train you go one's all very shishi with food and
39:55
stuff. The other is more observation stuff. You then do the Machu Picchu. Uh
40:00
you come back from Machu the train back another night uh in the hotel. you then fly back and rejoin the ship. So that's
40:07
that's how they do it. So they only have limited numbers sold out. I I really wanted to do that. So I was nagging
40:12
because they didn't release it till like a couple of months ago. So I was checking every day, nagging my travel
40:17
agent. So the day it came on, I could book it. So it's weight listed only at the moment. Um but uh so you know they
40:25
can only do so many uh people. Um so I'm very excited about it. Of course, it's very expensive way of doing it because
40:31
of because you've got you're still paying for your ship and you're paying for the tour. But to me, that's great
40:37
way of seeing Machu Picchu. Um, and of course got a train which I'm very excited about. So, it's roughly sort of
40:42
towards the third part of March. Um, and I'm guessing what'll happen is a lot of
40:47
people will do the bonus series to Santiago. I suspect there'll be quite a lot of people changing Santiago to that
40:53
second egg because that second egg has the Machu Picchu extension and it has of course Panama Canal. So I suspect that
40:59
got two big highlights for people. So hopefully that hopefully that answers your question. Um
41:07
Patrick Kun has this reputation of being the height of luxury but has history passed them by. Would you say for
41:14
example regent crystal are real luxury? Okay this is a great point because in reality you're 100% right. Kunut has a
41:21
reputation to be the height of luxury. It isn't and never has been in my opinion. So it does have this
41:28
reputation. The reputation is heavily built on a very small part of the
41:34
experience which is the Queen's Grill. So Queen's Grill is kind of I always describe a Kunard ship. So if you take
41:39
like Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, whatever and the new ships is it runs
41:45
like an airplane if you like. So you have on an airplane you've got economy,
41:50
you got premium economy. is up to the long haul economy or coach in the US premium economy business class and first
41:58
class and that's basically how Kunard runs. So you've got um you the
42:04
equivalent of economy as it were is Britannia. So you have very affordable
42:09
cabins from inside cabins which are incredibly affordable uh very comparable prices to the to the rest of uh
42:16
cruising. Uh you've got ocean view, you've got balconies of various grades.
42:21
Then you their equivalent to premium economy is Britannia club. Now Bratannia club on Queen Mary 2 is just a section
42:28
within the main dining room but on the other ships it's a separate dining room. Then the equivalent of club on an
42:35
airplane is princess grill which then has a specific restaurant. It has sort of it's effectively mini suites. So mini
42:41
suites on other cruise lines. If you go on celebrity like aqua class mini suite is kind of princess grill. But normally
42:48
other cruise lines in America would call a mini suite or whatever. Then you have the effectively what first class is
42:54
Queens Grill and Queens Grill is where they have the suites which go of course massive big suites like on here on Queen
43:01
Mary too it's double-decker you know two-le suites and then Queens Grill it's you know the restaurant is very up
43:06
market. You have three waiters serving you. Uh it's all silver service. You can order off menu. They do stuff at your
43:14
tableside. It's all very very, you know, up market, but that's in the restaurant.
43:20
Um, but the rest of the ship is pretty standard. It's pretty much like going on Celebrity or Holland America in reality.
43:26
The quality of the food in Britannia and so on is comparable to the others. But of course, they do advertise on that
43:32
glamour. So you know people think of Kunard and they think of movie stars and fabulous Queen Mary and all that stuff
43:39
but in the day you had kind of you know stirridge or whatever uh and so on. So I
43:45
must say the first time that Mark and I ever went on Kunard was in 2005 and we
43:51
went on Q2 I'll bring it up there and we had expected to step into this world of
43:56
incredible luxury and when we stepped I was like oh my god this is not particularly luxurious. Normally the ship is a little bit dated at that time
44:03
but you know it is not you know Kunot is not luxury at all
44:10
unless you go Queens Grill uh and then you're paying top dollar and for the same amount of money you're absolutely
44:15
right you can go on region you go on Crystal you can go on Silver Sea but you're buying a different experience you know obviously for the same money on Kun
44:22
you're going to get a massive big cabin you're going to get a butler you get in Queens Grill um and Queens Grill is
44:27
probably still the best dining you're going to get in terms of quality in terms of the service and stuff. But
44:34
you're right, if you're looking for luxury today, luxury the categories, you know, ultra luxury, your region in
44:40
Crystal, Silver Sea, Seaborn, and of course, you've got the yachts coming out. You've got your small ship luxuries, you got your Vikings, your
44:46
Explorer Journeys, Winstar. Then you've got premium and premium you know I would
44:51
say in reality uh there's if if you're going certainly in a balcony cabin inside cabin Kunard versus Celebrity
44:59
versus Honda America is not really that different and in fact a lot of people
45:04
feel that things like Celebrity have better food more options um then you obviously have your more mass market so
45:10
um you know I do like Kunard I I like Kunard for the transatlantic on community too so I've got one booked
45:16
next year I wouldn't really book. Uh I've done a lot of Kunard stuff, but
45:21
these days I would not really go uh Kunard other than transatlantic unless I
45:28
was looking for a very British kind of experience. Um and you know if you go Bratann particularly on these ships or
45:34
that you you know you get the very dramatic art deco thing if you want really good enrichment. You're buying it
45:40
not you're booking it not just for luxury in reality if you're thinking a lot of people go on Q9 and get
45:46
disappointed because it's not as luxurious as they think it's going to be
45:51
anyway so let's hopefully I don't want to slag off celebrity a lot but um
45:59
not a lot Sarah good to see you here um think I said earlier I just bought my
46:04
first transatlantic celebrity from Rome to Fort Lauderdale nice any suggest for trip in Jibralta or MadiRaa. So in
46:10
Gibralta, I would go up the rock, you get incredible views, but if there's
46:16
quite nice combination tours, um Sarah, uh which is one you can do, uh inside
46:24
the rock. So if you're quite a history buff, you could do a tour which you go up the cable car, you see the great
46:32
views from the top there. You can see right across to Africa. See the ships down below and then you go into the rock
46:39
and so some of them are natural case some of them are dug which is where uh various battles where during the wars
46:44
they've protected Gibralta. It's really really interesting and all the stories and that tell you quite nice stories. Uh
46:50
there is another tour which sometimes includes inside the rock but often it's you're going to St. Michael's caves. So,
46:56
it's not a terribly long walk from down into St. Michael's Caves, which all the stallic mites and stallic tites going to
47:02
remember which one goes down and which goes up. Um, big lighting and all that sort of stuff. They they're pretty good.
47:07
Um, that's what I would recommend in Jibralta. Um, do I have a very strong
47:13
recommendation in MadiRaa? Um, I mean, what a lot of people do there is they
47:19
will do the um, what are they called? The wicker baskets going going down the
47:25
hill. I'm too chicken to do them to be honest. But that's one of the most iconic things. You'll go up and you'll
47:31
go on these little baskets. The guys take you down um there. Um I've done a
47:36
couple of cycling tours around Madiraa. It's very kind of hilly and stuff, but the iconic thing to do is that if you
47:42
want to really tick off something, that's what I would do. Uh is uh is what you do. Can I just make a comment on
47:49
Kino? People are talking about dress code. uh kunard dress code is not
47:54
anymore what people think it is because in reality um formal nights are actually
48:00
optional now they used to be required so nowadays uh you can wear smart casual on
48:05
formal nights although if you're particularly on an exUK setting you'll find a lot of people wearing a tuxedo or
48:10
black tie depending on what you want to call it um you can wear a a suit and tie but in reality it's now optional so you
48:18
and the optional is smart casual which is a sleeved shirt uh and smart trousers. So, you could wear a polo
48:24
shirt and slacks if you wanted to. I'm talking about the guys here obviously. Well, girls could wear them as well, I guess. Um but it's no longer as strict.
48:32
So, you can get into a restaurant on formal night in Kunard uh in smart casual wear. If you look at the the
48:38
dress code, they've changed it. Um but certainly if you're going on a transatlantic or if you're going on an
48:43
exUK selling especially, you'll find people still really really dress up.
48:48
Someone did recently I was talking to someone recently that did a backto-back transatlantic where they did from
48:54
Southampton to New York and the dress code was you know people with black tie tuxedos. The other way around there was
49:00
actually more US travelers and they said it was noticeable that the the amount of
49:05
kind of tuxedos and black ties going the other way was dramatically different. So anyway,
49:11
a thank you Jeffrey. This is my huge big hobby horse. I'm so pleased someone
49:17
asked this. I see many posts confusing high tea and afternoon tea. Even cruise lines get it wrong. But is there a
49:23
cruise line that actually does offer high tea? Jeffrey, I have not come across any cruise line that serves
49:29
proper high tea. For those who don't know what Jeffreey's talking about, afternoon tea is for posh people. High
49:34
tea was for the working class basically. So afternoon tea is uh was, as I
49:40
mentioned earlier, if you were here earlier, it was created by the Duchess of Bedfordshire. And I probably I need to double check my facts on that. Was it
49:47
I think it was Ber. Anyway, very high class. She used to get peckish in the afternoon. Started by getting her her
49:53
servants to bring her little sandwich finger sandwiches and little sweet treats. She then started inviting her
49:59
friends to that. It kind of took off and became a big kind of thing, but it's really for rich people and upper class.
50:05
So, it was all about nice little sandwiches, nice little dainty cakes, little scon. Uh, and it was a way of
50:10
tidying you over between sort of lunch and big formal dinners you were having at 8 o'clock at night when you'd get all dressed up and have your butlers and
50:17
whatever serving you. High tea is what working people would have when they came home from work. So it was late afternoon
50:25
tea early evening and it was a big substantial meal. You came back from the factories from the fields you were
50:30
hungry. It was a big substantial meal. So cruise many cruise lines many US hotels and it does my head in call it
50:38
high tea. I know said in the US it's become called high tea and it's incorrect. It's only high tea if you
50:44
have a substantial uh main course effectively. Now it's very interesting as you can tell I'm
50:51
passionate about this. Uh I'm going to look up the menu here. So for example, what was very interesting in the Seavoi
50:58
is they they and I don't think you might be able to see this. Not sure if you can see that or not.
51:04
Probably focus on the menu. For example, they had afternoon tea. You could have
51:11
afternoon tea or you could convert that into a high tea. So the afternoon tea,
51:18
you had your sandwiches. If you here, you saw the picture, you had your little fiddly cakes, then you had your scon.
51:24
Afternoon tea, you would get your sandwiches, savory bites, blah blah blah. But you would then get a duck
51:30
breast with beetroot and blackberries. You know, it's fat market. Or you would get a fish dish. So you had a main
51:36
course to it. So anyway, thank you Jeffrey. As you I'm very uh passionate about this. So afternoon tea and high
51:43
tea are different things. So when you go to like I was where was I in I was in New York recently and uh I think it was
51:50
the intercontinental stuff for advertising high tea and it was not high tea. It was afternoon tea. Uh lots of
51:56
cruise lines call it high tea. I have not found any cruise line and doesn't mean that there isn't one that does real
52:04
high tea because you should have like a big hearty uh main course there. So, thank you Jeffrey for letting me rant on
52:11
my um rant on my um one of my hobby horses.
52:18
Caroline very kindly said that I'm not love training but not as good as Gary. Thank you very trend is great. Um I
52:24
really like well I've never met him in person but we often message each other particularly when he's on trips um and I'm on trips and stuff. We kind of
52:31
compare some notes um as well. He's a really nice guy. Um if you haven't watched him he's great. Um Kenneth um
52:39
didn't miss that. Remember please uh write the word question so I don't miss it. But I didn't miss Kenneth's
52:45
question. I would like to take a Kuno transatlantic to New York this spring and summer. Never been on a cruise but
52:51
I'm computer savvy. Should I use a travel agent or the Kunard site? Pros and cons, which one? Okay, Kenneth, I
52:56
will also put I'm going to put I'll I'll going to put make a note for myself. I'm going to put a link
53:04
to an article on this topic in this note. So maybe like 5 10 minutes after this if you want to dive into a bit
53:10
more. I'll put a link to an article which also recommends some travel agents by the way. Um so basically Kenneth um I
53:16
would always personally even though I do you know 10 to 11 cruises a year I've been done it I book all my cruises
53:24
through a travel agent travel agent Sarah and a couple of things um the article
53:31
dives it a bit more but a couple of headline things. First of all uh cruise lines will never undercut travel agents.
53:38
Travel agents, depending on the country, still account for between 60 and 70% of
53:43
all cruise bookings are through travel agents. In some countries, that percentage is increasing. The travel
53:48
agents are incredibly important to cruise lines. Um, they spend a lot of money and effort with travel agents. And
53:54
the reason they're keen on travel agents is because travel agents can spend time with their clients making sure that they
54:00
understand what they want, what their budget is, they get on the right line, the right ship, the right cabin. So
54:05
basically they they'll help guide people through the process. So it's more than just being computer savvy. Now obviously
54:10
you know you want to go kunar transatlantic and so on and so forth. You can watch YouTube videos and figure out do you want to go Bratannia inside
54:16
cabin do you want to go grill etc etc but they will never undercut. So you
54:21
will never get a lower price by going direct. So unlike say if you book with the Hilton you will not get a better
54:27
price going direct. Now, sometimes you can get a better price by going through a travel agent because sometimes cruise
54:33
lines will uh work with travel agents to clear um cabins. They don't want to
54:38
advertise it on the site because they know if they advertise on the site, they'll everyone will do what Gary Benbridge and other people recommend is
54:44
they'll fair track. The minute they bring prices down on their site, anyone who's booked at the higher price will
54:50
start phoning them, contacting them asking for a fair match. So if they are looking to clear cabins uh bulk of
54:57
cabins on setting they sometimes give more attractive prices to travel agents because it's hidden if you like. Now
55:02
these days that ships are selling quite full and particularly on transatlantics which generally sell full that's less likely but sometimes you might find
55:08
there's a more there's a promotion there with uh you know you know extra onboard credit or bits and pieces like that. So
55:15
you're going to get that if you go through a travel agent. Um but they can help guide you particularly for for a
55:20
first time first-time buyer. So you're never going to pay more which is one of the things that people worry about and
55:25
they will guide you through. Now also occasionally and I don't know if this is but I know I've had it with Sarah is
55:32
you'll say right I want an inside cabin or midship or whatever. Sometimes she will come back and say I can see on the
55:39
site what cabins are available but some she can come back in her system and say actually I I she'll see more cabins.
55:44
I've just seen that sometimes on some cruise lines is they will show you a selection of cabins, but travel agents
55:50
can normally see all the cabins that are available. So you might find sometimes cabins that aren't showing up online are
55:56
showing up to them. Now obviously you can phone uh Kunard as well. Um then if
56:02
if there is if you do see Kunard prices go down, you can talk to the travel agent. They can see if they can get you
56:08
extra on credit or an upgrade or whatever. Kunard are very difficult when it comes to fair. don't really like to
56:14
be seen to doing that. Sometimes through a travel agent, you might get something uh there. So, I would always recommend
56:20
it. I don't know if you're doing uh to New York, maybe UK based. Um I would strongly recommend SE travel agent
56:26
Sarah, but in that article um Kenneth, I dive a little bit into all the pros and cons and I do have some suggestions on
56:33
travel agents uh as as well. um if that if if you're looking for a specific
56:39
traveling because finding the right a lot of people then come back to me and say like my traveling is rubbish. So I also don't encourage people to go to uh
56:46
I like encourage people to work with travel agents like travel agent Sarah, Walter, Gary and so on in in the US who
56:54
largely work for themselves. So like Sarah and and Walter for example, they're part of a they work for
56:59
themselves. They live or die based on how happy their clients are. And they're part of a you know of a travel group who does all of the back office, negotiate
57:06
the deals, do the billing, have all the licenses and the I don't know whatever
57:12
else you need to have. Um so so but they Sarah Walter and so on they live or die
57:19
by how happy people are who book. So I I discourage people from doing going through more kind of companies if you
57:25
like where people are employees. Uh that's just my particular view. Um, let's have a look. Um,
57:33
let's have a look. I feel there was a uh
57:39
Okay, so Ry's talking about they're doing Crystal. Um, so Crystal, uh, I think will be great doing doing that
57:45
South America trip for sure. Um,
57:51
uh, dogs dad, very cute looking dog there. My wife and older sister, active
57:56
seniors, want to go to each on river cruise. I'm not comfortable with that choice. Am I overconerned? Okay. So, you
58:02
know, Egypt is uh you know uh certainly I can understand why you're concerned.
58:08
Um I would strongly encourage you if you are looking at um them going is to go
58:13
with a company perhaps like Viking for example where um where you know they
58:20
will do a lot of handholding. So Viking for example will meet them at the airport. Now, one of the things I seem
58:26
to remember with Viking, but don't quote me on this, but you can double check this, is if you book the whole thing
58:31
through Viking, uh, I seem to remember there was Viking reps before you hit
58:37
immigration and they will help walk you through the immigration process. You got to get a visa when you arrive and stuff,
58:43
whatever, or if you haven't got one before, they will then kind of escort you to a hotel. They'll have chosen very
58:48
careful hotels with good security. Uh, they'll always everything you do will be within that bubble. So all the land
58:54
touring you do in Cairo escorting you through the internal flights down to Luxaw on the ship. Uh all the tours will
59:01
be have the right security. They will also help with uh you know when you go on tours warning you how do you deal
59:06
with the the the the the vendors and stuff can be quite pushy and so on but
59:11
there is some security challenges with it. But I would strongly encourage that uh look at a line like Viking. So very
59:19
protective very organized and so on. Uh I did it with Amma waterways very similar. They met you kind of at the
59:25
airport. So from that point of arrival right to getting to the airport they were kind of with you with me the whole
59:30
and the group the whole way. Uh you also traveling with a group of people um and so on. So uh the other thing I would say
59:37
though is why don't you also look at escorted tours? So I don't know where you're based. I'm guessing calling it
59:44
active senior is suggesting me you might be US-based. Take a look at a company like TAC.
59:51
um who do incredible hosted tours. So the advantage with that is they will those hosted tours will often start from
59:58
you know from if you're flying out from wherever often the the the host may join you right at the very beginning of the
1:00:05
tour. So even through that whole process they're with you. So again you're in kind of this bubble as it were. That's
1:00:10
what I would I would uh recommend is is you know an active tour. So you've got talc I guess in the UK you've got things
1:00:17
like saga uh titan uh abbercoming and Kent those kind of things that's what I
1:00:22
would recommend is so you're within kind of that sort of bubble right we're rapidly running out of so let's see if I
1:00:29
can do a couple of quick quick fire things um Elizabeth Hurley I'm sure with
1:00:35
that name I think I've before hopefully when you phone up you get all sorts of uh people think it's the Elizabeth Hurley um and are um get lots of perks
1:00:43
from that anyway Okay, we have a Viking expedition article 2028. What is the best time to visit during the cruising
1:00:48
season? Personally, Elizabeth, I like the beginning of the season, so I like November. It's full of ice. I mean, it's
1:00:54
more risky because of the ice. Uh, it's very pristine, so even the penguin colonies and stuff aren't full of
1:00:59
penguin poo yet. Um, a lot of people prefer to go a little bit later, sort of as you head into January time because
1:01:06
the little chicks are more out. Um, but certainly at the beginning of the season is also mating season. So, particular if
1:01:11
you go to like South Georgia and stuff, you're going to see a lot of wildlife out on the beaches and stuff like that.
1:01:16
If you go right at the end of the season, which I've also done before, the colonies can be a little bit smaller because they've basically sort of head
1:01:24
back out to see ready for for winter. Um, but I really like the beginning of the season a lot. Um, I really really
1:01:32
like that a lot. Um, let's have a look. So, people saying
1:01:37
they actually preferred virgin over that. Uh, where do you get the Q? I think I've answered that one. It's quite
1:01:43
difficult to look on eBay. Uh, let's try and let's try let's do one more quick
1:01:48
question before we wrap. Simbal Min, good to see you here as always. As Navigator is now going to remain with
1:01:54
region 7C's. So, yes, for those who don't know, Navigator was going to leave the fleet. It was Judas joined Crescent
1:02:00
Seas be revamped. Uh, they then pulled out of their leases for both Insignia
1:02:05
from Oceanania and Navigator. region has said that Navigator is going to go through revamp and stay with the line.
1:02:12
Do you think it worth a try to compare to other ships of the fleet? What are the quirks? Um, Navigator,
1:02:18
no. Unless there's a specific itinerary. Navigator does have some quite
1:02:24
interesting itineraries, but you know, it's it's a quite it's a bit older ship. I quite like the ship. It's quite has
1:02:30
quite a lot of vibration. So you want to avoid booking a cab towards the back even if like even if you go in the you
1:02:35
know to the buffet at the back or you go like veranda it's called yeah and or you
1:02:40
go to uh sedimear you know there's quite a lot of vibration at the back so kind of you don't want to be camera the back
1:02:46
so it's it's kind of a dated chip it's quite old they're going to revamp it but I would only go on it if there's a very
1:02:53
specific itinerary. So, I was booked on navigator because I really wanted that uh West Africa itinerary, but I wouldn't
1:02:59
go just to compare the other ships in the fleet because the other it cost the same and the other ships basically are
1:03:05
much better. It's kind of very quick. You don't get as much choice. You don't have as many especially dining uh you
1:03:10
know the the theater much smaller ship. It's 450 passengers. Uh it might be 435.
1:03:16
I can't remember exact number. So, I wouldn't go just to try it. No, I'm very interested because I I can't see the
1:03:22
navigator. stay with them for massively uh very very long. Um Oceanana Jeff
1:03:29
asking a question. Oshania have afternoon tea very good. How have afternoon tea less good? Um but the
1:03:34
ocean of afternoon tea is uh is fantastic. So we have run out of time. I know there's some questions here that
1:03:40
I've missed. Um I will have a look at those questions. Hopefully we can get to answer them next week. Just a reminder
1:03:45
next week I will do a live stream. We'll be at the usual time. So 5:00 UK, 1:00
1:03:50
Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. uh Pacific time. This that will be the last live stream
1:03:56
of 2025. So I hope that you can join me there. I'll hopefully get to answer those other questions. Uh so have a
1:04:02
great rest of the weekend. Thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for the fantastic questions and take care.
1:04:16
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