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l look at the 7 worst pieces of cruise advice that I hear, or see, being given to cruise passengers all the time – and what I you should do instead, and why.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
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if i'd followed these seven pieces of
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cruise advice on recent cruises i
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wouldn't have made it to one i'd have
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over paid for another i'd have booked
0:07
the wrong cabin i'd have bought things i
0:09
never needed and
0:11
much worse as you'll discover welcome
0:13
aboard i'm gary bembridge and here's
0:15
what cruise advice you should ignore and
0:18
why susan a first-time cruiser emailed
0:21
me last week saying she'd booked a
0:23
cruise directly with one of the premium
0:25
lines only to see it much cheaper via an
0:29
online travel agent a few days later the
0:31
cruise line would not match that price
0:34
when she asked them to susan had
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followed some advice she'd seen saying
0:37
book direct as she would get the best
0:40
price that way unlike hotels like say
0:42
the hilton group who promised that they
0:44
will give you a better deal when booking
0:46
direct this is not
0:48
true in cruising at all booking via
0:51
travel agent will get you at worst
0:54
the exact same fare and quite often
0:57
cheaper with more added extras for
0:59
example that's one reason that i always
1:01
do it agents are extremely important to
1:04
the cruise line for the amount of
1:05
bookings they generate and they do not
1:08
and never undercut them they often even
1:10
give them special promotions to offer
1:12
their clients only or the agents reduce
1:15
prices or they might add extras by
1:17
cutting into their own commissions the
1:19
other problem with booking direct in my
1:21
view even if you're allocated a
1:22
so-called personal cruise advisor is in
1:25
my experience and from the many many
1:27
messages i get is you are in fact
1:29
dealing with a call center whose role is
1:31
to sell
1:33
take and process bookings it often means
1:36
long wait times when calling the teams
1:38
i've found are often not well informed
1:41
because i think they actually only get
1:42
updates on cancellations or changes to
1:44
protocols or new itineraries when it's
1:46
actually just released to us the public
1:49
at the same time i find that using a
1:52
travel agent they can handle all your
1:53
queries they can get accurate answers i
1:56
don't have to call the line i don't have
1:58
to hold on i can just leave it all up to
2:00
my agent to sort it all out agents
2:03
certainly in my experience seem to have
2:05
different contacts with the lines who
2:07
have more information and importantly
2:09
the ability to make decisions don't
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though just move from booking direct to
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booking via an online cruise travel
2:15
agent because that also basically means
2:17
a call center no individual contact and
2:20
all the same problems i work with a real
2:23
live one person i can call like an email
2:25
i can meet in my case it's sarah bolton
2:27
of travel counselors many of my us
2:30
followers use gary pluck of red travel
2:32
but having an actual person is key and
2:35
make sure by the way that they are
2:37
cruisers and definitely cruise experts i
2:40
was recently following a couple just off
2:43
a viking river cruise who was stranded
2:46
in amsterdam's skipper airport this
2:48
happened when british airways had some
2:50
bit of an it meltdown and they cancelled
2:52
loads and loads of flights they booked
2:54
their own flights and were now
2:55
desperately trying to contact the
2:58
overwhelmed airline line up in long
3:00
customer service queues and they were
3:02
getting really really stressed now if
3:04
they had booked their flights by the
3:06
cruise line then the line would have
3:09
done all of that and found new flights
3:11
to get home they could have sat back
3:13
waited and left it to them now if you
3:16
wrongly for example in my view flying on
3:18
the day of your cruise and flight delays
3:21
mean you miss the departure of the ship
3:22
but again had booked flights by the line
3:25
they will arrange to get you to join the
3:27
ship at the first port importantly
3:29
covering all of those costs now i used
3:31
to book my own flights and pre-stay
3:34
hotels but no longer if the cruise line
3:37
flight and hotels are more costly than
3:39
booking myself my travel agent then
3:41
builds a package of flights and hotels
3:43
which certainly in the uk through the
3:44
atoll package tour rules provides that
3:47
same protection so in my flights for
3:49
example by amsterdam panama city to join
3:51
oceano crews were cancelled at really
3:54
short notice she had to find new flights
3:56
to get me there on time for the cruise
3:58
this ended up being by madrid and iberia
4:00
it cost much much more but it didn't
4:02
cost me anything more because the
4:03
package requires them to get me there on
4:05
time within the price i paid if i'd
4:07
booked myself that would not have been
4:09
the case so again check if you use an
4:11
agent instead of the line to book your
4:13
flights that will be the case too cabin
4:15
choice is very personal and while your
4:18
decision must be based on what works for
4:20
you and your budget there is some really
4:23
poor advice around cabins that i plead
4:26
for you to consider if you follow the
4:27
advice to book a guaranteed cabin in
4:30
your chosen category inside ocean view
4:33
balcony or suite and let the cruise line
4:35
allocated first check if it is actually
4:38
cheaper for example the default on
4:41
holland america who i just booked a
4:42
japanese cruise on is a guaranteed cabin
4:45
however for the same price i could
4:47
actually choose my own cabin second
4:50
will you be okay if the cabin that's
4:53
allocated to you is above the nightclub
4:55
with music into the early hours or below
4:57
the pool deck where as i found when i
4:59
last took a guaranteed cabin i was woken
5:01
early mornings by scraping of deck
5:03
chairs as it was set up if those kind of
5:05
things don't bother you then do it if
5:07
they do then don't and next be sure you
5:10
do not mind where on the ship you are
5:12
for example if you are prone to
5:14
seasickness it may be better to book and
5:16
choose a cabin midship rather than at
5:19
the front or rear with more movement
5:21
which you may get if you look a
5:23
guaranteed cabin now many people advise
5:25
accepting the auto upgrade option when
5:27
booking if you've chosen your cabin like
5:29
i do i don't because i usually don't
5:32
have the option to say yes or no to any
5:34
upgrade silver for example messaged me
5:36
recently she'd not opted out of auto
5:38
upgrade and was moved from her carefully
5:40
chosen midship cabin on norwegian into a
5:42
mini suite above a late night music
5:44
venue in front of the ship she didn't
5:46
have a great time because two of her
5:48
fears came true noise
5:50
and motion now i mentioned earlier
5:52
booking a japanese cruise it is for 18
5:56
months time this breaks one frequent
5:58
piece of advice to book late to get the
6:01
lowest fare the best advice is to book a
6:04
cruise at the right time and that
6:06
depends on which itinerary you're doing
6:09
and how flexible you're willing to be if
6:12
you're going on a caribbean or
6:14
mediterranean cruise the two biggest
6:16
cruising regions booking late often does
6:18
mean getting a lower fare almost every
6:21
cruise line sells in both every year the
6:24
itineraries and ports almost identical
6:26
and so there's lots of choice and lots
6:28
of capacity if you are flexible in these
6:31
two regions on which line when which
6:33
cabin grade and ports of call then
6:35
booking late to grab one of the fares to
6:38
ensure the ship sales full is great
6:40
advice alaska can sometimes offer good
6:43
late deals but it's much less certain
6:45
i've found for more exotic itineraries
6:47
with less choice and short seasons like
6:49
japan and definitely for new ships i
6:51
book when they come on sale or as far
6:54
ahead as possible because that's when
6:56
fares are best because they edge upwards
6:58
as a ship fills however no matter when
7:00
you book track the fare by setting track
7:03
alerts on sites like cruisewatch.com or
7:05
cruisecritic.com and if it falls below
7:08
your price contact the line and ask for
7:10
yours to be lowered too in the notes
7:12
there's a link to a blog post on how to
7:14
do this i got an email from john asking
7:16
if he should follow the advice he kept
7:18
seeing to buy a drinks package i told
7:21
him first check what drinks are included
7:23
in the fair more lines are now including
7:25
some drinks packages in their fares like
7:28
celebrity always included or some lines
7:30
offer fares that include them bundled
7:31
with other add-ons at lower costs like
7:34
for example holland america have at all
7:35
fairs and princess plus fares also many
7:38
lines include non-alcoholic cocktails
7:41
like for example on oceania i was on
7:42
recently so no need to buy a drinks
7:44
package if you're buying it for
7:45
non-alcoholic cocktails and then as
7:48
drinks packages can add a lot for
7:50
example on royal caribbean the deluxe
7:51
drinks package starts at 63
7:54
per day and everyone in the cabin must
7:57
buy it if one person does instead start
8:00
by using an online drinks package
8:02
calculator to see if it's cheaper or not
8:05
to buy a drinks package the two best
8:06
ones i've found are at cruiseless.com
8:09
and on cruisemummy.com
8:11
after norwegian escape was grounded
8:14
leaving the dominican republic in march
8:16
2022 passengers had to be flown home to
8:18
the united states where the crews had
8:20
started unfortunately many had followed
8:23
advice to travel without a passport and
8:25
to use other identification this is
8:27
possible for u.s citizens on caribbean
8:30
cruises that start and end in the united
8:32
states however for them their return was
8:36
really delayed because the u.s embassy
8:38
then had to work on getting them
8:39
emergency passports adding a lot of
8:41
stress upsets and delays you never know
8:44
what can happen you or one of your party
8:46
may fall ill or you perhaps need to get
8:48
back home from one of the islands during
8:50
a cruise because of some issue at home
8:53
my advice is to get passports or take
8:55
them if you have them now in the us a
8:57
passport card for example allowing
8:59
return to the us by land or sea from
9:01
canada mexico bermuda and the caribbean
9:05
currently only costs 30 us dollars a
9:07
full passport for first timers is 130
9:11
i have never touched wood being seasick
9:14
on a cruise despite the many many
9:15
cruises that i've done even in rough
9:17
seas crossing the atlantic and winter on
9:19
the queen mary 2 and on drake passage on
9:22
the penance lyrial that's because i
9:25
ignore the advice to not worry about
9:28
getting motion sickness a lot of people
9:29
say don't worry about it because the
9:31
risk is low on modern ships but before
9:33
every cruise i bring and take for me
9:36
dramamine so that's motion sickness
9:38
prevention before we set sail i always
9:40
choose a midship cabin where i possibly
9:42
can because movement is the least there
9:44
and i also know that the medical center
9:46
can offer me a much more powerful
9:48
solution through an injection if i do
9:50
get c6 that gives me added reassurance
9:52
so while newer and bigger ships do move
9:54
about less in many ocean conditions due
9:57
to their size and improved technology
9:59
they still can
10:01
move about a lot in rough seas and that
10:03
can happen anytime on any itinerary so
10:06
if you are prone to motion sickness or
10:08
are concerned my best advice is to book
10:10
a cabin as low down as you can in the
10:12
middle of the ship and take either
10:14
medication or the behind the ear
10:16
medicated patches that are available
10:18
normally from pharmacies some of them do
10:20
have to be prescribed i have never used
10:22
them but what i would say is the doctor
10:25
all the crew and the expedition team on
10:27
my antarctica trip did and they sell the
10:30
roughest seas in the world for four
10:32
months of the year so that probably says
10:34
everything about what works if you found
10:36
this interesting i want to know seven
10:38
more things that other smart cruisers do
10:40
watch this video where i start with the
10:43
most helpful thing i learned from them
10:46
see you over there
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