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0:09
[Music] Hello everybody and welcome to the live.
0:14
Here I am back in London. Just arrived back yesterday uh from my land trip to
0:20
Vegas and Palm Springs. Great to see so many people joining. Hi and uh so it's
0:27
really good to see everybody. I've got some sound feedback. I had some problems with the mic bit earlier, but it seems to be working now when I was doing
0:33
setup. So, hopefully that's all working fine. Um, so let's have a look. Loads of
0:39
people coming in, so I will say hello as we go. Just a couple of housekeeping bits and pieces. Just a reminder, this
0:46
is live, so it's entirely driven by the questions that I get asked by the people
0:51
here. If you're watching this afterwards, uh, which is fantastic. Um uh just remember this is completely
0:57
driven by the questions I get asked. It's not a regular video. Um I do bring up the questions as we go through. So
1:04
you should be able to skip through if that's what you want to do and see um uh
1:09
you know kind of see the questions jump ahead uh and so on. Just reminder if you do have a question please write the word
1:17
question uh so that I can spot the questions easier um amongst all the
1:24
various citing and chatting. So a couple of um bits and pieces um I as I
1:29
mentioned I'm just back from a landbased cruise. I often get asked on these lives uh you do do I do lives or don't sorry
1:36
do I do landbased trips or not? Um I do and one of the things that are always reminded when I go on a land trip is
1:43
unlike when I go on a cruise I always put on weight on a landbased trip. Uh so when I got a cruise I really put
1:50
on a weight maybe a pound here or something like that and it's because you can also eat lots obviously and eat
1:56
really well but you can eat salads and um fish and whatever and I exercise lots
2:02
because of course the gym is just there on a land based trip like we were in Airbnb so we would do go to the gym a couple of times but it's quite
2:08
complicated. You have to drive there and you have to book um you know passes and
2:14
all that sort of stuff. So, it's just interesting coming back with the challenge from vacation putting on weight, but you're probably not
2:19
interested in that. So, let's get stuck into the questions. Question from see the world. Good to see
2:25
you here. And, uh, I think there's a follow on question. So, um, have been
2:31
following you even when you were posting hotel reviews. So, that's Wow, that's a very long time because that's when I first started out posting hotels are
2:38
staying in. Always knew ocean was your favorite line after visiting all the new lines and changes across so many. What's
2:44
your top fave? So, Oceanana was never um actually my favorite line. I did speak very highly of Oceanania um but it was
2:51
sort of one of the top. I get asked a lot um what is my favorite line or
2:56
favorite lines and I'm going to give you an answer. I'll tell you kind of my sort of top mix of those. But I actually
3:02
don't have a favorite cruise line because a lot of that is driven by where
3:09
I'm going and who I'm going with and what I'm really looking for from the itinerary. So I am quite itinerary
3:15
driven and obviously uh because of the channel I will travel on many lines that
3:21
maybe are not the lines I would normally go on. So, you know, next year I've booked things like on Norwegian, the
3:26
Aqua Ship, which I really want to try out both for research purposes, for the channel purposes, but it may not be the
3:33
the top. So, in terms of my favorite lines, if I was cruising only for me or
3:40
cruising with me and say Mark, I would probably still have Oceanania as one of
3:45
those kind of top lines there because it's quite a nice mix between it's a small enough ships kind of 1,200 because
3:52
they obviously jettisoning most of those small ships. So, it's a nice size ship. Uh they have very interesting itineraries. They have good food, but
3:59
they do have because of the size they have big enough shows. They have a good, you know, decent size casino, enough
4:06
choice, you know, dining choices and that sort of stuff and itineraries are pretty good. So, actually Oceanania is
4:12
my next but one trip which we're going from Sydney across all the islands to
4:18
I'm going the wrong way uh to uh French Polynesia. So, really interesting itinerary which not many uh lines do it
4:25
with that intensity. I do really enjoy going on Regent. Uh if when the budget
4:31
allows, we can get good deals. Like my next cruise I'm going on is Regent Cruise. Got a very good deal on that. Um
4:37
I do really like even a smaller ship. Again, very interesting itineraries. Uh good food. Um you know, but then it's
4:44
very much about the itinerary. I do also always have a great time on Holland America. So I've got a lot of Holland
4:51
America trips. Next year I've got my group cruise and then I'm spending a month on Holland America on um Stadam.
4:59
But I always have a good time on Holland America. You know their ships, the sort of Vista class ships especially. Although I do like the newer ships about
5:06
2,000 passengers, you know, you have lots of uh you know, more stuff going on, good enrichment and stuff like that.
5:12
Um so let me think of the sort of the resort things. I probably do lean more towards Norwegian uh of those kind of
5:21
groups of those. I do quite like Norwegian from an entertainment perspective. Um so it sort of depends a
5:27
little bit on where I'm going. Kunard has used to be one of my tops. It's not really anymore. Um other than the
5:33
transatlantic um I feel they kind of I'm not sure that they really deliver. I
5:39
know the Queen's Grill is amazing, but for the price of Queen's Grill, you can go if you are going to go on Queen's
5:45
Grill, you can go on a silver sea, a seaborn or whatever. So, that's probably a mix. I don't sure I've quite answered
5:51
your question that that well. John asking the question about which cruise line shows you more of the west coast of
5:57
Africa. So, there's a couple there. I I know see the world has answered that as well, but there's a couple of lines that
6:03
do pretty good itineraries. regent if your budget stretches that far have a very nice West Africa itinerary that was
6:09
one that I had booked on but actually canled it because um some of the ports
6:16
they were calling on again come back to the point they go to lots of ports in West Africa but two two of the ports
6:21
required a yellow fever vaccine and actually if you head into South Africa
6:26
which is where it ends if you've been to any ports or countries that require yellow fever you also have a yellow
6:32
fever vaccine now you can get dispensation certificates again said consider my oncologist um was adamant that I
6:39
shouldn't have the yellow fever. Also when I spoke to him again anyone over 60 is is not really recommended the yellow
6:45
fever vaccine. Now if you've had yellow fever at any age that Whoops my drink over there um that still applies changes
6:53
if you've ever had it in your 20s or 30s it applies. I'm sure I may have had it but I couldn't find any record of it. So
6:59
they my point being that they have very intensive. Now I've seen some other itineries. I was looking some alternatives. There's Oceanania did one.
7:06
I think someone mentioned Azamara um did some quite nice itineraries and you will
7:12
find there are a couple of the so they tend to be the smaller more luxury ships. So obviously that's quite
7:17
expensive from a budget perspective but there is Holland America do a very interesting Africa itinerary. Now they
7:25
do a whole big loop of Africa. So it's quite a big uh you know that's a long
7:30
trip and probably may include parts of Africa that you don't want but that you may be able to buy a leg of that. Uh
7:37
also Norwegian if again looking from a budget perspective when they often base a ship out of South Africa now they're
7:43
changing some of their uh where they're basing ships so they may not do this anymore but obviously to get the ship
7:49
down they're heading down uh West Africa but certainly you know look Azamara Ocean some of those smaller ship lines
7:57
you know Silver Sea uh region they all do it as well. So unfortunately they all tend to be a little bit more on the
8:02
pricey side because I guess also being smaller ships makes more sense. But Azamara could be a nice kind of combo
8:08
there. Although they are pretty pricey. Is here. Welcome back. Lady Golfer um as
8:14
well back from Palm Springs base. Bill, this is an interesting question. Bill
8:19
asks, I'm looking at cruises that offer free or reduced airfare for booking with them. Is this a good deal? in reality
8:26
bill you won't really find any that include it as such but what you will
8:31
find so if you so uh regent uh so again
8:37
way you know high budget level they are probably the only line now that silvercy have changed it that do include some air
8:44
fairs within their price but in reality you're paying for it anyway because if you ask to strip out the airfare you get
8:49
a very kind of low credit uh low dispensation for that Um, but what you
8:55
will find is a lot of cruise lines will offer you to add on airfare. So, uh, and
9:01
they may give you a price. Now, when I've looked at that, it's not normally that much cheaper or if it is cheaper,
9:07
it's because they're doing very complicated routings. So, I often strip it out. So, I was once doing a trip um,
9:14
where I was looking if I compared what the routing was the cruise line was offering. It was going to to Cape Town,
9:20
they're off of this very complicated route where I can go direct. The same when I was doing uh you know I needed to
9:27
get to Santiago when I was doing home in America. Their rooting again had me rooting via via when I could go direct
9:34
and again it wasn't a particularly good deal. So very few cruise lines now bundle it in. What you could do though,
9:40
Bill, based on where you are, is um certainly in the UK there's a couple of
9:45
cruise companies, sorry, cruise agencies tend to be a little bit more online agencies in the UK. There's companies
9:52
like Bulchover Cruises.co.uk and what they do um is they bundle trips
9:58
together. So they they get a they get a group rate from the cruise line and then they will bundle in a flight uh
10:05
pre-postay stuff and the cruise and they can be very good value. Um so another one is
10:11
love it book it um which they also on they have a they they run like an
10:16
avitorial show on on satellite and cable TV which I love watching see what
10:21
they're doing but they have very good bundles. So look at kind of bundles uh as well in the US. I'm sure there's
10:28
similar ones as well if you're in the US, but you don't find generally speaking that cruise lines uh will
10:34
include the the FA. What I have seen, and it might be worth looking out, Bill,
10:39
as we head into um the Black Friday sale period, and certainly the wave season,
10:46
which is the beginning of the year of Christmas, is when the cruise lines go heavy into running activities to
10:51
encourage people to book. uh particularly now they're releasing a lot of their new itineraries and then in
10:57
Black Friday they will do lots of deals. Have a look out if any of those are offering kind of uh flight credits
11:03
because I have seen that happen. I have seen that happen uh sometimes.
11:09
Jonathan, uh good to see you here. Thoughts on Alaska cruise? A 9-day Norwegian Joy
11:16
Hubbed Glacia versus a 7-day Royal Princess Glacia Bay about the same
11:21
price. So, Jonathan, a couple of watch outs I would have um and then I'll give you my my view is if you take a look at
11:28
the Norwegian cruise line. Now, if it's a 9day, it may be that Seattle to
11:34
Seattle uh cruise. So, I'd also look at where it's going from and I would then take a look at how many of those days,
11:41
those nine days you're actually in Alaska as such. One of the watch outs on
11:46
some of the Norwegian itineraries out of Seattle is you'll see obviously if it's
11:51
going out of Seattle they have to call into normally Victoria uh but also
11:57
because it has longer to get there and get back uh they have to call into Victoria because of the Passenger services vehicles act in the US which
12:04
requires them to call in a foreign port. They can't just go porttoport. So first of all have a look at how many days
12:10
you're actually in Alaska and compare it to the Royal Princess trip. um which I'm guessing if it's seven days is probably
12:16
out of Vancouver. Uh but also then take a look at how long you're in each of the
12:22
ports because one of the things I I I took some friends of mine out of doing a Norwegian trip, but I don't think it was
12:28
on Joy is when we looked at the time they're in port, they're in ports for relatively short amounts of time.
12:34
They're in Juno like from 7 a.m. to one o'clock uh and stuff like that. So they didn't have as much time in port to do
12:40
things. So I would take a look at that as well before that. Now Hubbed Glacia is pretty magnificent. Uh so you know
12:48
Glacia Bay for me is still kind of the jewel in the crown. You see a number of great glacias but Hubbed Glacias is very
12:54
beautiful. Um I don't know if they offer the Norwegian offer the excursion where a little boat comes and about 150 people
13:01
can go out even closer. Uh keep an eye out for that if it is. So that would be my watch out is just take a look at how
13:08
long you're in between the two. Um if the Norwegian trip is giving you more days in Alaska and is also ticking off
13:15
Juno, Skagway um and Ketchacan because although they're very touristic and they
13:22
very called on though they're calling them for a good reason, there's some great excursions there. If they call on those three, they're import for a long
13:28
time and you're in Alaskamore. I would go with with that that particular uh routing.
13:34
Um the the Yeah, I'm trying to think there's anything else there. Obviously,
13:39
there's a difference between Princess is sort of premium class, Norwegian is more resort class, but depending what cabin
13:46
you're in, you could find the prices are relatively relatively similar. Um, happy
13:52
Thanksgiving to Canadian brothers and sisters. Uh, so it's I guess it's Canadian Thanksgiving. That's so uh then
13:58
um uh definitely happy Thanksgiving. Mary Smith, we're taking our first
14:04
cruise in the spring. Exciting. Queen Mary 2 to Southampton and then we plan to rent a place in Bologna for a month.
14:11
Is it possible for me to rent a tux on board the Queen Mary 2? So Mary there is uh they do have a tux rental service uh
14:19
on board. However, I I wouldn't let what I would suggest if your husband has a
14:25
dark suit or a suit and tie in reality that is perfectly fine. He doesn't have to wear a tux. So if he's got a suit uh
14:33
you know if it's a dark suit even better. But if he's got a suit and a tie already in the cupboard, uh take that
14:39
with you and that will absolutely be perfectly fine for uh formal nights.
14:44
Also, what's important to note is um although it hasn't been that public, if you look at the the latest
14:52
uh dress code for Kunard, you'll actually see that on formal nights, they have shifted that to be uh uh optional.
15:01
It used to be required. said before if you didn't wear formal wear you were not allowed into the main restaurants but
15:07
certainly and I guess they change it back but certainly what they now have is it's more optional so you could theoretically also wear smart dress uh
15:14
on four nights but certainly suit and tie 100% fine if he wants to
15:20
get a tux and rent it they do have that on board it's in the shop uh the shops they they have it there um and so that's
15:27
that's fine Louis here which is great Jeff is here good to see you Jeff as Well, um,
15:34
Caroline missed it. Let's have a look. Um, lots of lots of people been traveling by the way. So, Tom, uh,
15:42
watching from Facebook. Just reminder, when I do live stream, this live stream goes out on LinkedIn and also goes out
15:48
on Facebook. Some apparently there's a slight delay, but Tom was certainly on Crystal Serenity. I guess when we did
15:54
the last uh, one, but one when I was in Palm Springs, I think you were just
15:59
boarding that as well. Um Warren asked you the question around um
16:07
do you book your future region cruises on board to get additional benefits? So Warren, what I do try and do as much as
16:14
possible is um because I plan my cruises way out in advance. So like I'm I'm
16:20
filling I've got beginning and end of 27 already done. I haven't got the middle quite sorted yet. So I sort of scope out
16:26
what I want the what I want those to be and then I sort of have looked ahead. So, if I know that I'm I have another
16:32
Regent trip lined up, I will actually sort of um uh and you know, there's not
16:37
a better deal going because some of there's other deals going, you know, early like Regent does early booking
16:42
deals uh where you get pre and post days included for example or a one category
16:47
upgrade. So, if that that to me often outweighs waiting till I'm bought. But if normally I do is I'll wait until I'm
16:54
on board to book it. Now I can't remember on regent specifically but if I
17:00
I know I want to go on that line like a regent but I haven't locked it in because they haven't released the
17:05
itineraries I would buy the the voucher. So for example when I was on Silver Sea
17:11
I knew that there was another itinerary that that they had done in they were
17:16
doing in 25 and they were doing in 26 but they hadn't released 27 yet but I
17:22
wanted to do that and I knew specifically I wanted to do on Silver Whisper. Um, so what I did on board is I bought you you could pay I think it was
17:29
$500 US for me it was 300 UK pounds and it would give me the extra 5% discount
17:35
the ability to change the uh the um the booking at least once which in the UK is
17:41
quite good because you often can't do that without a penalty and I think that's some extra onboard credit not a lot of onboard credit so I bought that
17:48
certificate they then released the itineraries and then I could use that to to get to get to get the deal so it's a
17:54
long way answering the question but generally speaking if there's an itinerary that I know that I want to do
17:59
I will I look I keep an eye on any promotions because sometimes region do really good promotions so just watch out
18:05
for that um you know often with regions you can get the grade up they're running a promotion at the moment back to the
18:11
question around flights in the UK where they're adding business class flights
18:16
into uh into their offer where normally you'd get an economycl
18:21
class flight for their all-inclusive fair you argue that may outweigh uh that
18:27
might outweigh the benefit of booking on board. Uh Genevieve asking the question,
18:32
what is the minimum amount of time left in the UK passport for travel to Spain and Morocco? Genevie, off hand, I do not
18:38
know the answer, but um I'm going to tell you how you can double check this, but I generally speaking, if you go
18:44
anywhere, it's normally 6 months that they want before the end of a passport. So the general rule of thumb I always
18:51
try to make sure that I've got at least 6 months before I go into any place. But
18:56
what I also do Genevieve is I would go to the foreign office. So type into Google FCO so foreign and comworth
19:04
office but put in FCO Spain or FCO Morocco and uh that will then bring up
19:11
the page for that and there's a thing called entry requirements and in there it will tell you the latest. So I always
19:17
rely on that before I go on a trip because they constantly update that. You can also what you can do if you're going
19:23
to Spain or Morocco maybe in a dis a while on that page you can then ask to be updated if that page gets changed. So
19:29
if anything on the entry requirement change they email you. So I've used that quite a lot in the past. Um so um that's
19:36
one thing. The second thing to point out Genevieve is from today uh they the uh
19:44
the EU in the Shenhen zone is rolling out the EEC their new electronic
19:50
I forgot what EEC stands for but it's a new system. So when you go into a country for the first time so if you're
19:56
flying into Spain as a third country so a non-EU you're going to have to do the new thing where they take a picture and
20:02
your fingerprints. Uh so expect and you know expect things to move much slower
20:08
the u as they roll this out. I can't remember if Spain are going this Sunday or not. I think they might be. So when
20:14
you fly in it's going to be much slower. Um but then in once it's done they are
20:20
going to be hopefully be opening. You'll see when you go to airports now they've opened EU gates and non-EU gates. So
20:26
it'll eventually be like when you come into the UK you can use the gates. So it will speed it up. But just bear that in
20:31
mind as well. from next year they are going to then bring up their ESTA there where you have to get a you know like
20:37
you fly to the US you're going to have to pay uh in fact people to the UK have to do it now the electronic trans
20:44
electronic travel authorization but that hasn't rolled out yet but that EEC um is
20:50
is rolling out so I didn't ask your questions rule of thumb always have six months try to have you know five or six
20:56
pages blank which you won't really need there because the point of this new system is they're not going to stamp it um but that's the general thing, but
21:02
that FCO thing is uh is is the key thing.
21:08
Highland Cottage Books, I'm bidding on an upgrade to an atrium view on the
21:13
Queen Mary 2. Any strategy I should know about? So, yes, a couple of things there. And this is true of anybody who's
21:20
doing an upgrade. So, if you get an email which is um uh offering you an
21:27
upgrade like I'm my next trip uh I I'm giving them every couple of days to bid.
21:32
But first of all, it doesn't necessarily mean because you're being asked to bid that any that it exists because these
21:38
are automated emails. So, the fact that you're being offered ability to up bid on an upgrade to atrium view room
21:45
doesn't necessarily mean that one is available at all. What you could do is just go online, do a sort of a dummy
21:51
booking, put in the dates and have a look and see if atrium view rooms are coming up. So that'll give you a sense
21:57
if there's likely to be any. Now, of course, people may cancel, people who might to upgrade to another cabin, so it
22:03
may become free. But just have a look and see uh first of all if any are available. If they are available, look
22:11
at what it will cost if you were to upgrade what you've booked now to go into an atrium view. So say if you say
22:18
the difference between what you've paid now for your cabin is 100 and an atrium view is 200. Make sure that you do not
22:25
bid more than 100 because you could just upgrade yourself now without bidding. So
22:33
seeing what the price difference is gives you a sense of okay so the maximum I should probably bid is 100 because
22:39
that's you know why would you bid 100 anyway because you can just do it online. You can do it with your travel agent anyway. So always bid under that
22:45
amount because there's no point bidding over because even if you get it, you're going to kick it's dumb because you
22:50
could have done it, you know, could have just upgraded yourself. So also have a look and if you say actually I would be
22:57
more than happy to bid that 100 um just do it upgrade anyway because you're
23:03
happy to bid what it's going to cost you anyway if you know what I mean. So that's the key thing is may not exist.
23:08
Make sure you don't overpay for upgrade and bear in mind that it may not exist at all. So, for example,
23:16
um what I did for this region, I didn't want to upgrade because uh I've got like a a balcony cabin and they're all pretty
23:22
good on on regent ships and um you know the price per night is quite high. In fact, I got a pretty good deal so it's
23:28
not that high. Um but um I haven't upgraded but I also what I do now you know the thing what I always do is I go
23:35
and look at the layouts of the cabins where they are to make sure that I want them. Now you you obviously know the HM
23:41
views you you know what they are but one of the tactics I always look at where those are and make sure that you'd be happy to to to move to them. Um
23:51
let's have a look. Okay. A question about Vegas. Um
23:56
what shows did you see in Vegas? what is your preferred hotel? So, archery champion on this particular trip um we
24:03
went to see the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, which was fantastic. And I was pretty skeptical about it. Um but I did
24:10
want to see the sphere. I'd heard some good things about the Wizard of Oz. My mother-in-law was really keen to go and see it. So, we went to see it. It was
24:16
brilliant. It really was good. Obviously, seen the sphere was fantastic. Uh for those who don't know what they've done with the Wizard of Oz,
24:22
they've taken the original film. Uh then the because the sphere is enormous and vast. It's sort of you're surrounded
24:29
right down that side. They then used AI and different techniques to extend the film. Uh so it's all around you. They
24:36
then build in some immersive things that when that hurricane hits you all these leaves blow about. Uh when the apple
24:42
trees attack you, these apples come flying down. I was lucky enough to grab one. So I got Brownie Mother points by
24:48
giving her an apple. Uh it's they've cut about 50 minutes out of it by cutting some of the song down. It was fantastic.
24:55
But in the past, I've been to see many of the shows. I've seen car which I love o a couple of times. Um we've saw uh I
25:02
for it's called now the new one at the win enchantment. Um I've seen um what
25:10
else have we seen? I haven't seen the bad apple the new one at New York New York. I saw the show before that. Uh and
25:16
the Michael Jackson one show which is fantastic. Seen that as well. Um what
25:22
have we else have I seen there? But on this one we saw that one. Now, in terms of preferred hotels, so we said a lot of
25:29
hotels over the years. I think this is probably my 12th or 13th trip to to Vegas. So, over the years, we've changed
25:34
different places. Our preferred hotel is Archium is always MGM because um we only
25:41
gamble at MGM to collect MGM points and therefore you get comped rooms. So, uh
25:46
Mark gamles more. He goes in more often. So, his room gets completely comped. So,
25:51
we stayed at the Nomad on the way uh out the first day in Vegas at the beginning uh where he got one of the big suites
25:58
completely comped and resort credit and all that sort of stuff. But with my stuff, we got my mother-in-law um a room
26:06
which was an Italian room. So, Nomad, I really like Nomad a lot, which is the top four floors of APMGM. On the way
26:12
back, we stayed the W, which we stayed at last Christmas, which used to be the Delano, now the W. I quite like that.
26:18
It's not fantastic. It's because they've rebranded. Um, Four Seasons is very nice. We used to like that which is the
26:24
top four for Mandanda Lake Bay because it has a pool uh which is not manic pool. Lots of shade. Um, I used to like
26:31
Vidara a lot. Um, which is becoming a little bit shabby, but that's a great location. Ara we stayed at two Christmas
26:38
ago which I really liked. Um, the only hotel I've stayed at which I wasn't really keen on was the Wald Off which
26:45
used to be the Shranglar then the Wald Off. Um, but generally speaking, an MGM hotels. Now, I haven't said MGM Grand,
26:52
which Mark has, which they're renovating all the rooms, which I would like to stay at. So, I tend to like I like um I
26:57
do like I do like uh the I also like it because it's a non-swaking casino. So,
27:03
Park MGM Nomad, but certainly if I was going back there, I would stay in Nomad if I could afford a room, which is
27:09
really nice, a really nice room. MGM Park gym is really good value uh as well. Um, so wrong a long rambling a
27:18
long rambling question there. Now, someone had popped in Carl had popped in a uh super chat thing. I think that's
27:24
what it's called. Thanks very much. Have you heard any new warnings in any Mexico ports? I haven't seen any updates um on
27:32
Mexico and I do a little bit. I said earlier, I do um sub have alerts on some
27:37
of these ports. I haven't seen any new updates. So, I will take a look into that, but I haven't seen any any new
27:44
ones. But certainly some of the Mexico uh travel advisories are quite high. But
27:50
if you ever look at them both on the state department side and on the foreign office, they tend to break it down by
27:56
region. Um so a lot of those ports um
28:02
you know they're they're often kind of with caution. Some of the parts are not. Now, I did see an elevated in Matalan a
28:12
little while ago, so that may may be what you're referring to. And I can't remember why it was slightly raised in
28:17
in Matalan because I did also see some people commenting how they haven't really gone kind of exploring there. Um,
28:25
but a good good the two sites I rely on is the State Department site, uh, which is really good, and then the foreign
28:32
office site are really good. And often when I'm going on trips, I will do a quick a quick double check on those two
28:39
sites. Francis um I haven't sat on Hutter Guten. Um I would definitely take
28:45
a look at Hut Guten. I would love to go on Huda Gutin. The other one to take a look at Francis is take a look at their
28:50
new competitor which is Havilia. H A V I L A. Um they uh run very similar routes
28:58
uh through Norway. They have kind of hybrid ships. Um, this ships are a little bit more modern. Um, so I haven't
29:04
been on those either. A couple of people have been on those more on kind of press strip sites, but some of my patrons have
29:10
been on recently. Had a really good time on it. Um, indeed. So, take a look at that as well. But certainly those
29:17
intensive Norway ones are pretty good. Uh, D and Andrew are here calling ports.
29:24
Good to see you here. Vegas was fantastic. Uh, we spent in reality more time in Palm Springs this time in Vegas,
29:29
but I always have a great time in Vegas. Would you ever consider doing a Vegas video or more landbased travel videos?
29:36
So, um, probably the short answer is probably not. Um, I did, uh, I have on
29:43
occasion when I've done some landbased trips sort of done those, but partly because of what the audience expects.
29:50
Um, and I guess what YouTube have have learned from me is that, you know, what
29:56
they expect is they don't do as well for me. So, I tend to do more kind of short
30:03
sharp kind of um in stories or shorts kind of stuff. Um,
30:11
even when I do even when I do more kind of portbased stuff that is kind of more
30:16
mixed for me. People seem to really just want to watch very much more ship focused stuff. Um, but but yes, I would
30:23
do I mean part of the reason I don't uh to be honest D and Andrew is I don't do more landbased is often that is proper
30:30
vacation. So this trip was kind of vacation because I can't even when I got on a cruise if it's supposed to be
30:35
vacation I can't resist filming it. So, landers often ends up being more okay,
30:42
I'm going to relax kind of things. That's also kind of it's a kind of combination of of uh combination of
30:49
things. Just want to write the word question so I don't miss uh questions, but just one
30:55
I didn't miss. Christa, we're going on our first cruise on an ocean oasis. Sorry, OA
31:02
oasis class ship. Do you have any tips for first timers? So Chris, what I would
31:09
do is uh have a look at my um my if you go search search Royal Caribbean and
31:15
you'll get a little bit of some videos there around that. But I think probably the key thing for first time is I would
31:21
before you go um make sure that you've pre- booked as much as you possibly can. You these big ships, very busy, very
31:28
active. So make sure that you've locked in bookings for anything that you possibly can book. uh you you know
31:36
that's really really key whether it's packages you know dining packages Wi-Fi
31:41
packages excursions and then take a look at shows now and decide when you're
31:47
going to go to the shows now certainly um I need to try and remember back uh
31:55
but certainly often you can book shows or you know make sure you have a space in shows so like the water class the
32:02
water shows and that sort of stuff you sort of need to to make sure that you're on the list. So, some of those you have
32:08
to do on board, but try and basically book everything that you possibly possibly can. The other thing that I
32:13
would say is, and I suspect maybe because you're here, you've done it anyways, take a look at a couple of ship
32:19
tours so you kind of have a good real sense of the ship and what you want to do. But if you want to do, you know,
32:25
flow riders and stuff like that, try and lock those in. The other thing is if you do want to do some of those activities
32:32
um uh and you know maybe pick one of the ports that you're less excited about and
32:39
use that to do some of those activities uh when there's fewer fewer kind of
32:44
cruise you know people etc around. Um, the other thing of course is make sure
32:50
the other thing is generally boarding I'm not sure what you're boarding but certainly if you're boarding any of the Florida ports uh they are really very
32:57
good at checking people in. So just make sure you've done all the checking in stuff you've got all your your um QR
33:04
codes or whatever it is that you need because you'll find it's really really quick in terms of of of getting getting
33:09
in. Um Tom, do you have any feedback on ponant t
33:16
cruise and activities? Now I haven't been on talc talc uh but um certainly
33:22
people who go with talc love talc and they talk how just fantastic about their
33:28
river cruise ships are but how good their landbased um escorted tours are in terms of pon I've never done any land
33:34
activities with penant I've only done cruises with penant um so I can't
33:40
comment on penant um but I haven't done either but certainly talc people rate very highly and that's obviously their
33:46
background is starting in landbased tours. Um, and they have incredible incredible um, uh,
33:53
reputation for that. Um, let's have a slug here. Just reminder,
34:01
write the word question. I see there's quite a few here coming in because if I don't see the word question, I sometimes assume it's a comment, so I don't
34:07
necessarily pull it up. So, let me just have a slug of this.
34:15
Uh, Anthony, with Norwegian Cruise Lines new policy on their private island sweet drink
34:20
package exclusion and Princess non-refundable deposits, are the lines getting greedy like exorbitant resort
34:26
fees at Las Vegas? Uh, good question. I mean, I think what we're seeing
34:32
generally is, you know, the the cruise lines, um, as I guess landbased resorts
34:39
are they're starting to take things out. And I guess what they're doing is they
34:45
are trying to hold, this is my theory anyway, I don't have any proof of this. They want to try and hold fair level
34:52
increases to seem to be quite low because people particularly these big ships, you know, some of the big
34:57
princess ships they're getting really big and star also with Norwegian know
35:03
it's about getting people on board and selling once they're on board. So if you look at any of their you know cordi uh
35:09
reports when to Wall Street they all talk about how their fairs are going up they get more through demand so as ships
35:17
are fuller they can charge more but they talk a lot about how the onboard spend is growing really fast and that's a big
35:24
priority for them I guess it's high margin so I guess what they're trying to do is keep fairs fairly tight so
35:31
starting to strip things out is obviously one way of doing it I did you know what's interesting with Norwegian
35:36
and the drink package exclusion on private islands is most of the lines of private islands you couldn't use your
35:42
drinks package anyway. So in some ways they're sort of harmonizing with the others. But the problem is when you take
35:47
it out of course it you're effectively reducing value for people. Um the princess non-refundable deposits I had
35:54
actually picked up that one. So that's interesting because I know silver sea with their changes um have moved away
36:00
from refundable deposits certainly in the UK. problem is whenever you book something it's non-refundable deposits
36:06
so that's become the norm so I guess they kind of um moving across but yes I
36:12
think we're going to see you know with prices still kind of quite high I do
36:17
think we will see kind of a tightening there's a lot of pressure on improving profitability and it's really interesting as an aside
36:24
is Carnival uh recently in their most recent results spoke about how uh the
36:32
the CEO was talking about how he's very happy within their portfolio with two lines. He's very happy with the
36:38
profitability of Carnival and he's very happy with the profitability of Aida, their German line, and how those two
36:45
lines um have a very good grip on costs and profitability. His implication was
36:51
that the other within their fleets had more of a job to do. So we've seen a lot
36:56
you know you know so Princess obviously being one of those I suspect there's a lot of pressure on them because they're a very big line within the portfolio to
37:04
become more profitable. Um but by definition across all the other lines and it's interesting because they uh the
37:11
new builds they have coming are only for those lines. None of the other lines have new builds coming. Uh and we've
37:17
also seen that recently where TUI uh which is the joint venture between uh
37:23
TUI Cruisers which is joint venture between Royal Caribbean and the TUI travel corporation they switched out
37:29
some new builds that have been penciled in for Mela which is the UK based sort of value line and shifted this across to
37:35
mine shift and what they said is because mine shift is much more profitable. So, I think we're going to we are what we're
37:40
seeing is coming out of the pandemic thus settling is a big push uh on on the
37:45
cruise lines to improve profitability. So, I'm guessing we're seeing some of this stuff happening. So, that's kind of
37:51
uh that's kind of my my theory. So, I think we're going to see more more more of that.
37:58
Asia's curiosity, good to see you here. Uh we're considering a 3-w weekek cruise
38:03
in Asia. What itinerary would suggest as being the top one to do? Keep up the good work, Allison. Ian, so great to see
38:10
you here. So, three weeks is is fantastic. What I would strongly encourage you to have a look at is if
38:16
you can find an itinerary which includes the following. So, um I've done a very nice itinerary like this was on Kuno,
38:22
but they don't do it anymore. But there are other lines that do it, but one which you is going to get you to see
38:28
Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, uh parts of Korea, and Japan. So, you want
38:36
something that's going to cover those sort of areas. Now, you can find some of this. Sometimes they're repositioning
38:42
cruises, but some of them will go out of Hong Kong and kind of do a loop around, but um so take a look at Oceanana, take
38:48
a look at um Azamara, take a look at Silver Sea. Um but also, if you take a
38:55
look at Honda America and Princess now, they tend to base ships more in Japan.
39:00
So, they tend to do seasons, but at the beginning, end of season, they sort of have to get the ships there. But that
39:06
perfect itinerary is one that gets you to see um all of those. Now, if as a bad
39:13
added bonus, you can get one that includes Taiwan, even better. But definitely, that's what I focus on. Now,
39:18
if you find it's it's more challenging, I would then do something that make sure that you include Japan. Now, there's
39:24
some really good uh Japan itinerary. We could do Japan and then we'll head off down to Hong Kong or from Hong Kong up
39:31
into parts of Japan for example as well. But those would be the ones that I would
39:36
strongly suggest. Now a lot of people may talk more about uh you know Vietnam
39:42
um that you know Thailand Bali but for me those that is the strong I recommend.
39:49
Now, it's interesting you asked this question because I have I partly scoped out a video around cruising in Asia,
39:55
which I was dithering about doing. Um, but maybe based on this question I should do, but I talk a little bit about
40:01
the different challenge, but that's the one for me is is just uh is just uh
40:06
brilliant. It's just brilliant. Jason, I've recently joined your
40:12
YouTube. Thank you very much. I've never done a cruise, but in the next few years, I'd like to go with Ocean on a Cruise around South America. Have you
40:17
completed this trip? So Jason, I have not done the trip on Oceanania. I've done part of around South America uh
40:24
from uh the from from Val Parisio down to Buenos Aries, but next year I'm doing
40:29
three quarters of it, but I'm doing on Holland America out of Buenes Aries all the way around Lima, Venta, Panama Canal
40:36
ends in Miami. So it's a 31 night. Um so I've done that sort of part of it, but I
40:41
haven't done the top part and that that part. Um but certainly round South America is fantastic. The key thing I
40:46
would say Jason is do lots of looking at excursions. Now what you find with that
40:53
you find it's quite a nice pace of exc trip because you tend to have sea days
40:58
port se you know sea days port port. So it's not massively port intensive. So you want to make sure as you say go to
41:03
like Ocean that has really good enrichment so you're well prepared for the ports. Budget quite a lot of money for excursions because some of the key
41:10
best things to see are quite far inland. Um, also what I would say is one of the
41:16
reasons I chose to America for that and I don't know what Australia does it is when it gets to Lima what's called I
41:25
can't remember the exact name of it ca c a U but it's a port for Lima but it has
41:30
three nights there which means that they you can do an excursion to match a Pichu
41:35
that's what I'm doing um is and they offer an included excursion excurs not
41:40
included you have to pay for it but it you So some of you some of those things so I would try and look for an itinerary
41:46
that make sure that you have some overnights you can go right in land also there's some things like the incredible
41:52
falls from bonus Aries so you want to also be looking at some of those ones which going to get you further in land but certainly you know the excursions I
41:58
did are quite long excursions day excursions because you're going to go inland to see things sometimes the ports you call on are not that interesting
42:05
because they're kind of tiny little ports even on America in a big ship we would tender in the actual town itself
42:10
there's not a lot there you you so you need to budget did a lot on the excursion side would be as well. Um,
42:19
yes, I agree. Uh, Warren's making the point. So, I should also made that point is for those you earlier. I I I didn't
42:25
want to go to an area where you have to have a vaccine for yellow fever without a vaccine for yellow fever. Um, so
42:31
that's the same point is why why I canceled as well as well because once I knew I couldn't I couldn't get that. Um,
42:41
so let's have a look. So you wouldn't cut explore in your top three. Oh, so KB
42:47
asking, so I guess you're asking me about explorer journeys. Um, I'm guessing rather I'm assuming assuming
42:53
you're asking me explorer journey rather than regent explorer or something. Probably not. I I liked explorer
42:59
journeys. I thought it was pretty nice. Um, I know it's very popular. People are very excited about explorer journeys.
43:04
Um, I thought it was pretty nice. Um and I would go back. I did have a cruise
43:09
booked but I cancelled it because uh timing didn't work. I don't have a bon
43:15
passion to go back but I will go back particularly when they get more diverse itineraries which are coming when they
43:21
launch uh three and four. The itineraries um you know they're focused very much on the Caribbean Med uh
43:27
they're starting up with some in the uh you know the Middle East but certainly
43:32
when three and four come they're doing more in Asia. I think some in South America once the more interesting
43:38
itineraries come along like at the moment a lot of itineraries they offer are places that I've been to quite a
43:44
lot. So for me I would want more of itinerary driven thing before I hand you
43:49
back on explorer. Also you know for the price of explorer depending on what deal you can get you can actually go kind of
43:56
a a notch above. So that they're you know in my top 10 they're probably there
44:02
but they're not a number of people get very excited about explorer journeys um uh uh and I like them rather than get
44:10
very excited about them if that makes sense. Stein vault maten good to see you having
44:17
only cruise crearyy two how to adjust expectation on smaller luxury ships taking Mitsu ocean this year wow and
44:23
planning a skura both seems to be traditional side I'd love to see how you get on with those two um you know they
44:29
for those who don't know those are Japanese lines um and they some of them
44:34
is it Mitsu run the seaborn ships um so I was actually looking because people
44:39
asked me a lot about whether I would try a skura or or Mitsu as one of the times when I do my Japanese so I really know
44:46
how you're doing. Uh but in terms of um in terms of adjusting uh you know Queen
44:51
Mary 2 is um I always think that people think Kunard is because of their
44:58
advertising is very luxurious. I don't see Kunard as a particularly luxurious cruise line. I see it as a premium
45:04
cruise line. uh you know unless you if you're in Queen's girl you have an incredible dining experience but the rest of the experience is pretty
45:11
standard it's pretty standard Horn America Celebrity uh Princess you know is the overall experience um so once you
45:18
get into the smaller ships um you know the the amount that's when you really know the the attention to detail service
45:26
everything's a little bit more rich and and plush what you won't have is obviously the sort of the bigger shows
45:32
uh you won't have as much enrichment and stuff like that Um, but you're right, they do they I think you will find it
45:39
elevated. Um, now I can't remember if you travel in Queens Grill or Princess Grill, you know, the food there is
45:45
particularly exceptional. I think you'll find the food at least at Palm, but not as fancy. So, I'd be I'd be really I'd
45:51
be really keen to see on that. Oh, Whoops Travel. Good question. Good to see you here again. When you cancel a
45:59
cruise, do you bite the bullet and decide to lose your deposit? I've done that but it can be a little bit
46:04
expensive decisions. So um yes is the sort of answer but what I tend to do um
46:12
whips travel is I I because I love spreadsheets so I will always have got a
46:19
sense of when I need to cancel by um and have a sense of the terms and conditions
46:25
to make sure that I can minimize it as much as possible. So when I mentioned that explorer journeys, I knew that if I
46:32
cancelled by because I booked so far ahead uh which helps. So I you know I
46:38
booked far ahead. I knew I was canceling at the explore journeys using an example
46:43
trip which was in April of 26 but I was cancelled a couple of months ago and I
46:48
knew that um if I cancelled before and I can't remember the number so I make up
46:54
the number but something like 200 and something days before I was would only be charged a fee and the fee was I think
47:02
it was £100 was it £75 or something like that um per
47:08
person. So I knew that I had a date to decide and it was say I can't remember it was something like the 1st of
47:14
November or the 1st of October. So I knew that I had very little to lose by canceling that uh one. Also um at the
47:24
time I was looking and considering booking another cruise. I decided not to in the end. So I took that hit but it
47:30
wasn't a very big hit but I knew I I literally made sure I booked before it kicked in. Um now with the regent trip
47:38
that I mentioned that I cancelled the West Africa trip. What I then did is I asked my travel agent um Sarah and said
47:45
okay I going to cancel this trip which is quite an expensive trip. It was like nearly a month-long trip three or four
47:52
week trip. So it was very expensive and the deposit was I would have lost quite a lot. Now partly because of the yellow
47:57
fever thing I had some leverage but what I went got asked to say look can you go to them and say I can't go on this trip
48:05
I'm not going to go on this trip I want to cancel it but here's a trip I want to go on on the same dates now it's a small it's not this big a trip but I'm going
48:11
to book for those same dates same cruise line can you see what they will off and go and negotiate and they agreed to not
48:19
to to just let me not penalize me and move my deposit across
48:25
um because I was booking same dates, same time. The cruise I was looking at wasn't particularly full, but I got an
48:31
amazing deal. They actually gave me an incredible deal on it as well um because it wasn't particularly full. So, so I
48:37
will tend to to buy the bullet as you mentioned. The problem in the UK is unlike in the US where you have more
48:42
refundable deposits. But what I do is I I will make sure far in advance number
48:48
one. Uh was that number one or number two? Second thing is I have made sure
48:54
that I book with my travel insurance I've taken a level where I can get up to
48:59
$10,000. So what's that about 40 $50,000 for those in the US cancellation so that
49:06
if I am going to have to cancel for a particular reason but it lets me cancel and I could claim back on insurance. I
49:13
haven't had to do that yet. I've taken the hit because I've always managed to keep them fairly low. Um, so a lot of it
49:19
I play make sure I'm playing around with those dates for cancellation and then
49:25
give my travel that's the advantage of someone having a travel agent. Uh, one of the advantage have a travel agent is
49:31
if you talk to someone in the customer service team. No. So what Sarah could do is she could talk to her contact other
49:36
contacts in the region and kind of negotiate. So it's a long way of asking your question but um that that's that's
49:42
that's basically how I do that. Bill making notes furiously. The the one advice you got, Bill, is you can watch
49:48
us on playback um and it will generate um a transcript. I don't get this
49:54
transcribe, but it will generate a transcript. Kelly. Oh, thank you. This is going to
50:01
I'm going to do a bit of pro promotion. Uh I'm glad Kelly asked. I forgot to do
50:08
this at the beginning. So, Kellyy's asking like your overview of premium lines. when you do when will you do the
50:13
next chapter with luxury or ultra luxury lines. So for those who don't know I'm I
50:19
did a review of the premium lines uh a comparison compare and contrast. So I'm
50:25
now working through other categories. So I'm going to bring this up. It's going to because I don't want to lose Kelly's
50:31
maybe I won't lose Kelly's question if I do this. Out this week uh is this video
50:38
which is looking at the resort line. So, Norwegian Carnival, MSC and Royal Caribbean. So, that is now out. Came out
50:46
yesterday. Uh, so, uh, that came out yesterday and,
50:52
uh, in that I look at those four lines. Let me see if I can bring that question back up. Now, I've lost a question.
50:58
Where is it gone? Where's it gone? Here we go. Um, so that's out now. So, you can watch the pre the resort lines one.
51:06
So I put a link to that in the notes of this or you go to the channel be the most recent video. Now the ultra luxury
51:13
one I will tell you the exact date it's coming out. So I'm going to look here in my schedule.
51:20
Let's have a look. So ultra luxury is the next one. So after that one, but that's only going to come out in
51:26
November. So that's actually currently uh being edited. So the ultra luxury one will will only be out in November. So
51:32
Primo was last month. uh resort line is out this month, ultra luxury bout out
51:37
next month, and then I probably will also do the small ship luxury line one
51:43
as well, and then I've covered those. In terms of expedition, I've already done that one. So, thanks for that little
51:49
prompt there, Katie. So, please watch the uh the resort one meantime.
51:54
Um Caroline, best trips and things to see
52:00
from the port of Cotor, Montenegro. Now Cotor is a beautiful, beautiful port. Um
52:07
the key thing with that is being up either for sale in or sail out. Now Karan, I have been to Cotor maybe two. I
52:14
think I'm going again next year. I I'm not very I do one thing. I you know, the
52:20
the old town is very interesting. So the first time I went, I went on a a tour around the old town. But then what I
52:26
actually did is behind the old town is you can walk up the hill. So if you're feeling very active, it's a great hike
52:32
up uh you pay a couple of euros. I can't remember what it was, you know, it's maybe four or five. It's the back of the
52:40
old city and you can hike right up. There's some ruins at the top there, but you get incredible views through that
52:45
sort of fjords down onto the ships. For me, that is one of that's what I always do. I always say I'm going to do something different. But they also have
52:53
um you can go on an excursion which has a cable car a little bit further away from the port which goes right up one of
52:59
the mountains. You get incredible views. So I would do the kind of more sightseeing stuff. There's also some
53:05
quite good cycling tours if you wonder which cycles around the sort of fjord as well. That's what I've normally done. I
53:12
was actually looking Karan recently at coour again because I have a trip um next year in May. Um I'm doing the
53:20
Winstar sailing ship for the first time and we calling Kota and I looked at the different alternatives there and I kind
53:25
of defaulted back into I really want to go up that mountain again but the cable car looks really which gives you a
53:31
different different perspective. Donna um thank you very much um going on
53:37
first cruise in a few weeks time. I'm really pleased. Have a fantastic time. Warren um where do you research your
53:43
flights? So Warren I always use Sky Scanner. So, there's an app uh on the phone, but also on the website
53:49
Skyscanner. So, if you just type on Skyscanner, it might be skyscanner.net. I can't
53:54
remember. So, whenever I'm going anywhere, I will always look there. Um, and they're quite far ahead. They're
54:00
they're about 350 days ahead, something like that when airlines tend to only release um long haul at that time
54:08
schedule. So, I always look at Skyscanner. What's good with Skyscanner is they have most uh airlines there. So
54:16
you can get a real sense of how many direct flights there are what sort of times they go uh if you're going
54:21
indirect um and you can get a sense gives you prices as well. So you get a sense actually if I don't go direct is
54:27
it way cheaper or not cheaper. It'll give you prices for economy uh business and first I don't think it gives you
54:33
premium economy price from what I remember. So you get a real sense of that. Um that's what I often use. Um I
54:41
tend though because I am obsessed with collecting um AIOS points to ultimately
54:48
get free flights. I tend to always try and book one uh world alliance flights.
54:53
So BA or cafe American um there's quite a few lines. So I tend to do those so I
54:59
can build those. I'm fortunate enough because all my corporate travel from the years and I'm now permanent top tier
55:05
there. So, it's quite good because if I book, I can choose seats from straight away and that sort of stuff. But
55:11
Skyscanner is my go-to. I always look at Skyscanner uh first of all. The second thing I look at um I use a site called
55:18
Seat Guru, which I think is a trip advisor company when I'm trying to choose seats, particularly if um now
55:25
they're a little bit they they're not they're not normally up to date. the BA um if you travel British Airways, their
55:31
longhaul thing is not up to date because BA is evolving new seats and they still have wrong seat configurations. Um but
55:37
they're really good for looking at choosing seats. Um if you're obsessed need seats, they have they'll show you
55:43
good seats and they have green for seats which are really really good must get seats and they have but more importantly
55:50
they have like amber for seats to watch out for and what's good is it tells you why. And then people have uploaded
55:56
pictures as well so you can get a sense of those. So, those are the two those are the two that I use that I use for
56:02
flights. Um, let's have a look. Carol, I'm sure that
56:08
they're not for me. Following your excellent review of Cruis I'm sure that they're not for me
56:13
following your excellent review of river cruisers. So, thanks for watching that. Is there anything to do on board the
56:18
boat when in port if you choose? No. No. There's no there's not. They don't run a
56:24
daily program. They don't have activities. So if you are they you know they will always have lunch or or food
56:29
or whatever available but there's no activities normally laid on because people are out uh and about. Now if
56:37
people are out and about you normally mean you're docked in within walking distance of somewhere normally. So you
56:43
can normally amble into the local town or if you're not a lot of them have bikes. So what I've done for example
56:48
that last one I did is they had bikes and regular bikes and ebikes. uh went on cycle and did a bit of exploring but
56:54
they don't have any kind of activities as such um as such as such on on board.
57:01
Right, we're running mly out of time so let me see if I can get a couple of quick fast questions in some vault match
57:08
considering and cruise one of the older X research ships does it make my direct pass less stable? Uh yes. Uh probably I
57:16
would say because modern ships have stabilizers. If it's a very old research ship, depending on what it is, it
57:22
probably doesn't have stabilizers. But you can probably check and see if it's got stabiliz. Stabilizers of course will make it a difference. So if it's a very
57:29
old ship and doesn't have stabiliz, but you can probably just check the ship and see if it's got stabilizers. But that's
57:34
the key thing. So the stabilizers will stop it doing that that motion. There's
57:39
nothing that you can do. So if you're move going through waves, you know, the shifting that moment through waves, it's
57:45
the it's the is it the pitch? Uh that's the thing that often makes people more feel more seasick is the pitch rather
57:51
than the the up and down. In terms of preparing for it, whatever you normally use that works for you for uh motion
57:58
sickness is perfectly fine. If you're really concerned about it, see about you can get prescription behind the ear pads
58:06
which are worth looking at. Um it was interesting when I was on the panant we had pretty rough uh crossing and it was
58:12
into the doctor I notic was wearing that a lot of the crew were wearing that and I asked him and he said that's what he
58:17
prescribes anybody is the behind the ears now I've used a touch would I've been fortunate enough um not to get
58:24
seasick probably famous last words um a hioriori first time cruiser luxury if
58:31
you're looking to go to Norwegian fjords in luxury uh the top end of course you'll find silver seed do some seabourn
58:38
do some region do some that's kind of your top end crystal that's where if you
58:44
really want to go kind of top end that that's that's the that's the one uh one
58:49
to look at Fred asking the question uh when is the best time to book a Viking cruise do they offer good sales they
58:56
don't really offer good sales in reality because they are are very popular and they sell out so for example a couple of
59:02
months ago they had already sold out 80 something% of this year and they've already sold when I saw the last update
59:09
something like 50% of next year. That was last quarter's updates. So, they they are very popular. They sell out
59:15
fast. Um, so I've never really seen great deals on Viking. Um, but if they
59:21
do have deals, always look sign up for their newsletter, their email newsletter if they have any offers. Uh, once you've
59:27
been on a Viking cruise, they will send you almost every week promotional material. But the deals tend to be a little bit more onboard credit, that
59:33
kind of stuff. So you don't tend to see parking deals simply because they just sell out. They don't almost need to.
59:40
Thank you Caroline. Ees European entry system is what I couldn't uh I couldn't
59:46
uh couldn't remember. Um Missy Craft with friends hopefully you
59:52
heard the answer uh when I was asking the question about cancelling. How do I manage the risk? Um, and I do have uh
59:59
travel insurance absolutely um uh for for cancellation. But hopefully that earlier question answered uh answered
1:00:07
answered that. Um Lisa uh uh asking the
1:00:12
question, any tips for how to escalate an issue up the chain of command? We had a terrible experience of a twice
1:00:18
canceled uh Norwegian cruise line. Great altered itinerary complaints went nowhere. Lisa, it is very difficult. If
1:00:25
you have booked through a travel agent, you're going to find it much easier because they will have uh through either
1:00:32
their personal contacts or through the company. They will have various levels because for example, you know, there
1:00:39
will be an area sales manager. There'll be somebody that you can elevate, they can elevate things through. If you
1:00:46
literally have booked directly, uh your only way through in reality is through
1:00:51
the customer service people. And you're right, they will kind of bat that away. So the only other little trick that some
1:00:59
people use is figure out the email address of someone senior like the CEO.
1:01:05
Sometimes it's quite easy. You can just literally Google email of uh whoever I can't remember who's running Norwegian
1:01:11
at the moment. email of such and such a person or just take a look if you go to the Norwegian site for example if you
1:01:17
look down the bottom contact us or even better look at the media section and often the media section they will have
1:01:24
the media people now don't contact the media people because they won't do anything unless you're media but you'll get a sense of how the emails are
1:01:31
constructed that's my tip so if they've got for example it goes garybeenbridge
1:01:39
tips.com then I know the structure of the email is Gary.Benbridge if it's all just Gary Benbridge ad. So then you can
1:01:45
take the person's name and give it a go. That's that is my main um that is my
1:01:50
main main tip. So we have churned through uh lots of questions. I sure
1:01:56
I've probably missed some. Um but I will be back next Sunday. I will always take a look at the questions. I will
1:02:01
definitely try uh and see if there's another way of answering those. Have a look at that video that I mentioned. Um
1:02:08
be great if you watch that. But I will be back next Sunday s was at the same time, same place. Have a great rest of
1:02:14
the weekend. Thanks so much for joining and brilliant, brilliant questions as always.
1:02:27
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