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LIVE CRUISE Q&A Sunday 16 November from Regent Splendor: 9am PT/ Noon ET/ 5pm UK
Nov 16, 2025
LIVE CRUISE Q&A Sunday 19 November from Regent Splendor: 9am PT/ Noon ET/ 5pm UK
Join me live from on board Regent Seven Seas Splendor on a sea day sailing to Miami on the final ay of my 15-night cruise for another live cruise Q&A. Subject to Wi-Fi of course! Set a reminder and join at https://youtube.com/live/LYDxnGZO1i4
During the livestream I will answer cruising questions or discuss any cruising topic or news development that people ask me live. You can watch past episodes of the livestreams too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qEAiMOHL4&list=PLs3662YkgOgq_nlVQR9WYJRNKuNyeKu7Z).
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:08
[Music] Well, hello everybody and welcome on board Regent Splender for another live.
0:15
Um, we're at sea today. Uh, as the notice says above. Um, the Wi-Fi may be
0:21
a little bit erratic. I've done tests today and certainly the audio was pretty good. Um, and the the video seemed fine
0:27
as well. Now, we're sort of hitting, it's about noon here and there's a big um uh brunch thing on today. Uh and lots
0:35
going on. So, I guess hopefully a lot of people won't be online, so the broadband will be good as well. Uh loads and loads
0:40
of questions coming in and I will get stuck into those um as quickly as possible. A couple of housekeeping things. I've already said the Wi-Fi
0:46
issue. Um if you are asking a question, write the word question, which would be absolutely fantastic. For those of you
0:53
who don't know, this is the trip that I'm on at the moment. So, we're probably, I guess, somewhere around about here, heading towards Miami, ready
1:00
to disembark tomorrow. Um, what else can I tell you? Any other critical things? If you're watching this afterwards,
1:06
thanks very much for watching it afterwards. Um, I know a couple of people who are on the ship are planning to watch it afterwards because you have
1:12
to upgrade to the streaming Wi-Fi to be able to, you know, log into this. So, a couple of people are going to be waiting
1:18
till afterwards and met loads and loads of uh people, which is uh fantastic as always. Um, what else can I do? I was
1:24
going to drop a Patreon, but I won't do that. I'm going to get stuck straight into the questions. Um, so let's start
1:30
with in fact sort of a technology kind of question. Uh, as I said, you can ask me anything about this trip or whatever
1:36
you want to do. So Don is asking the question, do you use a VPN at sea? And
1:41
if so, which one do you like? I'm considering Nord or another to stream. So Don, absolutely I use a VPN. Now many
1:49
cruise lines under the basic Wi-Fi. So on region you have basic Wi-Fi included.
1:54
Uh so actually you can get to four devices in included fair. That's because it's slightly linked to some of your
2:00
status. However, the VPN will not work at the basic one and I know many other cruise lines are on. So you have to
2:06
upgrade to the streaming one. So many cruise lines kind of require you to have their streaming Wi-Fi option. So I do
2:13
use it. I use um ExpressVPN. Um I might actually put a I'll put a
2:19
link to that. I've got a affiliate code. Maybe I'll put a link in the notes for this. But I found ExpressVPN works
2:25
really well. It works across my phone, uh my laptop, my iPad. Now, I mostly use
2:31
a VPN so that I can keep up to date with shows. So, I'm a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake
2:36
Off, shows like that. Um, so or if there's things like series I'm watching.
2:42
Uh, so I use a VPN. A little tip on VPN by the way if you are looking to stream
2:48
is some it's best to use a browser. So for example if I watch BBC i player or I
2:53
watch channel 4 or whatever in the UK if I use their app the the app has some
2:59
geoloccating or something in so it knows that you're abroad even with a VPN on but on if you're using a browser then
3:06
the VPN works. Now someone else asked me about uh Mark working. So Mark's actually not on this trip with me, but
3:12
he has in the past used VPN to be able to kind of connect to some of his work
3:17
stuff, but definitely it's worked pretty well. Um, and I've been watching quite a lot of shows. Uh, also the ability to
3:23
download some shows has worked pretty well. So ExpressVPN is the one that I
3:28
watch. Now Patrick's got a very topical question around has any cruise company
3:34
tried to silence you at any port or even reacted positive to any criticism that you've had? And I want to show you
3:39
something because this is very top. The reason I'm saying it's topical is the two guys who have the YouTube channel Young at Sea. Don't if you can see that
3:46
there. Anyway, they're currently on PO ship and this morning they had got up
3:52
early. They go early and video their ship tour when no one's around and uh
3:58
they got stopped filming uh because a passenger complained about them filming.
4:03
Now they are pretty diligent about going out and filming kind of the crack of dawn before people up and about. So they
4:09
originally told by someone I think from guest services they weren't allowed to to to
4:14
uh video anything. So they're a little bit upset about that. Then a little bit later someone from guest services came
4:19
to see them to say that wasn't true. They could film. So certainly you might have seen some other stuff in the past
4:25
where Ben and David for example have had issues with w with with filming. Now I
4:30
haven't uh so I know your question is slightly different but to date I haven't been stopped filming uh on board but
4:38
it's something that I'm very aware of partly how I film but I'm kind of aware
4:43
I think as there's more and more channels there's been some really bad behavior by some people some streamers
4:48
got thrown off Royal Caribbean recently they basically ended up on Punchup uh doing live streaming on kind of on the
4:54
fly and I think with more and more people launching channels you know sometimes relatively small channels,
4:59
everyone's going to start somewhere that um people are perhaps more sensitive or concerned. So I feel that there could be
5:05
more issues coming in that regard um perhaps where cruise lines are more restrictive or something. Also
5:11
understanding of course the real influence of uh YouTube channels. So in terms of have any company um tried to
5:19
silence me? Certainly that hasn't been my case to date. Touchwood and I think
5:24
it could be because I get asked this in fact a couple people ask me on this trip. Now I'm not sure whether it's
5:30
because I'm fortunate enough having done this a while and my channel's quite big whether there's a sense of actually
5:38
we don't want to stop uh me doing anything. Um because so they know that I
5:43
have quite a big audience to talk about cruise lines trying to silence me in in any way. I I don't know if that's a
5:48
factor, but also I think maybe because I do try to be as balanced as possible. So
5:55
if I have a criticism, I will normally talk about um what what other people have thought or where people disagree
6:02
with me or what I think they could do that's better. So I try to make it either constructive. So perhaps and I
6:08
know people I bump into uh most both passengers and crew that I meet talk
6:13
about they like the channel uh because I am very balanced. Obviously, people don't agree with what I'm saying all the
6:18
time, which would be crazy if they did. Um, but they like the sense of balance. So, even crew members and stuff talk to
6:24
me about how they like a balance. So, maybe cruise lines are more comfortable because they know that I I'm not there
6:29
to do a hatchet job. In terms of positive, um, I haven't really had that either. The cruise lines don't really
6:35
engage with me very much. Now, I don't do, as you know, press trips. I pay for my own trips. Well, you guys pay for it
6:42
because you watch my videos and it earns me revenue which I then use to buy at cruises. But um uh so I don't tend to
6:50
engage with them. I I still get asked by cruise lines if I'll go but largely speaking they don't engage with me.
6:55
Occasionally they will engage me a little bit because they follow me on social media so they know if I'm on a particular trip or or something like
7:01
that. Um, I am rethinking whether I need to do more uh talking to the cruise line
7:08
before I get on a ship so I can avoid any issues that the young at sea crowd have. But, uh, a long rambling answer to
7:15
your question, but I think that's that's a pretty interesting one. Uh, Heidi has a question about the Nile.
7:23
There we are. It's coming up. Whoops, disappeared. Slight lag there. So, uh,
7:28
Heidi, I'd love to do a bucket, uh, trip to Egypt down the Nile. How long is a
7:33
good length of time and what recommendations you have for months to go and talk companies or cruise
7:38
companies? So, Heidi, the Egypt is fantastic. I I did Egypt years ago as a
7:43
landbased trip when I was like maybe 30 years ago or something. And then about
7:48
two years ago, I did a a river cruise. And in reality, what most of the companies do that operate river cruises
7:56
have a landbased and a river cruise kind of
8:01
itinerary if you like. So I did with Amma waterways. So we had a couple of days in Cairo seeing things of course
8:08
like the uh the museum now the museum's open when I was there was the old museum uh the pyramids a little bit of some of
8:16
the sites just outside Cairo. Then we flew down to Luxaw, boarded the ship,
8:22
then sailed down to Asswine, etc. Saw sides, turned around, came back. Um, so
8:28
I think that was like a 10 day almost heading towards two weeks. And that for me is ideal because you get you do want
8:33
to spend a couple of days in Cairo as part of the package, particularly now the new museum's open, you probably want
8:38
to spend almost a day there or a good slug of a day. So, um, I would I would encourage you to look at things like
8:44
Viking, do a very nice trip there, very nice ships. Amma waterways was was pretty good. I know talc um if you're US
8:51
you know talc is a very reputable popular uh combined they do river cruising and touring abro and Kent if
8:58
you're more uh well I kind of guess they're kind of international as well but those sort of companies. So those
9:04
companies which perhaps have a more western uh slant to them they probably understand that. Now in reality all of
9:10
the ships that they use from my understanding anyways they need to be operated by Egyptians. So you will find
9:17
all the crew on board is local uh captain and so on. Um so so it I think
9:24
that's part of the rule. It's a bit like the Galapagus as I understand it. Now don't quote me entirely on that because I might be slightly wrong but it's it's
9:31
very much so. So so I would look at those particular things. Now in terms of time to go, you want to avoid the summer
9:37
months um because it gets incredibly hot. Now what the lines will do in the summer months is they will you'll get up
9:44
very early to go to the sites. Now, I went in April, so it wasn't kind of the the hot time. And April was great
9:51
because we didn't have to get up at 4:00, 5:00 in the morning to go sightseeing. And even at midday, it was not unbearably hot. Uh, also, uh, so so
9:59
that's a good time to go. I really I I had a great time going in April. So, that's the sort of time you want to look
10:05
at. You don't want to be going June, July kind of time. It's just unbearably hot um, and uncomfortable. So, hopefully
10:12
that answers that one there. L here. I saw Hiker was here as well. Patrick
10:18
asking a question around group cruises. So, uh, Patrick's right, I've done a couple of group cruises. My next group
10:24
cruise is at the end of January, a two-week Holland America, uh, Zeta Dam,
10:30
Panama Canal. We'll be a 70 odd pe not 70 odd people,
10:35
just over 70 people, uh, rather than odd people. And, um, so do a fun. It is very
10:42
tiring. Absolutely. It is because uh although I I was probably more stressed
10:47
the first time, what I've realized with group cruises is people come on group cruises obviously because they like you
10:53
they want to connect uh with me, but they also want to there's kind of a common theme because people watch the
10:58
channel. So I I was worried that I was going to have to kind of provide entertainment and organize people 24
11:04
hours a day or whatever how long people are awake. And I realized actually you can just let go and the group finds its
11:11
own natural way. So, so it was less draining from that perspective, but obviously uh it is a little bit draining
11:16
in the run-up to it because you want to make sure you've got the program right. It's quite difficult with the cruise lines because obviously you agree stuff
11:22
landside, but in reality it's all up to what the ship agrees and the ship is only really looking at the next cruise
11:28
very close to the cruise. So, it's a little bit stressful because you don't ne get everything locked down. Of course, you want to be able to tell people, here's the welcome desk, here's
11:34
what time we're doing this, here's the meeting rooms, you want to give people to schedule. So, it's a little bit stressful in the runup. So, we have a
11:39
couple of things, for example, that we've requested for that group cruise. And they're saying, well, we can only confirm maybe a week before. So, that's
11:45
a that that sort of thing is a little bit uh uh draining and and worrying and you know, can you get on the ship in
11:51
time and blah blah blah. Um I do because I want things to go really well. I did find a I did find it quite tiring
11:58
because I want to make sure that I'm engaging with people and so but it was uh it was kind of rewarding in that you
12:04
know obviously as I mentioned earlier you know this this channel lives or die based on people watching it and
12:10
supporting it and particularly because I don't do any free trips and stuff. I'm very reliant on people watching to then
12:15
generate revenue so I can keep cruising to make more content and so on. So I feel like it was kind of giving back uh
12:21
to the community. Now, it's not a it's not a profitm thing. Uh I would be out of I'm sort of out of pocket from it. Uh
12:27
but that's fine because it's kind of giving back to to the community just the way the finances work because I don't
12:33
charge a premium and and charge for things. So, it's been fantastic meeting people. Uh also, what's been fantastic
12:39
is people connecting. So, even from the very first group cruise, I had a WhatsApp group. I've never closed that
12:45
down because people have been still talking to each other. People actually going on other trips together. whe
12:50
they've been meeting up on cruises or when they're traveling. So, that's been also very rewarding from from that perspective.
12:56
Tom, uh you appear to be you appear to enjoy your Caribbean adventure. I do absolutely enjoy coming to the
13:02
Caribbean, particularly now in the UK, there's this big storm hitting it. I was looking at the temperatures when I get back. It's like 1°ree to 6° minus one.
13:10
It's cloudy. It's rainy. And and of course, coming here, it's beautiful sun. It's 27 28 degrees outside. I love the
13:16
sea. I love snorkeling. So, absolutely, I always enjoy it. Anyway, uh we're looking to do a TAC small ship cruise
13:22
for 2027, TAC, Toddis, Ponant, Winstar, and Silver Sea. Can you comment on the
13:27
plus or minus on each line? Okay. So, first of all, I mean, the good thing about those three is they're all ether
13:33
sort of in the ultra luxury luxury side, and they all are, as you say, relatively small ships. Now, a lot of it hinges a
13:40
little bit around which ship they've got. Uh, so I think I'm right in saying that Taka probably are going to be
13:46
chartering what is known as their I think it's called sister ships like Laal and so on. So I've been on Laal. I'm
13:52
going on one of their sister ships to Antarctica. So they use those ships down in Antarctica and here they do have some
13:58
very sleek more modern generation of ships. Um, so if there are those ships uh I would I would love to go on those.
14:05
They are very up market very slick. So, if it's the ones that sort of have like a they sort of sort like they got like a
14:12
almost sort of stretched u design, very sleek uh black kind of stuff. Um but pan
14:18
uh because it's being taught about talc, one of the limitations of talc is often will be very high percentage of French
14:25
travelers and so you never know how many English speakers going to be. So you need to be comfortable with that. Um but on a charter obviously they're
14:32
going to have it'll be all in in English if you know and so it'll all be kind of likeminded passengers if you like
14:38
probably largely US. So Palant is very slick. The food generally obviously not surprising but in French line it tends
14:44
to be sort of French focused. Um so so I don't know how much they adapt that when they do a charter. Now Winstar I don't
14:51
know I'm assuming if it's the Caribbean they're probably using their like starbur and so on which are the old
14:57
seaborn ships which have been stretched. Now, I do like those ships. They're not as luxurious as a Ponant and Silver Sea
15:03
ships, but they are they have a a charm about them. Um, but they are a little bit more dated, but Winstar uh is it's a
15:10
much more relaxed line. Uh, you know, the food's pretty good, cabins are comfortable. Um, I quite like, uh, uh,
15:18
Winstar. You know, it's quite it has a nice feel about it. Now, I'd like going on it because the passengers are very
15:24
destination focused. I'm guessing going on a talc chartered that would be the same. Now, Silver Sea, a lot of it
15:29
hinges on which of the Silver Sea ships you're going on. So, of these three, Silver Sea is probably the most in the
15:34
ultra luxury camp, although Ponant is sort of there as well in reality, but Silver Sea um has a very wide much wider
15:42
than Pon Windstar does choice of dining options. Now, it does depend which class of ship you're on, whether it's the the
15:48
Whisper Shadow class or the Muse class or Spirit or the new um Nova class. So a
15:55
lot of the experience will hinge on which ship it is. But Silver Sea you will, you know, every cabin has a
16:01
butler. So that makes you feel a little bit more uh kind of luxurious. I I don't know what the tal inclusions will or
16:07
won't be. But Silver Sea um generally of these three probably has the best overall cuisine I would say. If you're
16:14
on the newer ships, they have the salt program which is very immersive in the region. So, um, hopefully that kind of
16:20
tells you a little bit depend on Ponard and Silver Sea the type of which ship they're actually uh chartering.
16:26
Hopefully the Wi-Fi gods are doing. So, Hika, good to see you, Ha. I've actually been following Hikah uh who's on Queen
16:32
Elizabeth. She's in the Caribbean at the moment heading back as as as we are. So, Claudia's here. Um
16:40
Tom saying, "Yeah, beats the London November weather." That's pretty good. Ah, here we are. Kinser print just run
16:45
write the word uh write the word um uh question so I don't miss the question. Uh so let's have a look. Uh Kinser
16:53
Spirit is asking how good is Wi-Fi on the ship? So um I probably answered a little bit above but uh the included
16:59
Wi-Fi is pretty good in terms of you know surfing and um you know it's it's a
17:06
pretty good thing. Although the speed I ran a speed check the speed says it's very slow but what it's been performing
17:12
as has been fine. So that's interesting. Um but the speed has been like you know 10 or whatever. Um but certainly the
17:18
streaming Wi-Fi is is pretty good. So it's it's Starlink. They've now the cruise lines have shifted to Starlink.
17:24
Wi-Fi generally is pretty good and they don't seem to be squeezing that but clearly what they've done on the on the
17:30
basic Wi-Fi which is including the fair is you know you can't get on to anything that's vaguely streaming related at all.
17:36
Um so so even if you want to do I'm trying to think about you. So even doing FaceTime calls was more challenging.
17:43
I've done it on the streaming one for example, but it's been pretty good. I've been able to uh VPN shows and and so on.
17:50
Um let's have a look. So Doug's just got off recently. So hopefully SL uh which
17:58
ship line has been consistently good over the last year on Wi-Fi. So in reality, because all the lines have moved to Starlink, they're all pretty
18:05
good. The one which has been the most disappointing for me, which was interesting, was on Viking. So, Viking
18:11
included um Wi-Fi. Now, they've moved to Starlink, but they it's very was very
18:17
problematic and they don't give you any option to buy an upgrade to streaming. So, when I was on on uh Viking, I
18:24
couldn't do any streaming at all. So, I couldn't run a live stream. I couldn't um uh stream shows uh or anything. And
18:32
there was no option at all. So for me that was kind of the biggest miss which also seems I know Viking don't want to
18:37
sort of nickel and dime and charge and stuff but across all the other ships I found with Starlink it's good. Now the
18:43
problem is that many lines uh still require you to do the if you want to stream you have to pay uh and it can be
18:50
quite pricey. Uh so my little tip is pre- buy it. So, for example, on here, I
18:56
think it was $19.99 to do the upgrade, but uh in fact, on imbulcation, they had
19:02
a half price off offer, but um I've been looking for some my cruises next year,
19:08
and a lot of them have quite big discounts if you pre-book the upgrade. So, for example, I've got 200 America
19:13
trips um next year, one which is the group cruise, then the month after I've I'm on in South America. And both of
19:20
those I've got have it all which includes basic Wi-Fi but they're offering a very good discount to get the
19:25
streaming ones. So that's my little my little tip there. Claudia uh do you
19:30
recommend uh Octopus card to get around Hong Kong will be there post India uh
19:36
Sri Lanka Thailand cruise. So um Claudia I I do recommend getting the card. Now, what I would say is I don't know if
19:42
you've got uh if you've got an iPhone, but uh if you look on iPhone, if you go
19:48
to wallet, I'm sorry, I'm going to bring it up here. I also need to be careful I don't show you all my my cards, but if
19:54
you go if you go to if you got an iPhone and you go into wallet, uh the wallet app,
20:02
what I discovered is you've got you've got a thing which which is a plus. So,
20:07
there you've got like a plus sign. If you push the plus sign, uh you can then
20:12
it's going to say travel card. If you go on to travel card, you'll find, for
20:18
example, for Hong Kong, you'll see you can actually get sign up
20:24
for Octopus on your iPhone. So, I use that. Um I loaded up on wallet and it
20:29
was fantastic. You know, I could jump on the those thin buses, the metro, everything. Um, so yes, it's a long way
20:37
of answering, but that was a little uh tip that I discovered. I just what had happened is I'd been in Japan uh before
20:43
because I was going from um Tokyo and I was ending up in Hong Kong. That's not true. I was ending Manila, but I went to
20:49
Hong Kong and I had gone and complicated bought a card and all that nonsense. Then I then I realized that I I read
20:56
somewhere that you could do it. So by the time I got to Hong Kong, I'd done that. Um let's have a look. Uh, not app
21:04
8680. Can serious injury illness on board cut short a long repositioning cruise short like some Antarctic
21:11
cruises? Okay, so for those who don't know, if you if one of the things that when you get on an Antarctic cruise
21:17
because you're so far from hospital, they do stress that you should be extremely cautious because if someone
21:25
needs a hospital, their only option is to turn around and sail all the way back to a Shire or whatever. Now, in some
21:31
cases, they could go back to King George Island and airlift people out, but basically you're going to cut it short.
21:37
So, when I was in Antarctica last time, um I I was on Endeavor and there was an Aurora ship, I think they called a
21:44
expedition style, and we rendevued with them because they had someone on board, I'm not sure it was a crew or a
21:50
passenger, that they thought had broken something. I can't maybe an arm or leg
21:55
or whatever. and they weren't sure whether they needed to uh if it was broken, they were going to have to
22:01
curtail the trip and sell back to a Shire so they could get hospital treatment.
22:06
Uh but Endeavor had much more advanced medical equipment, X-ray and stuff. So we made up so they could transfer the
22:13
passenger cross. Now the good news was it wasn't broken and they didn't have to do it. Now on a repositioning cruise in
22:19
reality um it's less likely because if you look at the routting often of
22:25
repositioning cruises um one of the things I discovered for example with the Queen Mary 2 and the Q2 is when they're
22:32
sailing across from Southampton to New York and vice versa part of the route is sort of designed that it is in with it's
22:40
in it is in it is within range of an
22:45
evacuation helicopter. Now on those repositioning cruises um the idea would be that uh you you you know normally on
22:52
a on Atlantic cruise they may be able to divert towards islands. Now I know there's a middle stretch uh where the
22:59
the only there's a point of time where you're you're equidistant from turning back or going forwards. So they will
23:04
normally try and head towards um an island. Now what's interesting is um
23:10
ships can generally go a lot faster than they sail. Now ships tend to sail slower
23:16
because you burn less fuel. So for example with the old repositionings you know the ship can do
23:22
it in five days. So QE2 Queen Mary 2 can actually do the crossing in four or five days but they take seven days and some
23:29
days eight days because going slower burns is less fuel. It's much less costly. So ships can also sort of put
23:34
their foot down a little bit. Um but it's not as dramatic because they can normally get or get within distance of a
23:40
helicopter. So for example, it has happened where uh on Queen Mary 2 or
23:46
sometimes ships heading on transatlantics will sort of divert so they're within range of an evacuation
23:53
helicopter um or or even I guess sometimes uh another ship. Um so
23:59
hopefully that hopefully that answers um that's Jeffrey's never been able to get
24:04
the work VPN to work. So that's interesting. So I guess that there may be an issue. You're right. I can see why because we used to have I remember when
24:10
in my corporate days um before I retired from that we had a very specific
24:16
VPN thing. So it wasn't a VPN uh which we then it was a specific one. So that's
24:21
interesting to know. So that's a good note. So those people who require one of those little specific well I guess
24:27
probably not plugin anymore. I'm my since I last in corporate love it's probably a digital one but in my day it was like a little pluggy thing. So
24:33
that's good to know. So to watch out for that. So that's a good watch out. Um,
24:39
sorry about the padded headboard. Um, let's have a look.
24:46
Uh, Chris, good to see you here. You mentioned in your recent luxury ultra luxury reviews, critics challenging new
24:53
free structures that imply pricing squeezes. Is it a trend you confirm? Also in other segments like premium. So,
25:00
let me just make sure I'm digesting this. Uh, new fee structures that imply pricing squeezes is a trend you confir.
25:06
Okay. So, you're right. I mean, what what we're seeing in the and I guess you specifically we're talking about uh
25:13
Silvery, which is the most topical one at the moment, where Silver changed their structures. They used to have
25:20
doorto-door, they had porttoport and then they had their last minute um one I think it was called essential and then
25:27
they've changed that uh to create uh all inclusive plus all-incclusive and I
25:32
think they might call the new one last minute um affairs and in that process they took out things like excursions
25:39
they changed some of the rules around refundable non-refundable uh deposits. Now, it's a little bit hard, Chris, to
25:47
tell exactly if it's a price increase or not because they did it uh at the same
25:52
time as launching a whole lot of promotions. We're heading into Black Friday. So, I've seen lots of chat
25:58
amongst the Silver Sea group about people talking about is this a price piece? Are they seeing higher prices and
26:03
and and so on. Um, we've also seen with Oceanania them changing their different
26:08
programs from OIE and taking things out and O they brought in a new perk which
26:14
almost cancel out a perk that you had with loyalty and so on. So I mean uh
26:19
it's hard to to unravel it. I mean personally, you know, why would you if
26:25
you the skeptical side of me my sort of marketing life would I guess would be is
26:32
uh you know obviously there's a huge uh still of cost pressures on cruise lines.
26:38
You know inflation is still relatively high around the world. Uh cost pressures are going up. There's you know there's
26:46
also demand to keep fairs down. So, I'm assuming a lot of these things are probably hiding some sense of uh cost
26:53
increases because we as passengers are obsessed with headline fair. So, I think that's the case. I mean, I think what
26:59
we're seeing by category is slightly different things, Chris. So, for example, we're seeing more in the the
27:05
mass market uh side. So, you know, the resort lines like Norwegian or
27:11
Caribbean, Carnival, they are doing it slightly differently. What they're doing is they're going to shorter cruises. So
27:17
people are still saying, well, I can go away for three or four days for X, you know, 100 or whatever. Um, so I, you
27:24
know, so the the price per night is probably a little bit higher, but the the outgoing is is not as great. But
27:30
also what they're doing is they're sort of stripping out things. So Norwegian, for example, have stripped out uh printing daily programs or you once a
27:38
day service. So there's, you know, each category is doing things slightly differently. you know they with the
27:43
all-inclusive packages in the premium side you know uh celebrity always included used to include gratuitities
27:48
and that got taken out virgin have in the premium category have they used to have you know uh certain things included
27:55
like all foods included gratuitities are included Wi-Fi is included now they've broken their fairs out you can buy
28:01
different packages so I think we're seeing kind of a playing around with with pricing it's a little bit like we're seeing I guess um certainly it's a
28:08
big topic in the UK is uh shrinkflation with consumer consumer goods where what's happening is you know uh washing
28:16
powder is instead of being 500 gram is 450 gram but the price has stayed the same or a chocolate bar is now ex you
28:24
know so many grams less or or toilet roll instead of having sheets it has having less um so let's
28:33
have a look here someone referring to Ben and David uh it's a yeah someone's
28:38
talking about I really like this cabin this I think I mentioned in the in the last uh live stream. So, this is what's
28:44
known as a serenity cabin. On other ships when I've been on, it's called uh it was called a
28:50
uh superior cabin. So, basically what you've got is you have a ver and a deluxe ver then you've got serenity.
28:58
Uh then then you've got seven grades above that. So, I think serenity is the main sort of the main group. And I what
29:04
I like about the serenity cabin is it's a little bit bigger, but you have the bed facing the windows. the deluxe
29:10
locations are less good and it's a little bit small in the beds that more to show. But I really like this layout.
29:15
It's a really good size. Um uh but once you get to concier you get like pre-stay
29:21
hotel and coffee machines and things like but I don't really need that uh as such. Although I do some think it would
29:27
be nice have a coffee machine but I really like these cabins. They're a great size. Uh and yeah I really like I
29:33
really like them. It's a nice feel. Uh Sheldon asking yes I've been on some princess. I have uh two videos around
29:40
it. Uh so if you look on the channel uh if you look on my on the channel if you just search uh princess or sun princess
29:47
two videos will come up. Uh one of which is a a look at uh the move as you say
29:52
into the mega ship the pros and cons of it and why diehard Princess cruisers are
29:59
a little bit more mixed on it because it's it's a very different look to any of the other Princess ships and a
30:04
dramatically different layout. So some traditional princess uh don't warm to it
30:10
as much. Um and I talk about who does and who doesn't. Um so I've been on that. The second video I did based on
30:16
that is looking at the sanctuary collection. So uh as you know you can book certain I think it's deluxe camp
30:23
balconies through to obviously their big swanky suites which then give you access to the sanctuary club restaurant. I
30:29
think it's called the sanctuary restaurant, the sanctuary club, uh, pool deck, and if you have a suite into the
30:35
sanctuary lounge. So, I've done a video around that as that as well. For me personally, I wasn't a massive fan of
30:41
Sun Princess, but largely because personally as a cruiser, I like smaller ships, but I like going on the big ships
30:48
so I can cover them for the channel. Um, but for me, it was just a little bit too big. But actually what was very
30:54
interesting is this ship, people that I spoke to on the ship, particularly who were younger, particularly people with
31:01
families, absolutely love the ship. You know, they love the layout, they love the vibe, they love the masses of
31:07
venues, the entertainment, the the dining options and so on. Um, so that
31:13
was interesting. So it was definitely a very vibrant ship. It's very uh there's lots going on. The daily program's
31:18
packed. The the atrium is always got something going on. So, it's quite boisterous and noisy, but it's like a
31:23
lot of energy there. They have lots of entertainment going on, lots of uh stuff going on. Uh the sanctuary collection
31:29
was actually very nice. Uh as well, um
31:35
Orin Freeman, do you have a sense of whether or not you get more bang for your buck with a ship within a ship
31:42
versus ultra luxury ship experience? So, uh great, uh challenge. So I I've
31:47
actually make because I get asked a similar I haven't actually been asked I that specific question as much. Uh now
31:53
in the videos uh Orin that I do about the ship in the ships the one I did about the Haven and the one I did about
32:00
the yach club I talk a little bit about this. So you might want to also watch those but I'll tell you my perspective.
32:06
So for those I guess everyone knows what a ship within a ship is. That's um in varying degrees. So if it's the haven it's literally a ship within a ship. So
32:13
all of the the cabins, the restaurant, the bar, the pool deck, you have to is in a section. So like on the prima class
32:20
ships, uh it's across a couple of decks, but you could you need a car to get in in there. The same on Celebrity on the
32:26
newer ships, it's very much an enclosed space, although the cabins are actually not all in the same space. Uh so so it
32:32
varies. So you could argue like Kunard Queen's Grill, which is sort of shipped within you. Everything's spread out
32:38
around the ship. So it's not in one enclosed space. So what's important Orin is in reality uh it's the same price
32:47
largely speaking. So if you go in the retreat uh it's going to cost you the same as going on like this is the same.
32:56
So what you'll tend to get your cabin will be a little bit bigger but you know you you could be spending up to $1,000 a
33:02
night or something like that on in the retreat or in the haven easily. And that's what you can spend here. now you
33:08
can actually come on this for a lower price you know with promotions and repositioning stuff. So in reality
33:16
though the difference is I think uh around what it is you want from a cruise. So the I think the big plus of
33:23
the ship within a ship experience is if you're the sort of cruiser who says I want a big ship experience. I want big
33:30
production shows. Uh, so you you know if you're going on Norwegian, say in the Haven, you know that they've got these
33:37
massive big production shows. They've got Broadway shows, they've got like amazing shows. They've got loads of live
33:44
entertainment venues with bands, you know, lots of different types of music. Uh you've got big quiz shows, so they'll
33:51
do, you know, a deal or no deal kind of thing, but it's a whole big interactive uh thing. Uh you'll have a huge range of
33:58
special dining. Now ad even with most of those you pay extra for those. Uh but you're going it's just you're going to
34:04
have all that stuff to tap into um uh as well as having your own but you also
34:10
have an ability to retreat and have a little bit of more quiet or be pampered a bit more with your butler or whatever
34:16
um you've got. And the same if you go on celebrity uh or you go on MSE yach club. So MSE yacht clubs, you know, the ships
34:23
are boisterous, they're noisy, and the yach club gives you some retreat and pampering and stuff. When you come on
34:29
ultra luxury, you you you know, for the same sort of price, you you you're forgoing all of that stuff. So the shows
34:36
here, you know, there's four singers, four dancers, it's kind of themed around your Mottown or whatever. You have a
34:42
couple of, you know, dining options um but not the same choice. So you're
34:48
looking for a quieter, calmer experience. It's much quieter. It's much more laidback. Uh it's about not queuing
34:55
for anything. Uh so, you know, you're not you're less bothered about the entertainment or the pros of the big
35:02
ship uh stuff. Also, what's important is not depending on the region you go to, you'll find you sometimes going to more
35:08
out of the way places. So, if you take the Caribbean, you know, those big ship ship ships have to go to, you know, only
35:16
can only go to certain amount of ports. was here. Now, this ship on the Saturnia, of course, went to those ports
35:21
because they're there, but we also went to St. Barts where you have to tender in. Uh we went a little bit further
35:27
south where it's a little bit, you know, where it's less busy. So, you can The Caribbean is not a great example, but um
35:33
you know, if you do the Greek islands on an ultra luxury ship, you're going to go to lots of very small islands because
35:38
you you know, you only got a couple hundred people that you need to tend to and fro. Big ship won't go there. So, so
35:44
it's a little bit around the experience you want. So, if bang for your buck, you define bang for your buck as I want to
35:50
to still go and see massive shows. So, you go Royal Caribbean, you're going to have aqua shows, eye shows. If that's what you want, you're going to get more
35:56
bang for your buck. But, um uh you know, if you toss it up price or price, uh you
36:03
you you know, you'll end up being sort of the same. Now, obviously on the big ship and ship, you have to show your
36:08
card much more. Here, you know, you the only time you use your card is to go in and outside your door. uh you know when
36:15
you do excursions you there's no queue smaller groups so that's a lot of it's around that hopefully I've explained
36:21
that well um yes so this is an issue sort of coming
36:27
back to the point I was making about people being stopped filming so um I think this is this for me I think is a
36:34
big point is um I think us as YouTubers and content creators need to really
36:39
think about being intrusive or not being intrusive. So the gimbal and camera uh
36:44
situation is either you need to be filming if you you know people who do very beautiful shoots and like uh
36:51
Richard and Helen stuff they will film on sea days sorry on port days when everyone's out in the morning. So they
36:57
aren't doing that stuff. They aren't walking into the dining room filming. They do being very kind of discreet
37:02
about it. I I'm going to show you where's where's it gone? I'm actually going to do a little um
37:09
I I use a much more discreet. So I use I I use this more which is a Osmo Pocket
37:17
uh 3. So this this is the camera that I use for most of my filming. So this is much more kind of discrete uh much less
37:25
intrusive. I use my phone a bit more. So definitely I don't my videos uh are probably not as um the B-roll and stuff
37:33
is perhaps not as amazing as some of people who use those bigger cameras. But um but I think I feel you need to we
37:40
need we need to be more discreet. I worry that about the gimbal out particularly when when there's stuff
37:45
going on. Um I think the time for the gimbal a big camera is on port day when
37:50
no one's around when all the rest like you go and film all the restaurants when no one's in them kind of thing.
37:57
Um let's have a look. Uh Joe, I booked my first transatlantic cruise for March.
38:04
Are there any major differences between Mediterranean Caribbean and transatlantic sailings beside the added sea days? Joe, last week I had a video
38:12
which will be perfect to have a look at uh which is around reposition cruises. So take a look at that. I'll dive into
38:18
that. Um but um the the key difference uh I would say is you'll find uh
38:25
obviously you're going to see fewer ports, fewer places. Um, and what you're
38:30
going to have, Joe, is, you know, if you're going on a Mediterranean cruise in the season or you're going on a
38:36
Caribbean cruise in the season, you're probably going to have incredible weather. So, for example, the weather that we've had here has been sunny and
38:43
gorgeous all the time because we're now sort of in the season. On a transatlantic cruise, you're going to
38:48
have you're going to be going from a lousy weather in one part uh towards the good better weather. So, for example, in
38:56
March, uh, you know, March in the Med is not yet great weather. Uh, so if you're heading for the Caribbean, it's still
39:01
quite nice weather, but you're going to be heading progressively into worse and worse weather. So, you might start out on the deck, but by sort of midway or
39:07
so, you're not be out on the deck. And or vice versa. Uh, so, you know, so for
39:12
example, when I did a repositioning cruise, which went from Alaska to Japan, the first sort of seven or eight days of
39:19
it, it was cold. It was jackets out. In fact, it was there was no one, you couldn't sit out of the pool. In fact,
39:24
the decks was closed for it was too cold, too windy. Then by the time we got to Japan, the weather had gone.
39:30
Obviously, we're doing a Japan cruise in the season or med you, you know, obviously the weather might be not
39:36
great. So, that's one of the key differences. Also, what you'll find, uh, Joe, on the transatlantics, because
39:42
they're longer, generally speaking, uh, most cruisers, certainly in the Med and the Caribbean, are really designed
39:47
around 7-day cruises in the season. So the program uh a lot of the ships are
39:53
set up for seven-day rotations. So they'll have maybe to 10 days at a push. So they'll have uh you know production
39:59
shows to cover basically seven days or entertainment program or even menus that are sort of around a 7-day to 10 day
40:06
rotation. So when you go on those transatlantics often there's kind of more filler stuff going on. So you'll
40:12
find for example they might get the production guys or gals singers to do their own little cabaret show or they'll
40:18
bring on some more um uh guest artists. Also what they often use the
40:23
transatlantics for is to try things out. So if they're bringing some new shows on they'll launch those in the
40:29
transatlantics they have time to kind of thrash them out. If they're need a little bit of um work not going into a
40:35
dry dock they might do some refits and stuff. So you might have some of that kind of going on as well. But take a
40:41
look at the video. Probably there's loads of things that I've I've I've left out there. Um
40:47
Claudia has another question. About to forgo uh ship Wi-Fi for the Verizon
40:53
international plan and commit to gigst 30-day Asia cruise land to text post and scroll on Insta audio books, podcast
40:59
maps, hotspot laptop reliable warnings. So Claudia um I have not I've only done
41:05
trials of Gigsai and it's been pretty good. Now, a lot of it, what I would double check, uh, Claudia, is which ship
41:11
you're on, uh, and just double check if the ship, which nowadays almost inevitably has Starink, because my
41:18
understanding, and that this is not gospel, is Gig Sky will then ride on the
41:24
back of um, Starlink mostly or it it relies on more
41:31
traditional satellite uh, connections. But if your ship is listed, so Gigsai lists all the ships. Um, but certainly
41:38
you would find because you're not doing heavy streaming, so you're doing the Insta, the audiobooks, podcasts, uh,
41:44
that sort of stuff, it should be fine. Certainly when I did the tests, um, it I didn't do the did I do tests on my Japan
41:51
cruise? I think I was using Gig Sky on my Japan cruise. I know I did on the Canadian cruise for sure. Um, but it
41:58
should be. Yes. But let me know. Let me know if it doesn't. Um, okay. Just write the word
42:04
question so I don't miss the question. Here's one I definitely did miss. Um, which is from uh Conrad CE. I think
42:12
that's probably Conrad CE or it's not. It's if I've got your combo wrong. What do you make of Norwegian Cruise Line
42:18
recent announcement that they're reducing the number of solar cabins in reverse strategy they set up a couple of
42:23
years ago. Yes. So, I also touched on this uh last week in the live. I think maybe it was somewhere else. Anyway, um
42:31
so yes, it was quite a surprise uh in some ways for those who don't know is Norwegian, you know, maybe maybe last
42:39
year even uh they made when they did their one of their results, the fact that they were going to significantly
42:44
increase solo cabins, um particularly focused on the Norwegian cruise line,
42:50
but in this most recent results that came out, they said that they are focusing way more on family.
42:57
uh also as I was saying a little bit earlier on shorter cruises those are proving to be very profitable for them
43:02
very popular uh particularly in the Caribbean they're putting more capacity in the Caribbean and they were going to
43:08
then reduce the number of solo cams across their three brands so that's Norwegian Cruise Line Oceania which is
43:13
my next trip I'm on and uh on Regent so so they they are and I think it's quite
43:20
a surprise because up until then Norwegian had really lent into solos and they had said they were going to start
43:26
on the a lot of their ships, they have uh the solo um uh call to the haven. I
43:33
forgot what it's called now. Anyway, where all the solo cabins are, they're all kind of insides. They're very small
43:38
uh with a little solo lounge, but they were going to have more permutations of solo. So, I think it's it's really
43:43
disappointing. Now, hopefully what they will do, which they imply they will do, we will see is focus more on solo uh
43:50
deals. So, I must say on this trip I'm on now, which I am on solo, uh you know,
43:56
we've been getting lots of uh promotional leaflets from the future cruise uh salespeople and they did send
44:02
around um a very long list of uh sailings with solo low solo supplement
44:10
deals. Um so hopefully that will be the way that they they do it. But yes, definitely definitely uh done it.
44:18
Someone giving some tips on the VPN. Um, let's have a look. Uh, let's have a
44:24
look. Margo, good saying the events we planned last time were a lot of fun. Well, that's good to know because I'm
44:30
actually planning the ones for the next group cruise. So, the advantage I had with the the last group cruise is not
44:36
that many people that were on the first group cruise were on the second group cruise. So, some of the tried and tested
44:41
things that I'd used on the first group cruise, I was able to use on that group cruise. But now there's quite a lot of people that have either been on model 2.
44:48
So I'm having to change all the quizzes and things that we've done. So that's uh but I've got some ideas. I've got some
44:53
ideas on that. Um lots of people asking questions around the gig sky. Marggo
44:59
making the point that met some friends. Uh oh yes, Jeffreey's used the AT&T package. Um so and that would work quite
45:07
well because I think you'd use the AT&T package. I know you were definitely using it when we were on the Canadian group cruise and it seemed that would
45:12
work well. So that's good. That's good to know. Um, let's people talking about how frosty it
45:19
is. Uh, let's let's have a look. Um, again, just trying to write the word question so I don't miss your question.
45:26
Uh, LK 55, we're scheduled for the spend in two weeks when she sails from Barbados. So, I think that's is that the
45:33
one where you're heading down to South America or I can't I know the ship is ultimately heading to South America quite soon. What would you recommend for
45:40
the onboard ship experience as a must-see restaurant to eat or do while
45:45
on board? Okay, so hopefully you've locked in your bookings because they do
45:51
fill up really quickly. So you get to go to Compass Rose, not Compass Rose, I'm
45:57
talking nonsense. You get to go to Chhatarus, which is the French restaurant, Pacific Room, which is the Asian uh restaurant, and M 7, which is
46:04
the steakhouse. And you get to go to those at least once. So hopefully you've locked those in. Now what I would say is
46:10
if you can do this earlier in your cruise if you haven't done them before and then try and negotiate to get
46:15
additional ones. So I have met people on here that I went to dinner the other night um with some people that I met
46:21
that follow the channel and they had been that was their third trip to Pacific Rim for example. They really
46:26
like it. Um now I know in if you're in certain grades here you can go as often as you want but generally they have a
46:33
person in the booking office. So if there's any you want to go to more than once, go and negotiate. They're pretty good at trying to do that. The other
46:39
thing I would say is I quite like um going to setimari. So there is La Ver,
46:46
which is the buffet for breakfast and for lunch, but they don't have a buffet at night, which I wish they did have
46:51
some casual dining option, but they don't. And it turns into an Italian restaurant. I do find Cityimari quite
46:56
good. Now with Cityimari, it can be very very popular. So, it's it's it's good to
47:02
plan to go early, like when it opens at 6:30 if you like eating early because you're guaranteed to get a seat. But if
47:09
you try to go sort of the 7:30 whatever peak time, it can be a little bit challenging. Um, so that that that those
47:16
when it comes to dining, I mean, Compass Rose, I I quite like Compass Rose. I know some people are less keen on
47:22
Compass on the discussion here. I quite like the food in Compass Rose. Um what's quite good is on the they don't have an
47:28
app but on the television can point to you which you can't see but anyway every day they put the menus up there so
47:33
that's worth uh having a look at. So in terms of um uh things to do is what's proved
47:39
phenomenally popular uh on this trip is they have you know the if you take part in all the the quizzes you know the
47:46
trivia the the various games they do and you collect points uh for merchandise which ends today that's really popular
47:53
very socialable I I'm not a big I don't get involved in that but so many people that I've met on here and talked to they
47:59
go to all of those and it seems quite generous the sort of merchandise you get they're very generous with the points.
48:05
So, if that's the sort of thing you like, if you're very sociable, that's definitely something I would do. The
48:11
shows are fine. They're okay. Um, the guest artists, they've been quite strong
48:16
on here, but um, is there anything else I would recommend? Uh, those are those
48:22
are really, I think, the things that I would probably recommend. As you know, the daily program is relatively light unless you're into trivia, games, and
48:28
all that sort of stuff. Um, uh, Jeff, I booked a synt for the next
48:36
repositioning cruise next March. The balcony seems to be somewhat wider on the trailing edge as a ship gets wider.
48:42
Is this okay? So, um, the balcony the balcony is not a bad size actually on
48:50
here. But what I've noticed is there is I think what you're saying is on the ship there's these little bits that jut
48:56
out. I think on either side like the cabin next to me I can sort of see into the balcony because it's sort of it's a
49:02
bigger longer balcony and I think it is a serenity suite as well from being nosy when I walk past it looks like from
49:07
looking in. So you're right. It does seem those little bits that jut out do seem a little bit bigger. I also notice
49:13
that they have louners on there. I don't have a lounger on. I just got chairs and a table. So I think there more juty out
49:19
ones are the thing to do if that's that's a technical term. Uh right. So we've we've done that. Um,
49:29
right. So, Warren's asking a question which cut off. Um, you're on Splender. Do you see a difference from NA?
49:36
So, add that in. Oh, Navigator. Okay. Warren, it is basically 100% different
49:44
uh in reality. So, Navigator is um so
49:49
Navigator is kind of an outlier. So Navigator was originally built as sort of a Russian spy ship thing. Then at the
49:57
end of the Cold War, it got the the partly built hole eventually got sold and was built up. So it's it's a very
50:04
completely different layout. It only holds 430 or 450 passengers. Uh
50:10
completely different. The cabin, you know, the decor, the look and the feel is similar. Some of the restaurants are
50:15
the same. So they've got it's still called compass rows and so on and stuff. Completely different. what is the same.
50:21
But if you go on Splendor, Voyager, Grandeur, uh, Explorer, basically that is sort of
50:28
the same layout. The decor's kind of look different. A few things are slightly different, but those ships are very similar. So like being on having
50:34
been on Navigator, Explorer, and Spender, it all feels just familiar. I know where everything is because it's
50:39
all in in the same place. Navigator completely completely different.
50:45
Uh Rashika um would you consider Iceland a buckandas cruise? Absolutely. Also
50:51
there's a region cruise next April which will dock in Alexander for 3 days. Will this give good insight into Egypt? So
50:57
yes, Iceland absolutely is a fascinating uh place to go. I do have a video which
51:03
I did long time ago but I haven't updated because it's still valid where I do have Iceland as one. It's a
51:08
fascinating place to go but make sure you do a full circumnavigation. Uh and secondly, as you're sort of
51:15
implying is do it on a smaller ship because there are some ports in Iceland that restrict the size of ship uh that
51:22
goes in there or the number of passengers per day. So you want to go on a smaller ship. So I know uh you you know your Oceananis, Viking, Regent and
51:30
so on. They do some very nice circum navigations. Um so in terms of docking in Alexandria, I know they do some
51:37
excursions uh where you can go to like uh Luxor and
51:42
so on. So, it probably will give you a good insight, but it's only going to give you an is going to give you a good
51:47
insight. And particularly if you've got those overnights, you should get a chance to it's quite a quite a distance.
51:52
Um, but it will it will give you if you're there for three if you're there for three days, it will give you a
51:57
chance to see quite quite a lot. Um, I haven't looked at the exclusions in detail, but I've know what some I have
52:03
seen I have seen some of those. Hika is booked on Queen Mary 2 for trans
52:10
cruise next October and I just found out there'll be an Abbey Road event voyage. What does that mean? I haven't heard of
52:17
the Abbey Road event. I've only heard so what Queen Mary do on the transatlantics is they do have a couple of themes. So
52:23
they've just had fashion week. In fact, a friend of mine was on uh the fashion week one. Uh they've had some
52:29
theater-based ones uh some West End based ones. Now Abi Road obviously is uh
52:35
the famous recording studio. So, you know, with the Beatles with their famous uh album with them walking on the um
52:42
zebra crossing, but there's a lot of big artists have recorded in Abbey Road. So, I'm guessing it's kind of kind of be
52:48
music themed. Normally, what they do, hiker, when they do those themes is they will get kind of so on the fashion week
52:55
they have, you know, fashion design and stuff. They'll have events, uh fashion shows. When they did the the sort of
53:01
western one, they had some western performers on and they would give the talk. All the talks would be themed around that. There would be the guest
53:08
artists would all do that. So, so without that would be my sense of that. So, it's um it's not heavily it is it
53:17
doesn't completely take over because everyone can take part. So, the advantage with you know sometimes when they've got a themed event on a cruise
53:23
ship it you know events kept you know venues kept getting closed. The advantage with those fashion week and
53:28
some of the other themed ones is it's open to everybody. You it's not a sort of like a group cruise as as such. Um,
53:36
so ZZ Zed Land, um, how would you go about booking if someone wanted to join one of your group cruises? We're in
53:42
Canada. So ZZ Zed Land, what I do with my group cruises is I, um, restrict the
53:47
amount of people I go on my group cruise. So my aim is to have no more than 70 people on a group cruise uh,
53:53
because I found that is an optimal number. So, what I do with my group cruises is I launch them first as uh
54:01
because as kind of a perk if you're a Patreon member. Uh so, uh I launch them
54:07
as a p to the patrons first and I give them a booking window and then uh if it
54:13
doesn't get sold out through patrons and stuff and and then uh I open it to the
54:19
public. Now, my last two group cruises never got opened more publicly because
54:24
it got sold out from uh the patron side. Now, and I've decided I still want to
54:29
keep it capped because I want to make sure that I can engage with people. I found that's about the right the right number. So, we do actually take bookings
54:36
above that because I've learned that you get about 20% of people cancelelling from because I they're quite far ahead.
54:42
So that so the there's two key things you can do is uh you know uh the patrons always get booking priority and then uh
54:50
but I will post about on social media. I'll talk about it on these live streams when it's coming. So I normally announce
54:55
them and I'll tell you what date it's going on sale. So that's the that's that's the key way. Um at the moment I
55:01
don't have any more group cruises scheduled. So um I will review that after this last after this next group
55:08
cruise. So at the moment um you're not missing out on anything. Uh in terms of the way it works though is uh they're
55:14
all booked um when the booking goes they're all have they're all handled through one travel agent which is
55:20
normally for them has been Sarah. So, I launched it with a specific specific um
55:25
way to to book via via Sarah, but there aren't there aren't any um currently
55:31
thing, but keep an eye on social media and on here. Um
55:38
Caroline, good to see you here as always. Um with all the traveling you do, spending many weeks away throughout
55:43
the year, do you miss home? What will you do when you may not be able to travel so much in years to come? This is
55:48
rather gloomy of you. So um Caroline so um in see what's very interesting
55:54
Caroline is is I have always uh since I was kind of in my 30s been
56:02
away from home a lot so when I I had a European job uh I had a global job so I
56:07
was always been away uh you know two or maybe three weeks a month when I was
56:12
working uh in my corporate life. So I had always used to and and certainly at with home life and with friends and with
56:19
uh Mark and and so on, we've always had a rhythm where I I'm away. So I'm very
56:25
used to being away. So actually now it's it's much I'm much more in control of when I'm away because I uh you know I
56:32
plan all my own trips. I pay for all my own trips. I decide when I go how long I'm away for. And I always make sure
56:38
that I've got time at home. I also sorted out because I plan ahead is there's times of the year when it works
56:44
better for me to be away. Say Mark's got board meetings or has work events or
56:49
travel or whatever. Uh so I I can basically pace it so it works best for
56:56
uh for uh being away and not being away. Um, also what I found very helpful is
57:02
with technology now with being able to FaceTime, um, Messenger, FaceTime and and
57:08
whatever, you know, you can also be much more connected with home. I am very obsessed with traveling um, and um, you
57:16
know, one of the drivers I think people know is I've always been obsessed with traveling. when I was diagnosed and in
57:23
2012 when I was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemo that gave me another sense of to keep going you know
57:30
uh and to just keep doing things. So I've been in remission since 2012 um but always aware that I'm only in remission
57:37
so I you know I want to see as much as I possibly can and just keep you know keep
57:42
moving as it were. But you're right. So, in terms of when I won't be able to travel as much, um, uh, I will I I I I
57:49
will probably just enjoy maybe find new ways of enjoying being at home. I I love going to the theater. I love going to
57:56
see shows and stuff like that. So, I probably will shift into doing even more of that um that kind of stuff, but
58:02
probably travel more uh pottering around if you like within the UK. The advantage
58:08
also being in London is you know you even if you don't want to be flying you've got Euro Star which is expanding
58:14
and stuff. So but you're right I think um and probably just watch lots of shows both on television and stuff but you're
58:21
right it's uh it's something we all guess we'll have to think about. So when I can do it as long as I can do it I
58:26
will keep I will keep uh I will keep doing it I guess is a thing. Um, Anthony
58:31
asking about solar friendly lines. In reality, the the, you know,
58:38
not really in reality. Cruise lines are much more focused on families. Uh, and
58:43
the reason for that is, you know, you can get three or four people in a cabin, which is obviously way more appealing.
58:49
Uh, but in terms of solo friendly, you've got, you know, things like Virgin have solo cabins. Um,
58:55
I think you know it's more what clients are tending to do is you you can find
59:02
lots of low solo supplements and deals uh at shoulder time. So going in and out
59:09
of the med season, going in out of the Caribbean season kind of stuff. But, you know, there aren't any massively solo
59:16
friendly lines. In reality, it's not a focus for lions. Um the you know
59:23
unfortunately from a budget perspective is some of the most solar friendly at the moment are the most expensive lines.
59:31
Crystal, Regent, Silver Sea, they do a lot of solo deals. uh but you know which
59:39
is still you know for most of the travelers is way out of their budget because even if you've got a 20% or 15%
59:45
supplement it's still a lot of money per night which is way out of people's budgets um once you talk about uh you
59:52
know those mass market lines which is more affordable for most people uh gives
59:57
most options you know Norwegian Carnival Royal Caribbean you know not so not so
1:00:04
much and not so many solo deals unfortunately I do have a video around um the
1:00:09
different the different sites and things that offer solo deals is you know vacations to go is always a good
1:00:14
default. They have a solos section on there which is which they will put wherever there's solo deals on there
1:00:20
across all lines. Uh you know so from your more affordable lines to your kind of crazy expensive uh lines um they have
1:00:28
those. Um right so we're rapidly out of time. Let me see if I can quickly uh turn through
1:00:35
some questions before we wrap up. Your voice of present was for traveling to Japan in October. What other months would you recommend if adding stops in
1:00:40
Hong Kong and Singapore? So I also did um I did Japan um in sort of March. I
1:00:45
it's a little bit cold but it's great weather that sort of time uh for Hong Kong Singapore. So the V of going sort
1:00:51
of into April whilst Japan is quite cold you get to see the cherry blossoms but it's it's it's very nice weather Hong
1:00:57
Kong Singapore. you are starting to head into I guess quite soon into the sort of um monsoon area so much more rainy but I
1:01:04
had a great time in Hong Kong and Singapore that kind of March that sort of March uh time uh and a lot of people
1:01:10
go uh for uh for for the for the apple blossoms. Good to know that um the audio
1:01:17
has been okay. Um I haven't seen that, Dennis. Um have
1:01:23
they stopped using the cloth bags for for laundry? I'm assuming you mean for
1:01:28
laundry or do you mean the um the the like the club orange bags? I don't know.
1:01:34
But I am going I'm going on uh America as mentioned twice next year. Right. So
1:01:39
we have rapidly run out of time. Let me do let me do one quick question. Do you think Princess will sell or redo
1:01:45
Princess Key? I see someone notified of a change of attendee. I think they might revamp celebration key. But you're
1:01:50
right. Celebration keys have obviously spent a absolute fortune on updating celebration key. So, I guess they want
1:01:56
more ships to go there. I'm just wondering whether they will redo it because all these lines need more
1:02:02
private uh and beach clubs. So, as you probably know, Royal Caribbean are launching a couple of beach clubs in the
1:02:08
Caribbean. They've got the one Costamaya coming, got the other one in Bahamas coming, and they've got apparently um
1:02:13
another one in Bahamas that they have some rights on. Uh and then they're also launching beach clubs now in the Med to
1:02:19
cope with bigger ships and stuff like that. So, I'll be I'm I'm interested to see if they're going to redo it. um you
1:02:25
know because what they did with with um with Half Moon Key which is the Holland America one they've now created a
1:02:32
separate space which so Carnival ships can call there. So I suspect they're redeveloping and finding ways of making
1:02:37
the islands kind of more multi- uh more multi uh more multi-purpose. So I've just seen um Roxy giving a super sticker
1:02:45
there. Thanks very much um for that. Right, so we have churned through I've run out of time. I will be back next
1:02:52
weekend. I'll be back home, be back home on Wednesday. So, I'll be doing a live stream. It might be an hour later, so
1:02:58
keep an eye out for that uh timing. Uh thanks so much for joining me. My video
1:03:03
this week is about Silver Sea. So, take a look at that. Thanks for your questions and um have a great rest of
1:03:09
the weekend and take care.
1:03:21
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