Join me for another of my jam-packed Live Cruise Q&A sessions on Sunday 8 September (5pm UK/ Noon ET / 9am PT)
Get any cruise questions answered live!
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE LIVE:
* Travel agent recommendations: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/reasons-to-book-your-cruise-with-a-travel-agent/
* Panama Canal Tips Video: https://youtu.be/uk75Umge8mw
* Mediterranean Cruise tips: https://youtu.be/RbId6kfYDbo
* Best and worst Mediterranean ports: https://youtu.be/25Ec-Z2w95A
* Cruise Dining Tips: https://youtu.be/9U7d9_HC768
* Hapag Lloyd Greenland and Canadian Arctic: https://youtu.be/eLgZbCt29kw
* Excursion alternatives to cruise lines: Venture Ashore ( https://www.ventureashore.com?linkid=2140311 ) and Shore Excursions Group (https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/?id=1204135&[email protected] ) (Affiliate links)
Join me for another of my weekly live cruise question and answer session. 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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0:09
[Music] hello everybody and welcome to another
0:15
live uh I think this is now my 142nd or 43rd live or something like that so
0:21
quite a few so many people are already joined got loads of questions coming in so I will get stuck as quickly as
0:27
possible into the questions I just reminders this is a live so please ask
0:32
questions remember write the word question ideally capitals means I can spot it straight away uh of course have
0:38
lots of chat as well uh the other thing is if you're watching this afterwards which many people do just remember this
0:44
is a live so it's a Q&A based on questions that people are asking because often people tell me they hate the video
0:51
it's not really a classic video it's a Q&A so anyway um a couple of quick housekeeping bits and pieces other than
0:57
that just to let you know that we will there will be definitely another live next week which will be the last live
1:04
before I head off on my group Cruise you know the group Cru which we're doing in Canada and New England so
1:11
last night we actually did a uh briefing did a little live briefing of the live stream some people mentioned they like
1:18
the logo that we've got for the live stream that's our little itinerary and I thought people might be interested in
1:23
kind of who goes on the live streams so sorry on the live streams on the group cruises so this group Cruise uh the 69
1:31
people I ca the size of the group cruise I know some people run bigger group cruises I kind of CA the size of the
1:38
group cruise to make sure that I can host a dinner table so everyone gets a chance to do that with me also a chance
1:44
I think is just more a bit more manageable um so the split there of who's coming and a lot of solos so in
1:50
fact for the Panama group group Cruise which is the end of January 26 we have
1:55
almost nearly double that amount of solos coming on that group Cru including my sister which is going to be very
2:02
exciting um she she hasn't been on a lot of cruises I've been on only one other cruise with my sister but she's going to
2:08
be joining me uh as part of that group crew so that's very exciting right so let's get straight into the questions I
2:14
will ask as many answer yeah I will answer as many questions as I possibly can I will try and talk nice and slowly
2:21
I know I talk very fast particular on these live streams I always get picked out on that so I will try and talk nice
2:27
and slowly but still get through loads and loads of questions so a couple of questions got posted before the live so
2:34
I'll cover those quickly first so franois uh who's been here a couple of times asked a question are there still
2:41
ships smaller older ones I suppose that go through the old locks at the pan canal and what cruise lines would you
2:47
recommend going on thank you well as you just heard there we're doing a Panama I'm doing a Panama Canal uh group Cruise
2:54
uh which is open to patrons and members because basically it's kind of sold out but we've added some extra cabins to
3:00
that um and we're doing that on Holland America zadam so I the key thing for on
3:06
to look out for is it doesn't necessarily have to be an older ship but what it does have to be is what's known
3:11
as a pan Max ship and then the new biggest panamax Plus or I can't what
3:17
it's called Uh go through the bigger lock it's very important when booking a cruise to make sure you understand if
3:23
it's a panamax size ship so for example I'm going at Christmas uh with Mark
3:30
we're doing a Panama Canal and I'm pretty sure that we're going through the old locks but we're going on a brand new
3:36
ship it's only maybe six months old seven months old which is Regent 7 se's
3:41
Grand years so it doesn't actually mean you know it has to be an Old Ship but it has to be small ship so generally speaking uh smaller ships will go
3:48
through now I've actually put a link foron in the show notes to this uh to my
3:53
Panama Canal video because it will dive into what cruise lines and a little bit
3:58
more about what to choose one of the things that I would strongly recommend anyone going through pan Canal is check that you go on a ship which will open
4:05
the bow of the ship so you can really get right down close so I did a Transit
4:10
on Ocean Marina and we couldn't go on the bers ship and there was no open
4:16
viewing platform without glass in the front of the ship so you want to go on some of those like f glass ships like
4:21
the kunard Queen Elizabeth Queen um uh Victoria you know the New Amsterdam
4:28
zeter Dam those kinds of ships but have a look at that video it will answer in
4:33
much more detail so emroy can you recommend a good travel agent so what I've done emroy again in the show notes
4:39
of this I've put a link to an article about using a travel agent and then recommendations on travel agent travel
4:46
agent Sarah that I use in the UK two travel agents Gary pluck and Walter of way Walter travel in the US but also
4:53
there's an Australian recommendation and I'm working on getting a Canadian recommendation I've had a a recommendation from uh Canadian
5:00
Travelers so that is in there with all their contact details Dena is asking a
5:05
question again uh which is around did you experience long delays getting back
5:12
on board your ship with Japanese immigration Customs on your last trip there I heard it's quite a challenge so
5:19
Dean I have seen quite a lot of people posting about that as being an issue
5:25
however I certainly didn't experience it now certainly we were on
5:30
I was on Regent Explorer I've done it before in 2016 so quite a while ago on
5:36
kot Queen Elizabeth and certainly I don't remember any issues there you're
5:42
right in every port in many ports we had to go through the immigration Customs there're often checking that we weren't
5:47
bringing I guess food or stuff on online but it was very smooth process even
5:52
though we had it now on certainly on my most recent experience it was a 700
5:58
passenger ship so it made maybe you know there's a whole America couple princess ships with many more passengers so that
6:04
may just be you know a numbers game but I had no issues so I'm back in Japan
6:09
next year which I'm very excited about I'm doing I just year repositioning on Silver sea Nova which I've always wanted
6:15
to try that ship and it's really good value because it's a repositioning cruise and asume quite a few Japanese
6:20
ports that I haven't been to so hopefully I will be able to answer that question more but certainly I haven't seen that but I have seen people posting
6:26
so it may just be a little bit more kind of hit miss hit's here after some big Mega travels and got one more Cruise now
6:35
Ken has asked a question that I actually can't answer so I'm hoping people here can answer the question so Ken is
6:42
leaving in November on a Viking river cruise through Portugal so it's a slightly smaller ship lines have
6:48
slightly smaller ships to go on the daro and uh I haven't done the daro yet
6:53
it's very high on my list to do so I don't have any firsthand recommendations
6:58
so if anyone has done that and has recommendations please please leave those for Ken it's it is an activity
7:03
that I absolutely need to do so November bear in mind will be quite cold even though Portugal has relatively good
7:10
weather so it's more around making sure you're packing for cold weather so I've done a couple of river cruises not in
7:16
Portugal and it has got quite chilly so just make sure that you're kind of nicely kind of bundled and wrapped up
7:22
and the days are relatively short so it's probably about that the cruise lines would have adapted to build to build stuff uh build stuff in a couple
7:29
people mentioned was it Lineum mentioned that you really like the logo for the group Cru thanks very much so um that's
7:37
great Katie I want to book an adult cruise in March April
7:43
2025 excluding Alaska sorry I'm assuming that means Alaska no and the Europe yes
7:49
and I'm going to assume maybe the Mediterranean firsttime Cruiser and I would like advice on how to chose destinations in that time frame too late
7:56
Katy it's probably not too late although you're you know cruise lines are generally selling out much faster than ever before
8:04
that time period is going to have relatively limited options in Europe
8:10
because the ships are really just moving across repositioning across around that time so there won't be masses of choice
8:16
necessarily depending on when you pick but what I would strongly suggest Katie a little bit linked to the question I
8:22
asked earlier I would strongly recommend as a first-time Cruiser work with a cruise expert travel agent so if you're
8:28
in uh the us or the UK I have that recommendations there is a link as I
8:33
mentioned in the description I would strongly recommend because they can sit with you work out what's important to
8:39
you from a cruise line experience in terms of the experience that you're looking for you know you want more party do you want more enrichment do you want
8:46
dressing up not dressing up uh do you want lots of built-in attractions and Sites Big Production shows etc etc
8:52
they'll be able to craft the right Cruise Line because in reality pretty much every Cruise Line will call on
8:58
those key destinations my my recommendation to anyone doing a
9:04
first time trip ktie is to look at a Western Mediterranean which will tick
9:09
off many of the iconic ports in places like Barcelona you'll go to Cho for Rome Lera for Florence you'll probably go to
9:17
Monaco or marsill in France you might go to laama you might go to Malta so I
9:23
would that's what I tend to recommend people it's a really good kind of way of getting to some of the iconic places KY
9:29
what I will actually do is I will I will link I haven't done it yet um I will link my uh Mediterranean I'm just making
9:37
a note for your I've got two Mediterranean cruise videos one which around choosing it and one around
9:43
destinations and excursions so I'll post those in the show not so maybe like five 10 minutes after the end of this I will
9:49
post those there L that was saying I was really like the logo to remind people of what that logo looks like so that's the
9:56
little logo there so it's it's a fun it's fun Lo it looks quite fun kind of on the various merchandise bits and
10:03
pieces so that's that's really good Andrew is here who was on our first group Cruise uh from The Damp wild white
10:09
it's been very bizarre here today it's been raining and it's been Sunny so I was actually out of winds up for most of the day Mark was doing a 40 mile cycle
10:19
ride it was a called the big the big blue bike ride it's an annual fundraiser
10:24
for prostate cancer charity he was doing that ride today and it was very bizarre because it been raining and be sunny and
10:29
be whatever so now it's nice and sunny and and whatever here uh s Travel Agent
10:35
Sarah's here which is great Sarah is having a double do she was on last night as well for the briefing uh B off from
10:41
Canada let's have a look Tom uh we leav in October the 2nd for Japan very I love
10:47
Japan for nights in Turkey before boarding region Explorer do you have a recommendation for how many yen to buy
10:54
also any recommended restaurants near the Tokyo Hilton on the last one I don't have any recommendations
10:59
um I'm not entirely sure where Tokyo Hilton is to be honest I said that the
11:04
uh did I say the Hilton Tom I've got a horrible feeling I've completely forgot what I Hotel I
11:11
said I suspect that I did say Toy Hilton because we switched we said a separate different hotel at the end so in terms
11:17
of restaurants NE Hood Tokyo Hilton uh I don't have any recommendations I was terrible when I was there actually
11:23
because I ate mostly at lunchtime uh because with the time difference I was eating mostly at lunchtime wherever I
11:29
was mostly going to those uh restaurants which didn't speak much English and there was lots of pointing stuff
11:34
obviously in Tokyo there's more tourist stuff so I did lots of eating out and then I ate a couple of I think in the
11:40
restaurants and stuff in the evening they had a very nice kind of buffet it so I was do my more adventureous stuff
11:45
uh so I don't have any recommendations however the uh the hotel I know was recommending good places to people in
11:52
terms of Yen Tom I bought way too many Yen so the only thing I actually used Yen for was on the Metro because I I I
12:02
basically needed to use cash and I did it looked like you could take cards and I eventually got a card stuck in the
12:08
machine and I just did the Y so I probably would say uh I probably took
12:14
the only time I used Yen because you use cards pretty much every day was tipping some of the guides and uh the Metro
12:22
everything else I used cards for because even at the sort of the various gift and
12:28
souvenir place within each of the ports they would take CS every other place took cards uh so I
12:35
was using Apple pay and stuff so I probably maybe bought about1 so probably about
12:42
$150 of Yen and I was still struggling to use it up at the end so I wouldn't take much at all uh Kathy good to see
12:50
you here Kathy I gu that's right Kathy is I may be saying you're heading on your first Viking river cruise next week
12:56
my top tip Kathy which is going to be too late probably is make sure you've gone in and
13:02
booked your excursions and your dining options now if like me on my first Viking I left it to late and I didn't
13:07
get the dining options I wanted for especially dining particularly in the chef's table because the menu changes
13:12
once you're on board and you see what the the menus are on Chef's Table um and you didn't get the excusions go and talk
13:18
to the person who handles the dining bookings and particularly for Chef's Table because they have different menus
13:23
so even on my last trip that I did um in Alaska I found I I had booked them so
13:30
I'd gone in very early but both of those were Asian fusion versions of menus both
13:36
of which I like Asian fusion but I thought I should try something different particularly even just a video for the channel so that's probably my my biggest
13:44
tip that I can think of is get those locked up and if you didn't get the ones you want go and talk to them because
13:49
they are pretty good at trying to change uh trying to change those commod clashing with solent cams live so
13:56
they're doing a live as well um so let's have a look Steve was on last Steve was
14:04
one of the people coming on the group Cruise you're very organized packing if you watched the Steve I st I think you
14:10
did watch actually you s me a comment afterwards um on the group cruise I I
14:15
showed a picture of all the stuff I've got for prizes and giveaways without really thinking through how I'm actually
14:21
G to take it with me so so I'm sort of um I'm sort of uh struggling a bit with
14:27
with packing so I'm sort of putting it off this week is focusing on that let go for asking a question of Sarah specifically if I may throw my tens in
14:34
worth um and I see Sarah has rep to it as well for those who don't know um
14:40
Oceania had ol life they then changed it to was it simply o I can't remember what was called which proved it would seem
14:48
relatively unpopular they've now launched a new program uh so that almost the second change in in the space of a
14:55
year or less I can't know what it's called but pretty much there stripping out the drinks package uh they're
15:02
stripping out the uh the excursions they're now including
15:07
gratuities um and stuff like that so people with high loyalty are very unhappy because they used to get
15:12
gratuities off a certain level they're now being given $250 on book credit which on longer cruises is worth less
15:19
than their previous perk and they've sort of but held sort of prices and I think that's the point that Sarah is
15:25
saying is um you know everyone and I've seen a massive discussion because in the press release they didn't address prices
15:32
but the assumption is they going to hold prices so effectively they've taken kind of a massive price increase it would
15:39
seem so we will we will certainly uh be seeing about that so I I it feels like a
15:46
way of taking a big price increase dressed up as something else and it's very interesting because I was been working on a video looking at how
15:52
different cruise lines are rating and Oceania has slipped a lot in people's ratings and I talk about that in in a
15:58
video coming up but it's a very very strange work moonman 547 here joining us
16:03
on the RO because you you're definitely working busy weekend shifts because I know that was the same challenge you had
16:09
joining the group Cruise one so hopefully that all made sense in in the end
16:15
um Jake is asking the question I'm not sure I'm going to have great tips Jake
16:20
so Jake if I remember correctly you're are gaming um fan because I remember you
16:25
asked me ages ago about connecting game consoles I remember two televisions which the answer was not very likely um
16:34
so lowcost activities in St John's Antiga for a port stop in early December so Jake I don't have any specific my
16:42
last time on Antiga I literally was one of those days I actually used as a video
16:47
the ship stuff so I literally only went out into the port area um but um I think
16:54
the previous time I went a long time ago we Lally got cabs to the beach um so
16:59
that is always one option specifically also what you I would also look at Jake
17:04
is have a look I don't know if you're a beach person but I always look at what the cruise line is offering as a beach
17:10
transfer they're often relatively expensive but also if you are a beach person there is a great site so if you
17:16
look and see what they're charging if they're charging some they could be $30 $40 $50 sometimes it's more expensive um
17:22
which is effectively the transfer there the other thing is look at a site which is called resortpass.com because often you can get
17:29
a relatively expensive Resort pass so you get you know you know you're going have umbrella and the beach chair and stuff now I don't know if you're a beach
17:35
person so if anyone has better suggestions my other suggestion Jake is take a look at the website
17:41
whatsinport tocom so whatsin port.com uh type in uh s John's antia or actually
17:49
what I normally do in Google is I type whats import.com Gap St John's Anda and it will bring up
17:55
they bring up it's not a very attractive looking site but they will tell you sites are within walking distance any
18:01
issues around getting there and stuff so they're they're fantastic final question on Panama
18:07
Canal um around preference so for me uh certainly if people are going to the
18:12
Panama Canal for the first time I always always always recommend the old locks if you possibly can because these were
18:19
opened in 1914 they basically the engineering is just you know a Marvel when you consider
18:26
how old these things are you know your ship isn't is wedged in because these panamax ships you know literally talking
18:32
like this much on either side uh that probably doesn't mean much on this if you're watching on your screen it's like
18:37
that but it's you know it's literally a foot two foot something like that either side um and as you go up you've got
18:42
these other big containerships coming down and it's just it's just incredible experience on the new locks you know
18:48
it's basically like a very wide canal and they use tugboats to kind of stay
18:53
you know keep ships in line with they use these things called mules on the old locks which help keep the ship in the
18:59
middle so the ship M its own power lot of people think the mules pulls the ship to the mules the mules m l s role is to
19:07
keep the ships sort of in the middle so it it's those so I would definitely try if you possibly can to go through the
19:14
old because that is the historic ones so to be honest I have done the Panama Canal so coming up I'm doing this I
19:21
think is my fourth time going through the pan canal and have even though I keep saying
19:27
I need to go through the new ones you can see the new ones at various parts of the old ones but it's just so magical I
19:33
just can't tear myself away again that video that I mentioned earlier there's a
19:39
video to my most recent Panama Canal it's still a couple of years old but the information is still valid I talk a
19:44
little bit about pros and cons and show both some of the old and some of the some of the new locks as well big thank
19:51
you to jack who's just who's popped in a uh Super Chat uh so thanks for about
19:58
Jack Jack is a channel member as well I'm thinking of stretching together leg roots to do a Grand Loop around
20:04
continental US on Amtrak other using a travel agent any other advice Jack I
20:10
that would be an incredible experience my only other advice is actually take a look at the channel Tre trendy so will
20:18
who runs Tre trendy has done you know he he starts he Focus he's
20:24
actually probably shifted he used to be an aviation uh person who how I originally found him because I love
20:30
planes and he then shifted into train trips and he now does cruising and you
20:36
know so he s of does equal measures of those and he has done many of these permutations he does more Vlog Style
20:43
videos but what's great about that is he talks you through the whole experience he talks through the prices he talks
20:48
through kind of watch chats about what worked and what didn't work and I'm pretty sure he's done he's done a lot of
20:54
stuff on Amtrak um in different routs and stuff so I would absolutely watch him is what I would suggest now there is
21:01
another trained guy that I watch but TR trendy is just amazing in terms of uh
21:08
you know covering the different roots and connections and stuff so that would probably be my my big tip um at the
21:14
moment if I think of any others Jack I will certainly uh I will certainly add I will certainly add those or or drop you
21:21
a note um to and add add to that but that that is going to give you such
21:26
great insight and I I keep at those different permutations I would love to spend time as well doing something like
21:33
that just REM to write the word question so I don't miss your question I spotted Pete when I was scrolling through um
21:40
have you made a video on the best time to eat in certain restaurants Pete I have made in there's there's a couple of
21:46
videos I've made around Cruise darning I'm GNA make a note for myself to add these These are great actually you're giving me good excuses to uh to to
21:54
promote past videos but I do have um different videos around dining so I've got kind of a cruise dining one where I
22:01
do talk it's it's it's heavily though focused on the main dining room but I do talk a little bit about special dining
22:07
you know little tips like for example on certain Cruise Lines you you can either get free or heavy discounted especially
22:14
dining on the first night anytime actually so like on princess for example if you're a status that um I can't
22:21
remember the status it might be elite I get confused because they they they um status match across roal Caribbean
22:28
celebrity and now silver sea and and I can't if Elite is on Silvera or whether Elite is also on princess but for
22:35
example I know when I go on porn Carol's group Cruise although I probably won't do that because I'm sure they'll have something planned for that night is I
22:41
can eat in a special dining restaurant within that perk at any time I tend to
22:47
be honest I often tend to skew earlier in lot the dining partly because then I want to spend time to do more in the
22:53
evening but I do have a video on that where I talk through that again heavily skewed towards main dining and speciality in reality so I will add that
23:00
link it's something like I remember the thumbnail something like cruising dining no NOS or stuff but I can't remember the
23:05
exact title so I will I will add that um Jeff asked a question which I'm not sure
23:12
that I can answer which is going on our Viking Iberian Explorer cruise in January
23:18
anything we should definitely not miss span so Jeff I'm I'm not familiar off the top of my head with the itinery um I
23:25
know they do some of these kind of Deep dive itineries so I don't I'm not
23:30
entirely sure of the itinerary but things like uh you know for example I
23:35
know when I've got a trip is most of the ports most of the big sites are near the
23:41
ports but there are a couple so for example if you you know look at that if it says sevil with little brackets cadz
23:50
you know you're docking at cadz but in sevillas has incredible sites and things
23:55
to do it's also worth if you are going to I can't remember the port for bilb
24:01
you know to go to the Guggenheim Museum it is I seem to remember it's bit of a track but um you know those thingss so
24:07
if anyone has a much better Insight particularly anyone who's done the Iberian Explorer cruise um you know
24:15
please add those tips I'll try je have a look at the itinery I'm just not that familiar with itinery Caroline I can't
24:22
answer this question either I haven't seen any cruises that you know that
24:28
cover Nantucket The Hamptons when I've you know most of the cruises that go out of
24:33
Boston and some go out of New York and sort of head up to Quebec or Montreal I've never seen that as a stop but
24:40
certainly if anyone else has or if you know travel agent Sarah knows of any but if anyone's ever seen this I have never
24:47
seen that intinerary so um so if if they have Claus here as well which is great
24:55
um Steve saying as well um no real delays with cut some you're right because one of the big issues is when
25:01
you head on all Japanese cruises you have to go yeah it's a bit like in the US you know you have to call on a
25:07
foreign Port same in South Africa you have to call on a foreign Port etc etc so they nor go to Busan in Korea um and
25:15
that's some I guess the Su delays back we didn't have delays coming back but um
25:20
but but Steve didn't either which is which is uh which is interesting lots of discussions on the
25:25
Oceania uh bit John we're scheduled for a viking ocean
25:31
cruises traveling from Rome to bues Aries in October November have you experienced or heard any news of this cruise ship I haven't I I've actually
25:39
think I've seen this itinery um but I don't I don't know any more to add I
25:45
mean if you're heading from Rome uh I guess you'll be might be calling on some mad things you know October November
25:52
shouldn't be that kind of chippy choppy um because you head quite quickly down
25:57
um you're going to miss the B bis heading down so I don't have anything to
26:02
add unfortun but if anyone has has that would be that would be great
26:07
um Jeff actually asking a followup question around in Portsmouth so you're selling out of Portsmith I guess you're
26:13
saying um just as an add-on question in Portsmith um if you're doing a prestay
26:19
in Portsmouth building time to go to the naval dockyard it's absolutely amazing they've got the mar Rose Henry VII's big
26:27
battleship that was lost in the mud for DEC for centuries in fact which is now this very special Museum where you know
26:35
the the humidity I guess is all controlled and it's really really phenomenal you've got Nelson's ship
26:40
there it's really fascinating if you're a big fan of afternoon tea place my mother and I used to go to my mom was alive in spica Tower you can actually go
26:48
up you get great sites up there they have like one of those um what they call
26:54
like discount shopping malls underneath you know where this design of brands for Less kind of thing underneath there but
27:00
spinar is a fabulous after tea very popular make sure you book it if you go it's not crazy expensive either but it's
27:06
a beautiful uh sites and things uh okay I can ask this question a lot it's a
27:12
good one to answer s uh asking the question is there a web site or search
27:17
engine that features repositioning cruises now the the I get also slots and I haven't found a great one I mean the
27:23
way that I tend to look at repositioning cruises is bear in mind that position cruises basically happen in April uh and
27:30
they happen in October November so if you ever search uh you know on any sort
27:36
of cruise line that you're thinking of or interested in if you search around April May time September October time
27:43
and you put in cruises sort of 10 days plus you know they normally have a thing which will be 3 to five days seven days
27:49
14 days that of 9 to 14 days that will throw up any of the repositioning at one
27:55
time I I I used to or the other thing that I sometimes do is on a s like
28:01
vacations too.com if you put in uh you can put in in their drop- down menu um I
28:08
seem to remember they did have a a repositioning option but you have to be careful because the list is quite long so you need to put in a specific time so
28:15
you need to put an April 25 or something like that so for example I mentioned the silver NOA trip that I booked and I was
28:23
I looked at in two ways I wanted to find a way of going on silvery again experience the rail Nova um but
28:30
it's kind of very expensive particularly going as solo they sometimes do solo deals not always and I actually think I
28:36
put in and when I'm doing some research I some will go to the cruise lines do what I said or I'll go to sat like occas
28:42
ago and I think that threw up wow there's a there's a seawood uh uh
28:48
sew because I got pronunciation wrong when I was on the trip I learned the right pronation sewed to H Tokyo uh
28:55
which has one stop in Alaska about six or seven C days and then it hold reports and that threw it up in one of those
29:02
searches and I did get I mean it's I think I've got like almost a two week trip no it's longer than two weeks I
29:08
think it's like 18 nights which for the same price if I take the same cabin the
29:13
same price if I'd gone on a normal like Med sailing would I would have got like for nine days it's sort of just it's
29:18
really really good value indeed um SL crosier single trip versus
29:25
multi-rip insurance for three to four cruises per year also Insurance SL cancellation for expense cruises above
29:30
basic threshold any experience with Alliance Global and whatever so I get asked lots of questions around uh
29:36
insurance and I do keep saying I should try and partner with some experts in Insurance um and I've seen you follow
29:44
global Canada there so let me say I'm obviously not a I'm not a finance expert
29:50
I'm not an insurance expert you always have to qualify with those don't you so
29:55
um my Approach um is is I always go for
30:00
annual Travel Insurance now partly that's because I do quite a lot of cruises but you know say someone like uh
30:06
like Mark or you know who might do a couple of landbased Cru you know and some cruises with me would also do the
30:13
same approach often because I find that actually uh it can be less costly than
30:18
booking them trip trip by trip also because the advantage of having an annual policy is when you book you're
30:24
kind of covered so the problem is what I know I've seen people like Martin Lewis and other people who are kind of money
30:31
experts here this side of the Atlantic but I've seen it on other you know people on the other side of the Atlantic
30:37
in the US saying you know you need to make sure that when you book you're locking in your insurance so that it's
30:42
covered for cancellation now I I also then have uh because of my cancer remission I then have existing um
30:51
conditions so that complicates it and just makes it much easier to do that once a year so now the issue though that
30:57
you're absolute right is cancellation so many of these policies have relatively
31:02
low cancellation so it's around 5,000 $7,000 can be lower but sometimes
31:10
them you can Flex those so it depends on who you negotiate with now I don't have
31:15
any expense with experience with aliance uh although uh there are other because
31:21
they're not I guess I certainly haven't seen them as a more of a household name and travel insurance in the UK they may
31:26
well be I need to look at that but I know that us Travelers uh keep that's
31:31
the name when I ask for recommendations keep coming up with Alliance as a very strong player that they recommend um so
31:38
I don't know if that's answer your question I I do need to work with that because I I know I get asked these kind
31:44
of questions a lot what I have learned though is that insurance is very local
31:49
because I guess the way it's insured and underwritten is very local so there's lots of differences um and the way the cruise lines approach insurance is very
31:56
different so for example if as a UK person I book a card Cruise or I think
32:02
that's true with also Pano they require a certain amount of medical insurance I
32:07
think it's 2 million pounds that's like probably 2.3 22.5 million and it's
32:12
compulsory you have to have that if you're booking a q not creu say in the US or Australia it's recommended so
32:18
they're also even the cruise lines do have some differences thing I would say I always go with independent providers
32:25
not with the cruise lines and that's something I see consistently recommended when I do look at uh people who know
32:31
much more than I probably do around Insurance Larry asking a question around
32:37
would you ever take a cruise on a mix passenger cargo ship any thoughts on those lines well the only one Larry that I know of that's like proper proper like
32:45
that is arui in French poesia which I absolutely absolutely absolutely want to
32:52
do some people that I know have done it and they love it also because it goes to some of the islands that uh you you're
32:57
not going to go to another cruise ship because they don't have the infrastructure and the reason they're going to the islands is because it's a half race ship half cruise ship now
33:04
what's important about that is it is literally a cruise ship so half of it has you know the cabins and you know
33:10
traditional cruising experience half of it is Freight and I do have pictures of that and and stuff of that I've posted
33:16
at various times certainly was in French Polynesia in June last year I got to see it like up close was M next to us I was
33:22
very excited so I would absolutely want to do that and we're doing a cruise later
33:28
uh in Christmas 25 uh where was going from Sydney
33:34
Australia through to papetti um and if Marcus retired stop working by them um I
33:42
really really want on to try and do aru he's agreed that he would give it a go even though he loves pan but Pagan is
33:48
crazy expensive so it's probably gonna be easy to to show from a budget perspective it's much better to go on
33:54
aru so and he has said when he saw aru he had to give it a go so I think I'll be able to uh Lobby that one um so
34:01
that's one thing now I Su Larry you're probably Al asking more around FR you know freighter ships which is where you
34:09
they will take up to 12 passengers the reason they take up to 12 is because under maritime law after 12 you have to
34:16
have a doctor so that's why they keep it I would absolutely love to do that pre pandemic I had one lined up it actually
34:22
fell it fell by the wayside not because of Co but it kind of just didn't didn't happen so it is on my kind of list to do
34:29
I don't have any one planned there was a lot of uh it's taken a while postco it
34:35
feels like to get those up and running but there used to be lots of sites and things that would um would uh you know
34:43
would you could find them more easily and I just haven't done as as much as much as much research just REM right the
34:49
a question I have spotted your question though uh Alysia Alysia hope I think Alysia hopefully I pronounce it
34:56
correctly my husband and I love small ship Cruisers have selled Windstar multiple times we love dressing up for
35:02
dinner and wiar has gotten way too casual any suggestions for a smaller ship line that's formal lysia I don't
35:09
have any because I don't think any of them are now uh if I think about
35:15
asamara uh if I think about the small ships I do have one suggestion but it it
35:21
depends on where you where you're living but so if I look at the small ships you've got Azamara which people don't
35:28
really dress up on you got wiar as you said people don't really dress up on you've got Oceania a little bit more dressy but you know not that much more
35:35
than WinStar you know it's basically people going to wear you know smart trousers probably on the region you know
35:42
polar shirts or whatever sometimes long sleeve shirt um they do have in the UK
35:48
Saga which uh is for you have to be 50 aged 50 years or over at least one of
35:54
your party has you go with a 40y old if you're a 50 old they do very much dress
36:00
up so they will have formal nights where pretty much everybody on formal night will be wearing you know gents will be
36:05
wearing tuxedo black tie depending what you prefer you know bow ties ladies you know kind of glittering sequiny gowns
36:11
and stuff um it does tend to attract slightly older audience and you do have to be in the UK to book it Fred awson
36:17
runs relatively small ships again out of the UK their former LS people tend to dress up but again it's quite hard as a
36:25
non-uk person to book those you go out to the next level you know in terms of price the ultr luur lines you know when
36:32
I've been on Regent silver sea uh pant uh um Seaborn people don't get very very
36:39
dressed up of all of them silver sea people I found silver sea is the one where I always pack a jacket uh because
36:46
I put feel I need to wear a jacket more than the others but unfortunately you're right they've all gone that Country
36:52
Casual route um by but Saga is very dressy up
36:58
it tends to be slightly slightly older um uh Rebecca um planted on joining porn
37:06
Carol's group Cruise I'm going to be on that group Cruise no I'm not on the April 26th one I think that's their Patron one is that the Queen Victoria
37:13
I'm not sure anyway looking to talk Great Britain before after the cruise looking for ideas no cruises fit my time schedule Rebecca it might be worth
37:20
actually asking um Dan uh who would have done your booking your cruise booking
37:28
to ask him to build you a package of uh landbased UK touring and I'm sure he'll
37:35
be able to put together um that because it depends how long you're doing whether you want to do you know very inexpense
37:41
inexpensive way of doing it is on the coach uh you know but there's train there's flying I would actually ask him
37:47
give him what you're interested in and I'm sure he'll put together a package you the same as Sarah would would do the
37:53
same for people booking my group cruises if they wanted to build stuff like that although I'm not doing one of the UK but
37:58
she would do one of the UK so that would be my suggestion um you know Dan seems very flexible he knows you he obviously
38:05
knows the UK very well um but you know I would you know encourage obviously spend quite a lot of time in London there's an
38:12
awful lot to do in London I would try and get down you know depending on your time again you know place like bath has a lot of history uh you know it it some
38:20
beautiful countryside around there as well you know getting up to Scotland if you have time Edinburgh uh you know is
38:26
is pretty magnificent so it kind of you know depends a little bit how much time you've got straford on a there's just so
38:31
many kind of options but a lot depending on your kind of interest and finding sort of a theme around that um just
38:39
write the word question so Sarah's Ron it's simply more that's great um Derek saying stumble on your channel by
38:45
accident it's uh enjoy it thank you very much
38:51
um Gusto I SED your question there just want write the word question if you can
38:58
uh just so I don't miss you uh which Norwegian Cru premium restaurants are your favorites I although it's very
39:05
dragged out it's a little bit cliched I do like the old tiyaki to if I'm traveling with people
39:10
it's quite fun you know where they do the Showmanship and the the you the eggs and the on the big grill thing so I
39:18
quite like the tanaki restaurant I think it's quite uh quite fun uh that's probably my my favorite um most just for
39:25
the theater of of that um the sushi one's quite good I don't
39:31
mind forgetting all the names of the restaurants I do like the sushi I'm kind of a little bit on the Japanese side I tend when I go on on cruises I will go
39:39
to the the the steakhouse because I feel you need to if there's an Italian I'll go to the Italian but I find them pretty
39:46
similar across the lines there's not a lot you can do different in reality so I
39:51
like to use the more sort of um the Asian the Asian side um
39:58
Steve asking a question can you please explain the best and cheapest way to get to Club do we book VI the advertisement
40:04
in the Sunday papers and pay the yach club adverti price or how bidding works well Steve the cheapest way to get into
40:10
yach Club is to book an inside cabin because the Y club which is probably
40:16
most people don't realize because it's normally people associated with sweets there are on most of the big ships like
40:21
mavilia virtuosa and many of them they have an inside cabin but you still get the butler you still get the access to
40:28
the restaurant the conci ETC so that is actually the cheapest way of getting into y club uh o overall now obviously
40:36
they don't have many and they sell it really quickly so planning way in advance uh would be the thing now uh
40:42
with the various adverts in the papers bear in mind those are normally kind of packages uh they may be clearing so they
40:48
might be working I guess with RL cruising or uh you know any of those kind of bolsover those kind of brands in
40:55
the UK they might be trying to sell a block booking they will normally have bundled stuff with it so you know which
41:02
may be fine if you're looking for hotels or flights or whatever so there will tend to be a bundled experience and you
41:07
will never really know because that's the part of the bundle is what part the actual yach Club is doing so I would
41:15
tend to if you're looking to really get the best price on on a specific yach club and you don't don't want all the
41:21
bundles stuff as is I would actually work with a travel agent to be honest and say look I want to go on yach Club
41:27
you keep an eye if you're flexible let me know you know the best time to go
41:32
that I can get the best price you know so it might be early in a season for example if you're going to the fs start
41:39
of you know go sort of May time when it's starting uh don't go to school holidays peak time if it's uh in Europe
41:45
you know you might go that sort of May June time or September time so it's also playing around a little bit with those
41:50
and they can work you through that now on the bidding process um just tell you on the bidding everybody who gets you
41:57
know who's booked will get an email uh offering a chance to bid up you know
42:03
whether it's into y club or if you're not clubbed to a high cabin and I do have a couple of videos talking about
42:09
bidding um my only point is if you ever see bidding always work out what it
42:15
would cost you from what you've booked to go to the next grade uh because
42:21
sometimes we'll find it's cheaper to just do it just do it that way um and also bear in mind that the price you see
42:26
is per person and even if you're traving solo you will be charged for two people and it because You' being asked of it
42:33
doesn't natur mean there's availability hopefully that hopefully that um that has asked uh have answered
42:42
that let's have a look uh oops another question I nearly missed there uh
42:48
quaz what's your favorite Cruise land for Japan we want to go March April in reality a lot of it hinges around what
42:55
experience you want on board is always my question I would always start by saying what do you want on board so if
43:00
you want um for example you want a lot of enrichment talks uh I would look at
43:07
Viking or I would look at kunard uh because you're going to have lots of enrichment talks you know Viking will
43:14
have uh you know the resident historian they'll have local experts Etc if you want um a more a more premium experience
43:22
that's more dressing up like we talking about earlier you might be looking at Regent so a lot of it depends on what
43:28
experience you're looking for the thing I would say though is I tend when look at Japan people that I know go to Japan
43:34
and and and have a lot of itineries out of Japan uh so for example you Holland
43:40
americ princess Bas a lot of ships during the the season there of course the great thing about them is uh they
43:46
have a wide range of cabins that are very affordable from inside right through to Sweet so you know that you
43:52
know that helps a lot if budget is is is is something that you're looking at but you then have region you have silver sea
43:59
so again it a lot of so much of it depends on what you're looking for but to answer since you ask what's my
44:04
favorite cruise line for Japan I like to go on smaller ships uh and it maybe also
44:09
be you know the discussion we had earlier if you were here around just you know getting through in out of immigration because pretty much every
44:16
port you do stuff they have Customs checking you so obviously a smaller ship you'll get through quicker so I do like
44:22
going on a smaller ship uh although I have done it on on Queen Elizabeth I really had I love doing on Explorer
44:29
which is 700 pass ship I mly it was costly because it was Regent I'm going to be doing some more again on no again
44:35
small ship but again it's costly because it's it's it's that way so I I like the slightly smaller ship I did originally
44:40
look at Holland America and Princess itineries um but they're quite big ships although they do actually run slightly
44:46
smaller ships than than than many more so um ter making good point is you also
44:52
if you're doing a partial Transit you can get the opportunity to go and look at the the new logs on it on a
45:00
all Ruth I'm taking a Fred alsson Cruise next month the first was six years what is the check-in process inail so Ruth
45:07
I'm not 100% up on the latest on Fred Olson process but the critical thing is
45:14
uh if they give you the opportunity to check online that is the absolute key which I seem to remember even from many years ago was the key um where you you
45:22
know you need to make sure that your passport I would check with them what their requirement on passport is normally depending on where you're going
45:28
it's 6 months after the date but I would just check what their passport requirement is check if there's any visas that you need but simply normally
45:35
when you get to the port you will normally need to have your baggage tags printed out attached to your bag which
45:40
true anything you need to make sure you've got your passport handy your your kind of e ticket or ticket whatever
45:46
they've given you um so I but I'm not I haven't done Fred Olson for quite a while um but it's fairly that's a fairly
45:53
stand process if anyone has any better tips um of course if you're working with a travel agent they will be able to walk
45:59
you through that in much more detail as well um so uh let's have a look Stein
46:08
vold Maden good to see you here again are there any lines comparable to H grutin in Greenland Arctic Canada or any
46:16
good in general for more immersive experience in those regions global warming diversity so I I did um many
46:24
Expedition lines do that so I actually did Greenland Arctic Canada on um Haag
46:31
Lloyd which was it's German line you know probably 80% of the
46:37
passengers were German speaking there was a a a group an english- speaking group uh Noble Caledonian on who had
46:44
maybe 15 people there was me which was traveling you know not as part of a group as a couple other people part of a
46:51
group and they were fantastic they they go every year to Green Arctic Canada it was a fabc satony can have a look I have
46:57
a video around my experience there maybe I'll try and uh put that there as well
47:03
where I talk a little bit about the experience and what we saw and stuff but um you know so uh other people who are
47:09
following the channel in fact who are going to be going who on the group cruise and also I will be actually
47:14
booked on the same anarctica trip they went on Silver sea on uh silver Endeavor
47:21
they did again the whole green and Arctic Canada itinary as well so there most of the Expedition Cruise Lines do
47:27
that itinerary so if you're looking at Pont for example they do I've already mentioned silvery haac Lloyd if you're
47:33
comfortable going going with you know a non-lead kind of English speaking line so all of them kind of kind of do that
47:41
um so but it's a fabulous itinery I absolutely loved it um you sorry you're
47:47
asking about uh global warming um question on that so in terms of the global warming question uh we had so
47:54
much ice in fact we couldn't go uh as far north as we had hoped to because of the ice and I know that Mark and um they
48:02
had similar issues with ice disrupting there so um however they will tell you in Greenland specifically an issue
48:09
around the Melt of you know because most of our c is it 80% 90% of something is covered by glaciers they will talk about
48:16
the Melt and stuff when you're on that cruise and it is uh it is very concerning mark on kot's Queen Anne is a
48:25
re separate Cru Lounge for queen and Princess Grill passengers no the Grill's lounge and is the same and the concierge
48:32
person is the same person it's the same Lounge so you basically come in there's the lounge little concierge desk then
48:39
you have the queen School restaurant and that and the princess girl's restaurant as you kind of come in so it's the it's
48:44
the same um the same the same Lounge
48:50
um it wasn't for Gary would have no hope at all that's very kind uh so yeah and
48:56
then so someone who comments on my videos all the time who doesn't have my accent and
49:02
the way I talk uh but still comes back which is interesting uh let's have a
49:08
look um American Cruise Lines I think probably do do a New England cruise uh
49:16
svelt turned to follow up on Panama much of the Panama Macs are from H America kunard carnival it's h America much
49:23
better than other so there are a lot it's not just as the reason that you see those a lot is because they all have Vista class ships uh in their Fleet or
49:31
signature which is similar size so that and they do a lot of they do a lot of um
49:37
the uh those itineries so that's why you see but pretty much you know Oceania does it they do they use one of their
49:43
ships which was Serena they they go back and for from Miami and Panama City so there are there are a lot uh that that
49:50
Do It um I've done on H America uh fact on conam group in conam but I did a
49:56
great one on oan I've done a great one on kunard um but you know I I would uh
50:03
there's loads of them that that do it uh it's really about the experience um I'm not sure that any of them do better or
50:09
worse you know that because all of them will bring on good speakers um you know so even we had great speakers on Oceania
50:15
and and so on so that's the key I think obviously you go on to Viking you're gonna have more speakers on for example
50:23
um let's have a look Pete we're on celebrity celebrity Millennium Cruise
50:29
only will we get an iternary of where we can or can't eat and will we be able to upgrade certain one of restaurants all
50:36
seems a bit vague so basically Pete uh on I'm not familiar with which speciated
50:41
restaurants they have on Millennium but obviously what will happen is based on what cabin grade you've booked you will
50:47
have certain restaurants so for example if you've booked the retreat so the sweets you will eat in the lumini
50:52
restaurant specifically but you can eat in the other restaurants if you want to but if you're booked say an ocean view
50:58
or a you know balcony cabin you can't e in Lumina I think they have the act the Blue restaurant so if you've booked an
51:05
aqua cabin sitly on the other celebrity um you know fleets ships Edge Solstice
51:12
class they have a separate restaurant as well um so the main dining room restaurant will depend on your know
51:19
which which your booked on once you go to the Edge class they do have four um restaurants which you can move around
51:25
but I think I'm right saying on Celebrity Millennium they have kind of one main dining room when it comes to the speciality restaurants it's really
51:32
about booking those so uh once you get close to the to the cruise you should be
51:38
able to book those online uh Al suddenly when you're on board you'll be able to go and book those when you when you're
51:43
on when you're online so that's that's the that's the absolute that's the absolute key people of course talking
51:50
about the see routin life and so I'm talking about just of course claiming on insurance is uh rather challenging at
51:57
times and keeping uh you know receipts is absolutely key Stephanie uh asking
52:03
the question around uh is the port in mikinos close enough to the town to walk
52:09
on your own certainly I didn't think it was close enough to walk there's normally a shuttle bus that runs but I
52:15
you know like you could see the town but it's quite far so I we certainly got the
52:22
shuttle bus uh and I'm sure some people did walk you can sort of see the town from there but once you're in the town
52:28
there's quite a lot of walking as well Stephanie if you double check now also what in meos quite a few uh ships will
52:35
also tender in in which normally is to the kind of that little Port area uh but
52:41
again a really good site for anybody if youever want to check around closeness and walking which is what I always do
52:47
and I mentioned the site earlier and I mentioned again uh is whatsin port.com so if you go to what's if you type in
52:54
whatsin import.com and type mechanos in Google or whatever it will tell you in detail around is it walkable isn't it
53:01
walkable is there a shuttle bus that kind of stuff and they are fantastic for answering these sorts of questions I use
53:07
it I use it all the time Ronda ask a bit of an in joke vanuel the the the one of
53:14
the things we're doing in the group cruise is um been working with meet Boston and they have laid on both a a
53:21
tour for the group and a reception in the evening which they're hosting with drinks and food and for the whole group
53:27
and also they're having uh various dignitaries people from the port uh from
53:33
Commerce and stuff and we had a big discussion last night because it's held in the fuel P fuel Hall uh so and I I was
53:42
pronouncing different ways and there's a big discussion around where the accent was and stuff so I don't think I've mastered it yet but I've looked at all
53:49
those notes so yes we will do so just adding a little bit of context to Fed alson that they dress up and form
53:55
otherwise it's quite casual um let's have a look um I don't know letting off
54:02
asking a question on crystal good question I I need to find that out on crystal a friend of mine is actually on Crystal and I noticed he post lots of
54:09
pictures of him very dressed up in kind of tuxed but he does dress up even if
54:14
nobody else on the cruise was dressing up he would dress up so I can never go rely on the pictures that he posts on
54:19
Facebook and Instagram and stuff so but I will check in with them how dressy it was and I will find out in February uh
54:26
as well um let's have a
54:34
look uh Christopher the northern passage it's a dream of mine me too I really like that Northern passage will you ever
54:40
see you cover I would like to at some point I did look originally in fact when I did the Canadian Arctic I was looking
54:46
for a northern passage uh one and I ended up uh turning it into a Greenland
54:51
one but I would absolutely love to do it uh definitely would love to do it so I don't have on my schedule currently so
54:57
my schedule for 25 is full part of 26 is full so it may be it may be may be a
55:03
while this is probably a big mist of opportunity in reality um but do any
55:08
cruise lines have photos of those cabinets which are classified as obstructed view seems It's a gamble to
55:14
accept an obstructed view but then learning wasn't as bad as indicated so the cruise lines tend not to have photos
55:21
of cabins what I find what I tend to rely on a lot is YouTube is phenomen noral normally pretty much everyone's
55:28
posted every cabin uh so I will often you know if I'm going you know if people
55:33
are going on I know Queen mared to deck four obstructed deck four the obstructed
55:38
deck I think it is deck four obstructed view you'll probably find out that someone's done a video tour or they've done like a short of it so that's one
55:46
way that I often find out those kind of the cabins and what they like um is a
55:52
good way of doing it the other way of that I find it really helpful for faults is in Cruise Critic uh FK is if you go
56:00
into the the chat group so if you're looking I don't know let's use Queen to as an example if you go into the Queen
56:06
Mary 2 uh roll not roll call the U message boards uh just actually search
56:12
the message we to obstructed view it might answer the question but if not if you post say look I'm thinking of going
56:19
on a deck for obstructed View cabin does anyone have any pictures of these and you will normally find that Within you
56:26
know particular on those busy ones within hours if not minutes someone will post that so that's a really good way of
56:32
doing it but do unlike say you know if it's interesting because and maybe this is a business opportunity for somebody
56:38
with Airline seats you know it's like uh uh seat Guru if you go to seed Guru and you put in any particular Airline
56:44
British Airways uh and you put in the flight date the flight date and time it it tells you you're going on a 777
56:51
version two or whatever this is the layout and then people have posted pictures of those you can get a sense of
56:57
those that doesn't seem to be as much on on cabin there is
57:02
um uh is it Cru map I can't remember there is a site that people often refer to I I I don't I I haven't found it as
57:11
helpable anyone has a better a better tip on that um do do kind of leave that
57:18
uh so let's have a couple questions on small ship so shell what luxury small ship cruise line do you feel has the
57:23
best value most affordable uh shell this is always a hard one to answer because
57:29
uh you know if we talking about price and value kind of I guess are slightly different things but you're asking for
57:35
the most affordable they all are pretty similar in reality but what I would say
57:40
is if you look at say Azamara for example which is sort of in that
57:45
category uh or you look at Oceania on their R Class ships so like Serena uh
57:52
Insignia uh rata what you find is these these are 700 passenger ships the old R
57:58
Class ships but they do then have inside Ocean View balcony and they do have some
58:04
sweets so you actually find you can go on one of those luxury lines because they do have cabins which are going to
58:10
be more affordable uh so you know I've met people who love Oceania they do it on a budget so they go in an inside or
58:16
Ocean View cabin depending on the pricing for example but they can they still go on a small ship luxury cruise
58:21
line so that's what I would tend to look at obviously they're older ships they're t little bathrooms uh you know tiny
58:28
little showers and things but that's kind of I guess the balance and the kind of the the compromise there you know once you get into the Vikings they're
58:34
all balcony cabins and they are very expensive so that that would that would be my kind of initial action I mean also
58:41
though we talking about windso a little bit earlier you know some windso can be pretty costly but they do have on on
58:48
suddenly on their old Seaborn ships uh so like the star pride and so on they do
58:54
have sort of Ocean View C so I've been on some of those before and in fact even their balcony cabins are kind of those
58:59
Juliet balconies anyway but I still sort of find those relatively costly but for me those would be the ones to look at is
59:06
the because you get the different the different cabin the different cabin types
59:12
um John is how's the food and food service at the standard restaurant and Viking ship so John I did a sort of an
59:19
updated video recently on Vikings so I'll do a little punt for that a couple of couple of weeks back now based on my
59:26
recent experience on Viking Orion Alaska but I draw on the other ships have been on sky and Venus and so on uh now I
59:35
personally thought the food was good I thought the service was good uh in those
59:40
uh people had more mixed views but I quite liked I thought the food I thought the food on on Viking is pretty good uh
59:47
and I thought the menus were a good size um so I thought I thought it were they
59:52
the most memorable meals I had no they they weren't the most but they were were good and to at the price I thought they
59:58
were they were pretty good because obviously they're quite expensive so I did I did I did think they were pretty I
1:00:03
did think they were pretty good um Sarah Said Fred still they still send them in
1:00:09
the post oh my goodness me that's uh that's very old school isn't it um very
1:00:15
very old school um so we have churn through time let me quickly uh answer
1:00:21
two quick questions um so Canadian spring your thoughts on cruising the Great Lakes have you considered one
1:00:27
Viking does I would absolutely love to do the Great Lakes I keep looking at itineries Viking has great roote they
1:00:33
use their expedition ship and I keep using it as an excuse because I could obviously review their expedition ships
1:00:39
as well as the Great Lakes um the is it variety Cruisers or some I do it they
1:00:46
are very costly Cruisers so I keep looking at them like so uh I probably will do that when I can do that not as a
1:00:53
solo uh because I can't get solo deals on any of those so I know I don't always wait for soda deals but I would really
1:01:00
really really love to the great LS I keep looking at it and I keep think oh it's so expensive for you know versus
1:01:05
other options that I can do but I would love love love to do the Great Lakes um Katie asking the question how can I get
1:01:12
access to your group cruises KY the the easiest way to get to the group Cruisers in the short term is through being a
1:01:19
channel member or or Patron because what I do is I launch those to the channel members and patrons first uh one of the
1:01:26
kind of those perks just to kind of manage them and for example on the Panama Canal one it got sold out
1:01:32
although we still have some we added a few were able to add a few other cabins at the group deal so they've never gone
1:01:37
in it like on more General sale this last one did go on more General sale um
1:01:43
so the best thing to do Katie is if you keep an eye on my you know because channel members and patents of course
1:01:49
doesn't appeal to everybody um but if it does there's a join button uh underneath any of my videos
1:01:55
what's patreon.com tipsoft Travelers have a look at that I know it's not for everybody um so but the other thing to
1:02:02
do is on my website tipsfor travelers.com so if you go to tips for
1:02:08
travelers.com now the good news is I finally got tips for travelers with 1 L so you can spell it with one L or two l
1:02:14
so if you're in the US you can spell it with 1 l.com and you'll get to the side if you're in Canada Australia UK or
1:02:19
whatever spel with twls took me years and years and lots of negation to get that but anyway getting sidetracked
1:02:25
you'll see a little tab there which is called group cruises so there it will tell you a little bit about the group cruises and what's coming up and
1:02:32
availability and that kind of stuff so that's a good way of doing that there is also there was a mailing list I'm not
1:02:38
sure if the mail list is liked it but that's a good thing to do I will also always announce them on things like the live streams and I'll put out Community
1:02:45
posts and things like that um but those are the those are the different ways of uh of of doing that so hopefully that
1:02:52
that helps thanks very much for your questions we have run out of time I hope you're having a great uh rest of the
1:02:58
weekend uh I will be back absolutely next Sunday I need to try and figure out whether I'll be able to do live streams
1:03:04
during it so uh I will have a look at your questions I'll pop those extra links in have a great rest of the
1:03:09
weekend thanks so much for joining uh and uh don't forget by the way my video
1:03:14
this week is the follow-up on River cruising see you later
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