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I am just back from a Caribbean Cruise and am annoyed with myself as I fell into a few traps when cruising the Caribbean, despite going a number of times and so should have known better. So, here are the traps I fell into and a few I did not but see people falling for to help you avoid them!
Links mentioned in the video:
ShoreTrips: https://www.ventureashore.com
https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com
https://www.cruisetimetables.com
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0:00
so here i am in the caribbean it's
0:02
beautiful blue skies it's warm there's
0:04
gorgeous sea all around me and yet i'm
0:06
kicking myself because i made the
0:07
mistake of falling into a couple of
0:10
classic caribbean traps
0:12
even though i've been here many times
0:14
before and should know better so i'm
0:15
going to tell you about some key
0:16
caribbean traps that you should avoid to
0:19
make sure that you have an incredible
0:21
caribbean trip if you're new here by the
0:23
way i'm gary bembridge and it's my goal
0:25
to make it easy and more fun to discover
0:28
plan and enjoy unforgettable
0:29
crucifications including here in the
0:32
caribbean
0:33
one of the traps that many people fall
0:35
into is the mistake of associating
0:37
cruising the caribbean with the big mega
0:39
ships like the royal caribbean one
0:40
behind me or carnival dream or over
0:42
there is carnival mardi gras you do not
0:45
have to cruise the caribbean big huge
0:47
big resort ships although
0:49
lines like royal caribbean norwegian
0:51
cruise line and of course carnival
0:53
really built up and created the
0:56
mega cruising in the caribbean
0:58
as it is now you don't have to cruise
1:00
that way those really broke the ground
1:03
and made the caribbean really popular
1:05
however you can do the caribbean however
1:08
you want to do it so for example i have
1:10
been on caribbean trips where all the
1:13
passengers on board were only from the
1:15
uk i've been on extremely formal cruise
1:18
on cunard where you were dressing up in
1:20
black tie i've been on the
1:22
classic cruise line celebrity which is a
1:25
little bit more trendy but i've also
1:26
been on a classic cruise line holland
1:29
america where it's a little bit older
1:31
it's a little bit more refined it's some
1:33
people argue a bit more stuffy
1:36
i've been on this trip now i'm on
1:38
oceania marina 1250 passengers and my
1:41
very next trip is actually on one of the
1:43
world's sort of most luxurious cruise
1:45
lines that i've decided to try and
1:47
there's less than 500 people on that
1:49
cruise so don't associate the caribbean
1:52
with having to go on a big resort ship
1:55
you can do it any way you want with any
1:57
size ship you want and that's really
1:58
important figure out the kind of
2:00
experience you want don't fall into the
2:01
trap of just defaulting to those big
2:03
guys who control if you like him anyways
2:06
the caribbean another big trap that
2:08
people fall into is thinking that you
2:10
need to sell to the caribbean out of
2:12
florida now there are three really big
2:15
ports in florida you've got miami you've
2:17
got port everglades and port canaveral
2:19
and certainly the vast bulk of caribbean
2:22
cruises do head out of those three ports
2:25
however it can be completely chaotic
2:27
bear in mind i was there recently and
2:29
there was nine ships on the friday eight
2:31
ships on the saturday seven ships on the
2:33
sunday so there could be anything
2:35
between 15 to 20 000 people getting off
2:37
the ships in the morning and another 15
2:39
to 20 000 people trying to get on those
2:40
ships in miami in one day so it can be
2:43
completely chaotic taxis
2:45
cars
2:47
car buses and it just is pretty an
2:49
unpleasant experience of course the
2:51
reason that florida ports are so popular
2:53
is the closest major ports to get into
2:56
the caribbean so there is a plus side in
2:57
terms of time however there are other
3:00
considerations and options so if you're
3:01
in the united states for example you can
3:04
sail from so many places so carnival
3:06
have about 12 different ports they sell
3:08
at various times of the year
3:10
so does norwegian we'll carry about nine
3:12
different ports across the united states
3:13
one slight downside is some of those
3:16
smaller places smaller cities they put
3:18
some of the older ships on so that is a
3:19
bit of a watch out of course if you're
3:21
coming from europe you don't have to
3:22
come all the way to miami many lines
3:25
whether it's pino whether it's some of
3:27
the german lines like tui
3:29
mine shift and so on they will charge
3:32
flights into say barbados so you can
3:34
also you know charter direct into the
3:36
caribbean some other cruise lines and it
3:38
tends to be the mostly more luxurious
3:40
up-market ones they will also originates
3:42
and sellers martians or barbados or
3:47
places like that
3:48
the reason that the big lions don't do
3:50
that is just the logistics getting
3:52
people in and out so don't fall into the
3:54
trap of thinking you have to go out of
3:55
florida it can be crazy the hotels can
3:58
get really expensive in places like
3:59
miami now fort lauderdale hotels can be
4:01
quite expensive so look at different
4:04
alternatives and you don't even have to
4:05
go on an english-speaking cruise line
4:08
lines like the german mine shift aida
4:11
italian costa they all head down to the
4:14
caribbean so if you want a multicultural
4:16
experience we don't want to do an
4:17
english language experience you can do
4:19
that too so don't just default into the
4:21
american english speaking or british
4:23
english speaking lines one of the really
4:25
big traps to fall into and i've done it
4:27
on this particular trip is to keep going
4:29
to the same places in the caribbean
4:31
there's surprisingly few ports that you
4:33
can actually go to the caribbean and the
4:35
reason for that is there's only a couple
4:37
that can deal with the volume of ships
4:39
in the size many places you'll go you'll
4:41
be places like here across the iowa and
4:43
today where you've got four big ships in
4:45
so you've got 15 000 or more people
4:48
pouring off
4:49
and it does mean that ports in the
4:50
caribbean have to have a key to deal
4:52
with it they have to have the
4:53
infrastructure the people the tours so
4:55
they just cope with these huge numbers
4:58
of crowds that you can see behind me so
5:00
that does limit the amount of places you
5:01
can go but it is possible to go to
5:03
places that are unique and different it
5:05
just takes a bit of planning when you're
5:07
looking at planning your caribbean
5:09
cruises probably about five key
5:10
itineraries that are worth knowing about
5:12
one of them is the short option which is
5:15
heading to places like the bahamas they
5:16
tend to be three or four nights
5:18
the most popular ones of all tend to be
5:20
the eastern caribbean and the western
5:22
caribbean the western caribbean is going
5:23
to take you to places like key west
5:25
although there's some discussion on
5:27
ships calling their cozumel costa maya
5:29
roatandalis the cayman islands a seventh
5:31
eastern caribbean is going to take you
5:32
to places like bahamas puerto ricos and
5:35
martin antigua dominicus and lucious and
5:37
kitts and the u.s and british virgin
5:39
islands also what's important about the
5:40
east and the west is many cruise lines
5:42
will alternate those you could do a
5:43
two-week cruise because those other ones
5:45
tend to be seven nights the other really
5:47
popular cruise is a ten nighter out of
5:50
florida which will go much further south
5:53
she'll go right down to barbados you
5:54
might even go as far as curacao you know
5:56
right down south
5:58
the other
5:59
really popular option is those cruisers
6:02
that will do partial transit of the
6:04
panama canal again they're about 10
6:06
nights and they will tend to sweep right
6:07
down to the south and head up through
6:10
the western caribbean to places like
6:11
roatan belize and so on
6:13
so when you're looking at doing a
6:15
caribbean cruise bear in mind that many
6:17
of the ports are really really overrun
6:21
really popular so try and look at
6:23
itineraries where you might be going to
6:24
some more out of the way places more
6:26
unusual places now another trap which is
6:28
a difficult one and one that i'm kind of
6:30
torn on is around private lands i'm
6:32
actually here on norwegian
6:35
cruise groups uh harvest key which is a
6:38
very beautiful place it's very pristine
6:40
my last cruise i went to half moon key
6:42
which is the america one but all of the
6:44
cruise lines have its royal caribbean
6:46
has invested i think something like 250
6:48
million dollars on perfect day at coco
6:51
key princesses princess keys disney has
6:53
castaway key and so on uh so they all
6:56
have them now the
6:58
the thing with coming to private islands
6:59
is they're very beautiful very pristine
7:01
they tend to be in the bahamas or like
7:03
here in belize they're extremely well
7:05
run they're very slick however because
7:07
they're cruise line owned you're not
7:09
seeing the true caribbean and also
7:11
importantly you're not putting money
7:12
really directly into the hands of the
7:14
locals some people would argue that it's
7:16
a trap because you're basically staying
7:18
within the corporate world and giving
7:19
the cruise line more money other people
7:21
say it's not a trap because it's a
7:22
beautiful uh curated experience and it's
7:25
a difficult one uh on both my last year
7:27
trips i've had private islands i've
7:29
joined them but i'm kind of torn about
7:31
whether they're a trap or not so that's
7:33
something that you do need to think
7:34
about one of the traps that i have
7:36
tended to avoid partly because i learned
7:38
the hard way the first time around
7:40
is around the time to go now a lot of us
7:42
will depend on your own situation but
7:45
the main caribbean season runs from
7:48
around september october time when the
7:49
ships are redeployed from alaska and the
7:51
mediterranean the caribbean and runs
7:54
until about sort of april time when the
7:56
ships are then redeployed to alaska or
7:58
the mediterranean so that's really a
8:00
busy time because it's great weather of
8:02
course it's winter in the northern
8:03
hemisphere people want to get away if
8:05
you are traveling that time period the
8:06
best time to go that i go is either sort
8:09
of from the middle of november to middle
8:10
of december before holiday season before
8:13
school holidays and a great time to go
8:15
is sort of from the second week of
8:17
january to about the middle of february
8:19
you're going to find lots of
8:20
availability lots of choice and really
8:22
good fares but the places are going to
8:24
be relatively quiet because it's not
8:26
peak time if you possibly can avoid
8:30
school holidays
8:31
because it gets really manic avoid
8:32
spring break avoid the christmas break
8:34
if you can because again it gets really
8:36
busy and then during the summer some is
8:38
very popular because very hot but
8:40
take a look at the hurricane season
8:42
because that can cause lots of
8:43
disruptions to itineraries uh maybe the
8:46
seas are a bit more rough and stuff like
8:48
that of course if you are traveling with
8:50
families you're driving with kids or
8:51
teens or whatever you're gonna have much
8:53
less flexibility
8:54
on those particular timings definitely
8:57
if you possibly can
8:59
try and avoid those busy times that's
9:00
one trap that people fall into it'll
9:02
cost you more and it'll be much busier
9:04
one of the big traps that so many people
9:06
fall into the caribbean is shopping
9:08
you'll find there are chains everywhere
9:10
go like diamonds international
9:12
effie
9:13
del sol color changing and every single
9:15
port you get off on there will be these
9:17
same chains but even more importantly
9:19
you'll find that the cruise lines are in
9:21
on the game so on many of the cruise
9:23
lines in fact most of the cruise lines
9:25
you'll find shopping advisors who will
9:28
give talks they'll do different
9:29
promotions incentives to call on certain
9:31
recommended stores it's important to
9:32
understand that the cruise lines
9:35
charge people to be part of that program
9:37
so if you're a diamonds international
9:38
del sol or whoever and you want to be
9:40
part of that program you pay cruise
9:42
lines
9:43
fees and it's reported in some of the
9:45
newspapers like forbes washington post
9:48
have run articles which claim it's
9:49
several hundred thousand dollars the
9:51
cruise lines can be making whether the
9:53
cruise lines then get various other
9:54
incentives or
9:55
commissions from sales i i don't really
9:57
know that but it's really important to
9:59
understand that shopping has become a
10:01
huge big business and in many ways the
10:04
risk is that you will be almost
10:06
manipulated so if you are going to go
10:08
shopping in the caribbean approach with
10:10
care make sure you
10:11
want things and you understand the
10:13
prices so you don't overpay and don't
10:15
get swept into it also very importantly
10:18
if you are looking at buying things like
10:20
souvenirs try and hunt out local craft
10:23
markets because you'll find many of the
10:24
souvenirs are the same and even made in
10:26
china and they aren't that different and
10:28
unique to the islands the same applies
10:30
to shopping on board cruise ships again
10:33
make sure that you are comparing prices
10:35
on land which of course with wi-fi and
10:37
stuff you can do you know for example i
10:39
bought some fragrance
10:41
on board which cost a hundred dollars i
10:43
thought it was a good price i then
10:44
realized that i could have bought it on
10:45
the duty free passing through to join
10:47
the cruise for 75 in the airport shop so
10:50
watch out shopping is big and it could
10:52
be a really big trap to fall into one
10:54
trap that is quite hard to avoid but is
10:57
one that you need to really be aware of
10:59
is when it comes to excursions now
11:01
excursions can mount up and cost you an
11:03
enormous amount of money on caribbean
11:04
cruise you could be spending easily as a
11:06
couple a hundred dollars
11:09
together or up to 200 depending on the
11:11
excursion you're doing so it can mount
11:13
up a lot there's a couple of key traps
11:14
that people fall into first of all many
11:16
people will kind of default to the
11:18
cruise line excursion which is obviously
11:19
the easy thing to do a lot of people do
11:21
in the caribbean
11:22
because they know that the ship will
11:23
wait cruise lines will only wait for
11:25
people that are on their own excursions
11:27
so if you are nervous then do that it's
11:30
important to remember the caribbean is
11:31
very geared up to tourism and cruise
11:34
ships so there's a couple of things that
11:35
you should look at as alternatives first
11:38
of all there are aggregators like
11:39
shoretrips.com cruiseexcursions.com what
11:42
they do is you can input your itinerary
11:45
your ship and it will bring up all the
11:47
excursions as alternatives that you can
11:49
do in those ports now they work a lot
11:51
with local providers and they will
11:54
normally include a guarantee to get you
11:56
back to the ship on time now they
11:57
running these exclusions every single
11:59
day and they're really pretty astute now
12:01
at getting people back to
12:04
you know to the ship in time the other
12:06
thing to bear in mind is as i said these
12:08
ports and the people in the ports the
12:10
population are extremely used to dealing
12:12
with cruise passengers so they you know
12:14
the more informal sectors are the taxi
12:16
drivers local guides they really
12:19
understand what people want to do how to
12:20
get there time to get them back so also
12:22
consider looking at those because you
12:25
are going to again put more money into
12:26
the hands of local people rather than
12:28
the corporations or you know big
12:30
providers you're going to get more into
12:31
the hands of people but when you also go
12:34
in excursions the other thing i
12:35
recommend is try not to do everything
12:37
the same
12:38
you know i've met loads of people who
12:40
will go on the catalan tour in every
12:42
single place go to the beach excursion
12:44
every single place
12:45
try and do a varied range of excursions
12:47
to get a much better sense and feel of
12:49
the caribbean vary what you do till you
12:51
get a real flavor for the feel of the
12:53
caribbean the history of the caribbean
12:56
the culture of the caribbean one big tip
12:58
i've got to avoid falling in the trap of
13:00
going to places that are just crazy busy
13:03
on excursions is to do some research
13:05
around who's going to be important i'm
13:06
in cozumel today there are two huge raw
13:09
caribbean ships there's a carnival ship
13:11
there's celebrity edge and us however i
13:14
knew that in cozumel today all the ships
13:16
would be here because i looked on a site
13:17
called cruise timetables
13:18
cruisetimetables.com
13:20
so when i went and decided what i was
13:22
going to do i knew that places were
13:23
going to be busy so i avoided the
13:25
obvious excursions and went for
13:26
something a little bit different if you
13:28
want to find out more about cruising the
13:30
caribbean watch this video where i start
13:32
off by talking about one of the things
13:34
that drives me crazy about cruising the
13:36
caribbean see you over there
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