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Discover the 10 tips I have for making sure you have the very best cruise possible on Princess Cruises. I have cruised with Princess Cruises a number of times and these are the things that `I have learnt make for having the best cruising vacation with the cruise line. Hope these help make your Princess Cruise a great one.
Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line a number of times before making this video. Princess Cruises had no input on the content of this video.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises.
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what are the top tips for having a
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phenomenal cruise on Princess Cruises
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I'm Gary Barnidge this is another of my
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tips Travers I'm on Sky Princess on a
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Princess Cruise and I thought I'd
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collect together my top ten tips for
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having a great cruise on a Princess
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cruise starting with this one first of
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all make sure that you choose the time
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of year and the length of cruise that's
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going to suit the type of passengers you
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want to be with during the course of the
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year based on the itinerary the
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passenger makes onboard Princess Cruises
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changes quite a lot so for example if
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you want to travel with lots of families
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and kids perhaps multi-generational take
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a look at cruises in the peak summer
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periods because there will be a lot of
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families on board so if example of some
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of the royal class ships like I am on
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now the sky princess they can have up to
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800 kids on board during the peak season
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so 400 kids in the kids club however if
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you go on the more shoulder seasons so
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perhaps june time or october time you're
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going to find almost no families and
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it's going to be slightly older more
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mature couples so really make sure as
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you think about the itinerary and the
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length of cruising the time of year
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think about who are the passengers you
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want to be with do you want to be with
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lots of families you know perhaps a bit
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more light hard a bit more noise a bit
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more boisterous or do you want something
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a little bit more quiet civilized and
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more couples really important make sure
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you choose the itinerary and the time of
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year based on the passenger mix you're
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looking for the second tip I have which
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is a little bit left-field is get more
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onboard credit there's various ways you
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can get onboard credit so sometimes if
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you're looking to book particularly well
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in advance you often find that Princess
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Cruises or your travel agent will have
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different offers where you can either
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get upgrades or you get extra onboard
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credit or you get drinks packages
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bundled in so sign up for the newsletter
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and make sure that you know the
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different promotions that are going
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however there's another one and that's
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something that I use a lot is I own
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shares in Carnival Corporation so any of
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the carnival brands of which Princess is
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one if you apply you can get a
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shareholder benefit so for example you
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can get onboard credit for up to two
2:04
hundred and fifty dollars per cabin if
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you go on a cruise for 14 days or longer
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there's a little bit of a burn involved
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because you do have to send away for it
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but it's definitely a way if you cruise
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of getting extra onboard credit another
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really important tip is make sure that
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you understand exactly what your fare
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includes and excludes so you don't have
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any naughty surprises and also you can
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budget properly for your princess cruise
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so the obvious things are included your
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accommodations included access to pretty
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much all the facilities the
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entertainment the quizzes fitness center
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use of the swimming pools all that stuff
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is included and of course you can eat
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pretty much 24 hours a day but there's a
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bunch of things that are not included
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gratuities are not included Wi-Fi is not
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included excursions are not included now
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mentioned there's lots of complimentary
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food or food included in your fare but
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if you want to do some of the specialty
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dining you are gonna pay extra for that
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of course some of the obvious things if
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you're going to gamble if you're gonna
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do shopping you got to pay extra also if
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you want to use the sanctuary the
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centuries is very beautiful quieter
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space and you do pay a fee for using the
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sanctuary one of the other big costs
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that can mount up are drinks so
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specialty teas and coffees are not
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included normal teas and coffees up in
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the Lido or in the restaurants are
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included but you can buy various drinks
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packages anything from a premium package
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which can cost around fifty odd dollars
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per person per day you can buy soda only
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packages which are much less but drinks
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can mount up so Wi-Fi excursions drinks
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and gratuities or the big extra on costs
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that you need to understand and make
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sure that you've budgeted for building
3:36
on that another key tip that I have is
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really think about what dining
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experiences you're going to want to have
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so whether you do want include
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especially dining or not personally I
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think there are a plenty of
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complementary included dining options
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one of the most important things you
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need to decide when you're making your
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booking is do you want to go with the
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more traditional fixed dining so they'll
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have an early sitting and a late sitting
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you'll have your same table same table
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companions so perhaps if you're
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traveling with a group of friends or you
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doing in multi-generational you might
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want that so you can all know you've got
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your table in your time eating together
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or you can go for any time dining I
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really recommend when you make a booking
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make that choice so you get your
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preferred option by making sure that you
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ask for it very early on the other thing
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I would suggest is make sure that you do
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try all of the different options are
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available so for example on Sky Princess
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on the cruise that I've been on I've
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gone to the main dining room I've gone
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to the world fresh
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marketplace which is the buffet dining
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option
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I've eaten burgers at the salty dog
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grill I've had pizzas both up on the
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pool deck at the slice and also down in
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Alfredo's I've ordered room service I've
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gone to the International Cafe which is
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open 24 hours a day so there's lots of
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different dining options dotted around
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the place that you can choose from so
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make sure that as you look across your
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cruise you think about all the different
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options are available and you plan your
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dining around and your fixed dining in
4:58
the evening but the different options
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that are available to kind of shake
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things up there's a lot of dining
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options so take advantage and try all of
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them the next key tip is if you're
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cruising on a Princess cruise ship which
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soon will be all of them that has the
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ocean medallion so one of these devices
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which replaces your cruise card it's
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really important that you get ocean
5:20
ready before you come on the cruise so
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you go onto the app and you upload a
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photograph which they can use for
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security you upload your ID your
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passport and this means that you have
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everything that they need to get you on
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the ship really quickly now in some
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countries they'll post to this medallion
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to you other countries to collect it at
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the port and this little device becomes
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the medallion that checks you in gets
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you on the ship really quickly it even
5:44
does things like it opens your cabin
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door by itself it helps you do
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location-based ordering so you can order
5:50
drinks wherever you are around the ship
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and they'll come to you it helps you
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track your friends and family so you
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know where they are and it has a whole
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bunch of other personalized services
6:00
that you can use with this either on
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devices around the ship or on the app
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another really important thing for
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making the most of your Princess Cruise
6:10
is really understand the dress code now
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Princess Cruises is a pretty traditional
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cruise line and they do have dress codes
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to make it simple this Tukey dress code
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so you have smart casual wear they
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basically talk about in the evenings
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really think about you're going out to a
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restaurant in your local town so you
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kind of dress appropriately so you can
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get away with you know sort of smart
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dark jeans not faded and sort of torn
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jeans but you can't wear things like
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shorts but you can wear pretty casual
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stuff chinos smart trousers if you're
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gent you know just sort of smart dresses
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if you're a lady or
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blouses and slacks whatever but they do
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have formal nights now formal nights
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there's roughly about one every five
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days of a cruise and formal is you know
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some people wear tuxedos but gentlemen
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you're expected to wear a jacket or a
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suit with a tie
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ladies kind of the equivalent cocktail
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dresses there's not big glitzy ballgown
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stuff of course you can if you want to
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but the dress code it on formal evenings
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people are asked to follow that dress
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code so make sure that if you choosing
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Princess Cruises and you're packing
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appropriately because if you go on a
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cruise of more than five days you're
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going to have a formal evening and you
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need to bring the right gear for that so
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do make the most of it feel comfortable
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and feel that you're just appropriately
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really important understand the mix of
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dress codes and bring the appropriate
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clothing my next tip is take advantage
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of all the activities that are going to
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take place on Princess Cruises they have
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every day the princess pata or you can
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also look on the app to see what's on
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and there's a wide range of
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entertainment those quizzes there's
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little golf cutting competitions all
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sorts of things going on line dancing
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classes trivia but also make sure that
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you do see the production shows one of
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things that I think princess are showing
7:48
that they're doing is they're trying to
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increase and up the ante in their
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production shows so for example on Sky
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Princess they've premiered a new show
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called rock opera at the time that I'm
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onboard they play spend a lot of money
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it's a huge big cast incredible costumes
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and the audience absolutely went crazy
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and all people talking about has one of
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the best shows they've seen at sea
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there's lots going on to get real good
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value from your cruise just get stuck in
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and take advantage of all the different
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activities another really critical tip
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for getting the most out of your cruise
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is before you go think about and plan
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what you're gonna do in every single
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port now a lot of people like to go with
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the princess excursions the advantage of
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going on an excursion organised by
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princess is they guarantee that if
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there's any problem with excursion the
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ship will wait until it gets back if you
8:35
self Torgo self exploring they do not
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guarantee that they will wait for you at
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the audible time the ship will leave
8:40
without you potentially so really
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important other people would much rather
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just go with the princess cruises so
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bear that in mind when you're looking at
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tours however I would encourage you to
8:50
also have a look at other options so you
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can take a look before you go on the
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cruise at the different ports you can
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look
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offering and one of the things that I
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suggest you also consider doing is
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perhaps taking a couple of days where
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you self tall now Princess Cruises will
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help you with that so they'll give you a
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port guide they also have talks which
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the shore excursions people run where
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they're talked through each of the
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individual ports obviously particle
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ejected is to encourage you to go on the
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tours but they will also give you lots
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of tips around self exploring they often
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will arrange to have local
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representatives from the Tourism Board
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either on board or on port side of
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course actual excursions desks they will
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answer many many questions so there's
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lots of options around also mixing it up
9:32
doing some Prince's tour some self
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touring took if you've been to a port
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before one of my favorite things to look
9:38
at is first of all Princess Cruises will
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normally have some sort of shuttle into
9:42
the town if it's not within easy walking
9:43
distance which you can take advantage of
9:45
and also you'll often find that the
9:48
hop-on hop-off bus will come to the port
9:50
area where Princess Cruises docks also
9:53
on the television you'll normally find
9:54
there are videos around excursions or
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the different ports of call my next tip
10:00
is around some little sneaky packing
10:01
tips I've already mentioned the dress
10:03
codes but a couple of other key things
10:04
you might want to think about when
10:06
you're packing for your princess cruise
10:08
is think about adapters now onboard
10:10
you're going to find on the ships
10:12
normally a US or a European two pin
10:15
style so make sure though that you
10:16
definitely always bring at least the
10:18
u.s. adaptor if you don't naturally have
10:20
us adapters what's increasingly of
10:22
course on the more the modern ships
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you're going to start to find lots of
10:26
USB ports to charge your various devices
10:29
with secondly you don't necessarily need
10:31
to bring shower gels and shampoos
10:34
because you will find those provided
10:35
within your cabin bear in mind if you
10:38
run out of any toiletries you can buy
10:39
those in the shops or of course in the
10:41
ports my next tip is around some
10:44
money-saving ideas there's a couple of
10:46
things that you can do to save money on
10:47
your princess cruise first of all
10:49
Princess Cruises allows you to bring
10:51
some of your own alcohol on board it's
10:54
very strict limits but you can bring
10:56
some on board so just double check what
10:59
the current allowance is and make sure
11:00
you bring that on board because you're
11:01
going to save money the second thing to
11:04
do is take a look at the different
11:05
packages now there are a range of
11:07
packages for different things
11:08
so for example there are drinks packages
11:11
the other packages you can buy you can
11:13
buy Wi-Fi packages across the course of
11:16
a cruise and so always check out those
11:18
packages so definitely check out if
11:20
there's any office or deals or packages
11:21
you can often book those in advance
11:23
online but once you get onboard see what
11:26
I'll go in particular an embarkation day
11:27
you'll find there's often lots of deals
11:29
the other key thing is if you love
11:31
Princess Cruises
11:31
always consider booking your next cruise
11:34
onboard they will normally give you
11:35
extra discounts or extra onboard credit
11:37
and so it's worth doing onboard rather
11:39
than waiting to get home because you
11:40
don't get those benefits once you get
11:42
back home the other thing is you can
11:45
also save money on pretty much all
11:46
Princess Cruises ships by doing your own
11:49
laundry with the coin-operated
11:51
laundromats across the various and
11:53
different ships that's ten tips on how
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to have a great phenomenal cruise on
11:58
Princess Cruises hope you find that
12:00
helpful remember have many many more
12:01
videos packed full of tips on princess
12:04
and other cruising tips so why don't you
12:06
watch another one of those right now
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