Up next in 10
I look at 6 cruise experiences and ask if they should be scrapped, or have they become an essential and important part of our cruise vacations and should stay. I explore the most decadent cruise experiences and things on cruise ships and assess their pros and cons. Where will you stand on these?
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0:00
what are the most decadent experiences
0:02
on cruise ships the ones
0:04
that have often left me shaking my head
0:06
wondering if cruise lines are simply
0:08
going too far i'm not talking here about
0:11
crazy features like water parks go-karts
0:13
zip lines roller coasters
0:15
wave riders and so on these are
0:17
something much more dare i even say
0:19
questionable if you're new here welcome
0:22
aboard i'm gary bembridge and i'm here
0:23
to make it easy and fun
0:25
to discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
0:28
cruise
0:28
vacations food is an important part
0:32
of my cruise experience and i'm sure
0:34
yours too there's a lot of it on board
0:37
but do we actually need even more the
0:40
lions certainly
0:41
think so and they keep adding new food
0:43
adventures
0:44
food events to constantly try and stay
0:47
ahead of each other
0:48
now from all the ones that i've had
0:50
there's three
0:51
that get my highest decadent rating
0:54
first of all
0:55
chocolate chocolate chocolate midnight
0:58
buffets have largely been scrapped and
1:00
replaced on many cruise lines
1:01
by chocolate buffets i first came across
1:04
one on
1:05
cunard but the ultimate chocolate buffet
1:08
is on azamara it's a massive big buffet
1:11
it's
1:11
over the top people cram in there and
1:13
they're just chocolate treat after
1:15
chocolate treat after chocolate treat
1:17
chocolate has become a big thing on
1:19
cruise ships there's even
1:20
a chocolate factory on msc cruises
1:23
biggest
1:24
ships where they make and sell a huge
1:26
range of chocolates
1:28
the next decadent event is around caviar
1:30
now you can get caviar on demand on some
1:32
lines like in cunard
1:33
queens grill but on two lines there are
1:36
whole caviar nights
1:38
for example on europa 2 they have a huge
1:40
section
1:41
in the restaurant which becomes a caviar
1:43
station also on seabourn they have a
1:45
caviar night which is held
1:47
in the theater and this champagne and
1:49
caviar on
1:50
tap extremely grand extremely decadent
1:54
the third example is around big food
1:57
events so for example on seabourn they
1:59
have the offices deck
2:00
party these are stations spread all
2:02
around the pool deck
2:03
where the various officers serve drinks
2:05
and food there's just an
2:07
endless supply and a huge range of
2:09
fantastic and incredible
2:10
food i've also had these big grand
2:14
buffets on lines like oceania and
2:16
azamara which is a
2:18
big buffet on a sea day once per cruise
2:20
which is again
2:21
endless stations of food now these were
2:24
all
2:25
extremely well received events and
2:27
popular but it did leave me wondering if
2:29
it's time to
2:30
dial back and focus just on upping the
2:32
main restaurant the buffet and the
2:34
casual dining venues i'm a little bit
2:36
so-so on this one where do you stand is
2:38
this too decadent or should
2:40
it be kept but before you make your mind
2:42
up consider this very closely linked
2:45
series of decadent events lions are now
2:48
pushing these food experiences
2:50
we're seeing on board off the ship too
2:52
and they're creating unique
2:54
passenger only events on land as an
2:56
extension of
2:57
these ship dining experiences now while
3:00
some focus on culture like concerts
3:02
i've been to offlines like say viking
3:04
food features
3:06
in many if not most of these affairs now
3:08
two examples that i thought i would talk
3:10
about that stand out for me
3:11
as prime examples are first of all on
3:13
paul gargan they have a private island
3:15
barbecue
3:16
called motu mohana in tahana the entire
3:19
ship passengers and most of the crew
3:21
are moved onbass onto a private island
3:23
for a massive barbecue event
3:26
i've had similar events of for example
3:28
windstar when the entire ship
3:30
is bus and taken to a venue for some
3:32
kind of food based activity
3:34
as amara have that as amazing evenings
3:37
there's only one per cruise
3:38
it's a one-off event again much of the
3:40
crew goes on these to help set them up
3:43
and all of the passengers go one of the
3:45
most memorable was a food hall event
3:47
held in france with lots of local
3:49
producers cheese
3:51
wine chocolates so many different types
3:54
of food
3:54
now these are logistically extremely
3:56
complex and no doubt
3:58
pretty costly and left me wondering if
4:00
that cost which of course
4:01
is in all of our affairs is still the
4:03
best value is it
4:04
a decadent and costly distraction or
4:06
something that helps make our vacation
4:09
truly unforgettable
4:11
all of us that go on a cruise vacation
4:13
knows just how hard the crew work
4:15
most of them are on six months or longer
4:18
contracts they work
4:19
long days and they work seven days a
4:20
week they can be working 12 or more
4:22
hours a day
4:23
yet as i've shown increasingly the crew
4:27
are having to play an ever growing role
4:29
in creating these additional experiences
4:31
for passengers on top
4:32
of their normal job now most cruisers
4:35
i've been on in addition to the food
4:36
experiences i'm talking about
4:38
crew are now expected to provide a whole
4:40
lot of other decadent
4:42
but much loved experiences for example
4:45
tao animals i love them we all love them
4:47
crew less so based on comments i saw on
4:49
a recent discussion on crewcenter.com
4:52
which is a crew-based site there are
4:54
books on how to do tile animals sold on
4:57
holland america
4:58
classes are run on wind style classes
5:00
around holland america
5:01
and other cruise lines they take an
5:03
enormous amount of time for crew to make
5:05
these
5:05
tile animals if you multiply that by
5:07
several days they do them across a year
5:09
the numbers and amount of time it takes
5:11
crew to make these animals is enormous
5:13
it also creates a lot of laundry and of
5:15
course there's a knock-on effect of the
5:17
amount of work detergents processing
5:19
and kind of you might argue from an
5:20
environmental perspective
5:22
the second area is crew demonstrations
5:24
and displays these are also popular
5:26
whether it's ice carving demonstrations
5:28
vegetable carving demonstrations or
5:30
displays on how they make food these are
5:32
big displays
5:33
they're big demos they're very popular
5:35
but do we really need them
5:37
are we just taking up more time of the
5:39
crew and
5:40
what about the waste that goes into
5:41
these another really popular
5:44
activity is crew shows we get to see the
5:47
range of talent that is amongst the crew
5:49
on most ships singing dancing whatever
5:52
they tend to run them once a week during
5:54
a cruise so again it takes a lot of time
5:56
by the crew to rehearse and perform them
5:58
on top of their job
6:00
they still have to do their normal job
6:01
now as much as i like these
6:03
again i keep asking do we really need
6:06
them to make our vacation
6:08
memorable or is it just a little bit too
6:10
decadent and a little bit
6:11
of a step too far however contrast that
6:15
with the on-ship cultural immersions
6:17
that many many lines
6:18
now have this is where they bring
6:20
onboard local entertainers
6:22
various people from maybe some
6:24
indigenous groups performance troops
6:26
and the idea is to give you an insight
6:29
into the peoples and the culture on the
6:31
place that you're visiting
6:33
now these two have become part of the
6:35
cruise experience especially
6:37
when i've been on more exotic
6:38
itineraries one of the most memorable
6:40
was when i was on part of a world cruise
6:43
on cunard and we were in new zealand
6:45
they brought on board some maori singers
6:47
performers and dancers they spoke about
6:49
the
6:49
folklore they spoke about the history
6:51
they spoke about the culture it was
6:53
really really
6:54
quite revealing however we could have
6:56
just gone and seen that locally as we
6:58
found out the next day and did on paul
7:00
gargan
7:00
when i was in french polynesia they
7:02
brought on board again troops of people
7:04
that performed traditional dances and
7:06
again explained the culture and the
7:07
history
7:08
when i was on a mekong river cruise with
7:10
across europe and cambodia
7:11
they brought about some apsara dancers
7:13
who came and gave this
7:15
incredible performance of dancing but
7:16
again the next day we were out
7:18
touring and we came across some local
7:20
people who again performed it for us
7:22
on many european river cruises i've been
7:25
where
7:25
locals have come on board and sung
7:27
around whether it's the
7:28
waltzing or the history of germany or
7:31
whatever
7:32
now these though feel pretty touristy
7:34
and pretty cliched when they come on
7:35
board it's almost like a disney fied
7:37
version of the culture
7:38
it's almost a little bit of a a
7:40
westernized
7:41
take on it it does feel a little bit
7:43
cynical to me it does feel a little bit
7:44
decadent
7:45
because we could surely be heading out
7:47
of the community putting our money into
7:49
community to experience much more
7:51
authentic immersion
7:52
in situ the thing that sways me around
7:55
whether these are
7:56
a key part of the cruise experience and
7:58
should stay on board
8:00
is what i've discovered is all of them
8:02
have normally been
8:03
created through charities they're not
8:05
commercial ventures so it does give us a
8:07
chance
8:08
to support charities and often they do
8:10
extra donations
8:11
again a decadent thing should it be
8:13
ditched or should it stay i'm pretty
8:15
torn on this one
8:16
and you may be too however
8:19
on this next one i know many many of you
8:21
will be
8:22
in the ditch camp that these are far too
8:24
decadent and this should
8:26
be removed the reason i know this is
8:28
many people have commented on past
8:29
episodes
8:30
that they feel this is one area that
8:33
they see is not only
8:34
overly decadent but actually negatively
8:36
impacts the whole cruise experience
8:38
for the majority of passengers on
8:40
cruises and on cruise ships
8:42
and that is the rapid growth of large
8:44
chunks of ship real estate
8:46
being closed off to the bulk of
8:48
passengers
8:49
there are two particular areas where
8:51
this is growing
8:52
the first of these are access only areas
8:55
for people
8:56
cruising in the premium cabins in the
8:58
suites
8:59
now what we're seeing on board is this
9:01
two basic approaches to
9:02
ships that i've sailed on certainly the
9:04
first of those
9:06
is the ship within the ship concept and
9:09
this is favored by lions like for
9:10
example msc cruisers
9:12
who have their yacht club and norwegian
9:14
cruise line which has their
9:16
haven area in here you have the suites
9:19
you have often a swimming pool a deck a
9:22
restaurant a bar a concierge
9:24
service and so on these are
9:26
self-contained and are only accessible
9:28
by people staying in those
9:30
suites the other thing that i'm seeing
9:32
which is perhaps more common is
9:34
where there's dedicated deck areas or
9:36
restaurants such as on celebrity edge
9:38
class
9:39
and virgin voyages where they're kind of
9:40
richard's club this is an area
9:42
where you have an area where only people
9:44
in suites can go they can suntan
9:46
might be a pool there there might be a
9:47
bar and
9:49
often many of these will have their own
9:50
restaurant the second thing that people
9:52
are objecting to
9:53
has just been too decadent is the growth
9:56
of the paid for retreat areas
9:58
on board ships now anyone can go no
10:00
matter what grade of cabin you're in
10:01
but you pay a fee to access a very
10:03
specific cabana area
10:05
where you'll often get things like maybe
10:06
some food some snacks some drinks some
10:08
television or whatever included now the
10:11
most glitzy of these
10:12
that i've seen because there are many
10:13
many on board different ships are
10:15
on many of the new big princess ships so
10:18
things like
10:19
sky princess discovery princess which
10:21
have this
10:22
whole sanctuary area and then you have
10:25
seabourn
10:25
again which has an amazing retreat area
10:28
with very plush
10:29
seating and it's a very beautiful area
10:32
but
10:32
so many lines also have them hold in
10:34
america and on and on and on
10:36
now is this a case of it's perfectly
10:38
okay to be decadent
10:40
and you have those areas for those who
10:42
can afford them
10:43
or is it perhaps a step too far taking
10:45
up too much space
10:46
and closes down and reduces the amount
10:48
of space for other people but talking of
10:50
affording something
10:52
what about this particular one going to
10:55
see
10:55
a show on broadway or in london's west
10:58
end is expensive it's really really
11:00
expensive
11:01
and that is a pretty big luxury for many
11:03
people including me
11:05
and perhaps you especially if you want
11:06
to take your family and you have to
11:08
perhaps travel up to london travel to
11:09
new york stay over whatever
11:11
now i love going to see shows and it
11:14
cost me an
11:14
absolute fortune every single year to go
11:16
and see as many shows as i want to see
11:18
but that whole
11:19
extravagance that whole decadence can be
11:22
enjoyed on a cruise
11:23
and the cost of course is already
11:25
covered in your fare
11:27
it means that i and any family i'm
11:29
traveling with can see actual broadway
11:31
and west end shows often
11:33
with the cast from either broadway or
11:35
the west end in
11:36
those particular shows but there is a
11:38
big catch
11:39
when it comes to this whole area i've
11:42
been on ships and i've seen
11:44
broadway and west end shows like rock of
11:46
ages kinky boots priscilla queen of the
11:48
desert i just missed out seeing the hot
11:49
new musical six
11:50
i've also seen a full blue man group and
11:53
choir of man shows which are big in
11:55
places like las vegas
11:57
now the watch out here is while most
12:00
lines have their
12:01
own shows they're actually specifically
12:03
created for those ships
12:04
but you can only see legit full broadway
12:06
shows on very
12:07
few cruise ships and particularly the
12:09
most eminent of those
12:10
is norwegian cruise lines you can see
12:13
specially created
12:14
to solely shows with their actual
12:16
trained casts on other cruise lines
12:17
including things like msc cruises
12:19
so the voice you're having to go to say
12:21
las vegas to see those particular shows
12:24
so it's pretty luxurious it's pretty
12:26
decadent and for me it's a plus
12:28
being able to go and see actual broadway
12:29
shows as part of my cruise fair
12:31
on board what do you think on that
12:32
particular one it's pretty clear that
12:35
the lions are increasingly
12:37
going to keep trying out more and more
12:39
experiences
12:40
to find things that are different and
12:42
unique from the lines that they compete
12:44
with to try and keep
12:45
us going on board and trying them out
12:48
now i
12:48
like you i'm sure we get swept up and
12:51
then we get swept up by the excitement
12:52
we get swept up by the novelty
12:54
the uniqueness of them but increasingly
12:57
as i'm experiencing
12:58
these things i stop i kind of look
13:00
around and think is this getting a bit
13:03
crazy it's getting a bit out of hand is
13:04
this really adding to and making my trip
13:07
unforgettable is this actually just
13:10
making my
13:11
fare more costly because they have to
13:12
cover the expense of all of these
13:14
experiences is it time to focus back on
13:17
the basics
13:18
or do we look at these and think no
13:21
these make our crews more memorable they
13:23
make them more
13:24
unforgettable and they absolutely should
13:26
be kept i'd love to know what you think
13:28
and as you think about that
13:30
why not find out about some things that
13:31
actually make no sense on a cruise ship
13:34
at first but do once you know why and
13:37
they're here in this video here
13:38
including
13:39
why cruise ship pools are so small click
13:42
now
13:43
and i'll see you over there
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