Which Cruise Line Is The VERY BEST By Region? And Why?

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in every weekly Cruise Q&A live stream
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that I do on YouTube I'm asked by a
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cruiser what is the best cruise line
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they should use in one of the regions of
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the world so they can see and get the
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most out of it so I decided to make this
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to share in one place what I found from
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my many experiences to be the very best
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cruise Lions to choose in each of the
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eight most popular cruising regions now
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I've cruised all several times and as
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you will see many of the lines are not
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the obvious nor in fact the biggest
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welcome aboard I'm Gary benridge let's
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start in the biggest cruise region of
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all the Caribbean which according to
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clear the International Cruise Line
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Association gets over 12 million Cruise
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passengers every single year all major
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cruise lines cruise the Caribbean so you
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have an enormous Choice as well as a
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choice of itineries Eastern Western
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Southern and Sh of Bahamas and Cruise
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Line Private Island cruises there are
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four different ways I think of what is
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the best cruise line here first if
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you're looking for incredible value
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above anything else the best cruise line
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of all is usually MSC Cruisers they have
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very inexpensive fairs go to all the key
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ports of the others do and of course
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kids sell for free but if you're looking
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for a good value sun and high energy
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Resort style break with your family
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promising lots of entertainment many
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onboard attractions big choice of dining
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and bars and great kids clubs while
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there's several Cruise Lines including
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Carnival and Norwegian the best line in
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my view is Royal Caribbean they even
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have the region in their name they have
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by far in my view the best private
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islands like perfect day at CoCo K and
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labid if you're though looking for an
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adult ear experience but still with a
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big party Vibe then virgin voyages is
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the way to go they have great food and a
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busy fun program however if you find
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virgin voyages with their less Deep dive
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port itineries and party Vibe less
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appealing and want align with few kids
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to visit more authentic ports have the
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choice of more varied excursions but
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still be relatively affordable then the
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good news is there are many options
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including holl America princess and even
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Cunard now my choice is Holland America
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line partly because they have some of
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their newer ships operating these
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itineries like say the Rotterdam they
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have really good music on board and they
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often call into Half Moon Key their
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private island which is in my view one
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of the prettiest and more restful of all
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the private islands and as for cabins
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from inside to Suites they cover most
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budgets too but if you have the budget
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and want a small ship experience more
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pampering and want to go to smaller and
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more out of the way Islands than the
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busy ones that all of the lines that
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I've mentioned so far go to lines
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including region 7 se's Seaborn silver
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sea Viking WinStar Asar and Oceania are
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all options my pick of these is WinStar
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as they have the smallest ships
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including their sailing ships and call
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on smaller out of the way places and
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have really interesting routs often
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departing right from within the
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Caribbean itself the next biggest
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cruising region is the Mediterranean
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which clear says gets over 5 and a half
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million Cruise passengers every year
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there are three key routes the Western
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Mediterranean which is the best itinery
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for first time is as you can see iconic
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cities like Barcelona Rome Florence Pisa
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and even Monte Carlo in one 7day trip
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then there's the Eastern Mediterranean
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which will often include the Greek
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Islands and then Adriatic aren is
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sailing between Venice and Athens like
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the Caribbean all the liines operate
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those itineries during the Mediterranean
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season and so while the same approach
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and choices of lines apply as I
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mentioned in the Caribbean there are two
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big caveats for the Mediterranean first
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if your budget can stretch to it go on a
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small ship line or the smallest ship the
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other lines have in their Fleet why
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because many of the ports within the
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Mediterranean are working container
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ports so smaller ships can often go
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either two more interesting ports that
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can't take big ships or can dock more
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centrally for example when I went to
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Marseilles in France on asamar Quest
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ship holding around 700 we were docked
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in the heart of Marseilles but when we
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went there a couple months later on
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Norwegian Viva a big ship we were miles
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away in a large working Port when I went
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on Seaborn and asamara we docked right
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in Monte Carlo but on Norwegian Viva we
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had to go to nearby n when I went to the
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Greek Islands on Azamara and later on
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Seaborn we were able to visit really
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small Islands they weren't crowded by
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land tourists or of mega ship
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passengers so smaller really is a big
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plus so I would recommend if you
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possibly can look at lines like Azamara
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wistar Oceania but they're smaller ships
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and if your budget can go that far of
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course you can throw in things like
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Seaborn silver sea or Viking the second
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caveat is that there is so much history
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and culture in the region to really get
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more of your cruise I also suggest that
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you consider narrowing down even more
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and look at lines that have good
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enrichment programs when cruising the
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Mediterranean the best that I found in
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this region are kunard though it's not a
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small ship so it doesn't hit that
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criteria and Viking and to less agree
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ocean which are smaller ships I always
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assumed that Alaska was the third
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biggest cruise region but it's not so I
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will get to them later but first let me
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cover what actually is the third biggest
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region and that is based on passenger
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numbers the non-mediterranean parts of
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Europe with over three million
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passengers every year according to clear
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there are two key routes that I want to
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talk about the UK and Ireland round uken
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Island trips and the Norwegian fjords as
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with the other regions you should
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consider the lines with the kind of
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onboard experience that you want of
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course but I do have some very specific
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recommendations in these places for
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around the UK and Island trip for non-uk
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travelers I actually recommend you
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consider princess and celebrity because
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they base ships there out of South
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Southampton and they have been for many
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many years so they know the region
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really well they do some great tinies
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and offer a range of pricing because of
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course they offer inside cabins through
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to Suites and they do offer a more
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familiar us International mix and
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program however if you do want a more UK
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focused passenger mix and program UK
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lines like Ambassador Pino Cruzer Saga
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Fred Olson and kunard do that tenies but
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they don't do them as frequently as the
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others that I mentioned
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Ambassador is the best value and Fred
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Olsson provides an affordable small ship
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with a very classic kind of dressing up
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Formal Wear option it's not always
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necessary to go on a small ship on this
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particular itinery because they're
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largely call into the same places but if
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you do want a deeper dive into Scotland
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specifically then look at Winstar I've
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done that because they are able to call
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into much smaller places because they
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can manage tendering more easily and
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they don't swap the smaller ports which
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aren't used to taking Cruise passengers
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now if you're heading to the Norwegian
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FS my recommendation is consider moving
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past all those well-known International
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lines and focus on two local lines H
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grutin and jailia they are locally owned
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do deep and intensive routs into the
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fields and S from Bergen right far up
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north and back you're going to get an
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authentic Norwegian experience explore
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the fuds in the most extensive and
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intensive way now if you don't want to
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go with those lines cuz they you you
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don't want to go on a line you haven't
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heard of that many of the international
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lines go to the fuds and my tip is
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having having a short list of lines that
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you like the onboard experience and
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pricing cuz pretty much every line goes
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there in the season but then look
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incredibly closely at the itinerary
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often itineries will be filled with
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larger cities and towns like Bergen
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Stanga Christian stat and let itre older
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an alant but you want to make sure that
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the route you choose has smaller and out
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of the way places listed on it my tips
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are you want as many places as possible
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that you've never heard of and likely
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end with the word f those are the ones
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you want to focus on on the itinerary if
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you do go mostly to those towns and
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cities that I mentioned you're probably
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going to need to spend way more on
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excursions to really get deeper into the
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fs and into the mountains and really
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experience the sights and the sounds
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unfortunately that does mean that the
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smaller ship lines like WinStar asamara
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Viking Fred Olson ocean and Saga that
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I've mentioned tend to do well on that
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but of course they may be out of your
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budget so if you're looking at one of
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those bigger lines then try and see
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first of all what the roots are so for
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example I went on kunard Queen Elizabeth
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not on the Queen Mary 2 options to the
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fs because Queen Elizabeth is much
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smaller ship and had more remote places
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on the itinery now it's time to look at
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the fourth biggest region and that is
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still is not Alaska yet the fourth
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biggest cruising artillery in fact is
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Asia with according to clear over 2.6
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million passengers a year this is a huge
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territory so I really want to Zone in on
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Japan as that's where I get asked about
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most often if you're looking at cruising
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Japan there are some great options the
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most affordable being Holland America
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princess and celebrity those three
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Cruise Lines base themselves in Tokyo
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throughout the season they all run
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incredible itineries they recommend you
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focus on the circumnavigations of Japan
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itineries all of those lines I mentioned
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are pretty similar they're worth
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considering I didn't I tend to lean
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towards H America or celebrity of those
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two they they do it on slightly smaller
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ships but they still for a good range of
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pricing from those inside cabins through
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to suets I think those are the two to
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really focus on one other consideration
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is you will need to do excursions to get
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the most out of Japan and they're very
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costly So based on the cavern grade you
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usually Cruise in check if going on a
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line like Viking region 7 SE or silver
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SE that includes some or many excursions
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are actually similar in price so I for
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example when I was do my comparisons
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found that going on region 7 se's
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explorer was almost no premium once a
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compared inclusion with Holland America
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and then of course I had the advantage
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of a smaller ship experience for not
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that much more now to Alaska which is
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actually the fifth most popular Cruise
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region based on passenger numbers with
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1.7 million of them annually according
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to clear there are two key routes for
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Alaska cruises the Inside passage which
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departs to and from either Vancouver or
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Seattle and calls on cities like ketan
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Skagway and Juno then there's the oneway
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trips mostly between Seward or WIA and
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Vancouver as a first Tim the Inside
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passage is the usual and probably the
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best choice like in the Caribbean and
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the Mediterranean most Lions Cruise in
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Alaska during the relatively short
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season and so you could go there on the
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line that best meets your kind of
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desired onboard experience even virgin
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voyages are heading Alaska way but for
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me when it comes to choosing a cruise
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line for Alaska there is one key
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consideration that trumps everything and
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reduces the choice to just six lines
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because I strongly recommend you go on a
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line that goes into glacia Bay certainly
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if it's your first trip to Alaska glacia
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Bay is magnificent and has a massive
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restriction because the park authorities
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only allow two cruise ships in per day
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and there's also quotas on how often a
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line can go in two currently there's
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only six Cruise Lines authorized to
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operate in glacia Bay Princess Cruises H
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America Norwegian Seaborn kunard and
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Viking so my strong advice is to focus
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on one of those lines I tend to
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recommend H America as it's the line
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that's been cruising Alaska longest or
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in fact princess Cruisers which has been
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their the second longest they know the
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region incredibly well but they also in
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most ports get the best docking
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locations and various other kind of
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priority both by the way will have lots
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of kids and family groups on that you
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won't find you lots of kids and families
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and other regions but you will if you go
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on them in Alaska however if you don't
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want to go to that iconic and well-known
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ports in Alaska you can also go on more
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Expedition basis and then I would
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recommend hutin or the small us-based
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line un Cruise these don't go to the
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main ports and they'll go way more
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remote with a much bigger focus on
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Wildlife now I'm going to give you some
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quick fire recommendations for the next
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three regions all of which according to
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clear attract just over 1 million
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passengers each year the first is the
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USA West Coast you have many many
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choices as this region is covered as
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part of reposition cruises as ships go
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to and from Alaska and the Caribbean at
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the start and the end of the
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seasons they tend to go to the same
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ports like Cab San Lucas PTO viata
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mazalan San Diego San Francisco and or
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Long Beach however some Cru lines are
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basing their ships there for Seasons
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like princess H America and Carnival I
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would look at those because they offer
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the most choice of itineries timings so
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they are way more flexible for for you
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next is Australia and New Zealand and
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again there's a lot of choice as many
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lines pass through there on their world
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voyages but often with limited itineries
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but your favorite line likely goes there
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so that is a starting point but to get
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way more choice of itineries and timing
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I would focus on lines that base there
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for some of the year or year round if
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you're looking to do a total circum
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navigation of Australia there's actually
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not many options and the two best itties
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that are found are on H America they're
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not all all and every year but certainly
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on Viking at the beginning and end of
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the season if you're looking to do New
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Zealand for me one of the strongest
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lines to look at is celebrity out of
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Sydney they based an edge class ship
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there which runs during the season if
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you want to go more local Pio Australia
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is actually been absorbed into the local
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Carnival and has some really good family
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focused options but other lines are also
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based there like Royal Caribbean the
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eighth biggest region and one of my
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favorites is the Panama Canal and South
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America you get many panamal Canal
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options because again as lions move
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ships to from the Caribbean and Alaska
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and when ships are going on their world
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voyages they pass through the Panama
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Canal so all of them do this route well
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but there's one overriding factor even
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more important than the line in many
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ways and that's making sure you're
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booked on a panamax ship a panamax ship
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is a ship designed to go through the old
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an original Canal newer mainstream ships
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like Queen Mary 2 the Queen Anne new
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Staten Dam Norwegian Bliss celebrity
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Edge class and so on are too big and are
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known as neop panamax size and they can
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only use the new Canal I believe that to
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truly experience The Wonder of the
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Panama Canal you need to go through the
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old Canal so whilst you may be attracted
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to these fancy new ships many of them
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are not Panama Max size so focus on some
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of the smaller older ships in ai's Fleet
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or in lines with smaller ships for
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example I've been through on Vista class
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ships uh Kun Queen Victoria and H
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America zadam so they're a little bit
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older ships but they are panamax size
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but which of these destinations and
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regions should you be going to first
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join me over in this video where I rank
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the mustsee bucket list places to cruise
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to and also talk about why two of those
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popular regions that have spoken about
15:17
are not on that list see you over there

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