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I Test Oceania's New Ship To See Why Cruisers Are So Unhappy
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Jun 26, 2024
Oceania Cruises is one of my all-time favourite cruise lines, and so I was incredibly excited to try their new class of ships. Until I did. I went on Vista, the first of this new class, and despite many great things, that I will tell you about, there is (for me anyway, and some others I spoke to) one deal breaker that means I will be sticking to their older ships unless something changes. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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Oceana Cruises is one of my all-time favourite cruise lines, and so I was incredibly excited
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to try their new class of ships. Until I did. I went on Vista, the first of this new class
0:11
and despite many great things that I'll tell you about, there is for me anyway
0:15
and some others I spoke to, one deal breaker that means I'll be sticking to their older ships
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unless something changes. Welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bembridge, helping you to get cruising on
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Oceana right. First, let me tell you about the many great things that I liked about this new
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class of ship. It's a great smaller size ship, even slightly reducing capacity from their 1,250
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passenger Marina and Riviera ships to just 1,200 passengers due to slightly bigger cabins and the
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introduction of some solo cabins. It's bright, modern and looks and feels luxurious. Overall
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I found it easy and logical to find my way around, with the main public areas on deck 5 and 6 and
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then 12 and 14. There are a couple of quirks though, like the rear elevators not going down
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to deck 5, where guests and destination services, shops, dining reservations, desk and some of the
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restaurants are, making it a bit fiddly to get to. But those are just small quirks. The pool deck has
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a great pool with lots of comfy lounges, although there's lots of complaints for chair hogs on my
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cruise. But it did feel busy, it did feel packed on the pool deck on sea days, but overall the ship
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didn't feel crowded at all. A huge positive were the dining options. Of course Oceania have food as
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their thing, even using the slogan the finest cuisine at sea in their marketing. I found a huge
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choice, especially for a smaller ship line, and even more than on their existing ships. All are
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included in the fare, which is fantastic. I want to talk about specialty dining first, as I saw that
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particularly big plus. On Vista they have four specialty restaurants, one of which is proving
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though a little bit more controversial. There is Red Ginger, their Asian restaurant which is also
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on Marina and Riviera, Polo Grill Steakhouse and Toscana Italian, which is on all of their ships
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all have big menus, great food. But on Vista Class they've replaced Jacques, the popular French
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restaurant, with Ember. This I saw getting more mixed reactions, partly as people love Jacques
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on the other ships, but also I think it's not as clear a concept. They describe it, and I quote
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as savoury American classics come to life with a modern twist. And it's a little bit hard to
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figure out what that actually is, though I did actually have some great food there, but it did prove a little bit divisive. I could go to all of those specialty restaurants at least
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once, though higher grade suites can go as often as they want. Though I would say it is pretty hard
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to get bookings. As soon as online booking opens, passengers swoop in and they make them. I had
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waited a week before I went in, and I struggled to get bookings, but I was able to finally get
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them sorted out once I was on board and went to all of them. In terms of regular dining, there are
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many many options too. There is the Grand Dining Room, which is a beautiful large venue. I could
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always get a table, whatever combination I wanted. It was open for breakfast and dinner, and for
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lunch on sea days. It has a massive menu at every meal. I really enjoyed it. The Terrace Cafe is the
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buffet with an indoor and outdoor area, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's not a massive
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buffet, but a good choice. And it's all served by the crew, so it does feel very civilised and
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sophisticated. They also have themed dinner, most nights like Mexican, Asian, that kind of stuff
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Then there is Wave's Grill, which is open for breakfast and lunch, when it serves burgers and informal dining dishes, and then in the evening turns into a
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pizza place. A new addition on the Vista class, which is proving really popular
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is the Aquamar Kitchen, which is linked to the spa and more healthy. It's got an indoor area
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and a covered outdoor area, with slightly more healthy options. Although to be honest
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I did have things like club sandwiches in there. Then there's room service, which is great
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doesn't have a fee. They also have, which is my love and passion, Daily Afternoon Tea
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served at 4 o'clock in the Horizon Lounge, up on deck 14 overlooking the bow of the ship
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They come around with trolleys with sandwiches, cakes and scones. It can be a bit chaotic
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because unlike some cruise lines where they bring the tiered stand with everything on
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it can be a bit hit and miss in terms of catching the cart as it goes around, but
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it is really good. Another venue I'm going to include in dining
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is Baristas, which is their fabulous coffee shop. This is a great venue serving barista-made
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coffees, which are included in the fare. It has been expanded compared to Marina and Riviera
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to add a new section which serves fancy pastries and more exotic sandwiches. Really nice
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What I really liked about the Vista experience is there is a wide range of options
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even though it is a smaller ship. I loved having the informal places that were open in the evening
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so if I just wanted a quick bite or something like that, I could do that. I didn't have to go
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and book into a full restaurant every night. I really enjoyed the food. I did speak to a couple
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of people who felt the food was just okay, but I do wonder whether Oceania set themselves up for
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that, because they do make such a big fanfare about the food. Personally, I found the food good
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and liked the wide range of choice. The next thing I loved is the enrichment focus
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which is true across all Oceania ships. There is a large well-stocked library with plenty of
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seating. It was popular and has a good range of books. They ran regular enrichment talks in their
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speaker series. Interestingly, every single Oceania cruise I've been on, it's been the same
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guest speaker doing the talks. So she obviously does them an enormous amount. But personally
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I do find the talks a little bit overly academic, a little bit obscure, but I may be an exception
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because they seem well attended. Topics include things like the mahogany roots of Belize
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a history, and love and war in Mexico, Cortes conquers the Aztecs
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Also fantastic were the cooking classes in a large and impressive culinary centre
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There was a charge and they were unfortunately sold out by embarkation day because they could
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be booked online before the cruising people swoop in. I did join the waiting list and get
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offered one eventually, but unfortunately I'd made other arrangements because I assumed I
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wasn't going to get in. They do things on these classes like French cooking, desserts, and they
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had one called Passport to the World. It's a fantastic initiative, but it seems there probably
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should be even more to cater for the demand. Another fantastic thing, which was also sold out
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mostly by the end of embarkation day, was the Artist Loft with an artist in residence. On this
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cruise it was a lady called Pat Grillo. She ran classes on portraits, coloured pencil sketching
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and so on. So again, it's a fantastic initiative, but again probably just not enough of them
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They've added a new initiative called the Link Digital Centre, offering digital trainings run by
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a really enthusiastic guy called Carlos. I could check out a tablet which has the classes on
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or go to a live class to learn things like photo essentials, mobile, photography, landscape and
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travel photography, video making, Instagram and Facebook basics. They were included in the fair
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and the classes grew in popularity through the cruise as word of mouth spread around the ship
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about how good they were. So that's a good sign. So those were the things that I absolutely loved
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about the ship, but what about the things that were less good and importantly of course that
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deal breaker for me? Personally I was less keen on the entertainment and found the program pretty
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limited and light even on sea days. Although the main reason that I go on Oceania is for a small
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ship experience focused on dining, enrichment and destination. So this is not a deal breaker
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One thing though that I did see that was really popular was that a lot of the daily program is
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structured around what they call their big O points. This is where at most of the events guests
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could collect those points doing things like trivia, playing bago, shuttle, board, table tennis
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other classic cruise activities. Then they could redeem them at the end of the cruise for
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merchandise, you know everything from golf balls, keychains, baseball caps, t-shirts, tote bags, that
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kind of stuff. They do also have dance classes, casino, tournaments, bingo, that kind of classic
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cruise stuff. But there wasn't a lot for those who were really looking to be entertained, especially
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in the evenings. After the evening show it was pretty quiet at night, there's not a lot going on
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For me that was fine, but I spoke to some people who are looking for more organised activity. So
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important to bear that in mind if you're looking at Oceania. Now most evenings there was a production
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show by the six-person team doing very classic song and dance shows. Things like Music Triangle
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a sort of documentary working through the history of jazz rock. They had another show called Into
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the Night, which is apparently choreographed by Dancing With The Star Pro, which is sort of
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reinventing ballroom dancing supposedly. And a thinly disguised take on the famous choir man show
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called The Anchor Inn. Now personally I wasn't excited by the shows, I found them pretty standard
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a bit dated, but that's again as possibly a personal preference. They did seem pretty
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well attended and seemed to get a fairly good response. By the way I did really like the casino
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which was a decent size for a small ship with a good range of tables and slots. But again
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I'm probably biased because they did really well on the slots, but it's a good size casino. They
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also then had things like Crazy Golf and stuff up on the sports deck. So let me talk now about
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the area that for me was a bit of a deal breaker. Now this has proven to be a little bit controversial
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because I did talk about it when I was on the cruise and both past Vista cruises and some on
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the ship did not agree with me. But I did personally find this ship has an issue with
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soundproofing between the cabins versus other ships that I've been on. Now I'm cautious choosing
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a cabin, making sure I'm surrounded by cabins above, below and either side, first of all to be
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away from noisy venues. And I do admit that I'm sensitive and picky about noise and I do like
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really quiet cabins. However of the many many many ships I've been on of all sizes and all grades
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I did find that my cabin on Vista had the biggest issue I've encountered with soundproofing
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between the cabins on any of those ships. Now I do like my cabin to be quiet. I probably spend
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more time than many of you will do because I'm also working on cruises, writing scripts, editing
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posting and other bits of work. But on one side I could hear very clearly the discussions that
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people are having, not just kind of mumbling and rumbling that you get on some cruises
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I could hear their actual conversations. Now they weren't TV watchers, so I didn't have
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that intrusion. On the other side it was a little bit more subdued, it was definitely less intrusive
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By the way, in case you're interested, I booked a penthouse suite. I was in 10-049. Now I did ask
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many people on board, pretty much everyone on board that I met, and many said that they'd
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noticed it too, though most people's issue was more around television noise. Now of course that's
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not a representative sample because I was actively out asking people about it and of course drawing
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attention to it. Now I've been on other Oceania ships and other classes several times and this
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has never been an issue for me at all. Looking at Cruise Critic reviews I see this topic gets
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raised. I've seen other reviews by independent travellers on blogs where they talk about the
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issue. I've had a few people message me when they saw me talk about it who've been on the
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Vista saying they've moved their bookings from Vista back on to other ships like Marina, Riviera
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and the other R-Class ships, which to be honest is where I am after my experience. Now I have to
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admit other people I spoke to said they had no issue or felt it was no different to other ships
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they've been on and they felt that the upsides of Vista that I've spoken about far outweigh that
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for them anyway. Now I have to say I love Oceania for all the good things that I've mentioned
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but because I'm so sensitive to noise in my cabin and I feel this is an issue on this particular
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class of ships I'm going to book all my future Oceania trips on their other ships where I didn't
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experience this, which is a pity because these new ships are really beautiful. I will keep an eye on
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reviews and I'll see what other people are experiencing. Now it may be an issue for you
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it may not, so let me know in the comments your thoughts and experiences, especially
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if you have been on Vista. I'd really love to know. Meanwhile if you want to find out about
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another small ship cruise line, Winstar, that I was on recently and find out what they do well
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and not so well, join me over in this video where I start talking about what most people
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think about the line that's wrong. See you over there
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