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Offbeat Cruise Tips ALL Seasoned Cruisers Swear By!
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Jul 19, 2024
I reveal 5 tips, tricks and hacks that experienced and smart cruise passengers that I have met on recent cruises agree are ones that savvy cruisers all use and know about – but not everyone does to knows about! 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.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
I absolutely love it when cruisers who watch my videos come up to say hello on board ships
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like my recent Norwegian Viva Mediterranean cruise where I met so many people. I decided
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to ask them what tip, hack or trick had the most changed their cruising for the better
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that I should share in this video of Pro Cruise Tips. We agreed on five of them that we all agreed
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could change your cruising as much as it did theirs. As you'll see some, including the last one
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may sound rather mundane at first, but can make a massive difference
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If you are new here, welcome aboard, I am Gary Bembridge, making it fun and easy to plan
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discover and enjoy incredible cruise vacations. Now let's get on with those cruise changing tricks
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The first reminded me when we went on cruises with my mother and mother-in-law. They would
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repeatedly get lost and confused about which way to go, especially when leaving their cabin
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A complete nightmare. It wasn't until later in my cruising life that I discovered
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what savvy experienced cruisers already knew, and that is that there are signals that cruise lines
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have put in place to help passengers like my mum not get so lost, although signals that I must
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admit I still rely on today. For example, cabin numbers always start at number 1 at the front of
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the ship and as you walk towards the rear of the ship the numbers go higher. I could tell my mum
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if the numbers were going up as she walked along the corridor, she was heading to the rear of the
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ship, and if the numbers were going down of the cabins then towards the front. It transformed
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cruising for my mum in terms of finding her way. People I met on Viva pointed out that Norwegian
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makes it even easier with adding signals into the carpets as well. On this particular ship it was
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triangles pointing the direction to head for the front of the ship. On their other ships
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it is the direction that fish weaved into the carpet design are swimming. I must admit I relied
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on the triangles in the carpet every day on my Viva cruise when I was moving about to ensure
1:56
that I was heading the right way. Other lines have added even more signals. I was recently on a Disney
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Magic cruise and they had little metal fish above the door numbers that always pointed the direction
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to the rear. Then I realised that the map in the carpet, if that was the right side up
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that was the direction towards the front of the ship. So again, great signals
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Another signal that I used a lot with my mum is that on most but not all ships
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the even numbered cabins are on the left hand side or the port side as you are facing the front of
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the ship, and the odd numbered cabins are on the right hand side or the starboard side of the ship
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as you are facing the front of the ship. That is how she could tell left and right on the ship
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Some lines like Cunard made it even easier for her when we went on that ship because they had
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red carpets on the port or left hand side and blue on the starboard or right side. So it made
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it even simpler when she counted the lifts to know which side her cabin was on as she just
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had to remember the carpet colour to look for. So one great trick is to use these and when you
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board, check if your ship has any specific added signals like those that I mentioned
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that I had on Viva. It is going to make finding your way around so much easier
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But the next one that people I met suggested that I include was about saving money
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which of course everybody loves, but they felt too many people were missing out on this one
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And that is booking a future cruise or buying a future cruise deposit certificate while you are
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actually on your cruise if you want to sail on that line again in the next couple of years
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Now so many of the people that I met on Norwegian Viva told me that they were doing this
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because the line was giving $100 onboard credit for every future cruise deposit certificate worth
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$250 that they were buying. Now if they bought four certificates that was going to be $500
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onboard credit not just $400. Now this bonus was only available booking on the cruise nowhere else
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So booking on board always has discounts or added extra onboard credit that you cannot get anywhere
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else other than on board. But importantly any booking can still be linked to the travel agent
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and they often will allow no penalty changes at least to bookings that are made on board
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So this is a really big plus because cruises like me from countries like the UK
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do not get refundable deposit booking options any other way. So for example a booking that I
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did on my previous cruise to the Viva which is Regent Seven Seas, also part of the same group
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that allows me one no penalty change that I wouldn't be able to get if I'd book that back
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home. But what if you don't want to cruise on the same line? So I met people on Norwegian Viva that
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like to jump between cruise lines like me and we all agreed that this next little trick and pro tip
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was something that's just simply not known enough either. And this is that some, though to be honest
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not enough, cruise lines will status match our loyalty when we try a new cruise line. Now I've
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varying degrees of loyalty across lots of different cruise lines, but I'm often trying
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cruise lines that I haven't been on before or haven't been on very much. A few cruises before
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the Norwegian one I went on MSC Virtuosa to the Norwegian Fjords and they status match other cruise
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lines and even high hotel or airline status. So I gave them proof of my top tier diamond status on
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QNOT that I mentioned earlier and they matched it which unlocked perks like free specially dining
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onboard discounts, priority embarkation and disembarkation. At the time of making this
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Virgin Voyages are also doing the same. Some cruise lines also share status within the same
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broad group. So for example I had no status with Royal Caribbean having only cruised on them once
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before, but I did have high diamond status equivalent on their sister line Celebrity
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Cruises and so they matched that giving me perks like access to the Royal Lounge with snacks
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coffees and happy hours. So we all felt that cruisers need to know to check whether any new
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cruise line that you're looking at will status match any loyalty programme and status that you
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have. Now unfortunately Norwegian does not status match, but we all felt there were some things that
6:02
we'd seen cruisers still miss out on this trip and other cruise lines as well that people should
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actually know about. And there are actually five things that we felt people were missing out
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on these various cruises. First of all by not going to the art auctions like the packed one
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on Norwegian Viva, people were missing out on the free drinks that were served at those auctions
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Secondly by not going to the spa on embarkation day and getting a raffle ticket. Now the draw
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on the Norwegian took place just after we set sail and you have to be there to win
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So prizes all went to the relatively few people who'd remember to turn up for the draw
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I didn't win on this trip, but frequently have won free spa treatments this way
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on a number of lines by just simply making sure that I'm there for the draw. So many people forget
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to go. The third one was, although I didn't go actually to this one, is the various shopping
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events because they will launch kind of new lines on board. Many of the people I spoke to
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they went, you get free drinks, you get raffles for gifts and so on. The fourth one was going to
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the port shopping talks, particularly in Alaska, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, because
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there they will hand out loads of freebies, you know, stickers, bracelet charms and then you can
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also go each day to the shopping desk, collect another one or you get other free ones by
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visiting certain nominated stores like FE Diamonds International, Tanzania International, Del Sol, Colour Change and so on. Now the fifth thing that we felt people were missing out on
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was going to cocktail parties you get invited to. I was invited to a couple on this particular trip
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and there's always plenty of free drinks and canapes and ones I've been to on other cruise
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lines. But perhaps the most striking thing we all got excited about and agreed that more people
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really need to know about in fact, and it was not something sexy at all, it was actually something
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rather mundane. But we all agreed this one is great for cruisers who like to pack light
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or just travel with carry-on bags. It's crazy costly getting laundry done on many ships
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Norwegian Viva included, it was really expensive and also they don't have guest laundry rooms to do
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our own laundry. But we all love the fact that they have an offer where you can send a bag
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packed full of laundry for a set price and a lot of lines run this part way through the cruise. So
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on Norwegian Viva it was just $29 for a massive big laundry bag which we could pack full of laundry
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and that's all it cost. Now this cruise was 10 days long so I could pack light because I knew
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that this offer would pop up part way through the cruise. So I always ask my cabin steward when I
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get on board when the offer will be run and I plan my kind of washing around that. By the way also
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check your loyalty program status or cabin perks because many of these actually include free laundry
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like when I was on that Royal Caribbean cruise that I got a status match on, I actually got
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free laundry. Now are there any other things that you think really smart pro cruisers should talk
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about more and let people know about? Leave those in the comments. But before you do that, want to
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join me over in this video because you're going to find out seven things that smart cruisers do
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when they book their cruises and why. See you over there
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