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5 Things Cruise Passengers Should Stop Doing, And Why
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Jan 28, 2025
Discover how to have a more enjoyable cruise vacation every single time. How? By avoiding these 5 cruise mistakes I see cruise passengers repeatedly doing on every single cruise I have been on for the last 10 years. I’m going to tell you what they are, how to spot if you are doing them, and what to do if you ARE doing any of them ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
i'm gonna tell you how to guarantee you
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have a more relaxing and enjoyable
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cruise vacation every single time how
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by avoiding the five things i see
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passengers repeatedly doing wrong on
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every single cruise i've been on for the
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last 10 years i'm going to tell you what
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they are how to spot if you're doing
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them and what to do if you are doing any
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of them if you're new here welcome
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aboard i'm gary bembridge and i'm here
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to make it fun and easy to discover plan
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and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations
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on my last honda america caribbean
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cruise which i loved i met a delightful
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young newlywed couple who in their early
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20s i'd say and they're on their very
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first cruise they were having a
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miserable time they weren't surrounded
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by people like them they couldn't party
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like they wanted and said they didn't
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feel catered for it reminded me of when
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i was having another great time on a
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cunard queen mary 2 crews out of sydney
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i met an australian family there who
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were also going crazy as they said there
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wasn't anything they'd like to do on
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board
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of course the focus of a cunard ship is
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on enrichment lectures on formal nights
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but they wanted
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pool deck frolics they wanted belly flop
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competitions drinking games
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big disco parties that go on late into
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the night like they'd had on their last
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cruise on carnival they hated wearing a
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jacket for all of the dinners
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they told me in fact they were so bored
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they were actually considering leaving
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halfway through the cruise
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and flying home virtually every
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discontented passenger that i meet on
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cruises agreed with me that the big
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thing they did wrong
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was choosing the wrong cruise line so
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why in fact do people make the mistake
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of going on the wrong cruise line for
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them most agree it's because they booked
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their cruise
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based on deals or prices and not
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thinking about what was absolutely
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important to them that was the case for
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example both the young couple
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and the australian family they'd seen
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great deals and leapt onto them
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it's really important to focus on what
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is important to you first and then see
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how you can get that for the best price
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or the best value so one trick i like to
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use for example is find copies of the
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daily program online for any cruise line
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that i've not been on before that gives
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me an amazing insight into what i'm
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going to find out on board of course
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there's online reviews there's youtube
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videos like this there's using a travel
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agent to check the line is right they
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all make sense too but once you find a
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line that works for you there is still
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another thing i
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did that i should not have and i see
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many many other people's doing as well
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so when i started cruising i used only
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one line which was piano cruises as that
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was my first line it worked just fine
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for me i had no issues it's what i
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thought cruising should be so after many
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many many piano cruisers i actually went
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on qnad only because i wanted to do one
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of their famous transatlantic crossings
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that was
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a revelation it was an eye-opener i saw
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so many differences on the ship and in
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how things were being done
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there were so many more things that i
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enjoyed much more than i did on piano
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and i found that cunard met my needs
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even better and so then i started only
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doing qnart cruises for the next few
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years however
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i was repeating that exact same mistake
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i made with p o i didn't keep looking to
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see if another line was even better than
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cunard in meeting my needs now the thing
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that actually opened my eyes to this was
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actually this channel because i felt of
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course i needed to cover many other
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lines and so i started trying them i
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quickly found out that so many more
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lines suit me
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so now when i book a cruise i first
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review what is important to me at that
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particular time and then i ask which
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line currently best meets that
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with lions and ships constantly
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introducing new features new facilities
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it could be a line that i've not tried
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before but next i then dive deeper to
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see if that particular line or lines has
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the best itinerary in the destination
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i'm going to for example although many
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lions meet my needs cruise in alaska i
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tend to book either hot in america or
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princess because they've been there
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longer they get better births they get
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into glacier bay they own their own
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inland resorts for pre and post days
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in the caribbean i like to cruise on a
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line like say oceania on smaller ships
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because they call into smaller ports and
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i don't have to navigate all the crowds
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that are on the bigger ships that sail
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in the caribbean you should always
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always make sure you're on a cruise line
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that is right for you first but then
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once you find one don't make a mistake
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like i did of not constantly revisiting
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my options as i did with piano and then
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i did with cunard
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but once you've found the right line
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don't further mess things up by being
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pressured into doing this very next
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thing something that i'm maybe a little
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bit guilty of i asked one lady on my
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last cruise how her cruise was going and
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she said
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it's a nightmare we're cruising with my
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mother-in-law and she's driving me
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crazy a few days later i started talking
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to a guy on deck and when i asked how
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his cruise was going he said they were
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traveling with a couple for the first
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time they were their next-door neighbors
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it was also driving him nuts because the
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other couple insisted on doing
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everything together dining going for
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drinks to the shows go on the same
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excursions sitting by them at the pool
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and on and on and on i met an extended
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family group traveling together that
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seemed to be having a great time from
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the outside that was not the case i
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found when one of the younger guys in
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the group told me this was his least
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enjoyable cruise ever because there was
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a constant battle around what they were
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all going to do
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and when and then trying to balance out
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and satisfy everyone was proving
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challenging
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and although you know he and his
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girlfriend wanted some time to
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themselves they felt they couldn't do
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that without it causing a fuss and
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offense these encounters did get me
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thinking once a year my partner take on
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mothers on a cruise
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it dawned on me that those mum cruises
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we approach differently to when we
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cruise as a couple or sydney when i even
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cruise by myself
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the mum cruises are all structured
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around where they want to go
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what they want to do when they want to
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do it and not we want now i don't resent
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that and we take them because they love
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it so much but we do see and structure
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these trips as different and we make
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compromises with them as a priority
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willingly to make trips with friends and
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family work you should absolutely insist
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on having a good and open discussion
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before you go as difficult as that
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probably is going to be
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but you do need to agree how things will
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work
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how decisions about what you do will be
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made
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how much you will do together and any
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other
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kind of ground rules that you need
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i realize we actually do that with our
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mothers before our trips and it's much
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better to do it before you go than
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having that tension and resentment bill
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that i saw in those other people i spoke
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that was actually getting in their way
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of having an otherwise great cruise
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being well prepared in other ways before
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a cruise can also help avoid the next
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thing that i see going wrong too when i
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met fran on a mediterranean cruise she
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was disappointed with how her cruise was
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playing out as she couldn't go ashore on
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the shore excursions she wanted to and
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was missing out on seeing and doing lots
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of the things she wanted to
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she told me she hadn't really understood
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what was included and not included on a
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cruise and it was only once on board
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that she realized that gratuities were
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being added to her account that she had
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to pay for drinks that the wi-fi she
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needed desperately and
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source essential was also a cost so her
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budget for excursions was blown and she
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ended up losing out on seeing the things
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she actually came on the cruise for
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now i probably to be honest didn't help
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because i also pointed out she had on
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the other hand
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missed out on some of the things that
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she hadn't realized were included like
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ice cream at the pool pizza in a
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restaurant she just assumed had a charge
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because others did the shuttle bus into
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town even so she had made
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the
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cardinal mistake of not researching her
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cruise fully and especially what was and
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was not included but even as a regular
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traveler i keep checking every single
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cruise as it keeps changing as lions
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keep adding and removing items
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especially from the included and the
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exclusion lists and then even what's
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included often differs based on the
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grader book so for example on celebrity
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a classic string package and standard
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wi-fi was included for a booking i made
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for one cruise in a standard cabin but
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in a suite i booked on another it had
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premium drinks packaged and the fast
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streaming wi-fi included not researching
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checking out and exploring everything
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available and in detail
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is a mistake that's easily made but as
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one
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channel follower said to me bloggers and
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vloggers like me help enormously because
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passengers in fact like me even have
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multiple ship tours tips and advice
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videos and articles that get into the
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nitty-gritty so there's lots and lots of
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help to avoid making this mistake that i
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saw people like fran making many of the
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cruises i did as cruising shut down
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eased were cruises to nowhere with no
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ports to work around the various rules
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and regulations and so i got not
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surprisingly into numerous discussions
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on those trips about the merits
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the pros and cons of sea days and this
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actually revealed something that i'd not
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probably fully thought about before it
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was best summed up by frank who i met on
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my viking venus cruise now he said when
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he started cruising the mistake he made
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was thinking that every single day of a
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cruise must have a port in it after a
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few cruises he realized that was tiring
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he wasn't chilling out and he wasn't
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getting to enjoy all that the ship has
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to offer and do now he tries to book a
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cruise that has a sea day or two because
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it builds in time to relax
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unwind and take advantage of all those
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things you might have discovered that
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are available on the ship that you won't
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have time to do otherwise
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so many people since then have also said
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to me once they got into the hang of
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cruising as it were they now always
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choose cruise itineraries that include
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sea days one or two because they just
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have a much better much chilled much
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more relaxing vacation
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pace yourself
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breathe a little bit relax a little bit
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more and don't make the mistake of
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thinking that a sea day is a waste a day
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it could actually add to your overall
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enjoyment of your actual vacation if you
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want to know what very experienced
11:02
cruise passengers told me they do to
11:04
ensure an unforgettable cruise vacation
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watch this video where i start with the
11:09
single most important thing that they do
11:12
see you over there
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