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hi I'm Gary benridge of tips for
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travelers in this video I'm going to
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tell you things that you absolutely need
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to know about Princess Cruisers so first
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of all who exactly are princess Cruisers
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well princess Cruisers are based in
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California they started back in 1965
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with one ship and they built over time
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to have 18 ships as of the time of
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making this video in terms of size that
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makes them the 10th biggest individual
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Cruise brand in the world they're
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actually owned by Carnival Corporation
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now Carnival corporation owns Brands
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like carnival Holland America Seaborn
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poo in the UK so princess Cruisers
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became famous through the loveboat TV
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series the series was actually filmed on
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the Pacific princess and that really
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made princess a household name they take
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over 2 million passengers a year to over
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360 destinations on cruises lasting
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anything from 3 days up to about 114
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days the second thing you need to know
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is the category of cruising that princes
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operate in now they operate in what's
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known as the premium category now
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different people classify cruise lines
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in different ways but there broadly
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speaking four different categories so
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you have your mainstream Cruise Lines
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which are really good value Cruise Lines
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uh particularly good for families that
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kind of stuff and that would include
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things like Royal Caribbean Carnival
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Norwegian Cruise Line MSC Cruisers you
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then have your premium categories so
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that's where princess Cruisers sits and
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brands that would also compete with
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Princess Cruisers would be things like
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colland America line which is also a
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carnival brand and also celebrity you
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then have your luxury brands or some
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would call them sort of upper premium
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Brands and that tends to be smaller
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ships like Windstar Azamara oceanana
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Cruisers you then have your Ultra Luxury
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which are your very premium Cruise Lines
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things like Seaborn silver sea region 7
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sea Crystal so princess operate in that
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premium category so what sort of things
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do you expect from a premium Cruise Line
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you're going to get relatively good
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fairs you're going to get some nice
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touches uh so the food is uh pretty good
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you're going to have lots of choice uh
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you're going to have a wide range of
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cabin choices ranging from sweets
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through to inside cabins what you won't
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get is lots of uh the added luxuries
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that you would have with luxury and
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Ultra Luxury service so you wouldn't
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have for example all sweet cabins you
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won't have big fluffy bath robes you
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won't have branded toiletries in your
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cabin you won't have flowers and fruit
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baskets that kind of stuff so it's a
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slightly stripped back from a luxury uh
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brand but you it sort of for me in many
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ways it equates with kind of a fourar
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sort of Hotel experience so mainstream
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Brands tend to be kind of three- star
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hotel experience you could say that uh
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premium brands are sort of four-star and
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the luxury and Ultra Luxury are really
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fstar if you're trying to compare with
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hotels on land so the third thing you
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need to know is what do they do the same
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better or worse than other Cruise Lines
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particularly other Cruise Lines within
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the premium category so what do they do
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the same well they offer largely the
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same service so most of those premium
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Cruise Brands offer fairly traditional
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Cruise experience so they aren't uh
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going to have big features like rock
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climbing walls ice skating rinks they're
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not going to be Resort style ships and
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most of the premium Brands like
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celebrity Holland America tend to be the
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same it's a fairly traditional cruising
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experience so you should expect things
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like Production shows as I said pretty
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good food and a choice of food uh
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enrichment lectures uh you know quizzes
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games that kind of stuff so what do they
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do better than other Cruise Lines well
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princess would argue that they are the
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real innovators in the category and
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within cruising so for example they
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claim to have been the first to
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introduce things like private balconies
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they were the first introduce a 24-hour
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restaurant they were the first to
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introduce both traditional dining I.E
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where you had set dining times and any
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time dining they were the first to
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introduce a wedding chapel on board
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they're also the first uh Cruise Line to
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introduce the ocean Medallion which is a
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little round device that you can either
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wear as a necklace or as a bangle which
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will be kind of a smart system which
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will not only open your cabin door but
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you'll be able to use it as your charge
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card it will also be used to activate
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various interactive digital screens and
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help the crew to personalize
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recommendations so you don't have to
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keep repeating to them so becomes kind
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of a smart device they also claim to
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have been the first to introduce the
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sanctuary which is an adult only
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uh sort of rest bite and pool area the
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other thing that they do better is they
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go to more destinations than any of the
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other brands in that premium category so
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as I mentioned they go to 360
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destinations around the world so they
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certainly offer the widest breadth of
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destinations all around the world the
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fourth thing you need to know about
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Princess is fairs inclusions and
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exclusions whenever you look at a cruise
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Fair it's very important to understand
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what's in the fair and what's out of the
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fair because every Cruise Line has
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slight differences so what's actually
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included and excluded in a princess
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Cruiser's Fair well first of all your
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accommodation is included so whatever
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grade of cabin that you've chosen
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secondly your food now I'll talk a
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little bit about what's not included but
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basically you'll be able to eat all your
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meals breakfast lunch dinner afternoon
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tea late night snacks of some kind will
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be included within your fair the third
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thing that's included is entertainment
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so the Production shows guest lecturers
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uh guest artists are all included so
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let's take a look at what's excluded
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from a princess Fair well first of all
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excursions so no excursions are included
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within the fair now sometimes a shuttle
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bus is included if you're docking
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somewhere where there is not public
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transport close by so for example we
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docked in Dublin which was in the main
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port and a shuttle bus was provided in
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other places where there was either a
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train uh service outside or very easy
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public transport or walking no transport
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was provided into the nearest town
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second thing that's not included our
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gratuities now gratuities are Auto added
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to your bill so at the time of recording
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if you're in a ocean view or a balcony
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$13.50 per person per day if you're in a
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mini Suite that's $1450 per person if
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you're in a suite that's
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$115.50 per person per day so gratuities
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are not included specialty dining
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options are not included there's a few
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other things that are not included that
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you should bear in mind like drinks so
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drinks are not incl included some basic
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drinks are included at meal times so
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like some regular coffees water that
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kind of stuff but if you all your
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alcohol drink speciality coffees they
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are not included now if you want to save
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some money they do offer various
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beverage packages uh from allinclusive
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packages which are over $50 a day where
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you can basically have any kind of drink
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you want as much as you want right down
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to uh specialty coffee cards where you
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can for about $30 have 15 sets of cups
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of coffee so there are various beverag
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packages soda packages that kind of
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stuff that help you save Wi-Fi is not
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included and again there are packages
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now like all cruise ships Wi-Fi is
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pretty expensive now if you want to uh
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save on Wi-Fi the only way you can
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really save on Wi-Fi is as you go up
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through uh loyalty levels so as you
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progress through the Loyalty levels in
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the captain Circle which is their
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loyalty program is as you start to do
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more and more cruises you start to get
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some free internet allowance so the
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fifth thing you need to know about
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princess is accommodation options now
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princess ships have a wide range of
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accommodation so there's often up to
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seven different types of accommodations
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so there'll be suits there'll be mini
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suites there'll be balcony cabins there
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will be uh inside cabins there will be
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Ocean View Cabins there will often be
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family suites and there will always be
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wheelchair accessible rooms as well so
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there you have it that's things that I
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think that you really need to know about
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Princess Cruisers uh to help you make up
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your mind decide if that's a cruise line
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that you want to travel with hope you
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find that helpful if you have any ideas
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or suggestions please uh leave some
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