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Going On 100 Cruises Taught Me 7 CRUCIAL Cruise Tricks
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Jan 28, 2025
I have just taken my 100th cruise and I have been asked by so many cruise passengers and cruising fans what are the biggest things I have learnt about cruising over all those trips. Here are the 7 biggest ones. Some may surprise. I hope so. This is the first of a series of videos I have made to mark hitting this milestone. GET EXCLUSIVE PERKS LIKE MEMBER-ONLY BONUS VIDEOS BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links mentioned in the videos: BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com , http://bit.ly/TFTStore or https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com 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
View Video Transcript
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my first cruise was on piano cruises in
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2004 and I loyally stuck with them for
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many cruises after that then I tried a
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different Cruise Line Cunard only
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because I wanted to do their famous
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transatlantic and everything changed
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that learning experience set in motion
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the projection of my cruising Journey
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from there on as I'll explain and you
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will discover welcome aboard I'm Gary
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bembridge and I make it fun and easy to
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discover plan and enjoy incredible
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Cruise vacations and this is the first
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of a series I've made to Mark taking my
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100th Cruise my QR experience was so
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different and better than my piano ones
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had been and I wondered if by not
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constantly trying different cruise lines
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I would miss out on so much this is what
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I discovered
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I have come to think of cruise lines
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like I do my friends while I have a best
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friend and a close group of friends that
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I hang out with a lot I actually have
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other friends I turn to for different
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occasions some are better to party with
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others to go to the theater bike riding
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hiking or just hanging out with and
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that's how I now see and learned to look
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at cruise lines I have some that are
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like close friends and I spend more time
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with Cunard because I love the
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britishness the formality dressing up an
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enrichment program
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Oceania with its smaller ships and
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incredible food Holland America with its
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Global destination immersion classic
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ships and the Fantastic music walk
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silver sea for their incredible
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Expedition teams and stylish ships and
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the waterways for River Cruisers with
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smart chips good food and local
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immersion excursions however I still go
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on many other lines just over 30 lines
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on 70 different ships so far and that's
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because I found the choosing the right
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Cruise Line is so important trip by trip
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for example I lean towards Holland
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America and Princess when I'm going to
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Alaska because they are the two longest
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and most established lines there as
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Amara oceani and WinStar when I'm going
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to a region that I've been to before
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because their smaller Ships Take me to
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more out of the way places that I've not
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been to that the bigger ships that I've
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gone with can't Royal Caribbean
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Norwegian Cruise Line and Embassy
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cruises when I'm doing say a
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multi-generational trip with Mark my
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partner and his mum sister and her late
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teenage daughters so there's something
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for everybody to be able to do
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personally I love going on small ships
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but if I'm going cruising with Mark we
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go on bigger ships because he wants big
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shows and a busy casino with lots of
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people playing I learned that having one
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favorite or only line is not the way to
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get the most from cruising some people
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pushed back when I talk about this
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because they argue that sticking with a
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cruise line to build up loyalty and
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benefits is better now I'm not as
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convinced because the added credits
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discounts Wi-Fi or dining don't beat the
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experiences that I get from changing and
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working cleverly to book deals that can
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more than compensate for those perks
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through loyalty by the way I have only
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been on one Cruise of all the hundred
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that I've hated that is the one that
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taught me the second big learning on
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that first piano Aurora cruise I
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mentioned earlier I didn't choose my
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cabin it was a guaranteed one I was
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allocated a great cabin so I kept doing
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that with good outcomes I didn't
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actually think about there being bad
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cabins until I went on a Costa
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Mediterranean trip and barely slept on
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the trip at all due to nightclub above
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that taught me that despite what anyone
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says a cabin location will make or break
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a cruise ever since then I never go on a
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cruise without choosing my cabin over
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time I found a formula that works best
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to keep me away from potentially noisy
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venues it's booking a cabin surrounded
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on five sides by the cabins above below
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either side with no interconnecting door
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to the next cabin and always now
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opposite having a cabin opposite cuts
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the risk of noise and disturbances from
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crew access areas
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just two cruises ago on a Cunard Queen
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Elizabeth West Mediterranean I forgot
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this and despite having splashed out on
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a princess Grill Suite opposite my cabin
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door was the entrance to the crew area
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cabin stewards for the deck would come
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rattling in and out with their trolleys
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room service was banging the door day
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and night there was clutching of
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suitcases in and out on embarkation and
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disembarkation day it was crazy another
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thing I learned is how important and
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great it is having a cabin midships we
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were allocating one on that first
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transatlantic I spoke about and found it
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was brilliant to help avoid motion and
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seasickness but I soon found being
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midships and then whatever the middle
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deck is between the Promenade deck where
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you've got things like the restaurants
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the theaters the bar and so on and the
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leader Deck with the pools and Buffet at
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the top it means that I'm in the center
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of the ship and equidistant to most
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pretty much everything on on board the
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ship on that first cruise and for many
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cruises afterwards I constrained myself
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by getting lured into the security of
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Cruise Line Excursions because they're
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convenient vetted and the ship would
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wait for me if they ran late once I
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brought the confidence to not get
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stressed about not getting back before
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All Aboard time it transformed my
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cruising experience so much some of my
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best memories cruising are the
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unexpected ones not the carefully
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scheduled kind of jog around local
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highlights on Cruise Line Excursions for
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example things like Mark and I have been
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driven around by a taxi driver in Kuala
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Lumpur trying to scam us into buying
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fake Patronus twin tower tickets and
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then us getting lost on their chaotic
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Metro System but finding and stumbling
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across an amazing food market for lunch
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where a server taught us about a nearby
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really good alternative Tower to visit
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to view Kuala Lumpur or when we were
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navigating the Tokyo Metro using a
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really bad highly translated Local app
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but we stumbled across a Pachinko
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pinball arcade area and I hit the
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jackpot playing it without any idea of
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what I was doing so I've learned that
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strolling and exploring reveal the best
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port experiences ever
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you'll know if you've watched other
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episodes I often use the hop-on hop-off
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bus to assist this exploration because
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they will still take me to the
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highlights or essential places I get
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just enough background from the
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commentary and I then kind of jump off
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and do that kind of unrestricted
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exploring now maybe it's because I've
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done so many cruises and after being
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stuck at home for so long during the
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kind of pandemic shutdowns but I've also
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learned that places and ports are really
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what makes cruising amazing and
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different of course the ship is still
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key and a destination too but places and
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ports I've learned are much more
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important
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Discovery exploring and seeing as many
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new ones is what I've learned is best
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few C days and more ports is what I've
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changed through my cruising Journey
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that's why when I choose itineraries
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I've learned to avoid going back to a
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place and make sure I get the most from
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it the very first time assuming it's the
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only time I'll ever go there it first
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struck me on my second Mediterranean
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Cruise it was a different Cruise Line
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and ship and we were really excited but
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actually we went back to laverno and so
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we visited Florence and peace again back
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to Monte Carlo Barcelona Santa pay and
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chivichavecchia for Rome
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as great as they all are there are so
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many other places I could and should
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have been seeing in the Mediterranean
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was what I learned so now I try to find
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itineraries with as many different ports
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that's when switching up with things
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like big and small ship lines helps
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enormously even when I'm going to the
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Caribbean which I love going to I always
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try to get as many new islands and as
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many new places as possible I found that
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cruising is so much better when every
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port would be a new adventure I do not
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want to become a slightly jaded Cruiser
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saying I'm not getting off today because
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I've been here three times every day
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every port should bring something new I
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do have a caution about something I
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learned as I did more and more cruises
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that is the more places I went to
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the list of places I wanted to go to got
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longer not shorter even though I have
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done 100 cruises my list of where I want
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to go to has never reduced meeting other
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passengers and talking to crew
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importantly always reveals new must-see
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places for example
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I had always writed the early days of
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cruising wanted to go to the Caribbean
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but once I went on my very first trip I
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quickly realized it wasn't enough
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out because I spoke to people who
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highlighted trips and Islands on Western
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Caribbean Eastern Caribbean Southern
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Caribbean Caribbean with partial Panama
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Canal cruises
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just new places to go to so instead of
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crossing the Caribbean off my list I
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came back with many more islands and
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many more places when I did my first
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expedition cruise I went to the Arctic
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which is where I'd always wanted to go
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was on my list but the Expedition team
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told me exciting stories about
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Antarctica the Galapagos and Greenland
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they all went on the list and then when
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I went on a river cruise on the Danube
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to take off River cruising the list grew
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with rivers from all around the world
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that fellow guests insisted that I just
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needed to see before I get to one of the
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biggest learnings about how cruising
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caters uniquely for people like me I
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must mention that I learned about
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halfway through this cruising Journey
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that I could turn my cruising passion
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into a full-time Venture with my tips to
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Travis Channel
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and it's one that now funds my cruising
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from the advertising that YouTube runs
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and I'm not the only one there are quite
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a few other people who've Gone full time
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with their cruising channels on YouTube
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perhaps you should think about doing
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that too one big thing I have learned is
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that it's okay in fact it's great to
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cruise as a Solo Traveler all my early
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Cruisers were with Mark or friends
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that all changed when I really started
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to focus on building the channel and
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started to cruise
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primarily by myself
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now about nine out of 10 of my cruises I
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go solo and you know while that massive
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downside is still I often pay the same
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price as if Mark was coming with me the
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lines have over the years been changing
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from just being a place for couples
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things like solo cabins more solo deals
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are slowly coming there's been a change
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of experience once on board that is more
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welcoming cruise lines are learning to
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cater Beyond just couples that it was
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when I started and now much better
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address on board the needs of different
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Travelers whether it be solos families
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you know kids clubs water parks baby
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changing toilets and menus those with
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accessibility needs multi-generational
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even LGBT Travelers the cruise lines are
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adapting now if you found this
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interesting watch this video well look
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at this and other changes I've seen in
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cruising across these hundred cruises
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which some of which I think are for the
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good and some of which I think are for
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the bad but I'm going to start with the
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one that dismays me the most and why see
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you over there
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