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What Smart Cruisers All Do On Cruise EMBARKATION DAY
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Jan 28, 2025
Discover the things that smart and experienced cruise travellers have found works best to make for a stress-free, smooth and successful embarkation day. What you should do before, on the day, as soon as you are on board and on that first night to get the most of your first day boarding a cruise. 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 90 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 #CruiseEmbarkationTips #CruiseTips #EmbarkationDayTips
View Video Transcript
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after a particularly bad embarkation day
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on a cruise a while ago i decided it was
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time to sit back and think about how to
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make an invocation day successful and
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stress-free i spoke to a bunch of
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experienced and smart cruisers i admire
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to check my approach was right
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i then tested out on a series of recent
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cruises and i'm sure i now have come up
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with the definitive way on how you can
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make a massive difference to your
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embarkation day setting you up for an
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incredible cruise
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by the way if you're new here i'm gary
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bembridge and it's my goal to make it
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fun and easy to discover plan and enjoy
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unforgettable cruise vacations including
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on how to ensure you have a totally
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phenomenal embarkation day
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i realized as i thought things through
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that the reason that embarkation day did
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not go well had all been created
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by me
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it's all about preparation it's not sexy
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it doesn't sound fun but it absolutely
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makes all the difference to embarkation
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day
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there are seven
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key things i do before embarkation day
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that made for a successful day moving
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forwards first of all when booking a
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cruise i schedule and budget to arrive
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at least the day before and longer if
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it's long haul
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this has paid off frequently for me for
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example on my recent oceana panama canal
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cruise that i'm was recording this just
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after there was a storm passing through
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europe and my flight was cancelled was
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just 10 hours to go before the flight as
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i built in plenty of time to get there
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there was time to find new flights new
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routings and i still arrived the day
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before boarding immediately much later
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than i had planned
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secondly and this is even more important
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post shutdown is i book as early a time
1:56
to check in at the port as is possible
2:00
now before the whole covet shutdown most
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smart cruisers just got to the port as
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early as they could as the check-in and
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the boarding was on a first-come
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first-served basis now you either book a
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time to check in or you're allocated a
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time if you don't lines usually turn you
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away if you arrive before your allocated
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time as soon as the system allows
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i go in and i book my time i've been
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able to get check-in times and be on
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board ships as early as 11 o'clock in
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the morning giving me lots of time to
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max out embarkation day thirdly i
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download the cruise line app at home
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while i have good wi-fi these apps have
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become fundamental to cruises these days
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often i have to use the app to check in
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and do things like complete the
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pre-boarding health checks and stuff
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like that
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fourthly and this is also much more
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important today than ever before is well
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before invocation day i go and check in
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detail exactly what i'm gonna need to
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have to have with me for check-in and i
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make sure now that i have digital
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and paper copies of all of those
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documents the mistake i made a couple of
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cruises ago is that all of the documents
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i needed so i was well sorted but in
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this case i needed things like proof of
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vaccine test results country passenger
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locator forms and the check-in qr code
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i had them all digitally but the cruise
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terminal wi-fi was terrible and they
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were really hard and took ages to try
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and retrieve and all became a bit
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stressful so now what i do is i have
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paper copies but i also put all of those
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digital files in a folder that i set to
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work offline now i use dropbox where you
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can set it to make certain folders
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offline but you can use google or even
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just the file section on your phone
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which you don't need to have wi-fi to
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access
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fifthly i pre-book everything i possibly
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can drinks wi-fi especially dining
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excursions the spa and whatever else
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they're normally cheaper booking them in
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advance and also importantly i get
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exactly what i want when i want and then
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it frees up time on embarkation day to
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do some other really important things
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that i'm going to discuss a little bit
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later
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next when it comes to packing there's a
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couple of preparations that i have found
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makes embarkation day much easier and
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less stressful first of all i pack a
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carry-on bag and when deciding what goes
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in there i ask what do i absolutely need
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or would hate to lose if i don't get my
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main check-in bag for me it's medication
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passport credit cards and money of
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course cameras phone and the charges for
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those
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i could wing the rest of my cruise with
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just those items because i can buy
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clothes and buy toiletries and stuff
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like that by the way i use the same rule
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when actually flying to the cruise in
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case that bag goes missing the other
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packing rule to make embarkation day
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smooth is i make sure that i'm not
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including in my bags anything that that
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particular line does not allow me to
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take
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now i've got a whole video around what
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you can and can't bring on a board of
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ship however it actually is two really
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simple things where i see most people
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falling foul they pack extension cords
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which most lines do not allow anymore
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and they pack more alcohol than they're
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allowed to bring on
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for me by the way it's around checking
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if i can bring my drone or not because
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many lines won't permit them anymore if
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you've got prohibited items
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picked up in your luggage when it's
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screened going on board you're going to
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be called to security and it's going to
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disrupt and put a bit of a damp
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on your embarkation day with all this
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preparation in place getting on board is
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now smooth and it's stress free
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but then once i'm bored is where i still
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see so many people slipping up i used to
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slip up so what should you do once you
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get on board
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early on in my cruising life i would
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rush around the ship with great
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excitement until i discovered that i was
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missing out on putting things in place
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and setting up the rest of my cruise
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perfectly
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this is actually what i find works best
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and in this order surprisingly
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first i go to my cabin immediately to
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check everything and do a few key tasks
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now if i booked a guaranteed cabin of
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course i checked that i'm okay with the
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location is it all okay if i've got a
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balcony i go out there and check if
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there's anything that's like to cause
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disruptions like obstructed views or
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noisy areas
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i make sure that the beds are exactly in
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the right layout i also check that
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everything works the lights the safe and
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the air conditioning
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then i see if the cabin is set up for my
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quirks now for me i check the pillows
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because i like feather pillows and i
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also check what's in the mini bar if
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that's included in the fair or the deal
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only drink alcohol free drinks caffeine
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free drinks and no sugar drinks so now i
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know what i'm going to ask to be
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adjusted fetched fixed or changed
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and that's important for when i see my
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cabin student or understanding if i need
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to go to guest services so the next
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thing obviously based on that is to meet
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the cabin student they normally will be
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around and come pretty quickly when they
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know you're there i then ask them to
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correct any of those things before they
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get busy and swamped with all the other
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guests now if i'm unhappy with the cabin
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it also means that i can actually get to
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guest services really early on before
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the inevitable long embarkation day
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lines build i've also at this stage put
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all my valuables in the safe i also take
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photos and video clips of the cabin
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while it's at its neatest and it's
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tidiest that it's ever going to be
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i quickly check the daily program to see
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what restaurants are open for lunch and
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that's important because i avoid the
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buffet for embarkation lunch first of
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all because it's the busiest venue and
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secondly because as you're going to see
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i can get done some other things that
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are essential to do on this day and i
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can do those in either the main dining
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room or one of the specialty restaurants
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and i can't do them in the buffet
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now before leaving the cabin
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i watched the e-master video on the
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television and then go to my master
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station
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very very few lines now do the
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old-fashioned set time group master
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drill for most of those you just have to
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watch a video go and report in
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to your station so i get all of this
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over and done with i go and do that and
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then i head off to the restaurant for
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lunch now over lunch there's some
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important things that you can get out of
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the way and i get out of the way now as
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i mentioned i usually go for lunch in
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the main dining room partly because if
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i'm on fixed dining i can then go and
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look at and check my allocated table if
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i'm unhappy with it i can really early
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on ask the matrid to change it because
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they've still got flexibility before
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everyone else has asked them
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also this doesn't apply to me but if you
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have any dietary issues or concerns you
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can talk to them about these you know
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vegan vegetarian gluten-free whatever
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and they can then agree with you a plan
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or how it's going to be addressed or if
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it's already has been addressed and
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again you're doing that early on
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while at lunch i then put my phone into
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airplane mode to avoid the huge roaming
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costs if the phone connects to the ship
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satellite service when selling you do it
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once i had a bill of over 300
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because i didn't do that years ago so
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now i always do that i also set the time
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zone on my phone manually so i can
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adjust myself the time and stay on
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official ship time so i make sure that i
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do that and don't let the phone set time
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itself i log on to the ship wi-fi open
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the app so i can access things like the
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daily program i complete any dining
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excursion or spa bookings that i didn't
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do before
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but another reason for going to the main
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dining room talking about that is if
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you've not booked any speciality or
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anytime dining slots or you want to
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change your plans or even you find that
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the app doesn't allow you
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you'll find in the main dining room or
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especially dining restaurants they are
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usually able to access all the venues
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and do all of your dining bookings or if
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not there's normally a desk outside
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those venues or close by which is set up
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to do exactly that so you're in the
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right place by the way one of my big
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tips for embarkation day is i book a
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specialty restaurant for the first night
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because it's normally much cheaper up to
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50 percent less
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and they are much quieter on embarkation
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night now if you've got kids is one
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thing that you should do straight after
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lunch and that's to go and register them
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at the kids club register them plus if
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you want to book any extra services if
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they're available like babysitting you
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should do it now while there's lots of
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bookings open
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now finally with all of that admin out
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the way is when i go and explore the
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ship now i recommend really strongly
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that you use the map that's often in the
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cruise card holder or perhaps the map on
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the app or even go on one of the tours
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that are run by the ship
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and the reason for that is there's some
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structure and importantly it means that
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you won't
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miss the hidden and the hard to find
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spots now i've been on a couple of
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cruises like for example celebrity
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silhouette where i didn't even get to
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see the amazing sky lounge because i
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hadn't used the map properly
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until halfway through the cruise and it
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was a great venue that i had missed out
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on
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when i was on virgin scarlet lady with
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some friends i missed some tucked away
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lounges which they loved and some quiet
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deck spaces that they found where you
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could relax and chill with very few
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people because again i didn't do a
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systematic way of touring i just kind of
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ran around the ship looking at things
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also when i do the tour i ensure that i
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go and look at things that i may want to
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sign up for like the retreat or the
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sanctuary area which have a fee to use
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or perhaps the sparring with the
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bubbling baths and all that kind of
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stuff now all of these things are open
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on embarkation day to explore but after
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that free access is closed so you don't
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really know what they are what they like
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and whether it's worth paying to access
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those things by the way i also take
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photos of the ship now because it's
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usually still pretty quiet and you get
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good pictures as i'm touring the ship i
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keep an eye out for embarkation day
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deals and offers and this is a really
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important one the area i focus on by the
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way is the spa
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they usually have a raffle draw on
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invocation day where they have a whole
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bunch of free treatments that they're
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offering so you must be there for the
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draw so check what time you need to be
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back now twice now i've won that draw
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and i've had fantastic free massages and
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free treatments
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now this whole process may sound a bit
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regimented approach to embarkation day
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once on board but i've really found that
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doing things these ways sets you up
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fantastically for the rest of the cruise
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however
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what do you do to make that first
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evening and the rest of the day really
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great once you've done all that stuff
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and you set sail
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go to the sail away party i love
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celebrate parties because they're
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exciting you feel the trip has really
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begun leaving port looks fantastic and i
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get a sense of the other people on the
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cruise who are my fellow passengers you
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also get to see the entertainment team
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for the very first time but importantly
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i often meet people that will become
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friends or certainly familiar faces
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across the whole cruise it's often where
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i get to meet many people who follow the
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channel they come up and introduce
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themselves and it's great to start
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making some of those kind of connections
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to make the most of my first evening as
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i mentioned i go to the specialty
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restaurant and usually early so that
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i've then got time to check out what
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venues are happening popular and buzzing
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it also means that i've got time to go
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to the introductory show in the theater
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this is a great show because it
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showcases the different entertainments
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what's going to be going on and what to
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expect so i know what things that i
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really am likely to want to make sure
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that i do do and go and see over the
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course of the cruise
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that's how to get embarkation day right
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if you want to know how to get
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disembarkation day right and learn about
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one of the big mistakes that most people
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make take a look at this video where i
13:51
do start with that really big mistake
13:53
see you over there
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