Up next in 10
On luxury cruise lines I have been on recently I came across and experienced things that I really did not think I would when paying as much for one day as a cruise costs on most other lines. Here is what they were and why. Are you as surprised as I am by these?
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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 101 cruises I have done to date.
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00:00 Start
00:01 Chair Hogs
00:56 Cabin Issues
02:40 Group Issues
04:01 Behaviour Issues
05:29 Late Issues
06:25 Laundry Issues
07:06 Nickel & Diming Issues
08:18 Entertainment Issues
09:40 Dining Issues
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
on the first morning of my recent Ultra
0:02
Luxury cruise on region Seven Seas I
0:05
discovered that even passages paying
0:08
huge amounts of money also play the
0:10
annoying chair hogging game all the
0:13
prime locations had flip-flops books or
0:15
bags reserving them before breakfast
0:18
when I returned from excursions hours
0:21
later most was still unused and reserved
0:24
so even on Ultra Luxury lines the crew
0:27
appear reluctant to confront those pesky
0:30
chair Hogs by the way if you're new here
0:32
welcome aboard I'm Gary bembridge and
0:34
this is another of my cruising tips for
0:36
travelers when an Ultra Luxury Cruise
0:38
costs as much for one day as an entire
0:42
week-long cruise on lines like Carnival
0:44
or Caribbean Princess Holland America I
0:47
expected everything to be way better now
0:50
while many many things are these things
0:53
are about to talk about are not the
0:55
biggest Revelation I had going on an
0:57
Ultra Luxury Cruise was that there in
1:00
addition to chair Hogs are still bad
1:02
cabins despite paying a lot of money on
1:05
Seaborn last October for example I'd
1:08
booked very late and because it was so
1:10
costly I booked an entry-level grade
1:12
Veranda Suite towards the front of the
1:14
ship this was a cruise of the Greek
1:16
Islands and it was therefore mostly
1:19
tender ports every morning around five
1:22
o'clock five o'clock AM I'd get the
1:25
rattling of the anchor chains and the
1:27
noise of the tenders being lowered
1:29
waking me up most mornings when I went
1:32
on Silver sea Silver Cloud and booked a
1:35
relatively inexpensive Ocean View cabin
1:37
underneath me there was constant
1:40
clunking from some sort of Machinery
1:41
whirring away underneath me I've also
1:44
noticed that Ultra Luxury doesn't
1:47
necessarily mean the cabins have better
1:50
soundproofing if I'm underneath the pool
1:53
deck I still hear the scraping of chairs
1:55
if I'm next to the laundry I still hear
1:57
the noise of the machines and if the
2:00
next door neighbor plays their
2:02
television really loudly I can hear that
2:04
too so now the same cabin Choice the
2:07
rules apply whether I'm going on Ultra
2:09
Luxury or not I make sure I choose one
2:11
with cabins on either side
2:13
above and below and opposite so the
2:16
least chance of noise from Rowdy venues
2:19
or pool decks whatever ruining my trip
2:21
and of course always with no
2:23
interconnecting door to the next cabin
2:24
it still applies if you're going Ultra
2:26
Luxury I expected when paying for an
2:29
Ultra Luxury Cruise every single cabin
2:32
was going to be super quiet and as I've
2:34
told you I found that isn't the case no
2:37
matter what line I'm going on I have no
2:39
idea if there's going to be a big
2:41
organized group on board the problem
2:43
with a large group is they can change
2:45
the whole vibe of the ship especially
2:48
when they are a large proportion of
2:50
passengers Ultra Luxury lines I
2:53
discovered have groups too when I went
2:56
on that Seabourn Cruise in the Greek
2:58
Islands there were around 100 travel
3:00
agents on board on some sort of
3:03
familiarization trip that's over one
3:05
third of the ship they were very
3:07
different to the normal Seabourn
3:09
passengers they were drinking much more
3:12
parting and going a little bit crazy
3:13
crazy but the bigger problem was that
3:17
some venues were then closed off for
3:19
their events like cocktail parties or
3:21
presentations which on a small luxury
3:24
ship is an issue and you don't have that
3:25
many venues on my recent region Seven
3:28
Seas cruise in the Caribbean they're
3:30
around 170 people from Forbes at a
3:33
conference on board which meant that 35
3:35
percent of the ship was this group and
3:38
it changed their atmosphere a bit some
3:40
venues again were closed for events and
3:42
it affected some activities so for
3:44
example the captain's welcome party had
3:47
fewer than 110 DS when traditionally
3:50
it's a big important buzzing event my
3:53
mother always said that money doesn't
3:55
buy you manners and besides chair
3:58
Hoggers I experienced some of the same
4:00
bad passenger behavior that I see on
4:03
other lines on Ultra Luxury lines too
4:06
some passengers still reserved seats in
4:09
the theater they ambled late to theater
4:11
performances that waved at each other
4:13
flash their phones to show where they
4:16
were sitting during the show and they
4:18
still chatted away throughout so
4:20
disrespectful to the cast and other
4:22
guests it happened on here too I'm a
4:26
recent region 70s Navigator Cruise in
4:28
the library for example they had to have
4:30
reminders telling people that the
4:32
newspapers weren't to be removed and
4:34
taken away
4:36
they also had to have some of the most
4:38
Draconian rules I've ever seen for
4:40
smoking too if you didn't smoke in the
4:42
allocated areas or you smoked in your
4:44
cabin the rule said in the daily program
4:47
you'll be thrown off the ship with no
4:49
compensation one Behavior which drives
4:52
me crazy on cruises is when passengers
4:55
on excursions hold everyone else up by
4:59
being late for the meet up times on an
5:01
Excursion to Barbados speech on my
5:03
recent Ultra Luxury Cruise one couple
5:05
held up the whole tour because they
5:07
decided to go on one last swim in the
5:10
sea just as we would you to be packing
5:11
up and meeting to return to the ship
5:13
they expected us all to wait for them
5:15
this actually meant that we ended up
5:17
leaving late and we missed lunch because
5:19
by the time I got back to the ship it
5:21
was over bad behavior by some happens at
5:25
all levels of cruising as I've
5:27
discovered something that I've
5:28
experienced even on the most luxurious
5:30
of lines is that the captain will not
5:33
hold the ship just because you've paid
5:35
so much more when I was in Sid Martin
5:38
again on that region trip just before 3
5:40
P.M departure the captain came across
5:43
and announced that we would be leaving
5:44
on time because we needed to be in Miami
5:47
by a certain time for our slot and we
5:49
would be leaving without two passengers
5:51
who'd gone self touring and hadn't got
5:54
back to the ship in time so remember the
5:57
ship will not wait no matter what you
6:00
pay that's something I also discovered
6:02
now here's an interesting story in 2016
6:04
Seabourn Encore was unveiled to the
6:07
world as a new scholarship with
6:09
Interiors designed by Adam tihani now he
6:12
decided that Ultra Luxury passengers
6:14
wouldn't need such kind of common things
6:16
as a guest laundromat because they would
6:18
surely be sending their finery off for
6:21
the cruise line laundry service
6:23
now this actually caused a huge outcry
6:26
on its maiden voyage to Singapore where
6:28
they held a naming ceremony the
6:30
passengers were so upset that by the
6:32
time it arrived into Port Seabourn had
6:35
arranged to convert some of the offices
6:37
into a guest laundromat now unlike many
6:41
Resort lines including Royal Caribbean
6:43
and Norwegian and premium lines like say
6:45
princess
6:46
every Ultra Luxury ship that I've been
6:49
on actually has guest laundromats and
6:52
some of those don't so even the most
6:54
luxurious passengers light up Penny
6:56
pinch or perhaps simply have more
6:58
control that's another thing that I
7:00
discovered speaking of penny pinching
7:02
one of the pluses of going on an Ultra
7:05
Luxury Line is that there's less of a
7:08
constant upselling known as nickel and
7:11
diming they're not trying to sell
7:13
photographs or packages for drinks or
7:15
especially dining or anything like that
7:17
in fact on board I don't even have to
7:20
pay for drinks especially coffee
7:22
especially dining if effect on my recent
7:24
region Seven Seas cruise even the
7:26
excursions were included within my fair
7:29
so that even wasn't an extra however
7:31
Ultra Luxury lines I found are still
7:35
pushing shopping Big Time usually
7:38
through constant and regular sales so
7:40
again on that recent Regent Cruise the
7:43
sales tables were out there were always
7:44
piled high with all sorts of clearance
7:46
items discount items they also push the
7:49
spa like crazy which has even more
7:51
eye-watering price tags than on most
7:53
other lines now one Pleasant thing
7:55
though about going out to luxury is that
7:58
when I disembark I disembark with no
8:00
bill in fact on my last trip I struggled
8:03
to spend the 200 onboard credit I had
8:06
because all the things it usually gets
8:08
eaten up by like gratuities drinks
8:10
dining excursions Fitness classes they
8:13
were already covered within the fair one
8:16
of the big experiences and Revelations
8:18
that I had on my recent cruise is that
8:20
every line I go on has the same daily
8:22
program no matter what cruising category
8:26
I go on the only difference with Ultra
8:28
Luxury is there is less on offer than
8:30
the bigger ship lines like Royal
8:31
Caribbean Norwegian Carnival let's look
8:34
at the daily program on that region trip
8:36
they had trivia debt games the odd
8:39
enrichment talk live music around the
8:40
ship it was basically it's the same as
8:43
on any other line Ultra Luxury ships
8:46
also have those classic song and dance
8:49
Review production shows in the theater
8:50
but there are just much more scaled down
8:53
and with smaller costs they play the
8:56
same music largely in those and around
8:58
the ship and like many lines
9:01
in my view it's still very dated so many
9:04
lions still have lots of 50s 60s and
9:05
Beatles music I wish they would move on
9:07
it's on Ultra Luxury too now some people
9:10
I know who've been on Ultra Luxury
9:11
cruises do say they feel it can be a
9:14
little bit boring versus the bigger
9:15
Resort ship lines you know your Royal
9:17
Caribbeans carnivals Norwegian MSC or
9:19
even premium lines like princess and
9:21
celebrity because there really isn't
9:23
that much to offer in the daily program
9:25
at all hours of the day compared to
9:28
those lines
9:29
cruising Ultra Luxury does not mean a
9:32
ramped up but actually means a slim down
9:34
daily program with more focus on the
9:36
dining the relaxing and the entertaining
9:39
oneself one other thing that I have
9:40
found on all the Ultra Luxury lines is
9:43
that although the food is totally
9:44
amazing with huge menus there aren't any
9:48
casual dining opportunities in the
9:50
evenings they have buffet restaurants
9:52
for breakfast and lunch so on Silver sea
9:54
there's La Terraza on region Seven Seas
9:57
there's lavaranda and on Seabourn it's
9:59
called The Colonnade but in the evening
10:02
all of those buffet restaurants become
10:04
an A La Carte waiter served restaurant
10:07
experience so other than room service
10:09
there aren't any opportunities to get a
10:12
quick bite now I don't necessarily want
10:15
to have three courses every evening
10:17
particularly if I'm traveling solo I
10:19
simply can't though go and have a quick
10:22
and easy dinner as I can on other grades
10:24
of lines which open the buffet as we all
10:27
know for dinner too now I assume as
10:29
people are paying so much the lines feel
10:31
the need to give passengers Grand
10:34
three-course dinners every night to make
10:36
it feel like they're getting their value
10:37
for money and I do think that it's
10:40
probably to most Ultra Luxury passengers
10:42
that is one big appeal of luxury
10:44
cruising if you enjoyed this I want to
10:46
know more about Ultra Luxury cruising
10:47
and what makes it great despite all of
10:49
this watch this video where I explore
10:51
region Seven Seas starting with
10:53
something that completely surprised me
10:56
about the way these cruises are run see
10:59
you over there
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