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Things That SHOULD NOT Happen On Luxury Cruises, But DO!
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Jan 28, 2025
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? GET EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER ———————————————— Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join or Patron on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS AND MERCHANDISE ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at http://bit.ly/TFTStore and other merchandise (mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc) at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 MY SOCIAL MEDIA ———————————————* * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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on the first morning of my recent Ultra
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Luxury cruise on region Seven Seas I
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discovered that even passages paying
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huge amounts of money also play the
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annoying chair hogging game all the
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prime locations had flip-flops books or
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bags reserving them before breakfast
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when I returned from excursions hours
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later most was still unused and reserved
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so even on Ultra Luxury lines the crew
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appear reluctant to confront those pesky
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chair Hogs by the way if you're new here
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welcome aboard I'm Gary bembridge and
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this is another of my cruising tips for
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travelers when an Ultra Luxury Cruise
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costs as much for one day as an entire
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week-long cruise on lines like Carnival
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or Caribbean Princess Holland America I
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expected everything to be way better now
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while many many things are these things
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are about to talk about are not the
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biggest Revelation I had going on an
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Ultra Luxury Cruise was that there in
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addition to chair Hogs are still bad
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cabins despite paying a lot of money on
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Seaborn last October for example I'd
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booked very late and because it was so
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costly I booked an entry-level grade
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Veranda Suite towards the front of the
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ship this was a cruise of the Greek
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Islands and it was therefore mostly
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tender ports every morning around five
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o'clock five o'clock AM I'd get the
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rattling of the anchor chains and the
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noise of the tenders being lowered
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waking me up most mornings when I went
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on Silver sea Silver Cloud and booked a
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relatively inexpensive Ocean View cabin
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underneath me there was constant
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clunking from some sort of Machinery
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whirring away underneath me I've also
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noticed that Ultra Luxury doesn't
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necessarily mean the cabins have better
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soundproofing if I'm underneath the pool
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deck I still hear the scraping of chairs
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if I'm next to the laundry I still hear
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the noise of the machines and if the
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next door neighbor plays their
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television really loudly I can hear that
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too so now the same cabin Choice the
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rules apply whether I'm going on Ultra
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Luxury or not I make sure I choose one
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with cabins on either side
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above and below and opposite so the
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least chance of noise from Rowdy venues
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or pool decks whatever ruining my trip
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and of course always with no
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interconnecting door to the next cabin
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it still applies if you're going Ultra
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Luxury I expected when paying for an
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Ultra Luxury Cruise every single cabin
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was going to be super quiet and as I've
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told you I found that isn't the case no
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matter what line I'm going on I have no
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idea if there's going to be a big
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organized group on board the problem
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with a large group is they can change
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the whole vibe of the ship especially
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when they are a large proportion of
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passengers Ultra Luxury lines I
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discovered have groups too when I went
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on that Seabourn Cruise in the Greek
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Islands there were around 100 travel
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agents on board on some sort of
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familiarization trip that's over one
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third of the ship they were very
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different to the normal Seabourn
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passengers they were drinking much more
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parting and going a little bit crazy
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crazy but the bigger problem was that
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some venues were then closed off for
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their events like cocktail parties or
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presentations which on a small luxury
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ship is an issue and you don't have that
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many venues on my recent region Seven
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Seas cruise in the Caribbean they're
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around 170 people from Forbes at a
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conference on board which meant that 35
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percent of the ship was this group and
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it changed their atmosphere a bit some
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venues again were closed for events and
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it affected some activities so for
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example the captain's welcome party had
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fewer than 110 DS when traditionally
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it's a big important buzzing event my
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mother always said that money doesn't
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buy you manners and besides chair
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Hoggers I experienced some of the same
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bad passenger behavior that I see on
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other lines on Ultra Luxury lines too
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some passengers still reserved seats in
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the theater they ambled late to theater
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performances that waved at each other
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flash their phones to show where they
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were sitting during the show and they
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still chatted away throughout so
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disrespectful to the cast and other
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guests it happened on here too I'm a
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recent region 70s Navigator Cruise in
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the library for example they had to have
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reminders telling people that the
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newspapers weren't to be removed and
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taken away
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they also had to have some of the most
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Draconian rules I've ever seen for
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smoking too if you didn't smoke in the
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allocated areas or you smoked in your
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cabin the rule said in the daily program
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you'll be thrown off the ship with no
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compensation one Behavior which drives
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me crazy on cruises is when passengers
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on excursions hold everyone else up by
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being late for the meet up times on an
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Excursion to Barbados speech on my
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recent Ultra Luxury Cruise one couple
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held up the whole tour because they
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decided to go on one last swim in the
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sea just as we would you to be packing
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up and meeting to return to the ship
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they expected us all to wait for them
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this actually meant that we ended up
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leaving late and we missed lunch because
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by the time I got back to the ship it
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was over bad behavior by some happens at
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all levels of cruising as I've
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discovered something that I've
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experienced even on the most luxurious
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of lines is that the captain will not
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hold the ship just because you've paid
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so much more when I was in Sid Martin
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again on that region trip just before 3
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P.M departure the captain came across
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and announced that we would be leaving
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on time because we needed to be in Miami
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by a certain time for our slot and we
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would be leaving without two passengers
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who'd gone self touring and hadn't got
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back to the ship in time so remember the
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ship will not wait no matter what you
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pay that's something I also discovered
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now here's an interesting story in 2016
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Seabourn Encore was unveiled to the
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world as a new scholarship with
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Interiors designed by Adam tihani now he
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decided that Ultra Luxury passengers
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wouldn't need such kind of common things
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as a guest laundromat because they would
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surely be sending their finery off for
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the cruise line laundry service
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now this actually caused a huge outcry
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on its maiden voyage to Singapore where
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they held a naming ceremony the
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passengers were so upset that by the
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time it arrived into Port Seabourn had
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arranged to convert some of the offices
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into a guest laundromat now unlike many
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Resort lines including Royal Caribbean
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and Norwegian and premium lines like say
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princess
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every Ultra Luxury ship that I've been
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on actually has guest laundromats and
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some of those don't so even the most
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luxurious passengers light up Penny
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pinch or perhaps simply have more
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control that's another thing that I
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discovered speaking of penny pinching
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one of the pluses of going on an Ultra
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Luxury Line is that there's less of a
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constant upselling known as nickel and
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diming they're not trying to sell
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photographs or packages for drinks or
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especially dining or anything like that
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in fact on board I don't even have to
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pay for drinks especially coffee
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especially dining if effect on my recent
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region Seven Seas cruise even the
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excursions were included within my fair
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so that even wasn't an extra however
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Ultra Luxury lines I found are still
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pushing shopping Big Time usually
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through constant and regular sales so
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again on that recent Regent Cruise the
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sales tables were out there were always
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piled high with all sorts of clearance
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items discount items they also push the
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spa like crazy which has even more
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eye-watering price tags than on most
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other lines now one Pleasant thing
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though about going out to luxury is that
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when I disembark I disembark with no
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bill in fact on my last trip I struggled
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to spend the 200 onboard credit I had
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because all the things it usually gets
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eaten up by like gratuities drinks
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dining excursions Fitness classes they
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were already covered within the fair one
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of the big experiences and Revelations
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that I had on my recent cruise is that
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every line I go on has the same daily
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program no matter what cruising category
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I go on the only difference with Ultra
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Luxury is there is less on offer than
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the bigger ship lines like Royal
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Caribbean Norwegian Carnival let's look
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at the daily program on that region trip
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they had trivia debt games the odd
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enrichment talk live music around the
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ship it was basically it's the same as
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on any other line Ultra Luxury ships
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also have those classic song and dance
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Review production shows in the theater
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but there are just much more scaled down
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and with smaller costs they play the
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same music largely in those and around
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the ship and like many lines
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in my view it's still very dated so many
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lions still have lots of 50s 60s and
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Beatles music I wish they would move on
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it's on Ultra Luxury too now some people
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I know who've been on Ultra Luxury
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cruises do say they feel it can be a
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little bit boring versus the bigger
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Resort ship lines you know your Royal
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Caribbeans carnivals Norwegian MSC or
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even premium lines like princess and
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celebrity because there really isn't
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that much to offer in the daily program
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at all hours of the day compared to
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those lines
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cruising Ultra Luxury does not mean a
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ramped up but actually means a slim down
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daily program with more focus on the
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dining the relaxing and the entertaining
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oneself one other thing that I have
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found on all the Ultra Luxury lines is
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that although the food is totally
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amazing with huge menus there aren't any
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casual dining opportunities in the
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evenings they have buffet restaurants
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for breakfast and lunch so on Silver sea
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there's La Terraza on region Seven Seas
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there's lavaranda and on Seabourn it's
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called The Colonnade but in the evening
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all of those buffet restaurants become
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an A La Carte waiter served restaurant
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experience so other than room service
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there aren't any opportunities to get a
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quick bite now I don't necessarily want
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to have three courses every evening
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particularly if I'm traveling solo I
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simply can't though go and have a quick
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and easy dinner as I can on other grades
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of lines which open the buffet as we all
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know for dinner too now I assume as
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people are paying so much the lines feel
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the need to give passengers Grand
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three-course dinners every night to make
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it feel like they're getting their value
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for money and I do think that it's
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probably to most Ultra Luxury passengers
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that is one big appeal of luxury
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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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