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Want To Cruise More Often? Tricks That Work For Me
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Jan 28, 2025
I look at how I manage to cruise so often, and although mine is an unusual situation, all the tips and tricks I discovered and use that any cruiser can use to cruise more or get more cruise out of their budget 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 92 cruises I have done to date. Links mentioned in the video: * Fare Tracking: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-fare-tracking/ 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
View Video Transcript
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how do you manage to cruise so often are
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you loaded do you get freebies are you
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paying i get asked this often so it's
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time to tell all as along the way i
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discovered things that will help you
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cruise more too or at worst help you get
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more crews for your buck welcome aboard
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i'm gary bembridge finding out how to
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cruise more often began
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10 years ago for me i had chemotherapy
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for cancer in 2012 i've been in
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remission since then several years by
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the way more than my oncologists
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expected knowing that the clock may be
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ticking down made me want to visit the
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places and try all of the cruise lines
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much faster than planned i drop a list
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of all the places itineraries and cruise
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lines that i wanted to try now as i
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looked at my list i quickly realized i
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needed two precious commodities
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time
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and money this is what i did and what i
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learnt along the way i initially got the
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time i needed by retiring from my
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full-time corporate job on a pension but
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i soon discovered that while having more
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time gave me more opportunities to go
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cruising i needed to make my money go
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much further than it was actually able
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to that's when it hit me being more
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flexible is actually much more important
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flexibility drives down the cost of
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cruising whether you have unlimited time
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or like my partner who's still working
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full-time with 25 or so working days of
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vacation this is what we found out the
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more flexible we're willing to be the
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cheaper and or the more frequently we
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could cruise first of all i became
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flexible on cruise line i stopped being
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tied to one cruise line which at the
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time was cunard and i stopped trying to
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move up their loyalty tears i used to
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value perks like priority embarkation
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especially dining added wi-fi minutes
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free laundry and so on by being flexible
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on lines i now always find a fare that
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more than compensates for those loyalty
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perks that you lose sometimes the fare
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actually includes them or it's still
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cheaper even after paying for those lost
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perks you need to decide how flexible
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you can be on this i tend to limit
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myself as i cruise less on big mega ship
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resort lines you know norwegian royal
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caribbean msc and carnival and i'm also
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happy on smaller ships and i'm less of a
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party animal now on those resort lines i
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mentioned a balcony cabin is usually
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around 100 to 200 per person per night
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while premium lions like celebrity
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holland america princess and virgin can
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be twice that cost per night the smaller
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luxury lines that i like even more
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oceania as amara are double that again
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and of course ultra luxury lines like
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seabourn silversy seven times more than
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the resort lines so you need to decide
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how flexible you want to be on lines
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second flexibility means being willing
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to cruise off season or at the start and
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end of the season it's definitely less
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busy it's significantly cheaper than say
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school vacation and key holiday times
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for example caribbean cruises in
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november to early december january and
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february are so much less than other
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times of the year so if you don't have
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kids you already have this flexibility
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to do that thirdly being flexible on how
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far out i plan a cruise this means i'm
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willing and able to travel when lines
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reduce prices to fill their ships this
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happens usually after 90 to 60 days
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before a cruise when final balances for
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bookings are due and the lines know how
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many cabins they still need to sell
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there are two more areas of flexibility
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that i should probably use more than i
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do and these will have a really big
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impact depending on how flexible on
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these you are i like to choose my cabin
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i'm obsessed with avoiding areas of
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potential noise like under the pool deck
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or above the nightclub and things like
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those with interconnecting doors to the
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next cabin stuff like that if i was more
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flexible on cabin location i could book
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a guaranteed cabin which usually is
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cheaper than choosing your own cabin and
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at guaranty cabin means that the cruise
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line allocates your cabin within
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whatever grade you've booked inside
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ocean view they usually do that three to
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four weeks before the cruise i also like
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to cruise in a balcony cabin now if i
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was much more flexible more often on
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cruising on an inside an ocean view or a
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balcony cabin this again would open even
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more opportunities of course because
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when you're chasing fares and roots it
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gives you many more options and flexible
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things to flex i tend to be most
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flexible on costly trips like booking an
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ocean view to go to antarctica on silver
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sea silver cloud for example or when i
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want to upgrade to go on a luxury small
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ship line like windstar on a
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mediterranean cruise where an ocean view
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cabin costs the same as a balcony on a
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much larger line so you have to flex
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there that brings me to the issue of
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money itself here's what i do to make
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each cruise as inexpensive as it can be
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without compromising that much from
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comments on the channel it's assumed i
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mostly go on free cruises or get really
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heavily discounted fares i do get asked
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by cruise lines and i have been on press
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trips in the past but over the last few
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years i have not i much prefer to cruise
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when
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where and on who i have on my actual
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to-do list that i spoke about earlier
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looking back on my last 20 cruises for
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example there was only one where my fare
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was covered by the cruise line that was
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a three night virgin voyages trip out of
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the uk the other 19 i booked through my
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travel agent at the same deals the same
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fares available to you if you've been
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booking those as well while over the
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last few years the growing income i get
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from advertising youtube runs on my
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videos means i can book many more
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cruises i still use the same approach
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when i had to rely only on my corporate
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pension to buy cruises this is what i
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think can really help you first i
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obsessively track promotions and special
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sales events i sign up for email
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newsletters for every single line that i
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would consider cruising on this i found
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is where promotions first appear the
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industry-wide wave season often at the
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start of the year is another great time
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to look for cruises because all of the
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lines are running very competitive deals
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i also look in weekend newspapers
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because this is where cruise lines in
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the uk run lots of deals and i also
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check in at the home page of many cruise
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line sites as often as i can to see if
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there's any promotions i found lots of
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24-hour 48 hour sales often pop up there
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now my travel agent also knows to alert
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me of any deals or upgrade promotions
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that the lines are running particularly
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through agents only because lines often
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give agent only offers for them to sell
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i try and book
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every cruise that i can link to a
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promotion of some kind it might be a
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lower fare upgrades you know you pay for
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an ocean view but you get a balcony or
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those that bundle in drinks wi-fi
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gratuities extra onboard credit any kind
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of promotion i met a couple on my viking
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cruise recently who i found use a
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similar approach they don't cruise as
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much as me because they don't have as
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much time but they have some flexibility
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because they're self-employed they have
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a target price
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per night of around 250 per person so
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quite a good budget but they only want
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to cruise on premium and small luxury
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lines which cost more than that so what
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they do is they track promotions exactly
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as i do and they only then cruise when
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they find promotions slipping into their
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target night range my promotion led
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approach means i need to often book at
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shorter notice and does work much much
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better for the popular cruise regions
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like the caribbean and the mediterranean
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and to a lesser degree i found alaska
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all of these have many many lines
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selling there they all run very similar
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itineraries they all run at the same
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time because each of those regions has a
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set season and so are much more likely
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to have promotions but what about the
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more out of the way and exotic places
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that are on my list or those that don't
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have as many lines sailing there i plan
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ahead for those and i've found the best
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pricing i usually get for those are when
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the itineraries are first launched these
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then i found tend to increase in price
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over time the lines want us to commit
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early often a year to now even two years
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or more ahead and they have office to
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encourage that so i found for those
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itineraries it's better to do that so
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for example i booked a japanese cruise
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way in advance because there's only a
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few lines selling the season is very
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short kind of february to april usually
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and demand for that itinerary is very
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high i can already see prices on that
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itinerary is edging up as they start to
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sell more cabins and the ship starts to
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fill up when i book i always ask what
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happens if the price of this cruise
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changes because once i book a cruise i
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price watch as the cruise gets closer
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and particularly before paying final
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balance i check if the fares for my
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cabin grade have gone down and if they
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have i ask for mine to change often do a
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dummy booking on the cruise line site
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for example but i also set up a fair
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tracker for my crews on either
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cruisewatch.com or
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cruisecritic.com as they send email
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alerts when prices change this has
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helped me to cruise more often as i
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often have had fares reduced got added
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onboard credit or upgrades the most
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dramatic one which i have spoken about
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before is an azamara mediterranean
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cruise with a price of the cruise halved
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i got that back it's enough to book a
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completely
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new cruise i do not spend a lot of money
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on board making the total cost of my
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cruises lower than it probably is for
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many people it's easier for me to do
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that because i don't drink alcohol i do
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a lot of self-exploring rather than
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cruise line excursions i use hop-on
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hop-off buses port guides port talks on
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board and guidebooks to plan
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if destinations are far from the port
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like rome and florence i booked the line
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on your own transfer which is much less
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costly i try to avoid the spa because
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the spa is crazy expensive and also
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shopping on board i do always upgrade
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though the wi-fi because keeping in
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touch with home is really important to
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me particularly if i can do things like
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facetime on the wi-fi because i travel
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so a lot and i want to stay in touch
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with home my weakness is the casino so
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every year i allocate a budget of money
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that i use for that though bizarrely
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since cruising resumed that pot is
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actually ahead because luck so far has
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been on my side how long that lasts for
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i don't know so i do build in kind of my
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special little treat i often book future
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cruises on board because there are
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always at a discounts and the booking
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itself still gets credited and managed
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by my travel agent if you found this
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helpful and want to know which lines i
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think are best in each cruise category
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right now that i recommend you try watch
10:56
this video where i start with the most
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popular
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cruise category of all
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see you over there
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