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I was having a great time on my recent Regent Seven Seas cruise before I started speaking to fellow guests. Some first-timers as well as long-time regulars raised issues which made me wonder if I was being too forgiving. After all, the trip had cost me a lot and it is worth being picky!
So, after digesting it all and taking on board their thoughts, here’s what I believe the line does well, differently, and what doesn’t work for everyone - and why.
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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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well I was having a great time on my
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recent region 7s cruise and then I
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started speaking to fellow guests some
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first timers as well as longtime
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regulars they raised a couple of issues
0:09
which made me start to wonder if I was
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maybe being too forgiven after all the
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trip had cost me a lot and so it is
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worth being picky but after digesting it
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all and taking on board their thoughts
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here's actually what with reflection I
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believe the line does really well does
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differently and what doesn't work
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certainly for everybody and why welcome
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aboard I'm Gary benbridge making it fun
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and easy to discover plan and enjoy
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Unforgettable Cruise vacations first a
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quick recap of what Regent is it's part
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of the Norwegian Cruise group and they
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call themselves the most luxurious
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Journey at Sea it competes with ultra
0:43
luxury lines like Seaborn silver sea and
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I guess now explored Journeys and the
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revamped Crystal they say in their
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advertising they have the most Fair
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inclusions of all the ultr luxury lines
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and I will keep coming back to this
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because it's both a plus and it's a
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negative everyone I spoke to agreed with
1:01
me though that they have beautiful ships
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they have six ships at the time of
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recording three are the same design
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explorer that I was on Splendor and
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Grandeur each carrying 746 Passengers
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The Marin and Voyager are another design
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carrying 698 and the Navigator have also
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been on taking
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496 the ships feel spacious for
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relatively small ships I think they
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never seem crowded at all inside I think
1:26
it looks stylish sophisticated the
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furniture is all very plush it's all and
1:30
I think it looks expensive including the
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artwork by the way which includes works
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by famous artists like Picasso himself
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it's probably not as contemporary Decor
1:40
I don't think as the newer Seaborn and
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silver sea ships that I've been on but I
1:44
do really like the style of the ships I
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also really like the range of venues and
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Facilities on these relatively small
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ships I think they've done a really good
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job so for example on Deck 12 there's a
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sports Deck with Crazy Golf paddle golf
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deck games and a walking and running
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track then down on Deck 11 there's a
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pool deck a massive observation Lounge a
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library a connoisseur Club Cigar Lounge
2:11
a card room and the culinary arts
2:14
cooking Center then right down on Deck
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five you've got a spa with a big fitness
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center just above it on Deck six which
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is a good size an infinity pool
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fantastic uh Coffee Connection which is
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open most of the day with tasty snacks
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the Meridian Lounge which is a bar at
2:28
night and serves afternoon tea in the
2:30
afternoon which is absolutely I think
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one of the best at Sea guest destination
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Services future Cruise sales internet
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cafe dining reservations are also on
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Deck 5 then down on Deck four there's a
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surprisingly large Casino for the size
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of the ship and a Swanky bar with dance
2:45
floor and then the shops there are 15
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grades of suets which are a good size
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for such a small ship for example I was
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in an F2 Superior Suite in 803 which is
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in the kind of the lower third of grades
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but it was was comfy it was spacious had
3:01
a great bathroom and a good-sized
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balcony so I do think the ships are
3:05
great but have you noticed I'm sure that
3:08
I didn't mention dining venues and
3:10
dining because that's what I want to
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focus on next it's the second thing that
3:13
I think and I found that they do well
3:15
though I don't think they beat the
3:17
competition and I'll talk about that and
3:19
I do think they have a couple of issues
3:22
there are seven dining options on all
3:24
the ships but the smaller Navigator so
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compass rose is the main dining room
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it's open for breakfast and dinner it's
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got uh a great big menu with standards
3:33
and then daily kind of rotating items I
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saw firsthand through dining with some
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of my YouTube channel members who are on
3:40
the cruise that they do cater for
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vegetarian and vegan passengers well by
3:44
working with the guests individually on
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the menus that suit them each day dinner
3:48
did get busy at peak times service then
3:51
could be a little bit slow but the good
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thing is it's open- seated dining and I
3:56
could get whatever table configuration I
3:57
wanted be a dining alone or or with any
4:00
other guests that I met on the cruise
4:02
there are three speciality restaurants
4:04
included in the fair but I had to make
4:06
bookings for these and that was only
4:08
possible once I was on board annoyingly
4:11
I could eat in each one only once and
4:13
then I had to check in during the cruise
4:15
if there was space and availability to
4:17
go again highgrade suets I do believe
4:19
can go as often as they want to
4:21
especially restaurants now here's what I
4:23
thought was good and maybe a little bit
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less good about each of these so Prime
4:27
7even is the steakhouse it is
4:30
undoubtedly a beautiful venue but pretty
4:32
much every line at every level uh has a
4:36
Stak house and I think it's really hard
4:37
to stand out I found it perfectly okay
4:40
other people I spoke to they were less
4:41
enthusiastic than I was they said the
4:43
Stak quality they didn't think was
4:44
fantastic and actually regulars but the
4:46
menu in here and actually on the other
4:48
restaurants is not evolving fast enough
4:50
for them they did have a tasty Smoky
4:52
tomato soup a moose Bush that I love but
4:55
regular said kind of this has been
4:56
around forever they felt there could be
4:57
more change but I did like it specific B
4:59
room was my favorite specialty venue an
5:02
amazing range of Asian food and a wow
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factor looking venue I really like the
5:06
venue I had I had great service but I
5:09
did D there early again I met people
5:11
that said they had a slower experience
5:13
at peak times uh shter serves modern
5:16
French cuisine again another really
5:18
striking venue and I'm not a big fan of
5:20
French food but I did actually enjoy
5:22
this way more than I thought I would do
5:24
now they have another evening restaurant
5:26
which is called setti Mari at lavanda
5:28
now Veranda is it's a really good buffet
5:32
restaurant at breakfast and lunch then
5:34
at night it becomes a waiter served
5:36
Italian and it does have a great menu
5:40
and great food however it gets crazy
5:43
busy and I found it quite hard to get
5:45
into on this cruise and my previous C
5:47
Cruise because you can't do reservations
5:49
so like on that last Cruise people were
5:51
lining up ready for the 6:30 p.m.
5:53
opening to get a table so it kind of
5:54
takes a little bit of the edge off
5:56
luxury because it's a bit of a bunfight
5:57
to get in but really nice food there's
6:00
the pool grill with a healthy breakfast
6:02
option and you during lunch it then
6:04
serves pizzas Burgers sandwiches salads
6:08
that kind of stuff uh and they certainly
6:09
w't open for dinner uh on my cruise and
6:12
either of my cruises and I think this is
6:14
one of my misses there's no casual
6:18
dining option in the evening because the
6:19
only other option would be to you know
6:22
versus a sit down served meal was in
6:24
sweet dining and I'd really really love
6:26
the option of just having something
6:28
casual some night particularly I was on
6:30
an 11 night cruise I didn't want kind of
6:32
drawn out you know three course whatever
6:34
way to serve meals every day so they do
6:37
food well in my opinion and it's
6:40
definitely at worst on par with the
6:42
other Ultra Luxury competition food
6:45
definitely is better than say on premium
6:47
lines like cond America princess
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celebrity that I've been on though I do
6:50
wonder whether their sister line Oceania
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which is also owned by Norwegian because
6:54
they have great food it probably gives
6:55
them a little bit of the run for their
6:57
money because Oceana food is is pretty
6:59
elevated I think the other thing that
7:01
they do well is service of course all
7:03
sort of ultr luxury lines do have great
7:06
service it's kind of their thing and I
7:08
do need to factor in that some of the
7:10
crew do recognize or know me from my
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YouTube channel but everybody I spoke to
7:14
I think agreed that the front-facing
7:17
crew are really friendly they take time
7:20
to chat they get to know you they they
7:22
really go full-hearted to serve you
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they're efficient it's lighthearted it's
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personal I won't spend a lot of time
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talking about this because I think good
7:30
service is kind of a given at this level
7:32
of cruising so let me shift now onto
7:34
what I think they do that is unique and
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is different when I look at their
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brochures and their website they talk a
7:41
lot about region 7 se's having the most
7:44
inclusions within their Fair now
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although this is true versus pretty much
7:48
all the luxury lines silver SE is kind
7:50
of shifting a little bit close to them
7:51
building more into their fairs however I
7:54
do think with this they creating a rod
7:56
for their own back as I will explain
7:59
what's included in the region 7 C's fair
8:01
then economy flights and transfers
8:03
although pentas and above get business
8:05
class flights concierge and higher
8:07
grades also get a pre Cruise hotel stay
8:10
within their Fair everybody though gets
8:13
unlimited chore Excursions Unlimited
8:15
drinks gratuities special restaurants
8:18
laundry and unlimited Wi-Fi but in some
8:22
of these inclusions there are a couple
8:24
of kind of issues so first of all when
8:27
it comes to the included transfer and
8:29
hotel stays both before my Caribbean and
8:32
Japan cruises neither felt that
8:34
luxurious I thought there was a bit of a
8:36
disconnect between the luxurious of the
8:38
ship and the kind of the transfer Hotel
8:41
experience on land it was uh you know at
8:45
the airport look for the cruise line
8:47
sign kind of wait get on a bus to the
8:49
hotel the hotels I felt were pretty
8:52
standard chain conference package type
8:54
Hotel so for example in Japan it was the
8:56
Hilton Tokyo a pretty standard room it
8:58
was really packed with other groups and
9:00
tours in terms of the unlimited shore
9:02
excursions there are a couple of issues
9:05
here and a couple of upsides though
9:07
first of all they released about a year
9:09
before the cruise at a certain time of
9:11
the day and so people all swoop into at
9:14
that time and pick out all the best ones
9:16
so for example on my Tokyo trip they
9:19
released sort of sometime after midnight
9:21
so I thought I'll go to bed uh I logged
9:23
in at 6:00 a.m. when I woke up and I
9:25
found that some of the included
9:26
excursions that I really wanted to do
9:28
were already weight listed now some of
9:30
the other lines like silver that
9:32
includes uh excursions they uh release
9:35
them when you actually book The Cruise
9:36
so they reward early Bookers more which
9:38
I think is kind of a nice thing to do
9:40
some of the better and the more
9:42
interesting excursions with costly
9:44
elements do have charges so for that
9:47
Tokyo trip I actually paid although I
9:49
had these included excursions a total of
9:51
$400 for excursions in three of the
9:53
ports like a visit to the Mountaintop
9:55
Shrine that required a cable car ride a
9:58
visit to some caves in Kachi and then a
10:00
more in-depth tour of Tokyo than was the
10:03
included one the included tours although
10:05
there is definitely a decent number of
10:07
choices per Port I felt tend to be a
10:10
little bit more walking panoramic tours
10:12
with some of the entry fees covered so
10:14
for example access was covered into the
10:16
kto nio palace grounds but you had to
10:19
pay extra then to tour the actual Palace
10:21
itself I did also see a lot of no shows
10:24
so you know particularly after a long
10:25
day like after that Kyoto or people in
10:27
the morning handing back tickets but of
10:29
course by then region have had to commit
10:31
to the guides the buses all the cost so
10:34
that kind of cost is already has to be
10:36
built in so I think there could be a lot
10:38
of wastage you now and I wonder if that
10:39
actually affects what they can offer so
10:41
I do feel it could be kind of creating
10:43
some problems anyway the Excursion
10:45
process I think also could probably made
10:47
a little bit more luxury you know like
10:49
big ships uh cruises you have to meet in
10:52
the theater you get a tour bus number uh
10:55
other luxury lines have sort of shifted
10:56
where silver sea I believe for example
10:58
they'll allocate your tour as you leave
11:00
the ship it just feels a little bit
11:01
classier now I'm probably overthinking
11:03
that but these little things sometimes
11:06
uh you know can add to the feel of
11:08
luxury overall I don't want to appear
11:10
too negative because I did enjoy the
11:11
included excursions I went on I did
11:13
think there was a good amount of choice
11:14
but there are a couple of kind of quirks
11:16
and issues within them now because I
11:18
don't drink alcohol I asked a lot of
11:20
people on board about the included wine
11:22
the drinks and the cocktail lists and I
11:25
think there was pretty much Universal
11:26
agreement that it's a long good and
11:28
generous uh list of inclusions what I
11:30
did love which does show luxury is that
11:32
it did have kind of all the quirky
11:34
drinks that I like like caffeine-free
11:36
Diet Coke actually also had
11:37
caffeine-free regular Coke they had
11:39
sugar-free ginger ale and other drinks
11:41
that I normally struggle to get on many
11:43
other lines including some of those
11:44
luxury lines I had to pay to upgrade to
11:47
streaming Wi-Fi because only basic is
11:49
actually included in the fair and that
11:51
was pretty so so but this is going to go
11:53
away because starlink is rolling across
11:55
the fleet and everyone will get fast
11:57
Wi-Fi included I I could get as much
11:59
laundry done as I wanted and it would
12:01
come back the same day I love this there
12:03
were though very busy guest laundry
12:05
rooms on all the decks because
12:07
apparently people told me they didn't
12:09
trust sending their fancy or delicate
12:10
clothes to the laundry so that's
12:12
something to be of interest perhaps now
12:15
I often ask how region differs from the
12:16
other Al luxury lines and I I will
12:19
actually dive in more detail in a
12:21
separate video because it's such a big
12:22
topic uh there's a lot that is similar
12:24
as I've mentioned and here's a couple of
12:26
kind of headline differences uh so not
12:28
completely ignoring that question unlike
12:30
Seaborn and silver sea Regent do not do
12:33
Expedition cruising that's one big
12:35
difference Seaborn for example has gone
12:37
down the route of more celebrity
12:38
Partnerships they have or have had
12:40
because they evolving some of them
12:42
Partnerships with like Thomas Keller and
12:43
dining stim rice in entertainment Dr
12:47
Andrew will in Wellness Molton Brown in
12:49
toiletries hel Hansen in clothing and so
12:52
on they also do have a really focused
12:55
enrichment program with a thing they
12:56
called their conversation series which I
12:58
think I think is a Miss as I'll talk a
13:00
bit later on Regent silver sea has a
13:02
slightly different feel it's more
13:04
European and approach they have Butlers
13:05
for every grer sweet and what they do is
13:08
they focus on what they call Salt their
13:09
sea and land taste Gourmet program and
13:12
that affects the menus they have onboard
13:15
events excursions and I think they are
13:17
also very destination immersion focused
13:20
you know and based on what I've seen
13:22
from an upcoming South African trip I've
13:24
got booked with them although they have
13:26
fewer options of excursions they do seem
13:28
to have more pre premium excursions that
13:30
region do included within the fair I
13:32
would say the daily program cross all of
13:34
them are pretty similar with the usual
13:35
trivia debt games themed song and dance
13:38
shows uh but I do think that the lack of
13:41
kind of History cultural enrichment
13:43
talks and poort talks which the other
13:45
lines do a bit more of is more of a Miss
13:48
with Regent Regent actually costs though
13:50
less than I think many people appreciate
13:52
though of course it is at a price that's
13:54
way out of most people's budget but to
13:57
put it in context I went on the Cruise a
13:59
few weeks after Royal Caribbean Symphony
14:01
Of The Seas where I'd booked a suet on
14:03
there because I wanted to test out the
14:04
whole suet experience on a big ship the
14:06
cost per day on Raw Caribbean once that
14:09
added in all the add-ons like Wi-Fi
14:11
especially dining excursions drinks
14:14
gratuities transfers all the stuff that
14:16
including the region Fair it cost me
14:18
exactly the same per day as my region
14:20
trip but of course it was a very
14:22
different experience on Symphony Of The
14:25
Seas I was paying for a big high scale
14:27
theater water shows wide range of
14:30
facilities lots of choice and a sweet
14:32
area to escape crowds and noise on
14:34
Regent I had less of that but I was
14:36
paying for a smaller sophisticated more
14:38
reserved much more personalized kind of
14:41
service which they do well so when
14:43
people ask me if I think Regent is worth
14:45
the money I say it's all about what is
14:48
important to you for me I would love and
14:51
I was happy to pay that amount of price
14:54
for that experience but I met people on
14:55
the trip who actually said actually they
14:57
missed the big shows they missed the
14:58
bustle and they missed the big choice
15:00
now if you want to know much more about
15:02
Ary cruising and other things that I
15:05
think I see people misund understand
15:07
join me in this video where I talk about
15:09
something that I still can't get over
15:11
compared to Resort and premium Cruise
15:13
Lines see you over there
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