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hi I'm Gary beverage and this is another
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of my tips for travelers I'm currently
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on a danube river cruise on viking river
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cruises and i thought this would be a
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great opportunity to talk to you about
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the things that you really need to know
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if you are a first-timer to river
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cruising first of all river cruising is
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very different to ocean cruising and
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it's much closer to an escorted bus tour
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around a particular region so it's a
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much more curated experience with much
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less choice and options your whole day
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in the way it's planned is a much more
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regimented and organized experience
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similar to if you're going on a tour
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around the region or a bus with a guide
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you actually travel much shorter
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distances than you would on an ocean
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cruise as well so across a week you
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might only travel a couple of hundred
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whereas our ocean cruise of course you
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may travel many hundreds of miles of
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kilometers every single day as you move
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around the different destinations so
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it's a much more intensive look at a
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particular region so it is a very
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different experience don't think of it
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as an ocean star cruise on a river
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secondly the way that you choose a river
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cruise line I think is very different
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and it's very much around always how
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you'd choose a hotel that you wanted to
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stay at do you normally like to travel
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in a three star four star or five star
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hotel do you like to travel in a
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traditional Dacor hotel or a very modern
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contemporary hotel because in practice
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river cruise ships are largely the same
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and they largely have to be the same
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because they have to be a certain length
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or certain width and a certain height to
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go along the rivers so as you see all
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the different river cruise boats they
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look incredibly similar from the outside
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and their structure and their facilities
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inside is also very very similar so
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you're going to have normally a dining
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room you can have a lounge
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perhaps a small library some will have
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fitness center some may have a second
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dining room so you're not really
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choosing a river cruise line based on
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the facilities you're choosing it first
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of all based on budget and style so do
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you like a very plush five-star
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experience and do you have the budget
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for that or are you looking for
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something much more on the value side
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some more three stark so when you come
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to choose a river cruise line you're
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choosing it based on your style of trial
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three four star five star travel your
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budget and also the design and look of
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the ship once you're on board
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now the third really important thing
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about river cruising is often when
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people come to look at river cruising
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they think it looks incredibly expensive
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the river cruising is a relatively
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expensive way to travel however you need
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to look beyond the headline fare because
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you'll find the river cruising is
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largely all-inclusive so you'll normally
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find on most cruise lines they have your
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accommodation of a CD I have all your
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dining options and they will normally
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have at least one excursion included
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within the fare wherever you go they
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will have Wi-Fi included most of the
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cruise lines will include wine or beer
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with your lunch and your dinner you'll
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have 24-hour tea and coffee making
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facilities often with all snacks and
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normally what's excluded are things like
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gratuities obviously on board shopping
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or if you do go for extra excursions
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sometimes they may offer premium
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excursions so for example on the cruise
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that I was on we had the option of going
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to a classical concert women vno so when
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you look at the cost of a fare bear in
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mind that a lot of the things that
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you're going to pay extra if you go say
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ocean cruising is included in the fare
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people often think my goodness that's
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quite expensive but look at the
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inclusions the next key thing that I
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think people coming to river cruising
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for the first time should really focus
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on when you look at which itinerary you
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gonna do really focus on the places that
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it goes to how long you're going to be
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calling at them and also very
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importantly take a look at the
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excursions that are offered and
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understand where they're going to take
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you and what you're going to see are
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they going to take you to all the big
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really important must-see places also I
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recommend that you understand to what
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degree there is cultural immersion on
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the cruise so some cruise lines will
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make sure that every day there's a local
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menu and they'll bring onboard local
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entertainment so again using the example
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of the cruise I'm on currently the
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Viking Danube cruise every single day on
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the menu there was a local menu choice
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with a starter a main course and a
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dessert which was specific to the very
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specific town or place that were going
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through and then they would bring
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onboard entertainers from that region
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who would do such singing dancing I have
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been our other river cruises where
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perhaps it has been less so because it's
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special to say French cuisine and that's
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keep having every day so very
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importantly understand the degree of
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cultural emotion and what the actual
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enrichment program is onboard now my
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opinion first time two cruises should
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focus on two key rivers the Rhine and
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the Danube now there are many many
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rivers that you can cruise in around
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Europe but the Rhine the Danube are the
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two big classic ones so the Rhine is
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fantastic because you get all the
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stories and the beautiful castles
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especially along of the world heritage
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stretch of the Rhine River so the Rhine
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is an absolute must do it's very rich in
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beautiful castles and incredible scenery
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then there's the Danube with a classic
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being between Passau and Budapest which
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takes you through some very beautiful
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parts of the world but very importantly
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you visit three critical capitals so you
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will go to Vienna you'll go to browse
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lava and you'll go to Budapest which of
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those two my favourite it depends which
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one I am currently on because I love
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both of those itineraries the next thing
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is a kind of watch out now I do have a
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whole nother video which talks about
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lots of a chance of a river cruising but
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probably the biggest and most important
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one of all is if your first time to
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river cruising you need to understand
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that water levels can play havoc with
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your itinerary so either too much water
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or too little water and you'll often
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find there's times of the year or even
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certain years when itineraries are just
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thrown all over the place of example in
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2018 there was a real problem with low
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water and the river boats could not get
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very far and sometimes people were being
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bused to different excursions or even
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changing ships to get them further down
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the river so bear in mind although your
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booking artillery the water levels could
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completely throw that out of kilter now
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clearly the cruise companies trying to
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everything they can but there's nothing
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they can do about water levels the next
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key thing that a first-time river cruise
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ernie's sort of stand is the season is
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relatively limited so the season only
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starts around about March April time and
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goes on until about October time now
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some cruises will keep running after
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October particularly December for the
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Christmas markets and some Christmas and
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New Year's but basically between
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December and March there's no River
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cruise boats running in Europe a really
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good time to go my opinion as a
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first-timer is if you go around
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about the may/june time and sort of
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September it's a really great time to go
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because it's not manically busy you know
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these ships are all calling on the same
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places and then you add all the
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land-based or us on top but they can be
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really really packed but you have pretty
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good weather it's only quite bright and
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it's not manically busy and the Fez will
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also reflect that you'll find you're
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probably going to get better value fare
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when you think about planning if you're
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considering a river cruise there's also
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an important thing to note it is still
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really a slightly older activity so
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you're generally going to find it's
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people 55 plus you can find lots of
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people in their 60s and 70s doing river
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cruising of course it is evolving is
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changing there are some cruise companies
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which are trying to encourage more
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families so in the key summer periods
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I'll do more family themed two cruises
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and other cruise lines are trying to
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introduce more themes whether it's wine
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or arts or whatever to try attract a
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more diverse audience but in practice
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it's mostly people in their 50s 60s 70s
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and above it is in my view very much an
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adult rather than a family vacation
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option most of the river cruises are
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going to go to places which do have
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historic or arts or a cultural Bend they
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are getting more active so there's more
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cycling and hiking but the excursions
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are much more historical and cultural by
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nature and there's lots of wine and food
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integrated to that so it is very much in
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my view an adult experience Viking for
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example to Oman have decided to reflect
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that and all of their cruises in fact
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both river and ocean you have to be over
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18 before you go on it now what about
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solo traveling river cruising is still a
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real challenge for solo travelers
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because most cruise lines don't have
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solar cabins they starting to toy with
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those but generally speaking of your
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solo traveler you're going to have to be
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quite canny so do things like sign up
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for the cruise lines that you're
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interested in newsletters or talk to
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your agent and find out when they're
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doing promotions because some of them
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will do in no single supplement
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promotion or they'll do lower surcharges
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but as a set of travel it is still a
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real challenge most of the times of the
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able to do the peak times the year
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you'll find you're paying a surcharge of
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you found these tips helpful about river
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cruising I have many more videos and
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tips and ship tours about river cruising
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so why don't you take a look at some of
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those to help understand river cruising
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much more and of course please watch
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many more of my tips or owners videos
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they're designed to help you make the
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most of your precious travel time and
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money on land at sea and of course the
