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6 Things Ask Yourself Before Booking A Cruise For 2020 / 2021
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Jan 28, 2025
Cruisers are keen to cruise and book a cruise for 2020 or 2021. However, despite your enthusiasm to have a cruise booked to look forward to, there are 6 key questions I think you should ask yourself before booking a cruising vacation for 2020 or 2021. These are the things that I have been asking myself before looking at cruises for 2020 / 2021. These should help you ask the right decision on whether you should book your cruise for 2020 / 2021. SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS: 10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk 5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0 Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video. Follow Tips For Travellers on: - Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm Gary Bembridge this is another of my
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cruising tips for travelers I want to
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talk about six questions that I think
0:07
you should really be asking yourself
0:09
before you book a cruise in 2020 or even
0:13
2021 starting with this one what you
0:18
need to understand is that there is
0:20
still no sign off there is still no
0:22
agreement on exactly when cruisers can
0:25
start up again and in what form BAE can
0:27
start up again every single one out the
0:29
heads of the major cruising groups
0:33
that's the Carnival groups are all
0:34
Caribbean group the Norwegian Cruise
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Line group have admitted they have no
0:38
idea when cruises are going to start up
0:40
again before they can start up they have
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to have the agreement for cruises that
0:44
head in and out of the United States
0:46
with the CDC the Center for Disease
0:47
Control in the UK they're working with
0:50
the organization Phe public health
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England to agree the protocols and how
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cruises start up again so the cruises
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that are being advertised whether it's
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this year or next year no one actually
0:59
knows specifically if those cruises are
1:01
going to be running in the form that
1:03
they should be running so are you happy
1:05
to book a cruise before you know that
1:08
the cruise lines are up and running
1:09
again and things will be as you want
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them to be so you could be handing over
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money for cruises you just don't know
1:15
are going to happen bear in mind the
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cruise lines cannot start operating
1:19
until they have approval of those health
1:22
authorities so even if you're feeling
1:24
very optimistic make sure and ask
1:26
yourself are you happy to hand over
1:28
money to the cruise lines for cruises
1:30
you just don't know are going to happen
1:32
the second key question to ask yourself
1:35
is are you happy to book a cruise before
1:38
you know what the protocols are going to
1:40
be what the onboard experience is going
1:43
to be all limitations are going to be at
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this point in time we do not yet know
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what the protocols are going to be for
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boarding a ship once you're onboard the
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ship
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we've seen some really strong
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indications from cruise lines that are
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starting to indicate what those could be
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but we do not know what they're going to
1:59
be so for example you may find that once
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the protocols come into place you have
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some issues within there's strong
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indications that there's going to be
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multiple temperature checks taking place
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before you board and perhaps when you
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get off a ship for an excursion before
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you head into dining
2:14
before you head into events for example
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you may find that objectionable although
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there's probably some indications that
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masks won't be required
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certainly as river cruising has started
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in your marks have been part of that I
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personally think it's unlikely the mas
2:28
gonna be play a big role but what
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happens if they are something that are
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required and you've booked a cruise and
2:33
you find you have to wear a mask you
2:35
don't want to you may object to the way
2:37
that the dining operation is going to
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operate the way the buffets operate
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where there's no self service there's
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really strong indications that venues
2:44
will be controlled so the number of
2:46
people in the venue's perhaps a number
2:47
of people they loud around the pool at
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any one point in time are you gonna be
2:52
happy with those protocols simply when
2:54
you just don't know how they're going to
2:55
operate the other thing you need to
2:57
think about is certainly there's
2:59
indications that there's going to be a
3:01
lot of health screening processes before
3:03
you board what happens if the protocols
3:05
say that if you fail something so for
3:07
example a temperature check that you're
3:09
denied boarding we don't yet know what
3:11
the process is going to be are you going
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to be fully refunded by the cruise lines
3:16
are they going to refund your airfare to
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get there your transportation there are
3:20
you gonna be forced to go into some sort
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of quarantine all those kind of things
3:23
we just don't know what they are so
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you're booking a cruise without knowing
3:26
what the protocols and the implications
3:29
are the next question to ask yourself is
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are you happy to book a cruise where the
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ports the itinerary may change
3:36
significantly clearly once cruising gets
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up and running and the longer gets up
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and running the itineraries will become
3:42
much more certain but the cruise
3:44
executives are all made it very clear
3:46
that they're not sure about what the
3:48
itineraries will be although you're
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booking an itinerary which looks very
3:50
appealing you might find that some of
3:52
those ports don't open to cruise ships
3:53
and won't let cruise ships in so though
3:56
we've only seen a few indications so for
3:58
example the Seychelles which is not
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allowing cruise ships way into 2022
4:02
we've seen some of the Caribbean islands
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talking about earliest end of this year
4:06
they're going to let cruise ships in
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they're prioritizing getting more
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domestic land-based travel up and
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running so you're booking itinerary
4:14
which may change and the cruise lines
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are making it very clear that they
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believe that as they get up and running
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there will be lots of changes to the
4:20
itinerary are you happy to book a cruise
4:22
with a port you think you're going to
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make it dropped they remind in the
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cruise contract
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cruise lines are allowed to change the
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ports on writing re on a route and they
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don't have to give you compensation they
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can actually change it so you're booking
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artery and you may find a change are you
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happy to book an artery that may change
4:40
fairly significantly if you're worried
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about that hold back looking until you
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know what's really happening another
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really important question to ask
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yourself is do you fully understand with
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the cruise line on the cruise that
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you're booking what happens if you
4:56
decide you don't want to go or you can't
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go bearing in mind that at the moment
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although cruise lines are providing more
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flexibility as we had more and more into
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2021 we've seen cruise lines not yet
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offering that degree of flexibilities
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when you're booking a cruise
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just think about what as I booked this
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cruise what are the terms and conditions
5:15
if I have to all want to change my mind
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so you might find actually that the
5:19
situation as it develops either
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financially or from your health
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perspective or just from a security
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perspective do you decide you don't want
5:26
to go are you really really clear about
5:28
what your conditions are make sure that
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you're booking a cruise that you're
5:31
comfortable with that whole cancellation
5:34
and change process make sure that you
5:36
understand what travel insurance you can
5:38
get and does the travel insurance cover
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you for any type of change whether it's
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related to Cova 19 or any other issue
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simply you just want to change your line
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because you don't feel happy cruising
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closer to the time so that for me is a
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really important question is what
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happens with this booking if I can't go
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where I changed my mind and are you
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comfortable with the answer to that
5:59
question as you look to book the next
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key question is understand is if the
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cruise line cancels what were I get back
6:07
will I get my money back if I want it
6:09
all that only get future cruise credit
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now the reason I'm saying that is for
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most people that are booked cruises as
6:15
they started to be cancelled they had
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the option of either taking the future
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cruise credit where you often got a
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bonus of up to 25% or more in some cases
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or you could go for the cash refund
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however what the cruise lines have
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introduced much more is cruise with
6:30
confidence which sounds great because
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they build in more flexible cancellation
6:34
however one of those terms and
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conditions is your only option is future
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cruise credit so
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when you taking a book I mean looking
6:41
booking please understand if the cruise
6:43
gets canceled for whatever reason that
6:46
is what can you get back what will you
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get back is it cash or future cruise
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credit only the next question to ask is
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when you go to book is the time that you
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look into book the absolute best time to
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get the best deal clearly prices are
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going to be volatile over the next 6 12
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18 months as cruising's comes back on
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stream as it settles down as cruise
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ships figure out capacity and demand
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what we've heard from the cruise
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industry or sending what I've been
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reading from the cruise industry is
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their objective is to try and keep
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prices up as much as they can and what
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they're going to do to manage that is
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try and manage the supply so they've all
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said that they're only going to bring
7:28
onboard ships in a staggered slow away
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as a way of trying to manage prices to
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keep pricing up if you do think all you
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worried about prices going up
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go for it however keep tracking the
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price because if there is volatility if
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prices do go down you want to make sure
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that you can claim that back and the
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simple way of doing that is tracking it
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so you can either just keep an eye at
7:49
yourself get your travel agent to do it
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or there are a couple of websites where
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you can actually track your specific
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cruise so if example cruise critic has
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one of those and that's called price
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alerts so you go in and you put in your
8:00
cruise that you've done you set up a
8:01
price on it and it will notify you if
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prices shift downwards at you also if
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they ship upwards or if the great above
8:08
you has come down in price sets it
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closely matches yours
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there's a couple other sites you can
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look at which is a similar thing one of
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which is called cruise watch calm which
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is again a free service where again you
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can get set up alerts for specific
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cruises or even regions but really ask
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yourself are you absolutely convinced
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that you're getting the best possible
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deal as you look to head out cruising in
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2020 2021 ask yourself these questions
8:35
to make sure that it's the right arm for
8:37
you to cruise you needing the right deal
8:39
and you're really comfortable with what
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you're signing up for I have loads more
8:43
videos packed full of tips and advice to
8:45
help you have a great cruising vacation
8:48
moving forward so why don't you watch
8:50
another one of those right now
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