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If You Believe These Things About Cruising You're Wrong!
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Jan 28, 2025
There are 5 things that I hear about cruising frequently from regular cruisers, cruise sceptics and people interested in cruising but have never been. I explore these 5 things and lay out what the real situation is - good and bad 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 85 cruises I have done to date. 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 FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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people believe that these things are
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absolutely true i keep getting them left
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therefore as comments on my channel i
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was asked about them during an interview
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i did on local radio just last month and
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bizarrely they came up in great detail
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at the dinner party i was at this week
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things that people believe they know
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as
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fundamental truths about cruising but
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are they right i'm going to talk about
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whether there's any truth in these
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things if you're new here welcome aboard
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i'm gary bembridge and it's my goal to
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make it fun and easy to discover plan
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and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations
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before we get into some of the heavier
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topics let's start with one of the
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obvious ones as i'm in my early 60s and
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i cruise a lot
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i possibly prove the long-held belief
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that people have that cruising is for
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newlyweds and the nearly dead
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however clear which is the cruise line
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association
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their data shows that the average age of
1:00
cruising is falling and the average age
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is actually 47 years old globally it's a
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little bit older in places like the uk
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and this is because families with kids
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are now cruising in greater and greater
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numbers now half the cruisers are
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admittedly over the age of 60 and
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they're still a really big part of it
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but we're seeing a shift down in age and
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we're seeing two major cruise types
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reflecting this
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trend in ages first of all there's the
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mass cruising on resort lines many young
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couples groups of friends and families
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use these it includes lines like
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carnival royal caribbean norwegian
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cruise line msc cruises and i guess also
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disney these offer relaxed cruising they
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have many resort attractions for all
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ages
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it could include water parks ice skating
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video arcades go-karting they have a
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huge choice of dining lots of options
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for everybody from fine dining through
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to hamburgers and fast food their
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excursions include active and family
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options
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most have a wide range of cabins for all
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budgets they've got inexpensive inside
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cabins which appeal to people a budget
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or younger people through to big family
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suites they're not strict on dress codes
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and this category appeals to a much more
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youthful crowd and these seem to be a
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big driver if not the main driver in
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bringing the average age of cruising
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down because they're bringing all those
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people into cruising now the second
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category are the premium and the luxury
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cruise lines now these do tend to cater
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much more for traditional cruising
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demographic like me for example so
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you'll mostly find over 50s 60s 70s
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significantly fewer families and younger
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couples they have no or have much
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smaller kids clubs and programs so they
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also don't talk to those people either
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they have a much more traditional cruise
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program so you're going to see quizzes
2:53
enrichment talks cooking demonstrations
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and so on they're much stricter on their
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dress codes the excursions they tend to
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be more cultural
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more kind of perhaps beach chill out
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excursions now the premium lines which
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are in this kind of group include
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princess honda america celebrity
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cunard oceania viking and so on more
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traditional cruise ships they don't have
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resort features you've also then got
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luxury lines that also cater for this
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group seabourn silversea region 7c
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ritz carlton yacht club and i guess
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european lines like ponont and maybe
3:28
tolicitory habergloid now there are some
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exceptions in this premium category
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emerging like virgin voyages which are
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coming into this category but they're
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trying to have a much more youthful
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approach talk to a slightly younger
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audience which may also help bring the
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age of cruising down but also start to
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shift premium cruising into talking to a
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younger audience
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so being for old people is definitely
3:50
overstated it's not a fact in cruising
3:52
and it's changing fast despite what
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people believe
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it's also not for stuffy on
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unadventurous travelers who just want a
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holiday camp style vacation
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well of course i can choose and you can
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choose to do that i personally don't see
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myself as a stuffy an adventurous
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traveler
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for example i've been on expedition
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cruising to the arctic and antarctica
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i've been on a seven week segment of the
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world cruise calling on really out of
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the way unusual places i've been to
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iceland i've been to french polynesia
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i've been right around japan you can
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cruise to incredibly out of the way
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places is not all about a holiday camp
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at sea seeking out the sun
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but this does raise one of the biggest
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beliefs that people have about cruising
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the how cruising happens
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4 000 people on the high seas is my idea
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of a nightmare this is the comment that
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people have about cruising and they
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believe that cruising is all about these
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big massive 4 000 5000 passengers i
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don't want to spend my vacation with
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thousands of people
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and i don't have to
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many people associate cruising with
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those big resort ships that are selling
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out of particularly miami fort
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lauderdale for canaveral heading to the
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caribbean and around parts of the
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mediterranean and they therefore think
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because that's very visual that's what
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they see that that is all there is there
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are around 300 cruise ships in operation
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and those ships are a very small
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percentage of that 300. they're broadly
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speaking about five categories that
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ships are placed in based on size and
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although definitely the trend is to more
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and more big ships by many of the lines
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there are still five categories of ships
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you know there are ships that take under
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800 passengers
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seabourn silversy azamara part of the
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oceana fleet you've got these sort of
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more small mid-sized ships that take 800
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to 1500 crystal viking cruises saga
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you've then got ships that perhaps up to
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2500 passengers that cunard some of the
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whole america fleet some of the
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celebrity fleets have
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and then you finally get to those big
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3500 plus mega ships there's a lot of
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choice of size of ship within those 300
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cruise ships you don't have to cruise
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with thousands of people cruising isn't
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just about big massive ships
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before i cruised i thought this thing
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that people say about cruising was true
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as well the belief that normal people
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are going to feel trapped and bored on a
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cruise ship now let's just look at that
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from a logical perspective first
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we are
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actually not on the ship long enough to
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feel trapped or get bored most cruisers
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are port intensive
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and they spend almost all of the day in
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port so usually a ship gets to port
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around eight o'clock in the morning and
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it stays in port until five o'clock or
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six o'clock in the evening so between 6
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p.m and 8 a.m is the only time you're
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actually going to be on the ship
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and in that limited time you've got a
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sail away party you've got to get ready
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for dinner you're going to go to dinner
7:00
have a big multi-course dinner you're
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then going to go to a show or you're
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going to go and watch some other
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entertainment like live music and then
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you're going to sleep so either cram all
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that into that amount of time there's
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just simply not enough time to feel
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trapped or bored in fact you're more
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likely to as i am when i get off a
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cruise be frustrated because you haven't
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had enough time to do everything on the
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ship ships have so much to do they have
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so many venues so much going on that you
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just physically can't do everything that
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you're going to want to do in the
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limited time you're on the ship
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there's also a strong belief and a
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strong concern that cruising is
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dangerous that people fall off the ship
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all the time and there's a lot of crime
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so let's tackle that falling off a ship
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first
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around 20 to 25 people at most do go
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missing off the ship every year that's
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out of around 29 million passengers that
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cruise every year and bear in mind at
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any point in time there's also around
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300 000 crew on those various cruise
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ships as well
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people who go overboard have either
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jumped off the ship
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or done something foolish like standing
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up or jumping around on the railings
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ships have really high railings
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you can't accidentally slip and fall of
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a ship now sadly people who've gone
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overboard have usually done it
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deliberately
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but what about crime one of the reasons
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it is definitely such a contentious
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topic and many feel it's a hidden
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problem is there is no central global
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database of crime that occurs on a ship
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and there's also concerns around
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jurisdiction and what has to be reported
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and basically the belief that crime is
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underreported on ships there's no police
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force as such on a ship you only have
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security there is by the way
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as a little side a prison it's called a
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brig on cruise ships
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now we can get a sense of the amount of
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crime that happens on a cruise ship
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because
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crimes that happen on sailings on ships
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that originate that are starting or
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ending in the united states they have to
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be reported to the fbi under the cruise
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vessel security and safety act of 2020
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and every single quarter an incident
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report appears on the u.s department of
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transport website and it's split by
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crime including things like homicide
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suspicious death missing people assault
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theft of over ten thousand dollars and
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sexual assault
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the criminologist dr james fox is very
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well known for publishing a study of all
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this data and he basically says that the
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rates of violent crime on cruise ships
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is about 95 percent lower than you're
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going to find in an average u.s city
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i looked at the data on the department
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of transportation website it shows
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around about 30 to 40 reported crimes
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per quarter on those ships selling out
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of the united states
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i can see though that the biggest crime
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that's reported is actual sexual
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assaults this is around 25 or so a
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quarter and it's really important to
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know that cruise ships have extensive
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cctv and every area except cabins and
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private spaces like public restrooms are
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monitored
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so while the level of crime compared to
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the millions travelling
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is still relatively low
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any crime is a traumatic experience and
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it's a reminder
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to not let our guard down on any
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vacation including a cruise
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cruising is not a crime free zone it's a
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low crime zone but it still has crime
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many people fundamentally believe that
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cruise lines are bad for the ocean
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because they dump waste and sewage into
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the sea
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and in fact that used to be the case
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decades ago
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pretty much always did end up in the
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ocean
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but even the current rules for many may
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seem a little bit shocking
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the maple four convention which came out
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in the 2000s it affects all ships not
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just cruise ships and it specifically
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talks about sewage and it says that wait
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for it
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that when a ship is over 12 miles from
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land and cruising at four knots a ship
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can release untreated sewage into the
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ocean
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between three and 12 miles it can only
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release sewage after it's been through
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an approved treatment process and system
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and within three miles of land or less
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than three miles ships can't release
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anything into the ocean
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so theoretically
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cruise ships can release
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untreated sewerage into the ocean once
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they're 12
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miles from land
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now that's pretty scary because when you
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think about the number of ships and the
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amount of people the amount of surges
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that's created it's a lot the u.s
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environmental protection agency they
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estimate for example in a week-long
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cruise of 3 000 people so say 2 000
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passengers a thousand crew 150 000
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gallons of sewage is created that's
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about
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10
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large backyard swimming pools it's an
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enormous amount of sewage that could be
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going into the ocean now the good news
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is the cruise lines do not follow these
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rules
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clear which is the global cruise line
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association and all the lines they've
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agreed slightly different rules which
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all the cruise lines have to follow and
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they've agreed they will only release
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sewage if it's actually been through
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that complex treatment process
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once they're 12 miles out so on cruise
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ships the sewage which is actually known
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as black water it goes through this
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complicated four stage process which
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involves ultraviolet treatments various
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screens and so on and it gets it down to
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a water which is basically compatible
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with the ocean now i was pretty
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skeptical about that until i saw the
12:32
process myself and what gets released
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into the ocean
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the way i did that i went on backstage
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tool you can pay to do those on the
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various cruise lines and i've actually
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made a video with much more details
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about this whole process if you want to
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find out more about this now the
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maritime rules say that other waste
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cannot be released into the ocean so
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ships now have an environmental office
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on board who oversees all of this and
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manages the activities like the
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recycling process you know glass is sort
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of by color it's ground down metal is
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compacted paper is also done the same
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happens to paper and then these are
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offloaded imported they sold to various
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recycling companies so really kind of
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strict rules
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on what
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ships can and can't do if the lines are
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caught breaking any of these rules the
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fines are huge and unfortunately one or
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two lines have been called out and fined
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now if you're skeptical about that again
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i recommend going on one of those behind
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the scene tours and actually see the
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environment process and practice first
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hand also follow friends of the earth
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because they have a cruise line
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environmental scorecard where they track
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cruise ships on how well they perform on
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waste and pollution
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but before you do that
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why not find out what drives cruise
13:44
passengers
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crazy about other cruise passengers by
13:48
watching this video where i'm going to
13:50
start off talking about what causes more
13:53
fights than any other between cruise
13:55
passengers see you over there
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