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Cruise Q&A Live: Sunday 3 August 2025: 9am PT / Noon ET/ 5pm UK
Aug 3, 2025
Cruise Q&A Live: Sunday 3 August 2025: 9am PT / Noon ET/ 5pm UK This Sunday (3 August) join me for my regular Live Cruise Q&A at 5pm UK/ Noon ET / 9am PT) where I will answer as many cruising questions in 60 minutes as I can! Set a reminder and join at https://youtube.com/live/FWl3gueIDSw Get any cruise questions answered live! DETAILS FOR SARAH AND RECOMMENDED TRAVEL AGENTS IN THIS ARTICLE OF MINE: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/reasons-to-book-your-cruise-with-a-travel-agent/ Join me for another of my weekly live cruise question and answer session. During the livestream I will answer cruising questions or discuss any cruising topic or news development that people ask me live. You can watch past episodes of the livestreams too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qEAiMOHL4&list=PLs3662YkgOgq_nlVQR9WYJRNKuNyeKu7Z). Get bonus videos and dedicated livestreams by becoming a YouTube Channel Member (click "join" under any video to find out more) or become a Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/TipsForTravellers You can also but my exclusive cruise T-shirts you see me wearing in the livestream and videos at these stores: https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com + http://bit.ly/TFTStore + https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com #CruiseLive #cruiseQ&A #CruiseLivestream #cruisetips šļø New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! š https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6193336770101248
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Heat. Heat. [Music]
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Hi everybody and welcome to another live. Here we are. It's already August I think as Lana made the point. It's kind
0:37
of scary how quickly that the year is zooming through. So um while everyone
0:42
joins people get connected and so on. Maybe we'll go through a few bits and pieces of housekeeping. Um, just a
0:48
reminder if you are here live, if you write the word question, that's fantastic because it makes the questions
0:54
pop out and I can spot them as I go through the, you know, so I don't get caught up in the chat. If you're
1:00
watching this afterwards, um, remember this was live. So, uh, everything you
1:05
hear is based on what people asked and you can sort of skip forward because I bring up all the questions. So, if that,
1:11
uh, works, uh, for you. Um, what else can I tell you? So I am just back as you
1:17
remember from my um Avalon River cruise and I have got let me bring it up. I
1:24
didn't do a picture of it. So as you probably know I'm with collect my little um
1:30
cruise maps from the cruise maps. I've now got my river ones. So many of you probably don't know that they do river cruises now
1:37
uh in here somewhere. So they do river cruises which is quite cool. Now, what I
1:42
discovered though is you can't add river cruises to the globe. So, those of you
1:47
who haven't tried the Gro tried the globe, um it's fantastic free resource
1:52
um where you can track your cruises. Um so, it's worth checking out. Um what else can I tell you before we get in
1:58
going? Oh, so this week's video is out. It's a followup from the one where I did
2:07
it was followup from if you remembered some princess last week and this week it's talking about the sanctuary and the
2:12
whole sanctuary collection whoops destroying things and the whole ship within a ship. So that's out there live
2:18
uh to watch afterwards. I'll talk a bit later about the cruise I'm heading off next. So in two weeks today in fact I'll
2:23
be flying off to Seattle um beautiful Seattle catching up with some patrons
2:30
there Mike and Carrie who I think I can see are here um and then again on the ship on the 21st so I'm really looking
2:36
forward to that um especially so let's get stuck into the questions um try and
2:42
get through as many as we can in the next 60 minutes and here um calling all ports just
2:49
reminder they have a YouTube channel in fact I have I watch later their Splendor, which I think is one of their
2:55
best performing videos, the region Splendor, which um for those of you who don't know, I think I update I've canled
3:02
my trip in November. It was almost a month-long trip from Barcelona to Cape
3:08
Town um because uh you need a fever vaccine for that. And um my consultant
3:16
strongly recommended against me having it. And if you travel in some of the ports with a waiver letter, there's a
3:22
chance that you can't get on some of the ports and it creates some complications at the end of the cruise potentially. So I've changed that to a Splendor trip.
3:29
Um, so we were very kind to not charge any penalties and I've changed it now from a New York to Miami trip. So I know
3:36
that you got a splendid one. So I'm about to watch that anyway. And hopefully I'll catch up with you when we're in New York. So, those of you who
3:42
haven't seen, uh, Regent, um, have changed their dress code to now allow
3:49
refined denim and dress sneakers. So, I had to actually look up what refined denim mean, and apparently there's a
3:54
definition difference between. So, I'm wearing jeans now. I'm doing a modeling show, so I'm
4:00
guessing I don't know if these count as refined denim, but in my mind, they probably do because I think that's what
4:05
most people are going to do. That means they can start wearing denim. Dress sneakers are I think much more vague. So I think effectively means you can wear
4:11
jeans to to dinner. Personally now um I don't mind this change. I've actually
4:17
found Regent probably of all of the sort of that sort of ultra luxury the most
4:23
relaxed anywhere when it comes to dress code. I've actually been on a couple of region trips when I did Japan for
4:28
example uh where people wore jeans to dinner and there was no kind of issue with that. Um I'm trying to remember
4:34
whether people December wore jeans or not. So I I'm I'm not as concerned about it. Um I think it's interesting because
4:42
I've seen lots of discussion in the Silver Sea group. So my next cruise is actually on Silver Sea doing a one of
4:47
their repositioning cruises and that's caused a lot of agitation because they're worried Silver Sea tends to be
4:53
more dressy. You got to take jackets. So for example, when I go on region, I never take a jacket with me. Um I did when I was on with Mark. Uh but um you
5:01
know, I've never worn it. Whereas on Silver I will. So I don't mind the change. I do personally agree with the
5:08
point though that that many people make is I think lines are shifting that way. I think that's also what travelers want. Now I probably come from a camp which
5:15
used to like the dressing up idea. Um and I've myself got into the mindset of
5:22
I don't really see the point of it. I get more wound up on on Kunard because it's part of the brand. The dressing up
5:28
thing is so much more. So um I'm less concerned. I may be in a minority. I
5:34
haven't. It's interesting on the region groups. I haven't looked on Cruise Critic, but people seem fairly relaxed about it. Um maybe that's more people in
5:41
region are more relaxed. They dress up they want to dress up. So some people want, some people won't. I think it's going to be interesting because um if
5:49
it, you know, the world won't end when they change it. I guess we'll see. Um I
5:55
do think we'll see more relaxing of the codes, but we will see. Um it's
6:01
interesting like when I was on that Avalon there was no dress code at all. You could wear shorts. I mean when I was on Princess some Princess on former
6:07
night people wearing shorts to the dining room. What I think Princess has done quite interesting is they have on
6:12
some of the ships now created I think it's one restaurant where they are enforcing a strict code
6:20
forcing the dress code. So people who really want to be an environment where people are dressed up they're creating that. Now obviously in some regions you
6:26
can't do that. So I I I think formal dress code is kind of gone. I guess uh
6:32
all of them are advisory. I mean even on re on silver has reading up the codes formal is kind of advisory. U it's still
6:40
you know they're still pretty strict. So we will see. I feel that the boat has sailed excludes an awful uh awful pun.
6:48
Tom asking the question around the lower Danube uh river cruise starting in
6:54
Vienna putting down river. So assuming what you mean is heading down towards the ocean or do you mean the other way?
7:01
I never know down river. That's a good point. I don't know. My geography is up river where it starts or down river
7:07
bottoms. Anyway, that's probably irrelevant to the question. Um so it's interesting because I haven't actually
7:14
seen that many river cruisers starting in Vienna. It's obviously a very big port and possibly do. Most of them tend
7:21
to start down in sort of pass away and end in Budapest or vice versa. Or you
7:29
can also go for example if you go in the other part where I've been right down from uh you know right down I guess
7:34
Buddha um Bookucharest way right down that part of ending in Budapest. So you
7:40
know Vienna is a massive there's always lots of ships in Vienna so they may well be starting in Vienna. So in terms of
7:45
ultra ultra luxury ultra luxury lines to be honest with you Tom is all cruise
7:50
lines offer pretty much the same itineraries because they have to go the same places. So, if you want to look at
7:55
the ultra luxury side, you know, you've got your Riverside, Uni World, Scenic, I I like Uni World, it's a bit blingy.
8:02
Scenic is very much contemporary. Riverside, I haven't been on gets very good reviews. On that sort of slightly
8:08
more premium end, of course, you've got your Amazons and stuff. But if you want the the top end, it's really kind of
8:14
those three. I mean, there's a few others in there. Those are kind of the three sort of Englishspeaking ones. I
8:19
can get as I mentioned are here. Ken, I have not cruised the Great Lakes. So, I have looked at that Viking Great
8:26
Lakes cruise. It looks fantastic. It's pretty pricey. They do use the uh
8:32
expedition ships there. Um uh Richard and Helen from Visit with us. They they
8:37
have done that cruise. They did a press trip party, you know, they they they work with um um Panache Cruises. They
8:45
sort of brand. They do lots of trips, sponsored trips, uh press trip kind of things. They did one with Viking in the
8:51
Great Lakes, which is very interesting. if you want to get more. I haven't done it. I would really like to do it. There is another cruise line which I think is
8:57
variety does it which is less costly. Um but I would love to do it. It's it's on
9:03
my list and to be honest with you again I look at it and I it's just the price is so hefty. Um that kind of puts me
9:10
off. Louis here back from a rather nice um Iceland Greenland trip which is
9:16
great. Christine has here as as well. Let's have a look. Dave, good to see you
9:23
here. Dave always here asks lots of questions. Um, question on next, sorry, I guess it's our next cruise. Our
9:30
next cruise is going Royal Caribbean, but notice no longer cruises of 12 nights or more seem to be focusing on
9:36
the seven night market. David, this is very interesting because what we're seeing both with with Carnival, with
9:43
Norwegian, and with Royal Caribbean, and sort of to a lesser degree, uh, MSSE,
9:48
but I think they're moving there, is there is a huge growth in even shorter than that. So, you you're right,
9:54
particularly out of Florida, once you get away from Florida, they to longer,
9:59
but uh, they are shifting a lot into three and four night cruises. So, all of the cruise industry is moving to that.
10:05
Now, it's interesting. Royal Caribbean's results came out this week uh and that 60% of their passengers are new to
10:14
cruise or new to Royal Caribbean. They've never been most of those are new to cruise and they're being attracted by
10:20
those short three to four night cruises. Obviously, as you know, particularly in Florida, a lot of them are heading to
10:26
the private resorts. As you know, they're opening more private resorts in Cosmau. They port a lot of land. Sorry,
10:31
not in cosml in um uh why has my mind gone blank? Uh
10:38
I can't believe I've forgotten the name of it. Costmaya, they bought a huge tranch of land. They're building a resort there as you know Carnivals have
10:45
opened there. So the big growth in the market where the market is very dynamic at the moment is the three, four, five
10:50
night cruisers. So you're absolutely right. More ships have been shifted there. More ships have been put on that.
10:55
If you notice, Norwegian pulled a hold of sailings in 26 uh reconfiguring ships, pushing them on that short uh
11:02
sailing market. It's very vibrant, very busy. Um and it's I guess they're making
11:07
a lot of money from it. They do talk a lot about how uh the uh prices fairs are
11:12
going up, but the average amount spent on board is going up. So maybe people going for shorter uh because the I guess
11:18
the total outlay is less, people are spending more. So it's definitely proving to be more profitable, but you're absolutely right. They're
11:24
focusing on almost the less than seven night market. Once you're a little bit further out more internationally, I'm
11:29
seeing a little bit more the more seven market uh point. Alfred, this is a
11:34
little bit depends on where you are. But Alfred asking the question, what can my wife and I do with our luggage between
11:39
disembarkcation and our flight out later? So Alfred, this a lot of this depends on where you're sailing from. So
11:46
I'll give an example. If you're coming into Florida, Miami, I'll tell you what I do is uh there's a couple things you
11:52
do. One of which is a lot of the airports like Miami airport for example has a left luggage. So what I often do
11:58
is I get off the ship I just get an Uber uh to the airport. I leave my luggage then actually get the train back in
12:03
which is a couple of dollars worth obviously spend the money using the Uber and I get the train back out. If I'm
12:09
feeling really extravagant I might get the Uber back in or the train times don't quite work. So you'll find a lot of airports will have left luggage.
12:15
However, there's also and particularly in the US but it's also in the UK and so on. There's a couple of apps where you
12:22
can go on I can't remember the names of any unfortunately but if you just Google like left luggage apps and it'll maybe
12:29
different uh some hotels will do it some uh you know some of those mail type
12:34
places you know mail in the UK called mailbox stuff they will uh store luggage
12:40
for example that you can actually find on apps um so for example friends of ours were staying with us last weekend
12:45
they they they were leaving on Monday with their bus back down to Heraford was only late afternoon and they went used
12:52
the apps and found like a little store that stored luggage for them before their bus trip back for example. So
12:58
that's one one thing you can do. Now if you're getting off in Vancouver for example there is a left luggage place
13:04
there uh in the terminal if you get off in Barcelona there's also left luggage
13:09
place there. So as I say a little bit depends on what you're doing. So, those abs are a good place to start. But do
13:16
also just Google check if you get in some of those major ports. Uh they also have left luggage uh places right in the
13:22
port which I think makes sense. I'm surprised there's not more ports that actually do that. But have a look at those. Have a look at those uh apps.
13:30
Um as I just read the word question so I don't miss the question. Um here's one I
13:36
didn't miss though. Susan, my husband and I are interested in doing a Kunard world cruise in 2028.
13:42
Are there any websites you'd recommend where you can estimate additional costs of excursions etc? Susan I can't think
13:48
of one off hand. There are a few bits and pieces like for example there is
13:55
cruise mommy site cruisely do drinks package calculators but I can't think of
14:01
any specific app. Um, you know what I did when we did half the world cruise,
14:07
we sort of did more of a spreadsheet calculation, Susan, where we we knew what the uh gratuitities were. So, we
14:13
did whatever it was. We were we were only doing seven weeks worth. So, whatever that wasn't nice, we worked
14:19
that out. We then just took an took an average uh excursion of $100 per
14:24
excursion. Um, assuming that we did excursions in X amount of ports. I can't said 70% of ports and stuff like that.
14:31
But obviously you need to think through drinks package uh laundry and that sort of stuff. If I ever find one of those I
14:38
will pop those. It's actually quite interesting. Then um you thought someone brain box would have found a little
14:44
tool. So if anyone does know of a tool for that that would definitely be in if not the old sturdy old spreadsheet.
14:51
Hikas here. Um, and uh, so Lou saying he's booked the Antarctica on Viking and
14:58
the Great Lakes based on your recommendations. Um, Randy, oh, great to see you here, Andy. Randy met Randy and
15:04
his very lovely wife on Grande. Um, and they're heading back around the British Isles. Um, let me know when you're
15:11
passing through the UK, although I'm actually now pretty much away uh, next weekend that I'm heading out. Bokea
15:16
boys, good to see you here. Um, I do not have a specific pre- cruise
15:22
recommendation. I have only been to Barbados uh on a bland-based holiday and
15:28
we stayed at a hotel called the Fairmont. One of the ones that I would probably look at uh Bo is there a Hilton
15:36
which is not that far from the cruise terminal. It's also but the Vonnage has it has it's near the beach. That is one
15:42
that I have looked at before. Um, but only time I've joined a cruise in Barbados is we flew in on a charter
15:50
flight. It was a reposition. We flew on a charter flight, got off and literally got on the ship. But take a look at the
15:55
Hilton, but other people may have better examples than I've got. So, if you do have something, I'd love to know what
16:02
cruise you're joining um on as well where you're heading for. Um, again,
16:07
just write the write the word question so I don't miss it. And Charlie saw your question here. Uh has recently become a
16:14
com channel member I think interested to know where you go for flights especially
16:20
in and out of different ports. How much in advance? So I um I mean what I tend
16:26
to do uh and Charlie is I use Skyscanner to get a sense of what uh my options
16:33
are. So Skyscanner is a really good site. It'll give you prices, give you indicative prices and they will
16:39
basically cover up to about what's about 300 and something days because cruise
16:44
lines tend to release them about 11 months ahead of about 10 11 months depending on the line. Some a little bit
16:50
shorter than that. I know for example we're looking booking some flights in June next year, July next year on
16:56
American internal flights in the US and they're only just releasing those now but I know for international flights it
17:01
tends to be more longer time. So I use Skyscanner to get a sense of what flights there, what are my options, what are the connections, what are the sort
17:08
of prices. I actually don't buy my flights v. So Skyscanner will then list
17:13
because they scrape all different deal sites and stuff and then they give you a link through to wh whichever of the
17:20
cheapest option is um and I guess they get a affiliate commission for that or I guess you could go direct, but I tend to
17:26
because I'm obsessed with collecting uh tier points and miles. So I will always
17:32
go with a one world cruise at one world cruise or one world cruise at it again
17:38
one world airline partner mostly British Airways because obviously Heathway is just down the road from me um so I tend
17:44
to go British Airways but some I'll switch that out for American or for example we're going um at the end of
17:50
this year uh to Sydney and we played around again we looked at Skysc options
17:56
and the most effective way for us to go was actually on Katar
18:01
uh but it's a one world so it's it's giving it but it was pricing was better the timing was better the options are better but again we use Skyscanner to
18:07
play around a bit with that now I'm also probably not very typical but I buy flights the minute they come on sale so
18:14
for example I've just been locking up flights so we're now for example we're in August so flights up until early July
18:20
so I've just locked in flights uh for some trips I've got in June next year so I buy really early because generally
18:26
speaking airline uh prices always go up. The way aine pricing works, dynamic
18:31
pricing, but they have so many seats at price X and then basically it ramps up. It's almost unheard of for airline
18:37
prices to come down. Now, the thing you have to watch out for, of course, is uh
18:42
flexibility, not flexibility. So, I tend to book uh tickets um which have some
18:48
flexibility normally ability to change uh because they are not as strong a
18:53
penalty. So, completely non-flexible. I try to avoid uh if I do those I book
18:59
those with air miles because you get the air miles back and you pay small fee. So for example I I just with that the one I
19:05
was talking about that I canceled earlier I had flights coming back from Cape Town but I had booked those so I
19:11
lost about it was about Ā£50 or something but the flight was really expensive so
19:17
so I bought a fair that enabled me to get to get a cancellation and refund.
19:22
Um Orin um do you have any inside opinion as to why Disney's not yet published their fall and winter 26 27
19:28
itineries? Orin I don't but it's interesting because I have seen um normally by now because there's some
19:35
things some friends ask want to do some cruising in 27. I've been waiting for stuff to be released. So like Seaborn
19:41
has been very late some of this stuff as well. So I don't know why it could be that they're looking at um deployments
19:49
for example. also quite a few lines uh you know published quite far because what would happen what all the cruise
19:54
lines said is people were looking to book further and further ahead. So they're starting to release itineraries
19:59
quite a bit further ahead than they used to traditionally do. But the downside of
20:05
that is there's been a lot of cancellations because then cruise lines have redeployed ship move ships and
20:10
they've actually pissed off quite a few people and I guess created a lot of admin for themselves. So could it could
20:16
be a little bit around deployments things. Um I don't know when Disney normally release them though to to be
20:24
honest. Steve P, I don't have a strong view. Uh what are your thoughts on Imagine Cruising? Always lots of
20:29
adverbs, but I read negative things about the company. So Steve, I never ever uh book with kind of online agents
20:37
at all ever. Um so I book all my cruises through Terra Bolton. So she's an
20:43
independent travel agent. uh but she's part of the travel counselor's network. So, but she lives and dies based on how
20:50
well she sells because she doesn't work for a bigger group. Uh so, uh she's
20:56
always there. She's a person I talk to. If I've got an emergency, I can speak on the weekend, I can WhatsApp, etc., etc.
21:02
So, I tend to stay well clear of companies like Imagine Cruising and
21:07
other companies like that. Now what what the real role of many now I don't
21:12
imagine crazy enough so I'm going to talk a little bit more generally about the type of sort of online stuff is
21:18
often what they do is they um often you can get very good pricing uh because
21:24
what a lot of those lines do is they will do packages so they get a good rate from the cruise line because they'll
21:30
agree to take x amount of so x amount of cabins on a on a sailing they then bundle that with uh transfers hotels
21:38
flights and so on and offer a pretty sharp pricing. So like love it, love it,
21:44
book it and so on. Um but I tend to avoid this because probably because I
21:49
want to choose my cabin after you can't do that. But also in terms of customer service and stuff is you may not always
21:56
be contacting the same person. Now imagine cruising I don't know specifically if that's the case but normally you end up you know you if you
22:03
have issues you're just dealing with an employee as as it were. So I tend to avoid those but you're right they do
22:09
have a lot RO cruising do a lot. Um but uh so I don't have a lot of personal
22:15
experience with those but I tend to avoid this. I I go with Sarah Bolton in the US there's people like Walter who
22:21
ask recommend who works similar thing Gary Pluck and so on. Jeff is here from
22:26
Cleveland which is great. Uh Francis has a question but I'm not sure maybe you've
22:31
left on the second part of the question Francis. I'm considering going to Norway via Holland in the next few years, but
22:36
I'm not sure what the end part of the question is. So, if you've got the end part of the question, pop that in. And often when you type when you push
22:42
return, it kind of posts those. Um, so Dan is actually on Queen 2 of Greenland.
22:49
Nice and blustery. Wonder what the biggest seas you've experienced at six meters last night. Reing ra. But you're right, that stretch between that area
22:56
can be pretty uh robust. Um, so the the mo the roughest seas I've probably had.
23:02
I mean, it's good that you've also got good Wi-Fi that you can join. The biggest seas I've had probably are
23:11
uh I've had some quite big seas on Drake Passage, but the biggest seas were a winter crossing on the QE2 where we had
23:20
I don't know what 6 mters is. 6 m 50 ft uh 6 by3 24. So, we had 50 ft waves. I
23:27
need to compare that. So, 6 m is roughly what's 24. So, that's even higher. So, that's probably a bit higher. It was
23:32
literally coming over the top and up to the bridge and stuff. Um, which I quite
23:38
enjoyed. Poor Mark did get seasick. A lot of crew got seasick from that. Um, have very safe travels. Of course, if
23:45
you're going to be in rough seas, Queen 2 is the definite one to do it with.
23:50
Stephen, what do you think about infinite excuse me, infinite balcony cabins? Personally, I'm I'm not a
23:57
massive fan of them and I don't really know why because I love having a balcony cabin. I will almost always cruise with
24:05
the balcony. Um, however, I don't really use the balcony. So, I don't sit out on the balcony, but I love I go out there
24:11
in the morning. I love it when we sail into port and stuff, but I don't really get used to the balcony. I but I I just
24:18
love having a balcony. But when I was on Avalon on the river cruise, they effectively had an infinite
24:24
balcony. So the camera was slightly bigger and we had the big windows we could slide they didn't slide down come down like on uh Excel and Edge and stuff
24:32
you slowed it across and it was great. Um you know we were sailing along I I really liked it. So I don't know why I
24:39
just like the fact that I can step out onto a balcony. So I know they're very divisive um you know very divisive. So I
24:47
would always tend to go for a real balcony as it were. Um
24:54
uh again just to remind write the word question. Um Andy asking um have you
25:00
ever been caught a situation sim that last week the earthquake tsunami? I haven't been involved in any of those
25:06
for those I guess most people saw that uh with that big earthquake just off the coast of Russia. Um there was a big
25:13
tsunami threat in places like Hawaii and so both pride of America and Oceanania
25:20
regata I think it was ship they left port abruptly and which meant quite a
25:26
few passengers who were out that couldn't get back to the ship were then left and told to then seek refuge um on
25:32
higher ground. Um so we have never I've never been in a situation where we've
25:38
had the ships had to leave. Obviously being at sea is the safer place to be with with that kind of tsunami stuff
25:45
than in port. Uh so I haven't um
25:51
uh Rhonda, good to see you here. Dave and I will be in London for a few days next April. We've never been. We saw
25:58
video suggestions for what to see. Do you have any recommendations on where to stay? Rhonda, I hope you watch my top 10
26:03
things to do in London videos. pretty old but actually the things to do in London are pretty old and and say the
26:09
same. Um so Rhonda in terms of you know it's always challenging to ask a person
26:15
where to stay in their home town. So I have stayed in various hotels around London but what I normally say to people
26:21
is um obviously a lot of it hinges on budget but one of if you're looking for
26:27
a more budget option of course hotels are expensive in London. uh take a look at like the premier in and the Travel
26:34
Lodge. Now the Premier Lin Premier in uh and Travel Lodge have some incredible locations. So for example, you have one
26:40
right on the South Bank near the House of Parliament. You have them in common garden. Now they are kind of more budget
26:46
hotels. Um you know they're a little bit more basic but they are um a really good
26:52
option to stay very centrally very you know great locations. Um I think I
26:58
always get confused between one of them includes breakfast as well you know full on breakfast um and they are definitely
27:05
incredibly good value so that's always a good place to start um for those uh to
27:11
stay now if you once you start getting into other hotels you know it becomes kind of really pricey but I would
27:17
encourage particularly if you're going on tourist stuff advantage of staying somewhere like um you know on the South
27:23
Bank Covent Garden area is you're right in the heart of things. Um, so there are
27:28
a couple of hotels just north also of Oxford Street. Um,
27:33
as well uh in fact which my uh sister-in-law stayed at and her husband stayed at it recently. The not the
27:40
Caledonian um the Cumberland the Cumberland Hotel as well which is a big hotel again pretty
27:47
good value. It's right at the top. It's a marble arch is another good one if you've got a bit more budget. To top of that you got a Marriott. Um once you
27:53
head down Park Lane of course you're talking an absolute fortune but try and stay fairly central I would say of course you could stay a bit out on the
27:59
tube and the metro and stuff but staying like kind of that zone one will will be great. Jeffy's here for cruising from
28:05
one ah Frances. Here we go. Holland uh I guess that's on America. Holland America
28:11
offers a southern Norway cruise and a Norway cruise going across the Arctic Circle which would be better if I go to
28:16
Norway once. Francis if you can do something which uh does I mean I would
28:22
try to get a Norway cruise that includes as many possible stops within Norway as possible. Uh if you actually go if it's
28:28
going out like to Trumpo that is a great experience. Now, depending on the time of year you go, that one of the reasons
28:33
I'll be heading up there is the chance to see northern lights, if you're going to early in the season, late later in
28:38
the season. Um, but my big watch I will be go get that goes to as many stops as
28:44
possible and has a good scenic cruising as well. Try and avoid that a lot of the
28:51
big cities. So, if you've got lots of Bergens, Fangga, uh, stuff, you want to try and get those smaller places that
28:58
you haven't that you probably haven't heard of, might end in, uh, Fjord or something. Um, I did look a while ago at
29:05
the Holland America attorney. I can't remember them, but I would, if you can go further, definitely try and go
29:11
further if you possibly as you possibly can.
29:16
Barbara, good to see you here. We will be on the Kunard Transatlantic in two weeks. Staying in Queens Grill P
29:22
recommendation. Very nice. Um we're doing another transatlantic in June next year. Um also in Queens Grill uh which
29:30
we're doing which will be very exciting. Any special tips for the ship experience? Barbara, my biggest tip is
29:37
um I do have a whole video about this as well. So if you just Google Queen too, I've got a whole tips thing there on
29:44
transatlantics on the channel. But probably the biggest tip if you're going in Queens Grillil, obviously you spend a lot of money to go in Queen's Grill. The
29:51
dining room is beautiful, but you want to make sure you've got a nice table. So, what I strongly recommend is make
29:56
sure that you check in whenever you can. It's probably about 12 or something like that. Uh being Queens Grill and um go
30:05
absolutely make sure when that you go to the Queens Grill restaurant when it opens for lunch. So, get there as early
30:11
as kind of when it opens. You'll be given your table. If you don't like your table, this is your big chance. Even
30:18
when they shown you to the table, if you don't like the table, say I don't like this table because they have enough ability to move you around. We've done
30:23
that before. We just said, "No, we don't want that table." And they put us on the table. Also, if you have lunch there and
30:29
you decide, not so keen, or we don't like the people sitting next to you or whatever. Go afterwards and say, "We don't like that table. Can you change
30:34
up?" Because they have the ability to change around. Not everyone goes for lunch, so get there really early and move around. That would probably be my
30:41
um my biggest tip of all. Uh the second tip is the great thing about Queens
30:46
Grill is obviously you might want to go one at least one of the days to the Queens Room for the full kind of show
30:54
big afternoon tea thing, but actually they do afternoon tea. They used to do it in the Queen's um grill loun the
30:59
grill lounge. They now do in Princess Grill. Afternoon tea, it's it's actually really nice. A little bit more uh calm
31:06
and sophisticated. They bring more the tear tray and stuff. Um so so do the
31:11
afternoon tea in that the queen's room. say you could have done the experience but it gets very busy and a little bit
31:16
packed. Um the other tip don't think if there's any specific Queens Grill tips
31:23
that I've got. Um the other tip is you know you can get
31:28
things like canopes stuff but also you can if you want other quirky things olives crisp all that sort of stuff
31:35
don't be frightened of asking your butler uh uh asking your butler for that. Just want to write the word
31:41
question so I don't miss your question Craig. Um, do you recommend Ocean Arclaw ships? They're small and older. The signature to be sh uh not strictly true
31:49
that they're being sold, but they're leaving the fleet. Regata is also leaving the fleet. Um, so Craig, I would
31:55
um I I like the Arclass ships. I find them quirky. Personally, I would probably look uh with caution at going
32:02
because let you know, Insignia, as you say, is uh being leased to um the
32:09
Crescent Seas. It's going to be converted into a residential ship. So, it's unlikely that there's going to be much work or focus on that ship uh until
32:17
it leaves the fleet. Regata is leaving the fleet as well. Uh that's going to on
32:22
a charter with an Australian company over a year-long charter doing more
32:28
cruise. It's going to be called um expirations by Norwegian. So, it's going to be much more Norwegian um side. And
32:34
they haven't yet set what they're doing with Serena, but I think that's going soon with all the new builds and stuff
32:39
that they're doing. and they must be pretty inefficient ships to do. I like the RClass ships. Um I've had great time
32:46
on the RClass ships. The only problem with the Arclass ships is if you're going in in an inside an ocean view or a
32:51
balcony cabin, the bathrooms are extremely small. Um and you know, I've
32:57
done it solo a couple of times, done it with partner a couple of times. It is pretty cramped. Um, they've got rid of
33:02
the the the the plastic curtains which helps, but um, if you if you want a
33:08
decent size bathroom, you have to go in one of the suites. The problem with the suites is they're underneath the pool deck. Um, and I did although it was on,
33:16
uh, as a marara uh, and it drove me crazy with the scraping on on the top there, but
33:22
because it's the same plus ship. So, they're very quirky. They're they're great. They're great size, 700
33:27
passengers. Um, but just accept that they're probably, you know, they're leaving the fleet. They're not going to be a key key f a key focus as it were.
33:36
Bas asking, "What is refined denim?" I actually googled it. What is refined? It's a specific type of denim, but I'm
33:41
not sure that they're going to get into the ins and outs of, you know, is this refined denim or not. They're just going
33:47
to jeans. I'm pretty sure. Um, Dominic,
33:53
whenever you go, so dress whole America dress code for Alaska, do need to check it. If you like wearing a jacket, feel
33:59
free to take a jacket. But one of the things I've seen is in Alaska, no matter what cruise line you're on, is people
34:05
pay no attention to the dress code and the cruise lines don't enforce it. People are choosing lines and ships
34:11
because they want to go to Alaska. It's a very short season. It fits in with their plans. So, some of the most casual dressing I've seen has been on Princess
34:18
and Horn America in Alaska. You I you know, I would go as far to say is you if
34:25
you wear a jacket, you're likely to be in the extreme minority. Now, I might be proven wrong, but uh it's very unlikely
34:31
you're going to find people dressing up in jackets. Now, if you like wearing a jacket, absolutely take a jacket, but you do not need to take jacket the dress
34:37
code. you can wear, you know, a smart shirt um and and uh you know, slacks or
34:44
whatever will be perfectly fine. I don't you don't even need to wear take a jacket on a reg, you know, on on
34:50
America. I took a jacket um on my last Holland America trip because it was a group cruise and I thought we would
34:56
dress up. I will probably take a jacket. So, I've got two Holl America trips in the SP I mean in so March in in February
35:02
I've got my group cruise um America. I'll take a jacket for that because it's a group cruise and I think probably
35:08
people want to dress up a little bit more. Then after I have a monthlong uh
35:13
threequarters around South America on Zetadam, I don't think I will pack a jacket for that trip because I just
35:20
won't wear it and I know people on that trip are unlikely to. Um so don't don't worry about take it if if you if you
35:26
absolutely want want to do. Um just a reminder, write the word
35:32
question. There are quite a few questions that aren't there, but I I'll make sure I don't miss those. Having had
35:37
Ā£500, said top dog, having had Ā£500 tonight back from Peanut Cruises and reading terrible reviews about this
35:43
company, seen the standard replies. I'm those Rick followers know I'm not a fan of Pan Cruises, but Kunard seems good.
35:49
Okay, Kunard is run by the same it it's the same person who oversees PO also now
35:57
oversees Kunard. So, it reports to the same person. Um uh so and some of the
36:03
the teams they're based in the same office. So the teams are sort of separate but ultimately the same team.
36:08
So it's it's obviously owned by the Carnival Corporation. So it's the same ultimate company. So bear bear that in
36:15
mind. Kunard customer service to be honest with you is not great either. I
36:20
don't know whether it's the same team that answers calls for Pino and Kunard. I'm not I don't know that off hand
36:26
assume not. Um, but Kunard is not renowned for great customer service. If you have problems dealing uh with, you
36:32
know, I have lots of people send me emails with uh questions, challenges they have with Kunard, but Kunard is a
36:38
very different experience to Pino. Bear in mind, um, you know, obviously you've got the Queen 2, which is a great
36:43
experience. Uh, then you've got Elizabeth and and Victoria. I quite I like I I used to really like Kunard.
36:49
I've sort of gone a little bit off Kunard. I I feel they've kind of more average than they used to be, but they
36:55
do have a very distinct British experience. I I pretty much stick with them for the transatlantic. I'm not sure
37:02
that I currently would choose them for another itinerary. Um unless I really
37:07
wanted a British sort of experience. Um but definitely I would say you they are
37:12
going to be better than than Pino, but they are a different kind of experience as well. They are way more traditional.
37:18
Uh they're more like Pino used Pino used to be um kind of thing. So let's have a
37:25
we got a couple of super chats in. So I'm going to answer those very quickly. Carl, uh super chat, thanks for that. On
37:32
a on a Mexican cruise, is it better to use a passport or a passport of card? Carl, I personally always use passport
37:41
um just because if you have any hiccups or issues or challenges, having a passport is always going to be much
37:47
easier. Now I know particularly out of the US you can use say a driving license and a um birth certificate and so on but
37:56
when they had problems once when when they had to just mark everyone off the uncle there's lots of challenges we wouldn't have passers getting back and
38:02
that sort of stuff. So personally I would always lean into a passport. So just because I think you you you have
38:10
the greatest if anything goes wrong you're never going to have any issues with a passport. Um I do not have
38:16
experience of using a passport card so I can't specifically comment on that if people have more experience that but I
38:22
would always default to using a passport um would is what I would do. Jack,
38:28
thanks very much for that. Jack is also a patron. What? No channel member.
38:34
Cruise line recommend cruise line recommendation please. Group of single men early 30s to be at 62. Each has
38:40
their own cabin. No kids. Good women to men ratio. more women than men. All but
38:45
me are first-time cruisers. Which cruise line? Virgin? Yes, I think Virgin will be a fantastic option. Uh the second one
38:53
I would suggest is Celebrity but on one of their edgeclass ships. So, Edge, Apex, Excel, Ascend. Um the advantage of
39:02
Virgin is it it tends to get a quite an eclectic mix of people. average age is
39:08
around about 50 or depending on the sailing sort of 50 55 is sort of average
39:13
age but there obviously a lot of kind of 30somes 60omes and I'm booked on Virgin
39:19
next year and I'm by by then will be 67 um but you know so it's it's um it's so
39:27
it's a really good mix it's enough vibe going on those who want to party can party those who don't want to party won't have to party um now celebrity as
39:33
I mentioned is another good option because they again quite a good range It's quite viby. Um but it's enough for
39:39
all kind of age groups and interests to do. Um uh you know the advantage with
39:46
Virgin is you do have some solo cabins. Celebrity have very few solo cabins. Although on edge excel and stuff they do
39:52
have some solo cabins. So you can get some solo cabins uh as well on that but
39:57
you need to move quite quickly because they they are quite popular. They go quite quickly. But that would be I think Virgin Celebrity. Uh but focus on the
40:05
edgeclass ships because that's going to be a little bit more buzzy particularly for the kind of the younger uh age
40:10
group. That that's that's those those would be my my kind of uh my top two um
40:16
top two things to to to to offer to offer to suggest. Right. So let's have a
40:23
look back. So I jumped ahead. So thanks very much everybody for those uh questions. Um, let's have a look and
40:31
listen on status match. Um, well, lots of questions. I need to speed
40:37
up get through my questions. Here we go. Back in the back in the groove. Um,
40:44
Jean selling on Viking Mars. My viewers of the company. I'm concerned they don't Starink Stream or two device is
40:49
problematic. So, they do have Starlink, Jean. Now what is very very very very
40:55
frustrating is they just include Wi-Fi as you know and they give you no option
41:02
to buy an upgrade package certainly unless something changed recently but I was very frustrated when I was on um uh
41:10
because it was they introduced dialink the Wi-Fi is pretty rubbish I couldn't stream I couldn't use a VPN um I
41:17
couldn't upload things um and there was no option so other lines you know like if I go a regent or whatever, you know,
41:23
they include Wi-Fi, but you can then pay to do a streaming package, for example.
41:29
Viking did not offer that. I think it's very oldfashioned. I'm sure that enough of time pressure will come, but you will
41:35
definitely struggle for streaming. I could not stream at all uh when I was on um and the Wi-Fi is really average,
41:42
which is really frustrating when it is when it is Starlink. Traveling to Sarah here, so I think she probably heard me
41:48
say nice things about it, hopefully. Um, let's have a look. Scott,
41:54
my wife and I will be on a 12-day Oceanania med cruise next month ending in Mkos Santorini. Do you have
42:00
recommendations to relax DIY exploring that do not center around wine?
42:07
So, ending in Mkos Santorini. I I haven't seen any cruises ending in
42:12
Mosca Santorini. I guess you're calling on me. Maybe, unless I've missed something uh there. Um, if you're asking
42:21
things to do in Mkos and Santorini, Mkos I've only really self-explored and there's some very nice um restaurants.
42:28
Uh, you can do nice self exploring all through the old town up to the windmills back down some very nice bar. I know you
42:35
do lots of wines and bars, but there very nice restaurants and things. Santorini. One of the things that I love to do on Santorini is um you get off the
42:43
ship, you have to have a tender cross, then everyone then either gets the donkeys up, which I don't really like,
42:49
or they walk up or they wait for the cable car up and down. But once you get to the port, the little stocking area,
42:56
there's a very nice boat uh which they sell the tickets at the um on the dock
43:02
side and it's a boat which will then sail to the other to the other um town
43:07
at the very end which is the one where people really go for the sunset. Is it OA? And then you can explore that and
43:13
then they have a bus that takes you to the main town, the main tourist town which is rammed full with all the cruise
43:19
tourists. From there you can then obviously get the cable car down or walk down or whatever. We we normally walk
43:25
down from there. Um and that's that's what I would recommend. We've done that in Santorini, done that in Mkos. Um
43:31
advantage of going to the old product, it's less frantic tourists, more landbased tourists. So it's a little bit
43:36
easier to get places dinosaur, but you kind of want to go to the sort of iconic one to take those kind of iconic
43:42
pictures. Hopefully that makes sense and hopefully I've understood uh understood your your your question properly.
43:50
Susan, I like to book as far ahead as possible. Me too. Eg 2027. I'm guess you're not
43:56
going back to the future 2027. How far ahead can you book a reposition cruise? Well, um again, you know, as soon as
44:02
they come on. So, for example, since travel agent Sarah is here, um I um have
44:09
actually just asked her to move a trip that I've had to book and it's a November 2027 repositioning cruise when
44:16
the ships are heading back or she's heading back from Barcelona to Miami.
44:21
So, you you can you know, so I've certainly seen some of the October, November repositioning cruises um on
44:27
some of the lines appearing. They're starting to appear. Come back to the question earlier. you need to keep an eye on those but certainly um you know
44:34
in the last couple of weeks because I had looked at it before they've released that so certainly I've got an explorer
44:40
coming up but I've um asked her to shift one of mine to November 2027 on explore
44:45
repositioning so you can do that that time there ah m deina using question
44:50
mark question mark looking at a kunard boring cruise first time cruising but kunard brand ships aged lot have you
44:57
tried k recently what was your opinion so uh you know kunard I' I've been on Kunard quite a lot. Um, you know, if you
45:05
want a modern modern Queen, the most recent one I've been know is Queen Anne. That's a new
45:10
ship came out last year. Um, bit of argument about how good the dance floor is and that, but certainly Queen Anne is
45:16
is a modern ship. It's I guess a year and a bit old now. Uh, yeah, came in May
45:22
last year came into service. So, it's just over a year old. So, Queen Anne would be the one to look at. They do the
45:27
dancing, etc. Uh so that would be that's would be the one that's the modern one I
45:32
would I would take I would focus on that one. Sarah not happy about uh less less
45:38
keen on the dressiness. It's going to be very interesting to everyone's point coming back is um
45:44
uh whether it makes a difference. I it's interesting because I have I haven't found region massively dressy um at all.
45:52
Um but I know I actually expect it to be more dressy. Um, and I know Sarah likes has been dressing on region. So, it's
45:59
gonna be really interesting to see. So, I'm back on Regent now in November. So, that'll be interesting. Although that's
46:04
a New York to Miami doing lots of Caribbean, so I suspect it may not be as dressy and it's sort of sort of a
46:10
repositioning. Uh, Mike and Carrie asking the question, uh, does the YouTube algorithm care if
46:16
your lives are watched live? Good point. Um, so I get two measures from it. I get
46:23
a measure which I can see. So I can see afterwards how many people watched live
46:29
uh by the time. So I don't can't see if I probably was logged on I could see it
46:35
but I'm looking obviously the the transmission. So it will show me um how many people watch live. Um but in terms
46:42
of the algorithm it's more they will then push the live out and suggest the live based on how many people are
46:48
watching it afterwards. So I don't know um you know because they don't tend to
46:54
recommend they'll only tend to recommend the lives if people haven't followed it. They'll recommend lives to people who
46:59
normally watch the channel log on live but they will suggest the replay to
47:04
people who normally watch the channel afterwards. And I get it varies, you know, sometimes I'll get four and a half
47:10
thousand people watching afterwards. Sometimes it'll be like 9,000, you know. Um, if I look at other, you know, Emma,
47:16
some 15 20,000 people watching. I've had a few of those. Um, but less people watching afterwards. Um, uh, so I don't
47:25
I don't know, but live is less is pushed out way less overall for any any sort of
47:32
any sort of creator. What they do, what YouTube are very interested as a little side, they're very interested in pushing
47:37
podcasts. So that's why you see a lot of people are launching uh video podcasts or putting their podcasts on. They're
47:44
getting huge podcast listening or literally people recording podcast talking pretty much like this I guess.
47:50
Um let's have a look Caroline
47:56
um just booked an Asmar cruise Venice to V France. I'm worried s Paul and Carol
48:01
had a bad experience with guest services. What is your experience with them if any? So Paul and Carol did have a bad experience. It was on their
48:07
Australian trip if I remember correctly. Um where they had quite a few issues.
48:12
I've had she had pretty good uh experience with guest services. I had a problem with my cabin. Uh they were very
48:19
helpful. Uh they offered to move me because the ship wasn't full. Obviously with the ship's full they can't do it. I
48:25
didn't I find them really fine. I haven't been on them now for probably 18 months, two years now. Um, but I get
48:32
lots of people messaging me um, loving Azamara because I went on Amazar when it
48:38
was still really still had some issues with having been sold. It does seem to be way more on its stride. I I would
48:44
like to go back on Azamara. I've been looking at different options to go back on Azamara, but um, I've had good
48:50
experience with them both before when they were all Caribbean and afterwards. Um, so, so, um, uh, so that's, uh,
48:59
hopefully that helps and that, and that should be fun. United Film Pro podcast. Well, there you
49:06
go. Just talking about YouTube and podcasting. So, I'm guessing that you probably got to you do your podcast on YouTube. When you see three days at a
49:13
cruise port, can you stay in a hotel at that port so you can see more of the city, for example, or Caribbean, Corn of
49:19
the Seas, three days in Caro? Um, now it's I I I I don't know the answer off
49:26
hand, but I will tell you what my experience is. Um, and what I think the
49:33
options are. So I I think I mentioned earlier if you were here I'm doing a
49:38
threequarters circumnavigation of South America next year which goes in March
49:44
next year which goes from Southern Buies actually ends up because it goes all the way around and ends up eventually back
49:51
in Florida. Now we actually have a couple of days in the port for Lemur.
49:58
But what the cruise line is doing is it offers their own offport experience. So,
50:03
that's a Machu Picchu excursion. So, I'm doing a three-day, no, it's not, it's two night,
50:09
two night, three days uh of excursions. So, you'll find a lot of cruise lines
50:15
when they do those over those long stays will offer their own uh excursions. So,
50:21
first of all, it's worth having a look at those. Now, some of them can be quite pricey like obviously the Machito is very pricey. Um, as Amara who was
50:28
talking about a little bit earlier, they were um they were uh uh
50:35
well they claim that they spend more overnights than any other they do a lot of off uh off uh you know they've been
50:43
in a port do off port sort of stuff. So that's that's the second thing is look at that. The third thing would be is um
50:50
you know obviously you're double paying because you're going to be paying both for the cruise and for the the hotel.
50:57
However, when you're in port it stays the ship is available 24 hours. So it
51:03
must be a nightmare for security guys. But you should at least discuss with the cruise line and say look I am leaving
51:08
the ship and I will not be here for two nights. So they at least know that they don't people aren't clocking in and out.
51:14
They know. Um so uh you know there may be it should be okay but again check
51:21
with the cruise line but it should be okay because you pass through whatever immigration process the cruise line will have have done that but you can do
51:28
formal cruise ones will certainly make sure that the cruise line know that you're doing it. So you can probably easily talk um before you go with with
51:37
the cruise line. Um lots of people not writing questions yet and hopefully I'm not missing I did actually spot one
51:42
thing so I'm going to look at that. Tom's given me some geography which is helpful. Water flows down the hill. So
51:48
down the rivers to see up the rivers to the source. Thank you very much. I sort of thought about it then thinking that way. So that's good. So from Vienna
51:55
wants to go that way. You find most of the ships has to go past our upwards. Um
52:00
but you're going to go up to kind of Romania I guess sort of way if you want to go past that. Um
52:07
uh Julik is the food on region ocean. Well, as
52:12
you probably know, they're both own by the same company. They're both owned by the Norwegian Cruise Line Group. Ocean
52:19
claim to have the finest cuisine at sea. Based on my experience, I think the food on region is best. Regent is their more
52:25
premium is their out luxury line. Ocean is their premier line. They are kind of quite close, but Regent uh tends to have
52:33
well, they both actually have very big menus. I think there's a slight edge on them, but they are pretty good. I mean,
52:38
they're both extremely good. Um I think region does pip them as you would expect because it costs more uh you know so
52:45
even down to the buffet uh the speciality there's more choices on most
52:51
ocean ships but I do think regent food is is better um Diane explorer status match is it
53:00
just category to category we are in silver with 41 knights on silver sea we have 10 knights with explorer so silver
53:06
isn't it benefit status matching Um Diane, if you've got more knights
53:12
with silver, I would quickly do that because I think uh you know, straight
53:17
away you're going to I can't remember the levels on explorer, but I came in uh
53:22
I'm I can't say I'm because I what what happened what worked for me is really
53:28
well is as you know Royal Caribbean kind of combines all this stuff. So I got um
53:34
I had quite good status on celebrity. I got a couple of Royal Caribbeans. So that nudged me up on both of those up
53:39
the level. Then when silver se did their status match, I got leaked right up on
53:45
silver status match. So I have a quite a good uh status on silver on silver. So
53:52
then um silver sea uh
53:58
sorry I got I thought I was asking the question wrong. So I got quite a good status match on silvery thanks to my when they status matched world Caribbean
54:05
celebrity. So when I status match, I status match with silvery and they push me to one of the higher tiers. So uh you
54:12
know I would try and definitely do a status match with silvery because with 41 knights you're going to get you you
54:17
depending on what level you are you will come in at a higher high level. So definitely do it. Worst case is they're
54:23
going to say you're going to stick with whatever you are with your explorer. But I would definitely do it. I got quite a
54:28
good uh surprisingly good status match on explorer. So it was really good because I got a stair smash on Silver
54:34
Sea thanks to Royal Caribbean and then I got stair smashed across. So that was that that was that was very good. Um
54:46
Mark asking a question around um
54:51
mixed reports about Kunard many saying they're struggling for passenger numbers discount fairs. What do you think? Book
54:56
now for summer 26 now wait. Um I haven't I haven't seen those. I I mean I'm
55:01
assuming, you know, I I think the fact that they're pulling Queen Elizabeth out
55:07
of the US. So they pulled out of Australia where they definitely weren't getting the numbers they were having to
55:12
discount more. They weren't getting the revenue that they wanted. Uh so they moved it and they positioned the ships
55:17
doing Miami and sort of Alaska settings. Now they're pulling the ship back to do uh fly crew stuff. So I'm assuming that
55:23
they weren't hitting the numbers. I suspect it could be maybe linked more to uh Queen Elizabeth where the numbers
55:30
were less. So I haven't seen anything around that. Certainly in the Kunard things or they don't always call up the
55:35
lines. I haven't seen anything. Um it's always a risk waiting to be honest because generally speaking fairs
55:43
cruisers are generally speaking selling very full. Uh you know UK ex UK sailings
55:48
are doing extremely well. So I think it's a bit of a gamble. I I wouldn't necessarily gamble on it. Of course, the
55:54
thing is Qun do not status match. So if the first two go down, they won't match it. So if you say, "Look, I want to take a risk. I may end up paying more, but
56:02
I'm going to take the gamble." Bear in mind, if you do book now, they will not status match. You're not will not status
56:07
match. They're very uh locked in with with that. So you're going to be locking in your your price. But I um I haven't
56:14
seen, for example, a lot of discounts. I haven't seen Kunard discounts. Now I'm
56:20
not sure whether you're based in US or not. You may find some more attractive pricing than US because they're doing uh
56:26
you would have to get to Europe to sell pretty much on any Kunard stuff other than the transatlantics. So there may be
56:31
some things to attract US travelers. So for example, they often will bundle into Queens fairs the drinks package which if
56:39
you book in the UK you don't get the drinks package. So there may be a little bit of that going on. Um but it's always
56:44
good. Oh, thank you. Vocab boy poker boys uh have given its bounce. That's
56:50
right. When you said it where so stasher app is one of them Sher saying and
56:55
bounce from bas. That's right. Bouncer and stash. Thank you very very
57:01
much for that. Um Steve I asking the question if you take
57:07
a cruise from Manhattan to Bermuda there are hotels very close to ships you can walk to the ship from. I have never been to Bermuda. Uh believe it or not. I'm
57:14
going now twice next year and I'm very excited about that. I'm doing it no I'm going once this year for the first time
57:21
on Splender and next year I'm going on Norwegian Aqua where we have an overnight in Bermuda. We have an overnight as well on Splenda. Now I was
57:28
looking at options there and it does look like there are certainly if you talk about beaches and resorts there definitely some within walking distance.
57:34
I was looking at one today and I can't remember what it's called which literally and people say on the review
57:40
you can walk um to this kind of beach club thing if that's what you're looking at. Um, there are definitely things
57:45
there. I haven't looked at it yet, but what's in port? Bermuda will also answer answer that answer that uh answer that
57:52
question as well. Um,
57:59
ton of YouTube, long time no see you haven't been on here for a while, have you? Um, have you done a land tour
58:04
portion of Alaskan cruise tour? What's your feeling about that land portion? I've only done the train one. I've only done the Rocky Mountain. I haven't gone
58:11
into Denali. Um, I would love to do it. It looks fantastic. Anyone I know that's done it raves about it. Obviously, you
58:18
know, H America Princess own lodges there, their own trains. That's a beautiful train ride down, etc. So, um,
58:25
definitely that's uh that's it. Juloka, I think you know how to questions. You've answered one hopefully. Um
58:35
Selena, I'll be on a cruise from Rome to Naples to see Tunis Malikica and
58:40
Barcelona. If I purchase things in Rome, where should I get tax refund? Uh so normally you can you can do the tax
58:47
refund at the airport. Now I haven't done a tax. I'm terrible at that because
58:52
obviously now being out of the EU, I never used to look at the tax when in the EU. I never used to look at it and
58:58
since then I haven't really done it. I'm just buy a lot of stuff. But normally there's a place at the airport. I don't know the answer to that specifically. I
59:04
would literally Google it. Um, but if anyone knows the answer to that, but my initial action is normally at the
59:10
airport is is where uh where where you would do them. Bruce, this is a a
59:17
question that often gets um a lot of people uh stressed out by. How do you
59:23
determine how much to tip excursion guides or do you tip them in addition to the excursion costs? So, um, Bruce, I
59:29
take a fairly personally I take a fairly simple approach to tipping guides. And
59:34
it's interesting because most times when I've been on tours, people will say things like, you know, give people a
59:39
couple of dollars or uh when we were on like the the Avalon River Cruise, they
59:45
were saying again a couple of euros. So, literally, I would give maybe up to $5.
59:50
If I'm that's if I'm solo. If we're together, we might maybe give five or between five and 10. So, you know, I was
59:57
thinking there's a bus of 40 people, everyone getting $5 kind of thing. So, I don't link it to the cost of the
1:00:02
excursion. Um, and I would normally tip. So, a lot of it gets driven by notes.
1:00:08
Obviously, in the US, the $1 notes. So, it's a couple of those. So, that's how I that's how I do it. And that's looking
1:00:13
at observing people. That's what I see. I see most people giving, you know, like on the in Europe, I saw most people gy
1:00:20
note because other it's coins. So, some people might give five coins, but I notic that was almost like the
1:00:27
the note level. Um, now with US dollars, it's easy. I see people giving like three or four dollars and stuff. The old
1:00:33
person giving a $5 $5 a $5 note. Um, very nice comment here from Serenity
1:00:39
Searches. Thank you very much for that. Dave James asking to book Ambassador. I do get asked that a lot on Ambassador.
1:00:47
Um, h so I I do need to book Ambassador. Oh, Bernard. Uh she's actually here. Her
1:00:54
name is Sarah Bolton. I will actually put a link uh I'll put a link to Sarah's
1:01:00
in there. Now Sarah Books for the UK. So I'll leave a link to an article. I've got an article where I talk about travel
1:01:06
agents that either I have worked with or a lot of people on the channel uh have used and recommend. So Sarah Bolton in
1:01:12
the UK um from Travel Counselors. Uh, and if Sarah's Sarah's here, maybe if
1:01:18
Sarah wants to post a link to her, I might do that actually.
1:01:24
I'll let Sarah do if she wants to. So, something like travel counselors.com, I think, or Sarah. Bolton remember
1:01:31
correctly. If Sarah wants to pop that in, that's fine. I'll leave a link to an article where I talk about a couple of
1:01:36
agents in Australia, Canada, US, and Sarah in the UK. Right. So we have
1:01:43
churned through uh like loads here. We have the nice comment here about Sarah.
1:01:49
So that's very good as well. So there we go. Um we have churned through loads and
1:01:54
loads of questions. I probably have missed some but we kind of run out of time. I will be back next week uh for
1:02:02
sure. The week after that I need to look at because then I'm heading away. But definitely back here next week. I always have a look at those questions try and
1:02:08
answer them other ways. Um so thanks so much. It went really quickly. Have a great rest of your week and remember,
1:02:14
watch that Princess Cruise. Thanks so much. Take care. Bye.
1:02:26
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