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I Experience The Ups And Downs Of Cruising During Omicron
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Feb 2, 2025
Like many of you right now, I faced a huge dilemma. I had a cruise booked on Holland America in the Caribbean. Should I cancel, or should I go with everything that's going on with Omicron? I want to discuss with you what I decided and what happened, along with the three big lessons I learned. 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 88 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 ———————————————
View Video Transcript
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like many of you right now i faced a
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dilemma i had a cruise booked on holland
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america in the caribbean
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should i cancel should i go with
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everything that's going on with omikrom
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and kovet i want to discuss with you
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what i decided
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what happened and the three big lessons
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that i learned through this whole
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process some i expected but probably
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more interesting and important is what i
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hadn't expected and learned as a result
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because i think you probably won't have
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thought of these or expected them either
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and i do think you should consider all
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of this if you're due to or thinking of
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cruising this year if you're new here
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welcome aboard i'm gary bembridge and
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it's my goal to make it fun and easy to
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discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
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cruise vacations a really big challenge
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i faced was it was less than 30 days
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before my cruise and things were kicking
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off with omicron cruise problems
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cancellations loads of changes and the
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stress was increased because under the
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holland america cancellation policy if i
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cancelled i would suffer a big financial
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penalty because changes in cancellations
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less than 30 days before the cruise
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didn't fall under their what's normally
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pretty generous cruise with confidence
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policy unlike some of the cruise lines
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by the way that take it right up to the
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cruise so i spent time trying to balance
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all the concerns the hassles the risk
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and the growing pressure from friends
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and family who were concerned about me
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cruising during omicron wave and of
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course all this was heightened every day
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by the growing negative press about
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cruising there was news of holland
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america norwegian royal caribbean and
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many other lines cancelling or
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curtailing cruises brazil had closed to
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cruising the cdc had issued advice
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saying don't go cruising taking all that
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into account i decided to go
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and i want to explain why because i
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think this thought process will help you
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and i've been contacted by many people
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asking if they should cancel go and this
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appears to have helped them first of all
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i am vaccinated and i've already
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actually had my second booster so my
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belief is that while i of course could
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still catch it there's a much reduced
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chance of getting particularly ill and
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certainly ending up in hospital and part
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of me said the reason for getting
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vaccinated was to be able to get out
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into the world again and so i should
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embrace that secondly i'm definitely
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absolutely not one of those that believe
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or argue that going on a cruise ship is
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safer than say going to my local
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supermarket and other random comparisons
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that i see people making i don't buy
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into that thinking at all it's like
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comparing apples and pears tomatoes and
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radishes going on a cruise is a very
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different experience and i believe we
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should all look at what a cruise itself
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offers and what that risk looks like and
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importantly understand that it differs
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by line too and this is really really
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key as i'm going to explain there were
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two key things about the risk of
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cruising one is i was on holland america
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they require being fully vaccinated from
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passengers
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you had to prove have a negative test
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before boarding masks that'd be worn at
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all times inside unless eating and
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drinking even when dancing
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when you're sitting in shows they were
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running at significantly less than half
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full capacity to enable distancing and
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the other thing i really really believe
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very strongly there's good lines and
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less good lines to go on right now based
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on how they manage and enforce those
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protocols their reliance i will and will
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not cruise through this particular time
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i've been on a number of cruises since
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shut down and i've seen how the
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protocols work both the good
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and the less good for example in the uk
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msc in my view handle things badly post
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shutdown the way they implemented and
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enforced protocols didn't seem as robust
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as i would like them and as a result
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there were many many cases on board
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apparently reported in the press i know
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they dispute how they handled it but the
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reality in my view is the way i saw them
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handle it was not thorough enough to
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inspire my confidence or trust but i'd
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been on viking princess celebrity and
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pennant since shut down and
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i was very comfortable about how tightly
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they handled the protocols i've been on
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another line where i felt less secure
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virgin voyages which had a the protocols
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but a more relaxed approach to enforcing
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them so
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that put me off that but i felt really
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confident that holland america had the
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protocols that i agreed with but i was
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confident they would be well implemented
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and followed and this is really key to
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go
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with them because also i believe the
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passengers who are more mature were more
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likely to comply it's not a big party
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cruise line there's not lots of big
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party mixing activities it's more sedate
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it's calmer people listen to listen to
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music it's not a young party crowd
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resort line
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next i also considered that i was going
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to the caribbean so itinerary is
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important a lot's going to be happening
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outdoors i could choose excursions which
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are going to be very outdoor focused
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beach going and also i knew on holo
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america generally they have smaller size
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groups on excursions and when i was
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there i saw this happening other big
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lines you know big resort ship lines
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they had many more people on the
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excursions than we had for example on
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our catamaran tours which could normally
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hold up to 150 on a catamaran we only
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had about 35 40 people but i can see
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other cruise lines were running them at
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close to full capacity our transfers
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were even to the beach were split across
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several buses so each of the buses were
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around half full next i also had
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insurance to cover me for any covert
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related issues any disruptions
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quarantining medical issues so that was
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also really important i had good
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insurance cover i then went out of my
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way to understand the policy around what
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the quarantining and isolation would be
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on the cruise or if i tested positive at
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the end of the cruise
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and this basically means isolating in
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specific cabins on the ship and you get
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transferred to a line approved and
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funded hotel on return to fort
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lauderdale if the quarantining had not
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been completed so i understood all of
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that another consideration
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was it also seemed to me that many of
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the disruptions to cruises currently
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underway was driven specifically by
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spread within the crew and their ability
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level to provide a full service on board
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crew are more vulnerable they work in
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close proximity they're living in shared
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and close quarters so i decided that i
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had the choice of staying at home where
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in fact in the uk case numbers were
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pretty high and actually many of my
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friends and extended family having
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quoted in the weeks running up to the
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cruise so i could balance that with all
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the risk that i take into account and i
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decided it was okay to go i decided to
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travel take into cut everything going
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through that process but importantly i
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don't have a job where i have to be back
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on a certain day and also have a very
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understanding partner who actually
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wasn't coming on the trip with me
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understood that i may end up being
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delayed coming back if anything happened
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now i've been asked by many people
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during this trip
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what they should do about their
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particular cruises and the balance of
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risk is incredibly personal
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think through all the things i've
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outlined and have been saying and if you
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have even the slightest amount of doubt
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i recommend not going because once you
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get on board things are going to change
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that is inevitable and it will actually
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stress you out the actual experience is
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going to change that was something i
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expected and something i discovered as i
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will explain because it brings more
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issues for you to understand the big
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question as i said off on this trip was
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was it going to be a great experience
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even though i understood the risks and
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would it still match in terms of
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enjoyment by last caribbean cruise which
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was at the end of 2019 on oceania i went
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and expecting itinerary changes
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onboard changes limits import
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and things would change all the time and
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that i had to be flexible and all of
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those things happened and it was i'll
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admit a little bit stressful at the
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beginning of the cruise not knowing what
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was and wasn't going to happen we had
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itinerary changes martinique was changed
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to saint vincent and then it was finally
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changed to grenada for example we had a
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last minute change towards the end of
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the cruise
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when saint thomas wouldn't allow us to
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actually come in presumably because we'd
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hit that magic cutoff point of one
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percent of
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the total population on board having
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covert cases caribbean islands once you
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hit one percent of combined passages and
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crew with covet they will not let you
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into the port really important to
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understand that in most ports we faced
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limits in solution grenade and barbados
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we could only go on cruise line
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excursions or in government approved
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taxis to a shortlist of approved places
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which were mostly beaches we had to wear
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masks in port in most cases except at
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the beach we had our temperature checked
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we couldn't leave the excursion for any
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reason for example now this was fine
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with me because i wanted to enjoy the
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sun the sea and the sand that's why i
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came on the trip it was pretty sad
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though by the way seeing the impact on
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the ports and in some ways i was glad
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i'd gone because i saw shop suffering
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tour guide suffering
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just from the lack of visitors and so at
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least you know my custom could help just
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a small bit on board i also saw changes
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some activities were not running at all
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like pool parties cocktail parties where
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there would be groups of mingling
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passengers for example they weren't
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happening uh some of the training
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sessions on computers weren't happening
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there was only one show time in the
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evening there were some changes to the
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itinerary when for example the bb kings
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band disappeared after a couple of
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nights i don't know but i'm assuming
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they perhaps got covered so they were
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kind of cancelled for a while and so
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they brought in a replacement band there
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were definitely fewer activities and
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some people said to me that it wasn't
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the same buzz and choice of activity
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they would normally have wanted
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so that's something to bear in mind now
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i'm fine with that because i tend to
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occupy myself i don't get do lots of
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activities necessarily but it was
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definitely a lower key atmosphere on
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board hanging over us all the time of
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course was the chance that the entire
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cruise was cancelled we saw mine shift
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uh two at a couple of ports and when
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they got to barbados their cruise was
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cancelled because of the number of cases
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on board amongst the crew which meant
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they were short of staff and they also
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exceeded the number on board to allow
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them to go into ports so you've got to
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go knowing that things are going to chop
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and change did it make a worse
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experience it definitely made it a
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different experience
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the experience in the ports was
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different however i still got to go to
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the beach i got to experience the sea
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the sun the sand
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and that was what i was looking for
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however if you're going to go
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for a more party boat experience you
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want to go self exploring you want to go
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to explore markets then you're going to
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be disappointed but for me i did
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actually find it incredibly relaxing so
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i would recommend if a specific
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destination is key you know you want to
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go to some kits or you want to go to and
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do something in a particular port
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there's a specific excursion you want to
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do then do not go on a cruise right now
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because the chance of it not happening
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is there
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if there are certain activities on board
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that you really want to do or a certain
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show you want to see on board or you
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want to be able to play bridge or do the
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crafts again rethink going because they
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may or may not happen if mixing is
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really important to you meeting new
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people again that might be a little bit
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more subdued if you want an experience
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like you used to have then going now and
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for a while it's not going to be quite
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as you would expect and that's really
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important to understand for me i was
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happy i got what i wanted which was to
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get away to have that sunshine sound i
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keep talking about
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so if that's enough for you then you may
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like me be happy you went but it did
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leave me with a third big challenge and
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a big question and one that i would
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recommend you consider carefully before
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making up your mind finally the really
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big issue was did this cruise feel like
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it was good value for money it cost the
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same as cruising before the pandemic and
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then so-called normal cruising time when
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everything was open
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and
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the only disruption chances maybe
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weather would stop us getting into a
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port so small chance of disruption i got
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what i wanted to get away get some rest
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escape european winter i wasn't looking
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for big high-energy stuff on the ship
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i got great service because we had about
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30 40 capacity i got to know the crew
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much more i got to eat good food i got
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to see beautiful sunsets at sea i got to
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be at sea i got to enjoy a great cabin
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that i'm in now i i felt i got good
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value however i can see why many people
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wouldn't feel they had there was no
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discount offered for what we were
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missing
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that's important to understand if you're
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thinking of a in a lifetime cruise or
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the cruise is your only vacation this
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year stop care and think very carefully
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before you decide to go you're going to
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get many of the great things of cruising
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but it's going to be a different and a
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more uncertain experience and you need
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to be prepared to be flexible and roll
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with the way things play out you need to
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understand you could find yourself
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isolated if you test positive or
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quarantined for close contact and you
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need to be comfortable with that was i
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pleased i came absolutely would i do it
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again absolutely in fact at the time of
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recording this towards the end of the
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cruise i'm actually home for just a week
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and then i'm due to cruise again in the
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caribbean on a panama canal cruise on
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oceania and my plan is to still do that
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trip if this has helped or given you
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something to think about why not watch
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this video we'll discuss in more detail
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what it is like cruising with the
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protocols in much more detail including
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if masks get in the way more than you
13:19
may expect see you over there
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