0:00
based on the messages that I get every
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single week I know one of my favorite
0:04
secret weapons is already saving
0:07
passengers I told her about hundreds of
0:10
dollars pounds or Euros every single
0:12
week and positive the others will make
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as big a difference just as they did to
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the crews that I'm on right now if you
0:18
don't know me welcome aboard Holland
0:21
America or Saddam I'm Gary bembridge my
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first set of secret weapons are all
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things I use to save or use my money
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better on a cruise starting with a quick
0:30
word about the one I've already told
0:31
some of you about before it didn't
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actually help me on this trip as I'll
0:35
explain every single smart Cruiser
0:37
tracks their fares using an easy to use
0:40
method you can save big money I got back
0:42
one thousand eight hundred dollars off
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an Azamara Cruise last year when they
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cut fares below what I had paid now
0:48
after you Book Fairs will change based
0:51
on demand if the ship is filling up
0:52
theirs go up if it isn't fares go down
0:55
and the price Falls if the price Falls I
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always ask the line for the Affair extra
1:01
onboard credits or an upgrade and many
1:05
I have a secret and simple weapon to
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track my fares I use cruisewatch.com or
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cruiseline.com or cruisecritic.com I
1:13
have an article on how to set up all of
1:16
these on my website so check that out it
1:18
could be worth hundreds of dollars
1:21
pounds or Euros to you now I did that
1:24
for this particular cruise and actually
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saw fairs had gone up versus what I paid
1:28
so nothing back this time but it has
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worked on many others so another secret
1:33
weapon that's helped me tackle another
1:35
big cost on this cruise and make many
1:39
Savings in the past is the following I'm
1:43
on a 14 night Honda America osterdam
1:45
cruise around South America I saw before
1:48
coming that the excursions would easily
1:49
have added up to 1 500 to the trip per
1:53
person because they range from 100 up to
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three hundred dollars each so here's
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what I did instead first of all I looked
2:01
cruisetimetables.com like for every trip
2:03
I imported this cruise to see how many
2:05
ships would be in each port at the same
2:08
time now knowing this helps me decide
2:11
the very best thing to do in every port
2:13
it's down the ship because it's going to
2:15
be manically busy self-explore because
2:17
it's not going to be that crowded or
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find an Excursion that helps me avoid
2:24
now on my last Cruise Regent Seven Seas
2:28
looking at that made a huge difference
2:30
knowing for example I saw in Barbados
2:33
there would be six Mega ships in and it
2:36
was estimated that there would be
2:38
between 15 000 and 20 000 Cruise
2:40
passengers in town so I knew that many
2:42
would head to places like Harbor Lights
2:44
Beach area so I chose an Excursion which
2:47
avoided those popular areas now on this
2:50
trip I could see only one small Viking
2:53
or saga ship would be in ports at the
2:55
same time so self-exploring or any
2:58
excursions would actually be fine in
3:01
this particular Cruise so knowing this I
3:04
then used probably one of my favorite
3:06
weapons of all it's also the least
3:08
attractive looking of all those secret
3:10
weapons uh but boy is this one brilliant
3:15
it is called what's import.com and it
3:18
covers every port of every size
3:21
everywhere it tells you about where the
3:23
ship docks the facilities the watch outs
3:26
what to see and do how to get there the
3:28
best sites and they even have maps of
3:30
the port area to download I find it a
3:34
gold mine for this trip because other
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than a shire I have not been to any of
3:38
these ports and from this I discovered
3:40
what I wanted to see what I needed to
3:43
get an Excursion for and what I could
3:45
actually do myself so for example based
3:48
on their suggestions for Montevideo I
3:51
wanted to go to the carnival Museum and
3:54
Plaza dala independencia they showed
3:57
that one was right at the port and the
3:59
other was an easy walking distance and
4:01
so I could do it on my own and avoid a
4:04
costly Excursion that the line was
4:05
offering whatsimport.com is absolutely
4:08
one of the most important weapons I use
4:11
to get the most from a port and it
4:14
worked for me on this trip now once I've
4:16
looked at that I then checked the Cruise
4:18
Line Excursions to see what they were
4:21
offering now on this osterdam South
4:23
America trip what's import.com made it
4:25
clear that some of the best sites were
4:28
some distance away from where we were
4:30
going to be docking and there wasn't
4:31
very much going on in many of the ports
4:33
so in those ports I looked at what the
4:35
line offered but before booking some
4:38
were pricey like the 350 trip I wanted
4:41
to do in Uranus Chile to Magdalena
4:44
Island and the Penguin Reserve I turned
4:47
to another of my cost-saving weapons and
4:50
that is checking with two independent
4:52
providers I've found so reliable over
4:55
the years to see what they offered now
4:57
one is called Venture ashore.com and the
5:00
other is called Shore excuse
5:02
visionsgroup.com I just put in Holland
5:05
selected Amsterdam and my departure date
5:08
and it gave me all of the excursions
5:10
that they were offering in every single
5:13
port I found some many more diverse and
5:17
Niche excursions than throughout America
5:19
ranging from for example an Argentinian
5:22
cooking class run by a famous local Chef
5:25
in Buenos Aires to a Heritage Tour in
5:27
Montevideo targeted at the Jewish
5:29
Community now as an aside here is
5:31
another secret weapon I use in warmer
5:33
climates like that Regent Caribbean trip
5:35
I mentioned earlier now I love Beach and
5:38
Resort days on warm cruises and so while
5:40
Cruise Lines will sell those kind of
5:42
excursions to beaches and Resorts
5:45
resortpass.com has a bigger choice of
5:48
resorts better and fancier ones added
5:51
much less cost for more money-saving
5:54
secret weapons of mine I want to talk
5:56
about something most Cruisers know about
5:58
but don't know its power I see smart
6:01
Cruisers use it in a very specific way
6:06
and that is Cruise Critic I do not use
6:09
Cruise Critic for the reviews I use it
6:11
for three other things and again for
6:14
this trip it was invaluable first of all
6:17
it's an incredible way for getting
6:18
answers to very specific questions about
6:21
a cruise a ship or a cabin now I'm often
6:25
asked all sorts of questions that are
6:27
very specific or perhaps very time
6:29
sensitive and it's impossible for me to
6:31
know the answer to let me give an
6:32
example Lynn who is going on a piano UK
6:36
cruise and his death wanted to know
6:38
about what they do in terms of adjusting
6:41
the entertainment and what adjustments
6:43
they have in the daily program
6:44
activities for people that are hard of
6:47
hearing I of course didn't know the
6:49
answer uh she found piano customer
6:52
service didn't really know so I
6:53
suggested that she post that question in
6:56
the Cruise Critic piano forum she got
6:59
amazing information from some recent
7:01
death Travelers for example another
7:03
follower Dave he wanted to know if some
7:06
very specific off cabins on Carnival
7:08
Mardi Gras were any good or suffer from
7:10
noise and vibration now I didn't know
7:12
but following my suggestion he got the
7:15
answer from people just back from a
7:17
recent trip in those cabins by posting
7:19
it in the Carnival Cruise Critic Forum
7:22
I've even seen others asking people on
7:24
board to post daily programs of current
7:26
Cruisers to see what activities and
7:28
entertainments like for example you're
7:29
on this on America trip so that's the
7:31
first thing I do the second thing I use
7:33
it for is the roll calls now I joined
7:34
the roll call for this trip and it's
7:36
been packed with trips and more
7:38
particularly since I haven't been to
7:40
this region before so for example people
7:42
were clubbing together to arrange and
7:44
share minibus transfers to the ship and
7:46
saving a fortune now this strip required
7:49
flying into Santiago but the ship
7:51
departs from valparaisio which is an
7:53
hour and a half away the Holland America
7:55
transfer looked to me the cost over 200
7:57
per person I was quoted over 300 by a
8:00
private transfer company but others
8:02
found ways of coming together and
8:05
getting cheaper options others were
8:06
finding unusual excursions by the roll
8:09
call because they had specific interests
8:10
bird watching or whatever they found
8:12
tours together they found a guide to go
8:14
together I've saw solo Travelers in
8:16
their connecting getting to know each
8:18
other solos before the trip so a really
8:21
powerful tool the third way that I use
8:23
which at the time of recording is on
8:25
pause but hopefully now is back on it
8:28
was a it closed down because of a
8:29
hangover from covert restrictions but
8:32
hopefully it's back and that is the meat
8:34
and the mingles now on The Cruise Critic
8:36
meter mingle page you can normally sign
8:38
up for a Meetup which is on your
8:41
particular cruise and many Cruise Lines
8:43
will partner with cruise Creek to run
8:45
these at the start of the cruise now in
8:47
the past I've had some great ones where
8:49
I've met people I've heard others making
8:52
plans getting tips and ideas on the
8:55
ports from people who've been there
8:56
before so if those are available check
8:59
and meet some mingles are very powerful
9:01
are you ready for another fantastic
9:02
secret weapon for spending money better
9:05
on a cruise this one will cut that other
9:07
big onboard cost drinks now I've seen
9:09
many passengers buying the drinks
9:11
packages because they assume that they
9:14
will save money versus buying drinks on
9:16
the go ad hoc you can be paying up to 60
9:19
plus per day per person and every adult
9:23
in your cabin must buy the same drinks
9:25
package on most lines so on this 14
9:29
night Honda America cruise the elite
9:31
drinks package that's the best one would
9:33
add a staggering 1 680 to the bill per
9:38
couple in a cabin so I always use
9:41
another easy to use very Nifty tool to
9:43
see whether buying a drinks package on
9:46
any Cruise like this one is a good idea
9:48
or not there are two drinks package
9:51
calculators that I use either the one on
9:54
cruisley.com or the other ones on
9:57
cruisemummy.co.uk you input the cruise
10:00
line then what you think you're going to
10:02
drink on an average day and then will
10:04
tell me whether it's worth buying a
10:06
drinks package which type or not to
10:08
store now even as a non-alcoholic
10:10
Drinker I use these really clever little
10:13
secret weapons to check whether it's
10:14
worth even buying the soft drink or
10:16
non-alcoholic package if you found these
10:19
weapons of tools interesting watch this
10:20
video of the top best tips and tricks
10:23
that I've learned in my two decades of
10:25
cruising to date starting with the
10:28
biggest mistake I see most Cruisers make
10:30
when choosing a cruise line see you over
