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Hapag Lloyd Luxury Cruise Line. 5 Need To Knows Before Cruising With Them
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Jan 29, 2025
Hapag-Lloyd is an ultra-luxury cruise line based in Germany. Historically it has mostly attracted German-speaking cruisers. However, the cruise line is keen to bring more english-speaking cruise passengers on board and uses the MS Europa 2 as the classic cruise ship and the new Hanseatic Inspiration as the expedition ship as their "international ships" for english-speaking cruisers. In this video I explore who Hapag-Lloyd cruises are, their age profile, what makes them an ultra-luxury cruise line, what the fares are includes and excludes (including some surprises for the category) and what they offer and have done for english-speaking cruisers. #cruisetips #cruisingtips #hapaglloyd #luxurycruise Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video but still give my honest thoughts as I know you would expect no less. Subscribe and get a new video every week to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on both land and at sea: http://bit.ly/TFT_YouTube2 Support the channel by looking for your next cruise and best deals on CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-8330795-10511118 Consider becoming a Tips For Travellers Patron. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Follow Tips For Travellers on: - Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
hi I'm Gary Bainbridge of tips for
0:02
travelers in this video I'm gonna tell
0:04
you five things that you need to know
0:05
about Hopak Lord cruisers and especially
0:08
if you're an english-speaking passenger
0:10
should you even consider cruising with
0:12
them so first of all who exactly are
0:15
Hopak Lloyd cruisers so whilst their
0:18
origins are with the big freight company
0:21
how about lloyd they are now no longer
0:23
associated with a company they're
0:24
actually a wholly owned subsidiary of
0:26
the massive TUI Travel Group and they're
0:29
based in Hamburg their routes do go
0:31
right back over a hundred 25 years of
0:33
cruising they operate a very small fleet
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of ships at the time of recording just
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for ships they are really an ultra
0:40
luxury cruise line and they focus on
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classic cruising and expedition cruising
0:45
their ships as with all ultra luxury
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ships Oxmoor so for example the Europa
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two which I'm currently on has only 500
0:53
guests now many people in the industry
0:55
rate them as the leaders in ultra luxury
0:57
and give them very high ratings so
1:00
things like the Berlitz cruise and
1:02
cruising guide they consistently rate
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many of the have ignored cruises ships
1:07
right up there with top marks higher
1:09
than many other of the other cruise
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ships the second thing I think you need
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to know is is the line suitable for
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english-speaking travelers now Hubbard
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loads cruises because it's hard and
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bases in Germany it caters very much
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historically for the german-speaking
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passenger
1:25
however they are looking to attract many
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more international travelers by which
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they mean english-speaking travelers
1:31
this is focused on two key ships so the
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MS europa 2 and they also have an
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expedition ship he has heading
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inspiration is also designated as an
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international ship so what does it mean
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to be an international ship or first of
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all all of the crew onboard are
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bilingual so all of them will speak
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German and English all the documentation
1:50
that you receive before and during the
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cruise will be in English so the daily
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programme when you look at the onboard
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app announcements will all be made in
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both languages German and English there
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will always be at least one English
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excursion in every port of call and
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that's a dedicated English excursion
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very importantly there is an
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international host on board and it's
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there all to make sure that the
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international guests English
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you can guess are covered at all time so
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for example if there's a talk by someone
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in German on board you will be given a
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Silla tennis translation they were also
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coming you on excursions if there are
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only going to be in German and they are
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available to sort out any issues you
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have on board things like the safety
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briefing or zodiac briefing they're all
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done specifically in English tsunami
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English group is formed and your brief
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very specifically in English to make
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sure that you understand all of the
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safety regulations so certainly if you
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need to speak and looking for an ultra
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luxury cruising experience I would
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recommend you take a look at how
2:47
paranoid cruises you're not gonna be
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travelling a little bubble of the US or
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the UK you will have a much more
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international experience once you're on
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board so the third thing you need to
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know is about the age profile of half
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Aguila cruises now what's interesting
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about how about lloyd is it differs a
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lot by ship and they do attract and
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target different demographics so for
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example on the classic cruising side
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europa tends to be a much more
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traditional cuisine experience i want to
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attract a slightly older traveler
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however you rope it to really targets a
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much younger demographic so they tend to
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be sort of in their 40s they tend to be
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young professionals and young
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professionals often with families so you
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Roper - which is the International ship
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is a much younger demographic so the
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look the feel the design of the ship is
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designed to be much younger Europa - has
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many shorter cruises so lots of
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seven-day cruises or shorter cruises
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which work much better for younger
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professionals so if you have children
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here's a couple of things to consider
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that Europa - specifically does first of
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all there's a financial opportunity
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because if you have children up to the
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age of eleven and they travel in the
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same cabin as you they travel for free
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if they're aged between 11 and 15 is a
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small charge of around about a hundred
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US dollars about a hundred euros
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again if they're staying in the same
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cabin as you the second thing they have
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though is they have what is known as
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family apartments and these consist of a
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veranda suite and then as adjoining
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cabin next door which is specific
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targeted at children there are kids
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clubs on board both for young children
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split by age and then a specific teens
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Club they also have family and kids
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specific excursion
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they also have a late riser offer where
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they will come and fetch your children
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early in the morning taken away to give
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you some new time to sleep in a little
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bit later twice a day they have an
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adults-only time at the pool and they
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have a kids only time at the pool also
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if you're traveling with very young
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children before you come on board you
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can order a special baby's welcome pack
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which has lots of things that you need
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for babies such as diapers formula and
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other baby related products the only
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watch I'd have of course if you don't
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travel with children is then like most
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Cruise Lines avoid the critical holiday
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times it's so for example in July
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Cruiser I was on there was over 55
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children onboard so the fourth thing you
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need to know about her burglary cruises
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is about the fare now the reason I want
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to talk about this is because it's a
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little bit different to other ultra
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luxury lines and you might be surprised
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as some of the things that are included
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and some of the things that are
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excellent because it's a little bit
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different to comparable or competitive
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lines so first of all let's talk about
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what is included so obviously your
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accommodation is included and the
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accommodation is pretty lush has lots of
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little features like the minibar is
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included you get fresh fruit you get
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very nice little turndown treats the
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second thing that's included is your
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food including or speciality dining
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options so for example let's take a look
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at the Europa - there are seven
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restaurants on board and all of them are
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included within your fare now in the
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Europa they have slightly less
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speciality restaurants but there all of
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them are included within the fare
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24-hour in-room dining is also included
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within the fare once a week onboard they
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also have a big caviar night where all
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the restaurants have caviar gratuities
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are included within the fair although
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you will find for example the spa it's
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often a line left when you sign to add
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an extra gratuity you also get one hour
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of free Wi-Fi and then of course you get
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access to all the facilities including
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things like the steam room and the sauna
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and if there's an entertainment going on
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the only key thing that you pay extra
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for is if you do one of the cooking
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classes onboard there is a charge for
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that so let's talk about what's not
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included now one of the things you
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probably have noticed straight away is
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alcoholic beverages are not included and
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even water that you have outside of the
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room are not included so specialty teas
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and coffees are included the minibar in
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your room which has beer and soft drinks
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is included to all drinks and things
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like the captain's welcome party are
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included and you'll get a bottle of
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champagne in your room when you board no
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other things you do get is a 200 euro
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onboard credit to use for drinks
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excursions are not included obviously if
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you go on the expedition cruising that's
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slightly different because some of the
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zodiac trips are included within the
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overall fare so as you can see there are
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some similarities and some differences
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to other ultra luxury lines with the
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alcohol not being included probably the
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biggest difference in terms of fare so
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the fifth thing you need to know about
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Hapag Lloyd cruises is what is the
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onboard ambience like and again as I've
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hinted at it does stuff a little bit by
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ship so let's talk a little bit about
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the dress code so although there's no
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set dress code on Europa two people do
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tend to dress quite smartly so even
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during the day they wear designer Browns
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are quite smart clothes in the evenings
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people do dress up very smartly and
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certainly when they go to the
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restaurants it's very normal for men to
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wear jackets and ladies to wear smart
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dresses so in the informal dining and
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the evening so like the Yacht Club on
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your OPA - people will dress a little
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bit more informally it tends not to be a
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big party ship people tend to have a
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much more laid-back approach a much
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calmer approach to cruising and looking
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just to have a more quiet calm find time
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haploid offers a very upmarket
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experience it's quite a refined it's
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quite a sophisticated experience how
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burglars want to attract more and more
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english-speaking guests so they have two
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dedicated ships there one classic
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cruising ship which is Europa - and one
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of the new expedition ships Hanseatic
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inspiration is designated as an
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international chef and certainly as an
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English speaker onboard I didn't feel
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left out I didn't feel lost because
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there are lots of things they do to make
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sure that you feel welcome and in fact
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certainly within when you're in your
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cabin you almost forget that you're on
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with mostly German speakers because
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everything you interact with is English
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so if you like the idea of an ultra
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luxury line you like the idea of a very
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educated line with a higher of service
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and really good quality it's definitely
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something to consider and bear in mind
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that if you do travel and have pipe
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loads you're not traveling a little
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bubble of the US or the UK and you are
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going to be having a slightly more
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exotic and slightly different cruising
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experience so definitely I think
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something to look at now how big Lloyd
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cruises does operate very much in the
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ultra-luxury and the premium end of the
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cruising market so for example to give
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you a sense of the prices onboard I'm in
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a veranda sweet humble the Europa -
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that's gonna cost you around about 500
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euros per person per day about 600 US
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dollars per person per day about 500
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pounds per person per day
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obviously that varies not based on the
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time of year that you're traveling if
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you found this video helpful I'd love if
9:40
you watch many more of my tips of
9:42
travelers videos the goal of them is to
9:44
help you make much more of your precious
9:47
travel time and money
9:49
[Music]
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[Applause]
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