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when i'm on a cruise i think about the
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people in the cabin on my left
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and on my right and want to make sure
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than they have we've got the same grade
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the same facilities we're on the same
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deck on the same location on that deck
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and yet all three of us will almost
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certainly have paid a different price
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the same cabin based on how when what
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and where we booked i'm going to show
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paying more for your cruise than you
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need to and become the person
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that pays less than others in similar
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if you're new to the channel welcome
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aboard i'm gary bembridge and i'm here
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to help make it easy and fun to discover
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and enjoy dream cruise vacations
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the most basic way to pay less is to
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book a guaranteed fare
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this means that you pay for a certain
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type of cabin be that inside
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ocean view balcony or suite but you do
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not get to choose your
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specific cabin you're basically leaving
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it completely to chance
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as the cruise line then allocates your
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cabin from one of those that are left
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paying the slightly higher fare have
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chosen their specific cabin
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now presumably those lot paying more
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will have taken the best cabins in that
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i never ever use the guaranteed fare
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because there are in my view much
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smarter ways that you can get the cabin
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you want and pay less
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ways that mean i have much more say in
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which cabin i stay in
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it can ensure completely that it meets
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my needs so things like it doesn't have
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an interconnecting door
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it's not below noisy areas like the
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nightclub and so on however
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guaranteed fare is a very very popular
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many cruise passengers use it to pay
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because it's a really simple one to do
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whether you go for a guaranteed fare or
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one where you choose your cabin you need
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to pick the right time to book
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to ensure you're not paying more than
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now my experience there are four best
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to book a cruise and it's really
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important you do it in one of these
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you book during what the lions call the
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now this is a week or two when all of
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the lines they cut their prices and
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they're competing at the same time
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for your booking the main wave season is
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in january just after christmas
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and new year the second time is many
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lines have got on the black friday
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november trend of offering
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deep price cuts so that is also another
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good time to wait for
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thirdly when the line is running ad hoc
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promotions that cover your particular
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chosen cruise now cruise lines
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they run promotions quite often to meet
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for example things like quarterly sales
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so you sign up for the email newsletter
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of that particular line you want to sell
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and that particular cruise and get ready
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to book when they offer deals you wait
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now these promotions can happen at any
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the fourth thing to do is to book as
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soon as your cruise first
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comes on sale when cruises launch there
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deals prices then can steadily go up
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from there as the number of cabins that
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for those launch deals slowly get booked
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by picking one of these times to book
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you have a greater chance of grabbing
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at a lower price than you will pay out
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four periods do not assume once you've
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booked that the fare you agree to is a
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in stone it may not be once you've
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tracking fare movements is the essential
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way to keep reducing your fare at worst
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it will confirm you have the lowest
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possible as if to prove my point as i
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was preparing this episode
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i received an alert from the site i use
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to track all my cruise fares
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telling me i could save another 83 as
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the price of my cabin on celebrity apex
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has reduced in price once again this is
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the second alert for this cruise
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and is still over a whole year away from
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prices for cruises change frequently and
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and if they've come down is absolutely
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key the best way to track fares in my
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is on cruisewatch.com it's free to use
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you input your cruise cabin level and
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level and every time fares change they
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then you simply contact your line and
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ask for the new fare now if you've not
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paid the final balance
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they will usually cut the fair price if
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they will not cut your fare
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and you have booked with a refundable
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deposit which you should always do
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then you can just simply cancel and
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low affair now this can happen multiple
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and you could end up paying way way less
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than you thought you were going to have
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at the time of booking by the way if you
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final balance paid or have a
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non-refundable deposit
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and they will not cut the fare ask for
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as an alternative that brings me to the
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next way to pay less which is
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to not just focus on the fare but the
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total cost of the trip
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and to see what extras you can get
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much better value so for example which
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is a better deal paying one thousand
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with no added perks or benefits or
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paying one thousand dollars for the same
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but having onboard credit to use for say
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excursions or onboard activities a
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drinks package and perhaps gratuities
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well the latter is of course by far a
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so when booking if you can't get the
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down see what extras you can get from
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the line or even from your travel agent
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to throw in to reduce the cost of your
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overall cruise it's not
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just about the fare itself if you use
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the best time to book tips that i've
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already given you you're likely to get a
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fair with added perks built in
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if you're booking in response to a
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cruise lines will often try to give you
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rather than cutting the fare if they can
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and also they use them to encourage
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that means they can hold the headline
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for the kind of published fare in the
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marketplace and they can hide the
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discounting they're giving you in a less
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if all of these tricks and tips sound
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complex and time-consuming
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simply use a cruise expert travel agent
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your booking they will take on all of
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and also actually may be able to better
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what the best the cruise line will offer
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many many travel agents will add in
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so perhaps they'll give onward credit
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travelers to book through them so they
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eventually earn their commissions
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they will never ever be more expensive
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than going direct to the cruise line so
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you have nothing to lose
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and you do actually have potentially
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travel agents are often given deals and
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promotions by the cruise lines
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that are not advertised to the general
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public so you don't even know that they
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are out there many of these travel
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agency groups they generate
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vast amounts of bookings and so the
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lines are constantly trying to
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with agent only offers for their clients
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means you benefit so this is definitely
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to ensure you can pay less than you
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in other ways now if you prefer to not
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use an agent and you like booking online
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at least look at sites that aggregate
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deals that are out there
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and compared to what the cruise line
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because again you might find it's
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cheaper so the ones that i look at
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and i think are worth looking at include
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vacations vacations2go.com
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and passionforcruises.com another way of
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paying less than the others
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is if you wait last minute to book your
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now this is a high risk approach if you
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have a specific cruise
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you want to go on as it may be pretty
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are actually much higher than you would
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it earlier on but if you are flexible
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for a cruise departing in the next 60 or
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and see if fares are below normal levels
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because the lion's trying to fill
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empty cabins to sell as well as they
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so you may end up paying less than those
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around you but you may not be
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on an ideal cruise for you but it is of
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one option that you could look at for
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more cruise money saving tips click to
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with two videos i recommend you watch
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right now for more tips
