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6 Cruises To Now Steer Clear Of (Even If Looks Good In The Brochures !)
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Jan 28, 2025
6 cruises to avoid and steer clear of, when you next go on a cruise again. Don't waste your money on these 6 cruises I am going to warn you about. When choosing a cruise to go on, you need to pick one where you will have the greatest chance of having an incredible experience, for all the right reasons. Some of the cruises to avoid you may be surprised with, as they are often being touted as giving you bragging rights or as ultimate must-do cruises. But they are not, and I will tell you why. 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 77 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
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don't waste your money on any of these
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six cruises i'm going to warn you about
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some of the cruises to avoid you may
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actually be pretty surprised with
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by the way if you're new to the channel
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i'm gary bembridge and my tips for
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travellers like this one
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they're here to help travelers make it
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easy to plan incredible
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memorable cruise experiences every
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single time
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as cruisers get the go ahead to start
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sailing again stay
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clear of the first few cruises on ships
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as they return to service
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wait until they've done a few and have
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bedded in and ironed out the inevitable
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kinks
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and missteps now you may be tempted to
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grab the bragging rights
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of being first out on a ship as it
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starts sailing but think
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about the experience as by waiting it
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will absolutely be better
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so after a year or more of no selling
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the ships they've been laid up things
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are not going to work smoothly the crew
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they've been stuck back at home
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and they're out of practice running the
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ship taking care of guests serving
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drinks making meals
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and most critically there are
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complicated new rules
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and protocols that have to be learned
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and implemented
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and they will almost inevitably be
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hiccups and things will not run smoothly
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let them all bed in through a few
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cruises before
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booking the other cruises to steer clear
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of
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are maiden voyages despite the pandemic
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lions and investors are
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absolutely confident that cruising will
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grow and there are
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large numbers of ships coming into
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service year
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after year and there's a whole legion of
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cruise fans that
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live to cruise on brand new ships first
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they want to be the first to stay in
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that cabin
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and to experience all the new onboard
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activities it's kind of seen as a
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bragging rights for life
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so for example i was at the naming
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ceremony for seabourn encore in
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singapore
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and there was a whole section there of
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people that have been on every single
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new
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seabourn ship made in voyage however i
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recommend that you skip
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maiden voyages first of all you will not
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actually be the first to stay in that
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cabin or try out those facilities
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lions run a series of voyages they're
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called shakedown cruises after they've
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taken delivery of the ship from the
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shipyard
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and before that maiden voyage sales with
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paying guests
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now they normally run them with
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employees first and then with media
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travel industry and agents and i've been
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on many many of those
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shakedown voyages over the years because
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one great advantage of being based in
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europe
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where all the ships are built they're
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pretty much always run here and so i've
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been on a lot of them
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now secondly and more importantly things
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generally do not run totally
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smoothly on a maiden voyage it's a brand
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new ship
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and it's the first time with a full
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complement of passengers
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the shakedown cruisers they normally
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maximum about half
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capacity so it's the first time
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everything gets really
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tried out so every single maiden voyage
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i've been on there have been workmen
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from the shipyard still on board
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finishing things off making repairs
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sometimes all the facilities
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haven't been able to open often the
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shows are still being finalized and
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rehearsed to be
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previewed on that maiden voyage the
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systems are really stress tested now the
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ship is full
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they often need tweaking things don't go
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that well that's smooth even simple
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things like getting people on and off
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the excursions
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gonna take some time to bed in so to
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ensure a great experience
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i would strongly suggest stay clear of
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maiden voyages and let
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the ship bed in a bit more also avoid
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the first cruise when ships are coming
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out of their dry docks
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ships are required by law to go into dry
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dock every few years
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this is kind of safety checks and
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maintenance but the lions often use
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these
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to make big upgrades to ships so these
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could range from
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simple decor changes ripping up the
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carpets replacing
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beds but they could go as far as adding
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whole new decks cabins
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and even sometimes cutting a ship in
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half and extending it
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now lions of course don't want to take
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the ship out of service for too long
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because they'll lose revenue so they'll
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tend to put ships in dry dock for a very
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tight amount of time
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so the amount of time to work on the
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ship and make all these changes is
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normally pretty tight and pretty limited
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so again in my experience ships will
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leave a dry dock with things
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not bedded in and things not really
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working again
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it's really likely you'll have workmen
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on board there'll be noise
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things are being fitted things have been
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changed you'll find some venues closed
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the smell of fresh paint and all that
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kind of stuff going on so again
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let a sailing or two go by before you
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book also
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watch out and stay clear of the last
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cruise before a ship goes into dry dock
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because time's tight preparation often
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starts on that last cruise things are
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being ripped out
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removed closed venues closed and so on
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how do you know if a ship is going to
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dry dock
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best thing to do is look at the crew
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schedule and see if there's a gap in
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dates
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after or before your cruise it could of
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course mean the ship has been charted
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it's not on sale to the general public
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but it's more likely going to be a dry
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dock
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if you're thinking of cruising in the
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mediterranean i would steer clear of
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cruises in the peak of summers that's
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july
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and august not only because it can get
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really really hot and sticky
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but if those cruisers are going to
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places like rome venice barcelona
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florence these places will be absolutely
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packed
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with both land-based travelers and
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hordes of cruise passengers too
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it won't make for great sightseeing
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everywhere will be crowded and
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slow so instead look at shoulder months
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to the peak season so in the
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mediterranean
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i really like june sort of mid-september
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to end of october which also
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will be much cheaper too but one area
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probably doesn't apply is alaska where
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the peak months of that season are
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actually better so cruises in may
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and september are priced much lower than
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sailings in june july or august
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but those peak months are more likely to
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have much better weather for
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sightseeing but generally around the
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world steer clear
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of the peak months and go for the
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shoulder months for a better
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experience the next one is something
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that i used to recommend but now suggest
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people
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steer well clear of and that's the short
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two or three night taster cruises
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that most lines run now many first time
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cruisers
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like the idea of trying these short
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cruisers to see if they
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like cruising they like that line they
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like that ship before committing to a
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full week or longer but there are two
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reasons
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i steer well clear of these now and
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suggest you do first of all
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ships are getting bigger much more
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complex they have so much to try so much
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to do
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that you really will not have time to
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properly experience it and draw any
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conclusions especially
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if those cruisers are calling on ports
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you'll be on the ship almost no time at
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all
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and the lines often run a more limited
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range of activities anyway
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but secondly they don't really show you
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what the line what the ship is really
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going to be like
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because increasingly they attract a
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crowd that's not typical
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for the line they're often run on long
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weekends spring break other holidays
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and so they've become short and pretty
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good value party trips
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which is great if you're looking for
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that but it's not going to be that
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representative
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of what the cruise is normally another
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cruise to stay
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clear of is when there are themed
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cruises that you are not
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part of third parties often run themed
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cruises on cruise ships as becoming
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really popular
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they could be kind of some kind of
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conference or it could be themed around
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say
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motorcycle enthusiasts star trek game of
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thrones boy bands
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or right down to even small niches like
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knitting crafting and that kind of stuff
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however if they've charted a lot of
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births then parts of the ship
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could be completely closed to other
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cruise passengers not on that cruise
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some facilities like bars nightclubs or
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the theater may be closed
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at certain times to you too there may be
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special events going on that you're not
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allowed to attend
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now i've had lots of people contact me
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saying they found themselves with hordes
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of bikers sci-fi fans doctors whatever
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based on what the theme cruise was and
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it's made
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often or sometimes a less enjoyable
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cruise experience
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for them now it's harder to check if
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your cruise
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is going to be part chartered for one of
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those because the lines don't make that
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clear
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on the site or in their brochures so the
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simplest way i've found is put the name
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of your ship
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and the dates into a search engine like
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google or something like that
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because if there's a themed cruise on
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your particular cruise it will usually
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bring up
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the web page for that particular theme
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cruise so you can find out that way so
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if those are six cruises to
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steer clear of what are the ones you
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should be looking at i put together a
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short playlist of videos
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of cruises i recommend you focus on so
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why not click on that
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link to watch those right now
#Cruises & Charters
#Transportation