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9 Top Cruise Tips And Tricks For When Cruising Resumes
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Jan 28, 2025
I share my top 9 best cruise tips and tricks to help you plan and get the most of your post-shutdown cruising vacation, be that if you are looking for cruising tips for as soon as cruises start up - or into 2021 or even 2022. As cruisers look to a post-lockdown post cruise shutdown world, and want to think about planning a cruise, I share 9 key tips on things to think about, plan for and do to ensure you choose the right cruise at the right time on the right ships with the best itinerary and cabin for this new world of cruising. While the specific detail on some enhanced procedures is not yet clear or announced fully by the cruise lines, many travellers are looking ahead at planning a cruise and these tips will help you with your planning or thoughts SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS: 10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk 5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0 Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video. Follow Tips For Travellers on:
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0:00
you're about to discover 9 essential
0:02
tips if you're planning to go cruising
0:04
in a post shutdown world
0:06
I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
0:09
cruising tips for Travis I want to share
0:11
with you nine things that I think you
0:13
should think about plan and do if you're
0:16
planning to go cruising in a post
0:17
shutdown world whether that's as soon as
0:20
cruising start or heading right back
0:21
into 2021 or even later than that these
0:24
are things that I really think you need
0:25
to think about plan for and prepare for
0:27
starting with this one
0:29
embrace the volatility booklet and
0:32
retain flexibility why do I say that as
0:36
we head into cruising we should assume
0:39
that things are going to be volatile for
0:41
a while no one really knows finally what
0:43
how many ports are going to open how
0:44
many ships they're gonna want to take it
0:46
anytime and how much traditional item
0:48
ease are gonna be able to run as
0:49
cruising gets back into its stride and
0:51
as they start to confirm cruises and
0:53
start to run cruises some of that will
0:55
settle down but there's a lot of
0:57
volatility out there a lot of
0:58
uncertainty around there a lot of
1:00
worries up there and so there will be
1:01
much more capacity than perhaps even
1:04
existing bookings show because other
1:06
people who would have booked a long time
1:07
ago still have a long time to make up
1:09
their mind you know you pay 90 days six
1:11
days before I think a lot of people will
1:12
drop out I think there'll be lots of
1:14
late minute capacity coming on board and
1:16
lots of uncertainty around the way
1:18
things gonna be no one really knows what
1:20
the procedures are going to be what the
1:21
rules and regulations of getting to a
1:23
ship are going to be boarding the ship
1:24
what's gonna happen on the ship so
1:26
there's lots and lots of uncertainty and
1:27
there's going to be a lot of volatility
1:29
in prices and availability so actually
1:32
my big tip if you're planning to go
1:34
cruising is retain flexibility and be
1:37
able to make decisions much later and
1:39
closer to when cruisers go and be able
1:42
to take advantage of knowing exactly
1:43
what the final items are going to be
1:45
what the ports are going to be and
1:46
actually work the system to find
1:48
phenomenal deals Barrowman if you book a
1:50
cruise now in a broad area the cruise
1:53
line within the cruise contract can
1:55
change the ports that you go to so the
1:56
cruise you think you're booking may not
1:58
happen you may still go around the Med
1:59
or the Caribbean or wherever that may be
2:01
but the actual ports may change quite
2:04
dramatically and quite significantly so
2:06
by basically holding back retain
2:08
flexibility make sure you're ready to go
2:10
pencil when you want to go and work the
2:12
whole system as
2:13
deels come up wait until cruises are
2:15
actually up and running before you make
2:17
any decisions my second real tip for
2:20
cruising in a post shutdown world is
2:22
stay local and I said that for a couple
2:24
of reasons one of which is a practical
2:26
reason in that it's gonna be much easier
2:28
to get to the ports it also appears as
2:31
travel gets up and running there may be
2:33
lots of challenges even with airports
2:35
and Airlines we don't know what the
2:36
whole process that's gonna be it could
2:38
be more expensive for example to travel
2:40
and much less availability so actually
2:42
staying more local it would be a really
2:44
good idea because that takes one less
2:45
hassle out of traveling to your cruise
2:47
it's also going to be an area that you
2:49
know well understand well you probably
2:51
understand how the governments work
2:52
there how the system works that you're
2:54
not that far from home so that could
2:55
provide extra reassurance if anything
2:57
does happen one of the challenges in the
2:59
pre shutdown world is all people were
3:00
very far away from home in very exotic
3:03
locations but it was quite complex and
3:06
difficult to eventually get home they
3:07
didn't know the system they didn't know
3:09
a thing
3:09
the things worked so actually staying
3:11
local is a really good idea so if you as
3:13
one of those people that can drive or
3:14
train or take a short flight to get to
3:17
cruise that might be a good idea so for
3:19
example if you're a based in the US sort
3:22
of in Florida or New York or places like
3:24
that which do the Caribbean you may want
3:26
to stick to the Caribbean if you're in
3:27
Europe you you may want to stick to
3:30
brown the UK or cruises that go in a
3:33
certain region like Northern Europe the
3:35
Norwegian fjords wherever that is so
3:36
kind of close and local to home could be
3:39
a really good idea as you head back and
3:41
try out cruising once again the other
3:44
thing that may happen certainly in the
3:46
early phases of a post shutdown wall is
3:48
lots of countries are talking about
3:49
creating his travel bubbles so
3:51
protozoans been lots of talk of
3:52
Australian New Zealand forming a kind of
3:54
a travel bubble before international
3:56
travel comes there's been some talk for
3:58
example in Europe a place like Greece
4:00
and Croatia forming I could travel
4:02
bubble to enable people to move more
4:04
easily between them so you might also
4:05
find actually staying more local or
4:07
staying within those bubbles becomes
4:09
particularly feeling silly in the early
4:10
stages of the end of shutdown my third
4:13
tip is another one that I think is
4:15
really important about the way that you
4:17
approach cruising differently now you
4:19
might have been of those people that
4:20
love going on small ships so you might
4:22
even those people like the big mega
4:24
resort ships with really funky and wild
4:27
things like
4:27
ice-skating rinks and go-kart tracks and
4:30
rock climbing wars all that kind of
4:32
stuff but one of things I really
4:33
recommend you think about is as you head
4:35
back into cruising in a post lockdown
4:38
post shutdown world is think a lot about
4:40
the type of cruise ship that you want to
4:42
be on one of the things we're becoming
4:44
more and more used to is the concept of
4:46
social distancing which may or may not
4:47
exist in any form moving forwards but
4:50
we're getting more used to having more
4:52
control over our space being further
4:53
apart from people so you might want to
4:55
think about what type of ship do you
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want to be on do you want to be on a
4:57
ship that has lots and lots of deck
4:59
space so you know that you're gonna be
5:00
able to spread out there's gonna be lots
5:02
of space are you gonna want to be on a
5:04
crucial which has a very high passenger
5:06
to space ratio bit which has big rooms
5:08
have example queen mary 2 has a very
5:10
high space per passenger ratio so you
5:14
might want to think about the type of
5:15
ship you want to be on all you want to
5:16
be on the ship that has much fewer
5:18
passengers than you're used to in the
5:19
past so you want to look at an Oceania
5:21
and Azamara those small ships you know
5:22
with a couple of hundred passengers so
5:24
think around the type of experiences
5:26
you're gonna feel most comfortable in of
5:29
course we also need to understand how
5:31
the whole onboard experience is going to
5:33
operate and be the same or different but
5:35
just think about the type of environment
5:37
you want to be and this may be even more
5:39
important than the type of facilities
5:40
than it was in the past so think about
5:42
the process of deciding which type of
5:44
ship you want to be on and that whole
5:46
experience of the ship and the things
5:49
that are important to you because you
5:50
may find space and fewer passengers is
5:53
more important than the attractions were
5:54
perhaps in the past my fourth tip is
5:58
around the cabin many many people that I
6:00
know like to go in an inside cabin it's
6:03
inexpensive and it means that then go
6:05
cruising more often but do have a think
6:07
around as you head back into cruising in
6:10
a post shutdown world what type of cabin
6:11
do you want to be in we heard many
6:14
stories for example in the ships that
6:16
were quarantined to pre the whole
6:18
shutdown lockdown of people who were
6:20
then in inside caverns and kind of small
6:22
cabins landing lights and fresh air and
6:25
that was kind of really frustrating for
6:27
them you might want to think moving
6:28
forward back to cruising do you want to
6:30
be perhaps a little bit more cautious I
6:31
think we'll probably find that the
6:34
processes and the procedures going to be
6:35
really restrict so hopefully never gets
6:37
to that situation again but do think
6:39
about the type of cabin you do want to
6:41
be in do
6:41
I should reassure yourself by going in
6:43
for example a balcony cabin which is
6:45
slightly bigger than you perhaps might
6:47
have gone before but you know that
6:48
you've got the outside space the reason
6:50
I say that is you also might find as we
6:52
head back cruising after we so used to
6:54
the social distancing and lock down that
6:56
you actually value your own space much
6:58
more and instead of perhaps getting hang
7:00
out in public spaces you might wish you
7:02
want the ability to go out and sit in
7:04
your balcony much more so just think
7:06
around the kind of crazy experience
7:08
you're gonna want an are you gonna want
7:09
to have much more of your own personal
7:11
space with lights and air to actually
7:13
enjoy and I think that's going to be a
7:15
big trend personally a lot of people are
7:16
gonna be looking increasingly at balcony
7:18
cabins and moving forwards another
7:20
really important areas around the whole
7:22
payment and cancellation terms what we
7:25
have got increasingly used to through
7:27
this whole process of the shutdown is
7:30
cruise lines introducing much more
7:32
flexible cancellation policies however
7:34
when you look forwards they seem to be
7:36
bringing back the stricter ninety days
7:39
60 days payments high percentage of
7:42
cancellations I mean a couple of
7:43
developments recently there's a tie my
7:45
video this with for example the Royal
7:47
Caribbean group actually extending
7:48
they're much more flexible cancellation
7:50
right into next year into 2021 and we
7:54
might see more of that but when you
7:55
start planning to go back cruising
7:57
really think about how far ahead do you
7:59
want to commit to and what the
8:01
cancellation terms also look even more
8:03
than you ever did before about what is
8:05
the payment time that you have to make
8:07
before you going to cruise and what are
8:08
the cancellation options should you
8:10
change your mind I think we may find
8:11
more and more flexibility coming in
8:13
because people got used to it and also
8:15
to encourage people back also really
8:17
importantly is wait and understand what
8:20
the whole procedures are as we know in
8:21
the pre shutdown world if you declare on
8:24
the health declaration form that you
8:27
were vomiting or have upset stomach you
8:29
will often be quarantined in your cabin
8:31
you wouldn't have any options of
8:31
cancelling so did actually encourage
8:33
people who perhaps 100 percent well to
8:35
go on cruises it's also understand and
8:37
wait I think to understand what the
8:38
process is so if you're not feeling well
8:40
quite close to the cruise are they going
8:42
to give you a way of cancelling and
8:43
giving refunds or future cruise credits
8:45
and if you are through the new process
8:47
is denied boarding
8:48
what is the refund and cancellation
8:50
process so make sure that you understand
8:52
what that is and I actually think it's
8:53
worth waiting to see
8:54
how that all settles down before you
8:56
restart committing to cruising a lot of
8:58
money in a post shutdown world I think
9:01
for that one of the things that I think
9:02
is really important if you are planning
9:04
going cruising in a post shutdown world
9:05
and certainly for the next year or two
9:07
is travel insurance what we're seeing in
9:10
most places in all the policies I've
9:12
seen and the discussions I've seen is
9:13
most insurance companies are excluding
9:16
any claims related to covered 19 so if
9:19
you head on a cruiser you need to cancel
9:21
a cruise for any reason link took over
9:24
19 insurance won't pay out and they'll
9:26
tell you that you need to look at either
9:27
the cruise line or the airline or
9:29
whatever so as you plan to go about
9:31
cruising really understand what travel
9:32
insurance that you can get because if
9:34
you do have to cancel or you have some
9:36
problem which might be not related to
9:38
even took over 19 all you do have some
9:40
sort of cope at 19 related issue
9:42
well that policy payout or will it
9:44
actually be just not valid at all
9:46
cruising without travel insurance is a
9:48
really bad idea because some of the
9:49
costs not related to the pandemic can be
9:52
enormous if you fall ill in a having to
9:54
go to a hospital in a foreign country
9:55
all you can get medevacked so really
9:57
really understand before you commit to
9:59
cruising in a post shutdown world that
10:02
you understand what travel insurance you
10:04
can get and what it will cover my other
10:07
big tip and watch out for cruising in a
10:09
post shutdown world is fares I do
10:12
believe that we're going to see lots and
10:13
lots of deals which is why I said retain
10:15
flexibility but even more importantly I
10:17
think fares will be quite volatile for
10:19
quite some time as supply and demand to
10:22
demand wanes over time so I think we can
10:24
see lots of lots of deals coming along
10:26
what's really important is once you've
10:27
booked your cruise subdue leave you've
10:29
booked at far ahead keep an eye on the
10:31
fares if the fares drop and you approach
10:33
the cruise line they will normally give
10:35
you something to compensate that I'll
10:36
upgrade you to a better cabin or they'll
10:38
give you a crumpled credit or they'll
10:40
give you future cruise credit really
10:42
really important because I do think
10:43
fares are going to be volatile I do you
10:44
think the trend might be downwards so do
10:46
focus a lot on tracking your further
10:49
through your travel agent or do it
10:51
yourself now some of the cruise lines
10:52
already start to acknowledge this again
10:54
I've seen some recent developments from
10:56
Royal Caribbean Group which do
10:57
acknowledge that if fares to go down in
10:59
the next year or so they will be willing
11:02
if you contact them to give you some
11:05
extra benefits but the important thing
11:06
is you need to track it
11:07
and you need to approach the cruise line
11:09
my next one is around budgeting so when
11:12
you're budgeting for your cruise think
11:13
door-to-door I've seen a lot of studies
11:16
where various market trackers have said
11:18
that on average cruisers will spend
11:21
between 50 percent and a hundred percent
11:23
of their fare once they're on board so
11:26
there's that whole bunch of costs but
11:27
also very importantly there's a lot of
11:29
costs associated with getting to the
11:31
cruise we know that there's lots of
11:32
volatility uncertainty around Airlines
11:34
we don't know how many are gonna survive
11:36
we don't know what the costs going to be
11:37
based on the restrictions so we might
11:39
find air fares going up so it cost of
11:41
getting to your cruise becomes more
11:42
expensive we might find that the onboard
11:44
cost so there's a whole bunch of onboard
11:46
cost you need to really bear in mind so
11:48
you've got gratuities which often get
11:50
auto added because it add two three
11:51
hundred dollars to your cruise per
11:53
person even across seven days you've got
11:56
Wi-Fi which can be pretty expensive
11:58
again that could be another couple of
11:59
hundred dollars if you use Wi-Fi you've
12:01
got drinks drinks packages can be pretty
12:03
expensive I actually recommend you kind
12:05
of avoid drinks packages and buy drinks
12:07
individually as a way of controlling
12:08
costs especially dining that can add a
12:10
lot of costs and excursions you know it
12:12
can be spending many hundreds of dollars
12:14
on excursions between if you've got a
12:15
report in terms of cruise so as you
12:17
start to budget keep a real eye out for
12:19
whether those costs are going up I think
12:21
there's a chance of course they may be
12:22
pushing those up because the model of a
12:24
cruise is get people onto the cruise as
12:25
cheaply as possible and then try and
12:27
make as much money as possible on the
12:29
Chris you might find many of those costs
12:31
going up and then the whole process of
12:32
course of getting home so really look at
12:34
the whole budget so don't be just drawn
12:36
by cheap entry fairs because the overall
12:39
cost of cruising could actually be
12:40
increasing so really budget really
12:43
carefully and understand one of the ways
12:44
of course of mitigate against that and
12:47
we're seeing a lot of those deals at the
12:48
moment is quite a few Cruise Lines are
12:50
offering fair where they'll bundle in
12:53
some of those extra so gratuities Wi-Fi
12:56
drinks that kind of stuff so that may be
12:58
something to really focus on to help
13:00
manage your over costs a big tip of mine
13:02
is look for those deals and you know
13:04
focus on try those down to manage your
13:07
budget of course you could also look at
13:08
some of the lines which throw more of
13:10
those in so for example Virgin voyages
13:11
has more stuff included Oceania they
13:14
have their Olaf where you can pick those
13:16
different things and I've seen quite a
13:17
few deals coming through
13:19
celebrity princess where they are
13:21
offering bundling much more into the
13:23
fair another really important tip that I
13:26
have for cruising opposed to shut down
13:28
waters even if you haven't done it
13:29
before think of actually working with a
13:32
cruise travel agent so lot of people
13:34
like me historically I'd like to sort of
13:36
put my own packages together book my
13:38
airfare in one place but minor hotels
13:40
put my flights booked my cruise my
13:44
transfers all kind of separately however
13:46
moving forward you might want to do that
13:47
through an agent it means you have one
13:49
point of contact so if anything goes
13:50
wrong if there's any of this volatility
13:52
or things change
13:53
you only have one call to make one email
13:55
to make and they will sort it all out
13:56
and if you are actually out on a cruise
13:58
and there's a problem you have one
14:00
person you can then sort everything out
14:02
for you those are the things I think you
14:05
need to really focus on heading out back
14:07
cruising in a post shutdown world hope
14:09
you find that helpful
14:10
I've loads more videos packed full of
14:12
tips and advice on cruising so why don't
14:14
you watch another one of those right now
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