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Changes EVERYONE Cruising In 2025 Needs To Know About
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Jan 28, 2025
If you've got a cruise booked in 2025, or thinking of booking one, there are startling changes being made by cruise lines, governments, and the actions of some local port residents that you need to be ready to deal with. Even if you've been cruising recently and think you know how things work, these changes could catch you by surprise and throw your cruise plans off course. Here are six changes I think you need to be ready for in 2025. Links mentioned in the video: UK ETA: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-electronic-travel-authorisation-eta EU ETIAS: https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en Videos Mentioned: Money saving: https://youtu.be/qWLw-tJbSKg Banned Items: https://youtu.be/WCveKKbpJRw For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: ---------------------------------------------------
View Video Transcript
0:00
if you've got a cruise booked in 2025 or
0:02
are thinking of booking one there are
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startling changes being made by Cruise
0:06
Lines governments and the actions of
0:08
some local Port residents that you need
0:11
to be ready to deal with even if you've
0:12
been cruising recently and think you
0:14
know how things work these changes could
0:17
catch you by surprise and throw your
0:19
cruise plans off course welcome aboard
0:21
I'm Gary benridge and here are five
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changes I think you need to be ready for
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in
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2025 through 2024 the number of people
0:30
being denied boarding due to not having
0:32
the right travel documents and visas
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increased significantly and this is
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likely to get worse in 2025 due to some
0:40
major changes being made some could even
0:43
prevent you getting to your cruise in
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the first place all cruise lines say by
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the way it's up to us to get the right
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documents and visas without having the
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right ones at checkin they will deny us
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boarding and so your risk of that
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happening in 2025 has grown because two
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major Cruise regions are introducing new
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visa requirements the UK and Europe are
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introducing new e visas this year which
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will significantly change how you join a
1:11
cruise in the UK or european ports or
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even if you're visiting ports within the
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UK or the EU let me talk about the UK
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first at the time of recording travelers
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from most countries including the United
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States Canada Australia and New Zealand
1:27
need to apply for and get a UK e ta EV
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Visa before arriving in the UK and from
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April it will be extended to Travelers
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from those not yet covered which are
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mostly European countries it takes about
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3 days from applying to receive approval
1:42
must be done on the official website or
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app it costs £10 around
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$12 everyone in your travel party needs
1:49
one including babies and children it
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lasts for 2 years or until your passport
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expires and involves uploading a photo
1:55
of your passport and submitting a
1:57
photograph of yourself the European
2:00
Union is also making changes and is
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introducing a new entry exit system
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called EES and introducing a compulsory
2:08
e Visa called
2:10
etias introduction has been much delayed
2:12
but it is due to launch in the middle of
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2025 certainly at the time of recording
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so if you're joining a cruise anywhere
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in Europe you need to check if it's up
2:21
and running and required before
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departing your home country in terms of
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the new entry exit system they will now
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be taking off photograph and
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fingerprints so as you do when I enter
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the United States anyone who's not an EU
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passport Holder will need to apply for
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and get an
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ETI online before traveling it'll cost
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€7 about
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$7 as the final date is not yet set make
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sure you keep checking whether it is
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launched and building plenty of time to
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get them and for both the UK and EU e
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visas ensure you use the official sites
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so you do not get ripped off by bogus
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sites that are around charging added
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unnecessary fees I've put links to the
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official sites in the show notes of
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course many countries already have e
3:06
visas including Canada United States
3:08
Australia South Korea and so on so
3:10
always check if you need these to fly to
3:13
or join any Crews I find the best place
3:15
to check is on your country's foreign
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office or state department travel advice
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site make sure in 2025 you are not
3:23
denied boarding by not having the right
3:25
visas something else that has changed is
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cruise lines have banned more items
3:30
popular with Cruisers from being brought
3:32
on board there already was a
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comprehensive list of banned items that
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you should always check but this has
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been expanded in 2025 many lines have
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now banned multiplug cord and plug
3:46
adapters so one's taking more than one
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plug wireless Bluetooth speakers to stop
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Cruisers playing music on their balcony
3:53
and around the ship you're not allowed
3:55
to bring a personal starlink Wi-Fi disc
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and Equipment as well as Ro roters and
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equipment to set up a personal Wi-Fi
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hotspot to get around costly Wi-Fi
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charges for example some cruise lines
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have also started denying boarding to
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guests that have not told them in
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advance that they need and will be
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bringing a wheelchair because they now
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have limits on the number of wheelchair
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passengers requiring assistance in case
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of emergency that they can cope with if
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you want to find out more of those you
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can watch one of my recent videos where
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I dive into all of this in much more
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detail another big change in 2025
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particularly affecting you if you
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haven't booked your cruise for this year
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yet is that not only are Cruise fairs
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Rising fast and are going to keep Rising
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but availability is more limited than
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ever before let me break that down a bit
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by using some updates from the carnival
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group CEO Josh Weinstein who oversees
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many lines of course including Carnival
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H America princess and
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Seaborn he told Wall Street investors at
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the beginning of 2025 that a staggering
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2third of births across their lines in
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2025 had already been booked way higher
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than any year previously at the same
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stage and some fairs were on track to be
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up to Mid teen percentage higher than in
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2024 with most demand coming for North
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America Caribbean and European Cruisers
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he also said bookings for 2026 are
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coming in rapidly and future bookings
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are way above anything they've seen in
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the past and what he said and I quote
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him is the following passengers should
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book now while there is still space
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available so if you are planning on
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cruising in 2025 or even 2026 you may
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want to move soon to lock trips and
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prices before they rise and Rise now I
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do have some good news though I found
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and successfully used some techniques
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and tricks to get fairs lower than most
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people are paying for my 2025 and 2026
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cruises that I talk about a recent video
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which I will link to at the end of this
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the next critical thing that you need to
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be ready for is there are three
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developments in 2025 affecting some
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popular Cruise ports and regions this
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includes increased travel warning and
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safety alerts for many popular Cruise
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ports Rising protests and push backs
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against Cruise Lines calling in certain
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ports and some new bans and new
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passenger fees that may see that
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itenerary you've booked get changed this
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year now let's look at each of those in
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turn heading into 2025 the US state
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department and the UK foreign office
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raised travel advisories against travel
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or warned of increased risks in some
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areas most affecting popular Caribbean
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islands these at the time of recording
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were Haiti Jamaica the Bahamas kmal
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Honduras and Biz so if you're heading to
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those have a more cautious approach like
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for example going on a cruise line
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Excursion perhaps avoid self exploring
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and if you do go self- exploring make
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sure you stick with popular and busy
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tourist areas in summer 2024 and likely
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to be repeated in 25 season we saw
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protests aimed at Cruisers in several
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European ports the likely hot spots this
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year to be ready for include palad Deca
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and their anti-tourism group called
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Menace tourism Mesa less tourism more
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life in Barcelona with their
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neighborhood assembly for tourism
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degrowth who targeted Cruise passengers
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on the ramblas spread in them with water
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for example Amsterdam where
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environmentalists stopped some ships
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actually even entering the Amsterdam
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Harbor Norway especially Oslo Tanga
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Bergen and FL with protest from the
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cruise not welcome group and in the
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Canary Islands by the canaras T on the
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limit canaries have a limit group the
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next development which could end up
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changing your book tiny is when new
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bands or fees are coming into play this
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year one of the most important to watch
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and at the time of recording the effect
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is unclear is Mexico they have passed a
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law that from the 1st of July requires
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every passenger who visits a Mexican
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port to pay a fee of $42 us the cruise
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lines are time of recording in
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negotiations with Mexico but if you have
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any cruise to the Mexican Riviera or the
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West Coast or any of the Mexican
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Caribbean ports like KML and camaya you
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need to keep an eye on developments
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because you may find those ports are
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dropped or the cost of your cruise may
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increase to cover those new fees new
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bands may also affect you if you're
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cruising to the Greek Islands as the
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government has this year brought in
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limits on the numbers visiting Santorini
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and mikinos so some cruise lines are
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going to have to change their tinies in
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2025 so watch out for that talking of
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root changes you also need to watch out
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for sudden redeployments of Cruisers
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both because of where demand is and due
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to ongoing Global conflicts there has
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been heading into the year some
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significant changes to 2025 cruises
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already particularly from the Norwegian
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group who changed 38 Cruisers towards
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the end of 2025 across Norwegian jeel
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Norwegian Star Norwegian Dawn Norwegian
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Jade Norwegian enor Norwegian Breakaway
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and Norwegian Bliss as I mentioned
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earlier with demand so high and so many
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Cruisers already full cruise lines are
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looking at redeploying ships at
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relatively short notice to add capacity
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where demand is greatest so with huge
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demand for example in the Caribbean some
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are redeploying ships from other areas
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with lower demand for example some of
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those Norwegian changes were pulling
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ships Out of Africa South America and
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Asia to redeploy to areas with much
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higher demand like the Caribbean so it
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is possible that more redeployments will
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be made so just be aware if you booked
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cruises to more exotic areas there may
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be some small risks so just keep an eye
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on it but the biggest thing to look out
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for is if you have any Cruise in 2025
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that is due to head through the Red Sea
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and SE Canal or relies on your ship
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moving to and from Europe and Asia
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before or after your cruise via there
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that is very unlikely to happen it's
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extremely unlikely that the trouble in
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that area is going to lift in 2025 and
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the only option that cruise lines are
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going to have will be to change those
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ship routes which could impact your
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cruise so start looking at your options
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now if you do have any cruise that is
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going to be affected by that by the way
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is there anything that you think I've
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missed so far that's happening in 2025
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if so leave a comment but why not join
10:38
me over in this video that I mentioned
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earlier where I share six tricks I use
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to book cruisers for less than most
10:44
other cruisers for 25 and 26 they should
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work for you too see you over there
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