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8 Cruise Cabin Checks Everyone Should Do BEFORE Unpacking
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Jan 28, 2025
No matter what type of cabin I’m cruising in, I do a series of checks the minute I get in. They’ve unlocked perks, they’ve even got me upgraded, and certainly made the cruise so much better. You should do these too! 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 94 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 ———————————————
View Video Transcript
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no matter what type of cabin i'm
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cruising and i always do a series of
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checks the minute i get in they have
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unlocked perks they have even got me
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upgraded and certainly made the cruise
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so much better you should do these too
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before you do anything decide if the
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cabin is right for you now this cabin is
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right for me because i booked and chose
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it myself so i made sure it followed all
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my usual rules cabins on either side
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cabins above below and opposite me so
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i'm completely encased and the chance of
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getting disturbed by noise or loud
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venues or whatever is very low now if
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you have a guaranteed cabin where the
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cruise line has allocated the cabin to
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you the minute you get in before you do
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anything else decide if it's right for
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you so look are there cabins either side
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is there any noisy venues is any things
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you haven't realized like obstructed
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views or whatever it is decide if the
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cabin is right for you based on first
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impressions if it's not don't do any of
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these checks go to guest services and
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try and see if you can move to a
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different cabin
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then for me it's all around the bed now
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obviously the minute you walk in you can
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tell if it's set up in the right format
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you know king bed if that's what you're
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wanting two twin beds if it's not laid
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out as you want it's very simple write
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it on a list to ask your cabins to to
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get it changed that's one of the things
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i start to do is drop a little list of
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the things i want to talk to the cabin
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student about for me there's also a
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couple of other things i do now i
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am particularly obsessed with pillow
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types so i try and see if any of these
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are feather pillows if they're not i ask
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the cabin steward for a feather pillow
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no matter what line i've been on whether
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it's a fancy one with pillow concierge
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or not they normally can track down a
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feather pillow also check if the bed
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is too hard or too soft if it's too hard
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they can normally bring your little
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mattress protector which will make it a
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bit softer if it's too soft they can
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often bring a plank or something
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underneath to make a little bit firmer
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for you another little thing i do
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actually when i'm at the bed is check
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what my charging plugs are and if i'm
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going to need any adapters whatever you
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know not having charges by the bed is
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real pain this one actually has usb
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ports so that's pretty good but have a
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look at the different plugs you got so
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over there on the desk i can see i've
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got euro style plugs and us style plugs
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i have all those adapters if not again
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something to ask the chemistry if they
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can help you out with one of the big
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changes to cruising post the
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shutdown is a new approach to must drill
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so one thing you need to do is check
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what you actually have to do for the
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master draw now normally that involves
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watching the safety video and then going
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to your respective master station and
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just clocking in either with your cruise
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card or because i'm on princess with my
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little medallion so you have to watch
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that there it'll also normally tell you
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where the muscle station is if it
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doesn't it'll either be in the back of
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your cruise card or on the back of the
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door
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next what i do is i check all the
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paperwork that's been left for me now
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there's not loads of paperwork but
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there's a couple of really critical
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things that you need to do
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so first of all take a look at your
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daily program so the princess patter in
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this case and check things like what
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time lunch is where you can eat for
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lunch any particularly big events that
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you might want to go to uh or
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you know stuff that you really want to
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plan uh embarkation day around the other
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thing that's really important to check
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is in the princess patter or equivalent
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or in any of the other various brochures
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that are left if there are any really
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good deals so there's often things for
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example on wi-fi deals or there might be
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drinks package deals so check if there's
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any particular special offers that are
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being offered so for example on my last
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cruise they're offering a 10 discount
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for your first bar 20 of your book two
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spa treatments 30 if you book three so
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look for those and see if any of those
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are interesting because embarkation day
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will normally have special offers the
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next thing you need to do is check if
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there's anything that you need to
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actually do on embarkation day i've got
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a little thing here because i have
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booked a helicopter tour because i'm
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going in alaska and there's certain
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weight restrictions and you have to fill
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this out within a certain deadline so
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check if there's anything else that you
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absolutely need to do that day other
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than the mustard drill the other thing
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that i like to look for is if there are
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any things linked to my status
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so for example here there is a letter
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from the future cruise and the captain
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circle so that's the loyalty club and it
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actually lays down for me here what my
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actual perks are
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at my particular level on princess which
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i'm not a particularly high level so i
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don't get a lot although i do get for
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example i didn't know this i get a
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lounge access every evening for canapes
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i've been invited to a party and it
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gives me a list of a couple of other
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perks i've got prior to disembarkation i
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get money off wi-fi i get discounts off
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spa i get discount off the photo gallery
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again all linked to my status now if you
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don't have one of these in your cabin
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the thing that i would recommend you do
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is go and see the loyalty manager
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they're often the same person as the
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future crew sales and ask them based on
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your status what are the perks now i've
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been on many ships where i hadn't
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realized the amount of perks i could get
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so for example on my last cruise i
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discovered i could get canapes every
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evening and get certain drinks in the
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minibar and so on so that's the thing i
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always check what perks am i going to
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get i also ask the cabin student when
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they come so put on your list what based
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on the cabin grade that i booked extra
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perks do i get and i've booked this here
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which is actually mini-suite and i get
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very little extra benefits but i just
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checked with cabin student anyway the
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other thing to check is you will if you
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pre-booked your excursions is
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take a look at your tickets make sure
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that they're all what you booked check
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the times and it's everything as
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expected because you can then go and
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cancel or change those they also very
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importantly check the cancellation time
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and date for those excursions
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in case you change your mind so there's
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one here that i booked and i'm not sure
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if everyone to do and i can see that i
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have to have cancelled it with no
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penalty by the day after tomorrow by 6
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pm for example so know about those
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another thing i normally find in the
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daily program which is really helpful is
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it lists your itinerary obviously so you
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can check on the time you arrive and
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leave but also really importantly it
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tells you when the different garden
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nights or formal nights are and that may
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make you change some of your plans so
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for example i plan to do specially
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dining on a different night i see it's
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formal night i quite like to go to
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especially dining on former night so i'm
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going to change that booking so that's a
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really useful little thing in the daily
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program another thing i like to check is
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down here which is the minibar now it's
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worth checking what is included and not
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included so for example i have a drinks
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package which is part of the princess
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plus however it doesn't cover drinks in
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the mini bar so really importantly
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understand what is and isn't included if
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you're a drinks package or with your
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cabin grade so i have a minibar that's
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completely empty but i could choose to
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have it stocked and there's a list of
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what it would cost to have it stocked
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here that's again something you can
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check with your kevin stewart again ask
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things like what's included in the
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minibar and what else in the room do you
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have to pay for that is really important
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to understand what within your cabin you
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can basically use and keep at no cost
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many people learn the hard way for
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example on virgin voyages where everyone
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got very excited because they found
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these little packs of sort of sex aed
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toys thing there's a little pack of
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sleep aids and many people got very
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excited used them and suddenly
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discovered they were getting charges of
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30 or 40
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on their account because they weren't
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free they had to charge them and
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everyone ended up paying for those on my
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last cruise though there was many many
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items which were left around the room
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because i had been upgraded into a suite
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but if i'd taken any of those items home
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there were quite big charges so the
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bathrooms would have cost like 60
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dollars the umbrella would it was twenty
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five dollars early on i take a look at
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the air conditioning both to see if it's
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working well and also what the sort of
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the noise is like if you come into your
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cabin you find it's really cranked down
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really low but the room's hot it
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probably means that it's not working
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that well now i have had situations
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where i've come in and it doesn't really
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work that well or it's relatively noisy
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i've mentioned the cabin street and
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they've sorted out a lot of people just
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kind of grin and bear it but don't i
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have actually been upgraded because of
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the air conditioning i was once on a
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princess cruising off this one and it
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was big rattling in the air conditioning
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i reported it they sent an engineer they
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just couldn't fix it because of some
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unit that needs to replace and they
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couldn't get it to another port and they
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actually moved me to a better cabin so
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that shows the importance of checking
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the detail once that's all done of
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course it's time to unpack once your
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case has arrived one of the things i
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actually like to do is
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understand where the storage is now many
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many cabins have all sorts of hidden
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storage this cabin actually doesn't have
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that many but often you might find stuff
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high up but really importantly of course
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underneath the bed so normally
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underneath the bed big suitcases will
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fit under there and that means you don't
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have a clutching up in the
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the cupboards or somewhere in in the
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room but trying to find little secret
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bits of storage uh is something's quite
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fun and you'll often find quite a lot of
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it i haven't tracked any down in here a
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few bits and pieces in the storage area
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is
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this actually has
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humongous amounts of containers but many
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cruise lines don't give you many coat
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hangers so if it's not enough coat
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hangers just ask them i need people to
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pack and bring coat hangers but they've
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got loads also the safe make sure that
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the safe is working so this safe is
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working uh and it's really good because
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princess didn't used to always have them
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so check have you got a safe does it
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work if not get it reset often the
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batteries can be loaned again people
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haven't bothered my philosophy is i've
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paid good money to be in a cabin so it
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needs to be right so doing these checks
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early on
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can make a really big difference
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upgrades improvements changes perks
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make sure it happens
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if you want to know how to get a good
9:57
cabin every single time watch this video
10:00
where i talk about how to get the best
10:01
cabins and avoid the worst cabins no
10:03
matter what grade you're in
10:05
starting with the one single tip that
10:08
guarantees you will get a good cabin
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that works for me
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every time see you over there
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