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hi I'm Gary Bainbridge I'm currently on
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board Emerald waterways Emerald dawn
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heading down the Danube on a European
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River cruise and in this video I thought
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I would share with you why emerald
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waterways might be the right cruise line
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if you're considering doing a river
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cruise and also give you other reasons
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why it's not to help you make up your
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so there's five good reasons why it
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could be this four reasons why it may
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not be and hopefully that's going to
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help you make up your mind if emeralds
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the right cruise line to do a European
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River cruise with one of the challenges
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with river cruising is many of the
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things that River cruise lines do are
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very similar so the ships are
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constrained by their size in terms of
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length total width in terms of height
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which eyes are moving along the river
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also they tend to offer very similar
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programs so for example they tend to be
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all-inclusive which means all meals and
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only a drinks are included and most will
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include excursions every single day of
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the trip and things like free Wi-Fi so a
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lot of the programs and all things that
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they do are very similar itineraries a
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very similar sort emerald of donors try
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to bring some innovations the ships of
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example they have what's known as the
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emerald panorama suite which tries to
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bring a balcony into the cabin and this
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is one of the cabins that I was staying
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in so the idea is you have
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floor-to-ceiling windows half of it
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comes down to push of a button and you
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effectively have a balcony lots of fresh
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air in your room they also have at the
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rear of the boat they have an indoor
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heated swimming pool which is a really
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great innovation it's not particularly
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large but it's certainly a big enough
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pool to splash around in you have great
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views at the back of the ship particular
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when you're sailing and during the
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evening it then closes down has a cover
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of it and becomes a cinema room which is
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a very nice touch they also have bits of
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technology around the ship and one of
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things I really like is in the lobby
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area they have the whole length of the
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wall a digital screen which shows the
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latest news and also has the daily
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program so various innovations a second
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possible reason for choosing Emerald is
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their Emerald active program so as I've
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already mentioned included in the fares
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are a daily tour which is not only a
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walking tour of some kind
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what emerald do is they have an emerald
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program so in every itinerary they will
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have things like biking tours hiking
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tours and also they have things like
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bicycles available so emerald active is
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another possible reason if you're
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looking for something a little bit more
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active beyond ajust walking tours so
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another reason is also linked to
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excursions so this is included within
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the overall excursion program but the
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emerald more program is a way of trying
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to get more into the community so the
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emerald more program might take you for
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lunch ad with a local family or get to
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you to go in tour a local monastery or
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something like that so really tries to
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get to sort of behind the scenes of the
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local community also for those
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particularly who've traveled to region
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more than once another reason that
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emerald may appeal is the emerald plus
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program so what enteral plus does is it
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tries to build an excursion set a little
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bit out of the ordinary so for example
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on this tour on emerald plus it took
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people all the way down to the Black Sea
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for a day a whole day trip down there so
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emerald plus tries to go beyond the
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obvious beyond the normal tools that
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perhaps first-time visitors want to do
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emerald plus tours do though have an
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extra charge them but there is those
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programs so within the excursion program
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you've got emerald active you've got
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emerald more and you got emerald plus so
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three reasons within the whole
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excursions program that provides a
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little bit more variety of difference to
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just the normal walking tours another
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thing that's really appealed to me was
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that along the river emerald seemed to
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be supporting local communities so to
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give you an example in Bulgaria we
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stopped a place called Silistra
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and we headed out into the countryside
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about half an hour away into a very
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small village community and here there
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was a school which basically looks after
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underprivileged kids and what emeral do
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is they head to the school they take the
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visitors around the kids perform and
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they basically put money into the school
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to help fund a lot of the programs they
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do and along the way this seems to mean
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other little excursions we've done into
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very remote or very rundown areas and
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basically excursion seems a lot built
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around helping to support the local
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communities so those are reasons why
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emerald may appeal to you let me give
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you a couple of reasons why it may not
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appeal to you and why it may not be the
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cruise line for you well first of all
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the day corps may not beat
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one's taste personally I really liked it
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it feels very contemporary it feels
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quite modern a lot of people that I
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spoke to or certainly some people that I
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they preferred other River cruise ships
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which are a little bit more ornate and a
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little bit more old-fashioned perhaps
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more are there country house style so if
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you like a modern contemporary design
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then I think emerald ships will appeal
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to you another reason and will may not
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appeal to you is the fact that they are
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on the premium end of river cruising so
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the ships are very luxurious the service
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is very high and they have lots of sort
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of extra features whether it's you know
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some of the innovations I spoke about
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whether it's things like you know
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turndown service chopped that's on your
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pillow or whether it's actually choice
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of three or four main courses plus you
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also have standards every day so of
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course it's more like staying at a
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four-star five-star hotel and that may
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be something that you don't want to
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spend as much as you want to find a more
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inexpensive or more value-based option
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so in that case emerald is probably not
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the right cruise line for you the other
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thing maybe around costs so as I
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mentioned most river cruise lines are
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all-inclusive and sitting on emerald
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they include the meals they include
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drinks with your meals they include the
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excursions that I've spoken about
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they include Wi-Fi however they do not
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include drinks outside of mealtimes so
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you can sometimes get deals where
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depending if you booked early enough
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might get drinks included where you buy
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drinks packages however drinks that you
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buy at the bar sort of non meal times
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you have to pay extra for so that may
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not appeal to you may prefer to go
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online where everything's all included
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another reason that it may not be the
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right foot line for you is it's an
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English language cruise line so
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everything on board is done in English
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so all the announcements or the
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documentation or the tours are in
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English so if you're looking for a
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experience it may not be the right
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cruise line for you so therefore of
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course the guests tend to be English
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language speaking gets they largely come
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from City on this cruise I was on from
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the UK Australia the United States
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Canada those kind of countries so it's
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that you'll have so there's 5 good
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reasons why it could be there's four
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reasons why it may not be and hopefully
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that's going to help you make up your
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mind if emeralds the right cruise line
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to do a European River cruise with so a
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couple of things before I give you that
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bonus to you if you like the video love
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it if you give a thumbs up please also
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