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5 Cruises To Stay Far, Far Away From. And Why!
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Jun 26, 2024
I told my friends not to book the cruise as it was one that I keep warning cruisers to stay well clear of as they almost always disappoint. But they insisted and sadly, three days before they were due to depart, what I feared would happen did. It was cancelled. I’m Gary Bembridge and I’m here to warn you about this and 5 cruises I suggest you NEVER book, along with tips of what to do instead - or how to reduce your risk if you really do want to do them. 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: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
View Video Transcript
0:00
I told my friends not to book the cruise as it was one that I keep warning cruises to stay
0:05
well clear of because they almost always disappoint. But they insisted, and sadly, three
0:11
days before they were due to depart, what I feared would happen did. It was cancelled
0:16
I'm Gary Bembridge and I'm here to warn you about this and five other cruises I suggest you never
0:22
book, along with tips of what to do instead or how to reduce your risk if you really do
0:27
want to do them. My friends really wanted to become one of the group of cruisers that go on brand
0:32
new ship maiden voyages. They wanted to be the first to stay in a cabin and to experience all
0:38
the new onboard facilities before everybody else. And they want to do that on Sun Princess
0:44
Now I pointed out to them that the time they were looking at booking, of the last 10 new cruise
0:49
ships launching, only three sailed their original planned maiden voyage. The seven others were
0:55
cancelled because the ships were not ready, throwing the plans of cruisers into absolute chaos
1:01
In fact, on some princess, they're not only cancelled the original maiden voyage, but the
1:06
replacement one too, and this is the one that my friends were booked on. The ship was still not
1:11
ready and their cruise was cancelled with only three days' notice. But cruises being cancelled
1:18
is not the only reason to avoid maiden voyages, there are actually three more reasons to steer
1:24
clear of them. First of all, you are not the first to stay in that cabin, nor try out those
1:29
facilities. Lions run a series of voyages called shakedown cruisers after they've actually taken
1:34
delivery of the ship. And before the maiden voyage sales with paying guests, they run these cruises
1:40
The lines run them first with employees and then with invited media and travel agents
1:45
Now I've been on several shakedown cruises over the years because one of the advantages
1:50
of being based in Europe where pretty much all cruise ships are built
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is they mostly ask people close by to go on them. Second, and more important, things in my experience do not run smoothly on maidens
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It's a brand new ship and it's the first time with a full complement of passengers
2:07
as the shakedown cruisers usually run with about half capacity. The maiden is the first time everything gets tried out at full capacity
2:18
Now remember every single crew member is also new to the ship and no one is used to the systems
2:24
nor they've had time to form a smooth, well-oiled working team. On any maiden voyage I've been on in the past, there's also been workmen from the shipyard
2:34
finishing things off, and some venues have not even been open. So some princess went itself, all venues still won't open
2:42
The shows are still being finalised and rehearsed, and again, as many found on the much-delayed
2:47
some princess, which had none of the big production shows ready, even by the time they ran that
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fateful and new maiden voyage. The systems are stress tested and struggles often
2:58
Meals can be slow, they can be chaotic, and again as people on some princess found on the delayed
3:03
Maiden Voyage service was really slow Every review I ever seen of Maiden Voyages is about how frustrated people have been or how things kind of basically need time to bed in On top of all of that it will cost you much much more to sell on the Maiden Voyage than going
3:20
a few months later. They are in high demand and the lines crank up the fares
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So to ensure a great experience, I stay clear of Maidon Voyages and let the ship bed in
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My other tip is to look instead at cruising on one of the line's older ships, because when
3:35
their new ship joins the fleet, they really run. reduce older ship fares because so many cruises are now looking at booking the new ship
3:43
Also avoid the first cruise when ships are coming out of a dry dock
3:48
Ships are required by law to go into a dry dock every few years for safety checks and maintenance
3:53
But the lines often use these to make big upgrades to ships
3:57
But they could range from simple day-court changes, changing the carpets, replacing furniture
4:02
like Queen Mary 2 went through not long before I made this particular video
4:07
But they also could go as far as adding whole new decks, putting in solo cabins like
4:11
Oceania did across their fleet recently, and even cutting the ship in half and extending
4:16
it like the last ship I was on before making this, which was Silver Spirit, where they did
4:21
that just exactly a few years back, cut in half, added a whole new section
4:26
The lines don't want to take the ship out of service for too long, because they'll lose a lot of revenue
4:30
So they tend to put ships in dry dock for a very tight amount of time
4:35
all these changes have a really tight schedule. So again in my experience, ships leave dry dock
4:41
with things not always finished and not always working well. I learned this the hard way
4:46
where I found workmen all over the place on board after one dry dock that MSC Davina went on
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some years back. There was noise, the smell from fresh paint all over, some venues were closed
4:57
and again it just was not a smooth experience. So again, let a sailing or two go by before
5:03
you book a ship coming out of dry dock. And try and stay clear, by the way, of the last cruise before a ship goes into Dry Dock
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because time's tight, preparation often starts on that last cruise. Things have been whipped out, venues closed, and I saw that firsthand on a saga cruiser's ship
5:19
once that was about to head into Dry Dock. So my tip here is about how do you check if a ship is going into Dry Dock
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Well, look at the cruise schedule and see if there's a gap in dates after or before the cruise
5:31
you're looking at. It could mean that the ship has been chartered, so not on sale to the public, but it's
5:35
much more likely it's going to be in a dry dock. You can also search for your ship name
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and the word dry dock in search engines and some cruise trade press sites like cruise ship news
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list all the scheduled dry dock ships and dates. I avoid peak season cruises in all three
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of the main cruising regions as well. First I steer clear of the Mediterranean cruises
5:58
in the peak summer months of July and August not only because it gets so very hot and sticky
6:03
But Vou ports that you go to and visit places like Rome, Venice, Barcelona, Pisa
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Florence are absolutely packed with both land and cruise passengers. It's terrible for sight seeing it's not very enjoyable
6:15
Next in the Caribbean I avoid the peak March spring break especially on the big resort type ships because they get packed can have a crazy party crowd and I feel that all those stories of arguments and fights breaking out seem to be happening around about this time I personally
6:31
avoid also the peak Caribbean Christmas cruises because personally I prefer more kid-free cruise
6:37
and you find even lines like Cunard and Holland America that generally have an older couple
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crowd are usually packed with families and multi-generational groups. I've been on those at
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Christmas with four to five hundred kids, so it's just not for me. Of course
6:50
If that is what you're looking for to travel with kids, grandkids, extended family, then
6:55
actually this is good news because there are lots of options and it's going to be very buzzy. In Alaska too in the peak July and August months, I found the lines tend not to
7:04
attract the usual profile because again families not surprisingly choose lines with the right
7:10
places they call on in Alaska. So places like and lines like an American princess
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because they are two of the very limited lines that actually go into the must-see glacier bay
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So again, it's not a typical experience and the ships are much more crowded, so I avoid those
7:25
Instead, my tip for all the three main cruising regions, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Alaska
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it's a look at cruises in what's known as the shoulder months to the peak season
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So let me give us an example. So in the Mediterranean and Alaska, that's kind of late May, June
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and September going into October, which also, by the way, is usually much cheaper too
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The next one is one that I often have arguments with some cruise writers, bloggers and vloggers about
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but I stay well clear of the short two-and-three-night taster cruises that many cruise lines run
8:00
Now they used to be really helpful for first-time cruisers to try cruising
8:04
and for cruises considering trying a new line to see if they were a good match for that line
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But now they've kind of changed and they don't really work for that
8:13
First of all, ships are getting bigger, they have way more facilities to try
8:17
and there's simply not enough time to properly experience it and draw any meaningful conclusions
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especially if those cruises are calling on ports, you just have time to really get the feel
8:28
Secondly, the lines often run a limited range of activities, so you can't really judge that
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whole experience that you're going to get fully. But thirdly, and most important of all
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you won't experience the usual line because they attract people that's not atypical
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because they're often run over holiday weekends at really good prices, and I feel they've become
8:47
basically a cost-effective party booze trip. This is really great, of course, if you're looking for that, but it's not going to be that representative of what the cruise is normally. So we stopped taking our mums on these. You know, they love going on Kuhnard, but we found the short Kuhnaud trip started to be more party, less to pull Kuno experience that they loved, so we kind of moved away from them. My tip is if you do want to try one of these short taster cruises, look for those that are run out of holiday periods, and ideally mid-week, because they take it
9:17
tend to be less booze cruise and more typical of the cruise line. Another cruise I stay
9:22
clear of is when there are themed cruises that I'm not going to be a part of. Groups
9:28
and clubs increasingly are running themed cruises on cruise ships. They could be
9:32
themed around say I don know motorcycle enthusiasts Star Trek Game of Thrones boy bands or even down to niches like knitting crafting and so on While some have become so big like Star Trek that they tend to charter now whole ships many of these themed cruisers will just take a big block booking
9:51
However, venues across the ship will be closed to regular cruise passengers at various times, those that are not part of the theme group
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So facilities like bars, nightclubs or the theatre will be closed. certain times and there may be special events going on that you're basically not allowed to attend
10:08
I've had so many people contact me saying once they're on board they've found themselves with
10:12
hordes of bikers, sci-fi fans, even doctors conferences and so on based on what the theme
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cruise was. And it's made it less enjoyable experience for them because they felt shut out from
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many things. There are also times when companies are running a conference or a big sales incentive
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on a cruise. I was on a regent cruise in the Caribbean and a large finance company
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company was doing a really big conference and so many venues were often closed for their
10:37
events and even some of the events that were normally popular at Captain's Welcome Party were poorly attended because they were all off at their corporate event
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Now it's harder to check if your cruise is going to be par charted for one of those because
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the lines don't make that clear on the side or on their brochures
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So the simplest way I found is to put the name of the ship and the departure date and the word
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group cruise into a search engine and if there is a theme or group cruise on that it will
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usually bring up the web page for that themed cruise. Now let me give you a simple example
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If you put the dates and ship of my group cruisers, when I've got my group cruises running, they
11:12
show up as having my groups on those cruises. If you're a traveler that worries about or tends to
11:18
have high risk of sea thickness and want to minimize the risk of not being able to use out of decks
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or missing ports due to weather issues, then there are some cruises that I strongly recommend you avoid as well
11:30
The one affecting most people are those in the Caribbean hurricane season, which officially
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runs right from the 1st of June all the way to the 30th of November
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Although the exact paths of individual hurricanes, of course, are hard to predict
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the riskiest part of the season is generally mid-August to mid-September, that is really
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the peak time. Hurricanes and the storms around them can lead to definitely rougher seas, often changes
11:56
in an itinerary, occasionally being delayed getting back into port, which has a knock
12:00
effect of missing flights and so on. Cruises to the Norwegian fjords, for example, also late in
12:06
the season and in winter, which run them because that's the great chance of seeing the northern
12:09
lights. Often they will face pretty rough seas. Of course there are others like the winter
12:15
North Atlantic crossings, which is one of the very first trips I ever did on Kuhnod with
12:20
It had massive waves crashing over the bow of the ship. Crossing the Drake Passage to
12:25
Antarctica, of course is another one. Going round Cape Horn is another one. So if you watch
12:30
about seasickness or the chance of a lot of disruption definitely avoid cruisers
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that are going to have a high chance of weather or stormy seas if you want to know though
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the cruisers I do recommend as must-dos then join me over in this video where I start
12:43
by explaining why the three most popular cruisers in the world are actually not on the
12:48
must-do list and you'll find out why see you over there
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