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9 Best Tips on How To CRUISE FOR LESS MONEY
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Jan 28, 2025
How can you cruise for less money than others are paying for the same cruise, but get more too? I share 9 proven tips on how to cruise for less money, and for less than $100 a day even. Proven ways to get to cruise for as little as possible ensuring you get great value for money, making your cruise pleasantly 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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you're about to discover how to cruise
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often without breaking the bank
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I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
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cruising tips for travelers I want to
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share with you 10 tips 10 ways that you
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could cruise for 50 dollars sometimes
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even less up to about $100 per day which
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means it's cheaper and you can go
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cruising much more often so that's 10
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tips that I'm going to share with you
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starting with this one
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the simplest and easiest way to find
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cheap ways of cruising is to follow a
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number of aggregator sites these are
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sites that collect together all the
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really big cruising deals
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there's Cruz sheet calm
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there's Cruz deals calm and vacations to
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go calm those three sites will have the
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absolute lowest best deal so you simply
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go on they look at the monthly wanted
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cruise and you'll find it shows you the
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total price of the cruise and many of
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them will then show you the price per
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day so you can then Zone in on those
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ones that meet that budget and as you'll
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see sometimes you can get cruises for
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even less than $50 per person per day
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the other thing link to that to make it
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easy is if there's any cruise lines you
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like or even some that you're not sure
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about sign up to the email newsletters
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because that's where they will also
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announce if they have any deals or
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promotions that's the easiest and
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simplest way however there are other
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things that you should do to make sure
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that you are cruising cheapest and are
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able to cruise more often it's really
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important if you want to cruise cheaply
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and often to be incredibly flexible so
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this means you need to be open to the
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cruise line you go on you need to be
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open to the itinerary you go on you need
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to be open to different ports you go on
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you need to be open to the different
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times of the year you can go if you're
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very set on going a particular Cruise
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Line or you want to go to very certain
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ports then you're going to struggle to
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find those really amazing cheap deals if
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you basically define a really broad
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scale of things and then get the mindset
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of what is the cheapest way that I can
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go and cruise there so you focus on
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broadly where you want to go and then
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you start looking for price price price
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and everything else you have as flexible
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as you possibly can flexibility is the
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key to cruising cheaply and therefore
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cruising very often if you want to find
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ways of cruising cheaply and often
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you need to focus on lines that are
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giving you value fares overall anyway at
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all times of the year so the critical
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wants to look at I'll take a look at
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Royal Caribbean take a look at a
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Norwegian Cruise Line Carnival Cruise
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Line MSC cruise line those are the
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really key ones to really focus on they
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often have very big ships they have a
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huge wide range of itineraries but also
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they have a lot of people they need to
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get on every single setting so if you
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think some of those ships have 3000 4000
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or more passengers they are constantly
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trying to make sure that their price to
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get people on board also depending on
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the region you live in you could find
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there are some smaller regional lines so
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for example there's quite a few in
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Europe so if you take a look at Costa
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you'll often find good deals if you want
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to sell out of parts of Mediterranean
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you'll also find cruise lines in the UK
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like Marella and cruise the maritime
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voyages so also there may be some more
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regional ones that you can look at but
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you need to focus on those key value
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lines if you're going to subscribe to
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any newsletters those are the key ones
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to sign up for the fourth thing to think
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about is cabins you need to focus on
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inside cabins and ocean view cavern City
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that's where you need to focus when
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you're looking for prices those are
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always going to be the cheapest on board
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and those are also the ones that the
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cruise lines are most likely to discount
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because if they're ever going to do
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promotions are going to try and get
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people to go up to high grades because
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it's easier to sell ocean view and
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inside cabins so you need to accept that
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either you're going to have no windows
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to the outside or you're just going to
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have a portal or small window those are
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the most likely cameras you're going to
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have to go for if you want to cruise
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cheaply and a lot the other thing that
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you need to do when you book though is
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go for what's known as a guaranteed
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cabin cruise lines have two fares one
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where you can specifically choose the
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cabin and the other is guaranteed where
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they allocate the cabin based on what
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they have once those people who bought
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the cabins they really want those are
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always going to be cheaper than choosing
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your own cabin so you need to focus on
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inside cabins oceanview cabins and
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guaranteed cabins so you will get that
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grade as a minimum but you don't choose
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a cabin and there is a discount before
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doing that I mentioned earlier that you
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need to be very flexible about timing
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but also if you are looking to try and
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plan there's a couple of areas where
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you're most likely or more likely to
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find cheap
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cruisers and that is the shoulder season
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what I mean by that is often at the
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beginning and end of the season so the
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ships will move say from the
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Mediterranean to the Caribbean around
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about March April time you'll find that
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as often when it's cheap because the
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weather's perhaps less predictable they
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then move again back to say the
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Mediterranean around about September
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October time so those sort of shoulder
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periods when it's not school holidays
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not public holiday times those are
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always going to be when it's harder for
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the cruise lines to full the ships and
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they're more likely to be discounting
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also you may want to choose times when
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the weather is less predictable so
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choosing the Caribbean more in hurricane
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season there may be some disruptions to
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the cruise but people are less likely to
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book those things so you need to think
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around those times of the year when it's
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going to be less popular don't look for
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cheap cruises in school holidays or
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Christmastime those kinds of things
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because you know I'm extremely unlikely
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to find us so be thinking out of season
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shoulder period times a really good way
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of getting inexpensive cruisers is to
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look at repositioning so I mentioned
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there that they move ships between the
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Mediterranean and the Caribbean so they
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have transatlantic trips at the
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beginning the end of the season
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because there's so many sea days people
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are less reluctant to book those however
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that is when you're going to find great
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deals and you'll find repositioning
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cruises if you really want inexpensive
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cruises and you want to go on lots of
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different cruises those two big time
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periods of the year reposition
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cruising's are a great thing to look at
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a great way of cruising cheaply is
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cruising with others you'll find that
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many many cabins onboard will be able to
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have three passengers or four passengers
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and sometimes even more so if you want
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to travel with friends or family so
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perhaps you have kids or you just have
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friends you want to travel with actually
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booking into one cabin is a great way of
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cruising more cheaply normally you'll
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find there's a discount for the third
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person and sometimes even the fourth
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person travels for free it does of
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course mean you're going to be in
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relatively confined spaces so you need
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to make sure that you get on with those
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people but if you're going somewhere
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nice and warm like the Caribbean or the
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Mediterranean in season you probably
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have a lot of time your cabin there's
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lots of things you can do on the ship
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but that could be a great way of
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cruising cheap use and setting in to
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cabins cruise with friends or family and
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share cabins it's really a great way of
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reducing price the other thing you could
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do if you really want to go the extra
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level is organize
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group crews so if you've got a bunch of
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friends family that want to go cruising
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I want to do it inexpensively one of the
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things you can do is most cruise lines
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will offer a free cabin out depends on
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the cruise line on the numbers but for
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example if you can sell say eight cabin
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so that 16 people they might throw in a
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free cabin and it as I said the numbers
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vary a little bit by cruise line so
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cruising with people and then sharing
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cabins or doing group bookings is a
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great way of cruising more cheaply and
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of course then because it's cheaper you
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can go more often what's also very
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important about finding ways of cruising
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cheaply and more often is understanding
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how the cruise industry works and the
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best time to book now there's two really
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key periods where you can get great and
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inexpensive cabins and deals the first
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of those is when cruise lines first
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announced itinerary so this could be
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eighteen months to two years ahead so
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they announced that in Ares they put
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them on sale now what they want to do is
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they want to try and sell as much as
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possible at that particular time because
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of course they do take your deposit but
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what they do at this time of year which
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I like doing which is one things that I
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do a lot is they will normally bundle
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things together so this is the time when
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you're gonna find lots of things grouped
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together so you might find they're
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thrown in a drinks package excursions
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especially dining Wi-Fi those kinds of
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things so actually you're getting lots
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of other things for your fare so you're
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paying what you would normally pay for
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that cabin but you're getting lots of
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stuff bundled in now I like doing this
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because I like to plan way in advance
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and I find that I have often got kind of
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almost all-inclusive deals by booking at
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this time so that's one great time to
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look if you like to plan ahead or you're
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more restricted or copy's flexible the
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second time is once you hit 90 days
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before a cruise goes most cruise lines
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you have to pay your final balance if
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you've got a booking 90 days before some
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of them do you make it six days what
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happens in is they take a look at the
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imagery they've got how many empty
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cabins they are and they then start to
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work very hard to fill those cabins
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cruise lines want to sail at a hundred
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percent occupancy so they want to make
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sure that every cabin is full with at
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least two people so what they do is they
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first of all they will start to
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encourage people to upgrade so they'll
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go to people who perhaps an ocean we try
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to get me to go into balcony people in a
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balcony up to a suite the reason to that
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is it's much easy to sell
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inside cabins at Ocean
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new cabins than it is to sell higher let
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great cabins and also they don't want to
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be seen to be discounting those higher
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value cabins so at the 90-day period
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it's a really good time to start looking
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for deals because this is when you're
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gonna get much cheaper fares
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particularly for inside and push of your
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cabins now you're not gonna likely get
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all those things bundled in however if
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you've already booked your cabin as I
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mentioned much earlier this could be a
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chance to get a better cabin without
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paying any more money or paying very
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little money so although you've settled
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or decided you're gonna go on an inside
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ocean view you could find yourself in a
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balcony for almost no extra money now
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what I think is also very important if
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you live in a country or a place where a
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port is very easily accessible I
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recommend that you then focus on that 90
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day booking period because you're not
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gonna have to worry about the cost of
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getting to the port and so you can
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really take advantage of low fares
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however if you live a long way from a
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port so you're going to have to fly to a
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port it's actually better to focus on
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the longer booking period now why do I
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say that cruise fairs will tend to go
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down the closer you get to a sailing if
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this capacity whereas LR fairs tend to
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go up so what I like to do as I
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mentioned I've booked way in advance and
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then I booked my air fares way in
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advance because that's the cheapest time
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so when air fares
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come on sale they're at their cheapest
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and they will go consistently upward so
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if I find a great deal within 90 days
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which I was actually just looking at
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recently the airfare was prohibitive it
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canceled out all of the benefits so
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basically if you close to a port you can
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drive to a port or get there really
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easily without lots of airfare costs
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focus on that 90-day periods if you're
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gonna have to fly to a port you probably
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on a book further in advance understand
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that Cruise Lines work and what works
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best for you based on your location
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what's absolutely critical if you want
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to cruise cheaper and more often it's
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you're going to have to be absolutely
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brutally ruthless once you get on board
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the cruise lines are giving these really
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low deals $50 or $100 or whatever to get
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you on board because once you're onboard
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they are hoping and they're going to
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work really hard to get you to spend a
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lot of money on board so you could of
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course cancel a lot of that out so what
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you need to do is focus really really
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hard on understanding what your maximum
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are going to spend on board
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things that you need to focus on is
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gratuities gratuities are normally auto
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added now some people do go and take
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those off and of course that is
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something you could do the crew do rely
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on those gratuities for their salary
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because in reality that's part of their
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salaries so that's a an ethical choice I
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guess that you need to make so do you
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think about budgeting gratuities you're
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going to be brutal on drinks because
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drinks packages could cost you more than
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your cruise fare if many of those cruise
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lines you might be cruising for $50 $100
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a day but the actual drinks package
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could be more you also need to think
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about excursions you pretty much need to
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exclude excursions and do all self
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touring yourself where you're either
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going to beaches or you using a hop-on
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hop-off passes so really really no cost
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and then avoid specialty dining so all
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those things along cost you don't be
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really really strict in terms of those
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otherwise you could find out that you
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basically not saving any money because
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you're spending a lot of money on board
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the advantage of course of what our
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saying is if you've booked way in
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advance like I like to do a lot of
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things are then covered within that
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lower fare because I've got little
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packages of course you could also look
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at all-inclusive Cruise Lines however in
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my experience some of the all-inclusive
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lines like the new virgin voyages in
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reality and we're not seeing a lot of
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discounting for those and actually the
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entry-level fares are still pretty high
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because they do bundle things like your
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Wi-Fi some basic drinks gratuities or
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within that one of the things I
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mentioned of course is proximity to port
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because that could affect where you'll
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find that the best and sharpest deals
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for you there is another thing to
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consider is if you look at the really
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big ports you look at ports at Miami
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Fort Lauderdale or Barcelona or Rome in
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the Mediterranean is there's lots and
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lots and lots of ships and there's and
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lots of capacity so again there's not
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even much more competition and a spare
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capacity going so that's where you're
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going to often find deep deals
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particularly closer to cruising time the
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other thing to look at though and this
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also may depend on where you live is
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look at some of the more unusual ports
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so you might look at Tampa for example
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or ports which are not very big in
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vocation ports the cruise lines will
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have less capacity there they might have
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older ships there but they generally are
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lower priced so I've met lots of people
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who are different cruises they will tend
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to go and crew
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because that's easier for them to get to
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more out-of-the-way ports because they
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find that the general level of fares is
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much onna the ships do tend to be a
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little bit older perhaps klitzy some of
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the new ships but it's definitely a
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great thing to look at so look at the
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really very big port and look at this
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little out-of-the-way ports and see what
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deals are going on for those two another
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great way of course of cruising for less
13:44
and more often is kind of an obvious one
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which is go for shorter cruises so your
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absolute art let'slet's so if you want
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to focus much more on cruising a lot
13:51
start to look at short cruises three
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days four days type cruise as soon as in
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five day cruises because those tend to
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be a smaller total amount of budget so
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of course you could take your cruising
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budget for the year split up against a
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number of smaller cruises and then you
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can a cruise more often I have loads
14:09
more advice and tips packed into
14:12
different videos so why don't you watch
14:14
another one of my cruising tips videos
14:16
right now
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