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I Have These Unusual (But CRUCIAL) Cruise Tips For You!
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Jan 28, 2025
I have 4 out-of-the-ordinary pieces of cruising advice that you are unlikely to have heard before - certainly put this way. These are 4 cruise tips that I am sure you will not have thought of before, or at least like this, but could change the way you cruise and why significantly 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 85 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 ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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one night stands having an affair
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sticking to just one part and not being
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advised these are all considerations
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surprisingly when you're planning a
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cruise vacation though
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not in the way you might expect as
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you're about to discover as i share with
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you the very best cruise advice that i
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can give you if you're new here welcome
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aboard i'm gary bembridge and it's my
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goal to help make it fun and easy to
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discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
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cruise vacations one of the best pieces
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of advice i have about cruising is to
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avoid the cruise equivalent of one night
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stands as tempting
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and as thrilling as they may appear
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you're unlikely to find the part of your
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dreams on a one-night stand in real life
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and that's true in cruising too taster
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cruisers are the cruise equivalent of
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one night stands these short one or few
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night cruises are supposed to let us try
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out and taste a new cruise line they are
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though
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a terrible way to find out what a cruise
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line is really all about first of all
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the people who are regulars to the
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cruise line don't really go on these
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short-tasted cruises you won't find the
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usual passengers and the mix at best
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they're people like you and me just
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checking the line out but much more
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likely as they're usually priced really
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low it's people seeking a cheap short
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break or a party time and they would
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never normally go on the cruise line we
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actually stopped taking our mothers on
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these taster cruises because we found
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that even on state lines like cunard the
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taste of cruises were getting too loud
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raucous and pretty untypical for them to
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actually enjoy also
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bear in mind that the program is
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designed to show a kind of hyped up
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image of the cruise line it's a sales
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pitch they're going to be showcasing the
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very best parts like the best production
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shows the best quiz shows the best
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cooking displays the best whatever
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i've even been on one taster cruise
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where i discovered the guest
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entertainers book which were a fantastic
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high energy drag show
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they're never ever booked on their
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regular sailings they only had this act
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on because they felt it'd be more
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entertaining for that cruise than their
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usual entertainment which says
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everything so the most i get from these
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taster cruises is to see the ship to see
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the cabins you can't judge what the
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cruise experience will be you can't tell
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what it's going to feel like until
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you're on a cruise line cruising between
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ports with the usual passengers
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so instead of going on a taster cruise
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save time and save money up towards
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going on a proper cruise and do what i
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do
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watch cruise vlogs on youtube so for
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example
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i wanted to know if disney cruise line
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was the right line for me going as an
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adult so instead of booking myself onto
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one of those little taster cruises i
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went
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effectively on a disney cruise by
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watching vlogs and i specifically
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watched sean and steph in real life
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now unfortunately the rather wonderful
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sean has subsequently passed away but
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through their amazing day by day vlogs i
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saw what disney is about and that helped
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me make up my mind and based on that i
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actually booked my first disney cruise
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but i got to experience a true cruise
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through the vlogs have you ever gone
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back to an x in my dating days like most
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people i did but the things that annoyed
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and drove me wild soon
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returned the same is true with cruise
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lines and i've learned that the hard way
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the first cruise line that i ever went
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on was piano cruises it was the only
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line that i used and cruise with for
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many many years for me that was what
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cruising was all about
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now because i'd always wanted to do a
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transatlantic i eventually went on
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cunard and suddenly realized there is so
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much more out there
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and so much more that i found was so
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much better suited to me than piano
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cruises i stopped using piano cruises we
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went our separate ways now piano i
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noticed had been changing they've been
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doing things differently that introduced
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loads of new ships so i decided post
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pandemic to give them a try again
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now unfortunately i found it was just
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like going back to an ex in real life
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the spark wasn't there the things i
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didn't like was still there
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it just
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absolutely and utterly didn't work
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i found out and i believe very strongly
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that once you fall out of love with a
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cruise line you shouldn't go back
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because you're likely to find that the
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things that weren't right for you in the
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first place still aren't right as i
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found out with piano cruises so the
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question is then is sticking with what
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works
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always the right thing to do
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after switching to cunard i was enjoying
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the ceremony the style of formality but
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i did keep thinking maybe
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i was missing out
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cunard were dependable
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and they were my dependable partner but
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i was tempted to try something exotic
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something different something totally
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not my type something a little bit wild
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and exotic as i said now for me that was
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costa cruises they had flashy new ships
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they sound very italian
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very exciting very relaxed very informal
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the opposite of cunard so i headed off
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and it really wasn't for me it just
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wasn't the experience i wanted i was
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attracted by the glitz the glamour the
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sexiness the difference of it all
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but just found the ships to brash to in
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your face the program to boisterous to
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holiday camp style for me so i wasted my
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time and money having my little fling
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and little affair it just wasn't me it
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didn't have the experience i wanted it
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didn't have the kind of entertainment i
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wanted it didn't have the food options i
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wanted it just wasn't right for me
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so having that left field affair just
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really didn't work out people often ask
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me why i've never been on carnival
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because i know for all their offer and
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do really well for their audience it's
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just not for me
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that fund ship experience is not the
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sort of thing that i want so i exclude
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them
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rather than risk my time
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and my money that's also why for example
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i do relatively limited amounts of trips
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online like norwegian cruise line and
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royal caribbean because fundamentally
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they're not my kind of cruise experience
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they are big resort ships which are just
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kind of not what i enjoy both of those
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of course do some amazing and
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interesting things like go-karts water
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show spectaculars ice skating water
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slides
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huge array especially dining but i go
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cruising for different reasons
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trying something different just because
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it sounds very exciting brasher bigger
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it's got lots more new attractions new
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features
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resist that i recommend think very
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carefully about it that thrilling affair
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may not be totally satisfying as i did
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with my costa i could have better spend
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my time and money without getting
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distracted by things that weren't
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fundamentally important to me so what
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should you do if you're tempted about
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trying something new do what i do now
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and use the cruise forums on sites like
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cruise critic and facebook groups set up
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by fans of the line they're really
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really good and excellent for asking
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questions like i'm this type of person i
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like these kind of things
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how would i get on this line would it be
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for me now people in those are more than
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happy to give you their personal
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insights and experiences for example i
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found this really helpful when i was
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looking at going on viking ocean for the
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very first time i found a we love viking
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uk cruises group there's also we love
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viking u.s cruises group and i went in
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there and i started talking to people
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and that really helped me decide viking
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was right for me the trip was a really
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good great great success
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people often rush to try a new ship
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because it is new and it's the latest
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thing without really thinking about the
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line and what's important and i've
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stopped doing that so because people i
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mean they're often really surprised when
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i'm not jumping on the latest ship like
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when piano iona launched or kind of a
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mardi gras i started selling and this is
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the reason why
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a flashlight ship is no substitute for a
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more meaningful trip on a line that
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better suits me doesn't mean i recommend
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you stick to one line once you've found
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one that you like and just not take any
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risk at all in the real world of course
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sticking with one partner is highly
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valued and it's the right thing to do
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when it comes to dating however what
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about in cruising i had a revelation on
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this through all the experiences that
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i've spoken about so far you know the
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one-night stands the affairs all that
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kind of stuff
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in the real world
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uh what i realized is there's always
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someone i'd much rather go to a big rave
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party with a different person i'd much
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rather go hiking with
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or to a fancy restaurant with or
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somebody else who might be better
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company to go to the theater or
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something cultural with so that's why
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when i'm asked
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what is your favorite cruise line i find
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it very difficult to answer because i
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learned through my piano and q knot
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experience that only having one faithful
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partner
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is probably not the actual way to go
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when it comes to cruising i have now a
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few lines that meet my key needs and i
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choose which one to use
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and which one to go with depending
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entirely on what i'm doing so for
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example
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when i go to alaska i prefer to go on
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either princess orlando america holland
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america have been cruising there for
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something like 70 years princess for
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over 50 years
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those are the experts in the area they
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get the best births they get into
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glacier bay they have fantastic
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relationships in all the ports they have
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their expertise they have alaska kind of
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in their veins this is why my next
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alaska trip for example is booked on
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princess if i'm going on an expedition
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cruise for example to antarctica or the
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arctic i value and rate you know having
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an incredible expedition team as really
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really key now i found those on silversy
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to be absolutely outstanding on my trips
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there now although they're expensive
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versus some alternative options they're
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always my first choice for expeditions
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and so for example for my first
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galapagos trip i book with them i'm not
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going on one of the other cruise lines
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that i also like for other types of
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cruising
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if i'm looking to cross the atlantic i
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will always gravitate back towards
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cunard and do the full traditional
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transatlantic rather than kind of a
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repositioning cruise which of course is
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much cheaper and there are many more
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options for me the whole sense of
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experience on the queue queen mary 2 is
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part of what i want to do when i cross
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the atlantic so that's why i would
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choose that line but i wouldn't choose
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cunard for other trips
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you know i've tried
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them on different trips and there are
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other cruise lines that perhaps are
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better to do the mediterranean in or the
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caribbean in so i don't just default to
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one particular cruise line so if i am
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going to the caribbean or the
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mediterranean i focus on premium mid and
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small size lines that cater for me like
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celebrity honda america or much more
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like oceania and azamara because they
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tend to have the most interesting
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itineraries in the caribbean
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for me
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it's not about rigidly sticking to one
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line but i like to have a small select
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choice group of favorites that i then
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take based on who will be the best and
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the most fun to take me where i'm going
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you know i meet many many people on
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cruises which is fantastic but they
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will only go on say princess or seabourn
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or region seven seas or celebrity and
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they will never try another line which
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is great it's one option however
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when you're traveling to many different
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parts of the world different lines have
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different expertise different
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experiences different ports of core
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different relationships that could
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provide a better experience so i feel
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that a small select group
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of
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loyal kind of friends that you know you
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can have a great time with
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feels like the right way to go now as
12:04
you think about that once you watch this
12:06
video of the nine best cruises in the
12:08
world you should be doing and taking
12:11
because they sell out really fast with
12:13
the one
12:15
that has the most bragging rights
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find out which it is and i'll see you
12:18
over there
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