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Seasoned Cruisers Have STOPPED Packing These. Here's Why!
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Jan 28, 2025
There are things I no longer pack for a cruise as things have changed, others I pack different things to do the same task, things I have always packed for a cruise vacation and still do and some things I don’t understand why people pack for a cruise at all. Find out what they are and why you should rethink what you pack for a cruise 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 * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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on
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99.9% of my cruises I no longer take a
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camera certainly a camera like this with
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a big lens the reason I've got on this
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particular trip is I'm on an expedition
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Cruise we're going to be seeing polar
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bears which we did see way off in the
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distance and you need this camera I do
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not take cameras to take pictures
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anymore I literally only take my mobile
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phone uh because that does the job which
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got me thinking a little bit more about
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what do I pack and not pack because I
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realized I also take a dramatically
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smaller suitcase than I used to take
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when I first started cruising I'm Gary
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benridge and I'm here to make it fun and
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easy to discover plan enjoy incredible
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Cruise vacations and I'm going to talk
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about four things what I've stopped
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packing and I think you should stop
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packing what I pack differently to do
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the same job but it's new things thirdly
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things that I've always packed and still
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pack and fourthly things that people
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tell you to pack but I don't think you
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should pack and I certainly don't pack
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I'll come back to the camera a little
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bit later but let's talk about things
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that I do not pack anymore and that is
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really around clothes I've dramatically
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reduced the amount of clothes I bring
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and particularly smart clothes when I
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first started cruising on things like
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card you had to bring a tuxedo you had
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to bring a jacket and tie you had to
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bring long sleeve shirts you had to
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bring smart shoes ladies the equivalent
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even on lines like kunard which is the
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most dressy of all Cruise Lines they
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don't have formal night they have Gara
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nights and they encourage you to dress
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up but you can pretty much get away with
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the suit I hardly ever take a jacket on
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any of my Cruisers even really smart
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Cruisers and dress code has changed
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dramatically and it's becoming much more
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of a suggested rather than something
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that's really strict so close
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dramatically reduced and certainly
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formal close just kind of smart casual
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is the most I take of course the other
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thing that we don't need to take so much
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anymore that depends on which region
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you're on is your uh vaccine
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certificates and covid tests that kind
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of stuff although there are a couple of
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regions which I believe still needs them
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based on what people are telling me one
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thing that I do though nowadays pack
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much more than I ever used to pack
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before is patience patience patience and
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a good sense of humor Cruisers have
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changed dramatically and they have a
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reputation for being a little bit more
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Rowdy little bit more crazy uh they're
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certainly full these days and the way
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the people just act and behave is very
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different to before so you do need to
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bring much more patience much more sense
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of humor and just be ready to go with
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the flow things have changed quite a lot
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and particularly also as I'm seeing more
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and more families are cruising on all
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lines not just the traditional Family
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Lines like Norwegian roal Caribbean MSC
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I've seen Lo of KS on H America on
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Seaborn and so you just need to get used
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to and adapt to that as well so you need
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to pack a lot of that I want to talk now
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about things that I packed differently
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to before and let me come back to the
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whole thing around cameras now when I
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first started cruising you would take a
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mobile phone perhaps with you but it'd
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be switch Switched Off you didn't have
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apps you didn't have Wi-Fi Wi-Fi is
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crazy expensive but that has changed the
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mobile phone has become an absolute
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essential for cruising whether we kind
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of like it or not and there's a couple
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of things that it's fundamental for
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first of all I already mentioned it is
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my Prime camera I take all my
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photographs with it in fact even more in
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nowadays I use my mobile phone to even
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video because it takes such good video
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in fact this video I'm making is
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actually being recorded on my phone most
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Cruis lands now have an app app that you
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need to check in online you look at the
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daily program you look at your account
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you need to book
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dining entertainment whatever so you
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kind of need the app and a mobile phone
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the third thing that I do is I store all
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my important documentation so I set up a
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Dropbox on there and I set it to be uh
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available offline and I put things like
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my travel insurance I always travel with
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travel insurance always pack that I put
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actually my vaccine records I put a copy
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of my passport in there and any kind of
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important document that I think I might
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need I keep a copy of that on Dropbox
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which is available offline I also my
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phone is really important for me to stay
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in touch and particular with my mother
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my mother doesn't have a mobile phone
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she only uses a landline my mother is
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poorly cited and uh I have to call on
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the landline I like to call her as often
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as I can so I actually put Skype and I
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put some credit on Skype and it means
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that I can actually phone her landline
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so that becomes really really important
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to be able to stay in touch with her cuz
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I can't she doesn't see on social media
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or whatever the mobile phone also is of
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course it's the alarm it's the
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NightLight and it's replaced all those
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things that I used to bring along and
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pack now of course because I make videos
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uh camera equipment is kind of important
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but I used to take these big cameras and
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I used to have to take uh tripods and
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all that stuff now I basically use my
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mobile phone as I mentioned and I use
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tiny little cameras so I use this one
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for example which is a Sony RX 107 which
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is a title camera has a really good lens
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uh really good in low light I use that I
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take this tiny little thing which is a
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DGI osmo pocket which has got a built-in
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gimbal uh stabilizer and I use that a
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lot as well so basically I've take
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cameras along with me but they are
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higher quality they shoot in 4k not just
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high definition and they're tiny and
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discret one of the other things I pack
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is the insta 360 X3 which enables me to
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take kind of drone like stuff because I
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can't pack a drone anymore so let's me
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create those kind of effects but also
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it's really good fun for posting on
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social media and really cool funky kind
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of stuff so it's all about bringing
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small cameras these cameras take up less
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space than my old camera used to take
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Apple Air tags are also something that I
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never used to pack and now bring along
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because the technolog is available this
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I put in my suitcase I put in my Ru sack
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and it helps me track where my case is
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these are proved absolutely invaluable
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particularly when I'm changing flights
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to perhaps join a cruise I can check the
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the bag is making it all the way and it
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really helped me once when I came back
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from a cruise where my suitcase didn't
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appear at all and I used this and
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discovered they put it on the wrong belt
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and it was actually in the hall another
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thing that's really important for me is
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I take my iPad with me and that's
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because I can uh connect to Wi-Fi and
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I'm a bit of a geek and I like to watch
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my Star Trek or whatever and I with
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great Wi-Fi I can now download those and
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keep up to date with shows that are
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really really important to me uh as my
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kind of evening entertainment next I
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want to talk about things that I've
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always traveled with and I still take
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these and I think they're really
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important that everyone should think
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about first of all I like to take a home
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pleasure mark my partner likes to take
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his own pillow he's really fussy about
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his pillow for me it is these Bluetooth
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speakers I love listening to music I
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love listening to music all the time and
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I bring these along with me that's my
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kind of home pleasure other people bring
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things like their favorite tea bags or
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fluffy toys or whatever but bring
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something that's really kind of you love
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bringing and love having it it's going
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to make it feel more homely of course
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then there are medical things so I bring
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along kind of my prescription stuff but
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always importantly I bring it also in
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the
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original uh prescription bottle uh that
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means that I can if I get any hassles
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with immigration or Customs whatever you
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can they can see that it's all kind of
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right and proper I basically bring along
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a month supply even if I'm going on a
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week long cruise for me the other
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medical thing is a spare pair of glasses
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I can't read anything without those so I
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bring that cuz that's a count in the
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medical area so anything that's kind of
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important from a medical perspective
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which brings me on to my all-time
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favorite thing which is my first aid kit
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now it's just this little bag here but
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there's some really really important
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things that I bring in here that I
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strongly kind of recommend one of the
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most important and uh most undervalued
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ones is uh the tooth repair kit you've
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got a crown falls out or a filling falls
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out it gives you a chance to just kind
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of patch it up until you can see an
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emergency dentist or until you can get
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home because on cruise ships they do not
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have any dentists any stuff for D
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Dentistry at all and this has helped me
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a couple of times when a tooth cracked I
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was able to patch it up till we got to
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Key West and it's s an emergency dentist
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it's happened to mark my partner and
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I've even lent it to friends on a cruise
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plaster Band-Aids are really important
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that's helped me so many times uh when I
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was in the last trip I actually put my
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hand into to my uh into my toiletry bag
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and I cut my finger open really bad I
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was able to plaster it up uh even on
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this cruise I've kind of slightly dented
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myself and ding myself taking off my
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boots when going on a hike the plaster
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are really important then I bring along
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some basic medications so like Imodium
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you know anti diarrheal really important
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because on cruise ships if you can't buy
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things like Imodium in the the cruise
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shop uh you have to go to the medical
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center because it's kind of a trigger
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for a couple of things it's a trigger uh
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for uh norovirus and it's also trigger
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potentially for covid so I bring these
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along of course then you know your
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headache pill for me it's paracetamol uh
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you know Tylenol whatever it is the
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other thing that I bring of course is uh
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seasick medication so I'm a big fan of
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dramamine uh in the UK St Jiran 15 but I
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was bring that as insurance touch with I
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have never been seasick so I bring that
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along kind of just to make sure I also
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bring along melatonin because
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particularly when I'm changing lots of
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time zones melatonin is thing that helps
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you kind of get back into kind of your
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sleep into a sleep Zone I still bring
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along Handel really helpful good way of
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helping prevent things like norovirus
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particularly when you're out and touring
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so like when was in Egypt recently just
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a way of kind of you handling notes and
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stuff dirty notes stuff that's something
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really really helpful then I also bring
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along a couple of bits and pieces like
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savlon you know if I've grazed myself a
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bonella for mouth ulcers uh something
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that I kind of uh find uh helpful and
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then two other really important items
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one of which is Sun cream I always bring
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Sun cream with me and also uh mosquito
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repellent and that's really important
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it's really saved me quite a few times
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as well so those are the key things I
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have in my particular first head kit I'm
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sure you'll have other things so I was
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kind of keep a list of note things that
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I use at home and then I pack those in
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the kit I'm obsessed with light and
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noise when I'm sleeping so I always
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bring uh eye shades and uh you know
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basically ear plugs I strongly recommend
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that you bring those because you never
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know what sort of cabin you're going to
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get you never know what the situation is
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going to be and this is a real real
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Lifesaver of course then the thing I
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always brought I have this bag of
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adapters with us adapters Euro adapters
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and multi-usb adapters so it can charge
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everything up and uh lots of all the
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cables and stuff that's kind of an
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obvious one also what I bring is uh US
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dollars in small denominations so that I
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can then use those to tip uh crew or
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when I'm out and about US dollars I
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bring because no matter which line
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you're on no matter where in the world
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you are US dollars is always uh an easy
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currency and a lot of the crew uh come
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from countries where the US dollar is
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either Prime currency or very easy to
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exchange so always lots of small note US
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Dollars and obviously of course travel
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with my passport uh you know all those
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kind of basic things that you need I
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mentioned I was going to talk about a
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whole bunch of things that people tell
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you to bring that I never pack so I'm
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not one of these people despite all my
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cruises bring a lot of the cruise
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paraphernalia so I don't bring a lanyard
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for example but I know a lot of people
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love those I don't bring clips for uh
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clipping towels on on the pool deck or
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closing uh you know the lights my eye
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shades to do that door decorations I
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don't bring over the door holders which
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a lot of people like to sort out uh
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stuff and a lot of people love those and
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they uh find those really really helpful
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um I I basically have my own little
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system in the cupboards so I don't bring
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a lot of that kind of stuff but I know a
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lot of people people really do like
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those so if that's important to you make
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sure that you pack those the other thing
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I don't do because I don't drink alcohol
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but I strongly recommend if you do drink
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alcohol is check what your allowance is
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and bring that with you you know some
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cruise lines you can bring multiple
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bottles of wine some you can only bring
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one per person but you may as well bring
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along because it you know drinks are
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getting more and more expensive on board
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so that's I would strongly recommend it
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and the other thing that I never bring
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and I always check is anything on the
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band list every single cruise line has a
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band list and I get loads of people
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sending me messages
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around for example extension cords you
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know you can't bring those with surge
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protectors because of the way the system
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uh on ships work you can't as I
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mentioned earlier bring drones you can't
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bring anything that looks like a weapon
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in some cases you can't even bring
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remote control toys for the kids so
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always check the band list it's easy to
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find just put in your Cruise Line Band
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list and you will find it there so don't
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bring any of that kind of stuff is there
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anything that you used to pack for
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cruise that you don't pack why don't you
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let it every know by leaving a comment
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but why you think about that and before
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you do that why don't you watch this
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video where I do talk about the biggest
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mistakes that people make when packing
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for a cruise see you over there
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