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5 Little-Known Cruise Tricks That Make A Big Difference
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Jan 28, 2025
There are a few small things I do that significantly transform my cruises, including one tiny thing I did this week for my next cruise that took me less than 3 minutes and saved me almost $2,000. I have pulled all these small but transformative things I do together as I want to share with you five small and simple things that you can do that, I genuinely believe will transform your next cruise. There are 5 small and easy changes I made that have had a huge positive impact on my cruises and on-board experience. They have really improved my cruising no end. You should try these 5 things as I am confident you will find they make a huge difference to your cruise, and should also leave more money in your pocket too... 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 90 cruises I have done to date. Links mentioned in the video: * CruiseWatch: https://www.cruisewatch.com/cruise-price-alerts * ShoreTrips: https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com * CruiseExcursions: https://www.ventureashore.com * CruiseCritic Roll Calls: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/20-roll-calls/ * CruiseCritic Meet & Mingle:https://boards.cruisecritic.com/meet-mingle/main/ 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
View Video Transcript
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there are a few small things that i do
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that significantly transform my cruises
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including one tiny thing i did just this
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week for my next cruise that took me
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less than three minutes and left me with
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almost two thousand dollars of hard cash
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in my pocket i put all of these small
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but transformative things that i do
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together because i want to share with
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you five small and simple things that
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you can do that i genuinely believe will
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transform your next cruise by the way if
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you're new here i'm gary bembridge and
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it's my goal to make it fun and easy to
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discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
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cruising vacations on my next cruise as
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i record this in the mediterranean on
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azamara quest i did a dummy booking a
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month before going and i found that my
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cabin grade was now half the price i
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paid half a staggering 1
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800
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less i asked my travel agent to contact
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them and they slashed my fare to that
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price returning 1 800 to me now if i had
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not checked and asked i would have been
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sailing having paid twice the price that
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people booking close to the selling date
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had done now before going on a cruise
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one small thing i always do is to check
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if it's on sale cheaper than when i
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booked or paid for it initially so if it
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has i usually get money back additional
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onboard credit or i get an upgrade i
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find that quickest and easiest is to do
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a dummy booking on the cruise line
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website the advantage of this is the
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website defaults to whatever region
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you've booked so it's the most
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comparable to your fare i also which
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again takes a few minutes add a tracker
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for my cruise cruisewatch.com cruise
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price alerts they send alerts whenever
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prices change so i then know to go and
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double check my specific cabin grade as
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cruisewatch.com doesn't track all cruise
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lines like uk based lines for example my
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alternative is cruise critic i search
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for my cruise then i'm going to fair
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insight where i can set up that price
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tracker there are a few watch outs by
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the way and need to knows a couple of
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things you need to check so here they
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are
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with one exception that i know of saga
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cruisers the lions will not proactively
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adjust your fare down if they cut fares
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you must
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contact them now there are lines that
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make it much easier because they're
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guaranteed to match low fares
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if you contact them at the time of
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recording this includes your caribbean
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celebrity and azamara but this guarantee
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keeps changing so always ask when you
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book your cruise what happens if the
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price goes down make sure you know the
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answer now i'm seeing some lines being
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trickier at the moment like most of the
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carnival group for example i've had
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great success with cunard where i've
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managed to get upgrades when fares have
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fallen but other people have struggled
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to get them to budge when prices go down
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cue not arguing that the fare was locked
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in because of the terms and conditions
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of a specific promotion when they booked
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so as i said when you book a cruise ask
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what happens if the price goes down by
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the way once you've paid your final
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balance the lions are also less willing
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to match any fare reductions so always
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do that dummy booking at least before
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you pay your final balance
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finally be prepared to push for upgrades
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of which i've had quite a few of my last
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few cruises because prices have been
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falling
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or ask for extra onboard credit if they
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won't cut the fare a really big tip by
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the way if you do have to settle for
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onboard credit check once you're on the
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ship if unspent onboard credit is
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refundable or non-refundable because if
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it's refundable you just don't spend it
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and you get the cash at the end anyway
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the second small thing that you can do
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comes with some risk it may transform
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your cruise
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but perhaps for the worst and this is
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around the whole area of getting
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upgraded this will confirm just two days
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ago when a channel follower donna
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messaged me to say she'd been upgraded
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from the ocean view cabin she'd
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carefully chosen and booked into a
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balcony cabin that was in a terrible
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position above a noisy nightclub and
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next to a rowdy bar she was very very
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upset so what small things can you do
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when it comes to upgrades and how do you
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avoid
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donna's issue to put you in line for an
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upgrade the small step that you can take
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is when booking is making sure you or
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your travel agent has the will accept
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and auto upgrade option ticked however
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i never ever do this
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as because usually if you're auto
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upgraded you have no choice but to
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accept whatever cabin the line upgrades
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you to
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so you could find yourself in a cabin
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like donna's now my small step is
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actually to do the exact opposite and i
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make sure that the will accept in order
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to upgrade is not ticked because i like
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to choose my cabin i like to choose my
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location and i don't want to take the
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risk the so-called upgraded cabin is in
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a location that i dislike but if you're
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not concerned about location or happy to
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risk it then make sure you take that
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small easy step to opt into an auto
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upgrade if you are concerned then make
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sure like me that it's not ticked
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another quick thing that could transform
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your cruise but will cost is to bid for
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an upgrade many lines will send an email
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asking you to bid for an upgrade if
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you're going to be for an upgrade
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bid low don't over bid and end up like i
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see so many people do paying the same as
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you would if you'd actually just booked
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the cabin anyway also by the way don't
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assume just because you get in the email
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there are actually upgrades also take a
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few minutes on the second day of your
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cruise to swing by the front desk and
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ask if they've got any upgrades most
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people actually go on embarkation day
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when upgrade prices will actually be at
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their highest but the next day all the
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ones that haven't been taken
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the prices will have gone down and of
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course you get a chance to check the
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cabin out before you go for it
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while there's some risk in how these
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particular steps that i've just spoken
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around upgrades could transform your
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crews the next one that i'm going to
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tell you has no risk and lots and lots
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of upsides in my experience i found this
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one has transformed many of my cruises
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for very little time and effort
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and it's the part way through crew's
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questionnaire many cruise lines will
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send out a questionnaire to your cabin a
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few days in or partway through a cruise
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asking how are things going
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it can really transform things as i
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found out what's really important to
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understand in my view anyway is the
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hotel director is the most important
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person on cruise and that's where the
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mid cruise questionnaire comes from many
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people of course think the captain is
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the most important person of course he
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is in terms of safety and sailing but
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all the departments we as guests
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use they report the hotel director the
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cabins uh housekeeping bars dining shore
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excursions and entertainment i've had
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many changes that have transformed my
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cruises through just taking a minute or
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two to use the part through cruise
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questionnaire
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for example i was moved on day three of
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a 10-day cruise from an ocean view to an
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incredible balcony cabin on silver sea
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silver cloud in antarctica there was
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some annoying but not cruise ruining
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noise in the cabin from some machinery
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underneath at random times in the night
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i actually mentioned this in the
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question i said it was a bit annoying i
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was finding a bit disturbing but you
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know that was it but the hotel director
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called me on getting that questionnaire
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ask if i wanted to move he moved me to a
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better location to a balcony and it's a
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really quiet cabin the person next door
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by the way did the same thing and they
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were also moved i had vibrations from
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the engine on a crossy europe mekong
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river cruise again it was a little bit
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annoying it wasn't a disaster i
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mentioned it to the director chatting
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one day at reception and immediately
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said we've got another empty cabin up
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front if you'd like to move
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so really important understand the hotel
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director has the power to make these
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decisions the power to make and change
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things and the questionnaire
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is a great direct line to them usually
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so use it and remember the hotel
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director getting that questionnaire
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could transform your cruise
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but
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why limit transformation to just on the
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ship i have another small and powerful
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thing that i do i've also transformed my
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time in ports by making this small and
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not very time consuming change for
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example on my recent azamara
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mediterranean trip that i spoke about
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earlier the line offered me a choice of
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seven trips in marseille
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so i went on to an independent tour
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provider
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site shaw excursionsgroup.com where they
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offered me a choice of 18 excursions
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their options included many more active
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ones unusual ones they had e-bike tours
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they had gastro tours things that the
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line didn't offer me in monte carlo on
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that same cruise azamara had just three
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tours plus two private van tour options
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that they cost over a thousand dollars a
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day shaw excursions group site had six
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times as many tours 17 tours in all
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including driving exotic cars and their
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private car tours were almost half the
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price of the cruise line so just taking
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a couple of minutes checking independent
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tour provider sites could transform your
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whole experience in ports as it's done
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with mine with different more exotic
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options but also they often will cut
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your budget for excursions the sites
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that i personally look at include
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shoretrips.com and
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shoreexcursionsgroup.com but there are
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some others now those i like because
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they're really easy and simple because
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you just input your cruise line you
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input your ship and your departure and
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they bring up your itinerary and all the
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excursion options on the day to ship is
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there so it's really really simple
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because in a couple of minutes you can
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transform the port into a more
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interesting and very day than the cruise
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line is offering
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there are a few small things though that
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you can still do on top of all this to
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actually get your fellow passengers to
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help transform your cruise for you this
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is something that i do one thing that
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takes little time to set up but provides
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a minor information help are two
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features that i like on
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cruisecritic.com first of all i sign up
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for the roll call for my cruise and
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secondly i sign up for the meet and
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mingle on my cruise too
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in the roll course i can chat and
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discuss tips and tricks for my trip it's
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particularly good by the way when you
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when i'm going as a solo traveler or
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perhaps when i want to have a couple of
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familiar faces or names when i arrive on
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a cruise in those roll calls people will
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be arranging getting together for
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pre-tours post tours or even clubbing
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together to book private tailored van
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tours and some ports the meet and mingle
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is also a fantastic thing many lions
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will host a cruise critic meet and
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mingle at the start of the cruise there
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are free drinks and snacks which is
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always good but you get a chance as i do
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to talk to people who are in the roll
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call
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right at the beginning of the cruise you
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get to know some familiar faces you get
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to know people you can arrange to go to
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dinner with go on tours with meet up
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with but importantly
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i discover surprising tips surprising
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tricks because there's always die hard
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fans of the line and those who know
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their ship inside out or have been on
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that itinerary before and they love to
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share their tips and tricks for example
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the first one i ever went to the first
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video mingle i went to was on holland
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american new amsterdam in alaska i
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discovered some fantastic little-known
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shops and places to go in skagway and
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the other ports which were really just
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fantastic
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now some lines are official partners
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like azamara carnival celebrity msc
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silversea
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royal caribbean viking so they have
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official partnerships but there are some
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unofficial partners in the program like
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holland america as i mentioned and went
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to princess norwegian and they still
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host events they're just not as official
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as the others if you want to know other
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key things that i think you should do
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and not pay for on a cruise join me in
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this video where i start with one of the
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big things that i regret paying for on a
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cruise see you over there
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