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I Cruised On A Non English-Speaking Cruise Line. Here's How It Went
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Jan 28, 2025
I booked myself on a 3-week cruise on a foreign cruise line and started worrying about it. As it came closer, I grew increasingly apprehensive having done a few foreign non-English speaking cruises before. Some of which had not gone so well. But finally on this trip, I found out when going on a foreign cruise line cruise does and does not make sense. As you will find out. 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
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0:00
i booked myself on a three-week cruise
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on a foreign cruise line
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but started worrying about it once i'd
0:06
done it as it came closer i grew
0:08
increasingly apprehensive having done a
0:10
few foreign non-english speaking cruises
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before
0:14
some of which had not gone entirely to
0:16
plan but finally on this trip i found
0:19
out when going on a foreign cruise line
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does
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and does not make sense as you'll find
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out if you're new here welcome aboard
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i'm gary bembridge and it's my goal to
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make it easy and much more fun to
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discover plan and enjoy unforgettable
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cruise vacations
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why exactly was i going on a foreign
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cruise line in the first place two key
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reasons first there was a very specific
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itinerary that i really wanted to do i
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wanted to go to antarctica but it had to
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include south georgia falklands and
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south orkney as well as the peninsula
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and secondly i was going as a solo
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traveller the french line pennant
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offered both the perfect itinerary and
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they also offered me a great solo deal
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with just fifteen percent surcharge one
1:04
five percent while english speaking
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lines like silversea either did not
1:08
offer that itinerary or had no solo
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pricing
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so you may be wondering what exactly i
1:14
do mean by a foreign cruise line as it
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could be argued that every single cruise
1:19
you and i have been on is actually
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foreign because most cruise lines are
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incorporated in and the ships are
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registered in foreign countries like
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panama liberia the bahamas and so on
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this in fact in my view doesn't make
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them foreign lines it's just a tax move
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and the lines that do it like royal
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caribbean norwegian cruise line princess
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cruises holland america and so on and so
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on are all english-speaking cruise lines
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with an american on board experience in
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reality
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there are two cruise line types that i
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see as foreign cruise lines for english
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speakers from the us uk canada australia
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new zealand and so on
1:54
first there's the multilingual lines
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like msc cruises they cater for multiple
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languages equally without favoring any
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despite their italian roots everything
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is done everything is offered in six
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languages in equal measure italian
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french german spanish english and
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brazilian portuguese
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then there are lines that cater for one
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main language and one key nationality
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for example aida main chief and hapag
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lloyd are german baselines for
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german-speaking travellers in italy
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there's costa in france pennant and
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crossy europe river and so on on these
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cruise lines most people will be from
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that country and that will be the
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dominant and the very much first
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language on board for example on my
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opponent antarctica cruise there were
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well over 80 percent of the passengers
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from france i've been on crossy europe
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trips river trips where i was the only
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english speaker on one and on another
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there were three english speakers 10
2:54
spanish and the majority were always
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french i've also been on a costa cruise
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where there were fewer than 60 english
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speakers on a roughly 2 000 passenger
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ship
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so how does it work for english speakers
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on these lines this is what i have found
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out on all my experiences first as on my
3:13
recent pawn on trip all critical
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activities like the captain's welcome
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and all his briefings all the safety
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briefings all the public address
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announcements were done in both
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languages secondly i received a daily
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program and other onboard documentation
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like say disembarkation information in
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english menus were bilingual the quality
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of translation to be honest has been
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very varied though
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third based on the numbers on board
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there have either been a choice of a few
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english speaking tours or bilingual only
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excursions on the trips so for example
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on my recent pon on trip i went on all
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the landings all the zodiac tours only
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with other english speakers
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but when i was on crossy europe only
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bilingual tours were offered because
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there were just simply not enough
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english speakers so it's hard to predict
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what will happen
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fourth it has an impact on the
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activities on board the lines tend to
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avoid entertainment that relies on
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language and definitely knowledge of the
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country so for example trivia and
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quizzes were usually not run on these
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cruises because they require of course
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language and often local knowledge and
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it becomes too complicated to run them
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entertainment therefore is much more
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music and dance focus i guess an
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international
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language you don't have comedians
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because even magicians for example rely
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on language however when essential and
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unavoidable you'll find
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and so now i found that they were done
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in english for example on panant the
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enrichment talks about antarctica they
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were run separately in french and
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english because these are so key to the
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trip however on hapag lloyd and across
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europe they relied more on song and
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dance and music that everyone could
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enjoy together
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the fifth thing
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is on some foreign cruise lines i've
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been on there's been a specific
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english-speaking host who acts as kind
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of a liaison and help so that was on
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costa for example we had an
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english-speaking host that meet with us
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as a group most days they'd brief us on
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anything that was going on in english
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answer any questions and try and sort
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things out so how does this all work and
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feel on as an english speaker
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on a foreign cruise line i found some
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fellow travelers on these trips
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including my recent one did get a bit
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frustrated at times because they felt
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that english speakers were an
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afterthought and weren't getting the
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whole experience and were actually
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missing out now this is probably
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inevitable and true
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i think in a few areas which you just
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need to expect for example at the
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captain's welcome and farewell party and
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in daily briefings on panant he did
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everything in french and in english as i
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mentioned however
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he might spend five minutes talking
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about something in french and then he
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would maybe spend one or two minutes in
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english in what felt to be a kind of a
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cut down version french would always be
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first because that's the bulk of people
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and you kind of did feel sometimes you
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were perhaps missing out a bit
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particularly when all the french would
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suddenly
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start laughing at some joke that he'd
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given and then when you eventually get
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around to doing in english you kind of
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know a joke's coming and it is never as
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funny when you know something is coming
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the multilingual safety or other
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face-to-face briefings and tours also
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can be a bit trying at times so for
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example across europe on my multilingual
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excursions it felt really long and drawn
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out because the tour guide would have to
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do everything in french
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and then repeat it all in english so it
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kind of slowed things down everything
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basically took twice as long but the
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other important thing to bear in mind
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that english language competency across
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the crew is going to vary and may be
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limited to none in some cases and you
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just need to be ready for that it's
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really important to be patient accepting
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and prepared
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as we of course are much more used to
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being on cruises where everyone is
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competent in english
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for me these kind of things didn't
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bother me because after all i've chosen
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to go on a french an italian or a german
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line so you just need to be ready for
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that but if all of that concerns you one
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thing to consider is that some foreign
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cruise lines designate some specific
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trips or even entire ships as
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international for example hapag lloyd in
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germany have the europa 2 ship
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designated as an international ship and
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all the crew on board will be fully
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bilingual but aren't sailings in fact
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they also tend to be international so
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they do have bilingual crew so on my
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penalty cruise though the cruise
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director in my view seemed to be a
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little bit less comfortable with english
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although she was incredibly fluent in
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english and i said that because i felt
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she was more nervous about engaging with
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english speakers as informally as she
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did say with the french she didn't need
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to worry about it though in my view it
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didn't get in the way of enjoying the
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trip but you need to expect some of
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those variances the filipina crew on the
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other hand they probably interacted with
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me as an english speaker even more than
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they did perhaps with a french guest
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because english for filipino crew is a
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language they're extremely comfortable
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in french was kind of a second language
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third language for them the expedition
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team when you look at their backgrounds
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they've worked more internationally so
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someone worked in the u.s canada uk
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australia and so they were very
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comfortable switching between english
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and french so you just need to expect
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and embrace variety as key on a foreign
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cruise line i did have another really
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big realization
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on
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my pen on trip about cruising on a
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foreign cruise line when it comes to
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meeting people on board many of the
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guests of course are national to the
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lines and they are actually
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less comfortable engaging english and
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some do not speak english at all which
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is why of course they're on their
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national line of of course they're there
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with fellow citizens they're not going
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and choosing to go on an
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english-speaking cruise line so i did
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find on my panant across europe happy
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glory and costa cruises that the
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languages tended to stick together so i
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found i actually met and mixed with much
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fewer people than when going on an
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english-speaking cruise line even in the
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restaurant if i wanted to sleep with
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others i was always put with english
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speakers if you're going on a cruise to
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meet lots of people you need to bear
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that in mind that you may find there's a
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smaller pool of people that you're going
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to be able to do that with so how do you
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deal with and adapt to make sure that
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these things do not get in the way of a
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great cruise experience it seems that
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many english speakers that chose to
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travel on a foreign cruise line have
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already thought about these issues and
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they actually came along with solutions
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and workarounds so this is what i
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observed first my fellow english
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english-speaking travelers were
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definitely seasoned travelers that
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explored many foreign places and often
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they were very comfortable being in a
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minority and having to navigate around
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languages or differences and they were
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just ready to take this in their stride
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they came with no expectations there
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would be anything different but secondly
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and even more importantly they were
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usually traveling with others and so
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they were less reliant on meeting and
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mixing with other people for example on
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my penant cruise line trip there were
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two american couples that always
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traveled together and then there was a
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group of 15 taiwanese from the united
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states that also have been traveling
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together for over 30 years now this is
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really key because when you go on one of
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these lines you have no idea how many
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other english speakers they're going to
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be on board as i found out it could be
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as few as just you just me if going solo
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or perhaps just you and your partner
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so if you're going as a solo traveler
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like i've done on all these trips you
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need to be willing to be a bit of a lone
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ranger on these trips which i'm happy to
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be
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though i did find that the other english
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speakers actually really went out of
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their way to make sure they included me
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on my penalties for example the american
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taiwanese they kind of officially
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co-opted me into their group and i
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appear in probably most if not many of
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their group photos while the american
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couples they were fantastic that chat
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away they'd asked me to join them for
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meals for drinks
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so they kind of
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go other way to include you
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so you need to be comfortable with going
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on board cruise line where you may find
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yourself in a very small group and
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having less chance to kind of interact
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and meet people perhaps than you would
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do going on an english-speaking cruise
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line
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people coming on with an inbuilt social
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interaction group i also found uncosted
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to be honest because there were lots of
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multi-generational and a couple of
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families traveling together
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the third observation about
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english-speaking passengers on those
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lines was of course then some of them
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were coming because they knew the
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language of the host line two varying
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degrees so for example on my one of my
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cross europe river cruises most of the
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non-french travelers were from spain and
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most of them spoke french but is that
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the only thing you need to consider is
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language the only thing that you really
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need to consider i don't think so
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there's a couple of other key things i
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realized on this trip that there are two
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other really important considerations
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usually when i step on board a cruise
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ship i just think about stepping into a
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familiar and comfortable space as if
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it's like being in the uk or the us but
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it's on a ship it's very familiar but i
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realized on this trip that when i go on
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a foreign cruise line i should treat it
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as if i'm stepping into a foreign
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country and all that means not just
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language but also culturally food
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entertainment attitudes even dress codes
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surprisingly i actually had this
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revelation after shut down ease in 2021
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when i cruised on two uk lines that only
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take uk travellers pinot cruisers and
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saga crews i was struck
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by how much of a uk bubble i was in
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because that was only those were the
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only nationalities that was all
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culturally what happened
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and so i was much more kind of attuned
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to that when i stepped on board french
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pranant
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and this is particularly evident when it
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comes to food without a shadow of a
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doubt these lines are going to cater for
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their countrymen so obviously on panant
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the food was very french
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including some days can snails and steak
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tartare the menus were probably a bit
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more fussy and more elaborate as you
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would expect from france the same was
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true when i was on crossing europe they
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are very proud of their french cuisine
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and that's what was on the menus this
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however wasn't actually
12:48
[Music]
12:49
to the liking of all the
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english-speaking passengers they felt
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the food was probably a bit fussier bit
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more elaborate and they were missing
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some of the favorites online they were
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more used to cruising with but of course
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we do need to bear in mind these lines
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are going to cater for the bulk of the
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passengers so be ready for that another
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difference is actually around timings
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and the way the program is structured
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costa msc cruisers
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and other lines with a more southern
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european lifestyle tend to do everything
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much later than certainly we're used to
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in the uk or the us or i guess even
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australia for example i was pretty
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mortified when my dining time i got on
13:23
costa was after nine o'clock at night i
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just wasn't used to that and
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because for costa that just seemed
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pretty standard because italians eat
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later on putting on to the earliest i
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could have dinner was 7 30 p.m even in
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the buffet and i'm used to of course on
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the morning speaking lines i go to the
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buffet from around five o'clock 5 30 p.m
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and the main dining room opens early 2.
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i would say my decision on going on a
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foreign cruise line over an
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english-speaking line moving forwards
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will actually
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be itinerary driven more than anything
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else if they have the better itinerary
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and i cannot do that on english-speaking
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line then they would absolutely be my
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choice i did that for antarctica and i'm
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actually now actively looking at
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greenland and the canadian arctic cruise
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and the most interesting and the best
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itinerary is on germans hapag lloyd
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expedition line and so that that is what
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i'm going to book because that's the
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best itinerary when i choose to go on a
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foreign cruise line around the
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mediterranean the caribbean and so on
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probably not unless i was going with a
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group of friends or perhaps my partner
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and friends so i will have built in my
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own social infrastructure and then of
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course if the price is very appealing
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that would swing me as well one of the
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very best things about going on a cruise
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wherever it is is meeting other people
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and of course meeting different
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nationalities
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and while that's one thing that i will
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be guaranteed to get on a foreign cruise
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line as i discussed earlier it could be
14:43
a little bit limiting what do you think
14:45
about that and while you ponder that why
14:48
not find out more about what it's like
14:50
to be on a foreign cruise line by coming
14:52
with me on a typical day in antarctica
14:54
on panant in this video that i
14:57
saw and found that things didn't go plan
15:00
from the moment i woke up see you over
15:02
there
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