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Smart Cruisers NEVER Go It Alone In These Ports. Here's Why
2K views
Jan 28, 2025
I look at the four times I recommend cruise passengers take a cruise line excursion rather than any other alternative for exploring a cruise port like self-touring or independent tour guide or company 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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the cruise lines argue we should always
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do the excursions because they're
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convenient easy to book include the Mery
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sites the ship will wait for us if the
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Cruise Line Excursions delayed and
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they've screened all the tour operators
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but as I would explain I actually don't
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think these are good reasons because it
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also by the way makes it way more costly
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as a way to explore the ports however
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while I prefer to self-explore Ports
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there are a few times when I absolutely
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will go on cruise excursions Having
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learned some Les the hard way as you
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will hear by the way if you're new here
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welcome aboard I'm Gary benbridge and
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I'm making it easy and fun to do
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cruising right including when to take a
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cruise line Excursion and when not to
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the first key thing I ask about any
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destination or any port I'm going to is
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how safe is it most Cruise ports are
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pretty safe but if I have even the
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slightest doubt I stick 100% with the
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cruise line the most extreme example of
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that I can think of recently L was going
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to Egypt on a n River Cruise now I knew
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that Egypt has a reputation of being
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relatively unsafe there's been you know
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political unrest there's been stories of
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crime on tourists uh being aggressively
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hassled by vendors kind of Twitchy
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police and army who've been known to
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arrest people taking you know photos
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that they deem suspicious harassment of
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some Travelers including women and LGBT
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Travelers so a whole bunch of stuff that
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makes it feel perhaps less safe so for
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that trip I absolutely stayed within the
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cruise control bubble the whole time and
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I did every single tour with the cruise
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line and no self- exploring but asking
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the question applies just as much on any
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Cruise anywhere just because a cruise
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calls into a country or Port I never
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assume that automatically means it's
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safe to do so so for example several
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Caribbean islands that I'm due to go on
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a cruise early next year have
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reputations for being unsafe like
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Jamaica for example with Jamaica at the
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time I recorded this the US state
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department has literally just raised its
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warning level against traveling there
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due to a crime surch now that may then
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shift downwards but also at the moment
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there are unsafe protests going on in
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Panama again at the time I'm making this
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another place that I'm due to call on
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now so in those places if anything's
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going on any alerts I will look at doing
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Cruise Line Excursions in all those
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places now of course by the time I go
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things might have changed so I
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constantly check the latest State
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Department or UK foreign office advisor
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really close to going and if there are
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any issues giving me any doubt in my
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mind I book Cruise excursions there is
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though another part to the how safe is
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it question for example when I go to
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Alaska the Norwegian fjords or places
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with Majestic scenery or glaciers I love
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going on helicopter rides in Alaska up
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on to Glaciers to walk or Sledge with
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dogs in Norway to see the huge Mountains
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and the Beautiful Mountaintop Lakes now
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these are really really costly but also
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I see them as high-risk activities so I
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always book Cruise Line Tours because I
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want to make sure that they're well
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screened and really well verified now
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this decision was reinforced for me when
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I was doing a helicopter tour on a
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Disney Magic Norway Cruise so I was
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talking to the pilot and I discovered
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that the line only allow certain pilots
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from that company that have over a
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certain amount of flying hours to
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actually be used on their tours in the
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back of my mind this also reinforced the
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the news about a terrible accident in
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Misty FS near ketan Alaska a few years
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back when five Holland American New
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Amsterdam passengers had booked their
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own less costly fly plane tour but
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unfortunately that crashed with the loss
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of their life and that of the pilot I
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know a cruise line Excursion is not a
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guarantee of 100% safety when doing
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risky activities but I feel it does
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reduce the risk for me I feel that
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anyway so if I'm doing anything high
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value and high risk like those or even
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an ATV or or zip lines and so on I do
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tend to book the cruise line screened
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provider tours also as I discovered if I
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have any issues or problems with costly
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trips like that I then have a very
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strong leverage for getting that
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resolved by the cruise line so for
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example I've been refunded recently for
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half of a long cycling Excursion that
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was pretty costly by Cruise Line in
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Marsailles because I felt it just was
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not up to their adverti standards and
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what they had promised so anytime I have
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the slightest question either about
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safety of the place or even the activity
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in my mind I will always book The Cruise
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Line Excursion and I'll stay within that
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bubble but there is another more
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pragmatic issue that determines it too
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the next one actually is the most
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frequent reason that I book a cruise
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line Excursion and that is when the port
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is nowhere near the main attraction or
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the city now this is especially the case
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when I'm cruising in Europe South
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America and Asia because many many many
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of the headline and musty cities and
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places are actually a long way away from
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the port so for example I'm just back
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from a Western Mediterranean cruise on
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Norwegian Viva and three of the ports we
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called on V you know fitted into this
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definition Rome was a good hour at least
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from the port of chiv chia Florence and
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Pisa were an hour an hour and a half
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from the port of lerno and sevil was
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also an hour and a half away from kadiz
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where we were docked now my before that
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was on Regent Explorer and the musi
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Kyoto was also an hour and a half from
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coob where we docked I could reel off
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example after example from so many of my
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cruises so whenever the city or the
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sites that I want to see are a distance
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away I stick with the Cruise Line Tours
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to basically remove the stress and the
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hassle of getting there and particularly
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worrying about getting back in time
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however mostly I book their on your own
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tours because that is a transfer there
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normally has a guide on Route who will
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brief me on what to see how to get
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around they'll give me a contact number
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to call them on if I get lost or stuck
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there's also a meeting point for the
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transfer back but even if the distance
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issue for booking a cruise line
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Excursion does not convince you the next
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one is very practical and it can
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significantly increase your time to
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explore in a port there are two times I
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found that taking a cruise line
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Excursion has made getting out and into
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the port for me easier and faster first
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of all sometimes a cruise line Excursion
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has helped me skip the hassle of getting
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a Visa or it's meant getting through
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immigration faster than those people
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that are not on tours now my best
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example of that that I could think of is
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not actually applicable right now
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because cruise lines have put going
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there on hold but when I went to St
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Petersburg Russia on Silver sea silver
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whisper
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by going on their Cruise Line Excursion
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I didn't have to go to the cost and the
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hassle of getting a Russian visa to
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allow me to get off the ship those
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people self touring they' had to go to
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all the planning and organization of
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getting a Visa in advance now on some
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cruises that call a multiple countries
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sometimes the authorities do require
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passengers to go through immigration so
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on que Murray 2 I was doing a trip
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through Asia and we had to do that in
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Singapore the tours all had priority and
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we actually got off first but friends
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who were self touring found they were
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delayed many hours getting off the ship
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by the cues as they basically processed
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all the Excursion people so now I check
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whether getting a Visa or getting
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through immigration checks is going to
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make going on a cruise line Tour worth
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it now the other time a cruise line Tour
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also speeds things up is in a tender Bo
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this is where we have to get the tender
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Boats off the ship to get into the port
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now on large ships especially like when
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I was on Celebrity Edge on a
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Mediterranean Cruise last year I found
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it could take many hours to get a tender
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because the Again The Cruise Line
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Excursions went first then those in
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premium cabins went next and then
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everybody else had to get a ticket and
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wait for attendant to be called so
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Cruise Line Excursion is a good way of
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getting around all of that however there
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is another consideration of course that
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trumps all of these reasons for doing a
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cruise line Excursion that is frankly
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when it is the only option available to
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me so for example when I went to
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Antarctica we could only go on land with
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the cruise line the same was true also
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when I went to
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galapagus: when they are included within
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the fair so like on that Regent explored
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Japan cruise that I mentioned earlier
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included in my fair was a choice of
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excursions available so as I paid for
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them effectively I did them in each Port
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that we went to the same was true if you
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go on something like when I went on a
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viking ocean cruise from Venice to
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Athens again the excursions were
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included in the fair so I always did one
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of those excursions most River Cruise
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fairs as well also include excursions so
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when I went on a Viking danu river Cru
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recently I did the excursions because
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effectively I've paid for them so check
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if any tours are going to be included
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within your fair it tends to be only a
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few lines that do it and they do tend to
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be the premium ones so that's a a good
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way of just knowing as it were when
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going on Cru excursions I see though
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several huge mistakes that Cruisers make
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when actually going on them so why don't
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you join me in this video where I
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explain what those blunders are starting
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with something that many people do but
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should know way way better see you over
10:04
there
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