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People Are Still Falling For These 6 CRUISE TRAPS!
2K views
Jan 28, 2025
The cruise I'm on right now has inspired me to make this video. I'm an Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas, and I've met many first time cruisers and repeat cruisers who have tripped up and fallen for 6 traps that are out there right now that cruisers are falling for that I want to make sure that you know about so you don't fall into those traps. Links to fare tracking mentioned in the video: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-ship-fare-tracking/ 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
View Video Transcript
0:00
Cruise I'm on right now has inspired me
0:01
to make this video I'm A all Caribbean
0:04
Symphony Of The Seas and I've met many
0:06
firsttime Cruisers and repeat Cruisers
0:09
who have tripped up and fallen for traps
0:11
that are out there right now that
0:13
Cruisers are falling for that I want to
0:15
make sure that you know about so you
0:17
don't fall into those traps here we go
0:19
then by the way if you're new here
0:21
welcome aboard I'm Gary benbridge make
0:22
it fun and easy to discover plan enjoy
0:24
incredible Cruise vacations the most
0:27
important trap of all to understand is
0:30
that cruise Lin's objective is to get
0:33
you on board at pretty much any cost
0:35
because they make almost as much money
0:38
from you once you're on board as they do
0:40
from fairs so for example a recent
0:42
report I saw about Carnival they took 9
0:45
billion in fairs but they're taking over
0:48
$7 billion from passengers once they're
0:51
on board and every cruise line that I've
0:53
seen them talking about to Wall Street
0:56
is around how they're pushing more and
0:58
more spend on board now one of of the
1:00
biggest traps I think people are falling
1:02
into these days is first of all not
1:04
understanding that they're going to be
1:05
spending a lot of money when they're on
1:06
board and budgeting for it but also
1:08
thinking the cruise lines are giving
1:10
them an easy solution many many cruise
1:13
lines have introduced these kind of
1:16
specialty add-on packages which
1:18
supposedly turn your cruise into a much
1:21
more all-inclusive fair so for example
1:24
you've got Norwegian cruise lineer
1:25
compeed to the line I'm on they have
1:27
their free at Sea which supposes
1:30
includes some Wi-Fi and dining and
1:33
Excursion discounts you've got princess
1:35
Cruisers with Princess plus you've got
1:38
celebrity with always included however
1:41
the thing I always say to people is bear
1:42
in mind if the cruise lines have
1:44
introduced anything it is because it is
1:47
good business for them so before you add
1:50
on those things whichever Cruise Line
1:52
you're on take a look at the detail
1:54
first of all look at if you were buying
1:56
things individually what it would stack
1:58
up so for example I don't drink alcohol
2:00
so many of these packages do not
2:02
financially work out for so first of all
2:04
do that calculation secondly many people
2:06
come on board and are then disappointed
2:08
because they discover the package is not
2:10
what they really wanted what do I mean
2:12
by that let me give you an example so
2:14
celebrity is a sisted cruise line to ro
2:16
Caribbean it's the same company they're
2:19
always included talks about it includes
2:21
drinks it includes Wi-Fi however it's a
2:24
classic drinks package which is very
2:27
restricted on what is included Wi-Fi is
2:30
very restricted on how much Wi-Fi you
2:32
can use which basically is just email a
2:34
little bit of Surfing and some social
2:35
media you can't stream do video course
2:38
so make sure that you check what you're
2:41
actually getting it's not necessarily
2:43
the best package and a package is drive
2:45
for you and you're going to have to then
2:47
pay much more to upgrade it once you're
2:49
on board another trap I came across a
2:51
couple of people falling for and I've
2:52
seen that on many lines is bidding for
2:55
upgrades now Cruise Lines no longer
2:57
really upgrade people so much based on
2:59
loyalty they try to get people to pay
3:01
for upgrades I've come on a number of
3:03
cruise lines where people got really
3:04
excited caught up in the bidding process
3:06
and actually realized afterwards that
3:08
they've bid more than if they'd simply
3:11
booked a higher grade Cavern I met a
3:13
lovely couple on Celebrity recently
3:16
where they had bid for a loft suite only
3:19
to discover they actually had paid more
3:21
than if they just booked it in the first
3:23
place so before I boarded this cruise I
3:25
received about four different emails
3:27
encouraging me to upgrade and bid so if
3:30
you're going to bid check check check
3:33
what it would actually cost you at that
3:34
point of time to actually physically
3:36
upgrade because you probably also can
3:38
choose your actual cabin also really
3:40
important the other trap people to fall
3:41
into if you're traveling solo like I am
3:44
is the bid is always based on two people
3:47
so even if you're solo you're going to
3:48
pay for two people so watch the bidding
3:50
process really carefully and generally
3:52
bid low the next trap is one that I have
3:55
so many people contacting me about in
3:57
fact even people who were on this cruise
3:58
before it started
4:00
now I'm a big Advocate if you watched my
4:02
videos before around tracking FAS and
4:04
there's a number of different sites that
4:05
you can do that on and I have a a link
4:08
on my blog tips of Travelers which tells
4:10
you the sites and how to do it however
4:13
what people are discovering is they are
4:16
finding that when the fairs go down
4:18
they're not able to get cruise lines to
4:20
match the lower price and the reason is
4:23
cruise lines are becoming a little bit
4:24
more tricky so what they're doing is
4:27
when they're doing promotions they'll
4:28
often build in terms and conditions now
4:31
which say that the price is locked in
4:33
what they say is the price won't go up
4:34
but it also won't go down so many people
4:36
are seeing prices going down for cruises
4:39
but uh Cruis lines will not budge
4:40
because they say you've booked a fair
4:42
which has a term and condition where you
4:43
cannot reduce the price the second key
4:46
thing is if you book often with say an
4:49
online agency online Cruise agency bear
4:52
in mind that often you cannot change the
4:55
fair because many of those are selling
4:57
effectively a group rate they they're
4:59
selling a bulk amount of cabins the
5:01
cruise line has given them a specific
5:02
deal for that and it will not change now
5:04
I learned that also because when I was
5:06
setting up some of my own group Cruisers
5:08
is if we went with the group rate if and
5:11
fairs went down they you know people
5:13
would not be able to lower the fair so
5:15
we actually went with a more flexible
5:16
fair for example if you think the fair
5:18
is going to go down or you're worried
5:20
about the fairs going down check when
5:22
you book if this is going to be a fair
5:25
that if the fairs go down you can ask
5:28
for if you haven't paid the full balance
5:29
you can also the low fair you can also
5:31
unble credit or an upgrade one other
5:34
critical trap is one that I actually
5:36
initially fell into on this particular
5:38
trip but luckily uh one of the Barm Men
5:41
actually pointed out I was missing out
5:43
and that's to make sure that you
5:44
absolutely understand what other your
5:46
loyalty level or your cabin grade
5:49
includes so for example I uh although I
5:52
haven't cruised on Royal Caribbean very
5:53
much and Diamond status because of my
5:55
Cru of done on Celebrity and when you're
5:57
Diamond status there's a whole bunch of
5:59
things you get so for example you get
6:00
four free drinks up to the value of $15
6:04
per day uh in any of the bars and so on
6:07
you also get access to a Diamond Lounge
6:10
where they have evening canipes and
6:12
Continental breakfasts and some
6:14
concierge help and then they have a very
6:16
special event just for diamond and above
6:18
members so make sure you understand what
6:20
they are now I went and hunted down from
6:22
the diamond lady when one of the bman
6:24
pointed out asked me if I want to use
6:26
one of my free drinks I went and got
6:28
from her this leflet which then tells me
6:30
exactly everything that's included Cru
6:33
don't necessarily always tell you about
6:35
that so make sure you ask go to the
6:37
loyalty manager what are my perks what
6:40
can I get speak to your cabin student
6:42
find out what you can be getting uh
6:44
within your cabin uh and make sure that
6:46
you get exactly what your grade or your
6:49
status even if it's just low status gets
6:52
you don't fall to the Trap of missing
6:54
out by not asking one really important
6:59
trap that I've seen so many people fall
7:02
into some on this cruise but on every
7:05
other cruise I've found people fall into
7:06
it and this is the Trap of not looking
7:09
at and understanding what you're signing
7:12
up for what's really important to
7:13
understand is when you book a cruise you
7:16
are automatically agreeing to The Cruise
7:19
Line Cruise contract and terms and
7:22
conditions are many many traps and
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things that you could trip up on without
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even realizing first of all Cruise Lines
7:29
have age and various restrictions around
7:32
you know for example how young kids can
7:34
be before they can come on or certain
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rules around if you're a certain stage
7:38
of pregnancy when you can come on board
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and I've found that it differs a lot by
7:43
line so you need to make sure what they
7:44
are if you have young kids or you are
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pregnant or plan to get pregnant other
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conditions where I know many people have
7:52
had problems on including someone I met
7:54
on this cruise is what the rules are
7:56
around name changes or if you you want
7:59
to change basically the people on the
8:01
booking these days they will perhaps
8:02
charge a small fee if you know you were
8:05
traveling with someone and they're not
8:06
coming anymore you know some friends
8:07
have had to swap in and swap out check
8:09
the rules because some cruise lines used
8:12
to have in some of the contracts that
8:14
I've looked at where it actually would
8:15
count as a cancellation if you're
8:17
traveling with kids every single cruise
8:19
line has different rules around whether
8:22
kids can be in their own cabin so for
8:24
example here on Royal Caribbean the rule
8:27
is as follows that if if you're under 21
8:30
or 18 if you're not selling out of North
8:32
America kids can only be in their own
8:36
cabin if it is adjacent to you or across
8:40
the hall from you uh they can't
8:42
basically be in a separate cabin
8:43
somewhere else or there has to be
8:45
someone in the cabin who's 21 or 18 if
8:47
you're not selling out of North America
8:48
so there's really rules around where the
8:50
kids can have their own cabin Carn for
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example says that kids under the age of
8:54
13 cannot be in a cabin by themselves
8:57
even if it's next door or opposite uh
8:59
with a balcony so each Cruise Line has
9:01
different rules in their contract so
9:02
make sure that you check those when
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you're booking if you're traveling with
9:05
kids and want them to have their own
9:07
cabin also perhaps if you are 18 between
9:09
18 and 21 uh and you want to drink and
9:12
gamble when you're on a cruise you'll
9:14
find again in the cruise contract
9:16
different rules so many cruise lines
9:19
that are selling out of North America
9:20
will hold the 21 years and above rule
9:23
for drinking and gambling many Cruise
9:25
Lines even if they're American Cruise
9:26
Lines selling out of Europe which we are
9:28
doing at the moment will reduce that to
9:30
age 18 so those are some of the main
9:32
ones but I wanted to pull out the next
9:34
one that's in the cruise contract as a
9:36
whole separate trap because this is a
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really big important one when you book a
9:42
cruise do not assume that the itinery is
9:46
locked and will not change the cruise
9:49
lines in the cruise contract will say
9:51
that they can change the itinery before
9:53
the cruise or during the cruise for what
9:55
they would call operational reasons now
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I'll give you a really extreme dream
9:59
example of that on my cruise before this
10:01
one which was an expedition cruise on
10:03
hapag Lloyd Greenland and Canadian
10:05
Arctic because of the whole situation
10:07
with ice the captain and scrapped our
10:09
entire itinery and change it completely
10:12
I always say to people if you're booking
10:13
a cruise because you want to meet a long
10:15
lost friend in a particular Port beware
10:19
because it you may never get there and
10:21
also importantly you'll find that the
10:23
cruise line in the contract normally
10:25
says that they can do it without
10:27
compensation so for example on a recent
10:29
Windstar cruise a port was dropped
10:31
because of weather and we were offer
10:33
nothing no extra credit nothing at all
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so it's really important that the
10:38
itinery is kind of a guideline and they
10:40
obviously try and stick to it because
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that's there's so much infrastructure
10:44
and plans and excursions and things
10:46
around it but really important to
10:48
understand that the itinery can and will
10:52
change now there are a bunch of other
10:54
traps that happen around packing that I
10:57
talk about in this video where I look at
11:00
what as an experienced Cruiser I no
11:02
longer bring with me at all and things I
11:04
bring instead to avoid some of those
11:06
traps so why don't you join me over
11:08
there and hear about the things that I
11:11
never ever take cruising again see you
11:13
over there
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