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Expedition Cruises DON'T Tell You This (Until You're Onboard!)
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Jan 28, 2025
At the start of my recent Greenland Arctic expedition cruise, an ominous notice appeared in the daily program. It required us to attend a mandatory (written in capital letters no less!) meeting at 5pm. Having been on four previous expedition cruises to Antarctica, the Arctic and Galapagos I knew to expect this meeting. But most did not, and many were confused as we’d had the muster drill which they thought was the only mandatory requirement on cruises. Concern grew when the Expedition Director made an announcement saying failure to attend would have significant implications for the cruise. This got me thinking I should talk about this and 5 other things that I only found out about after boarding when I started going on expedition cruises. 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
View Video Transcript
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on the first full day of my recent
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Greenland Arctic Expedition cruise this
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ominous notice appeared in the daily
0:06
program it required us to attend a
0:08
mandatory written in capital letters no
0:11
less meeting at 5 PM that day now having
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been on four previous Expedition cruises
0:16
to Antarctica the Arctic and Galapagos I
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knewed and was ready to expect this
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meeting but most passengers did not and
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many were kind of confused because we'd
0:24
had the master drill which most people
0:27
thought was the only mandatory
0:29
requirement you go on a cruise now
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concern actually grew because the
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Expedition director then made an
0:34
announcement saying that failure to
0:37
attend that meeting would have
0:38
significant implications for everybody
0:41
and certainly individuals on the cruise
0:44
so this got me thinking I should really
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talk about this and five other things
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that I only found out about after
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boarding when I started going on
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Expedition cruises welcome aboard I'm
0:55
Gary bembridge and I make it fun and
0:57
easy to discover plan and enjoy
0:58
incredible Cruise vacation and so what
1:01
was that meeting all about then it's a
1:04
make or break mandatory talk about the
1:06
rules of the region so on my arctic
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trips I've heard about the ACO rule so
1:12
that's the association of Arctic
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Expedition Cruise operators in
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Antarctica it was ayato rules of the
1:18
International Association of Antarctica
1:20
tour operators and in Galapagos it was
1:22
actually the national park rules because
1:24
Galapagos is within the national park
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the lines I've found always check
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attendance and not going means not being
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allowed to go on any of the off-ship
1:35
outings during the cruise so these talks
1:37
lay out what we almost do can do and
1:40
importantly cannot do on The Landings
1:42
and the rules that most people hear for
1:45
the very first time after they've
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boarded are incredibly strict and
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limiting which most people don't realize
1:50
so unlike when we've all been on a
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Caribbean or Alaska cruise where we can
1:54
just head off the ship we can go and do
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whatever we want this is not the case on
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Expedition so rules include things like
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having any clothes that are going to be
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worn off the ship being screened often
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they're vacuumed sometimes that
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someone's mandatory to make sure you
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know basically they aren't carrying
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seeds and bugs rules like staying within
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a defined area which in the Arctic you
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know you've got polar bear guards in
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circling that area walking on very
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specific paths not even stepping off the
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path to take a photo in the Galapagos
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for example rules on what distance to
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stay away from Wildlife not taking
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anything even a feather or a pebble back
2:29
to the ship and how you know one mustn't
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leave anything behind so for example
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even if you're taking a tissue out of
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your pocket making sure that it doesn't
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blow away for example
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they also talk about you can't take any
2:41
food out with you there are no toilet
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facilities so if you need the bathroom
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the only option is to basically head
2:47
back on a zodiac to the ship and more on
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Zodiacs later now as you know when these
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rules are being revealed I also see many
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people surprised at how Stern the
2:57
lecture is and how restrictive it is
2:59
once you're on land
3:00
so that's a bigger high once people on
3:02
board but the next topic also revealed
3:04
once you're on board and usually
3:06
uncovered at the same talk upsets many
3:09
people so once I'm bored you're told
3:12
bluntly that the advertised itinerary
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that you've bought is at best a hope and
3:18
day to day that we're going to be told
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where the next ship will go to next
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because conditions in the Region's
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change and so they basically decide day
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by day where they're going to go now
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unlike a regular Cruise you know where
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changes to a Caribbean a Mediterranean
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or Alaska cruise that we've booked is
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really really unusual it's revealed once
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you're on board an expedition cruise
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that this will be the norm it is not
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unusual it is the norm so let me give
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you some examples based on my recent
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trip to Greenland and the Canadian
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Arctic so the advertise itinerary had us
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boarding in casalunga quack that's in
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Greenland so before heading across first
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to explore the Canadian Arctic but the
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sea ice in the bath and sea between the
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two made Crossing absolutely impossible
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so we stayed and stayed in Greenland
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that we sailed north of the line having
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to reschedule trips that were planned
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for later there to find new places for
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us to visit along the way so once we
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could eventually find a way to cross
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into Canada the when we got to Canada a
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massive storm was passing through there
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was thick ice where we were due to go so
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they scrapped pretty much all of the
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advertised identity for Canada anyway
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and we took refuge in a place called
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Eric Fjord they found somewhere for us
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to hike up to a beautiful frozen lake
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and then the next day because the storm
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was still though we weren't instead of
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where we were supposed to be going to
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admiralty Fjord where they scattered a
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new Landing in Adam's sound they then
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negotiated a stop at a settlement of
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about 900 people called Arctic Bay who
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kindly laid on some cultural emotions so
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everything was kind of different to the
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advertised schedule on other days even
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when we had an announced schedule for
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that day we had a program it would get
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thrown in the air and reworked because
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you know for example the captain turned
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the ship around because polar bears were
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spotted which is a good thing to do or
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he decided one day that we were going to
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go on an you know Turn Down plan zodiac
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ride in the crocker Bay because we were
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passing and it was a beautiful day so
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I've seen on all my exhibition trips
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many passengers that would get quite
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stressed when they fight find out once
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on board that they're not going to get
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what was advertised and it isn't
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happening so on an Antarctica trip for
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example last season I was contacted
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recently by someone who booked an
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itinerary after seeing my South Georgia
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videos but they were left totally
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distort when the line canceled sailing
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there due to rough seas and they missed
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out seeing all that incredible Wildlife
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you know the huge big penguin colonies
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it didn't cross their mind and hadn't
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been made clear before going that such
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dramatic changes were possible I don't
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think Expedition Cruisers make it clear
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when people are booking that the
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itinerary is and must be a hope and a
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guideline none of the five cruises that
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I've done to date as Expedition Cruisers
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have ever ever run to the advertised
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itinerary but even those passengers that
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realized that or have learned to be
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adaptable and flexible they weren't
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aware of this next issue before they got
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on board because it wasn't spoken about
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before boarding on my first expedition
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Cruise which was to the Antarctica I
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quickly realized that not not enough is
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made before growing around the need to
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be active and to be mobile to get the
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absolute most from these costly trips
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first of all because of the zodiacs it
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is really unusual for an expedition ship
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to dock it's almost always more of land
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you know these are pretty remote places
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and then Zodiacs are used to get the
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passengers to and from Land even
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embarkation and disembarkation on both
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my Galapagos and that recent Greenland
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Crews were actually by Zodiacs the ship
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wasn't docked now Zodiacs are small
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inflatable boats they hold around about
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10 people and they require climbing off
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the ship into them and can often you
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know be bobbing up and down quite a lot
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many of The Landings that one makes on
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Expedition are wet Landings this means
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clamoring off the Zodiac into water and
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I've seen many people struggling on
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every trip getting on them getting off
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them the second reason for being
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activists because while some of the
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excursions you know are leisurely zodiac
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rides you know in the Canadian Arctic uh
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that one I mentioned about going to the
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glacier or you know many around icebergs
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and beautiful bays in Antarctica The
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Landings and the off-ship experiences
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like that are really active most of them
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are strenuous hikes so on that recent
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Arctic trip we were clamoring and Hiking
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up big Hills to view glaciers we are
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clamoring over steep rocks to see
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waterfalls we went as an Antarctica you
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know we're going through ice and snow
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hills to see penguin colonies or
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incredible glaciers in the Galapagos it
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was over really uneven ground on all my
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exhibition cruises I came across people
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that had not realized quite how
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strenuous these Landings and Hikes were
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going to be and many ended up having to
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skip some of the best sites and the best
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experiences because they just didn't
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know that before they got on board the
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other active activity that people don't
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know about until they're bored is
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snorkeling and Galapagos probably I
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would say half the best highlights I saw
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were in the water amazing fish Galapagos
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penguins Galapagos seals sharks rays and
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so on now many people on that trip had
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no idea until they were honored that
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this you know snorkeling was so key to
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the trip and a couple of people told me
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they would have actually reconsidered
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going if they'd known before so on every
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Expedition cruise by the way that I've
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been on there has actually been someone
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in a wheelchair normally traveling with
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friends or family now talking to them in
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most cases they hadn't really
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appreciated they wouldn't be able to get
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off the ship at all because it's just so
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complicated saying that on that
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Greenland cruise over the 18 days were
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were out there the crew did actually
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take the guy in the wheelchair out once
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in a place called disco Bay when we were
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cruising around icebergs because the sea
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was really really calm on that an 18-day
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Antarctica Expedition they also arranged
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for the gentleman in the wheelchair to
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be taken on a landing one day in a
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really calm Bay in his wheelchair so
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they could put him on and say that he'd
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actually been content but the rest of
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the time because the complexity and the
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zodiacs and stuff and and the nature of
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The Landings you know people who had no
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Mobility had to stay on the ship so
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while mobility and Agility definitely
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come as a surprise to many people once
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they're bored so does the wildlife or
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certainly the nature of what you're
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going to see versus what the brochures
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social media and cruise websites suggest
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everyone I met on an expedition cruise
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is expecting to see the bucket list and
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the iconic Wildlife shown in all those
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marketing materials so in the Arctic
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people were expecting to see polar bears
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in an Arctic in the Arctic you know
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whales breaching or enormous humpback
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whale tells rising up close to the ship
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and so on so the implicational materials
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is we're going to see them all we're
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going to see them up close and we're
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going to get amazing pictures you know
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even just with our smartphones because
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they're going to kind of be within
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touching distance if that's the right
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expression now once I'm bored
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at the start of the trip I have always
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been told very clearly that while they
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will try and see things like polar bears
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whales seals and so on it's absolutely a
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game of chance it's a lot of luck there
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is no guarantee that you will see these
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things that you expect them to see which
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of course once I say it is really
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obvious because they can't get Wildlife
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to appear on requests but that's not
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really stressed before you go it is once
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you're on board also by the way I've
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found once you've encountered things
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like polar bears and whales they have
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actually been really far away because
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the ship has to under the regulation
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stay some distance away so the sighting
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can often be fleeting I've sometimes
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missed some of the sightings by the time
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I've got on Deck now on the green and
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Arctic trip to give an example we did
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see polar bears in fact across the trip
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we actually saw seven polar bears I only
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eventually saw six of them because I
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missed one of them but we're on the ship
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they were on land because Landing when
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polar bears are around us prohibited
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because they're so dangerous all of the
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sightings were at least a kilometer away
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that's about a thousand yards so it took
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binoculars which many lions like mine
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provide or a camera with a very long
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lens to see beyond a small white dot in
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the distance so I had a a long kind of
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350 millimeter lens and even that wasn't
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great they were still kind of really
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quite small the same has been my
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experience with Wales in both the Arctic
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and Antarctica Wells often do come
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closer to the ship themselves but the
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ship is supposed to kind of keep a
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distance if they spot it so it's tend to
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kind of be Puffs from orcas in the
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distance from the spout or maybe a
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humpback whale in the distance with
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their tails which with the good camera
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that I had I did get decent shots so
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exciting as it was to see them I kind of
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realized you just don't get up as close
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as the images suggest when you're
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booking you know kind of expecting to
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get amazing close-ups and see these
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animals up really close you just don't
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and you realize that once you're on
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board on the positive side though most
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Expedition cruise lines have onboard
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photographers and videographers who have
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incredible lenses way beyond what I've
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got and so they often you will be able
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to get a better video photographs the
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sightings which are either included in
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your fair or you have to pay extra for
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on the upside though I would say in
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Antarctica Penguins I did see I got
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really close to they have no fear of
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humans in south Georgia on the beaches I
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got really close to elephant seals and
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seals and I didn't need kind of uh you
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know you know big lenses to see them in
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the Galapagos you get really close to
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birds the giant tortoises so while I
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don't think Expedition Cruisers do a
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good job at setting expectations about
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Wildlife on board they absolutely though
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do not in the next area I feel and many
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passengers especially those used to kind
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of onboard life on regular cruises to
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places like the Caribbean are expecting
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something quite different and they only
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discover once they're on board that it's
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not the case because it's called a
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cruise most people seem to expect a
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usual Cruise entertainment program
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however once you're on board they soon
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learn that the focus and Main
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entertainment is actually enrichment
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lectures Recaps and briefings so for
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example on that most recent trip we had
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a counted up at least 16 lectures
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covering his Street climate Wildlife
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culture geography and then on top of
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that we usually had a daily recap of
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what we'd actually seen that day and the
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briefing on where we would be going to
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next with background about what we would
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see and what to expect the evening
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entertainment was literally a Pianist or
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a guitarist paying off to dinner or some
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nights instead there would be a panel
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with the polar bear guards asking you
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know questions there was another one
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with senior officers so in reality that
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evening entertainment were really kind
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of enrichment talks and that's important
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to understand because instead of an
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entertainment team you realize once you
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get on board is an expedition team and
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these are subject experts so across the
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day there's not a program of events
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because there's no one to run them and
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though you know those Expedition team
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are out on all the landings with guests
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so on Expedition cruises at most you
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know you perhaps have one trivia per day
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you might have the occasional cooking or
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dining events so we had a German sausage
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and beer lunch for example of course
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you'll have a captain's welcome in
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farewell maybe some Fitness classes
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people who like lots going on and being
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entertained find a bit of shock once
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they're on board because they're
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expecting a typical Cruise program
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packed with events and shows but once
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they're on board they they realize that
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just doesn't exist it's much lower key
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but for some like me actually the lack
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of entertainment especially in the
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evening even if a surprise ends up not
14:23
being an issue because of the next thing
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that people quickly discover once
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they're on board Expedition cruising is
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tiring and days can be erratic as
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becomes clear once you're on board first
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of all you know Landings will often
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start early in the morning so we had
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many from 7 30 a.m 8 A.M and other
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Cruises have been it was even as early
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as 6 30 am because on the ship you know
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regions limit how many people can be on
14:47
land at any one time so in the Arctic in
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Antarctica that's only 100 people I
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think it might be 50 in Galapagos as
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most Expedition ships that go have at
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least 200 people sitting in the Arctic
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and the Antarctica a hundred go off for
15:00
you know two hours or so they come back
15:02
and the next hundred go so that takes
15:04
you a good four or five hours the ship
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is then gonna sail to another location
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of Interest a couple of hours away and
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that repeats that whole process to fit
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all that in means early starts and long
15:14
days of activity so this secondly means
15:17
that Recaps and briefings only take
15:19
place in the evening before dinner so
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there's very limited downtime and also
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as I mentioned you know it's quite
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active once you're out there the other
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reason is uh you know the sites are
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amazing the ship has spotted amazing
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Iceberg whales or polar bears so I also
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find on an expedition Cruise when you're
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not on a landing you're actually going
15:38
to be spending a lot of time out on
15:40
deckling at the sites the you know
15:42
what's going on so that's tiring as well
15:43
because you're basically outstanding
15:45
fourthly if the crew spots something of
15:48
interest you know those polar bears
15:49
whales unusual sites they make an
15:51
announcement no matter the time of day
15:54
or night to alert you know so on this
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last trip we had them at 11 30 p.m at
15:59
night a couple of nights because they
16:01
spotted some incredible icebergs it was
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5 30 a.m and some morning for this part
16:05
of polar bears it's a Once In A Life
16:07
Time trip all this money so turning off
16:09
the announcements and missing
16:11
potentially sightings like this is just
16:12
not an option but it does get really
16:14
tiring because as I said again those
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Landings are very active and I don't
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think just how tiring it is it's not
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made clear until you're on board where
16:22
you're kind of told you're not here for
16:23
a holiday if you want a holiday take a
16:25
holiday afterwards
16:26
despite all of these issues that you
16:29
realize it is an incredible experience
16:31
so join me on this video to see how the
16:33
trip went how I cope with all these
16:35
changes and what I experienced starting
16:38
with one amazing surprise see you over
16:41
there
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