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People Still Fall For These 5 Mediterranean Cruise Traps!
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Jan 28, 2025
I explore the 6 Mediterranean cruise traps and blunders that cruise passengers fall into when thinking of cruising in the Mediterranean. Inspired by when a friend of mine wanted to cruise the Mediterranean for the first time and I saw all the mistakes she was about to make. 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 92 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 ——————————————— * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
it all started with a message i got from
0:02
a great past work colleague winnie she
0:05
was looking for a mediterranean cruise
0:06
for a week in july on a mid-side ship in
0:09
a balcony cabin that might sound pretty
0:11
simple but in that one simple request it
0:14
was clear she was about to fall headlong
0:17
into five blunders that trip up so many
0:20
cruise passengers in the mediterranean
0:22
i'm gary bembridge here's what those
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blunders are and here's what i told
0:26
winnie the very first era she made was
0:28
thinking that there is a
0:30
mediterranean cruise it's so much more
0:33
complicated and trips up many people i
0:35
told winnie she needs to ask herself why
0:38
she's going
0:39
what she wants to see and do and that
0:41
will ensure that we can make sure she
0:43
doesn't go on the wrong mediterranean
0:45
cruise there are three main
0:47
mediterranean itineraries that she
0:49
should consider the one that i recommend
0:51
for first timers like winnie is the
0:53
western mediterranean these call on
0:56
spain france and italy they depart
0:59
usually from ports like barcelona civil
1:01
ceviche near rome and genoa and they
1:03
call on ports like marseille
1:05
the french
1:09
review for florence and nice la spezia
1:12
fortunquitere and some even go down to
1:14
naples to visit pompeii and capri some
1:17
also call on islands with fantastic
1:19
grand architecture like vallette malta
1:22
and palmer de maloka
1:24
this itinerary is perfect for
1:26
first-timers like winnie because you get
1:28
to see most or many of the really famous
1:31
mediterranean cities and also sites in
1:33
just one trip the itinerary and the
1:36
excursions they focus pretty heavily on
1:38
exploring local culture historical sites
1:41
museums architecture culinary and
1:44
wineries i suggested to winnie that if
1:46
she enjoyed a western mediterranean
1:48
itinerary and wanted to go on another
1:50
one her next should be an easter
1:52
mediterranean one this is probably my
1:55
personal favorite of all of the cruises
1:58
departing mostly from ports around
2:00
venice and perez near athens these visit
2:02
italy croatia montenegro greece and
2:05
sometimes they even go to turkey the
2:07
most popular ports include split
2:09
dubrovnik kofu and greek islands and
2:12
ports like catacolon santorini and
2:15
mykonos now while the itinerary and
2:17
excursions also focus on culture
2:20
historical sites museums architecture
2:22
they do tend to be a little bit more on
2:24
the active side i said to any if you
2:25
want to return to the mediterranean
2:27
after that itinerary i then recommended
2:29
a more southern and greek islands
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itinerary especially if you wanted to
2:33
have more of a beach mixed with ancient
2:36
sites and experience now mostly sailing
2:38
out of perez near athens the islands
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visited very very much based on the size
2:43
of ship so smaller ships call on more of
2:46
out of the way islands as well of course
2:48
going to the large and best known ones
2:49
like santorini roads and mykonos while
2:52
those three mediterranean cruise options
2:54
tend to be seven nights long and meet a
2:56
request for a week-long cruise there is
2:58
a really big blunder that many people
3:00
make as i have in the past that i also
3:03
needed to warn her about next first
3:06
whatever week-long itinerary she books
3:08
will always include one or two must-see
3:10
cities that she thinks she will see but
3:13
actually won't see at all for example i
3:15
showed her the seven night western
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mediterranean cruise i was about to go
3:19
on the advertised itinerary prominently
3:22
calls out barcelona and rome as two
3:25
ports but they are where i embark and
3:28
disembark now if i hadn't booked a
3:30
pre-stay in barcelona and a post day in
3:33
rome i would see nothing at all of those
3:36
cities other than of course glimpses
3:38
from the bus or the taxi window while
3:40
being transferred between the airport
3:42
and the ship to see the cities where
3:45
when he embarks or disembarks i strongly
3:48
encourage her that she must add stays
3:50
there or she won't see anything of those
3:53
fantastic ports second most
3:55
underestimate how tiring a week-long
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mediterranean cruise can actually be if
4:00
you have sea days for wanting to relax
4:03
because they're going to call into ports
4:05
pretty much daily she'll be out
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exploring most of the day and enjoying
4:09
the dining and entertainment well into
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the evenings she'll be flying in so
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likely tired and jet lagged another good
4:16
reason of course for having a pre and
4:18
post stay and thirdly this is all
4:21
magnified as quite a few mediterranean
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ports are far from the advertised city
4:26
or sites which means many other
4:27
excursions could be eight to ten hours
4:30
long every day look at my upcoming
4:32
cruise as an example the itinerary is
4:34
advertisers provence marseille florence
4:37
pisa liverno and rome tituccia on
4:41
eastern mediterranean ones you might see
4:43
venice ravena or trieste olympia
4:46
catacolon and pereas athens
4:49
the time to get to places advertised
4:50
like this on the itinerary can take a
4:53
really long time rome for example can
4:56
take up to two hours each way based on
4:58
traffic from trevichevecia florence one
5:01
and a half to two hours each way from
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laverno venice which most ships cannot
5:05
sell into anymore use raverna or trieste
5:08
which are two hours drive away even
5:11
places like olympia from catecholan
5:13
ginkitari from la spezia can take up to
5:16
an hour or more each way so with winnie
5:20
understanding the issues around week
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long trips
5:22
i wanted her to now tackle her plan to
5:25
cruise in july a blunder so many people
5:28
make the mediterranean cruising season
5:30
runs from april to october although a
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handful of ships will sail year round i
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warned winnie that going in july in
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august is a mistake for five key reasons
5:43
first it gets hot and sticky very
5:47
secondly it's peak season and extremely
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busy with both crews and land-based
5:53
travelers some mediterranean countries
5:55
including france spain and italy for
5:57
example they close their factories and
5:59
close many businesses in those months
6:01
and everybody goes on vacation mostly in
6:03
europe
6:04
it's really hard to get into places
6:07
there's crowds
6:08
everywhere third it is the most
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expensive time of the year to go
6:14
fourth as of school holidays families
6:16
will be cruising now even online that
6:19
usually don't have kids will have kids i
6:21
told winnie this is really really
6:23
important because many ships will be
6:25
sailing way over capacity now when ships
6:29
declare occupancy it's based on what's
6:31
called lower births which means two
6:34
people per cabin and doesn't count
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things like sofa beds pull down beds and
6:38
other places where people can sleep so
6:40
for example
6:41
when i was on an msc cruises merivillia
6:44
a couple of years back they told me
6:46
their official capacity was 4500
6:50
but in july and august they often have 6
6:52
000 passengers because kids are sharing
6:55
cabins with their parents now while
6:57
other ships may not be kind of as
6:59
dramatic as that all are likely to be at
7:02
higher capacity when families are on
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board
7:05
fifth i warned her this is the prime
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scam and pickpocket season due to the
7:11
peak and justin crowds
7:12
to be honest with you every time i've
7:14
been in venice barcelona and rome in
7:17
that peak july always time people of the
7:19
ship have had wallet stolen bag snatch
7:22
and backpacks opened so i suggested
7:24
winning instead looks at the shoulder
7:26
season june and september are especially
7:29
great months though may and october work
7:31
as well everything's open it's great but
7:34
not stifling weather and since when he
7:36
doesn't have to go in school holiday
7:38
time and is going with a friend of hers
7:40
they'll have a less costly and much less
7:43
crowded trip now when he said that she
7:46
wanted to go on a midsize ship but i
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worried she was falling into another
7:49
trap here too i suggested she step back
7:54
as there are a few considerations before
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settling on ship size and another
7:58
blunder that a couple of people that
8:00
i've seen make
8:01
this enormous line and ship choice in
8:04
the mediterranean so first i suggest we
8:06
cut out the number of lines she should
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consider
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based first of all on a budget pretty
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much every cruise line ranging from the
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most inexpensive like say msc norwegian
8:19
carnival and royal caribbean through to
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the most expensive cruise lines in the
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world like region seven seas seabourn
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silversea they all cruise here and they
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basically offer the same itineraries and
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ports so for example winnie could book a
8:33
seven night mediterranean cruise next
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june for two people on msc sea view in
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their cheapest balcony cabin for one
8:40
thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars
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that's 125 dollars per person per night
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or she could book a very similar seven
8:47
night region seven seas voyager cruise
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in their cheapest balcony where one
8:51
night would cost the same as that entire
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msc seven night cruise that's a
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staggering twelve thousand six hundred
8:58
dollars for two people for a week or
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nine hundred dollars per person per
9:02
night i also need to think about what
9:04
she wants those remaining lines that
9:06
we've got left after that to add to her
9:08
trip as the ports and places are largely
9:12
going to be the same
9:13
does she want a deep immersion into
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mediterranean history and culture for
9:17
example then i would suggest she looks
9:20
at lines like viking which have multiple
9:22
daily lectures with an onboard resident
9:24
historian that may be best
9:26
or perhaps does she want lots of late
9:28
night partying big glitzy theater shows
9:31
a really relaxed dress code then maybe
9:34
msc norwegian cruise lines carnival or
9:36
royal caribbean for example would be
9:38
best or perhaps does she want a more
9:40
familiar british experience with dressy
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formal nights and live orchestra
9:45
ballroom dancing then perhaps cunard is
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going to be the one for her cruise to
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avoid the trap of going on the wrong
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cruise line and getting the most from
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her budget when he agreed to drop a list
9:58
of what she really wanted from the ship
10:01
and the line now ship size of course is
10:04
a valid consideration that she should
10:05
have when he had said that she thought a
10:08
mid-sized ship because she heard they
10:10
would it would basically be less busy it
10:12
would have fewer cues but more because
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she'd heard they would go to more
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interesting ports in the mediterranean
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the size of the ship is less critical in
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terms of what ports they call them than
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some other regions in the world now
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definitely smaller ships can go into
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more out of the way ports but that
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really applies much more in greek island
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itineraries than it does in the western
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and eastern mediterranean it's not as
10:35
significant on those two itineraries on
10:37
these most the crew sports tend to be
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used by all both big and small ships so
10:42
i suggested that she focus much more on
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the experience she wanted rather than
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the ship size alone the experience she
10:48
wanted on the ship not the ship's size
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now the next era when he almost fell
10:53
into but i think she got it right in
10:54
many ways by chance was that she was
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looking at a balcony cabin when he said
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online people were recommending to her
11:01
that she'd take a balcony cabin because
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of the scenery to see while she was
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sailing in the mediterranean i don't
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think that is true first of all she's
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going to be selling at night and then
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she's going to be well at sea and the
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only time that she'll be close enough to
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view scenery is it sail in and sail out
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both of which she may want to be out on
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deck for
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i told her to choose a balcony
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over an inside or ocean view cabin only
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if she rated the upside and the
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experience worth the extra cost i always
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choose a balcony when cruising in the
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mediterranean or pretty much anywhere as
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i like being able to step out into the
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fresh air sit there in the evenings when
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sailing out and of course for the floor
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to wall windows and all the extra light
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i pointed out
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on her cruise she will likely have no or
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few sea days so she's not going to use
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the balcony on a sea day for example to
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relax
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and also because many of the
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mediterranean ports particularly in the
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western mediterranean are working ports
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and not the most attractive ports the
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views sitting out on even on port days
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is not going to be that thrilling or
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exciting now talking to winnie she liked
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me decided she wouldn't be getting a
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balcony for the views because she felt
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an insider ocean view may feel a little
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bit too claustrophobic thinking about
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the cabin experience that you will enjoy
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in the mediterranean absolutely is the
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best way of avoiding the trap of falling
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into booking something for views for
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example that may not be there or
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choosing a cabin that reduces your
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enjoyment a cheaper cabin may not be
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good value if you find it stifling or
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claustrophobic if you found these
12:36
mediterranean cruise
12:38
tips interesting why not watch this
12:40
video where i look at the traps that
12:42
most people fall into on caribbean
12:44
cruises starting with the one i did on
12:46
my first caribbean trip see you over
12:48
there
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