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Live Cruise Q&A Back From Silver Nova: Saturday 13 September 9am PT/ Noon ET / 5pm UK
Sep 13, 2025
Join me for a live cruise Q&A as I just get back from 18 nights on Silversea Silver Nova from Alaska to Japan. Ask me about that or anything else cruise related in my first live after a 3 week gap while I was on the trip. Saturday 13 September 9am PT/ Noon ET / 5pm UK Get any cruise questions answered live! Join me for another of my weekly live cruise question and answer session. During the livestream I will answer cruising questions or discuss any cruising topic or news development that people ask me live. You can watch past episodes of the livestreams too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qEAiMOHL4&list=PLs3662YkgOgq_nlVQR9WYJRNKuNyeKu7Z). Get bonus videos and dedicated livestreams by becoming a YouTube Channel Member (click "join" under any video to find out more) or become a Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/TipsForTravellers You can also but my exclusive cruise T-shirts you see me wearing in the livestream and videos at these stores: https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com + http://bit.ly/TFTStore + https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com #CruiseLive #cruiseQ&A #CruiseLivestream #cruisetips 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6193336770101248
View Video Transcript
0:08
[Music] and welcome back. It's been I think
0:14
three or four weeks since I last did a live. So, it's really fantastic to be able to be back. Um, of course I'm just
0:19
back from my Alaska, Japan repositioning cruise where um it was just impossible
0:27
kind of timewise and uh schedule-wise and everything to to make this happen. So, it's great to be back. So, will be
0:33
certainly until my next travels be a couple of weeks certainly uh be able to do live streams and then I've got some
0:39
landbased stuff so I should be able to do those. So, lots and lots of questions I'm sure uh to come in. Um, I'm doing on
0:44
a Saturday because unfortunately I couldn't do it on Sunday, but I'll be back to the usual Sunday from next week.
0:50
U, so just a reminder this is a live. It's great to see some of you here already joining. Uh, if you're watching
0:56
this afterwards, which many of you do, just remember it is a live. So whatever you hear on this is driven by people
1:01
asking questions. So hopefully maybe you'll be able to join a live next time. I bring the questions up as they come
1:07
up. So if you want to skip through to questions that appeal to you, even more so. So, let me uh do a little bit of um
1:14
housekeeping and welcomes and bits and pieces before we get into the questions and then I'll jump into the questions because obly want to answer as many
1:20
questions as possible in the 60 minutes we have. So, let me just remind you I'm
1:25
just back from um this repositioning cruise which was on Nova um a ship I
1:33
really wanted to try and of course I did the reposition because it's really good value. So, you can go on like a more premium line like that at really good
1:39
value. So, we started up here in Seawwood. went to Kodiak. We then had six uh consecutive C days where we
1:47
changed uh time zones seven times including losing a whole day. So people
1:53
who had a birthday on the 28th of August uh skipped a whole day. Then we actually had which is unusual by revisition we
1:58
had eight different ports. So that was great. Just a reminder by the way I'll do a little punt here is this is the
2:04
cruise globe where you can add all your cruises um completely free. So it's cruiseglobe.com.
2:10
Then once you're in there, you can do things like you can order the the cruise cards and the maps and stuff like that. And if you ever do that, uh, use the
2:17
code TFT and you'll get 10% off. Just a reminder about that. The cruise globe is fantastic. So that uh I was able to pop
2:24
that in the day after the cruise ended and it showed up all my cruises and stuff. So that's really great. So just
2:30
that's what I did. So let's dive into the questions. I'll talk a bit later about the video that's coming up today.
2:36
Um, so see the world asked a question. Good to see you here. Um, just a
2:42
reminder as see the world did write the word question. Um, and I'll mention some of the regulars as we come through uh to
2:49
their various questions and comments. Every January I attend a travel show in Manchester. I suspect that might be the destination's travel show. Is there any
2:56
event in the UK which is well attended by cruise lines with deals worth attending for? Looking forward to your
3:02
Silver Sea video. So see the world. a couple um destinations which I suspect is the one because I know they do one in
3:07
Manchester, they do one in London. There's normally quite a lot of cruise lines there across quite a wide range.
3:13
There is also the luxury travel which obviously by definition tends to have more luxury lines uh very strongly
3:20
represented that's normally linked to another um event which I can't the
3:26
luxury fair generally um and they you'll find all the lines there normally have
3:31
uh deals uh of some kind know different uh deals but the destinations one is
3:37
probably the best one to go to. They normally have a very big cruise representation there. So, I suspect that's the one you're probably going to.
3:43
Um anyway, um but there's not a cruise dedicated one. Um the I'm trying to think I've spoken I've been on a panel
3:50
and I think it was the destinations one um where Polar Roots asked me to be on
3:56
the panel and they had lots of cruise lines. They had some big stands like Viking and so on. So, PPPJ
4:03
I'd love to know what that PPPJ means. How is Silver Sea for solos? I was on this cruise by the way is solo. Is it
4:10
one of the companies who are happy with solo travelers as long as they pay 100% more for a cabin which is fairly common
4:16
or do they have solo office or even solo cabins? So you tend to find quite a lot
4:22
of solos on Silver Sea. I've done a couple of solo trips including to Antarctica
4:28
on Silver Sea. I done two Antarctica trips with Silver Sea. uh one on silver cloud and one on silver endeavor and uh
4:36
this one and and a few others. What's good about Silverc is obviously they're
4:41
ultra luxury so they're kind of expensive anyway but they do have across a range of selected cruises a 25%
4:48
supplement. Now sometimes it's been lower than that but mostly these days it's about 25%. Uh so you can often do
4:56
that. So, for example, I'm looking at some cruises ahead of time for 27 because my 26 is full. There's a couple
5:03
of cruises I'm interested in, and they're currently on sale. Some of them are on sale for 30% or 40% off until if
5:10
you book before November, and then it's a 25% solo, certainly on some of the ones I'm looking at now. It is selected
5:17
um cruises. So, but it is pretty good. Now, if you travel as a solo traveler, I personally don't do this, but they do
5:24
have hosted solo traveler meetups. So, on this cruise, I had they had a a solo
5:30
host and he would host every night uh drinks for solos and then they would
5:36
kind of go to dinner together or or whatever. So, they do that. I tend not to get involved in the solo program. Um
5:43
but that certainly was there. Um but to write if if you have to pick it. So the
5:48
reason I originally chose them to go to Antarctica was because they had that solid. I think the first time was maybe 15%. But from what I've read, it's
5:55
mostly 25%. Now a little talk a little bit a little side bar on Silver Seed because Silver Sea just this week have
6:02
um announced quite big changes to their fairs. So they used to have doortodoor,
6:07
porttoport and doortodoor would include flights, hotels, transfers and so on to
6:13
from home. They've scrapped that and they've moved now to uh three fairs
6:18
which um one of which is kind of all-inclusive plus all-incclusive and then essential fairs. Essential fairs
6:25
only are about 5 months before a cruise. They are the best value ones. So they've taken out excursions from the included
6:32
excursions from those fairs. But if you buy the all-inclusive plus you get a
6:38
shore excursions credit. Um, the all-inclusive doesn't have that. The
6:44
all-inclusive plus has refundable fair refundable deposit. The other one doesn't have refundable deposits. So,
6:51
that certainly for us travelers is quite a big issue. It's causing lots of discussion in the groups, but they have shifted that. Mike and Carrie Muan 547
6:59
was great. I caught up with them when I was in uh Seattle on the way to join this cruise, which was fantastic to see
7:04
them. Looks like Silver Sea Japan treated you well. It was really great. I had a great time. enjoyed the Patreon
7:10
tips and encourage those who aren't a patron to consider it. So, thanks for the little punt there for patron. So, what I did just to let people know is I
7:16
do have a Patreon site um where I do bonus content. So, I have a chart here
7:23
which actually some I should show because a lot of people go like I'm not going to pay for content. Why are you charging for content? Um so, everything
7:29
that I used to do I still do completely as normal, no charge. So the weekly
7:35
videos, the live streams, um if you follow me on Instagram, reels or
7:40
whatever, u that's all the content that I used to do and I still do that. Then I have a Patreon for people who want a bit
7:46
further. So what I did on this trip, for example, Patreon, I did a video um
7:51
partway through the trip, which is giving first impressions what I thought of Silver Nova, the ship. So it's kind of kind of almost unfiltered kind of
7:58
thoughts. And then I posted for each of the eight uh ports we went to uh kind of
8:04
detailed reviews of the ports. So I spoke about what I did that I had some cultural context and some um background
8:12
to it because I don't you know that sort of content that I wouldn't normally um
8:17
post uh etc. But I then if you follow me on Facebook you'll see I did kind of a scaled down version of that. So Patreon
8:23
thanks very much for that little punt there. So definitely then there's other things in Patreon like there's early release ad free videos and other bits
8:30
and pieces. Hi here which is great to see. Thanks for joining us and Caroline Allen another regular. I followed your
8:36
Facebook cruise on Facebook. So there you are. That was the point. I every po I would still post stuff on Facebook as
8:41
I would normally do. I don't post Instagram stories as well. Um which then get crossosted on that. Um, I actually
8:49
realized because on Instagram you can only you can because I sort of archive
8:55
not archive things you can then create um collections I think they're called uh where you can do you you can so I can go
9:01
back and look at past trips and stuff like that and you can but you can only put a hundred um stories in that and and
9:07
I've done yesterday when I was putting the last few bits from the trip um it
9:13
stopped me doing it. So I've done 200 little clips um of the trip. So that's
9:19
include the ship, what I did in the ports um and that kind of stuff. So that's also that's on Instagram and on
9:26
Facebook. Anyway, having trouble since I land in Japan a few years ago. I loved it. I want to go. I love Japan. I mean
9:31
this is my fourth trip to Japan, I think it is now, and I just want to go again. I mean
9:37
already I was already looking at uh Japanese here. got us already looking at kind of ports and other trips for next
9:44
for 27 that include Japan. So what ports did I like the best and the least? So um
9:50
Caroline, I liked all of the port. So what one of the reason this appealed to me was this was uh very appealing
9:59
because it of these eight ports we went to, I had only been to Hiroshima before.
10:04
Uh all of them were were new to me. So I found all of them incredibly interesting. There was only one port
10:12
that was probably not wildly exciting and it was sort of a port that was a
10:18
little bit of off the kind of um tourist kind of
10:25
circuit if you know which was Aikita. Um so we went out to it was clear when you
10:33
looked at the excursions there was not a lot to do. Also when we got there was no kind of infrastructure on the port side.
10:38
It was kind of a little gazebo. Um so there was no kind of infrastructure and it was very much a working. There was big um wood chip kind of mountain next
10:47
to it. Um and it really wasn't really geared for. So the excursions were not terribly interesting. So we went out to
10:55
a um like an old farm thing was kind of interested in the Japanese house and we
11:00
went up a a sort of a observation platform. It wasn't massively interesting but the others were
11:06
fascinating. So I I found for example Kushiro was fairly interesting but
11:11
Hokkad I found absolutely fascinating. Um we we did some amazing um tourist
11:19
kind of touristy things there. Uh you know we did go up um different
11:24
observation towers and bits and pieces and stuff like that. So I found all of them incredibly interesting like Beu
11:29
which was the final one we went to which is known for its onen so the hot um
11:34
springs thing. Um but I went out to see these stone Buddhas which about an hour
11:40
out. Um then in in uh other places like
11:45
it was Amora we went to these incredible lantern um places. It was just amazing.
11:51
So all of them were fantastic. Hiroshim of course always fascinating. Uh this time I got to go to the Majima Island
11:57
which I hadn't done before. So all of them were were amazing. Um, and I like, you know, on the other places I've been
12:02
to, um, absolutely absolutely just love Japan. It's fascinating. Um, I also love
12:08
the fact in Japan is obviously Japanese people are very respectful of everybody
12:14
else and there's lots of rules which I love. There's rules everywhere, signs everywhere, which I suspect targets are
12:19
mostly at us Westerners um, around what to do, what not to do. So even at the airport lounge, you know, the signs
12:25
about not making calls in the lounge. if you want to make a call, go into a separate little booth that they have.
12:31
Um, so I I really like that. I really like that. Jeff's here, which is great. Uh, Lana's here, which is fantastic.
12:38
Sharon SL, Jeffrey, cruising for one. Um, oh, so C and I've sort of touched on
12:44
that. Um, I actually I personally I'm I'm not I actually quite like the
12:51
change to be honest. Now I know for people generally looking at the discussion, people are not very excited
12:56
about it. Um, so I'll tell you what, I I wasn't a big fan of the included excursions overall because I felt the
13:02
excurs included excursions were not fantastic. Um, so I found on most Silver Sea trips I've been on, even including
13:09
this one, half of the ports I was I bought excursions because there were excursions that were better. Now the
13:14
problem I agree with the excursion policy is what they're requiring you to do is to pay when you book them. So
13:21
particularly if you're doing if I'm 27 and I book the excursions, I have to pay it in advance. But, you know, if you go on like a Regent or something like that,
13:28
they with the extra excursions, you only pay for those kind of once you you know,
13:34
that's not true. On Regent, you pay for them up front as well. So, it's in line with Regent. Um, but what Silverc used
13:41
to do with the added excursions, I only paid for them on sport. So, I think the excursion change is not great because
13:46
you're paying for excursions up front whereas before the added ones you you like all the added ones, I only paid
13:52
once I was on board. So, I think the excursion one hopefully they will do something about to not make you pay for
13:57
those upfront. Um, you know, obviously the you can get them refunded if you cancel them up to 48 hours before, but
14:04
it's paying that money up front, particularly when you're so far ahead. Now, on the deposit issue, it's quite
14:10
interesting because I think this is definitely much more upsetting um and
14:15
annoying for US-based travelers. Certainly in the UK, it's you don't have refundable deposits. So, actually I'm
14:23
hoping now actually for me if I go with the um the plus the plus one I actually
14:31
now have a refundable deposit which I didn't have before. Now I need to clarify that. I haven't clarified that yet. So I I'm not a mass I'm not
14:39
massively upset about it because I didn't really use door to door. I used to use porttoport. Uh but certainly door to
14:46
door it's now very pick and mix. Um so so to me it feels I'm less troubled by
14:53
it but I can certainly see that silver sea regulars are not happy about the changes. I suspect once the dust settles
14:59
it people won't find it as bad. The thing I would like to what I want to keep an eye on is whether amongst these
15:06
changes there's effectively a kind of cost increase kind of put in. It's hard to tell because they're now doing this
15:12
promotion with 30% off and 20% off. So, it's a little bit muddy in the water, but I would be interested to see whether
15:18
it's as effectively is price increase. So, I'm probably in the minority
15:24
uh sin l um definitely I'm probably a little bit less uh you so I'm definitely
15:30
in the minority. I can see from from the groups. Um do we live life Japanese
15:36
food? I love Japanese food. Um Aaron asking the question um any thoughts on
15:43
Havil in Norway on video? It looks great. So I have not been on it. I would like to go on it. Um certainly people
15:48
that have been on it have really liked it. Um I you know the ships look pretty good. Uh you need to be careful how you
15:55
book it because um they do have different you know because effectively it sort of acts as a ferry. So you need to have booked so many nights to have
16:02
the food included and stuff. But certainly um people that I know who have been on, which is not many, have liked
16:08
it. Certainly I would love to try it. Um I don't have it on my schedule as yet, but certainly people seem very keen
16:14
about it. Um 7-Eleven, of course, the way I bring up the point is 7-Eleven, of
16:20
course, people associate 7-Eleven in the US and certainly like in the UK and stuff as being sort of just a basic kind
16:27
of um convenience store. Obviously in 7-Eleven it's a different company although 7-Eleven uh US is trying to buy
16:34
7-Eleven in Japan. There's a big battle going on at the moment about that. Um or might have been resolved by now but
16:39
certainly there was a big battle going on and um so um uh 7-Eleven has just
16:46
incredible range of food takeaway food and stuff. It's it's great. Uh Sen just
16:51
adding to a question can Silver still be considered a luxury or inclusive line? You know, it's interesting because um
16:57
the point I make um and I'm actually working on a video on all-inclusive so it's quite actually comparing this. It's
17:03
quite good that they made the change before I finished that video. Um I think they are in some ways because if you
17:10
look at Seabor for example, uh Seabour is pretty similar to that where everything is kind of an add-on. So
17:17
Regent is uh and Crystal is the same. So now the outlier in the ultra luxury
17:23
space is actually Regent because Regent of the four ultra luxury lines is now
17:29
the only one that has included excursions. Seabour doesn't have included excursions. Crystal doesn't
17:34
have included excursions. Silver C now doesn't have included excursions. So Regent is the only one. So it'll be
17:39
interesting to see where the Regent moves away from that. But also if you look at um you know the others also have
17:47
the pick and mix in terms of bundling a doortodoor thing as well. So it's more
17:52
in line in reality it's moved more in line with the others. I wonder whether
17:58
they it's because they're seeing that actually that's the general direction of travel as it were. Excuse the pun. So
18:05
I'm really intrigued to see where the regent drops the uh included excursions. they shifted a little bit more like
18:11
Silver Sea where you could buy a more inclusive thing which included some of the transfers at the beginning and the
18:17
end. So I suspect we'll might see a kind of a merge to that. So certainly they
18:22
are um they're more in line now. So yes is is if you're being pedantic about it
18:28
I understand your point completely uh where they used to be a more all-encompassing with the doortodoor
18:33
experience but they're now more in line with the category as as it were. just around write the word um question if you
18:40
do have a question so I don't miss it because if I don't see a question I often assume it is a chat uh amongst
18:46
people so let's have a look so Betty I think this is a question yeah I can see a question mark are all cruise lines
18:52
cutting service in buffet buffet areas we recently cruise on Princess and Royal Caribbean and see they're not doing
18:58
refills of coffee and tea in buffet areas so I guess you mean is that means
19:04
people coming around refilling it rather than you going and doing it yourself. Certainly, I mean, you're right. I've
19:10
seen certainly, you know, Holland America, Princess, etc., you know, they have the big urns and stuff um where you
19:18
go and refill. So, on Celebrity, you know, when you're on Celebrity, they didn't really have people coming around
19:23
at breakfast. They did to a lesser to greater degree. And in other meal times,
19:28
you kind of got your own thing. So, I I I I don't know whether that's a change
19:33
as such. Um, but it could be. I haven't seen, to be honest with you, I haven't seen any
19:39
notable change or seen any announcements about notable changes. Um, I've certainly
19:46
uh noted certainly when I'm think trying to think when I've been in Celebrity on America recently, I'm more used to going
19:51
and getting a kind of a mug fill myself. So, I'm not sure if I haven't seen anything Betty around uh any around any
19:58
any changes on those. Um, Hot Diggity also a question. What about drink
20:04
packages on Royal Caribbean? Um, Royal Caribbean have a pretty wide ranging of
20:10
drinks, packages, you know, non-alcoholic through to alcoholic and different levels. I think they are crazy
20:16
expensive compared like the ones on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean celebrity, they are incredibly expensive, but they
20:22
certainly are seen as um, you know, when I look at uh, a lot of the
20:28
reviewers and things like the Royal Caribbean blog group, they are very positive about the Royal Caribbean
20:34
drinks packages. I don't know if that's answered your question. Hot degree Steve O, good to see you here. Um, how did the
20:42
port stops on a small ship compare with your previous ships to Japan? Well, in
20:47
reality, most of my trips, well, I've had trips, I guess, on Queen Elizabeth was a big bigger ship, but I my last one
20:54
was an Explorer, so it was the same like a 700 passenger ship. Crystal was again
20:59
about the same. So, um, it was pretty similar. Um the the the key difference,
21:07
Steve, on this trip was because you were going down the west coast, we were going
21:12
to ports which are definitely much less on the regular port call. So if I look
21:17
at like the celebrity itineraries, Holland America itineraries and I actually went back and looked at my Queen um Elizabeth itineraries, they
21:24
tending to call on the ports that people are, you know, more familiar with. So that you know your Nagasaki, Hiroshima,
21:31
um Osaka or Coobe, um I think across to Busousan and stuff. So these were
21:36
definitely more out of the way, but that would think was more of a decision. They decided to go down the West Coast to add
21:43
a bit of kind of variety, I guess, to it. So that was the main difference. It was less about the ship size. I'm trying
21:49
to think if any of the ports of the ship wouldn't I think bigger ships would be able to get in, but maybe the
21:54
infrastructure would have been less able to cope. You know, certainly some of those ports we went to, I'm not sure they could cope with bigger ships just
22:01
because of the infrastructure. But when I think about Hakodate, for example, they had a pretty big uh port terminal
22:07
there. So, a couple of others didn't. Um Roxy, we have just seen a flash sale for
22:15
a couple of cruise lines. Yes, particularly being September, you'll find um it's end of quarter, so you'll
22:22
often find at the end of quarter, you'll find a bit of flash sales. Of course, another long bunch will come up in um uh
22:29
uh Thanksgivingy, Black Friday kind of times as well. We've seen just seen a flash sale for a couple of cruise lines,
22:36
but on Celebrity, the retreat price is still crazy high. Is this what we should expect from that? Yes. Uh short answer.
22:42
Celebrity have made it very clear that they want to uh shift their kind of p um
22:49
perception positioning product a little bit more on
22:54
the upper end in the premium category. They want to be see the retreat as kind of a luxury experience on a bigger ship.
23:02
So yes, I defined to your point retreat prices incredibly high. So I was talking
23:07
to a couple of people on who are on Silven Nova who are big fans and nor
23:12
travel celebrity shot and retreat and their point was like they kind of realized that they they can go on silver
23:18
sea for less than retreat. So certainly um when I compare what retreat prices
23:25
were to say going on Regent or Seaborn or Silver Sea often it is less costly to
23:33
go on those more premium lines. certainly even like an Oceanania or a Viking um than it is to go and retreat
23:40
especially when you then add in all the extras that you have to put on in retreat uh as well. So yes, but they
23:46
definitely are retreat prices are very hefty. Um Roxy Jacobson, thank you very
23:52
much for the super chat. Um Ken goes cruising, good to see you
23:58
here. Um we're sailing from Barcelona next month for the first time. Do you have any insights that might be helpful?
24:06
Um, that's quite interesting. You've never sone with all the sailing that you've done. So, I think the key thing,
24:11
Ken, I don't know if you're staying if you're flying in the same day or whether you're staying overnight or or not, but
24:19
one of the things that you need to really ascertain is which terminal you're going out of.
24:25
Um although once the taxi if you're getting a taxi or whatever in once they
24:30
take you in they can normally find it but um what I normally find is they don't always tell you in the cruise
24:36
joining instructions bizarrely which terminal you're in. Although it's relatively easy to work it out because they sort of use the same. So what I
24:42
often do in the morning I look on marine traffic if I haven't if it hasn't been
24:48
clear on the documentation. I look on marine traffic because that will also confirm which terminal the the ship is
24:54
is actually in. Um so they are also about so they're also going to be
24:59
knocking down uh two of the terminals and merging them to one. I can't remember when that's starting Kent. So
25:05
that may be a little bit uh disrupting there. Um, so, uh, if you're if you're
25:12
heading, the other thing to think about, I'm not sure how you if if you're staying overnight, what they don't
25:17
really have particularly effectively in Barcelona, Uber is not particularly strong. You find quite a long wait time.
25:24
So, I tend to just use regular taxis rather I'm a big Uber fan um, just because I like to know where it is and
25:30
you can put the address in and all that sort of stuff. Um, so, so you may find that just using regular taxis is is kind
25:38
of the easiest thing to do. Um, if you're selling if you're flying in the
25:43
same day, it's about it's it's pretty easy um and quick, maybe half an hour
25:48
from from from the terminal. Same when you get out, there's if if you're ending up in Barcelona, there's always a lot of
25:55
taxis at the end. Um, but if you're on a big mega ship, there can be very long cues for taxis, but they're normally
26:01
quite well well um there. So, I tend to either self-d disembark, particular if I'm getting like another Symphony or
26:07
Norwegian Viva or whatever, I tend to use more self-d disembarking so I could get to the the taxi um rank pretty
26:15
sharpish. What I did find, again, why it's about really checking which the terminal is, if you're booking a taxi or
26:21
kind of more of an Uber thing. I think I booked had I booked a black plane or an Uber? I can't remember. And there was
26:26
some confusion. They got really confused about which terminal. And that was particularly because I was coming in on Symphony of the Seas. And Symph is so
26:34
big they were using two different effectively two different terminal exits. Uh so some people getting off at
26:40
kind of a C and some have a D. And that was kind of a little bit confusing around that. So that's why just locking
26:45
down that. If that doesn't answer your question, leave me a little bit more detail, Ken. Uh and and I will um I will
26:52
get back to you on that. Thank you very much, Lady Golfer. I lots of love for my
26:58
Patreon. Um, best kind of vlogger. Ben and David both have good amount of extra content for Patreon. So, yes, I do
27:04
follow a little bit on David Ben and David's Patreon and they are certainly very active with lots of kind of bonus content. Jeff, hi there Jeff. So, asking
27:12
the question comparing SilverC to Regent 7C's I believe is more on the formal
27:18
side and region 7C is a little bit more relaxed. What would be your overall comparison of the two lines? So, thanks
27:24
for that question, Jeff. So, this is a a a good um thing like what what's the
27:30
right word? I'm working because I get asked this quite a lot. Um I'm working on as I mentioned earlier a video I've
27:36
got the one out on premium lines, one's coming on resort lines and the next one I'm working on um at the moment is on
27:42
comparing these. But you you're right, Jeff. So, Silver Sea is definitely a
27:48
little bit more formal in in its approach overall. So, for example, what
27:55
I found on Silvery of all of the ultra luxury lines is the most um stickler and
28:02
the passengers are probably the most stickler in when it comes to dress code. So, for example, they do have even
28:08
though they have the formal um option, I think it's called they they do require
28:14
you to wear a jacket. So, you don't need to get, you know, in bow tie or whatever, but they do ask for you to
28:20
wear a jacket. So, you know, and definitely the the if you look follow the Facebook groups, Silver Sea
28:25
passengers in the the Facebook groups definitely get much whoop, sorry,
28:31
knocking things over, get much more um exercised, if that's the right word, about kind of dress code and people
28:37
dressing smartly. Um whereas on region 7C, it's definitely a much more relaxed.
28:43
So, it's not the people dress badly, but it's much more relaxed. So for example, region 7C's has even loosened their
28:49
policy where you can wear jeans for example, you know, whether they call them smart jeans or whatever, but you could wear jeans for dinner if you
28:55
wanted to, which would definitely not be uh would be frowned upon on Silver Sea.
29:00
So it is a little bit more kind of um formal as such. Al on Silver Sea, you
29:05
know, the fact that every cabin has a a butler, so that also adds to a sense a little bit of the formality if you like.
29:11
So you have a butler and then you have a cabin stewart. Um whereas on region 7C you have to be in a penthouse or above
29:17
before you get a butler. So there's not many people have a butler. So region 7C is a little bit more relaxed a little
29:22
bit more informal. Um so service really
29:28
focus uh their sort of big point of difference if you like is around they
29:33
have the salt program sa and land taste which they've now rolling
29:39
out much more aggressively across all of their ships. So they in the salt program they have um effectively you have two
29:46
sort of main dining rooms. You have Atlantide and then the salt uh and salt will always have a menu linked to the
29:52
destination. So the menu changes quite uh frequently around the destination. Then you have uh the salt. So you have
30:00
that you have the salt kitchen which is the cooking classes. Now the cooking classes there are included in the fair
30:05
on regent. You pay to go to the cooking classes. They have the salt bar where again they will have cocktails and
30:10
things linked to the region. So, for example, because we were had come from Alaska into Japan, they had more kind of
30:16
Japanese themed kind of uh drinks. Um they you had more Japanese um spirits
30:22
and saki and that sort of uh stuff on. They also have salt excursions which are
30:27
food based excursions which are very expensive. Uh and then they have cooking demos as well which would normally be
30:33
run by the salt team. I think that's all the things that I've mentioned. Uh so that's sort of their big kind of concept
30:40
if you like. Um, and what I found is the the menus are much more fixed than you
30:46
would see on Regent. So in Atlantide, for example, they would have a page that
30:51
would change every day, but the rest of the menu was kind of fixed. Whereas on Regent, you'll have a menu, a very
30:57
extensive menu, which changes. You have a small, much smaller sense of uh fixed things. I also think that although
31:04
Silver Sea places a lot of emphasis on salt, I would say overall the food is
31:09
okay, I would say Regent probably nudges them when it comes to food where Crystal
31:15
nudges all of them when it comes to food. Um it was interesting because of
31:20
of all the people I spoke to, the the only thing that people on this particular trip were less enthusiastic
31:26
about was the food. Um I think people expect to be kind of a little bit more elevated. Um so so uh regent um the
31:34
other thing on silver is silver sea has quite a wide uh range in different types
31:39
of ships within the fleet. So you've got say silver whisper through to silver nova you've got silver moon silver
31:46
whatever. So the ships are very different um so depending on which ship you go in you're going to get different combinations of restaurants um and uh
31:54
venues and so on whereas the region ships are basically all the same. Now uh
32:00
when they launch Prestige which is coming next year they are playing around
32:05
a little bit with the layout. Um that's going up to 850 passengers if I remember correctly but basically the ships are
32:11
all the sort of the same core layout. So the ships are very familiar the same. So the experience across all the ships is
32:17
much more similar whereas if you go on whisper it's quite a different experience to go on on Nova which is a very different type of ship. And
32:24
obviously Silver Sea has expedition which region don't. Um, let me think if
32:29
there's anything different. So, yes, I I I mean, I like both. I'm a big fan of Regent, as you know. I will tell that
32:35
more. So, I've got my next cruise as such is is a Regent cruise. Um, so that's going from New York to Miami for
32:42
a two week cruise. Um, I've swapped that out for the Africa one I was due to be doing. So, it' be quite good again to be
32:49
back on them relatively close to each other to to compare. Um, I'm sure I've
32:55
probably left things um left things out of that, but um thanks for that
33:00
question. So, Jack very kindly uh Jack um is channel member and very kindly left a super chat. I think that's what
33:07
it's called. I have a very rich cousin. Nice. Who is wondering about doing a luxury top tier cruise line or rent a
33:13
motor yacht with crew? Any pros or cons for either? Okay. Well, renting could of
33:19
a yacht will definitely cost probably way more. Um, I think you know the for
33:26
I've never done that part. Um, I would like to experience it if anyone's got a rich um a rich cousin who wants to with
33:33
a yacht. Um, but um I think you know the thing is if you're going on a luxury
33:38
cruise liner, you're obviously going to get all the choice. So you're going to it's all going to be organized and laid on for you. So you're going to have a
33:45
choice of dining, you're going to have entertainment. Um whereas on a a nice
33:51
yacht with a crew obviously I guess they're going to tailor it much more for you but you don't have all the bells and whistles and entertainment and
33:57
excursions and stuff. So, so I would probably go with the uh, you know, very
34:02
luxurious cruise line. Uh, and, uh, first of all, it's going to be bigger, so you're going to find a little bit
34:08
more stable if you're worried about movement stuff on those yachts going to move around much more, but you're going
34:13
to have the whole experience of dining options, dining, choice, excursions, and
34:18
so on. So, I would probably go with that as a starter and then uh, see how that
34:25
see how that goes. Um, so let's have uh Unice asking question.
34:31
Was your cruiser round trip? Hope you saw that. It's not. It was a it was a it's a repositioning.
34:36
Um, let's have a look. Let me go back because I did jump down and let's have a
34:43
a look. Just remember, write the word question so I don't miss it. Big trouble when Winstar. I like Winstar. I have a
34:50
video um big trouble about Winto. If you go to the channel, there's a little search button. type of Winstar. You'll
34:56
you'll see my recent review of WinStar. So, they are much smaller ships. Um they
35:01
have some new builds coming, which I'm very excited about. Be good to try. They're very destination focused. Obviously, they're small ships, so they
35:08
don't have all the necessities that you have, but they have really interesting people. People are there very much the destinations. It's very
35:14
informal, very casual. Uh you know, things like dress codes and stuff, people don't really bother that much about it. The ships are very nice. They
35:21
are um obviously mostly uh the old seaborn ships which have been cut and
35:26
stretched. They do have the yachts which I haven't been on the sailing yachts. I will be next year. I'm very excited. I'm
35:32
going on that in May, May next year. So I'll be able to update you on the yachts because they're revamping all those as
35:37
well. But they're they're a very good line. I mean they're quite pricey. So because obviously they're smaller ships, but they have very interesting
35:44
destinations. Particularly looking French Polynesia. They're really good option for French Polynesia. Um but they
35:51
were great a great line but again it's if you like small ship experience uh very informal very casual uh very much
35:58
about the destinations rather than the entertainment and all that sort of stuff.
36:03
So, this is always this is always a um an interesting fine balance and I will I
36:09
have done um I do have some of the videos when I'm doing this as mentioned I'm doing the premium one's out the
36:16
resort one is just finished that will come out in a couple weeks I'm going to do one on ultra luxury and I'm going to do one on luxury and you're right I
36:22
should probably in those both those videos talk a little bit about the difference between uh luxury um and
36:28
ultra luxury so probably um the worth it is really around what is important to
36:36
you. So for example, you know, if a small ship experience is very important,
36:41
then ultral luxury is going to be much better because you're talking they're probably ships around about up to 700
36:47
passengers, you know, depending if you go on some of the smaller Silver Sea ships uh it's a little bit less, but
36:53
it's around about 700 uh or so passengers. So all those, you know, Crystal, Silver Sea, uh, Regent, um, and
37:01
Silver Sea, you know, but if you go luxury, your ships are bigger. So you're talking Viking, Explorer, Journeys, um,
37:07
and so on. So they, uh, they, they tend to generally be bigger ships, you know, 1,200, 1,000 passengers. You do have, of
37:13
course, Azamara Winstar is in this category, much smaller. So a lot of it is around what what do you want? What do
37:20
you really want? So the advantage with Ultraluxy is even though we heard a little bit earlier things like excursions have been taken out of some
37:26
of them everything's a little bit more included. So what I really like about Ultraluxy is all your drinks um you know
37:32
all your gratuitities uh your Wi-Fi all that stuff it's all just included. So you literally never
37:39
take you have to sign anything off. In luxury it's a little bit more pick and mix. So your drinks package, your
37:45
gratuitities, um obviously excursions, which we've spoken about, uh they're kind of all
37:51
extra. So it's it's a smaller, more intimate ship. Um you'll normally find the food is elevated um above luxury. So
37:58
if you take for example, you know, if you look at um Oceanan, which is owned by Norwegian, they then have regent
38:04
above that. So you know, Ocean Food's great and then regions a step above that. So it's kind of a little bit elevated. um you know, you'll have more
38:11
things like also little stuff like caviar and all that sort of stuff. So, a lot of it hinges around what's important
38:16
uh what what's important to you. Um you know, so it's it's really that kind
38:21
of balance. You know, the ships will be a little bit plusher, everything will be a little bit plusher. Um you know, you might have coffee machines in your room
38:28
and those little bits and pieces. Ken, good luck. Uh do you think we'll have EES issues as we travel a day after it's
38:35
introduced? So for those just those who are not sure, so EES is the new system
38:40
that which is part of a two-phase system that Europe's rolling out. Um EES is
38:46
their where everyone who's not part of the EU Shenhen zone or the EU I think
38:53
not just Shenhen zone is when you go in for the first time you have to have your
38:58
photograph and fingerprints taken. So much as as you you know when for example when I go into the US or Canada or or
39:05
whatever um and then so the capture of biometrics the idea being that when you
39:10
go in future it'll be more automated. So I think what happens I think I'm right in saying is eventually once you start
39:17
going you'll start be able to use the machines. So you'll see in most airports they now have machines which um only uh
39:24
EU residents could use and a lot of them are now setting up machines for non-EU. So, I think the second time you go in,
39:31
but you're right. I mean, it's been delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed. So, you know, I feel like it's
39:37
got to it's got to slow things down. I mean, first of all, it's going to slow things down without a shadow of a doubt.
39:43
Um, so I I'm not sure so much that it's necessary after it's introduced. Maybe
39:48
they just haven't got the speed of it. But yes, I think it's going to be slow because they, you know, the them having
39:54
to deal sort of on mass as it were with uh with processing fingerprints and
40:00
stuff like when you go into the US it's kind of slow. Um so so uh hopefully not.
40:08
So I think all the stuff I've read, Ken, is they're more concerned about places like Dover and stuff, you know, the
40:14
fairies where you've got um a lot of people coming in and out. Um, and they were talking about introducing people
40:21
doing stuff on iPads and stuff. So, and there's still talk about being able to preload some of the stuff, but I haven't
40:27
seen any of that. So, hopefully it goes fairly uh fairly smoothly. Fingers crossed. Keep us posted. Um,
40:35
SL asking the question, would you prefer folk to have a Patreon membership rather than have a YouTube subscription? I think you mentioned yes, Patreon
40:42
personally, yes. Um first of all because it's much easier uh it's much easier to
40:48
communicate to and fro. So the problem is if people have a YouTube subscription so just for those so on YouTube you can
40:54
become a subscriber which uh you know there's no charge uh at all for that um
41:00
then there's the YouTube membership where you do pay to get this kind of bonus content. Now the advantage on
41:05
Patreon is people can message me directly um and I know that they've messaged me with YouTube subscription. I
41:12
have to go into YouTube and I have to look at the member section to see if anyone's posted. But people can't send
41:17
me a message directly. So if you are a YouTube member, you can't just send me a one-on-one if you like question. So if
41:23
you've got a question around, I don't know, Ken's got, you know, got a question about ES or whatever. Uh you
41:29
you can't send that to me directly, which you can on Patreon. There's also kind of a little chat thing on on
41:35
Patreon. Also, I can I can it's much easier to send. So if I send like those updates I sent uh which I haven't posted
41:41
yet on YouTube subs members is I can send out like a proper post with
41:46
photographs in you know inserted and stuff and also it kind of alerts me. I get alerts on my phone and stuff when
41:52
people post. So it's actually a much better system uh for people who are
41:57
interested. The the the only thing the other thing I would say is um Patreon also pay a higher percentage of the
42:03
subscription comes to the creator. So YouTube keep a much higher percentage. So it is much more appealing. Now on the
42:10
downside for people signing up is um on YouTube they bundle all any kind of VAT
42:17
and taxes in. So sometimes when you go to Patreon depending where you are you may end up having to have some VAT added
42:24
on to it. So it's a little bit less um a little bit less clear from from from
42:30
that that front. Um, so let me just write write the word
42:36
question so I don't miss anything. Um, I probably should stress that because there's lots of people not leaving the
42:41
question. So I just want to make sure that I don't miss any questions um, uh, in in the chat. Another solo travel in
42:48
my Facebook group, happily forever after farm. Another solo traveler in my
42:53
Facebook group mentioned something that has got me thinking about. Is it safe to let others know you're traveling solo on the ship? I'm going on MSC. Um, I think
43:02
this is an interesting one because um I know some creators uh won't tell people
43:09
that what crews they're on until they're on uh so that people don't necessarily
43:14
sort of stalk them a bit, I guess. Um so so I've I I don't know that that would
43:21
be an issue. I think it's if I would say if you're asking the question, I would I
43:26
would say for your own kind of um uh confidences as it were, I wouldn't post
43:32
about traveling solo. Um you know, if you if you've got any doubts, don't don't don't do it. I think the advantage
43:39
if you're on a big ship like MSC, you're going to be surrounded by lots of people. So, I think it's more about what
43:45
you do once you're on the ship uh than than anything ahead of time because people aren't going to necessarily know obviously not going to post your cabin
43:51
number or or or or whatever. Um, but certainly I have never thought about
43:57
that before. Um, but I would I guess I would say what is the upside of posting
44:03
it? So, unless you're specifically looking for other solo travelers. So, if you're in a solo traveler group looking for solo travelers, so it's all solo
44:09
travelers. I would have thought that's fine. But um you know you if you're going on on most of these like MSE has
44:16
solo traveler meetups and stuff. Um but I think you know obviously not declaring any of your sort of um cabin numbers
44:24
would would be would be the would be the would be the key.
44:30
The Wuang life do you pay for seat selection on an airplane and what location do you sit front back or window? So I um I am fortunate enough
44:38
because I have status um for all my years of traveling both corporate and
44:44
whatever. So I have um status um with one world. So I have emerald or gold on BA. So I can choose a seat always
44:52
without having to pay for it. So I always choose a seat same as I always choose a cabin. I'm very obsessed with
44:58
it. And also what I do which is come back to your sit front back aisle or window is um I always try to travel if I
45:07
possibly can business through a combination of using a buying way in advance um certainly for for long haul I
45:14
I um I always used to prefer isle partly because it's easy to get up and down
45:20
with so depends a little bit on how long the flight is and the seating kind of configuration. So, if I'm on if I'm on
45:27
like say a European flight, um I will be on the aisle. Um but what I try and
45:33
always do is get a I guess a bulkhead seat if I can because that has more leg room and you don't have the danger of
45:39
people putting uh seats down. So, I would always try and get bulkhead. So,
45:45
um uh so I don't have anyone in charge of people putting chairs down if that
45:50
makes if that makes sense. Uh so, yeah, I'm like I'm obsessed with my cabin. I'm obsessed with choosing my seat. I love
45:55
like Seat Guru. It's I if I'm going on a on an airline that I haven't been on
46:01
before or route, I go and look at Seat Guru to see which are the seats that are green and which are amber. Um so, uh you
46:09
know, so um I always kind of do that. I'm I'm a bit obsessed like that. Um
46:18
Christopher taking our first cruise in February. Very nice. We've ended up getting a
46:23
reserve collection room and Princess Premier Majestic Princess thoughts. Um,
46:29
I think it's great because you're going to with the reserve collection, it means you get that dining room access, which
46:35
is great. So, you you have a slightly elevated menu, not much elevated menu, but you have a slightly elevated menu.
46:41
You have the specific reserve collection dining, which means you can normally get a table configuration you want. You're unlikely to have to wait and queue. And
46:48
obviously with Princess Premiere, uh it does have a a cost to it, but they keep changing the inclusion stuff, but it
46:54
means that everything's kind of included, so you never have to worry about it. It's paid. It's done. And I
46:59
had never had Princess Premiere before. I had only had Princess Plus, but when I went on Sun Princess, uh because I went
47:06
in the Sanctuary, which is kind of an elevated monks reserve collection because they have a different it's a
47:12
much more dedicated space there. And I and Princess Premier was part of the fair. And it was actually great having
47:17
Princess Premier. Um I I think it's going to be hard to not have Princess Premier because I was just so used to
47:22
all fact I could go to um Alfredo's as much as I wanted and you could in those
47:27
change you could get all those um ice cream things and it was just it was great. So I think you'll really enjoy it
47:34
for your first cruise. The danger is be hard to then it'll hard to then be going back. Um
47:41
Brian um asking a question about drinks packages. So, the the the thing with drinks packages is um a lot of it
47:48
depends on how much you're going to drink. What I would say, Brian, is there is um a little calculator um which
47:56
cruise so cruise.co.uk. If you search, if you Google cruisemummy.co.uk
48:02
drinks uh package calculator, she has them particularly for some of the UK based lines like Kunard etc. etc. And
48:08
what you can do there, Brian, is you can then think through, it asks you to think through, you know, how much you will
48:14
drink. So it'll say, am I going to be drinking how much wine, how many beers will be drinking per day, blah, blah, blah. And it will then calculate for you
48:21
what that's likely to cost you. And also, it will tell you then based on if the drinks package is worth it for you.
48:28
So I can't remember offhand the rules on the Qard drinks packages. I think they've just changed recently. Someone actually sent me who's on queen at the
48:35
moment sent me the because they've made some changes. They sent me um a document with the latest prices on. I haven't had
48:41
a chance to dive into it, but most cruise lines will have you can only have up to say 15 drinks per day. Some do and
48:49
don't count, for example, things like premium coffees and teas. And I can't remember if hand does or doesn't include
48:56
that. Um uh what type of sodas you can have and can't have. Um but normally it's around 15 drinks per day uh with
49:04
what it is defined in the package up to a certain price. So you'll often find it, you know, you can only order cocktails up to a certain price. And
49:11
over those, depending on the line, sometimes you have to pay the difference or you have to pay completely. But I would use that drinks package, uh,
49:17
Brian, that that, um, drinks package calculator because that will tell you,
49:23
uh, whether it's worth buying or not. So it's kind of it's based on what you think you're going to be doing. Uh, so
49:28
so that's that's that's that's really good. Um, oh, so Ken, you're actually by train to
49:34
Barcelona. That's interesting. Um, I'd love to know a little bit how you do
49:40
that. Like how long is it going to take you? So, are you doing like Euro start to Paris and then Paris to Barcelona?
49:46
Um, very interested. I know a little bit more about how long that takes. Um, and if it's overnight or you you just
49:52
daytime trips, Travels with David and Mark, good to see you here. So, um, they have a YouTube channel. If you haven't
49:57
followed them, follow them. Um, on our journey of broadening our cruise line experience, if we were to dip our toes
50:03
into the luxury category, which line would you say is the most tow dippable, if that makes sense? I would take a look
50:10
at Explorer Journeys, um, would be my my thing to have a look at. Um, you know,
50:16
they have beautiful new ship. Now, they sort of see themselves as being ultra luxury category, but in reality, then in my view, they're more in the luxury
50:23
category. But I would take a look at them because they're very beautiful ships. Um, unfortunately they're a little bit limited at the moment on some
50:29
of the itineries, but as because they've only got two ships, but they're launching three and four and so they're starting to expand a little bit. Uh, you
50:35
know, they're doing stuff in the Middle East. They've got Asia that announced, Alaska, they've been announced. But certainly if you're sort of
50:40
experimenting, you know, you've got some good Caribbean, some good Mediterranean. They're mostly 7-day uh routes. Um, you
50:47
can if you time if you follow their uh follow their social media, follow their
50:54
um sign up for their newsletter, you can jump on some of the promotions that they're doing because they do do quite
51:00
interesting promotions. They do very cost-effective uh repositioning cruises between Europe and the Caribbean. That's
51:06
another thing to look at. Um, but I would take a look at them because they're kind of they're new. Um, they're
51:11
kind of very contemporary. The ships are very nice. Their food's pretty good. quite a good range of kind of
51:17
inclusions. Um, so that would be my the one I would suggest which I think you guys would like based on stuff that I've
51:24
seen that you do. But the other thing and also it's it's very good and topical for uh for YouTube as well because
51:31
people sort of interested in in explorer journeys. They're getting more mixed reviews these days partly because they were selling very low capacity and as
51:38
they're getting filled up people are getting a little bit more uh critical of them particularly things like um dining.
51:44
It's it's more challenging some to get into some of the the the the non um specialtity restaurants which are all
51:50
but one including the price. They have some great like Sakura, great Asian stuff like that. Anyway, so that's that
51:57
would be number one to look at. The second thing I would take a look at which is a line which I really like is Oceanania. I would focus on their bigger
52:04
ships Riviera Marina which the older ones Vista and Allura um you know because they're getting they're phasing
52:10
out their smaller Rclass ships. They do have some very interesting itineraries. So, particularly if you're looking at
52:15
more interesting itineraries. So, Explorer are pretty limited on itineries. Oceania have a wide range of
52:21
itineraries. So, for example, we're doing Oceanania market. I do Oceanania at Christmas, you know, from Australia
52:26
to um French Polynesian islands, but they have great stuff around Japan and South America and all over and even
52:33
their itineraries in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Very interesting. That's the other one I would probably look at. Those are the two I would look
52:40
at. They're the sort of you know you've obviously got Azamara Winstar stuff but those are the two that kind of pop into my head. It's a good kind of evolution
52:46
because they're quite bigger ships quite a lot of choice. If you go Azamara Winstar you know it's quite a it's quite
52:52
a shock almost if you're going from resort and premium ships it's it's a good kind of transition in. So those
52:58
would be those would be uh the two. Noel is explorer the better option for
53:05
luxury line but with have some teens to hang with my kids 18 to 14 I like small
53:10
luxury lines Emily yachts did talk yes so um definitely if you're looking at the luxury you know explorer journeys
53:17
are actively positioning and encouraging families they have kids clubs um well 18
53:24
and 18 won't be covered the 14 probably is covered by um the kids club which
53:30
I've forgotten the name of Nordica Nautilus, Nautilus, I think it's called. Um, and certainly on their newer ships,
53:36
they're expanding the kids. So, three, four, and and five and six have bigger kids facilities, uh, and kids programs.
53:43
So, um, your greatest chance of having kids on board is on Explorer. If you go on any of the others, you'll find it
53:50
less likely to have kids on and kids are probably more frowned on as probably
53:56
exaggerating. more the passengers are hoping for a more adult experience whereas I think you know explorer is
54:02
unashamedly positioning more for families so I think you'll find the greatest chance of having other other
54:08
kids on you know if you go on some of the others um you know in school holiday key school holiday time you like to have
54:13
kids but explorer is definitely the one aiming more at family so that that's the one that I that I would absolutely
54:20
absolutely good good for good for good for fish man are you ever going to try
54:26
riverside side luxury cruise cruises. I'm interested in how this would compare with the others you've tried. I would
54:31
like to try Riverside. They are very expensive. Um and that sort of when I looked at um you know when I decided to
54:39
go on back on Avalon, I did look at Riverside. They are pretty costly. Um I would like to try them. I don't have any
54:44
active plans. So certainly it won't be next year because my check was completely full for next year. So they
54:50
are sort of on my list. I have a list of things I want to do. They are but I don't have anything booked um yet
54:58
diabetic saying salt if you real could be could be last Mark
55:06
do you always tip your butt along kunov boy now this is also an interesting topic question because I actually was discussing this this afternoon with Mark
55:12
is actually on queen Mary 2 at the moment with his best friend um just doing a short forniter and he was asking
55:17
me the whole question around tipping now tipping is on kod is included
55:22
in you. It's a added on to your bill daily um as you know Mark. So the the
55:29
answer is it depends. So I have been on a Kunard voyage before. I've been on
55:34
quite a few kun voyages and the last one that we did which was on Queen. We did not tip our butler. Although we did
55:41
actually tip our cabin steward because the cabin stew was fantastic. He was
55:46
just brilliant, really hardworking, very helpful, very friendly. Our butler was terrible. Uh it we discovered uh that it
55:54
was the first time he ever been worked on ships, the first time he been a butler and he was didn't like he just
55:59
like he just didn't everything we asked him was not right. So we didn't tip him. Um so I I'm I'm probably from the wrong
56:07
school of tipping but I tend to literally based on since all tips, you know, since I'm paying they've added
56:14
gratuitities on um you know so I will tip when people are good. Now, in most cases, they are. So, I I don't always
56:20
tip butler. Past voyages I have. We're doing a crossing again next year in June. Uh so, again, if the butler's
56:27
fantastic, I will probably tip um above. So, discussion I had with Mark, we about
56:33
the waiting soft because obviously have the same table and stuff like that and the butler. Um and so, so no, the short
56:40
answer to your question is no. And and I do literally base it on how how how good they are. Um,
56:46
good add-on there from Aaron about also deciding is are the ports a destination right? So that's that's a really
56:51
interesting uh really interesting one as well. Um
56:57
I was going to add before I come back to Dev's questions. So, PPPJ, what river cruise company is top of the super duper
57:03
luxury? The question from above that um was asked, Riverside is kind of the top
57:08
of the top, but Riverside and Uni World are kind of the the top and scenic you could argue are the three real kind of
57:14
the top, but Riverside is probably the one that's the biggest. They have the old Crystal um ships, which are pretty
57:21
magnificent, really big cabins and and so on. Deb asking the question, "My family of
57:27
six are doing a 14-day transatlantic cruise this November on Norwegian Breakaway. This is my first Atlantic
57:33
cruise. Any advice for the five continuous days of sailing?" So, Deb, um
57:39
I don't think it'll be out in time, but I've been working on um some repositioning cruise videos um because a
57:44
lot of people ask me stuff on that. Obviously, just being on on a repositioning, although it was transpacific. So, I think you know the
57:51
good news is that Deb, you'll find that Norwegian will have a pre-active program
57:57
for those those five days, but I would also um plan um so if you're doing
58:03
November, you're doing from Europe to there. So, you also need to bear in mind although by the time you get to your continuous days of selling, they're
58:09
probably nice weather. You need to assume certainly at the beginning the weather's not going to be great. So, plan um you know, you know, assume that
58:15
you're not going to be out hanging around on the deck necessarily. you may end up being much more indoors, but
58:20
Norwegian will have a pretty active program. So, I would assume that a lot of that's going to be um taken care of.
58:26
If that family of six has got kids, the kids program will be um pretty in-depth and stuff. So, you could probably not
58:32
worry too much about that. But I would probably also think a little bit around, you know, um make sure you're taking
58:38
stuff to entertain yourself as well. So if you're, you know, a Netflix download or Amazon Prime download or if you're a
58:45
big reader, take books or ebooks or or or whatever. So you've got kind of stuff to entertain yourself would be the key
58:52
thing. Um, and I would also do things. So things I like to do when I'm doing
58:58
continuous days is I like to have breakfast, for example, in the main dining room. It may open a bit later. It's a bit more relaxed, but it's
59:03
actually kind of a little bit more civilized and you know, you can spread spread out your day kind of a bit more.
59:10
Those would probably I don't know if that's really answered your question, but that's sort of that's sort of what I
59:15
would do. Uh, Square Bay, I haven't been on scenic cruises. Have any toured it? People who've been on scenic love uh
59:21
scenic. Um, Anthony askked me, "What a did you fly home on?" I flew home on
59:26
British Airways. Uh, Pro is here very late. Good to see you. Um, uh, let's
59:32
have a look. Um, JJL, since maiden voyages seem like a
59:40
thing, have you sailed on a ship's last sailing before being retired? If so, is it quite the celebration of it history?
59:46
So, um, I tend to avoid, this is an aside, I tend to avoid maiden voyages partly because they're always very
59:53
overpriced because everyone wants to be on them. Secondly, they often get cancelled. So for example, you might have seen Disney have just canceled all
59:59
their maiden voyages of Disney treasure. Uh they pushed it back by three months. Uh you know I think Royal Caribbean is
1:00:06
about the only one that seems to they actually brought icon uh no is it starve he's the one after Icon actually came
1:00:13
into service before its scheduled maiden. So they build a bit more buffer. So they tend to not always happen.
1:00:18
They're very expensive. Service isn't always good. If Queen Anne came in, everyone was complaining about their their maiden and so on. So I tend to
1:00:25
avoid those. um and wait till things bed in. Bit of aside. So, no, I've never
1:00:30
sailed on a ship's last sailing. Um but they often tend to be right quite
1:00:35
celebratory. Um you know, for example, when uh QE2 finished the service, you know, some real diehard fans had lots of
1:00:42
celebratory stuff on. Um but yes, it tends to be quite a big celebration, but also kind of uh sort of bittersweet.
1:00:48
Now, there's quite a few ships coming up that are doing that. So you know a lot of the Rclass ships are leaving the
1:00:55
fleet of Oceanania. They are going to have new lives. So you know Insignia is
1:01:00
becoming part of u uh uh oh my mind's gone blank. Um it'll come back to me. Um
1:01:08
a residential ship. Uh you've got regata leaving on a charter. Then region's got
1:01:13
navigator leaving and so on. So those I think are they're going to be almost bittersweet because they're about to be
1:01:19
reinvented. But there is a sense of excitement and and whatever around those. So So yes. Um Oh, sorry. It's
1:01:26
adventure. Sorry, I said treasure. It's adventure. Thank you, dbec. It's adventure. When I said treasure, I thought it was I thought it was I
1:01:33
thought it was uh on I'm getting my things mixed up because I was talking about I was talking to people on the
1:01:38
last trip I was on who'd been on treasure. That's why I got treasure in my head. Let's have a look. Uh yes. Uh Julie
1:01:46
asking the question, uh did I experience rough seas? Yes. Uh, you know, crossing
1:01:51
the, uh, Bearing Sea can be a little bit chippy choppy. So, we did have some pretty bumpy days there. Um, lots of a
1:01:57
lot of wind. Um, uh, so yeah, it was pretty bumpy for some of those those days. Um, you know, the the the pools
1:02:05
were empty, closed and stuff for a while. Decks were kind of closed, but it was pretty bumpy the one night. It was
1:02:10
one of those bang bang bang sort of couple of nights. Um, which of course I was very happy with. Horus asking a
1:02:16
question. Is the key worth it on Royal Caribbean? Um, I've never bought the key. Um, but I have looked at the key.
1:02:22
Um, it it I think it is pretty interesting because um, you know, you've
1:02:27
got, you know, some of the perks in terms of imbulcation. Does imbocation. You get the the welcome um, welcome on
1:02:35
board lunch quickly. You get seating which is really good for the for the uh, shows, you know, because the shows can
1:02:41
be really hard to get into. So, I think it's I think it's pretty with I quite like those little perks. Um, in fact,
1:02:47
the video that I've got coming out tonight, which I'll talk about, in fact, it's probably out Microsoft after six o'clock. I dive into a little bit of
1:02:53
this. So, let me do a little thing before I wrap. Um, so the video which has just come out
1:02:59
uh on the channel is uh Champagne Lifestyle Beer Budget. And what I do in that video, it's it's how to cruise as a
1:03:06
kind of a first class VIP without a first class budget. And I look at a whole bunch of tips and things that you can do to actually elevate the cruise
1:03:13
experience. Many of which you don't have to pay any money for. Um some which you know there's a bit of money like the key
1:03:20
club orange and so on. And I dive into that. So I can probably answer your question in that video. So that video is now live um on the channel. So I have
1:03:27
churned through the time. Um thanks so much for the question. Some great uh questions uh from everybody. Um I will
1:03:33
be back next week. I'll be back on Sunday. Have a great rest of the week. Go and watch that video. uh if you want
1:03:39
more of me. Um thanks for all the good kind things people said about Patreon. So have a great um rest of the weekend.
1:03:45
Um and if you're cruising, happy happy cruising.
1:03:57
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