Up next in 10
Is It Time To Stop Cruising on Cunard?
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Jan 28, 2025
Is Cunard Cruise Line still unique, different and special enough to be worth cruising on? I explore how Cunard now compares to other cruise lines to see if Cunard Cruise Line stands out from the cruise crowd enough to be worth going on a cruise vacation with. 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 77 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 ———————————————
View Video Transcript
0:00
while other cruise lines have been
0:02
changing adding new features
0:04
experiences and even totally rethinking
0:06
ship design
0:08
cunard cruise line has largely stayed
0:10
the same
0:11
now i've done 20 cruises i've spent 176
0:14
nights on qnart ships
0:16
at the time of recording this means i've
0:18
traveled on cunard more than
0:20
any other cruise line now that's mostly
0:22
because for the last 15 years
0:24
every time i go on a cruise vacation
0:27
with my partner
0:28
he insists it has to be on cunard and
0:31
the few that were not cunard
0:32
were never rated as good by him but with
0:35
all these innovations going on
0:36
and all the changes since he last tried
0:38
another line
0:40
is now the time to call it a day on
0:42
those
0:43
cunard cruise vacations i've been
0:45
charged with planning our vacation
0:47
cruises
0:48
for next year and the year after and
0:50
drawing on all the experience i've got
0:52
from the other eight or nine times a
0:54
year that i
0:55
go cruising without him for my channel
0:58
i've set about
0:59
trying to convince him not to cruise on
1:01
cunard
1:02
and to try a different line this
1:05
is how i got on if you're new here i'm
1:07
gary bembridge welcome aboard
1:09
i'm here to help make it easy and fun to
1:11
discover plan
1:12
and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations
1:15
without
1:16
our mind let's go cruising on cunard
1:19
now i hit a snag right up front
1:23
the challenge was transatlantic you want
1:25
to go to transatlantic so one of those
1:27
has to be one of those
1:28
particular vacations now cunard is the
1:31
only
1:32
line that runs a scheduled transatlantic
1:35
service
1:35
on a very specially designed cruise line
1:38
it's not a cruise ship and that's the
1:39
queen mary 2.
1:40
they run seven night crossings from
1:43
southampton to new york and back the
1:45
season
1:45
basically starts at the end of the world
1:47
cruise in may roughly
1:49
and runs until about october time they
1:51
also do a couple of winter crossings
1:52
that goes onto the caribbean
1:54
at christmas they're the only line that
1:55
has a scheduled
1:57
season of transatlantics and a dedicated
1:59
ship but i did
2:00
have an alternative repositioning
2:02
cruises now repositioning cruises
2:04
limits us in some ways to march april
2:06
and september october this is when the
2:07
ships
2:08
are moved from the caribbean to europe
2:10
at the beginning of the season
2:12
in the mediterranean and then from
2:13
europe back to the caribbean to start
2:14
the caribbean season
2:15
the challenge is most of those ships
2:17
don't go from europe or the uk
2:20
to new york they tend to go to the
2:21
caribbean but there's some to find
2:23
the other advantage is there is a huge
2:25
choice of those all the premium lines
2:27
that compete with cunard
2:28
like celebrity holland america princess
2:31
probably even pinot cruisers
2:32
they all do repositioning transatlantics
2:35
even ultra luxury lines do it the more
2:37
family resort lines your norwegians
2:39
royal caribbean
2:40
and so on do them so there's lots and
2:42
lots of choice and they tend to be
2:44
pretty good value because demand for
2:46
those
2:46
is not always that high we've done one
2:48
of those before and it was fine it was
2:50
good value it was on piano arcadia
2:53
however cunard transatlantics won the
2:56
day that they're experts at
2:57
transatlantics they've been doing it for
2:59
about a hundred years
3:00
they understand how to schedule every
3:02
single day of a transatlantic they have
3:03
an amazing program with
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enrichment speakers they have lots of
3:07
events there's a sense of event
3:09
there's a very special atmosphere you
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have beautiful balls you have
3:13
grand afternoon teas and the whole
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sense of experience and the whole sense
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of being part of something special
3:22
is just never created anywhere else on a
3:25
simple repositioning cruise
3:27
also importantly the queen mary 2 as a
3:29
liner is designed to handle the
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vagrancies
3:32
and the ups and downs literally of the
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north atlantic
3:35
so it's a much smoother trip overall
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than it is on a normal cruise ship
3:40
mark who although loves cruising does
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suffer from seasickness
3:44
found the queen mary 2 on crossing
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atlantic was an absolute
3:47
must so that was a challenge i lost that
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particular one for many people
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repositioning is great but nothing beats
3:53
a cunard
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transatlantic next to address was the
3:57
grade of travel because i felt
3:59
there probably is a better option with
4:01
all the changes out there than perhaps
4:03
qnart can offer cunard have three
4:07
class system on their ships they're one
4:09
of the last to make it
4:10
quite as class based as it appears to be
4:13
the whole ship
4:14
is based around this system so you have
4:16
britannia grill
4:18
which are inside to balcony cabins but
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they also include some premium balcony
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cabins britannia club you then have
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princess grill
4:25
and you have queen squirrel it's a bit
4:26
like economy business and first class
4:29
now the other lines of course all have
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this system they all have balconies
4:33
insides
4:34
suites etc but cunard really make
4:37
it much more integral to the whole
4:39
experience now mark
4:40
loves the queen's grill he likes the
4:42
fact that you have the open seated
4:44
dining but you have the same staff
4:45
the ability to order off menu you have
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caviar every night
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he quite likes the whole pampering that
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comes with that queen's grill
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experience the cabins they're good
4:55
they're comfortable and they're spacious
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a queen's grill cabin we would normally
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go at q6 or q5 which is the lower end
5:01
of queen's grill it's basically about
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the size of two
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balcony cabins they're great cabins and
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they have butler service
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and they're very comfortable however i
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have seen phenomenal suites on
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other cruise ships but more importantly
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other cruise lines now have
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a much more integrated premium
5:18
experience with ships within ships
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so for example you've got msc with a
5:22
yacht club you've got norwegian with
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their haven
5:25
inside those areas you have the suites
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you have a concierge lounge you have a
5:30
dedicated bar you have a restaurant you
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have a swimming pool and all those kind
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of facilities other cruise lines like
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celebrity
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are doing similar things on cunard it's
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not quite the same
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on cunard the queen's grill suites are
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dotted around the ship in various parts
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you have those restaurants princess
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grill queens grill you do have a grills
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lounge area but it's nothing
5:50
particularly specific so once you head
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out of your restaurant into the ship
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there is no
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kind of class system in fact the yacht
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club and
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the haven create much more of an
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enclosed
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and special experience for people
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traveling in premium cabins
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that's not really the case on cunard
6:08
now i've traveled and looked at sweets
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on other ships but
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the critical thing though that i
6:14
realized with queen's grill
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for mark was there was a sense of magic
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about it the sense of service
6:19
the menu it is a very elevated and very
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unique
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experience so i realized that convincing
6:26
him to move from the growth experience
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to perhaps a ship within a ship
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was still not enough to convince him
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that's when i realized
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the real reason for cunard and wanted to
6:34
go on cunard was much deeper
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than actually the cabin or the
6:38
restaurant or having access to a
6:40
dedicated
6:41
area what i realized is it was the
6:43
overall keynote experience the
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britishness
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the decor the formality and a tradition
6:49
cunard oozes britishness throughout
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everything it does the senior crew the
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way the things are done it's very
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british entertainment
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humor it's very familiar certainly to
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brits
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they appeal to those outside the uk
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especially
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people in the u.s for example there's a
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real britishness about everything they
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do
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the decor is also very distinctive and
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different
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it harks back to the glory days of the
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liners
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crossing the atlantic it's an art deco
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kind of style
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it's very classic you know from the
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outside that ships particularly things
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like the queen victoria and the queen
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elizabeth
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look like any other cruise ship in fact
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they look pretty much the same
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as many of the honda america ships
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because they are actually the same class
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and structure of ships
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but once you step inside you step
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straight back into
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a world of tradition a world of heritage
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a world of the glory days of the
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crossings it's a very distinctive
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look and feel the minute you step into
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that ship it's hard to define
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but it's a very different feel and
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ambiance the minute you step back and
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you're transported
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back in time to a more glamorous age
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there's also an enormous amount of
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formality
7:54
and tradition on cunard so for example i
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brought up the issue of the dress code
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many people think the dress code on
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cunard is very antiquated however it's
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very
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unique to what they do they're very
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strict on dress code so as
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other cruise lines are moving to more
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relaxed dress code and no
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no dressing up on even informal
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nights
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are what most cruise lines would
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consider extremely
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formal so men are expected to wear a
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jacket a long sleeve shirt you don't
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have to wear a tie
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any longer you used to have to ladies
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would wear really smart
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dresses that's an informal night on
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former nights
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gentlemen are expected to wear either a
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tuxedo or a dark suit and tie
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ladies can wear glamorous cocktail
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dresses or even up to
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almost ball type gowns and it's very
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strictly enforced if you don't want to
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dress up
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in that dress code theoretically you're
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only able to eat in the buffet
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restaurant and you shouldn't even be in
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the public areas
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so it's pretty regimented and pretty
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strict however
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it is part of what cunard do unlike
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other cruise lines
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they're sticking with the tradition and
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the old way of cruising and that becomes
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part of the romance and the appeal
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certainly for mark
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is a sense of dressing up an occasion on
9:08
vacation
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it's part of what he's looking for some
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people
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think it's antiquated but for many
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people it's part of the allure and
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attraction
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so it may sound old-fashioned but it's
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actually becoming extremely
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unique within the cruising world again
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it's part of that whole process
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of stepping into a glamorous world not
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like on land
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not like on other cruise ships dressing
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up becomes part of the q9 experience
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especially on the transatlantic when you
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have all day
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and evening to enjoy the ship so i
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thought all of that
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tradition would be my opportunity to
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switch
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they've stayed largely the same offering
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that traditional classic experience
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while other lines
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in their same class like princess
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holland america celebrity they've
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changed they've modernized
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they've relaxed it however it becomes
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part of what cunard is
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so i had to find another angle q dot
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offer a very classic very traditional
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cruise ship and also a very traditional
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and classic on-board experience
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an experience and process that has been
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around for decades
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choices are pretty limited and this i
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thought could be the opportunity
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especially dining for example celebrity
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and princess
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they have lots and lots of specialty
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dining
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options even horror america has more
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than cunard
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on cunard especially dhani is not really
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an option
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you really only have the veranda however
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within the restaurants they have very
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big menus
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and there are choices you do have as i
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mentioned the veranda you've got the
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buffet you've got room service
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but actually especially dining is not a
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big thing on kunai the venues
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are relatively limited hot america has
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got the music walk celebrity
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on the new ships have eaten that big
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experiential dining and entertainment
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place
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cunard has the queen's room where you do
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dancing in the evening
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and perhaps have some shows there but
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they don't have these big new
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modern venues it's not core to what they
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do
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all those competitors are trying to add
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new flagship
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innovative venues and places where
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cunard has kept it
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very simple and classic could this be an
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opportunity
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to get him to switch the casino on
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cunard is pretty small and limited
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and mark likes to play blackjack however
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it was actually enough for his needs
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the shows are predated i think on cunard
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versus all the others
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they're pretty standard review type
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shows versus the investment and high
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tech that we're seeing on other cruise
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lines even the latest holland america
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ships
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in fact i think they feel very dull and
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out of date however
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again they were not the reason to switch
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cruise line
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the shows were good enough they were
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enough to keep you busy of an evening
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the wi-fi is pretty dire in my view
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versus
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other lines especially princess and
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celebrity which now have incredibly
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fast wi-fi however his point i don't
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necessarily need that when i'm on
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vacation
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the issue was the ships are actually big
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enough to have choice
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there are enough venues there are enough
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bars there's enough to do it's not too
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big
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however the other elements were much
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more important the experience the
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ambiance
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was bigger and more important than the
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venues
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so what about itineraries could that be
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the way to go
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the cunard fleet is pretty small it's
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had three key
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ships queen mary 2 queen elizabeth queen
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victoria
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and a fourth one on its way so it's a
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pretty small fleet versus
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its competitors so there is much more
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limitation on the places you can go
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however
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i realized this was not really an option
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because we traveled on cunard
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to north america both the east coast and
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the west coast we traveled to the
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caribbean
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we've been to hawaii we've been to new
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zealand we've been to australia we've
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been
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all through asia we've traveled around
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japan we've been to the mediterranean
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and we've been to the norwegian fields
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if we wanted to we could also go to
12:41
south america
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and alaska and africa if we wanted to so
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although
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the fleet is much smaller you can pretty
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much travel anywhere in the world you
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want to on cunard so those bigger fleets
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on the competitors may give us more
12:53
choice more opportunity
12:55
of timing however tinder alone was not
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going to do the trick
12:58
to get a different line chosen and of
13:01
course we have loyalty
13:03
on qnode with diamond and we get perks
13:05
like added wi-fi
13:06
laundry and all kind of other perks and
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benefits
13:09
so i came to realize two really
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important
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things through this whole process cunard
13:15
by actually staying true to what it is
13:18
and has been
13:18
is actually becoming much more different
13:22
to the others the other lines are
13:23
actually blending into each other
13:25
they're changing their dress codes
13:27
they're focusing on specially dining
13:29
they're looking for bigger and better
13:32
bells and whistles and headline grabbing
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features
13:34
but actually they're becoming more and
13:36
more similar cunard
13:38
actually stands out even more than it
13:39
did before because it's unique it's
13:41
different on its dress codes its looks
13:43
its style
13:44
the way that it operates the grill
13:45
system britannia
13:47
princess queensgrill it is actually
13:50
extremely different to the others which
13:51
are becoming more similar
13:53
i also realized that once you find
13:54
something that works there's nothing
13:56
wrong
13:57
with sticking with it my obsession is
13:59
with trying new things it's fine for me
14:01
i have the opportunity to cruise up to
14:03
10 times a year which is what i'm
14:05
doing so some don't work out it doesn't
14:07
really matter
14:08
to me because i have others coming but
14:11
if it's your only cruise vacation
14:13
in a particular year like it is for him
14:16
sticking with what you know
14:17
like and has been proven makes sense
14:20
that
14:20
tied with the fact that cunard is
14:22
actually standing out more and more for
14:23
the competition
14:25
all of that considered means that
14:26
actually both of our trips
14:28
next year and the year after will be on
14:30
cunard
14:31
now i recommend that you find out more
14:33
about kuna by watching this video
14:35
of tips and advice about their
14:36
transatlantic crossings
14:38
including i answer the frequently asked
14:41
question about how smooth
14:42
or rough the caesar when on those
14:45
crossings so click now
14:46
and i will see you over there
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