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Too Many Cruisers Are Making These 4 Costly Mistakes Right Now
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Jan 28, 2025
I am frequently contacted by stressed cruise passengers at the end of their tether, seeking my help on how to get out of a costly blunder they've made. In recent weeks, several cruisers have been in touch about the same four issues that seem to keep catching people out these days. I thought I needed to warn cruisers about them. As well as telling you about them, I will suggest how to solve them if you have, or do, find yourself caught up by one. Links mentioned in the video: VentureAshore cruise port excursions: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/excursions ShoreExcursionsGroup port excursions: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/shoreexcursions For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm frequently contacted by stressed
0:02
Cruise passengers at the end of their
0:04
tether seeking my help on how to get out
0:06
of a costly blunder that they have made
0:09
in recent weeks several Cruisers have
0:11
been in touch about the same four issues
0:14
that seem to keep be catching people out
0:17
these days so I thought I needed to warn
0:18
Cruisers like you about them so welcome
0:20
aboard I'm Gary bembridge and as well as
0:23
telling you about them I'm going to
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suggest how to solve them if you have or
0:27
do find yourself caught up by one of
0:30
these I'm going to start with a mistake
0:32
that's really easily made an upset
0:34
Denise contacted me about has a deal
0:37
with the cost of her Cruise doubling
0:39
that's right doubling to a price that
0:41
she couldn't afford due to a
0:43
misunderstanding on her part she wanted
0:45
to know how she could get it back to the
0:47
original price so what happened and how
0:50
did she get into this horrible fix
0:52
Denise booked a last minute cruise on
0:54
MSC Seashore from Port Canaveral in a
0:57
yacht club Deluxe Suite it cost her
1:00
$3,200 per person that's
1:02
$6,400 in total for the cabin several
1:05
days later like I did for my last msse
1:07
Cru she received an email with the
1:09
opportunity to bid for an upgrade she
1:11
saw she could upgrade to a royal suite
1:13
for
1:14
$3,750 per person and excitedly thinking
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that wasn't a big increase on her
1:19
current cabin price she placed the bid
1:22
what Denise hadn't realized that when
1:24
bidding the bid is an additional cost on
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top of the existing fair and not a
1:29
replacement Fair Fair the bid was
1:31
accepted and her credit card was charged
1:33
in total
1:34
$13,900 for the crew doubling the price
1:38
of her cruise to something she struggled
1:41
to be able to afford she frantically
1:43
contacted MSE customer services who
1:45
proved really unhelpful she spoke to a
1:47
travel agent to see if they could get it
1:49
reversed however the terms and
1:51
conditions of the bid which were Linked
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In the email made it clear that once she
1:55
had bid she had accepted the terms and
1:58
conditions which meant once the bid was
2:00
accepted it was locked in now as well as
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making sure you always check the terms
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and conditions before bidding what
2:07
should you do if you find yourself in
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Denise's situation now my advice was to
2:13
be persistent and to work through the
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travel agent she'd book through to put
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pressure on MSC even though the travel
2:20
agent weren't actually part of that
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upgrad bid process travel agents have
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relationships specific contacts they
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have sales representatives within the
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cruise lines who of course have an
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interest in keeping that relationship
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strong with the travel agent because
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they rely on those agents to promote and
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sell the line while the people manning
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Cruise Lines customer service phone
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lines actually have limited scope and
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ability to address problems and issues
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like this now I'm delighted to say that
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this persistence bines paid off and MSE
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did finally relent and reverted her
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booking to her original another good
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reason I feel for working with a travel
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agent who can Lobby on your behalf
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upgrade bidding is fraught with issues
3:00
and others have asked me for help or
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I've actually stepped in to assist when
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I see problems arising Channel followers
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pet and Julie when asking some questions
3:08
about an upcoming celebrity Edge Cruise
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told me they had bid for an upgrade into
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one of the two level Edge Loft Suites I
3:16
suggested they first check though with
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their travel agent what upgrading
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without going through the bid process
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would cost them they checked and it was
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less than the bid they had submitted
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luckily they had time in their case to
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cancel the bid and UPG by their travel
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agent for Less Jamie a friend of mine
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was going solo on MC cruises and told me
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he was going to bid for an upgrade into
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the yacht club now I warned him that
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although in the bid process he was
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seeing a price per person the terms and
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conditions also say that all bids are
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charged at duel occupancy so if he had
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bid and it had been accepted he would
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have paid twice the price that he
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thought it was going to be he of course
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didn't bid now if you ever receive these
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opportunities to bid please make sure
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you read the terms and conditions
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because once the bit is accepted there
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may be no turning back including if you
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actually don't like the cabin or
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location of the upgrade cabin that
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you've been given the next issue is one
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I probably get contacted by more people
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about than any other and this is when
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fair prices change and particularly when
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they go down for example just this week
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Sally asked if I could help she' booked
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a Norwegian Cruise departing in the next
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month so next month through a travel
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agent
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and of course that means that she'd
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already paid the final balance now
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following my advice she had been
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tracking fairs and saw that the price of
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the cruise had gone down by £800 that's
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$1,000 and she wanted to know if there
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was anything she could do as neither her
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travel agent nor the cruise line seemed
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inclined to assist her to get the low
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fair and money back now I told her I
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felt that she was asking them the wrong
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question to get money back my advice is
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that once the fin balance is paid to
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focus on trying to get upgraded to a new
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cabin that now matches the price that
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you actually paid now this was confirmed
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by another follower Nick also in the UK
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who' booked on inside cabin on Fred
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Olsson which is in 3 months time now
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since he' booked the fairs went down
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twice and both times he contacted them
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and they upgraded his cabin to match the
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new pricing he's actually now able to go
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in an Ocean View cabin however for
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cruises that are way in the future where
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only a deposit has been paid it is worth
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pushing for fair changes I got a message
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from Mary in Australia who's been
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tracking fairs as I recommended and she
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said last week she saved nearly $9,000
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Australian doar that's
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$5,000 $3,000 on an Oceania Canada and
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New England cruise and $2,000 on a
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silver Sea Cape Town round trip which is
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over a year a now I get many messages
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from people saying they have had similar
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results even today as I Was preparing
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this I got a tweet on X from Phil saying
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tracking had got him £528 that's about
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$670 lower Fair on a Royal Caribbean
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cruise by tracking and then asking for
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the lower fair to avoid the costly
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mistake of paying more than you must you
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should track Fair changes for your
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cruises like all those followers of the
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channel I've spoken about have now I
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have an article on my blog at T
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travelers.com which explains how to do
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it unfortunately as a warning not all
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lines will play ball but it's definitely
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worth trying the third issue that I get
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many many messages about including some
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again this week from a tips for
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travelers Patron Julianne is around when
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Cruise Lines change itineries or drop
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ports either before or during the cruise
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and people often ask me when that
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happens what compensation can they get
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particularly if they've booked a a
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cruise that they included a place that
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they really really wanted to go to
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that's the reason they booked the cruise
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now Jillian is booked on a Sun princess
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Cruz and just as departure neared she'd
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been advised at cotor which is a port
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that she was really looking forward to
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and one reason that she booked the
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cruise had been swapped out and dropped
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now on Investigation she discovered that
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it had been changed to another Port bar
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on all Sun Princess Cruises for some
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time now many people in a similar
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situation tell me they feel this should
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be not only a more timely warning but
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also a chance to get a compensation or
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to cancel instead of having to go on a
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cost cruise with ports that they booked
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it for were actually now missing I get
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messages frequently asking what options
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Cruisers have if the cruise line changes
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an itinery before their Cruise or
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actually drop ports once on it now as I
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told Julianne the terms and conditions
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which every Cruiser accepts when booking
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a cruise means there is little that one
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can do because the terms and conditions
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allow cruise lines to change itineries
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and ports for pretty much any reason
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without the chance to cancel or get any
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compensation however many of the cruise
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lines do say that if the change is
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significant or really consequential then
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you can so while I advise Julian the
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change from cotor to bar is not really
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significant for getting compensation and
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cancelling is going to be unlikely but
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if in your view it is a significant
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change of itinerary before departure
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then rather than go on a costly Cruise
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you don't want to do then push for it
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making the case why it is significant
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how however if you want to make sure
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that you are compensated for missing a
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port the most reliable way of ensuring
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that is the fact that some insurance
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policies include missed ports insurance
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so it is worth checking with your
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insurer if they do have missed Port
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options you then just need a letter from
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the ship confirming that a port was
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missed I would say though that if there
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is a specific port or ports you're
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booking a cruise for and if you miss
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them it would be kind of
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devastating understanding that getting
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to a port Port is not guaranteed so
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booking a cruise for a specific port or
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ports alone could be a very costly
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mistake because you're going to be
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committed to a cruise with limited
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chance to cancel get compensation if
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that must C Port gets dropped before or
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join the cruise if it's a must se you
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might even need to consider going on a
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landbased trip another way you could be
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out of pocket linked to Ports being
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dropped is around excursions if you book
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a cruise line Excursion they will
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automatically refund it if booking with
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a third party or dependent provider take
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care with who you book and always always
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check their terms and conditions
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well-known providers like Venture
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shore.com sh excursions group.com and
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vior have in their terms and conditions
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that if the ship doesn't make it to the
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port they will refund you but keep
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checking those t's and C's however I've
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been following the experience of a lady
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called Jill on a Carnival Legend Crews
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to Canada and Greenland who lost over
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$420 by booking with a local provider in
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Greenland who would not refund the tour
10:02
cost even though the ship's call on that
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Port was cancelled due to weather it's
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been reported that she found a tour
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Company online which was called Santa
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Cruz tours and when she tried to get a
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refund she saw that the terms and
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conditions on the website said that the
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tours were
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nonrefundable so jel apparently then
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tried to get a charge back through her
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credit card company because the service
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wasn't delivered but they wouldn't
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refund her because they said it was
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clear on the website that the tours were
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nonrefundable so again like the
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experience at the start of this that
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Denise fell into with her costly bidding
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experience it is a real key reminder
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always check the terms and conditions
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when booking or committing any money
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that you're making when it comes to
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cruising to avoid a nasty Financial hit
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another issue that I get contacted about
10:53
is around solving costly issues around
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falling ill or getting injured on a
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cruise I've again been following the
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experience of Diana she was a passenger
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on Norwegian Bliss in Alaska and she's a
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really good example of how even a simple
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issue can end up costing even more than
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the whole Cruise now she was very
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seasick feeling dehydrated from throwing
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up she felt so bad that she made her way
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to the medical center out of ours they
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gave her IV treatment to restore fluids
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they gave her some seasick pills and a
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bill for staggering
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$2,297 now while it sorted to
11:30
seasickness the bill made her feel sick
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because she had to pay that whilst she
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was on the ship her experience is a
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solitary lesson on the costs of going to
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the medical center on a cruise ship and
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how you can quickly end up with a huge
11:44
cost for even a simple issue Cru lines
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charge between $100 and $200 each time
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you see the doctor if the nurse does
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anything you get charged for her or him
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even if it's just taking some readings
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and everything that gets used gets
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charged Additionally you know perhaps
11:58
some dress or whatever now the good news
12:01
is that Diana actually had travel
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insurance and was able to successfully
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claim all of that huge cost back there
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are a few things that I recommend that I
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would have actually recommended to her
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and I recommend to you that could have
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avoided that big cost First of all take
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a first aid kit with you to deal with
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minor issues and scrapes including
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seasickness you know perhaps dehydration
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from getting seasickness to be
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rehydrated things like that can prevent
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event uh things escalating and acquiring
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the medical center I always take a first
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aid kit if you do have an issue where
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you need to see a doctor considering
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whether it's actually going to be more
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cost effective to see an emergency
12:39
doctor or local doctor in the next Port
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of course di couldn't do she was seasick
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but thirdly like Diana did have have
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travel insurance now while it's
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important to have insurance also make
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sure that you get your costs or the
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visit to the medical center very well
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documented and leave the ship with as
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much written confirmation as you can to
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avoid a costly surprise later now Diana
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had a really detailed bill for her time
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in the medical center to submit to
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insurers but someone who contacted me
13:09
for help Alice did not and is now rather
13:13
out of pocket now her mother
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unfortunately H her back on a Royal
13:17
Caribbean cruise at the Coco K Private
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Island stop on a water slide I believe
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now while they reported the guest
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services they didn't go to the medical
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center to be examined and so she had no
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medical records to take away nor did
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they ask for any confirmation from the
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ship that they had reported her injury
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now over time she still wasn't getting
13:36
any better she was in pain medical costs
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were ramping up so she tried to get some
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of those costs covered by Royal
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Caribbean because she was injured as
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part of their experience they turned it
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down because there was no documentation
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and as the claimed injury was now also
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months ago they argued even if there was
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it was no longer within the window of
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time they had to file a claim and they
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hadn't checked again those kind of
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itions now if you want to know how to
14:01
save money Beyond these and not just
14:03
avoid costly surprises like these why
14:05
don't you watch this video where talk
14:07
about things you should never buy from
14:09
your cruise line and why to save you
14:11
money see you over there
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