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Cruise Lines You Should Stay Far, Far Away From
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Jan 28, 2025
This video delivers on a promise I made in the video about lines that I recommended to make a video of cruise lines avoid and think other cruisers should too JOIN MY CHANNEL TO GET ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE PERKS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links mentioned in the videos: 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
View Video Transcript
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a while ago I made a video about the
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best lines to cruise on and during that
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video I said are there any lines that I
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would avoid
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yes
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but that's a topic for another day and
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another video well that day has come not
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just a warning you might freak out
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because I may include your favorite
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Cruise Line as one to avoid but that's
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less important because you're going to
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discover in here that the key goal is to
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help you avoid lines that really won't
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work for you welcome aboard I'm Gary
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bembridge the first lines I avoid are
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those that I think or suspect may have
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Financial issues even if they have a big
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reputation now as the pandemic was
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ending and I was planning my future
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cruises I crossed one key line off my
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wish list and that was Crystal Cruises
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now why did I do that because at the
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time there was chatter about how slow
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they were during the pandemic to issue
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refunds they were slow to respond to
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queries and there were warning signs
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everywhere it gave me a flashback to a
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cruise that I'd booked with one ocean
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Expeditions in 2019 similar things were
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happening people were canceling they
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weren't getting refunds responses were
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slow lo and behold they had bankruptcy
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problems now with Crystal Cruises many
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people lost thousands of dollars when
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getting Hong Kong went bust and Crystal
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dream
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and start cruise lines all went under if
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you have any doubts avoid the cruise
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line it's better to be safe than sorry
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of course Financial issues are not just
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about Cruise Lines going bust it's also
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about the cutbacks and the onboard
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experience already of course that is an
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issue with many Cruise Lines because
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post-pandemic they're in lots of debt
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and there are things right across the
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board that they are tightening up on
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cutting back on so when I'm planning
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into next year and the year Beyond I
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focus on lines that are held by the big
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Cruise corporations although they're
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also in lots of debt they're incredibly
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well funded and they're already carrying
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up to 80 of passengers so they are big
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monoliths so that includes for example
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Carnival Corporation with Brands such as
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Carnival princess Holland America Cunard
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and Seabourn other major Cruise groups
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that I look at are Royal Caribbean with
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celebrity and silver sea Norwegian
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Cruise Line who own Oceania Cruises
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region 70s then of course there's also
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the MSC cruises group I tend to avoid
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independent lines unless I'm planning
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really short term one big tip I've got
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is I personally track and watch sites
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like the crew run crew center.com and
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their Facebook group because the crew
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are often the very first to spot issues
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for example they're not being paid on
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time recruitments down or simply the way
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that they're being treated the second
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set of cruise lines I avoid is any line
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that I fear or suspect may change
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ownership especially if the rumor is
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they're being taken over by a non-cruise
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operator I learned this initially with
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voyages to Antiquity I came back from an
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amazing cruise to Iceland on their ship
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at GN Odyssey it was an old but a very
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characterful ship it was owned by an
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elderly billionaire they started
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canceling because of engine issues and
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other problems and they quietly
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disappeared and eventually reappeared as
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Road scholar now more recently as Amara
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was sold by Royal Caribbean to Sycamore
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partners and I made the mistake of going
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on the line too soon after return to
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service and before it had properly
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bettered in it just wasn't working in
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the way that Azamara was before I should
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have waited until it had really bedded
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in there are for example rumors about
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seaborne being sold by Carnival to a
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Saudi Arabian Cruise Company now of
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course I'm not sure how true those
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rumors are but I have therefore only
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planned shorter term with them just to
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be on the safer side on the other hand
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I've booked Paul gargan for next year
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they were taken over by panand but
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panont is an existing Cruise operator
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and it's already the cruise line is
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already well bedded into the pawn on
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operation but I personally wouldn't book
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Crystal under their new owners
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Abercrombie in Kent because it's going
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to be a completely different line it
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comes back your management new crew and
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I just don't know how quickly and easily
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that's going to settle down the third
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area of cruise lines I avoid are those
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that I've Grown Apart from over time our
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tastes change my very first trip was pno
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Aurora and because it was my first ship
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I stuck with piano Cruisers after that I
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booked a Mediterranean Cruise it was
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fine then I tried Cunard and I realized
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what I was missing Pinot realized wasn't
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actually for me anymore after a 10-year
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break from piano I gave them a try again
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last year all I did was remind me of why
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I no longer sail with them it reassured
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me that once you've had a so-so
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experience and you've moved on with a
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cruise line in my view it's best to keep
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going and it's important to remember
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that whatever category of Cruise Line
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you go with you have so much choice so
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in the piano category I've also got
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princess Holland America celebrity
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Cunard and now virgin boy we just to
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choose from there's no need to stick
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with the same they're all in the same
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category they offer the same sort of
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pricing so it's actually better I
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decided to book with one of those
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instead the fourth thing that I avoid is
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changing a cruise line for the sake of
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change particularly if I'm changing for
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the worst reason of all which is price
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it took my partner and I 20 years to get
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his assistant husband to cruise and
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finally they booked piano cruises they
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absolutely loved it it felt familiar and
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they enjoyed the fact that it was full
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of British passengers ensured it was
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everything they hoped for it wasn't for
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me but it was absolutely for them they
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returned home and decided to book
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another Cruise
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but they booked with MSC cruises because
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it was so much cheaper they went and
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they hated it the ship was too big
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everything on board was announced in
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several different languages the food was
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not as they expected they also found a
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lot more onboard costs like gratuities
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and they admitted that they changed a
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cruise line for the worst possible
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reason only for price I personally
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discovered the same thing when I went on
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Costa many many years ago they had a
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really good deal on a Mediterranean
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Cruise so I walked away from Cunard and
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went on Costa it was to be honest a
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pretty miserable experience the was
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too gaudy for me it was 95 full of
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Italians with very limited English
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options and I to be honest it felt like
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a bit of an outsider I looked enviously
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at Honda America princess and celebrity
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who were also in Port and realized I'd
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moved for the wrong reason price the
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fifth line that I avoid is any line
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that's just not for me now that might
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sound really obvious but it is important
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to not get this one wrong first of all
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for example I avoid going on Carnival
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it's not because I think that they don't
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do things well it's because it's just
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not for me they're fun ships they're
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boisterous they're party ships high
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energy they're catering for younger
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couples and families who want to have a
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busy time lots and lots of high energy
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fun
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there's drinking there's belly flop
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competitions it's packed it's
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action-filled it's go go go now I avoid
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lines like Carnival because it's simply
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not targeted to me I like enrichment I'm
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very much into destinations are like
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quiet spaces it's that simple it's just
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not for me and that's my point choosing
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a line that's right for you is
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absolutely fundamental and critical
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secondly for example I avoid Mega ships
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from lines like Royal Caribbean and MSC
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you know the five thousand six thousand
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kind of plus gas ships they're busy I
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don't like the busyness of getting on
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and off I like it on smaller ships
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because you can go into out of the way
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ports and it's more an intimate
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experience for example I don't even like
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the big ships in the princess Fleet Sky
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princess at 3660 passengers it's just
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too big for me so I avoid those even on
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Celebrity I prefer to go on the solstice
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class ships which are more like 2 000
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passengers
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and if I'm going on Holland America I
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tend to lean towards their Vista class
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ships which again are more like 2 000
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passengers than their bigger
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pinnacle-class ships also and
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importantly with those big ships they
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again tend to attract more families more
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kids and I like a more adult-on
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experience that's why I do lean more
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towards cruise lines that offer it
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so really focus on what it is that's
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important to you the next lines I avoid
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are those that are mostly non-english
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speaking with one really big exception
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other than my cost experience that I
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spoke about earlier I've been on other
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non-english speaking lines
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and I've learned a lot about what I
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would avoid and importantly what I
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wouldn't avoid I've been on crossy
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Europe on barges where it's mostly been
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French passengers I've been on Happy
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Lloyd Europa 2 where the passengers are
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mostly German I've been on panand to
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Antarctica which is mostly French and
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I've learned an enormous amount from all
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those trips
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on panant ninety percent of the
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passengers when I was on were French
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there was a group of about 20 U.S
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Koreans two U.S couples and myself but
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there was a sense of frustration
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building across the cruise amongst the
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English speakers they felt that the
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French passengers were getting more
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attention and much more Focus perhaps
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not surprisingly because the crew were
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all French as were the bulk of the
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passengers food they saw also was an
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issue it was too French now it is after
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all a French line
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but me I was probably more ready for
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that I used to have a Global Marketing
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job and I traveled a lot around the
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world and I was perhaps more used to
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being in the minority and not really
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knowing the language so I was a little
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bit more comfortable but you absolutely
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need to be ready avoid any line in my
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view that's non-english speaking unless
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you're 100 ready for the differences so
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I for example will go on non-english
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speaking Cruise Lines when it is the
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only option so for example I went across
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Europe because I wanted to go on a barge
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cruise through France and that was the
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only or the leaving option
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however I wouldn't go on across the
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Europe River Cruise again which I've
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done because there are many many good
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English speaking options which are just
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going to be so much easier but I have
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booked to go on german-speaking haphag
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Lloyd next year to Greenland and the
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Canadian Arctic because it is the only
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itinerary that covers the places that I
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really want to go to so I'm prepared for
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that I'm prepared to do that the other
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thing people ask me about is do I avoid
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lines with bad reviews now in the last
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week I've had for example questions
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around Azamara Cunard and style Clippers
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people have seen bad reviews about all
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of those so what do I say
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I always say go with your gut if it
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feels wrong avoid it because you're
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going to be stuck in that mindset and
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you're going to be attuned to issues
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that's certainly my experience now I
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don't necessarily avoid cruise lines
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with bad reviews I just research them as
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much as I can
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nothing is perfect no Cruise Line is
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perfect so I always try and focus on
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what is important to me I've already
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mentioned things like a good enrichment
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quiet spaces good food out of the way
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ports so those are the things being
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criticized in the reviews then I'm much
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more likely to avoid that line if the
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things that important to me are not
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being flagged up I'm less likely if all
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of this is interesting I've got you
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thinking about what lines you should go
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on why don't you take a look at this
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video where I talk about the lines that
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I think are doing things well right now
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starting with the one that may surprise
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you in the resort Mass ship area see you
12:30
over there
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