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Cruising Ultra-Luxury Taught Me 3 Eye-Opening Lessons!
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Jan 28, 2025
Realising it costs the same to cruise in a suite on most “regular” cruise lines (like Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and so on) as it does to cruise on an ultra-luxury line (like Regent, Seabourn & Silversea), I look at which is better and why. And when you should stick on a "mainstream" line rather than go on an "ultra-luxury" cruise line. 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 * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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I was recently on an Ultra Luxury Cruise
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Line and I realized being able to afford
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to go on one does not mean you should in
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fact I saw it could be one of the worst
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cruising decisions ever as I will
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explain and show you by the way if you
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are new here welcome aboard I'm Gary
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bembridge before going on this Ultra
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Luxury Line a big surprise hit me it
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would have cost me as much once I
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included the onboard cost to cruise into
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Suites in the Caribbean on lies like
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Norwegian or Caribbean Holland America
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celebrity whatever it would have cost me
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the same as it would to cruise on an
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Ultra Luxury Line like region Seven Seas
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Seabourn and silver sea I know because I
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compared them all before I actually
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booked the Regent Cruise they all cost a
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staggering one thousand two hundred
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dollars to one thousand five hundred
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dollars per cabin per night that's one
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thousand to one thousand three hundred
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fifty pounds and knowing that they all
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cost the same I had a lot of questions
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like you probably have two my biggest
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question was how is an Ultra Luxury Line
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different from going on one of those
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what I'll call in this regular Cruise
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Lines
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here's what I found out
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the ship had the same facilities as any
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other ship a pool and hot tubs bars
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lounges main dining rooms specialty
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dining rooms Spa Fitness Center theater
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shops and so on it went to the same
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places calling it mostly the same ports
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for example in Barbados we were in Port
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with Costa celebrity Pinot cruises and
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Antigua with MSC and celebrity I
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discovered also that my fellow
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passengers wanted the same things as on
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any other line Good and Plenty food and
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drink a daily program with trivia guest
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speakers deck games cooking
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demonstrations karaoke and the like
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Captain's welcome party deck parties
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live music they wanted to meet people
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they wanted to shop and spend their
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onboard credit they also wanted to get a
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good deal by booking their next cruise
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on board in fact they were so alike that
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I even saw chair hogs around the pool
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and Bad Manners in the theater there was
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also the usual mix of cruises as on
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other lines I've been on lots of couple
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a good number of seller Travelers
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friends traveling together
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multi-generational families and same-sex
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couples the dress code had about the
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same level as compliance and all those
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regular lines as it were and was no
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smarter than other premium lines like
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celebrity Holland America and Princess
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no difference at all the average age was
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the same maybe it was even a bit younger
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than lions like Holland America and
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Princess because of course this is not a
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youthful party line and also the cost is
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going to keep some people out it was
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probably a bit of a shock because I
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expected the passage to somehow be
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different to other lines so they got me
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thinking if it's not the passengers that
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are the big difference
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what is it then
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the first and simplest of course was my
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bill at the end was Zero as all the
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extras were in the fair unlike winning a
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suite on those kind of regular lines as
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I'm calling them where it can be rather
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Hefty I knew the exact cost of my cruise
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before I bought it on region 7c cruises
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even the excursions were included as
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were gratuities especially dining Wi-Fi
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and all of the drinks the second
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difference was having a much smaller
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cabin for the price for example the
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cruise I did before this was on Holland
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America conning Stan in a Neptune Suite
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that was a huge suite at 502 square feet
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with seating area bedroom massive
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bathroom and a huge balcony for the same
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price on Regent it was over a third
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smaller and more like a veranda cabin or
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a mini Suite Not only was the cabin
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smaller but the experience was smaller
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too it's a small ship experience and I
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cannot underestimate the importance of
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this region 17 Navigator carries just
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480 two passengers a smaller ship means
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way less choice of venues and of course
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much fewer facilities if I go on a suite
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on say Norwegian Encore I'd have a
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choice of 11 bars accounted a maximum of
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four on Navigator the theater shows were
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on a much smaller scale the shows
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weren't big glitzy Productions like on
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Norwegian with full Broadway shows
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celebrities high energy acrobatic shows
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or even hot in America's one-step Dance
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Company shows with kind of big audio
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visual effects there was also way less
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evening entertainment too the one band
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played in the Galileo lounge and there
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was a Pianist in the Explorer bar versus
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the multiple venues with live musics
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Comics game shows on Norwegian Carnival
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Royal Caribbean or even the four live
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music venue music walk on a line like
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condom America it was also a
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dramatically smaller daily program with
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fewer things laid on there was usually
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one trivia day one day game event today
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one talk per day and on Port days often
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virtually no activities when the
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excursions were out and about of course
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there were no big activity facilities on
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Deck there was a small crazy golf course
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but on bigger ships I of course will
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have multiple pools go-karts or
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Norwegian flow Riders on Royal Caribbean
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water slides on gosh so many ships
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Carnival ships MSC ships Disney ships
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and so on I realized if as a cruiser I
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wanted choice
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like to be entertained and have a lot
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laid on for me than an Ultra Luxury Line
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is definitely challenging there was one
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bigger heart moment that this gave me
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paying for an Ultra Luxury Line style
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fair to travel in a suite on a regular
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line as I'm calling them means I have
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the luxury of a large cabin access and
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many to an exclusive restaurant lounge
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pool and deck like the Haven on
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Norwegian although she's on Celebrity
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but I can then tap into the hustle the
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bustle the choice of activities the big
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scale shows and the entertainment on
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Ultra Luxury though I'm paying for a
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smaller more intimate less high energy
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probably a little bit quieter
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environment I will come back to this
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when I talk about when an Ultra Luxury
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Line might be better than paying for a
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suite on those other lines but first
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three aspects there are an upside in
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their favor definitely one of the
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biggest differences I experienced as an
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Undisputed Advantage is in the area of
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food food is great on many cruise lines
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but certainly on region 7c and other
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Ultra Luxury lines while the daily
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program may be light the menu is
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absolutely definitely or not I counted
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over 50 items on the main dining room
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breakfast menu including caviar on some
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days the evening menus were vast with a
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page of Standards a page of daily
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specials and a separate Standalone
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dessert menu and high quality and
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sophisticated dishes when they did an
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on-deck barbecue it made even the great
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ones that I've done on ships like
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Azamara look frugal
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there are no charges for lobster and
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caviar that are non-existent across
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those other regular lines either the
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other really big plus is excursions
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they do small group excursions and I
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find this a step-changing experience as
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even when in a suite like I did on that
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Holland America conning stand before
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this trip all the excursions were in big
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groups on Regent the tours were split so
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I never had more than 20 people on an
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Excursion probably the most significant
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difference I experienced was service
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right across the ship in every single
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Department everywhere I went the crew
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got to know me and greeted me by name
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everything was quickly personalized like
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knowing that I liked skin milk in my
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decaf coffee at breakfast or my
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caffeine-free Diet Coke or non-alcoholic
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wine it functions and even The Carving
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Station made in the buffet remembering
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that I like chicken legs not breasts
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while only of course there is more crew
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per passenger than on any other line it
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also felt that the training behind it
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was also so evident but also versus
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other regular lines it meant the crew
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had so much more time to stop and talk
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and interact so for example LMI server
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in the main dining room was really
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interested in cameras and photography
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and of course she saw that I had many
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and so she was able though to stop talk
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chat to me about that because she had
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fewer tables to serve she had time to
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kind of build a relationship the
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officers were also very engaged visible
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they interact with guests more than I've
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seen on those regular lines certainly
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over the last couple of years
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it's hard to describe but I almost felt
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the ship was geared around me that I was
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the focus of every Department Of course
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that was not at all true because
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speaking to other guests though they
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agreed that they felt the same way as I
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did
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there was about them not about me it
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really struck home to me that when
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spending this amount of money careful
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choice is needed to ensure the overall
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experience is the best that money can
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buy for you
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I know for example that my partner mark
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would prefer to spend it on a bigger
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cabin a suite to hang out in varied
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venues a busy daily program with lots
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going on to entertain in big scale
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theater shows so a suite on a regular
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line would be how he'd want to spend
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those big bucks for me I like the
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smaller but like the more intimate the
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more exclusive environment where it's
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more about the food the service and the
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interactions though there is one massive
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factor I think will swing the decision
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certainly for me the destination and the
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reason for the trip I must admit they're
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going to the Caribbean on region was a
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little dull at times in the evenings
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versus those other regular lines because
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nightlife let the trip down a bit you
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know compare it to what it would have
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been on an American and Suite it would
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be just so much more active so much more
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stuff going on on the other hand as I
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look at Japan which I have booked for
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later in the year if I compare region 70
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versus the biggest ships like that on
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America or princess who do that
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itinerary region has a more intensive
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off the beaten path ports artery as well
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as covering the must-see they have lots
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of included excursions now the
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excursions are long days so actually
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nightlife is going to be much less
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important so small and intimate is going
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to work better which is why I'm going to
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spend that amount of money going on
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region 7c not on a suite on one of the
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other lines now if you found this
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interesting watch this video we're going
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to dive into my experience of regent
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with how it started really badly and why
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I was surprised at what they were doing
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and why see you over there
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