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9 Worst Cruise Packing Mistakes Cruisers Make !
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Jan 28, 2025
What are the 9 worst cruise packing mistakes cruisers can (and Do) Make? I discuss the main things that cruise passengers get wrong when packing for their cruise vacation, along with watch-outs and things to be careful of based on where you are cruising to. SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS: 10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk 5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0 Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises. Follow Tips For Travellers on:
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what are the nine worst packing mistakes
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that cruisers can and do make that could
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also get them into a lot of trouble
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I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
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tips for travelers I own Explorer 9
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packing mistakes that could end up
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getting you into a lot of trouble
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starting with this one drugs
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bringing onboard drugs could get you
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into a lot of trouble now there's the
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obvious ones which are illegal drugs and
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people have been caught on cruise ships
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surprisingly often example even in the
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last year there was a couple aged 71 and
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72 called Roger and Sue Clark some
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pensioners from the UK that were
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arrested in Lisbon carrying many
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kilograms 20 pounds of cocaine they got
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up to eight years also the same year
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there were two men arrested trying to
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bring drugs on board the allure of the
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Seas in Miami and there's another famous
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case where group of girls who were known
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as the Instagram cruise drug babes were
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arrested in Sydney trying to smuggle
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drugs on Princess Cruises
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it's obviously of course bringing on
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board illegal drugs is a big issue
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however you also need to be extremely
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careful with prescription or even
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over-the-counter drugs because in some
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places you're cruising to you you might
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as you find that they're also illegal so
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for example in if you're cruising into
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Dubai you know the United Arab Emirates
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there's a lot of drugs which you can get
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very simply are illegal so any drugs for
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example with codeine so even very simple
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drugs like Tylenol Arthritis relief is
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illegal in that country and get you in a
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lot of trouble
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a gentleman was arrested and held in
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prison for many months for trying to
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bring temazepam
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into the United Arab Emirates in Japan
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again there's lots of restrictions as
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well so even sudafed for example you
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have an issue bringing into Japan so
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very importantly if you are go on a
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cruise and you have either OTC drugs you
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know drugs you to support over the
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counter check that you can actually
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bring those into the country to keep
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your disembarking and if you have a
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prescription drug that you're taking
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with you my big strong tip is keep it in
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the original packaging so they can see
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your name and ideally also have a copy
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of your prescription or a letter from
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your doctor but be careful those very
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simple drugs that you bring on board
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could get you into a lot of trouble
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the second area that could get you into
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a lot of trouble if you pack them are
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remote control devices or things that
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can be launched off a ship so very
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simple balloons are no longer allowed on
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most cruise lines you can't bring
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balloons on board because the concern
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that you'll release those balloons off a
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ship and it will endanger marine life if
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you want to bring a drone on a cruise
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you pretty much excluded by all cruise
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lines I've tried many times to get
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drones on board
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very few cruise lines will actually even
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let you bring them on board some cruise
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lines will let you hand them over to
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security and they will let you when you
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get on and off the ship but pretty much
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every single cruise ship will ban drones
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they'll ban also things like
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remote-controlled aircraft at the point
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of time of recording Royal Caribbean and
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Carnival are the only ones that will let
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you bring drones on board normally keep
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them with security and they will let you
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use them when you head off on a port
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I've tried many times with cruise lines
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to bring my drone onboard and even with
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lots of guarantees working even with the
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PR teams it is refused and what will
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happen is you'll find it's confiscated
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and you'll learn to get it back at the
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end of the cruise the third area that
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could cause our problems for you is not
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packing for the dress code depending on
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the cruise you go on they will have
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different restrictions so if you're
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heading for example on a very formal
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cruise so you could be on Cunard or it
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could be Princess Holland America they
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have formal nights where they require
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for example gentlemen to wear jackets
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normally with a tie or a tuxedo they'll
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require ladies to wear very elegant
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gowns so you can't get into any of the
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key dining venues without that dress
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code also some cruise lines will also
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not let you go into the public areas
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they won't even let you go watch the
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show or go to the casino or whatever if
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you're not in the dress code so really
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importantly make sure that you've packed
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for the dress code of course the
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converse is true if you're getting a
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nice relaxed Cruise you don't wanna be
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bringing all your fancy gear because you
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may not get a chance to wear it also
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very importantly understand if there's
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any other restrictions so for example
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one or two Cruise Lines have banned
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fancy dress this is after they had a
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whole of problems with probably not in
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appropriate fancy dress so some cruise
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lines are really strict around fancy
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dress and clothing particular with
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slogans they will only let you bring on
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fancy dress
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relevant to a particular theme and those
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themes tend to be fairly innocuous like
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white knight party or red white and blue
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so also be remind you may not be able to
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bring that fancy dress also depending
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where you're going
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don't pack camouflage gear some islands
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particular even in the Caribbean will
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not let you wear camouflage gear outside
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about so really important understand the
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dress code also if you or your kids have
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things like those shoes with little
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wheels on most cruise lines also don't
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allow those so when you're packing also
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have a think around the dress code and
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also check if your particular cruise
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line has any quirks around what you can
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wear so for example some cruise lines
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will let you wear jeans to dinner if
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they're dark smart jeans they won't let
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you wear faded or ripped jeans so that's
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something really important to bear in
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mind the dress code another really big
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packing mistake that I have seen a lot
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of people make is by packing valuables
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and things that they really don't want
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to lose in their check-in bags make sure
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that you keep all of those in your
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carry-on bags I've had people contacted
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me talking about they've had really
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valuable equipment in their check on
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bags which either gone missing or have
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been damaged and then they've had no
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recourse for those so really important
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things like your passports medications
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if you've got camera equipment laptops
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smartphones anything that is valuable
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even your precious jewels if you're
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taking those for some reason on a cruise
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with you it's a really important if you
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have anything valuable whether it's even
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sentimental value keep that with you in
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your carry-on bags do not put it in the
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bags that you hand in another very
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important no-no when it comes to packing
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is to unpack anything that has an open
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flame or is flammable so you can't bring
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fireworks or anything like that but also
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you can't bring candles you can't bring
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incense burners so anything with live
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flames are not allowed on a cruise ship
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fire is the thing that cruisers and
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captains and crew fear more than
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anything else it is the most dangerous
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thing to happen at sea so all live
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flames are banned so for example you
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might have seen in a restaurant they
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have little fake flames and things like
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that to avoid having live flames the
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only time you'll ever see
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live flames is if you're on one of those
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cruises where they do some flambe zhh
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you
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crepe suzettes or duck or whatever at
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your table and then there really
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strictly controlled with a fire blanket
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and fire extinguishers and all that kind
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of stuff so anything that's even vaguely
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flammable do not pack in your bags next
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sip is also a little bit of linked to
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that you can't bring on pretty much any
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crews anything that has some sort of
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heating element to it so you find whilst
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most cruise lines will let you bring on
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board hair dryers not all of them some
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of them might even let you bring on
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curling tongs but not all of them but
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you can't bring on things like irons you
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know travel irons kettles coffee makers
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hot plates anything bizarre like that
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anything it's got a heating element you
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cannot bring that on board also very
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important if you are traveling with kids
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particularly young kids and you need a
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bottle sterilizer or a bottle warmer
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check if your Cruise Line lets you bring
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that so for example even Disney does not
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allow parents to bring on sterilized and
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bottle warmers they require you to
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either work with your cabin steward or
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you can talk to guest relations and they
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will give you some equipment but you
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can't bring your own on board so
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anything that's got a heating element
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don't bring on board because they will
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check for that they will scream for that
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and they will confiscate it also if
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you're heading off on a celebratory
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cruise you know particularly Christmas
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or something like that you can't even
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bring those light strings you know sort
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of Christmas lights and things like that
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they will not let you bring on board the
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next packing mistake is around packing
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anything that is or could be perceived
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as being some kind of weapon or could be
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used as a weapon this is very important
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because all though there's the obvious
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things you can't bring shotguns and
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pistols that that kind of stuff for big
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long knives with you there's a bunch of
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things that you might end up bringing on
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board that could get you into trouble
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without realizing it so for example you
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can't bring on board replicas so if your
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kids have kind of replica guns or
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whatever you probably find those are not
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allowed you can't bring those on board
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there's also lots of restrictions on
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self-defense equipment so if you perhaps
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want to bring some handcuffs with you
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for whatever reason or pepper spray
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those kind of things you can't bring
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those either with you but surprisingly
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you also can't bring along things that
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are actually sports equipment that
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could be used as weapons so you can't
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bring things like cricket bats baseball
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bats anything that looks like a club
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basically you'll find that cruise lines
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will not let you bring that on board if
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they find that in your luggage they will
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take it out and they will confiscate it
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and give it to you at the end of the
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cruise if it comes to things like knives
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and sharp objects most of the rules said
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you can't bring any knife that is longer
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than four inches long all right that's
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around about 10 centimeters the only
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exception to that are those
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old-fashioned safety razors but again if
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you are bringing on board you might find
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you have some difficulties so anything
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that's perceived as or could be a weapon
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is restricted and would be a big mistake
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to pack another big packing mistake is
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bringing too much alcohol with you
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now I have done a video before where
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talk about the great lengths that people
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will go to to smuggle booze on board
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most cruise liners will allow you to
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bring either one or sometimes two
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bottles of wine or champagne on board
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with you per person within your luggage
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anything over that they will clamp down
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on and they will take it away so if
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you're out on an excursion and you go to
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a winery or you just buying some alcohol
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spirits wine champagne whatever it is
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when you come back on board the cruise
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line will take that away from you and
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they'll hold it till the end of the
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cruise so very importantly when you're
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packing you need to be really careful
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about how much booze you bring on board
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some cruise lines are even restrict
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things like water sodas that kind of
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stuff so make sure you really understand
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what you are allowed to pack so you
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don't get into trouble my next tip is
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around the whole area of musical
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equipment and instruments pretty much
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every single Cruise Line will allow you
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to bring onboard a musical instrument
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and you are allowed to play that unless
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they get complaints so you can bring
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onboard musical instruments and you can
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play those in your cabin don't play them
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out on deck I've been on crazy people
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together that's really annoying and it's
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certainly one way that's going to
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irritate other passengers when it comes
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to things like things are playing music
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you'll find that pretty much every
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single Cruise Line will not let you pack
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and bring big boom boxes they will let
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you bring onboard smaller musical
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devices which they ask that you only
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play with in your cabin you can only
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music your own music out on deck with
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earphones you can't head out loud you
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are only says play within your cabin and
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again if you get complaints from your
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neighbors it will be taken away from you
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I've done a video before about music
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being played on balconies music being
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played on balconies is not something
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that cruise lines will encourage or in
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fact if you get complaints you will find
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your equipments taken away from you when
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packing for a cruise really important
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that you avoid these mistakes so you
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don't get yourself into a pickle and
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into trouble these are the nine mistakes
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that I have seen people make all the
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time and they some of them are quite
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easy to make have you found that helpful
11:44
I have many more videos of cruise tips
11:47
so why don't you watch another one of
11:48
those right now
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