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8 Cruise Cabins You Should Avoid When Cruising Resumes
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Jan 28, 2025
As cruisers look to a post-lockdown post cruise shutdown world, and want to think about planning a cruise, I discuss the importance of cruise cabin choice, the best cruise cabins and cruise cabins to avoid (and why) when returning to cruising when cruising resumes, whether you planning to cruise as soon as you can or even further in 2021, 2022 or the future. 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 77 cruises at time of making this video. Follow Tips For Travellers on:
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0:00
you're about to discover eight cruise
0:01
cabins to avoid in a post cruising
0:04
shutdown world
0:06
I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
0:08
cruising tips for travelers as we talk
0:11
about and think about heading back
0:13
cruising after the shutdown I want to
0:15
share with you some thoughts around
0:16
cabin choice and eight types of cabins
0:18
to avoid I think that cabin choice
0:21
moving forward increasing is going to
0:23
become more important than ever before
0:25
in the run-up to the shutdown there were
0:27
lots of issues around the type of cabin
0:29
the people chose when ships
0:31
unfortunately headed into a quarantine
0:33
situation so a lot of people found
0:35
themselves stuck in very small cabins
0:36
for a period of time and they decided
0:38
actually that was a really terrible
0:40
thing to do they didn't really enjoy
0:41
that because it's very limiting or they
0:43
had an inside cabin and they're really
0:44
worried about the fact they couldn't
0:45
have access to fresh air and basically
0:48
scenery and things to look at so I think
0:50
the choice of cabin is going to become
0:52
more and more important partly because
0:54
people may want to disallow their fears
0:55
but also I think the way that we think
0:57
about our space may change so it's drew
0:59
the whole lock down through the whole
1:01
social distancing that's been going on I
1:03
think people's sense of personal space
1:05
has become slightly different so
1:07
actually as you get out cruising where
1:09
traditionally you might have said
1:10
actually I'm comfortable with an inside
1:12
cabin an oceanview cabin doesn't going
1:13
to use the public spaces tell not much
1:15
more you might find when you head back
1:17
cruising you actually want more of your
1:19
own personal space with more space
1:20
generally and perhaps access to some
1:22
outside areas so I want to took at eight
1:24
types of cabins that I think you should
1:26
avoid for sorts of reasons in the post
1:28
shutdown cruising world one thing that's
1:30
important to note is there are good
1:31
caverns and bad cabins no matter which
1:33
grade of cabins you cruising so when you
1:36
in a suite a balcony cabin an ocean view
1:39
cabin or inside cabin there are good and
1:40
bad in both so these a cams to avoid
1:43
cover all of those categories starting
1:46
with this one
1:47
my first trip links to what I was
1:48
talking about I think moving forwards
1:50
you should avoid really small cabins
1:52
particulars you start booking moving
1:55
forwards without really knowing how
1:56
you're gonna feel about space you might
1:58
find actually you want more space so you
1:59
might want to think for example avoiding
2:01
some of the big mega ships where there
2:02
have really small cabins on the basis of
2:04
people going to be out and about much
2:05
more so actually look much more moving
2:08
forwards at the size of the cabin not
2:10
just because of course the risk of being
2:11
quarantined but you might find you just
2:13
want more
2:13
space and you are actually using your
2:15
cabin for more than just getting changed
2:18
and sleeping which a lot of people did
2:19
before my second key tip is around
2:22
having a view and an outside space and
2:24
again this links to what I was saying
2:25
before one of the things I think you
2:27
should think about avoiding is cameras
2:30
that have no view and have no outside
2:32
space because they gonna think you're
2:35
gonna find that the cabin plays a
2:36
different role - it did in the past and
2:38
again party just to reassure you and
2:41
perhaps your partner that you're
2:42
traveling with you might find actually
2:44
knowing that you are gonna have some
2:46
views to look at you're gonna have the
2:48
ability to go and enjoy fresh air could
2:50
be a big sell particularly trying to
2:51
encourage people to go back cruising
2:53
with you
2:54
I do think avoiding cabins which have no
2:56
view and no outside space is something
2:58
to definitely think about in a post
3:00
shutdown cruising world the third area
3:03
is true of all types of cruising
3:05
weathers before or after the shutdown
3:07
this is to avoid cabins which are prone
3:10
to getting a lot of noise this I think
3:12
is a really important thing to do
3:14
particularly head out cruising you want
3:15
your cruising when you go about crazy to
3:17
be at a phenomenal experience and you
3:18
don't want to find that you've built in
3:20
cabin joists which has noise the common
3:23
of air is to look at a couple areas to
3:25
focus on when you're choosing a cabin
3:27
first of all make sure that you avoid
3:28
areas that are in public areas so
3:30
they're very close to where there's lots
3:32
of facilities or action basically going
3:35
with lots of people moving - and
3:37
throwing secondly also make sure that
3:40
you avoid big noise hot spots and that
3:43
includes things like the theater the
3:45
nightclub bars or withers live music
3:49
you'll find particularly at night that
3:51
becomes a real big issue between with
3:53
their late night venues and all the
3:54
basin always just travel through the
3:56
hull of the ship and you know people
3:58
who've been stuck in those areas are the
4:00
ones that I have had the most comments
4:02
about having something that's really
4:03
kind of messed up and ruined their
4:04
cruise so avoid those sort of nightclub
4:07
theater spaces it's also a good idea to
4:10
avoid being directly under the pool deck
4:12
or under the promenade deck but it'll if
4:13
it's one of those porn addicts that go
4:15
all the way around the reason for that
4:16
is you'll often find the scraping of
4:18
chairs again that noise travels right
4:20
the way through the hull and the thought
4:23
of people I think on the cruises I've
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been on the way I've found actually the
4:26
most kind of annoying is
4:28
underneath the pool deck you know early
4:29
in the morning you started getting woken
4:30
up by the scraping of chairs as they
4:32
reset and moving around during the day
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between this pool parties out of the
4:36
night you can have lots of thumping and
4:38
whatever so it does kind of mean if you
4:40
try to sleep in in the morning you get
4:42
disturbed or perhaps if you want to have
4:43
an early night for whatever reason
4:45
you've got to be gay the next day so
4:46
those areas that I would also always try
4:49
and avoid myself kitchens and dining
4:51
rooms and restaurants are another good
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place to avoid a lot of people I know
4:55
have had real problems when they've been
4:56
either under or below the kitchen these
4:58
can often be 24-hour operations and lots
5:01
of clanging and banging and again a
5:02
noise can travel through the same is
5:05
true to a lesser degree of restaurants
5:06
although if there is for example the
5:08
buffet restaurant which has more solid
5:10
floors the scraping of chairs can kind
5:13
of break through and be quite disruptive
5:15
because of course you've got morning's
5:17
afternoons evenings often quite late
5:19
into the night and it could be quite a
5:20
disturbing thing a lot of people have
5:22
said they're being coached to kids clubs
5:24
is another no-no because you have lots
5:27
of coming and going screaming running up
5:29
and down of corridors so that's another
5:31
one to consider try and keep yourself
5:32
away from the kids clubs another one
5:34
which I've had experience of and a lot
5:36
of people have really driven them crazy
5:38
it's being near the laundry the guest
5:42
laundry the reason for that is first of
5:43
all it's often people coming and going
5:45
door slamming but actually those
5:46
machines can be pretty noisy so if
5:49
you're on one of the cabins that are
5:50
backing onto that you often find early
5:52
in the morning to late at night you have
5:53
a lot of disturbance from the laundry so
5:55
that's a good one
5:56
to watch out for another thing to
5:58
consider is trying to avoid being near
6:02
where the anchor is and it depends a
6:04
little bit on the type of cruise you're
6:05
on
6:05
often the anchor is right forward in the
6:07
ship and particularly if you've got a
6:11
theory where you're doing lots of
6:13
tendering so where the ship is mooring
6:15
out and you're tendering in you can
6:17
often get work working up with the noise
6:18
of the anchor being weighed down to
6:22
basically hold the ship where it needs
6:24
to be I've been on a couple of cruises
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where they've actually had all of the
6:28
crew actually in the forward part of the
6:30
ship and a lot of them have complained
6:31
about how crazy the noise that the
6:33
anchor drives them the critical thing to
6:35
do if you're looking at how do you do
6:37
you avoid these space and what people
6:39
are saying how do I avoid them I have a
6:40
very simple
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rule when I'm looking and choosing a
6:43
cabin I look for cabins which are
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surrounded on all sides by cabin so
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above below either side and opposite
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obviously if you've got about the cabin
6:52
you what's outside there is the sea but
6:55
really important if you get a cab which
6:57
is surrounded on all sides you're likely
6:59
to avoid those spaces because one of the
7:01
other potential noise areas is where one
7:04
of the crews access areas so if you're
7:06
not seeing any cabins opposite you on
7:08
the deck plan there's a chance that that
7:09
is actually where a crew are coming and
7:11
going and that can be quite noisy as
7:13
well so follow that rule cabins on all
7:16
sides that's the biggest trick for
7:17
finding a cabin which is like it's gonna
7:19
protect you from noise my fourth tip
7:21
around cabins to avoid is following on
7:24
from the previous one and that's to
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avoid interconnecting cabins the cabins
7:27
that are connected by a doorknob via
7:29
sleeve it's traveling with friends and
7:30
family and you want to be connected
7:31
that's a whole different story but I've
7:33
had some really bad experiences where
7:35
I've either had real noisy people or
7:37
we've had party people or you've had
7:39
really loud televisions early in the
7:41
morning or late at night because that
7:43
noise does carry through quite a lot
7:44
other people are concerned about into
7:46
connecting doors more from a security
7:47
perspective because although they lock
7:48
then just feel unsafe having a door
7:50
between another cabin so avoid
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interconnecting doors again on the deck
7:54
plans you can normally find those quite
7:56
easily and they're normally quite well
7:58
flagged up because some people do
7:59
obviously want into connected cabins
8:01
that for me is one of the big things
8:03
that I focus on is avoiding those having
8:05
had some bad experiences the fifth area
8:07
to avoid is cameras that are prone to
8:10
motion so this is probably a
8:12
particularly a good one if you worry
8:14
about motion sickness oh you're going on
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eternity where you know the Seas could
8:17
be kind of rough generally speaking the
8:20
more central you are on the ship and
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they lower down that is where you're
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going to have the least amount of motion
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ironically some of the best cabins or
8:28
the most expensive cabins ownership are
8:30
actually in some of the worst areas for
8:31
this the big glitzy suites are often
8:33
right at the very top of the ship
8:34
because you have this big commanding
8:36
view or they're right at the very back
8:37
of the ship but actually those are the
8:39
parts which have the most amount of
8:41
movement and I was actually once at a
8:43
dinner with a cruise ship designer and
8:44
he was saying he finds a very ironic
8:46
that he's asked to design and put Suites
8:48
in these spaces because actually those
8:50
are some of the worst spots for motion
8:52
and particular for people worried about
8:54
motion sickness I've been on a cruise
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where we had met some people who were
8:57
friends on the on the cruise and they
8:59
had one of the best cabins which were
9:01
right at the back of the ship and we
9:02
were going through a really stormy area
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and they had a little cocktail party and
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was almost impossible to stand up we
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didn't realize it was that rough because
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we were mid ships and hadn't even
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realized that the sea was quite that
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rough so if you are concerned about
9:14
motion avoid being it at the back of the
9:17
ship avoid being at the front of the
9:18
ship it would be close to the middle and
9:19
as low down as suits you the next type
9:23
of cabins to avoid are those that have
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privacy issues now these tend to be a
9:27
little bit harder to spot so you might
9:29
have to rely on reviews or the sort of
9:32
inside knowledge from friends family or
9:34
of course your cruise agent there's a
9:36
couple of things to watch out for so on
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some of those big mega ships through
9:40
like a little Caribbean mega ship so
9:41
they're the big sort of walkway through
9:44
the middle you know go cabins on either
9:46
side which then face into the central
9:48
atrium at the Central Park area you can
9:51
have some privacy issues there with
9:53
people being able to look across and
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again it depends a little bit on the
9:56
cabins ones low down
9:58
tend to be the ones where you kind of
9:59
have to keep your curtains more closed
10:01
and I've had people that felt they needs
10:03
to keep the curtains closed a lot
10:04
because they were low down their father
10:06
being looked into another one which is I
10:08
want to watch out for if you're on a
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princess ship those big ships that have
10:12
the walkway the Skywalk which is the
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glass floor they look straight down into
10:18
your cabin underneath the pool deck
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there you can look straight into the
10:21
cabin and then even on the Carnival
10:23
dream class ships on the hot tub area
10:27
but in the evening people can look
10:29
straight down into a cabin so as you can
10:30
see these are much harder to figure out
10:32
but do you have a look perhaps on some
10:34
of the review sites that cruise critic
10:35
for example with a will review different
10:37
cabins and just check or ask someone
10:40
who's be honest ship before or your
10:41
agent about does this have any chances
10:44
of really being overlooked the people I
10:45
look into my cabin my next step is
10:48
actually if you want to get a better
10:49
cabin is avoid a guaranteed fair cabin
10:52
and go for a favor you choose your cabin
10:54
a lot of people have historically
10:56
certainly before the shutdown
10:58
like the idea of booking a guaranteed
11:00
cabin what that means is you booked an
11:01
inside or an ocean view or a balcony or
11:03
a sweet but you don't choose a cabin at
11:06
a little bit cheaper and then the cruise
11:08
line allocates you the cabin what you
11:10
need to bear in mind is it's most likely
11:12
that you're gonna get the cabins that
11:14
are the worst of that category
11:16
the reason being the people in the know
11:18
who've gone in and chosen their cabin
11:20
who have chosen the best cabins and you
11:21
then allocate the ones that are left
11:23
over or you give them ones that the
11:24
cruise line considers to be perfectly
11:26
fine cabins but may not suit you so I
11:29
actually think one of the cabins to
11:30
avoid are guaranteed cabins it's much
11:32
better to choose your own cabin so you
11:35
can choose where it is what deck it's on
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whether it's midships forwards where you
11:39
basically you choose all the kind of
11:41
aspects and things that you want about
11:42
the cabin to avoid all the previous
11:44
issues noise or being overlooked or
11:46
privacy or whatever so I would say avoid
11:49
guaranteed fare cabins my next tip is
11:52
sort of link to that is one of the
11:54
things that you're asked when you book
11:55
as you're asked if you want to go for an
11:56
auto upgrade
11:57
I also recommend those are cabins to
12:00
avoid the issue with an auto upgrade is
12:02
you have no say if your upgrades you
12:05
tick the box to agree to more to upgrade
12:07
and the cruise line will just upgrade
12:09
you and they decide what cabin you're in
12:11
so again you have no say so if you've
12:12
particularly focused on choosing a great
12:14
cabin at your grade whether it's inside
12:16
ocean view balcony whatever it is and
12:18
you've chosen a cabin that's taken to
12:21
count with all particular light you know
12:22
it's the right size it's got outside
12:24
space whatever it is and they upgrade
12:27
you you may hate the cabin so in ibook I
12:30
don't go for guaranteed fare I choose my
12:33
cabin and then I refuse the auto upgrade
12:35
so I make sure that I've got a cabin
12:37
that I am completely happy with so I
12:39
reckon avoid auto upgrades because you
12:41
have no say on it and you might move
12:42
from a great cabin that you've chosen to
12:44
one that you don't like those are my
12:45
thoughts on the a types of cabins to
12:47
avoid now I have two very simple tips
12:50
again to reiterate to find the right
12:53
cabin first of all don't go for a
12:55
guaranteed fair cabin go for a favor you
12:57
can choose your cabin and don't take the
12:59
auto upgrade and then secondly look for
13:02
a cabin which is surrounded on all sides
13:04
by other cabins that way you pretty much
13:07
are going to protect yourself against
13:08
all those kind of downsides that I've
13:11
spoken about so those are the two little
13:13
tips little quick tips of a way of
13:15
double-checking when you choose a cabin
13:16
I have loads more tips and advice about
13:19
crew
13:19
singing about cruising post the shutdown
13:21
so why don't you watch another one of
13:23
those right now
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