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7 Easy-To-Make Cruise Mistakes. Are You Making These?
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Jan 28, 2025
7 Cruise Mistakes That Will Cost You Dearly if you are not careful. I discuss 7 easy-to-make and common cruising errors that cruise passengers make that ends up costing them money that could be spent on better and more enjoyable things. Many of these cruising slip-ups I learnt the hard way. Learn how to save money on your next cruise Cruise Excursions Provider links Shore Trips: https://www.shoretrips.com Cruising Excursions: https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. 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
View Video Transcript
0:00
i want to tell you about seven things
0:01
i've learned usually the hard way
0:03
that we can cut back the amount of money
0:05
we spend when we're cruising leaving us
0:07
to spend more on the things that really
0:10
do matter
0:10
if you're new to my channel welcome
0:12
aboard i'm gary bembridge
0:14
and i'm here to help make it easier to
0:16
find plan
0:17
and have amazing cruise vacations with
0:19
that in mind
0:20
let's get going the first mistake i
0:23
learned
0:23
was that not regularly checking cruise
0:26
fares
0:26
after booking could be costing all of us
0:29
a
0:30
sizable amount of cash now since
0:31
tracking fares i've managed to get
0:33
lots of benefits like an upgrade from an
0:36
entry level suite on cunard to one of
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the very glitzy
0:38
penthouse suites upgrades from ocean
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view into premium balcony cabins on
0:43
other lines
0:44
and i've quite frequently had my onboard
0:46
credit boosted
0:48
by quite a lot of money quite a few
0:50
times and that's simply by keeping an
0:52
eye on fair changes for the cabin grade
0:55
that i've booked so if the line drops
0:56
the fare
0:57
for the common grade that i've booked i
0:59
get my agent or when i used to book
1:01
direct
1:01
get onto the cruise line myself and i
1:04
point out
1:04
that we've seen that the grade is now
1:06
being sold cheaper
1:07
and basically ask them what they will do
1:10
and
1:11
as a result i've had those perks and
1:13
benefits that i've mentioned
1:15
however if you do actually contact them
1:17
and they say we're not going to do
1:18
anything
1:18
and you have a refundable fare then what
1:20
you should do is actually cancel
1:22
and rebook at the lower fare you'll find
1:24
if you say you're going to do that more
1:26
than often they will actually start
1:27
offering those various
1:28
upgrades or on-board credits now the way
1:30
that i track fares is first by signing
1:32
up
1:33
for the cruise line marketing emails if
1:35
they start
1:36
doing various deals that cover my booked
1:38
cruise i go in
1:39
and check if they're now selling it much
1:41
cheaper but it's so much easier to use
1:43
one of the websites that track
1:45
all of this for you now there are a
1:47
couple of options but the
1:48
absolute best by far in my view and the
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one that i use
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it's free and it's called
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cruisewatch.com
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now you can sign up for a free account
1:57
you basically select your cruise
1:59
you set some parameters so you can set
2:00
the grade of cabin you can even specify
2:03
a very exact grade in most cases and
2:05
then basically
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you're getting email alerts when prices
2:09
change
2:10
so you can then also track of course
2:12
cruises you're interested in
2:13
and they'll let you know if prices are
2:14
going up or prices going down
2:17
which could help you decide when to book
2:19
so not
2:20
tracking your cruise fare is the one
2:23
mistake that
2:24
so many cruise passengers make and you
2:26
could save a lot of money
2:28
now my experience almost every on-board
2:30
activity that you have to pay for so
2:32
things like wi-fi
2:33
drinks packages especially dining spa
2:36
and so on
2:37
it's generally cheaper if you buy it
2:39
online in the manage my cruise
2:41
before you go on board of course the
2:43
lions want to get us to lock these in
2:45
and of course get us to pay for them up
2:46
front so i always check what promotions
2:49
and offers they have versus the sort of
2:51
regular
2:51
onboard price that's listed now the
2:54
advantage
2:55
is also that if you do that you can lock
2:57
in things like spa
2:58
and dining you can get the popular days
3:00
the popular times
3:01
because if you don't they'll usually be
3:03
gone by the time
3:04
that you get on the ship now again of
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course if i get on the ship and find
3:09
that they are discounting even deeper
3:10
than i paid online in advance
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i simply go and ask what they will do
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and i've found that they'll normally
3:15
adjust
3:16
in some way so not checking and buying
3:18
those add-ons before boarding
3:20
is definitely another mistake i've
3:22
learned to avoid
3:23
one area that lions do not often
3:25
discount in advance are their excursions
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though some will actually offer you
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packages so if you book say a certain
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number of
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excursions the price overall is lower
3:33
but it doesn't happen that often
3:35
so there are two big mistakes that i see
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cruisers make on excursions that do have
3:38
a cost implication
3:40
first of all if there are any that i
3:43
really want to do
3:44
any excuses that i really really want to
3:46
do i actually book them in advance
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even if they're not cheaper because
3:50
often
3:51
you might find by the time you get on
3:52
board they sold out now i've learned
3:54
this again the hard way a few times
3:56
so although i may not save money
3:57
directly i won't be disappointed so it's
3:59
kind of
3:59
good money spent if you like but much
4:01
more important is i
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always compare cruise line excursions
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with alternatives now these include
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private independent local tour guides
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but the easiest to do
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is with one of the independent cruise
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excursion providers
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now they almost always have the standard
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and the
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most popular cruise line excursions but
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they often will have much more unusual
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ones so that
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is great too really importantly they'll
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always be cheaper
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and they have smaller group sizes than
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the cruise line ones
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now the two that i look at are cruise
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excursions.com and shore excursions
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group so what you do is you input your
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cruise ship
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and dates they basically show your
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itinerary and they'll show you port by
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port all of the tours
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importantly they also have a guarantee
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that they'll get you back to the ship
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before the all aboard and departure time
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and they guarantee they will cover
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getting you to rejoin the ship
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if they don't now of course you should
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double check that if you're using them
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when
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you actually book those now bearing in
5:00
mind that you can
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easily spend hundreds of dollars on
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excursions on a cruise
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and you know up to thousands of dollars
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if you're going to alaska for example
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so not checking alternatives could be a
5:11
very costly mistake
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indeed now one reminder that is one very
5:15
costly mistake is if you miss
5:17
the ship departing from a port the line
5:20
will
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only wait for their own excursion so if
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you decide to save money
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by only self-touring be really careful
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really cautious about getting back in
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time because that could cost you
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an enormous amount of money not
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researching and not planning excursions
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before a cruise
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in my view is a really big mistake
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especially
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is if you don't do that when you go on
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board you pretty much
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only option left for you is the cruise
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line excursion which is pretty much
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going to be more expensive
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now one easy mistake i often point out
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to people heading off on a cruise
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is that they're not taking the alcohol
5:55
the water or the soda allowance
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on board especially if they're not
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buying a drinks package this is
6:00
a silly mistake because every line
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allows you to bring a certain amount of
6:04
drink onto the ship
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normally around two bottles of wine
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certain amount of beer or sodas so check
6:09
what you can bring
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as that of course is going to save you
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some money for sure particularly if
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you're not going for the drinks package
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so bring
6:16
your allowances on board it's a mistake
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not to falling into a habit of
6:20
double tipping has cost me a small
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fortune
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over all the various cruises that i've
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done now this is much more tricky
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than the other mistakes and you really
6:30
need to decide if this is a cost you
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want to have
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or not have because there is actually in
6:34
this one a case for doing both
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now gratuities for the crew as most
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lines call them are usually set by the
6:40
line
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at a rate per day it's rounding about 15
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or more per person per day so that could
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end up being a couple of hundred dollars
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on top of your cruise cost now they
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usually give
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the option to either pay them before
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traveling with your final balance
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payment
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or to have them added to your account on
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board
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so that's between two hundred and ten
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dollars to two hundred fifty dollars per
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couple per week at least
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now of course some lines will include
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them in the fair so the ultra luxury
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lines do that
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and also lines like celebrity and piano
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cruises
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you know so more and more lines are sort
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of bundling than the fair
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however i always feel pretty bad if i'm
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not actually
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handing over a gratuity at the end of
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the cruise now this probably is partly
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because that's the way it was when i
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started cruising the lines would leave
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envelopes
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you put cash in and you'd then hand
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those over to your steward
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your cabin steward and the waiting staff
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the problem is i now have that guilt so
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i end up
7:38
double tipping now just how much this
7:41
mounts up to across all my cruises
7:43
really came to sharp focus when we were
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on a 10 weeks
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segment of a world cruise and i realized
7:49
we had through
7:50
auto charge paid a hefty sum of money
7:53
but we felt we had to pay
7:55
pretty much the same amount again so
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we're talking like a thousand dollars or
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so
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of course great service and
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relationships may mean that you do want
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to double tip
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but it could be costing you a fortune so
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you need to decide what you feel most
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comfortable with
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and budget if you do plan to double step
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now what do i do
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well i tend to extra tip above the fixed
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charge but it's certainly not double
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tipping so it's more just
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a gesture if you like so really
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important have a think about it it's a
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mistake that you could be making
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and could cost you a lot of money over
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all your cruisers
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the next one is potentially the most
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costly mistake
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of all now many of you will see this as
8:32
a cost
8:33
but it could save you untold amounts of
8:37
money
8:38
and this is having proper cruise travel
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insurance now post the pandemic not
8:43
having it may actually not be an option
8:45
anyway
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because what i'm seeing many lines is
8:48
then they return to service
8:50
they now require you to show it at
8:52
boarding versus
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just declaring you had it in the online
8:55
check-in process you just had to say you
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had it before
8:57
now they're checking importantly those
9:00
lines that are checking
9:01
will deny boarding without having proper
9:04
cruise insurance
9:05
they're asking for it to have three key
9:07
elements one
9:08
be cruise specific and that includes
9:10
elements like emergency evacuation from
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the ship
9:13
repatriation that kind of stuff two it
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has to have certain minimum medical
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cover limits
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around about three million dollars as a
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minimum and thirdly and importantly it
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has to cover
9:23
covert related issue and illnesses so
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not having it may cost you a lot if
9:28
you're denied boarding and lost travel
9:29
costs to get to the port
9:30
and based on refund policy or cruise
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costs but
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much more important much more
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significant is if something goes wrong
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you could be thousands and thousands and
9:42
thousands
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out of pocket so importantly take it out
9:46
when you
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book and ensure that it has a cancel for
9:49
any reason if you possibly can
9:51
then if you cannot go you don't lose
9:53
your deposits if they are
9:54
kind of non-refundable by the cruise
9:56
line but
9:58
most importantly if you fall ill or
10:00
injure yourself
10:01
and have to go into a hospital in a
10:02
foreign port in addition to the onboard
10:05
medical costs
10:06
you'll have to cover all the local costs
10:08
of medical treatment
10:10
and then also getting yourself and your
10:12
travel companions home
10:13
the lines will not assist financially in
10:15
any way and probably not even
10:17
logistically
10:18
so having that medical help from the
10:19
insurance company is really important
10:22
now a couple who were travel bloggers
10:24
that i knew they were on a trip in south
10:26
america
10:26
the husband slipped and really badly
10:28
damaged his back on an excursion
10:30
he eventually had to be flown back to
10:32
the united states on a private
10:34
medical flight evacuation their costs
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would have been
10:38
over 150 000
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but it was all covered because they had
10:43
insurance now another traveler was on
10:46
part of the kunard world cruise we did
10:48
in 2016.
10:49
he was hit by a car crossing the road
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outside the port in honolulu hawaii
10:54
he broke his leg pretty badly so he had
10:56
to go to the hospital
10:57
he and his travel companion were
10:59
disembarked and he had to stay there
11:01
sort out all the medical
11:03
treatment get his leg fixed and once it
11:05
was okay
11:06
to travel again he had to get back to
11:08
the uk once he was able to do that
11:10
travel
11:10
enormous costs were involved but they
11:13
were insured so they didn't have to
11:15
worry
11:15
of course none of us plan to get ill
11:17
none of us plan to injure ourselves on a
11:19
trip
11:20
but it happens so the cost of that
11:23
travel insurance is really really
11:25
important
11:25
it's an easy thing to do it could save
11:27
you vast
11:28
life changing amounts so don't make the
11:30
mistake of not having
11:32
proper cruise travel insurance now one
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simple and really silly mistake i made
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cost me
11:39
just over two hundred dollars a couple
11:41
of cruises back
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showing how you need to keep ahead and
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on the ball with all of these mistakes
11:46
because it is easy to slip up
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what was it well it was not sticking to
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my habit of putting my phone
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into airplane mode as i boarded the ship
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really really important to get into that
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habit if you're not in airplane mode
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when selling your phone will connect to
12:02
the ship's satellite
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phone service services like telenor
12:06
maritime and cellular at sea which is a
12:08
pretty common one
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they will cost you around 2.70
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per minute to send and receive calls and
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much much more for data now when you're
12:18
in port your phone will then connect to
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a local provider
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but again depending on the roaming deals
12:23
that your provider has
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the charges in port could be as high as
12:27
that as well
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i forgot to put my phone into airplane
12:31
mode on
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a caribbean cruise my phone was using
12:34
the cruise satellite
12:35
to update apps and run email in the
12:37
background now i only realized that
12:39
after a day or two at sea when we came
12:41
into port
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and the local provider sent a text
12:44
message saying i was now connected
12:45
to their service by then i had run up a
12:49
200 bill on my phone for absolutely
12:52
no benefit so what do i do to stay in
12:54
touch instead many people ask me this
12:56
well many ships have incredible wi-fi
12:58
it's getting better and better and
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better
13:00
it's been bundled into the fair or is
13:02
now becoming at more reasonable rates
13:04
so i always get a package where i can
13:06
stay connected all the time
13:08
and then i use my phone in airplane mode
13:10
to do imessage or whatsapp
13:12
or do facetime calls to home it really
13:14
is that good
13:16
and then it means that i'm controlling
13:18
the cost and have those
13:19
crazy roaming costs if you want more
13:22
tips
13:22
on saving money cruising i've put
13:24
together a short playlist
13:26
of two videos that i think will help so
13:28
click
13:29
and watch these right now
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