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Live Cruise Q&A from Regent Grandeur: Saturday 21 October 5pm UK/ Noon ET/ 9 am PT
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Jan 28, 2025
Join me and Mark for a Live Cruise Q&A from on board Regent Grandeur as we sail from Guatemala to Mexico on Saturday 21 October 5pm UK/ Noon ET/ 9 am PT. We will answer any questions you have about Regent Seven Seas, Grandeur or anything else on cruising! Get any cruise questions answered live! Join me for another of my weekly live cruise question and answer session. During the livestream I will answer cruising questions or discuss any cruising topic or news development that people ask me live. You can watch past episodes of the livestreams too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qEAiMOHL4&list=PLs3662YkgOgq_nlVQR9WYJRNKuNyeKu7Z). Get bonus videos and dedicated livestreams by becoming a YouTube Channel Member (click "join" under any video to find out more) or become a Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/TipsForTravellers You can also but my exclusive cruise T-shirts you see me wearing in the livestream and videos at these stores: https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com + http://bit.ly/TFTStore + https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com #CruiseLive #cruiseQ&A #CruiseLivestream #cruisetips
View Video Transcript
0:08
[Music] hello everybody and welcome to Regent
0:13
Grandeur now just a couple of things we were obviously doing on the ship and so the Wi-Fi in all the tests did play okay
0:20
but as I've set up here the picture May right sorry I can just see sorry M up I
0:26
put this on so we could check who's running anyway so we are here in our Mark is here hello hi everyone uh so
0:32
thanks very much for all your questions coming in um as I said if the picture goes a little bit weird the audio
0:39
normally keeps going just reminder write the word question and we will answer you
0:44
know so we know it's a question rather than a chat just to remind everybody this is a cruise that we do so I've blocked up Mark so we're currently as of
0:51
today we're heading between penes and PTO qual corinto where we were due to be today in Nicaragua that got cancelled um
1:00
and they seem to be canceling that a lot they claimed it was because the ports then allowing cruise ships into the port
1:05
anyway we've got a C day today nice 27 degrees Celsius whatever there is in farite lovely lovely blue sky today
1:10
lovely blue skies so welcome to everybody what we'll do is we'll get stuck in so lots of the regulars are
1:16
here and we'll present to them as we go um so let's get kicking off with the
1:23
first question now there's a couple of questions which aren't specifically related to This Crew so I will come back
1:28
and ask them for example uh the questions from M man 547 but let's start off with probably a good
1:34
topical question from Claudia hi there Claudia good to see you uh so asking
1:39
Mark was the last time you Cru the last time you cruised with Gary Christmas 2023 H America Mexico how does
1:46
it compare to this trip so far Line ship itinerary Mark hi Claudia actually the
1:53
Holland American Mexico was Christmas 22 um and we've done Paul an in the
2:00
French poian islands and then we did the queen an in 24 uh cuz we had landbased
2:08
holiday last Christmas so but it I think interesting question to compare this trip to the H America Mexico trip and it
2:16
is definitely very different I think I mean I think the first thing is this is a much you know we're on a 16-day cruise
2:23
that was a 7-Day cruise and it was San Diego to San Diego and it was pretty manic there was lots of
2:30
multigenerational families the chip was very very busy whereas this definitely feels very calm very relaxed I mean
2:37
maybe less Christmasy in a way maybe that will change over the next few days um I'm loving region so far this is my
2:44
first time on region it feels very up Market we have a beautiful cabin restaurant's lovely so yeah I mean on
2:51
the whole I'm definitely preferring this one I think I've talked about before Holland America for me is it's fine I I
2:58
don't dislike like it I don't love it whereas so far I'm loving Regent so what would you say the main thing that you
3:06
like about Regent is I mean I think it's definitely the small ship experience you got on here I think there were 700
3:11
passengers roughly is that right on this ship um and I don't know it feel it
3:17
feels very calm so actually it's never very busy anywhere getting on and off
3:23
the ship is really easy restaurants beautiful I mean beautiful beautiful restaurants everywhere is beautiful the
3:29
tip is a year old so everything feels very new and very nice um food great
3:35
service great um yeah I mean there are definitely some things that I miss from the bigger ship experience I think again
3:42
I talk a bit about liking to play Blackjack and I haven't really it's small casino here not that many people
3:47
are playing I haven't really settled into that so I sort of stopped going there we're going to Vegas at the end of this trip so I'm saving my dollars to go
3:54
there um restaurant wise there's there's lots of choice and it's all inclusive so
4:00
again you're not having to pay extra when you go to the speciality restaurants which just which just feels
4:05
nice as well so what is that you don't like we did we did have that discussion around the things that you don't you
4:12
like less yeah I mean one thing I like less and and again I know I talk about kunard and really liking kunard the one
4:19
thing I really like about kunard you know and we're lucky we go in the grills going in the grills you have
4:25
your own table and you rock up whenever you want to go to dinner and it's very easy because your table is there you get
4:32
to know the waiters um and that feels really nice here the restaurants are
4:37
lovely and there's plenty of space but there's a bit of a scramble to get in to get a table that you like and we
4:43
definitely have a preferred area and the matro knows where our preferred area is now so she tries to put us there but if
4:49
you're if you're not there at the beginning or you you go maybe half an hour from when the restaurant's opened
4:55
it's a bit of a am I going to get a table there encouraging you to go on bigger tables we tend to not like to do
5:00
that so again I really like your own table in the restaurant that's just one thing for me that I really like which
5:06
you know which you don't get here because you the one thing you do get is on Queens SCH is you build a
5:12
relationship with your waiters so there's a few waiters that we know have come to know like babby and Jacqueline
5:18
and stuff so they so we've been in their area before so they sort of know what you like and it's quite nice to have
5:23
that kind of running discussion with them yeah and we've got to know the lady that sort of checks you
5:30
yeah I mean it's it's slightly weird so what they have is outside of the restaurant is the desk that you go up to
5:36
to go in and I don't know it sometimes it doesn't work brilliantly there's become a bit of a lie there waiting to
5:42
go in because if there's not waiters to take people to the to their seats then the lady that checks you in then has to
5:49
walk you to your table while while the queue Waits that just doesn't work brilliantly I think and I think lots of
5:55
people have a preferred area and they do try and do that but sometimes there's a couple of people checking in they don't
6:01
know if you're going for dinner in the main restaurant or in another restaurant so you don't always get it like it h you
6:06
know it's it's not a big issue at all it's just I love the I love the having
6:12
your own table and knowing that you can rock up whatever time you want to rock up and go there so Bob and Bob and Holly
6:17
are asking so do you favor Q not Queen's Grill over Regent I mean it's a it's a very
6:24
difficult question and I think not a straightforward answer if I wanted to just talk about the restaurant
6:31
experience then I love the Queen Grill Restaurant experience I actually really like the Queen's grill food which is
6:38
just great classic really you know really sort of good quality classic
6:43
Cuisine having your own table getting to know the waiters all of that so I do really like that but I am loving the
6:51
smaller ship experience and everything feeling a bit more intimate not walking
6:56
a mile to go from one end of the ship to the other it being very much calmer in the evening the theaters plenty of seats
7:03
available so you know there are still bits that I prefer about Queens gillers
7:09
but there are definitely lots of bit about about region that I like I think the thing that probably Al having you on
7:15
this trip really struck me is if you think about the dining experience whether it's on Legion or silvery or whatever the actual dining
7:22
experience is not that different to being on a premium line or whatever because you get S you know if you're on
7:28
in di because as you get sent to a table uh you you basically the waiters are running around like crazy because they
7:34
have a lot of tables to look after uh whereas on the Kun not Queen schol experience you have three waiters in
7:41
reality so things don't come plat so like here if you order something
7:48
with extra vegetables they bring whatever you've ordered and they just plonk the table probably kind but they
7:53
plop your spinach or your vegetables on whereas on Kuno they would then serve it so it's about sort of the experience and
8:00
the dining room does feel a little bit manic because the waiters are running around um but know I like the small sh
8:06
exp and there is this thing you know you you really either if if you want a table for two for example you need to either
8:13
go at 6:30 or between 6:30 and 6:45 when the restaurant's opening or you need to
8:18
go slightly later maybe 7:30 onwards when people are leaving
8:24
because the tables two do get busy now they do put twos on fours and they clear the rest of it Etc
8:30
but again it's a very minor point but I like the I know where I'm going to sit when I go in the restaurant so let's
8:37
just sort of a slightly Bob hi there Bob um looking for your inside hopefully that's giv you some so far you're taking
8:43
a reposition cruise on region in August is there a company that will set up unique tours ports apart from these those provided so Bob yes I mean
8:50
obviously within your fair of course you've got the tours and I would say uh the tours are fine they're pretty good I
8:57
mean in most ports we found tours that we wanted to do there's one or two ports where we're doing one which we're not
9:03
sure about and one we're not doing because there's nothing appeals um so if I compare say because we're doing a very
9:09
similar tining on my group Cruise calling it many of the same ports and I did go through the Excursion say that H
9:14
America offering obviously you have to pay for those um and you know I was going through with my sister booking her
9:20
excursions and H America definitely have better Excursion choices in all of the ports I would say overall so if you are
9:27
looking for extra one the companies to look at there's three of them well one of which is Venture aore the other is
9:35
shore excursions group and then of course viol those are the three key ones to to take a look at um and certainly
9:42
for this Cruise they did have you know when I certainly if you go to venture Shore and shore excursions group you can
9:48
put in region the ship and it'll call up all of the tours very important though
9:54
make sure you do it at least seven days before because after seven days you can't like we were looking for example
9:59
doing perhaps doing one of those tours and covers and Lucas um and it was too late for that V still had some some
10:06
options so those are the three those are three to look at Venture Shore sh excursions group and viour and maybe
10:12
I'll put th links to those uh perhaps in in in the shuts but again with with it
10:17
being included in the fair you have to kind of really want to do something else toy sort of pay for doing it yeah so
10:22
Andy here good to meet Randy So Randy his wife is here so um seen them a
10:28
couple of times around um hopefully you're having a great time haven't seen you for a couple days because it's been quite quite busy now there was a
10:35
question around um so Mike and carrye or it might be just Mike asking the question how was the canal Transit and
10:41
were there any excursions offered on the transit day so I'll talk a little bit about that and get your perspective on
10:47
on the trans because they get a different perspective to last time so in terms of um there were no excursions
10:53
offered because we were doing a full Transit so there's no ability to get off so if you do the partial trans Transit
11:00
normally what happens when you get into the gaten lake so you go up through if you're heading from the Caribbean side to the Pacific side you go up the three
11:07
locks of the Gaton once you get into the lake uh if you it's if it's if the
11:12
ship's heading back down you can then go off and different excursions but because it's a full Transit you can't get the ship T you do the full full Transit um
11:20
so of course I absolutely loved the transit I posted some of that on um on
11:25
Instagram I'm going to I made a record about hav chance to edit it I'm going to do a short video showing the full
11:32
Transit um which I will then share with particularly people patrons members and also people going on the group cruise
11:38
and then bill is the bigger part but I abely loved going through it you had a slight different perspective so Mark you'd been through in 2016 when we did
11:45
it before yeah and I think on 2016 I I don't know I didn't I didn't get into it
11:50
quite as much as as here and I don't really know I don't really know why but I think yeah it it's an amazing
11:57
experience I think this ship and G maybe you can the ship doesn't LED itself that well to being able to film
12:04
lots of stuff because actually you can't go to the open deck on the front so there are lots of people in um whatever
12:11
the bar is at the front kind of filming through the window and you can go to the sides and the back but there's no open
12:16
deck at the front which I think for you is a shame I definitely watched a lot
12:21
more of it and you know and it's just so interesting the way it
12:28
all works seeing the ships come the other way Etc um so it's a great experience something you know something
12:35
that is great to have ticked off the list of having done it yeah let me just pick on that point because I think it's I in my Panama videos I do talk a lot
12:41
about making sure F all you choose a ship depending on which set of locks
12:46
you're going to go through so obviously if you go on panamax ships so that's sort of the Vista class sort of size so
12:53
things like The Zeta Dam uh Queen Victoria Queen Elizabeth that sort of size Shi downwards generally goes
12:59
through the old locks and then bigger ships go through the new locks um so that's the first decision and going
13:04
through the old locks if you're only going to go through once I think that's the key thing to do the second thing I always talk about is choosing the right
13:10
ship so the problem on this ship was uh they the the bow of the ship doesn't get
13:15
opened because they don't really have a bow that people can go out on so you you you miss the you know you miss that and
13:22
the only way you could look at the transit was through in the excuse me in the observation Lounge so through glass
13:28
if you want wanted to look forwards there was no way that you could go outside look forwards you could hang over the side of the ship um so the best
13:35
views were actually at the rear of the ship so actually you'll see when you look at the videos I did and some of the the timelaps I did they were actually
13:42
looking backwards and actually they were quite good shots but you miss some of that front stuff because it's all through glass so certainly when we do
13:48
the group Cruise it's on um the Z and they do open the front of the ship and that is quite magical because you really
13:53
are watching kind of go going going up as it were um I want to ask there's a
13:59
slide side question which um uh Mike and Carrie probably Mike
14:06
asked is um it's not related to but I want to make sure I answered before we head um into other question so what if
14:12
any medical documentation have you had to provide for Expedition cruising either in at Artic Gap galapagus:
14:29
was not going to go back to Antarctica again um but I have actually booked to go again a very different cruises time
14:35
going to the Ross down the bottom because there was a great offer when it came um on sale which uh Mark McDaniel
14:42
who is here High Mark um who alerted me it was it came on sale so I got it 30%
14:49
off and a no solar supplement anyway so not um with all my previous trips you've
14:56
had to do an online medical declaration however Pont when I went to anarctica I
15:01
had to physically go and get the doctor to sign their form so we interest to see whether that next trip I do whether they
15:08
do but you have to do a self declaration but interestingly enough I've booked that Antarctica Cruise uh on Pont for
15:17
2027 and I within doing the booking before they finally confirmed the booking I had to go and do a medical
15:23
declaration which said that I didn't have certain things uh restricts like mobility and and a few other bit pieces
15:29
but certainly in galapagus:
15:59
um rehoming Center Etc but we've never done it because we we're away too much
16:05
also because I'm not sure you would get up to walk that's what you say but yeah we'll see I don't think you would but
16:12
anyway uh Chris I think we probably answer this highest region different from the highs Market of Cru so maybe
16:17
I'll just add a few bits and pieces to that because obviously we spoke about some of the experience but obviously one of the key differences is inclusions and
16:24
exclusions so if we do compare hland America and region so on Regent uh all your drinks are included so alcoholic
16:31
drinks you know some very high-end wines and scotches and things aren't included but pretty much all of your drinks are
16:36
included which obviously aren't on those sort of Premium lines like America your gratuities are included as well uh which
16:45
aren't on holl America uh Wi-Fi is included the basic Wi-Fi is included but
16:50
that doesn't allow streaming so we've actually upgraded and was quite expensive yeah was yeah I'm not sure if
16:57
it was definitely worth it I mean I I actually heard the internet guy talking about yeah you don't really need it so I
17:03
mean maybe you need it for this but I'm not sure if you're just watching some Tik Tok videos or whatever not sure you
17:09
need if you want to stream stuff because i' because I have logged in on on my iPad uh with the regular Wi-Fi and I
17:15
bought two devices uh but I can't stream anything on YouTube or whatever on on
17:21
that basic one but you but I think you can probably watch Tik Tok and stuff the
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Wi-Fi has been pretty good I mean just looking here it looks like it's pretty good on on here it did though take me
17:31
forever to download a video a full length video anyway so um so excursions
17:38
are included you might have heard us talking a little bit about the quality of excursions is okay uh in most cases
17:44
um so but obviously you have to pay for those on H America then um of course uh
17:51
let me think of some of the others Excursion strengths Wifi service I think is probably just better because the the
17:58
numbers are smaller yeah the cre passenger RTI is kind of is kind of smaller so a lot of it's around that
18:05
kind of experience so the shows I mean for the size of the ship you if I compare say Regent versus Oceania which
18:11
is also owned by Norwegian or even if I look at silvery they have a quite a big
18:17
production group there's uh four male dancers four female dancers and three
18:22
singers and it's quite and they're trying to do more intricate shows which
18:28
are quite they a little bit hit and miss but they are definitely trying much harder than than they have done in the
18:35
past which is obviously on things like H America celebrity you have the the big Production shows and and the daily
18:40
program is pretty light so there might be one trivia know there's not a lot ofr
18:46
is relatively light where it'll be much bigger on on H me just another couple of things I can think of obviously your
18:52
specialty restaurants are included no exra charge I think you can book one
18:58
each of one night but then actually they were coming around yesterday asking if anyone wanted to go to Specialty
19:04
restaurants another night it was obviously a quiet night last night I also think just from a luxury
19:09
perspective the bed lining feels a bit nicer the bathroom toilet TRS feel a bit nicer everything just feels that little
19:15
bit nicer and maybe it's partly because this is a new ship but everything does feel very nice there's more money spent
19:21
on those I guess there's more and the food is way better and and the food is way better and like you know for example the menus you know if you go to the
19:28
breakfast menu it's vast the dinner menu is vast you know they have one full page of everything included but there'll be
19:35
you know salmon chicken different types of steak so that's that's yeah you can really you know without going off menu
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you can really have almost anything you want because they have all the fish with all the sources all the meats with all
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the sources Etc so it's a huge choice so Kathy is just off que too go that went
19:53
quickly so Kathy um those you may be following me on as patrons or channel
19:58
members was seen just before Christmas Bob Holly and Kath and I met up uh in London for lunch so hope you had a great
20:05
um a great truck was that crossing crossing yeah so there's been I see I
20:11
didn't realize there was one on que there's been this sort of a raft of stomach bugs norovirus outbreaks I guess it's also that time of year because even
20:18
landbased um in the UK there's been some norovirus outbreaks on land as well but
20:23
I've seen quite a few ships um there was a big one on zadan actually as well K go
20:29
who were just recently on board Queen Victoria with Holly and Bob and Paul and
20:34
Carol um so hi there Ken I've been following I followed your trip um online
20:39
so it looks like you had a great time so we've just got off Queen Victoria for a FES of cruise in your opinions which
20:45
cruise line does Christmas best tuno does Christmas really well I think it does I said on on this ship yeah there's
20:52
you know there's a ginger there gingerbread house display out there's a Christmas tree it hasn't felt hugely
20:58
Christmasy and maybe that will change I think we've done we've done creen Mary
21:03
too a couple of times Christmas I think they do it very well um it'll be interesting to see certainly so far it
21:10
hasn't felt overly Christmas no but they do but they do the Cru director John has sort of kept talking like even last
21:17
night he was saying we've got lots of surprises lots of things planned for Christmas they did in the first show the
21:23
production show which is called icons they actually did a rather nice sort of Mega mixing at the end
21:29
t on Christmas day they did which was quite fun and then but then it hasn't
21:34
really could of escalated from there but he keeps saying like there's lots coming lot coming so we we we we will see and
21:41
he's sort of hinting so so we'll see but I think of the ones we haven't done a lot of Christmas no we haven't I mean
21:47
America again I think was fine I don't think there was anything stood out there I feel likeo did it actually being on
21:54
because we've been on Christmas and New Year and they they did it really well because you know while the Christmas arrived and was elves and there was lots
22:01
of stuff going on and um yeah that's true yeah and the decorations were great I mean there's lots of decorations here
22:07
but it's like actually there's not a lot of decorations decorations in the hallway
22:13
in the atrim um so while we talking about kod um Harold thoughts on casual dresses on
22:21
COD so Harold I mean if you want to dress casually you can on kod you just can't eat in the main dining room and
22:27
theoretically you can't go to the theater and if and some of the bars but if you just wanted
22:34
to dress casually you can go to uh King's Court you know the Leo you can go to the casino of course they're going to
22:40
let people go casually dressed to the casino but you theor can't go to the Queen's room and the balls and stuff but you can so particularly on the crossing
22:48
because some people go on que Mary too they want to do the crossing but they don't want to dress up so you can um
22:53
they are much they don't have as many formal nights on the crossing I think they still do but on the others they
22:59
aren't as stct so you can actually wear Polo shirts and slacks uh to the main
23:04
dining room which you couldn't originally but certain if you want to go casual but part of the thing of kunard we were talking about that the other day
23:10
is you know they uniquely have the dressing up I mean even here on former KN you didn't really have any idea it
23:16
was former night really no I think it's interesting I'm I'm actually quite enjoying I mean although I love kunard
23:21
and I part of it is the kind of getting ready for dinner I'm quite enjoying it being slightly less formal on here as
23:28
Gary said some nights and I forget what they call it but is more formal than others but you wouldn't really notice
23:35
there's a few people that maybe do it some people wear a jacket every night to dinner some people will wear a
23:41
polo for for dinner yeah no one will wear jeans or anything but it's it yeah and you can see one lady in
23:49
jeans that's true that's true yeah they were s white jeans sort of blue jeans I
23:54
just wanted to write the question so don't miss it but I Jeff I didn't miss yours have you ever been on a cruise with the captain claims bad weather for
24:00
not docking while other ships are pulling it out and docking in sunshine Jeff I haven't seen a lot there was one
24:06
uh trip where I'm trying to think which it was now where I remember I can't
24:11
remember what it was it was only in South Africa that's right when I was on Silver sea in South Africa and we was
24:18
one of the Norwegian ships was a Norwegian Sun or something like that there a very sort of similar at the same
24:23
time and they were it was a 10 report and they had called in we could see they were tendering because it could looked
24:29
on marine traffic and we didn't go in because of bad weather and swell but they were doing it so that's the only time I have seen that but you're right
24:36
Jeff I mean it is at the call of the captain and the view whether they see it as risky or not so I guess some captains
24:43
may take a different a different view it's mostly been when it's a tender Port
24:48
that I guess is more uh challenging particularly on the passenger mix uh and
24:53
stuff and whether they think it's more risky um so let's have a look so Warren
24:59
just recently off grander it's a beautiful as as you're saying ah here we
25:05
go so Warren who's the CR so it's John uh got John's surname I've forgotten
25:10
John's surname I'm gonna see if it's here it'll be because it's in the AAR
25:16
variety show at 545 John eken John Akin yeah eeken Aken
25:22
yeah yeah so um which was quite fun actually because when we boarded and he C like oh my God
25:29
oh my God it's a celebrity and he was like he watches yeah he was more impressed to see you than you were to
25:34
see him which was nice but yeah he's doing a good job yeah yeah he is uh so Jerry making the point yeah you like you
25:41
have if you gone on fix dining yeah sorry that's true it's not just in the grills you get same table Yeah if you go
25:46
fix dining if you go any oh same table any on anytime dining that's okay so
25:52
again maybe brania Club okay so that's a good point you're right so you're right in brania club
25:58
and so thanks thanks for that thanks for that clarification Randy um how does the
26:04
grander compare to other region ships beside being you now Ry cont member is this we did have I'm sure we asked Ry if
26:10
this was his first time on region cont member so I apologize if we asked that before so in terms of um the the
26:19
Grandeur itself I've only been on exploring Navigator so far so in terms of explor I think this grander is part
26:25
of that Explorer class and then they're introducing a new class next year withe well the year after Prestige which is
26:31
going to be quite different I believe to this layout so basically the layout of grandeur is the same as Explorer so
26:37
Explorer blender Etc I guess it's the same layout they the decor is a little bit different um now I'm staying in a
26:44
different Cavern class I stay last I was in a a superior Suite F2 I was F2 or
26:51
whatever on on Explorer um so obviously this is a bigger C and the decor is a little bit darker and stuff this is much
26:57
much lighter uh deor but the deor the layout is kind of the same so a few changes so for example coffee
27:05
connections is very open here whereas it was a little bit more it wasn't completely en closed but I I thought it
27:11
was a little bit nice it felt more of a venue whereas coffee connections here feels a bit more like you a thorough there a little bit um so but the actual
27:18
layouts are say now Navigator is completely different it's a 450 something like that ship it was
27:24
originally built as a Russian some satellite spy ship ship that the base the whole got sold and got develop and
27:31
ship so very different layout um it still has some of the same things like it has Compass rows has Prime Seven it
27:37
has Pacific Rim it doesn't have the if I remember correct doesn't have the French restaurant you know it's basically
27:44
smaller layout the theater's very different navat you haven't been on Navigator but hopefully next year when
27:50
we we got the Africa trip on Navigators hopefully uh it was a big gamble because
27:55
Mark uh was we' B like a 30 night trip on Navigator before Mark knew whether we
28:01
liked region or not but that was a lot about the Tiner as well so that's the same now my understanding is prestige is
28:07
very different but I haven't seen the deck plans for um it other than I know it's a little bit bigger but they are
28:12
talking about it's a little bit different so Mark actually giving a shout out there to some of the other group Cruisers uh coming along um so
28:20
hopefully Mark hopefully Mark will be coming on the group cruise and I think I mentioned before um that uh my sister's
28:27
coming on that one um so Michelle ask the question so um aren't sh gr enir
28:33
toward just middlemen are we booking off directly with cruise companies so Michelle um it works like I don't know if I
28:40
understood your question quite correctly but basically um the way that all of them work uh is you have independent uh
28:48
Excursion groups or companies so for example the tour that we did yesterday was what was it was it called
28:56
Prestige elite elite Elite so the actual group that ran the Excursion yesterday
29:01
was a company called Elite and they run loads of excursions um so region 7es uh
29:07
in Port contract that out to to that particular group sh Excursion group and
29:14
vior and um Venture Shaw do the same thing they don't run their own
29:19
excursions they are basically you right the middlemen however they take what appears to be a much lower margin so
29:27
they are generally speaking cheaper and they normally have smaller group sizes so I guess that's probably to do with
29:33
the relationship but you're right what some people do and in fact Mark McDaniel and I had this conversation before is
29:40
sometimes it's possible to work out who the provider is and that you can then go direct so I made a little mental note
29:45
for example well not very well because you had WR the name that the group was called Elite because I'm thinking of for
29:52
of the group cruises organizing some group excursions now obviously I can do those through Shore Excursion group or Venture a shore or could just contact
29:59
directly and contract with them directly because that would probably be kind of Cheaper you lose some of the other perks so for example both sh Excursion group
30:07
and um Venture Shore have a guarantee that they will get you back to the ship on time and if they don't they will then
30:15
pay and organize to catch up to the ship if you go direct with a provider you don't have that um for example so
30:21
hopefully that's I hopefully I've answered your question correctly uh and obviously sometimes you feel there's
30:27
normally Regent or there someone from the cruise line on your ship so if you're you know if you're at all on the
30:32
tour if you're worried about getting back it it it just feels safer sometimes doing the ones from the chip rather than
30:39
doing it yourself but I know lots of people do yes so let's I'm G comment it's not really a question I guess uh Ro
30:46
Rose G Ros G um making the point this is a really important Point uh when it comes
30:51
to different Fleet different ships within a fleet which also ties a little bit back to Randy's question is so they
30:58
were back of ocean Sera which is one of the RASS style ships so the small ship
31:04
so Azamara has basically three of them oce has three of them then they have their kind of uh their Marine Riviera
31:10
class and the Vista class ships but you right they're completely different ships uh in terms of layout in terms of
31:16
structure I mean they have some of the same named kind of things very different experience so you know Serena like
31:21
you've been on sign tiny little bathrooms that stuff and you're right you know often within a line you have very different experiences um so uh you
31:29
know in reality if you liked the experience on Vista if you look at Oceana if you look at Marina and Riviera
31:36
you will have the same experience but if you look at Insignia Serena um and I've name of the other one
31:43
uh nor nor anyway but if if you look at Marina Riviera Vista and the new Alo you
31:49
will have the same experience but the same is true if you go on Celebrity if you go on the Edge class ships you do
31:54
get a pretty different experience uh as you would get on their you know their
32:01
SCE class ships or the Millennium class ships it's you're right you s have to be careful really careful within the cruise
32:07
lines that the different kind so would you say navigator versus this or region is a very different exp very different
32:13
because you know it's a much smaller ship it's a completely different layout um the cabins are much smaller uh even
32:21
you know if I compare I I did a when I was on navigation had a con govern because what I like on region they do
32:26
this in fact one we booked on uh for the Africa trip is the same they they run these promotions where you book like an
32:33
F2 so it's a p Cavern but they give you a conier so I booked when they did the promotion because conier has a few more
32:39
perks and benefits and things so um so but you know the size of cabinet is
32:44
quite a bit different the dayc it's more dayto day core um the ship has a bit more vibration it's a bit older so it's
32:50
some of those things as well as the actual experience uh diabetic how many um P Canal transits
33:00
have you done and does it ever get less amazing well you've done two now this was my fourth my third full Transit I
33:06
did a partial Transit my second time full Transit going from the Caribbean to the Pacific side it never gets less
33:13
amazing I was I think you said you this was your favorite one some everyone's my favorite one I think everyone so so it
33:19
actually improves with age if you're like partly I guess because you also know what to expect a bit more I knew where I wanted to be to see it I knew
33:26
okay that on these uh uh because you also know how it works I knew okay I want to be at this point when we're
33:32
going through Pedro mguel I want to be on this side of the ship so I can see the new Canal uh so got some great shots
33:38
of the new Canal which I was very excited about so it never gets less amazing I a bit of a geek I actually
33:44
have two more we theore have two more transits the group Cruise one and then
33:50
about a month after the group Cru we're doing a thing around South America which goes the other way goes from the Pacific
33:57
side to the Caribbean Lake the Caribbean Seaside um it was interesting actually I
34:03
was whil we were going through the canal I was in the pool and I was chatting to some people that that uh watch the
34:09
channel and they were like oh I think we're going I think we'd got to the other side and going through the Miguel
34:15
and loocks is it the the other end um and I'm like don't worry about it G's doing the filming so we can just watch
34:20
the video when it start so we stayed in the pool and that GAR did the film uh Kathy asking the question will
34:27
the group Cru follow the same experiences you post today looked fabulous Kathy I'm guessing you're talking about the going through the
34:34
Panama Canal um I think that's what you're talking about because that's what I posted um I guess you're talking about
34:39
Instagram so yes we're doing the same uh way we're going up the Gaton locks through the Caton Lake through P gambo
34:47
Gamboa through the calra cut down Pedro M girl down Mir Flor so it's the same
34:53
process and I'm going to post um I'm make a video of which is which will show
34:59
which will show that um as well because I think it'll be great to let people in the group Cruise know a little bit about
35:04
what to experience and a good excuse for me to make a video about panck can I'll time back to that thing about how excited I get about it uh Caroline ask
35:12
the question where's your next cruise to so our next cruises are slightly different because we're not doing them
35:17
so my next Cruise which I'm also very excited about is in February uh uh and
35:24
it's from Tokyo down to Manila it's sort of a reposition Cruise it's on crystal
35:30
I've been dying to try the new Crystal you know the new revamped Crystal uh so
35:35
uh the most cost- effective way of doing it as you probably know if you watch my videos is to kind of book The reposition
35:40
Cruisers so I'm going on that in February uh it also means I can go back
35:46
to Japan so I'm spending four days so in Tokyo couple days in Hong Kong at the end before I fly back so that's my next
35:52
Cruise your next cruise I've actually got a short without me isn't it yeah
35:58
I've got a short fornite cruise on creary 2 with my best friend Graham who
36:03
had a big birthday this year so we're going to to do he's never been on CAD so we're doing a lovely Queen Grill
36:09
experience on there so uh that's my next one but with lots potentially lots more
36:16
being planned so um Irish cathic Cruiser never on Cruis my life can't afforded now
36:22
sorry to hear that but one of the things that I'm working on which might help you is uh probably be out the first week of
36:29
the new year because I know that's a big booking time is I've done a video around how you can actually get the lowest
36:35
prices for cruises with lots of tips and stuff around that uh including the timing and uh you know Finding deals and
36:43
finding low prices stuff so hopefully that might be a way of helping you to to do that um so here's a here's another
36:52
one for both of us it's great to meet you on queenan great to meet you Keith we met loads of people good have you
36:59
considered taking six months for a w Cruise my wife and I booked on Ocean vist in
37:04
2026 yeah um yeah I mean what we actually did in
37:10
2016 is is I talk some time out from work and we did half of the world C well
37:16
we did half of the world cruise on Queen Victoria went from Southampton to Sydney and then we spent some time in Australia
37:22
and then went up to Hong Kong and then we picked up the Queen Elizabeth and did I don't know how long two three weeks
37:29
maybe going around um Shanghai South Korea Japan so we've never done a full
37:36
one and the idea of it is very interesting um it's definitely on the
37:42
list it's just when and how and I don't know maybe what do you think we've been talking about this actually the idea of
37:50
jumping from ship to ship I think maybe Bob and Holly do that a little bit as well like the idea of doing one Cruise
37:55
getting off that cruise going on to another I don't know maybe that interests me more than do than being on one ship the whole time but yeah I mean
38:01
I we spent seven weeks on the Queen Victoria and I could have stayed on for the other half for sure I mean I think
38:08
the concept of of doing an extended period of cruising absolutely I think I
38:14
when we did that t in 2016 I was like I want to do the full world cruise I probably evolved a little bit since then
38:21
simply because it's a bit like uh you know the thing with the world cruise is
38:26
obviously it's never going to be perfect all the way around it depends where they need to get all the way around the world so the thing with the kod one is their
38:32
goal is to get all the way most of them not all them but to get right around the world so there's a lot of C days in there in there which was great in 2016
38:39
because you want to chill and relax much more and get that experience um but what
38:44
I quite like and and bobin Holly did it recently over this sort of Summer period is actually you know getting around the
38:50
world but actually saying I do want to spend a bit of time at you know what in Sydney or something um so actually
38:56
almost breaking off there and then choosing another Cruise which does the next segment in a more in-depth way so
39:02
piecing together stuff now we haven't whether that's more costly or cheaper
39:07
doing that way but the idea of going around the world in a continuous period whether it's on one triip or not but if
39:13
someone said to me uh would you you know would you like to go to work I think the short answer is yes yeah it's I think
39:19
the concept I think the more we do and certainly the more you've been doing I'm
39:25
you know more restricted work at the moment the long Cruisers are lovely I mean this one is just 16 nights even
39:30
just being 16 rather than 14 feels nice I think doing the longer ones doing
39:36
30-day ones plus I think I mean if we if you have the time it's got to be yeah
39:41
it's got to be a better way to I certainly I'm happy to be on the ship don't want to rush home for sure so this
39:47
is a question which I think is for both of us uh from Ros J again name I'm
39:53
asking out of the three silver sea region and Seaborn which f mark I know
39:59
you like the big ships went the smaller ones we enjoyed silver sea last made to Alaska so you have been now on Silver
40:05
sea yeah you've done two Sil I think K you yeah well I've done it was a short
40:11
one you've done I've done silver but if you think without AR you've done whisper we did the med and we another one we did
40:19
the baltics one didn't we on yeah we the baltics with did two and then you've been on Seaborn twice and now Regent
40:25
once and I think I think in some ways I like big I I am becoming more of a fan of smaller ships I think for
40:32
sure at the moment and maybe it's because I'm on it I would say I prefer region out of the three although
40:40
although there are different things for all of them really region I mean again we're we're on a ship that is one year
40:45
old and that may make the difference but everything just feels so nice and luxurious on this ship and everything
40:53
being I can't remember what the inclusive thing it just it feels nice that
40:58
perap say today region but that might be because I'm s on a region ship for for me it's silveran region and they're very
41:04
they're very close so I would probably swing between them based on the itinery
41:09
I love silver Regent probably more than I like Seaborn uh but I think part of
41:15
because I think Seaborn lost lost their way a little bit and I think they acknowledge they've lost their way but
41:21
particularly with silver sea and Regent pulling ahead but also with the introduction of things like Crystal and
41:26
Explorer jys which I think are pulling the whole category up because Crystal and and cly Explorer have redefined kind
41:34
of the level of standard and food and stuff definitely from the reviews now I haven't been on those two I'm going go in next year but everybody talks about
41:41
them you know being really good and I think they're pulling the whole lot up now Seaborn recently just they brought in New Management which didn't she
41:47
didn't last very long they just changed management again so I think they're looking at trying to crank up Seaborn a
41:53
bit I feel Seaborn lost their way a little bit feel they got a little bit into kind of cost cutting and andu stuff so silver sea and region I like that
41:59
they do have a slight experience to your point about inclusion so they you know silver SE has the door-to-door port and
42:05
Essentials but but Regent now actually introduced a similar thing so you you
42:10
before once you get on the ship you kind of know okay my flights my hotels my transfers all my inclusions are kind of
42:17
you know what that is and you literally never have to think about anything other than Wi-Fi at the moment literally the
42:22
only thing we've paid for is Wi-Fi uh and we had one Excursion we have paid for actually think about that so for me
42:28
those two are very close now both of them silver sea have more modern ships
42:33
you know with the Ray and so on um the
42:39
NOA you know in region are kind of getting there so for me they're very close I probably lean a little bit
42:44
towards region but that that could just be again because I'm on it but it those to me it would be very close so whenever
42:50
I would look if we we're looking at going on a small ship with that kind of budget I those are the two I would look
42:56
at I would I would probably only look at Seaborn if you know and our budget is it
43:01
roughly the same cost it's pretty much the same cost I mean to me feels you don't you know Tor you have to
43:08
add on the excursions you have to add on the flights and stuff so it's slightly different concept but you know if you add tot it all up it's it's kind of it's
43:15
kind of the it's kind of the same um I'm gonna ask a question about Panama and I'll come back can the queen 2 only do
43:23
the new panel so Mark yes uh it Queen Mar 2 is never been through the Panama
43:28
Canal it's about to for the very first time go through the the new canal and
43:34
that's quite a big deal the ship is has never been through you know so it's going to be a big deal when it goes through the first time uh so people are
43:40
very excited about about that but you're right there's more cruise ships now going through so all those you know
43:46
creary 2 you've got all the big celebrity ships going through now a lot of Caribbean ships and stuff going through because it's vast it's huge the
43:53
that that new one Brian is having second thoughts about Antarctica thinking about
43:58
explor 2 reposition from barcelon to Miami please care P that versus Antarctica same and sem so Brian
44:06
um I I would say one thing is don't have second thoughts about Antarctica um
44:12
going to Antarctica is the most magnificent experence you will ever have
44:18
uh nothing comes close to it if I was only a if people said to me you can only ever do one trip again in your life I
44:24
would go to Antarctica without the Shad of a doubt uh the second one will probably pan out but um so so so I would
44:30
encourage you to not have second thoughts about an Artica I've just released a couple of videos um one which
44:36
was the Vlog one about Sil the one coming out probably just before just after New Year or just around New Year
44:42
just looking at anarctica in more detail and because it's all new footage and stuff so have a look at that um you know
44:48
Antarctica will cost you a lot of it depends on which cabin you're in andaras will cost you more overall
44:57
um uh just because it's more expensive going going down there novice Explorer to is a fabulous experience uh and a lot
45:04
of it of course depends what ship you're going on I'm assuming you're looking at going a silver SE Seaborn there are more
45:10
cost-effective ways of going uh to that but that would be my key thing is is
45:15
really think about it because it is the most incredible experience and actually I hope Mark Anda M mentioned but Mark
45:22
andet was their first time TR ARA they had been they've done the Greenland stuff and I think Marette said to me
45:27
like I understand what you're saying Gary we thought it was going to be amazing but like they loved it which is
45:33
why they also kind of wanted to go again I think he would I think Mark would probably agree with me on that one once
45:38
you've been you will uh you will uh absolutely just it's amazing uh Paul Cru
45:44
lines are looking for ways to cut cost do you expect some to start charging feet in the main dining room Paul I don't it's interesting I actually got a
45:51
message recently from someone who thought who on their Cruise it was the first time Cruiser and they didn't go to the main dining room for the first
45:57
couple of days because they thought they had a pay teeth in the main dining room so it's kind of it's interesting that people are think that I don't think they
46:03
will I think what they will do uh is what you're seeing already is H America
46:09
you know if you want Lobster there's a charge for that even in the main dining room uh so I think you might find some
46:16
of those things happening as what I'm seeing is probably slightly smaller menus so obviously I guess they get more economies of scale less Choice stuff
46:23
like that but I would be surprised uh but what you seeing um of
46:28
course there's more introduction of special dining to kind of encourage people to spend more so even on kunard
46:34
which never really used to have especially dining experience on queenan they've got a couple of them so Samuels
46:41
the the Asian ones called they have up in the leader now they have the different theme nights so I think that's
46:47
kind of more uh where where they will will go um let's have a look I take it you
46:57
mean December not October I'm not sure what I said there what I said December not October uh I'll try and remember what
47:04
that one Heather from Facebook asking a question um BR have you considered ocean
47:10
I haven't looked it's interesting I I get a lot they're very active the moment um I see a lot of their posts on uh X
47:17
they're very reactive on X and on Facebook Etc um I haven't considered them to be honest because the panon one
47:23
came along and it's going to where I wanted to go to but certainly as one of options going to anartica they look pretty good I'm working at the moment
47:30
with with polar Roots uh who are experts in the polar thing to pull up a list of
47:35
all the ways that you can go to anarctica at all budgets and Oceanside Expeditions are part of that and they do
47:41
look pretty good certainly the stuff that they posting on social media looks pretty good um Bob does grander have the
47:46
cooking class school have you attended yes they do have the cooking class school it's uh it's as big and as greatl
47:53
looking as it is on the other classes we haven't because actually we spoke about going and then even maybe four months
47:59
before it was sold out now we haven't since we've been on board we haven't checked we haven't checked but it's very very popular get sold out um I did go
48:07
and I was an explor Explorer and actually only got on a class because I was I knew the um the excursions lady
48:15
who does the bookings I'd met her on the Navigator cruise and I went to and said please can I someone I can be on the
48:20
waight list with bit of whatever and she got me in there uh but it was it was great the ones I went on were yeah it's
48:27
a shame we haven't done that I would like to have done that yeah yeah um let's have a look uh Jerry I
48:36
think was a followup question do you think that all Cruise Lines will keep penny pinching nickel and diing or it reach its peak in the next season or two
48:42
before customers start to walk away Jerry I mean what's interesting just as on the side and again Carnival just had
48:49
the results so I I always look when the results come out every quarter and you
48:54
know what all the cruise lines are saying is demand is enormous so cly cruise lines have no fear of customers
49:01
starting to walk away currently part of the reason for that is they are getting a lot of new to cruise and it is
49:07
interesting because we have the discussion about with Mark's sisterin-law who didn't go cruising for the first 20 years at any
49:14
Mark what did I say sister-in-law what did I say sister you mean my sister said
49:21
oh sorry my sister nor your sister um so um so she went went cruising and she was
49:28
like all these people are complaining about stuff being cut and we think it's fantastic that so I think that's
49:33
interesting because we see penny pinching and nickel and daming but new to cruise people that's their Baseline
49:39
if you like so um I I think I think you're right I think there will be kind of you know some some balancing but said
49:46
at the moment cruise lines have huge demand they were talking about fairs you know up to 20% higher not necessarily
49:53
but you know higher they're able to kind of push things but I think you're right at some point there'll be a balance but
49:59
the moment of being fueled by by new to cruise and they don't seem that bothered
50:05
I know be careful because people contact me more when they're frustrated with stuff but you know they're seeing with
50:10
existing cruises on a line when they complain the lines are kind of not being very proactive and reactive and people
50:17
are kind of jumping lines but that's people who know what the Baseline was uh
50:22
for example um so that
50:27
wrong uh right so Rose is saying that she she likeed the ship over service not
50:33
like onesta okay so that's great um Laurel just s question on the Panama My
50:40
Pan gr Cruise so Laurel I don't it's very frustrating I'm actually going to be sending out an update as we head into
50:46
the new year on the group cruise I've spoken to my usual contacts Adventure
50:51
Shore and also Shore Excursion group because I wanted to set up group excursions the problem that they have is
50:56
they can't commit to what they can offer and the prices uh because they still
51:01
work on the 25 prices so when we head into January I'm going to kind of elevate that I've asked him if there's a
51:07
way we can start doing some stuff so I don't have anything um as such but I'm hoping in the course of January into
51:14
February to let people know if there are going to be any group cruises and what they will be I'm probably looking at
51:19
doing relatively few in a few selected ports partly because some of the ports we go to we're only there for half a day
51:26
in some of ports so so I would quite like to do uh like we did in uh Costa
51:32
Rica for example Excursion similar to the one we did yesterday which is uh the
51:37
an aerial Tramway ride uh there was a very nice nature walk Butterfly House I guess you call it and there was some
51:43
lunch included um I would like to see if we can do something like that because I know there's lots of capacity on that
51:49
because they could deal with quite a lot of big numbers so so but and maybe pick one or two so uh you know on my last gr
51:56
I did three and maybe it'll be two or three but it's a little bit frustrating because no one can commit but now maybe
52:02
I need to go more directly to the uh providers but I want to sort of do through those groups because they do
52:07
build in that you know you have that extra Assurance um that everything's
52:13
because they manage people that the guarantees there's any issues you've got customer service people and all that
52:19
sort of stuff um life's adventures since start following you I've booked four
52:24
cruises and get with excitement first is not until June wow that's fantastic great to hear June will come around soon
52:29
June not very far away will come Jeffrey is here cruising for one which luxur on
52:35
has the best casino or any non-smoking so the good news is I think all of them are nonsmoking from what I remember on
52:40
Silver sea I don't remember smoking it's definitely I was reading something today where someone was commenting about some being smoking but I can't remember any
52:47
being on things on the premium ships uh there are but I don't think from what I can remember on any on o don't remember
52:54
smoking uh um but so the best so in terms of the the
53:01
if we talk the sort of the outr luxury side the Seaborn silver seed none of them of them have a greato in reality
53:09
the the biggest of all of them is actually on uh region has the biggest
53:14
casino yeah of all seor has tiny Casino um silver has an okay size Casino once
53:21
you talk Oceania has a fairly on the bigger ships has a decent Siz Casino pretty active so when I was on Vista for
53:27
example and when i' been on Marina that was fairly big Casino quite busy um but
53:33
none of them have a great Caso so would kunard Hall America would they be in this category no they're premium okay
53:39
okay they're premium so of course they have vast Casino yeah um but Jeffrey is quite familiar particularly with princesses's a lot of princess stuff
53:46
which have the vast the vast Casino I mean the one on here it's is not bad um
53:53
there are maybe I think there are there were four gaming tables roulette and a number of
53:59
machines so there's there's kind of enough I I just haven't had a great experience on here for one of a reason
54:05
well the problem is it's also hi Miss because Al the way that they struck to the evening there's only one show so
54:11
it's at 9:30 p.m. so dinner the restaurant's open at 6:30 but a lot of people go you get a 6:30 sort of a 7:30
54:18
kind of rush so you you sort of before dinner no one really goes and gambles before dinner or if you're in dinner
54:23
then there's a bit of a wind time the show comes out at quarter 10 and a lot
54:29
of people are going to bed because we certainly on this one because we got a lot of morning with cruises you know excursions of meeting at 7 but maybe it
54:35
does get busy there because we tend to not be around maybe it does yeah yeah
54:41
maybe it does yeah Mark just reinforcing that live Chang thanks for that thanks for that Mark Tom asking from Facebook
54:48
we have an April 25 four-week Eland trip to Australia Sydney Hamilton Island like Hamilton Island we haven't been to the
54:55
Tasmania and in Brisbane 4 day 46 days each location for our first hop in Sydney ative to research so I'll give
55:02
you mine and Cy I would if you it's quite expensive but the behind the-scenes tour of the Opera house is
55:09
amazing you have it starts at 6 so you do the tour before everyone
55:15
starts arriving for work but you go right behind the scenes you get on the Main St it's just fantastic and you end
55:22
with a bit of lunch at the end so breakfast breakfast at the end so we did did that years and years ago and then we
55:27
moved there last Christmas with Mark's mom we took her then that was probably one that was one of her highlights for sure I haven't done it because I'm not
55:34
mad about Heights particularly but you've done it before but the the the walk over City harity har bridge is
55:40
another uh popular one yeah I also you know the little fairies um that go to
55:46
like manly Beach if you like beaches you know going to manly Beach it's a great fair but you also just have incredible
55:52
views of the Opera House and stuff that's another one I would uh recomend and and Manley Beach is a nice Beach I
55:58
mean you kind of want to go to Bondi Beach because it's iconic but there's not a lot really Bondi Beach no there's
56:04
not it's nice though it's it's nice to go and do it's it's more difficult to get to but um I mean you can just get an
56:10
Uber but yeah Manley I I had the choice of beach i' go to Manley Beach for sure
56:17
yeah I mean I think that the main things we've done I I can't I mean there's things like panical Gardens and the done
56:22
that I mean there now it's very definitely don't do the Hop On Hop off bus we did that don't The Hop Off buses
56:28
isn't great because it's all around the harbor and then sort of like just go nowhere yeah the the thing which is
56:34
quite fuzzy and quite fun is is um uh what's the name of the bay behind I know
56:40
I'm now trying darling darling harb darling haror darling Harbor over the since the years we've been there has really developed there's lots of quite
56:46
viby at night there's lots of restaurants and bars and stuff that's that's quite again you get the ferry just across and you get so for examp you
56:53
can get a ferry so that's quite good go on the bridge you can get a ferry if you're staying at Circle key is what it's called Circle Key and you go around
57:00
under the bridge that's quite fun I mean also exploring through the Rocks which is the old Original Part you explore
57:07
there walk under the bridge in fact you if you're feeling you walk all the way around Starling Harbor but the Rocks is quite fun to to go and explore again
57:14
there some trendy restaurants and and and and things and things like that um
57:20
right so let's have a look uh yes we're having a fantastic time we are loving it
57:25
AB a fantastic time so let's have a look and see uh okay so that's an interesting
57:32
question sign mat Gary's more adventurous while Mark is more
57:37
comfortable for the known Improvement how do you two Bridge the difference with planning trips together I decide what we're going and tell you no but I
57:43
think it's partly because I'll give you my partly because I uh I'm obsessed with
57:49
seeing things and I have the time and because of the channel there's lots of I want to go and see all those different things I am slightly oppos essed um and
57:57
I think to be honest with you part of that is after I got had my cancer thing uh which is not quite a long time ago
58:03
touchwood um and S remission I was sort of obsessed with ticking as many things on a list as I possibly can you're still
58:12
at working full time so you're you're balancing more around I want to also relax chill
58:18
out yeah I mean I think that's right and I suppose the point point around yeah do
58:24
I risk doing something new that I'm not sure like as much is when you have limited time maybe you do that slightly
58:31
slightly less um so to some extent I think it's right
58:37
but I'm absolutely very to trying you you know I hadn't been on region before loving region so I'm definitely open to
58:44
doing to doing you're less keen on Expedition stuff well like do you know like an
58:51
Antarctica there are two reasons about Antarctica one is because I hate Russ
58:56
and you tend to go through rough potentially go through rough Seas also it's hugely expensive and and it's just justifying that cost at the moment for
59:02
me in terms of what I think I will get out of it but talking to you know hearing what Mark says other says at
59:08
some point I should do it so yes but we can we can always find something I
59:15
actually think we get on very well when we're away and we can always find something that both that works for both of us for sure I'm understand Mark had
59:23
an point which I Endor about antartic come back to the thing trying to is
59:28
early of season I agree with Mar completely that's the best the absolute best time to go I is plentiful it's is
59:35
definitely it is is definitely the greatest time to go lots of people talking about the Queen Mary 2 um
59:40
outbreak I I hadn't seen that but I told you the captain's doing his little announcement thing there so I don't
59:46
think that you probably can't pick that up um yes so people are asking around how do you protect yourself from uh from
59:54
norovirus and I'm going to um you know absolutely agree with Jeffrey is wash your hands so the gel is fine but you're
1:00:02
it's about washing your hands so I obsessively wash my hands uh I tend to
1:00:07
avoid the buffet to be honest I don't go to the buffet lot we sort of go lunchtime I buff I tend to go more U if
1:00:15
it's served Buffet um I notic increasingly on Cru like one of my last Cru When I was uh in fact a lady would
1:00:23
wear gloves every time she went you know uh to the things but hand washing hand washing hand washing avoid any places
1:00:29
like the buffet if you're concerned because that's where people are touching things and whatever uh those are
1:00:35
probably the the absolute key ones and I have been touch with on ships who breaks and fact we 2 and been outbreak and
1:00:41
we've avoid we sort of avoided them and also avoid if you can touching uh the railings or if you do touch the railings
1:00:48
make sure you wash your hands uh and in some cases what some people do which I only do if there's an outbreak is I
1:00:55
don't go to the public toilets I will kind of use the cabin uh it's a bit of a track sometimes on a big ship but that's
1:01:01
that's that's the thing there so we have turned through the time uh um hopefully you've enjoyed thanks for being on the
1:01:07
live stream uh we've got to go and enjoy a lovely C day um so thanks for joining
1:01:12
us there will not be a live stream next weekend uh because we get off the ship
1:01:18
on the Saturday no we don't get the Shay we get off the ship on Sunday but Saturday is a port day we get up on
1:01:24
Sunday and we actually heading off to Vegas to lose all our money uh that we didn't lose on the ship here probably
1:01:30
saving it to lose it in Vegas rather losing on here so um have a great Christmas uh and we will talk to you uh
1:01:38
probably in the new year uh but won't be one next week so I'll I'll post
1:01:43
reminding everybody that there's one next week so have a great wonderful Christmas um and uh if you cruising have
1:01:50
a fabulous fabulous Cruise
1:02:00
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