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Crafty Ways To Steer Clear Of The Crowds On Busy Cruises
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Jan 28, 2025
Cruise lines are packing their ships full these days. They're admitting that they're selling at 100% or higher capacity. So, ships are really, really full, and I've seen this firsthand on a recent cruise, like MSC Cruises, Norwegian, or Caribbean, even Princess in Alaska. So, I want to share with you proven techniques to deal with managing crowds and avoiding crowds. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Cruise lines are packing their ships full these days. They're admitting that they're selling at 100% or higher capacity. So, ships are really, really full, and I've seen this firsthand on a recent cruise, like MSC Cruises, Norwegian, or Caribbean, even Princess in Alaska. So, I want to share with you proven techniques to deal with managing crowds and avoiding crowds. Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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cruise lines are packing their ships
0:03
full these days they're admitting that
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they're selling at 100 or higher
0:07
capacity now ships are really really
0:09
Fallen I've seen this first hand on a
0:11
recent Cruise like MSC cruises Norwegian
0:13
or Caribbean even princess in Alaska so
0:16
I want to share with you proven
0:17
techniques to deal with managing crowds
0:21
and avoiding crowds so let's start first
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of all with the one that's not possible
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for everybody and that things are the
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cruise lines themselves offer us to do
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these tend to come at a premium but let
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me talk about them anyway one of the
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most obvious ones is the ship within the
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ship or the kind of special access areas
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for Suites now my experiences on that
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MSC cruise that I spoke about because
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I'd booked the yacht club which is their
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little closed-off area which has all the
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kind of the Suites that has some inside
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cabins in there as well it has its own
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restaurant it has its own bar its own
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Lounge its own pool deck its own hot
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tubs and that was a great way of
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escaping from that really packed busy
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ship into that quiet calm area now many
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many cruise lines have it you've got a
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Norwegian with a Haven you've got Royal
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Caribbean has an area although it's not
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a shipper than a ship but they have
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sweet access even lines like Holland
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America and princess have dedicated
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lounges and you know sometimes specific
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restaurants or areas of restaurants for
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their sweet guests but that of course
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comes with a big premium so even if you
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can't afford that big premium another
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thing to think about is many Cruise
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Lines will offer sanctuaries so you do
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have to pay a price so on that Honda
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America trip I was talking that we went
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at Christmas time we booked the
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sanctuary for the whole week and this is
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an area which just was closed off area
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you did pay to enter it but you
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basically had a private Cabana it was
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really quiet and calm and again you
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could escape the craziness around the
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swimming pool where it was packed with
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families and kids and noise and bushes
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so that's something that many cruise
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lines are offering these days the third
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thing the cruise lines are offering is
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some kind of packages which help you
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navigate the crowds now two of the most
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just well known of those are Royal
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Caribbean have the key which is you a
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thing where you pay a price for and you
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get Priority Access priority invocation
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you get some dedicated reserved seating
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in the theater kind of perks like that
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Carnival has similar thing which is
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called getting to the fun faster which
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again helps you navigate around some of
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the crowds fast embarkation that kind of
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stuff Holland America has Club orange
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which again gives you priority
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embarkation disembarkation and also
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access to either depending on the ship a
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specific Club Orange area within the
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main dining room which is much easier to
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get a table or a specific dedicated Club
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orange dining room if these are still
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out of your budget another thing that a
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lot of people tell me they do to avoid
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crowds is they book a balcony cabin and
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the advantage of the balcony cabin is if
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you've got a busy pack day out on the
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ship you have your own private balcony
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you can sit out there you can order room
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service you can order drinks and you can
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get away from the crowds that way a
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however no matter what cabin you have
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whether it's inside Ocean View a suite
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whatever many cruise lines now have some
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really great new release movies on their
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television which are included in the
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fair price you can order room service
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Pizza whatever in the evenings to escape
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the crowds you can basically have fun in
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your room having a movie night that's
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actually one thing I really do actually
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enjoy doing and I do I've been doing it
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much more on recent cruises particularly
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those big busy packed cruises so if any
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of those don't appeal or even those do
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appeal and you're using those there are
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some on-ship tricks and tips that I use
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to avoid crowds and here they are first
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of all a really simple one is simply
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avoid them void events where there's
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going to be big crowds so for example on
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that MSC cruise I was talking about
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every night in the big sort of Atrium
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area they would have a big party which
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was packed and busy and Rowdy and I just
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simply avoided that you know princess
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sometimes have a big champagne Tower or
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you've got some Christmas at the balloon
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drop where they're encouraging crowds to
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gather so other way parties are another
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good example you simply could just plan
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to do other things you know go to
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different bars go to different places on
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the ship and just basically go against
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where the Crowds Are of course a really
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important way to avoid crowds is plan
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your embarkation and disembarkation
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better so many Cruise Lines will allow
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you to through the app to check in
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online which means you often can skip
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queuing up and you know lining up with
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the big crowds and you can whisk through
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so some of them are really fast and make
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sure that you've checked in online and
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and if that gives you any kind of quick
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way around the crowds the same with
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disembarkation this embarkation can be
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crazy busy with crowds if you pack a
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plan to self-disembark which means you
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can take all your luggage off you can
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get off as soon as the ship gets there I
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love doing this as soon as the ship is
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open cleared I can take my bags I get
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off all the taxes awaiting all the
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transports available there's no crowds
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you can just Breeze through and get to
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your flight to home whatever really
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really simply and easily which leads me
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to the next thing timing of your
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activities
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again it's about working against the
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flow of where the crowds are so let me
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talk about a couple of things if you've
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got any Key activities you want to do so
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if you're on one of those big Resort
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ships and they have things like flow
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riders or the North Star or go-kart
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racing tracks or whatever choose to do
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those When the Crowds Are busy so
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lunchtime for example or dinner time is
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a really good time to go and do those
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activities so think about when people
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are going to be busy on the ship sell
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away parties those big party events try
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and plan things when those are taking
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place because the crowds are all those
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and you'll have the events or things to
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yourself I also have some key tips
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around avoiding crowds when it comes to
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dining generally speaking if you're an
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open seated dining going early or going
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late is when are you going to avoid the
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crowds most people will go at 7 or 7 30
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whatever if you're happy to eat at 6 6
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30 or towards the end of the sitting you
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will find it's much easier to get a
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table size you want it's much less crazy
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much less busy and service will be much
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quicker so you if you're a big fan of
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afternoon tea which I am again if you're
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going to go early go really really early
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so you're in the queue but it's much
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better to go towards the end of the
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service if you're on Cunard and doing
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that big Queen's room afternoon tea
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service it's much better to go later
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than earlier on Viking or any of these
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lines that is really important the
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second thing that I do that I really
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really love to avoid crowds is I use the
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main dining room for both breakfast and
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if it's open for lunch people tend to
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use the buffet the crowds use the buffet
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for breakfast and lunch and you can have
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a very civilized still fast and great
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service in the main dining room for
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breakfast and lunch I absolutely love it
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and that's what I always always do if
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you're on a cruise particularly a warm
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cruise on a sea day one of the things I
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do is avoid the main swimming pools
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people are going to hang around the main
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swimming pools the crowd's going to be
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there it's going to be packed as often
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activities you know whether it's dancing
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or competitions or whatever going on so
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I would tend to avoid going to the pool
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on those sea days and try and find the
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quiet out of the way spaces and there
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are always places like that on board
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ships and you'll find them often really
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high up on the ship to sort of way up in
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the kind of the Sky Deck often have a
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look perhaps where the sport deck is or
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look on the deck plans before you go or
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even ask your cabin student there are
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always spaces on a ship which people
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just don't really know they're there
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because they're a little bit kind of in
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the design tucked away another great
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place to look although they're becoming
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much fewer on ships is at the rear of
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the ship now many cruise lines are
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starting to put cabins on the back of
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ships because they're so popular but
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you'll often find interesting little
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Decks at the back of ships they're also
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on the sea day on those sort of ships I
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will also tend to do things indoors so
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you'll find the lounges the bars all the
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facilities on those sort of sea days
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during the day will be much quieter so
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again that's the way of avoiding the
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crowds is plan to spend those days more
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indoor and use your Port days as perhaps
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days when you're going to be out there
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one of the really important tip to avoid
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the crowds and actually avoid getting
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less frustrated is use the stairs not
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the elevators now on these big ships of
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course it's a lot of stairs so that can
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be a little bit challenging but it's
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also great to help balance out all those
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extra desserts that you might be having
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but elevators crowds big problem I want
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to now talk about some of the tips that
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I have about avoiding crowds in the port
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and these are some of my favorite things
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to do because I love exploring ports so
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what do I do first of all I use a site
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called cruise timetables.com and in
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there I can look at my itinerary and
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then I can look Port by Port just how
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busy it's going to be so I can see how
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many ships are going to be in there and
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roughly it tells you how many people are
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there so I know if there's going to be a
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lot of big ships in a port that I need
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to plan to do something different and
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you'll find that particularly true in
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places like the Caribbean and the
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Mediterranean where you could have four
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or five Mega ships you could have
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fifteen thousand twenty thousand people
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pouring out so I will often choose to do
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something like stay on board not go out
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at all or I'll choose a Excursion which
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is going much further afield so it's not
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in that place so it's taking me to
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somewhere really unusual so for example
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if you're in a place in Europe sailor
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activity where most people charge off to
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Rome and Rome is always busy and packed
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anyway you might choose an Excursion
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which takes you somewhere slightly
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different or in livono for example where
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most people charge off to Florence which
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again is packed there'll be other
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excursions which are going to other
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different places which will be less
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packed one of the best things to do
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though is stay on the ship
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if you're going to be in a really busy
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packed port or simply you want to avoid
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the crowds staying on the ship on a port
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day is one fantastic way of winning the
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crowds pretty much everybody will get
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off the pool be quiet the spa will be
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quiet all those attractions and things
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you want to use will be quiet
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if you do though want to explore in a
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port and you don't want to stay all day
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what I would do is then at lunch time
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and in the afternoon is when I would go
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and explore you'll find on cruises most
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people will do the Excursion in the
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morning and they will all come piling
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back on the ship for lunch they don't
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want to spend money on lunch out so head
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out at lunchtime in the afternoon so
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what you can do for example is avoid
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going on a cruise line Excursion because
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I'll mostly in the morning and take a
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look at two Alternatives one there are
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providers which will provide tours
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they're called things like
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ventureshow.com shore excursions
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group.com or Viator where you can get
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excursions very similar to The Cruise
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Line ones but there'll be smaller groups
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so you're avoiding the crowd and also
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they will often do them say in the
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afternoon so against the time when the
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cruise lines are pumping out all their
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passengers or even better is to look for
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a local guide who will do something for
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you so there's sites like
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toursbylocals.com for example or you can
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go into the roll call for your cruise on
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something like Cruise Critic and just
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ask for tips and advice and people will
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always have suggestions of local guides
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that way you can then they know the area
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incredibly well you can go in the
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afternoon when it's less busy less
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packed and they'll know how to work
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against and away from the crowds
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although I've said it's really important
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to head out at lunch time or in the
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afternoon if that doesn't appeal to you
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the other
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thing that you can do to avoid crowds is
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get out super super early so actually
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you'll find mostly excursions will tend
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to go an hour or so after the ship has
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arrived most people uh just you know
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getting themselves organized and up and
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about will sort of head out an hour or
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so after the ship is cleared but what
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I'll do if there's some things I really
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want to go that I know are going to be
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really really popular I will get up and
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be ready as soon as the ship is cleared
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so for example on that MSC cruise that I
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was talking about we were going to
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Norway and in Alden I wanted to go up
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the low end Skylift which is just a
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phenomenal beautiful
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you know amazing scenery but I knew it'd
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be packed all day so the minute this
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year was kid I got out got on the
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shuttle bus got to the walk a minute
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opened and I had no waiting went up
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there by the time I came back down there
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was an enormous line when I got back to
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the port the line was hundreds of people
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waiting to get the shuttle bus there so
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the other thing is you get out if
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there's one very specific thing you want
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to do get out get it done and get back
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and then enjoy the ship for the rest of
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the day I'm sure there's other great
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tips for avoiding crowds that you have
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so leave those in the comments to let
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other people know but before you do that
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if you want to know a little bit more
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what it's actually like cruising on one
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of those ship with the ships that I used
12:37
to escape crowds take a look at this
12:39
video where I dive into the pros the
12:41
cons and the big surprises I had
12:43
cruising in a ship within a ship see you
12:46
over there
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