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I Look At What Celebrity Cruises Is REALLY Up To. And Why!
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Jan 28, 2025
I look at how Celebrity Cruises is fast changing as a cruise line and the challenges that creates for both existing and new cruisers considering a Celebrity Cruising vacation. Become a Channel Member and get perks like members-only videos: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 96 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- * Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ
View Video Transcript
0:00
on the first night I spotted a couple
0:01
probably early 70s sitting in the Grand
0:04
Plaza on Celebrity Edge looking a bit
0:07
startled with what they saw going on
0:09
around them it wasn't their familiar
0:11
Celebrity Cruises I also realized over
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the next couple days that I was now
0:15
amongst the eldest onboard celebrity
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unlike past trips they even had baby
0:20
change toilets appearing teens taking
0:22
over deck parties and the pools and the
0:25
guest Entertainer performance by the old
0:26
crew standard the barricade boys singing
0:29
their standard old show and Frankie
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Valli songs were almost empty when they
0:34
performed while the family-friendly pop
0:36
music review show with acrobats like
0:38
Kaleidoscope was always packed on those
0:40
nights
0:41
when the cabin controls on my app failed
0:44
and I had to try and switch on the
0:46
lights and open and close the curtains
0:47
in my cabin manually I also realized
0:49
that on Celebrity Edge that if you were
0:51
not a smartphone user simple tasks like
0:53
that you would struggle with because
0:55
it's all now designed to be done on the
0:57
phone I'm Gary bembridge welcome aboard
0:59
as I look at celebrity and ask if
1:02
they've fallen out of love with and
1:03
don't want passengers like me on board
1:06
anymore so while my experiences were
1:08
definitely magnified by going on
1:10
celebrity age doing the school summer
1:12
vacation I feel we're seeing the
1:14
emergence of a two-type cruise line
1:17
within celebrity first of all there's a
1:20
more traditional experience on the older
1:22
Solstice and Millennium class ships
1:24
these are traditional ships in terms of
1:26
layout venues and experience
1:30
it's pretty much an old school cruise
1:33
ship experience with a more modern spin
1:35
to it some more contemporary music for
1:37
example in the shows activities
1:38
scheduled much later at night there's
1:40
more parties something that Classic
1:44
Cruisers will feel more familiar and
1:46
comfortable with just with a slightly
1:47
more modern spin then there is the new
1:50
direction of the future this is The Edge
1:53
class with Edge Apex Beyond and ascent
1:57
now let's ask for example recently on my
1:59
live stream just after the trip that I
2:01
was on
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what was different on Edge versus
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Solstice class ships my answer was
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pretty much
2:09
everything is different first of all it
2:12
looks completely different from the
2:13
outside the shape and the hull is very
2:15
different they've introduced The Magic
2:17
Carpet which is both a bit of a gimmick
2:19
but also importantly a practical
2:21
solution to tendering it means they can
2:23
tender many people much quicker off the
2:25
ship by lowering the Magic Carpet and
2:27
using much bigger tenders next dining
2:30
has also totally changed they followed
2:33
the silver sea and virgin voyages
2:34
approach of scrapping the main dining
2:36
room which traditional cruises of course
2:38
are used to and many of them like but
2:41
now what happens is you rotate on the
2:43
Edge class between four restaurants
2:45
Cosmopolitan more traditional Normandy
2:48
more French Cyprus more Mediterranean
2:50
and Tuscan a little bit more Italian
2:52
they still of course have the big buffet
2:54
restaurant upstairs they've also
2:57
scrapped the speciated venues you find
2:59
on Solstice class ships completely
3:01
replacing them with totally new venues
3:03
so while on Solstice class You've Got
3:05
Sushi on five you've got Tuscan Grille
3:08
and Italian Steakhouse Murano the French
3:10
Bistro silk harvest the Asian Fusion on
3:13
edge it's all different you've got fine
3:15
cut Steakhouse the ground Bistro which
3:18
is French where they also do the little
3:20
La Petite Chef the interactive 3D table
3:22
thing you have Raw on five which is more
3:24
than just a sushi restaurant they also
3:26
have Eden which is a big venue with more
3:29
avant-garde dishes for dining as well as
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running quirky shows a really big and
3:35
divisive change especially with more
3:37
traditional Cruisers used to traditional
3:39
balconies or Millennium and Solstice
3:41
class is a replace balcony cabins on
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edge class with what they call infinite
3:46
balconies now while they argue these
3:48
cabins are 20 bigger basically you lose
3:50
the balcony and you have a sliding
3:52
window with some seating inside they've
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added big spaces for active
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crowd-pleasing high energy activities
3:59
like the club which has replaced
4:02
celebrity Central on solstice this is a
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two-level venue hosting high energy
4:07
activities and quizzes and some quirky
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Cabaret Morgan to what I've actually
4:12
seen on the trendy line virgin voyages
4:15
the theater is a big high-tech one with
4:18
big projection screens outdoor is also
4:22
much more focused around and in some
4:23
ways I feel like posing being seen
4:27
people watching socializing so you've
4:29
got a big pool resort Deck with a
4:31
massive big big pool the lawn Club on
4:35
Solstice class ships has been replaced
4:36
with the rooftop garden which has a
4:38
grill a Sunset Bar behind that at the
4:41
back they've also got one of the longest
4:44
and best running tracks which weaves its
4:46
way through the resort Tech so again you
4:48
can be watched while you're running as I
4:50
mentioned there are those other changes
4:52
like baby changing toilets bigger kids
4:55
clubs and other more family friendly
4:57
things on the Edge class the daily
4:59
program looks and reads very similar to
5:02
the solstice ships but it's even more
5:05
youthful interactive louder and I would
5:08
argue much more energetic so for example
5:10
the 80s quiz has the teams doing
5:13
dance-off and guitar band battles the
5:16
passengers versus officers challenge was
5:18
loud noisy boisterous the deck party was
5:21
really Rowdy really big and very kind of
5:24
interactive the other thing I noticed is
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celebrity are using younger people and
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families in their ads and in their
5:30
onboard materials like the Excursion
5:32
videos had more families in and they're
5:34
definitely adopting and promoting more
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issues that I think appeal to kind of a
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younger crowd so for example the ship
5:40
godmothers they have Malala for Edge who
5:43
of course became extremely well known
5:45
for being injured by the Taliban and for
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promoting women in education rashima
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sajani for Apex Who is the founder of
5:53
the girls who code to really push and
5:55
improve women in Tech Simone biles for
5:58
beyond the well-known U.S gymnast who is
6:00
very public on mental health issues
6:01
during the Tokyo Olympics they make a
6:04
big issue of crew diversity which in
6:06
reality is mostly focused on women in
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senior roles including of course Captain
6:10
Kate the first North American woman
6:12
Captain who is this sort of their face
6:14
in their social media Ambassador I also
6:17
saw a very different experience on edge
6:20
with dress code even though they were
6:23
still Chic Knights few people bothered
6:26
now my previous trips on Celebrity
6:29
Solstice and silhouette guests
6:31
absolutely did dress up more but again
6:34
this was because it was full of more
6:36
traditional cruises and on edge it was
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only really those traditional Cruisers
6:40
amongst the guests that did actually
6:42
bothered to really get dressed up much
6:44
more so all these factors mean that Edge
6:47
class ships are without a shadow of a
6:49
doubt in my mind attracting to celebrity
6:51
a young anger and more family group of
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Cruisers certainly on those ships less
6:57
so on the other classes of ships that
6:59
than what I've seen so far now this
7:01
revelation of what's happening it
7:03
strengthened by how I actually held back
7:06
on booking Edge class ship that would
7:08
book a solstice Last Ship on a trip
7:10
we're planning so my partner Mark and I
7:12
are looking at taking his mum to
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Australia a place that she's always
7:15
wanted to go celebrity Edge is going to
7:18
be in Australia and would be an easy way
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for us to explore the region much more
7:22
but after being on edge I decided
7:24
there's no way that I would take her on
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Celebrity Edge it's too modern the
7:28
infinite balcony would absolutely
7:30
alienate her she doesn't use a
7:32
smartphone so controlling things in a
7:34
cabin and booking things on the app
7:36
would definitely be an issue it would be
7:37
a no-go in fact she would also miss the
7:40
whole sense of dressing up more than she
7:43
would do on the other classes if there
7:46
was a solstice or Millennium cluster but
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I would book it because I do believe
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that not only will it attract a more
7:52
classic Cruiser and have the guess the
7:54
match and would be a better fit for
7:57
people who want a traditional experience
7:58
like if you were taking Sally there is
8:00
one other big development of celebrity
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that appeals to me but is dry having a
8:05
lot of people away and it's affecting
8:07
also though some of my other plans as
8:09
I'll explain after told you what this
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whole issue is celebrity absolutely
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wants to become a Luxury Line not just
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seen as a premium line so in the premium
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category that they're officially
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classified in you've got things like
8:21
piano cruises UK Princess home in
8:23
America and virgin voyages or with
8:25
similar experience and pricing until now
8:29
celebrity have increased their prices
8:32
above those other lines and many people
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tell me they're now looking for
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Alternatives because they feel it's
8:38
getting just too costly celebrity now
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calls themselves in all their marketing
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materials a luxury line and they call
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their ships online and in fact in the
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various advertising they did on board as
8:51
luxury cruise ships and the fair
8:53
reflexes Fair changes were driven I
8:56
think by two key reasons first of all to
8:59
be more like luxury lines they went more
9:01
all-inclusive with their always include
9:04
fares which include gratuities standard
9:08
drinks package and regular Wi-Fi this is
9:10
always going to be their only fair but
9:12
I've seen now when you're booking
9:14
they're quietly reintroduced a cruise
9:16
only fair I guess because they're seeing
9:19
quite a lot of pushback still to those
9:20
sort of prices the second reason is of
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course they want to signal that they are
9:26
a luxury line but where is all that fair
9:28
money going and how are they doing on
9:31
their positioning as a Luxury Line in my
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view
9:34
The Deco has significantly gone plusher
9:37
on the Edge class ships but also with
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the refits that they're doing and have
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done on the older Solstice and
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Millennium class ships you can see the
9:45
impact of the designer Kelly hoppin and
9:48
others they've worked with as the ship's
9:50
feel and look more luxurious the soft
9:52
Furnishings the bedlin and the towels
9:54
they're all up in quality from what I
9:56
remember the food across the ship is
9:58
much improved and I find it excellent
10:01
across all of the venues the style and
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the Flair of the presentation as well
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the taste looks very premium there are
10:08
also little touches that show luxury for
10:10
example I don't drink alcohol or
10:12
caffeine I drink caffeine-free Diet Coke
10:14
now on some of their close competing
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lines I was on recently like princess
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they don't stock it at all on Celebrity
10:20
not only do they have it but any bar I
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went to often or places I went to often
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they started to make sure it was always
10:27
there service was high even though
10:30
gratuities are now included but what I
10:33
did find interesting is crew we're now
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much more interested in me mentioning
10:38
their names in the post Cruise survey
10:40
and also on what ratings I was going to
10:42
give for the overall experience in the
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venue as well as for the service so when
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I was discussing this with my waiter in
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the restaurant the luminae he was saying
10:51
that the most important score for them
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now on that survey is the overall
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experience in there not just the service
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and then of course having their name
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mentioned so celebrities seem to be
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making passenger scores for service and
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experience essential to cruise
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performance reviews and incentives
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another touch that I'd sort of see
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typical of luxury Cruise Lines Another
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Touch I normally see on Ultra Luxury
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lines was here as well in the daily
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program from the very first day was a QR
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code and a contact encouraging us to
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submit issues or things we wanted sorted
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or improved direct to the hotel director
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to ensure it was taken care of
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across the ship there are high-end
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Brands Apple Cartier Bugari and Tiffany
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they have Peloton bikes in the fitness
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center there's a real sense of upping
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that whole sense of luxury they've also
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upped the premium side of the line with
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a class based system feeling like you
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see on Cunard where based on what grade
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of cabin you're cruising in determines
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what restaurant you eat in so if you're
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booked in an inside an ocean view or
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balcony cabin you eat in one of those
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four restaurants that I was talking
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about earlier if you're in an aqua class
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you eat in the Blue restaurant if you're
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in a suite what they call the retreat
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you eat in the luminai restaurant The
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Retreat has many other unique features
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so for example I have the suite A Butler
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the Lumina restaurant a lounge with
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concierge's to help you make
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arrangements a large Deck with a pool
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hot tubs bar and I could eat lunch out
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there I had priority boarding
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disembarking tendering and I even had
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reserved seating on sheet nights in the
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theater they really have elevated that
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whole sweet luxury experience and Beyond
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what the other competitive lines are
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doing now people by the way not
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traveling the tree did get a little bit
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miffed because the exclusive Retreat
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spaces do actually take up quite a lot
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of space on the ship
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celebrity does in my mind feel more
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luxurious than when I've been on America
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princess you know cruises UK and virgin
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voyages so I realized that it has become
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a good alternative when I want to go
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luxury without the cost of those Ultra
13:03
Luxury lines like seabo and silver seed
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of course I don't get the small ship
13:07
experience but that Retreat itself is a
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really really wonderful experience now
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my partner Mark is a big big fan of
13:16
Cunard Queen's Grill but I want to
13:18
change a future Q not plan that we've
13:20
got into a celebrity Retreat trip
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because it's more contemporary and the
13:24
lounge the deck and the perks I think
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are much better than the Q naught
13:28
equivalents although Cunard Queens will
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probably still Pips them a little bit on
13:31
the menu if after hearing all of the
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celebrity doesn't appeal to you and you
13:35
crave a more classic experience watch
13:37
this video where I blow apart some of
13:40
the myths that people have about Holland
13:42
America starting with the one that talks
13:44
about it being stuffy and old-fashioned
13:47
see you over there
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