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I Put Cruising With 68 Fans To The Test!
5K views
Jan 28, 2025
Join me as I take you on my Tips For Travellers Celebrity Eclipse Canada & New England Group cruise, and tell you what happened, what we got up to, and let you experience a flavour of some of the meet ups and more. Highlights video from the meet-ups mentioned in the video : https://youtu.be/dLeCDPIb1PY 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 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
View Video Transcript
0:00
well greetings and welcome to Portland
0:02
in Maine so we're docked over there on
0:04
Celebrity eclipse and I thought this
0:05
would be a good opportunity to tell you
0:07
a little bit about the group Cru this is
0:09
our last port of core on the 10 Canada
0:12
New England uh trip so uh there are 69
0:17
people 68 kind of followers and me 54
0:21
from the US 10 from the UK two from
0:23
Australia two from Ireland and one from
0:25
Canada and there are also actually 11
0:27
solos on the Strip so the group Cruisers
0:29
tend to have
0:30
a lot of solos because obviously you
0:31
have lots of friends and what know that
0:33
you can make along the way so that's
0:35
been really great so overall we've had a
0:37
pretty amazing weather so let me tell a
0:38
little bit about the group Cruise how it
0:40
worked and so on so we had a great start
0:43
of the group Cruise the day before we
0:44
embarked we had some pre- Cruise
0:46
activities which I did in partnership
0:49
with uh the meet Boston team so Carol C
0:52
Thomas and Michael mun and we had a
0:54
fantastic tour the day before which went
0:56
up to view Boston so we got incredible
0:59
sightseeing over the Boston uh we had QA
1:03
we had some drinks and so on then in the
1:04
evening we had an amazing reception at
1:07
the Rotunda in the fenel hall which is a
1:10
very historic Hall with lots of uh food
1:13
places and and um you know stalls and so
1:15
on so that was really great uh they Med
1:18
us feel really important they had a
1:19
string of various dignitaries there
1:20
including the head of me Boston and
1:23
councelor Flynn was there and he gave us
1:25
a proclamation from the council which
1:27
was amazing also he is very important
1:29
because CU his dad used to be the mayor
1:31
and the cruise port that we sailed from
1:32
is named after his dad Flynn so the next
1:36
day we then headed off to the port and
1:39
embarked it was big long cues to get on
1:41
the ship but uh once they opened the
1:43
doors it was really quick on board then
1:44
once on board I um hosted a sort of a
1:48
welcome desk where I got to meet the
1:49
people that I hadn't met the day before
1:51
gave them some swags so we had um a uh
1:54
door magnet and a um a mouse mat and
1:59
people got their first off the raffle
2:00
tickets and then after that uh we kind
2:03
of dispersed and had sways and so on and
2:05
then every evening we would meet for
2:08
informal uh drinks so everyone had these
2:11
um always included package so we had you
2:14
know Wi-Fi gratuities and the classic
2:16
strings package so we' meet every night
2:18
for uh those informal drinks and then we
2:20
would have dinner together so we
2:22
actually were on the first sitting so it
2:23
was 545 for six dining so we had all
2:26
these tables together which was great so
2:27
people could dine if they wanted to
2:29
every night most people did and I would
2:30
host a table every night uh for and I
2:32
would host seven people so across the 10
2:34
days everyone had a chance to dine with
2:36
me and that was really great getting to
2:37
meet people and so on so that really
2:39
worked really well uh we also had three
2:43
meetups uh during the course of the
2:45
cruise uh the first one was a trivia
2:48
around tips of Travelers me a chance to
2:50
talk a little about the channel and so
2:52
that was really good fun so was I born
2:54
in bite Bridge buolo Harari or Victoria
2:58
Falls so so A B C or D so what what did
3:01
I do during military service was I a
3:03
signal officer was I a weapons
3:06
instructor was I Military Intelligence
3:09
operative or was I military
3:12
police what was the very first video
3:15
that I ever posted on
3:17
YouTube was it the cape Cove Guest House
3:21
Cape Town room tour that Snappy little
3:24
title was it kunard Queen Mary 2 Queens
3:27
Grill cabin tour
3:30
was it balagio Las Vegas fountain show
3:32
at night or Universal Studios Hollywood
3:35
earthquake Studio Tour who got eight did
3:39
you really get eight come on
3:47
down well
3:52
done no no so this is this is a record
3:55
so we have we're going to have to do a
3:56
an official like congratulations like
4:00
right all the Sant come on
4:05
down I have to say you you're doing
4:07
better than then our first group Crews
4:09
take a pick so you've got your water
4:10
bottle you got a mug
4:12
caps a tote bag people also got their
4:16
second raffle ticket very important for
4:17
coming to that the second Meetup was a
4:19
Q&A so what happened is people would put
4:21
their names if they want to ask a
4:23
question I drew their names out and ask
4:25
questions that was really good fun lots
4:26
of questions about the channel and so on
4:28
uh great so welcome to to the Meetup um
4:31
uh hopefully everyone's having a good
4:33
time so far um so oh that's good that's
4:36
good to know so who didn't clap
4:39
okay what I'm calling is unlock the
4:42
answers okay so that'll become clear you
4:45
can tell I'm like a frustrated Game Show
4:49
creator uh because everything's got to
4:51
have a a name or a title or whatever so
4:54
the reason it's called unluck the
4:55
answers is that anybody whose name gets
4:58
pulled out of the hat and gets asked
4:59
question gets this one of
5:01
10 uh uh keychain key uh key ring okay
5:05
okay it looks like it's a lot of work to
5:07
put on a group Cruise so my curiosity is
5:12
what what do you feel has been your
5:13
greatest benefit of doing these events
5:16
okay uh none
5:18
whatsoever third Meetup we did a quiz
5:22
around the at the cruise little bit
5:25
trivia STS of bits of pieces and a
5:27
chance to win prize so today this is
5:29
what we're going to do we're going a
5:30
couple of reminders um of of uh a few
5:33
bits and pieces then we will do a couple
5:37
of follow-ups from the kuna there was
5:38
one or two things just got raised
5:40
afterwards that I thought I worth kind
5:42
of following up from that QA just to
5:44
fill some some gaps so because a couple
5:46
people ask the same thing afterwards so
5:48
I was going to do I think there's two
5:49
things I'm going to do there uh then we
5:51
will do the uh last quiz of the group
5:56
Cruise which is called group Cruise quiz
5:59
with
6:01
prizes so so it's a group Cris and it
6:04
has prizes um and so very important so
6:08
this side of the teddy bear is the
6:09
prizes okay so so so this is the raffle
6:12
side that's the prize side anyway let's
6:15
get into giving away some prizes shall
6:17
we what is the significance of the man
6:20
out of focus man uh presenting us the
6:23
Boston Proclamation at the meat Boston
6:27
reception second question how many
6:30
cruise lines are due to
6:32
depart or call into Boston in 2024 and
6:35
the source is the the the the official
6:38
kind of Port website so the first and
6:41
the second Meetup um there was prizes of
6:43
various group Cruise brand and
6:45
merchandise uh sweatshirts water bottles
6:48
and so on so that was really good fun
6:50
then we did the raffle so the raffle was
6:52
really great so we had a big pack from
6:55
the meat Boston team of stuff uh the
6:57
cruise Maps had given us uh for someone
7:00
to win a a winner of a Kind map Cruise
7:03
map of the cruise it's the only one in
7:04
the world that will have the the itinery
7:07
and the the logo on for the last prize
7:09
of all this is remember this is the
7:11
oneof a-kind cruise maps of the group
7:14
Cruise uh we have these beautiful Bears
7:16
which end up uh which were branded with
7:18
the cruise uh the group Cruise logo
7:20
which was probably one of the hottest uh
7:23
items of all there was a goodie bag with
7:25
lots of group Cruise merchandise that
7:26
was also kind of popular so we did that
7:29
then on the last night we're going to
7:30
have by the time we watch this we will
7:32
have had a farewell cocktail party
7:34
although because we're quite late in
7:37
here and everyone has to go through
7:38
immigration a lot of people actually
7:39
want to be back in time for the tours
7:42
the other thing that we did on the group
7:43
Cruise which I didn't do my first group
7:44
cruise is we had group excursions so I'd
7:47
arranged a partnership with Venture
7:49
Shore to do three group excursions one
7:52
in Sydney which was a overview of of
7:54
Sydney the second one was in when in
7:57
Quebec City a walking tour of Quebec
7:58
City and the third one was in Charlotte
8:00
Town uh which was included highlight of
8:02
charlott toown and Anne of Green Gables
8:04
so because I was busy with kind of
8:06
sorting out stuff for the group I didn't
8:07
go on all of them I did go on the Quebec
8:08
City walking tour and it was really good
8:10
fun so we'll see what people think of
8:12
the group tour so I added that based on
8:15
the feedback from the first group Cruise
8:16
so we'll see if people want that and if
8:17
I do it on the next group Cruise so my
8:20
next group cruise is actually a Panama
8:21
Canal back in h America it's a 15 night
8:24
at the time of recording this we sold
8:26
out the original allocation of cabins
8:27
I've added a few more cabins because we
8:29
have lots of solos coming out I think we
8:31
have about 20 something solos I try to
8:33
cap my groups at about 70 just because
8:36
of uh that's a good number that I feel
8:38
works for me uh and also means that I
8:40
can do things like Dy with everybody and
8:42
stuff so that was just kind of the way
8:44
that I've done it so far and we'll see
8:45
that's what I'm doing for the next s so
8:47
we'll see how that goes I've had a great
8:49
time on the group Cruise the great thing
8:50
about the group Cruis is you know I
8:51
guess people are drawn together by some
8:53
commonality they in cruising uh I guess
8:56
they follow my channel so that's kind of
8:57
I'm a focal point of if you like people
9:00
have made lots of friendships lots of
9:01
people on the groups group Cruise have
9:03
booked on the next group cruise we had
9:05
six people who are on the first group
9:06
Cruise who are on this group cruise but
9:07
even more we're going to be on the
9:09
Panama group Cruise now from each of the
9:11
three meetups I've done videos with some
9:13
highlights of those which I will link in
9:15
the description uh because if you want
9:17
to dive more into what we spoke about
9:19
and sort of the questions that we asked
9:20
you can watch those
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