LIVE: Cruise Q&A Sunday 9 March 2025 10am PT/1pm ET/ 5pm UK

Name: LIVE: Cruise Q&A Sunday 9 March 2025 10am PT/1pm ET/ 5pm UK | Humix Video
Uploaded: 2025-04-09T03:16:12+00:00
Duration: 1 h 4 min 29 s

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[Music] and welcome to the live Here we are in my uh as we did last week in my now
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combined studio slashstudy um bits and pieces So welcome welcome
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welcome Hopefully most of you managed to join um with the time change because the US has changed I assume Canada's changed
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as well Uh but the UK doesn't change and Europe doesn't change until the end of the month So it does get a little bit
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confusing from that side So and I also made got everyone confused because I put the wrong times on for Pacific time but
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hopefully most of you worked it out I see a lot of the regulars are here So a couple of housekeeping bits and pieces As always welcome aboard I'm Gary
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Benbridge Uh this is Tips for Travelers I always get that the wrong way around tips for travelers and for the next 60
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minutes I will answer as many questions as I possibly can Um and a couple of things on live stream
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So there will be I'm not traveling again until the 2nd of April So there will be live streams every week on a Sunday Uh
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they will be at this funny time until the end of the month because as I mentioned the UK doesn't change One of
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the things I did want to mention though is a bit of a a sort of a bit of an ad for a future one which is on the
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23rd of March is on the 22nd of March my video around cruising to the um polar
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regions particularly Antarctica will be coming out So I promised I would do that It's all ready It's all ready to go but
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just with other videos coming out that'll come out on the 22nd It'll come out a little bit earlier for patrons and
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members because they get an adree version earlier So if that ever appeals to you remember I do have patrons
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patreon.com/tips fort travelers In fact they will get the Antarctica video this week But on the 23rd the weekend that
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that comes out Martin Johnson from Polar Roots who I worked with on this particular video will be joining me So
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you can also if that interests you if you want to hear a little bit more uh on the channel right now you'll be able to
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uh click remind me So that'll uh remind you on the 23rd I know it's a way away Of course I'll post about that and
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remind everybody So let's get stuck into the questions There's quite a few uh
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questions Now Rosemary commented "Some promises don't switch." Okay so it's even more complicated in Canada than it
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is here At least we all change in one go It sounds like in Canada it's got even more confusing They did talk about one
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point uh the UK and when we were still in the EU and the EU was talking about not changing and just leaving it on one
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time which I wish they'd do but then they agreed it but then they made it voluntary so of course it's shambllock
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Anyway let's get right onto the questions So some of you might have missed this um because of the time
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change Anyway enough of that nonsense Warren uh good to see you here again a regular here Have you noticed price
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changes especially leaving Florida since the tariff issues So I assume you're
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meaning the US tariffs on different countries I guess initially Canada and
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Mexico China uh the EU I guess still to to to come along um if I understand
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correctly So um rather than the ones that are being put on you know the fees that are being put on by places like
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Mexico and a few other places No is the short answer haven't seen anything
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around that In fact the only thing that I've seen so far is I have had a few emails or messages from u mostly
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Canadian travelers asking me are there any cruise lines that are not US kind of
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owned and a lot of people had booked Viking cruises which I then had to remind them that Viking cruises were is
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actually partly owned by the US because it's now quoted on the US stock exchange So whilst uh it's still I guess majority
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the bulk of the shares are still owned by the original creators of Torston uh it's now a US company in many of the
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shareholders are US uh so there's very few of those around there's obviously Ponant you've got a couple in the UK
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like Ambassador and Fred Olson um but there's
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and MSC of course and Explorer Journeys but there's not many but I haven't seen any prices and we will see I'm not sure
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if tariffs would affect that other than you know if there was some big reason why people didn't cruise uh out of out
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of the US for some reason I don't think that's going to happen just because of the pure volume of people in the US
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cruising if people do have any issues around that um Mike and Carrie Muman 547
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fantastic to see you um you must have been probably on most of my live streams so that is fantastic do you have higher
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expectations for explorer after your recent cruise on Crystal So my next trip
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um as some of you may know and I mentioned there is on Explorer Journeys which is owned by MSC It's their sort of
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luxury line I'm very excited Reviews generally are very good for it Um so
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that's going to be very interesting I'm going to explore it too So they're newer of the ships I think they've got six of
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them coming ultimately So um and I don't know if I have higher expectations I mean Crystal
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was absolutely phenomenal I've just finished off today uh effect recording
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uh the script So that'll be edited Hopefully the video will be out maybe in three weeks time two three weeks time on
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Crystal So it was really good trying to again still that down Crystal was absolutely phenomenal and we spoke about
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that on the live stream So I have high expectations for explorer I guess one of the issues I guess the question I have
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going in is is it as good as people say it is And that's the first question The second question that I'm very interested
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uh to find out is where I think it stacks So uh you know certainly some
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people we've had a little bit of discussion here where Bokea Boys and a few people have been on people have
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followed they don't feel it's in the ultra luxury space also because of the size of it It's probably not it's probably more in the luxury space It's
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maybe more of a competitive oceania uh Winstar kind of thing So I'm really really keen to see where it it uh it
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stacks up One thing I would say is their some of their back office stuff is terrible a bit like MSE So you know I
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can't book uh excursions but they argue that I should be able to book them online and then it's they don't really
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know One group tells you one thing another group tells you another Certain things they send through particularly digital stuff doesn't really work very
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well So that's not great But um what I hear is what's once they get on board it's pretty good Um so there we go
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Um Richard is it true the participant in your question answer will add years to a person's life expectancy Um I hope so
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Hopefully it adds to my life expectancy by keeping me going uh giving me a reason to keep going um rather than
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expiring So maybe it adds hopefully it'll add to my life expectancy Now Chris has a question which I do not have
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an answer to but I know some people here may well have it is um Chris is heading
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on an AM waterways tulip time cruise They see I'm sure how to pronounce this
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Kirkenhoff which I've seen many pictures of and I think I've been there once on a land trip but I've never been on on a on
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a river cruise and the zon with French accent instead of
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windmills I do not have any key recommendations So helicopter tours I
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love of course uh always um they're always very expensive but they're fantastic So if anybody has good tips
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Now one of the things I'm thinking of doing actually is a river cruise I have a big uh gap in July and I'm looking I
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was looking actually yesterday at adding some river cruises Quite interesting There's still some quite late availability uh for river cruising and I
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so I need to check if there's water issues which is why people are booking them and some solo deals which is very
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unusual particularly in in river cruising Tom good to see you here Next
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month we have a 4-week air and land trip to Australia Brilliant Love Australia
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Looking forward I'm heading back there at the end of this year Only for a short time before we sail from Australia
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across to Papieti But anyway I love Australia Um for our last stop we have
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four days in Melbourne What key activities should we research Now Melbourne Melbourne is a great city One
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of the sort of iconic things to do Tom out of Melbourne of course is the Great
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Ocean Road Now you can do a very long day trip Uh it's quite a long trip and
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it's quite a you know it's a very long day trip We have actually done it as a day trip So you've got the
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um it's not the seven apostles Apostles was called in Cape Town You got the iconic um uh stone kind of things It'll
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come to me the name it'll come which most people head to But I would definitely look at doing something on
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the great ocean road Now you can hire a car and do it You can uh there are some
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trips that you can book you know a couple of suppliers including via tour do them um for example or other other
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suppliers or you can actually do a trip where you do a couple of days but that would be one thing I mean in Melbourne
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uh just exploring Melbourne was fantastic I don't know if you're there when some of the big you know Melbourne is a center for a lot of big sporting
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activities the Melbourne Cup so the horse racing uh obviously I think you have formula one there uh you have the
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big tennis which has happened already So also check if there's any big of those big events going on Uh the zoo's great
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there Uh the seaside's great there Great Luna Park But I would really focus on the great ocean
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road Let's have a look Uh lots of good a lot of people here Andrew's here Lou's here Barb's here Lots of people here
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Sherry's here Jeff's here So Megan how was your Coronation Street outing many
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weeks ago worth it Also do you see any problems with Esther with the current American government Is it worth getting
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it soon So let me because obviously two very different questions So Coronation Street for those people who don't know
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Coronation Street is a soap that's been running in the UK I think it's now in its 62nd year so it's very long running
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It has three or four episodes a week I think they're moving to they're actually reducing the number of episodes next
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year Uh so it's it's really iconic I'm not a big Coronation Street fan Mark is a massive fan We went up with some
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friends of ours uh who live in Australia but they're here for a couple of years living big Coronation Street fans I
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really enjoyed it But I mean going sort of to behind the scenes uh places is always fascinating Now on the Coronation
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Street tour you only go to the exteriors You don't get to see any in any of the interiors unfortunately They're all you
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know inside the shops and stuff So they do have uh the house and stuff They do have a couple of replica sets of the
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robers return and a few things you can see from which are actually moved because the set was moved from an old
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location to new location So when they rebuilt the sets they've got some of this You do do some of those So I thought it was great It's always
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fantastic I love you know going behind the scenes is always fascinating Even though I'm not a big Coronation Street fan Um in terms of the Esther
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um I'm not sure So the Esther you talking about the ones going in I I don't know that there would be any
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issues I'm not sure why there would be any issues I guess the US want us to spend lots of money there anyway and the
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new administration wants us people to spend even more money I guess giving more money to the US So I don't see any
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problems I mean it's a very efficient system uh in terms of online as you know the UK's now introduced similar thing
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the ETA which everybody other than the EU countries
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have to have if you're coming to the UK Uh the European countries I think start in May if I remember correctly So if
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you're coming to the UK make sure you've got your equivalent and Europe is introducing an a similar one which
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should be rolling out towards the middle of the year It's been much postponed but they're introducing one as well Um the
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UK one you can do on an app or online and I'm hearing it also it's pretty quick Barbara I don't know the answer to
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this question Barbara I did see you post this Um so the Viking Alaska cruise port
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has changed from Skagway to Hannes I've seen that happen a couple of times actually I feel like they've doing that
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a couple of times these days I feel like I've seen that elsewhere or maybe I've just seen people posting about it on the
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biking groups So the White Pass Excursion is the ship White Pass Excursion is sold out Is it possible to
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get from Hannes to Skagway So I do not know the easy way to get from Hannes to Skagway I've never done it I have never
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been to the H stop either So I just don't know So Barbara what I would suggest though is a couple of things is
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um have a look and see whether other providers are offering that from Hannes
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So like via Venturhore shore excursions group they may have something which link
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to that Now one of the things you can do if you go to like shore excursionsgroup.com or viaour.com I will
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actually put links uh in here because I do have an affiliate link Uh so I'll put
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those in But you can put in your tour your your ship name and sorry the um the
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ship the cruise line so Viking your ship name whatever the ship name is and the dates and it will bring you up all these
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questions They may offer that Um and if nobody else in here knows the other
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thing I would do Barbara is um on the if you're on Facebook go to the Facebook um
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Viking groups They're very very active and ask that question if anyone's done it because you know Viking travelers are
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very loyal and they will know if it's if it's been done Um and obviously then you
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can can book it But if anyone knows um better than I do then please please leave that comment Um let's have a look
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Uh Elizabeth I did Seabour last year for your very first cruise Very nice Uh and
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we'll do British hours with Pon soon Anything to look out for which is very different
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Elizabeth lots and lots and lots are very different So obviously Seabour is
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it's owned by the Carnival Corporation Most of the travelers will tend to be from the US Uh obviously the
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language on board is also English So even if you've got Australians or Canadians or whatever it'll it'll all be
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done in English Pon is a French cruise line It's normal that you know anything
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up to 90% of the travelers will be French So the first language on board
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usually is French Uh but they do cater for English They so on their ships they
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will do everything in two languages So they'll do it in French and in English So you will get your daily program in
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English for example You know they will eventually learn and give you the English menu rather than the French menu
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The crew will be bilingual but it will most of your guests will be French So
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you will find that uh you know when the captain if the cap you know the captain's reception he will talk in
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French and then he will talk in English All the announcements made in French and then in English The food um you'll find
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a little bit different you'll find the food tends not surprisingly to be more French Um they do though like most
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cruise lines if they do have a big kind of uh contingent of US or whatever they do slightly build that into the cusine
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side Um what else will be Obviously the layout of the ship you know all that was going to be kind of different Uh also
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check with the excursions Now I'm I'm assuming you're doing a classic cruise rather than excursion kind of cruise So
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also you may find that there the excursions are split into French excursions and into English speaking
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excursions So just make sure uh you're looking ahead of time uh you know and you're tying up those excursions if
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you're looking to do excursions Pant is a great cruise line I've only done them as expedition I've done one expedition
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with them and I have another expedition with them booked only in
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2027 Andrew this is uh this is a uh a a
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a great question in terms of obviously as you know I travel solo now in reality
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probably of all of the cruise lines in the luxury and I'm going to include luxury and ultra luxury So I'm going to
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span everything from uh Oceanania Winstar Viking in that luxury side into
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ultra luxury So your crystals Seaborn etc At this point in time Celebrity not
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Celebrity what am I talking about Crystal is the most focused on solo cruises of all of them Uh so they do a
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couple of things They are running a lot and very frequent no solo supplement uh
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fairs So nothing like not even 10% 15% that you might get on some deals
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on Silver Sea for example Um they also have solo cabins now They're quite small
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and cozy and you'll see when I do my video uh or if if you're I don't know if you're an Instagram I can't remember
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Andrew if you use Instagram but on my Instagram feed for um Crystal sorry I
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show a solo cabin but I will certainly build it into the video so I don't have a slug of
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water So they do have solo cabins The ocean view cabins are very cozy They're very nice They're kind of kind of cozy
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but they're they're very nice They do the hosted uh every evening Um like you
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do on Silver Sea for example They do hosted meetups every night for drinks
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They also will arrange in the specialtity You have this specialtity restaurants are included They will
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arrange certain nights where they'll have a solo table I think it's up to eight people and they'll so they'll so
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solos can go to the special dining alone They don't have to do it alone Now I cuz I'm social probably I do the I do the
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solo dining myself also because I like to go in video and all that sort of stuff Um so they are definitely the most
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focused Uh so uh you know if you do look um at the other I'll talk about the
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ultra side you know silver sea is pretty good although it seems to be much reduced at doing solo deals So a lot of
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the my silver sea trips I've done um with good solo supplements they do have the hosted meetup uh if that's what you
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want So for example when I was on uh silver spirit South Africa and Rosemary
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who's in the group here uh in the chat today was on that and I know uh Rose
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went to the meetups every evening and had a great time with that um obviously then connect and stuff uh s silvery do
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sometimes do those low promotions seabour way less uh once we talk about
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the others so we talk about oceania or windstar and stuff the advantage with some of the ocean ships particularly the
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old the R-class ships is they have inside cabins they have ocean view
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cabins so you you know from a price perspective it's it's less scary even though they don't you you're not not
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getting discounts on the supplement on their newer ships So like uh they they
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they're also retrofitting on all ships I think they've done on all of them now They are putting solar cabins and their new ones like Vista and UA they're
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putting some solos in Um but certainly at the moment you'll find because of
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that the crystal obviously crystal's expensive but that because of that solar deal and the the solar cabins I would
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say is probably the best Barbara the question matches this Yes So Skagway
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1959 So Skagway obviously is one of my favorite places in Alaska because I love the train 1959 is the year that Alaska
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became a state if I remember correctly and that's the year I was born So that's why I like this t-shirt and works on on
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many levels Claudia is here which is great to see Um I mentioned Rosemary
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David James Tate has asked me a question that I get asked a lot Unfortunately I haven't yet booked Ambassador I do keep
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looking at it Um and I'm also very intrigued to try Ambassador Not only
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because people ask me a lot but I get very uh you know a wide range of views
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So people either seem to really love it or they're like uh not really keen on but you're right It's absolutely fantastic value Um I have spoken to some
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people recently who did make the point that I should be very careful about which of the ships I go on and I can't
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remember I need to double check with them which way around it is One of the ships they feel is quite dated and tatty and the other ship less so So um I
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haven't done it yet and I I will absolutely keep looking at that Um Tom
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here this is the point It's an interesting one just make for those who don't know this live stream always goes
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live on uh Facebook on LinkedIn and on YouTube and there is sort of that bit of
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delay stuff I guess it's the way it it pushes out boys are here good I mentioned you a
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little bit earlier um so what are your thoughts on Seaborn unloading Sojun they're down to only three oceangoing
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vessels with no orders on the book unsure what the future is not truly ultra luxury of late so um for those of
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you who don't know maybe this new to you They are getting rid of Sojun So they're basically going to be left with their
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um mostly their new their new ships So Ovation Encore and of course Pursuit uh
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for expedition side uh Pursuit and Venture Although interesting with their expedition ships little building a
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little bit on the point that Boa Boys are making is they have also got some charter arrangements with AP in
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Australia So um you know they've already sort of delegated is that the right word
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contracted out some of the filling of those ships So there is a real question
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around what is really going on with Seabor I mean they argue and I I did look at this setting of Sojo and they
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sort of the Japanese cruise company whose name I can't remember who bought the other ship and they're arguing in
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the stuff that they got an incredible offer on those ships I guess that people because it's a sister ship to the one
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they bought So I'm really intrigued to see what happens with Seabor Uh actually
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there's somebody that I know that works for Seabor that I'm actually having lunch with this week So I have lots of
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questions around Seaborn on my list So she works for uh Seabor uh is relatively
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senior in Seabor uh very well connected So I'm hoping to know more of the answer
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Whether she tells me or not I don't know The thing I do know though which is why I'm
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more confident that they're going to do something with Seabour is they've changed management You know they got rid
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of the president who hadn't been president for very long They So they definitely make a commitment to sort of
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upping uh the kind of management side of it It's not that they kind of mashed
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with with another group hard back into Holland America So I am really intrigued because they've as you say they've
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actively reduced capacity they they're going to charge the ship till the end of the world cruise Um and that I do agree
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with you that they feel like they've slipped Well they might have say the same but the others have elevated Silver
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Sea uh Crystal and so they kind of elevated what what they're doing So I'm
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really intrigued So maybe I'll know more next week but I'm I'm very interested to see what they're doing with it or
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whether Carnival decides they're going to just really focus on premium and mass So I'm really really intrigued Hopefully
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I'll as I said I'll have more uh insight uh next by next
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week Claudia uh best area to choose a hotel in Singapore Finally booked the
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Indian Sri Lanka Thailand on Celebrity Mumbai to Singapore So Claudia has some great travel plans Scout she sent me
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some stuff uh with her plans Really really interesting um you know fantastic
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uh settings Um sorry The reason I say settings is I got a thing saying some of
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my settings were arai No they seem fine Uh so uh in terms of Singapore so I've
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stayed all over I mean the thing with Singapore is clearly it's so small and it's so easy to get around both from the
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metro perspective dead easy really inexpensive You can obviously use Uber although it's not Uber it's Grab uh the
24:17
equivalent to Uber So I've stayed all over in Singapore There is a group of hotels um you know one of the depending
24:25
on your budget you know one of the the nicest places to stay is around that Marina Bay area So obviously you've got Marina Bay Sands you got of couple other
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hotels near there the Fitton stuff They all tend to be quite costly hotels I think there's a Mar there but the
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advantage of staying in that Marina Bay area is you're kind of really in the heart of kind of the touristy kind of
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area It's very easy to get around We stayed last time near more raffles which
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is also very nice but it is so easy to get around uh that I wouldn't be too worried about it and also when I was in
24:55
work we said I said in different hotels and stuff so um I would focus a little bit more on what sort of budget kind of
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you want to go but if you can stay Marina Bay Sands way the advantage of staying in Marina Bay Sands is you could go right up to the top of Marina Bay
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Sands included if you don't get to the pool deck if you don't uh stay there
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what I would remen recommend is book the restaurant So is it called Olay or something There's an Italian restaurant right at the top I would book that
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because then you can go up and you can actually go and have a drink right on the top there Um very very simply and
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very easily Microsoft part question which I guess got cut off Hopefully Mark you've found that uh some somewhere else
25:35
Um let's have a look Jeff have you taken the 100 passenger
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Antarctic expedition on Lindblat or Quark And if so how does it compared to the luxurious 200 passenger with Silver
25:49
Sea or Seabor just longer landing times So I haven't I've done the the penance
25:55
and the silver seas which they are the 200 although I did when I did penant we only had 100 passengers on because it
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was just coming out of COVID So we had the 100 The the great thing about the 100 is as you say you do in my
26:08
experience and my understanding is you do uh get longer landings So for example
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Polar Roots I don't know if you saw at the beginning Jeff if you were here that video that I've got coming out on the 22nd which I worked with Polar Roots on
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we have looked uh I worked with um with Martin and and looked at the
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four split siders there and we sort of split them
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into Al luxury luxury uh premium and budget and um he just did a they just
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did a a full ship charter on a 100 passenger ship and that was what he made the point was was that actually you know
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the longer landing times were fantastic So when I went on the 100 passenger uh ponant when we went to places like Sbury
26:55
plane we had up to four hours where when you go the bigger you have shorter time So that is one of the absolute critical
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things Now Lindplat and Quark now Quark a lot of it also hinges on which ship
27:05
you go Now Quarkage is changing their ships their fleet So they have the new Acamarine ship which looks very very
27:13
nice indeed Uh then they have two other ships now They're getting rid of one of the ships and they are chartering from
27:19
Atlas World Voyages one of their ships So Atlas uh it's very interesting with Atlas They two of their new builds
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they've handed over to Winstar and they've now chartered one of their ships to Quark Those of you I think we spoke about it last week might have seen uh
27:32
one of those very negative um videos about Atlas recently uh which I can't
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remember the name of the YouTubers who did that Um so definitely that's the key You know as I said with Quark a lot of
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it hinges on uh which ship you're on So if you go on that marine it's much more luxurious for example Uh now the limblad
27:51
ships seem pretty nice to me I think both of those were put in the sort of the luxury category So they're still
27:56
pretty luxurious You then have a more premium category and a budget category below that But the definitely the the
28:01
leading times Now I know a couple of the people like Rosemary who's here um I guess has also been on some of the small
28:07
ships and she's a massive fan of those So I would like to try those Uh Mark uh
28:13
considering booking Princess So Mark I've been on Princess you probably followed me quite a few times and this
28:19
year I will be going on them twice now I sort of had fallen a little bit out of love with Princess I felt a lot had
28:26
slipped and also their ships have got really big and I'm less keen on the big ships But I'm going in the space of two
28:33
in two months both in May and June I'm going back on Princess I'm going back on Sky Princess which I think will be my
28:39
third time maybe fourth time on Sky Princess and third time on Sky Princess
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with the Paul and Carol Group cruise So that's the that one class of ship which I think is 3,600 passengers Then in June
28:54
I'm going on Sun Princess So their new sort of mega ships which also have that sort of ship within a ship concept uh
29:00
and and so on So um you know so we will you know we'll see that So I just saw
29:06
something that I need to block I just someone was posting some sort of spammy stuff So I there we go So let me just
29:16
block that Um so so so Princess is definitely I mean they're premium
29:22
they're um you know I've heard hopefully that they're uh the food is kind of
29:28
upped quite a bit Um they are you know very comparable to kind of your Holland America Princess etc So definitely give
29:35
them a try and obviously I will soon be able to give you some updates on how I think how I think they're they're doing
29:42
Um so let's have a look uh at
29:49
um this is actually this is a good question I haven't actually So Kia Ken good to see you Have you booked any of
29:55
the solar eclipse cruises in August I haven't actually booked the solar eclipse cruises and I know people are very excited about them and the prices
30:02
are a little bit crazy because people are so excited about them and I guess the cruise lines learned last time that
30:07
they were very popular I haven't actually booked them I I don't know why but I'm
30:13
not it hasn't like it excited me and maybe it should have and maybe I'll regret it Um that that I haven't done it
30:20
but certainly I haven't booked any of those Um and I know quite a few people around here have Um but if you are
30:27
booking them I guess my advice from what I've learned is do them pretty soon because uh if you can because prices are
30:33
going up Here's I guess Mark here we got Mark's got an add building your question
30:38
up slowly Mark Uh we're considering booking Princess SL Okay so you weren't talking
30:43
about Princess at all You were talking about uh Kunard We're considering booking Princess or Queens on Queen in
30:50
August What are you hearing on service levels now compared to the below par offerings when the ship launched I mean
30:55
in reality Mark we didn't have below par service We were on the second sailing and I don't think they were that far off
31:02
I mean the beginning was a little bit rough but they were kind of got in their stride Um so I haven't seen anything
31:07
negative around that I'm sure you know thing with Kod it is very divisive So you'll find particular if you go on
31:13
cruise critic very divisive but certainly they were on their stride when we were there Queens is is great Uh
31:18
Princess is great So I haven't seen I haven't seen uh uh anything from there
31:27
Um let's have a look Elizabeth great name So I guess when you book things people think the the actress is coming
31:33
So hopefully you get lots of perks from people thinking they've got Liz Hurley actress coming We booked our Viking
31:39
cruise directly sales in June Did we miss out on travel agent perks or benefits Is there any way to get some
31:45
extras Uh on the letter part not really No Uh so a lot of it depends on who you're booking with Now biking depending
31:52
on the country uh you know wasn't working a lot with travel agents They're working much more with travel agents now
31:58
So a lot of it depends on what your travel agents are doing So it's not necessarily big differences So I
32:03
wouldn't worry and feel that you've lost out on on anything specifically Elizabeth It's not that you get massive
32:08
big differences Sometimes you might get extra credit or something like that So you're not likely to have missed out on
32:14
on on a lot Ken in fact I just saw that Ken goes cruising He has a channel In fact he's on the uh the group cruise
32:22
porn car I see rather nicely Ken they were uh pushing promoting your um your
32:30
Skype recent Skype Princess review So um uh I haven't watched that yet but I have
32:36
it on my to-do list Uh Lance uh love your channel Thank you
32:41
very much How was your experience booking shore excursions on your Crystal Cruise We booked for January 2026 on
32:47
Crystal Symphony So I had a pretty good experience Lance but like I would particularly for Japan I would encourage
32:53
you to go in and book as early as possible Now the great thing about with Crystal is you don't have to pay until
33:00
you're on board And then you can also cancel them with no penalty as long as you need to check But generally speaking
33:06
it was 48 hours Although for the first set of cruises it was like within 6 or
33:11
7:00 p.m on on day one for the first port So the great thing is you could lock those down Now the reason I say
33:17
book them early is some of the popular ones will go and particularly in Japan you'll see some of the popular ones you
33:23
know anytime you Japan they will go quickly Um and bear in mind you can cancel them later So for example I was a
33:29
little bit slow I did it whether I was going to do we were in Shanghai overnights and we were getting there
33:34
lateish and they did have an evening tour I was then doing a full like nine hour tour the next day and I was like
33:39
should I do the evening tour Shouldn't I do the evening tour and then I decided I would do it By the time I decided it was weight list only However even before we
33:46
went on the cruise the wait list was lifted because they added uh more capacity I guess But my tip would be is
33:52
go in early I had actually I booked a whole lot and I actually cancelled them because some of them because they you
33:58
know um as I learned more about the ports once I was there they always have shuttles they had quite good port
34:05
immersion stuff on the television telling you about where you would docking and stuff like that So I kind of
34:10
cancel them quite easily But go in early definitely for Japan Go in early and
34:16
because capacity is sometimes a little bit more limited in Japan and it's hard sometimes my understanding when I was on
34:23
region there recently it's quite hard some to add capacity at limited times particular if you're going I'm not sure
34:28
when you're going but there are periods when Japan is very busy So that that would that would be that would be the
34:34
way Um just reminder write the word question so I don't miss it I spotted your question Keith and I did miss it
34:40
You've been on Kunard many times What's the most efficient way to get from the Kunard port in Southampton to downtown
34:47
London Well Keith I like uh using the train Uh it's a pretty efficient way You
34:54
get into Waterloo Uh it's about an hour and a something on the train Uh you know
34:59
you can get and they go pretty frequently The downside with the train is even though it's quite you know
35:05
massive for the port is it's quite difficult some there's no lug luggage
35:10
holding spaces sometimes you're fighting a little bit with your luggage but definitely the most cost effective and
35:16
simplest way is on the train Now there are also coaches that will run so
35:22
national express coaches Now you have to get to the national express place There also is likely to be I think it's a
35:28
company called shearings that cannot partner with If you talk about booking a
35:33
car or something that's pretty costly but you will find that you know because it's an hour and a half uh drive and and
35:39
cars are really really expensive You know if you book a black lane or something you you're probably spending you know 100200 pounds at least Um the
35:48
taxi drivers at at the station will offer to take you to London as well The only thing is you need to get from the
35:54
the the terminal to the train station There are loads of taxis there and they normally grumble uh to take you to the
36:01
station because it's not very far away Um but then that's you know that's just
36:06
the way it goes Uh but I would the train would be the way that I would normally
36:12
do I would normally go down on the train uh is what I would do Um but do also check out will offer some transfers
36:19
National Express is another is another option Um Scott we're heading to Hawaii on
36:27
Silver Sea in April Fabulous Very envious I really want to do much more Hawaii and obviously Silver is fantastic
36:33
Uh it's three weeks with at least three formal nights Recommendations on how to dress on those evenings while packing
36:39
light So Scott I mean you're right Silver Sea passages tend to be fairly
36:46
dressy I found you know in terms of the dressing rankings I would say crystal people dressed even smarter and were
36:53
even on nonformal nights were were way more dressed then you got silvery probably regent and and seaborn or way
37:01
below that so I mean um in terms of formal evenings you know silvery are not or the formalings you know it's not in
37:07
my experience anyway the silver sea troops I've been on have not been you know many people in bow ties not even
37:14
people in ties I tend to take either a suit uh or I take a jacket I the pack
37:21
never wear it and I wear the same one on all the formal nights basically and then I use those suit trousers for most of
37:29
the nights as well So um you know so I might take another pair of slacks or
37:35
whatever and then I just use you know wear slacks and and the suit So basically I'm taking one suit um or or
37:42
two slacks and a and a sports coat and I take a tie but I've never worn a tie on se on silver sea um I'm sure I have in
37:50
the olden days but certainly in last few trips So I have a three week almost a
37:56
three-we trip on Silver Sea coming up in August September It's a repositioning from uh Alaska to Japan and I will do
38:03
the same thing I will take a suit and some slacks basically and I'll take a
38:08
tie just in case Rashika is asking the question what do you think of a Mediterranean cruise
38:14
in December Very cold and can be a little bit um weather you know the
38:19
weather is really cold Uh even though obviously the med is a little bit warmer than it may be in Northern Europe and
38:25
also um you know it can be a little bit you know the med can be a little bit
38:30
choppy I mean the med can be choppy even in summer but um so you know the ports will be a little bit chilly and cold it
38:37
won't be massively busy now um you're not because it's the med you're not going to have many options I guess MSC
38:44
run stuff through the cost you're not going to have many options so you're going to be very limited on what you can do and itineries you can do uh so it's
38:52
not the greatest time to go to be honest um and you're very very limited on who you can go with it wouldn't be high on
38:58
my list some people like to do northern European in cruises because you can obviously go up to uh uh Norway and you
39:05
can go you know it's snowy and you can do dog sledding and uh you know what's
39:12
it what's dark and but you can have a very Christmy kind of thing Uh there are some cruises that go and do some of the
39:18
Christmas markets probably a river cruise is even better in terms of Christmas markets but you'll do some which will go to like Sebugger for Bruge
39:25
and stuff uh for Christmas markets um would would be the thing to do
39:32
Um KB just talking about that MSC are starting to to push Explorer It's
39:37
interesting actually you say that K noticed I've got a couple of emails because I signed up for the MSC
39:42
newsletters and they've started to doing a couple of marketing things for Explorer and I think it's very interesting because I've seen people
39:50
talking about uh you know the ship's not selling terribly full and it's a bit
39:55
like Crystal Crystal doesn't sell full uh yet because it's still building up trust and stuff So I guess they're now
40:01
pushing going to make sense to try and migrate people onto onto onto that Um
40:06
for sure Um let's have a look Claudia I'm not
40:12
sure I entirely understand the question So let's have a look Inexperience with elsewhere customized itineraries I'm
40:18
assuming that's a company using local experts TPG So the points guy uh
40:24
recommend reading good reviews Generally speaking I think you're right anything that the the points guy for those who
40:30
don't know they're sort of as the name suggests they're very airline focused but generally speaking they're really good on tips and Jean Sloan who is their
40:38
cruise guy of course is he's fantastic very knowledgeable so I would tend to lean in but if anyone's got better tips
40:44
I've never been to India so I I it's one of the places I haven't been to for some reason it's not on my list probably
40:49
should be um and um so if anyone has better experience or has experience with
40:55
them but generally speaking points sky are are really really good Assign Vault
41:01
Mad Chen How do Winstar and Pon sail ships smaller size affect the immunity
41:06
when comparing to the conventional ships Do they sell slower and more prone to delays So I have not been on the sailing
41:13
ships It's really high on my list Uh pan only have one It's a very small ship Uh Winstar obviously have bigger ships So
41:20
you know the pan sailing ship is really really small very intimate uh ship and um so they have you know they do have
41:27
combination of in fact the complaint that some people have is they use Sydney Winstar and um even uh I forgot my name
41:35
what's it called Star Clippers there's a complaint that they use engines more so they will have an itinerary uh so in
41:42
terms of delays no because they will use they you know they will still meet their itineraries um as any ship will do and
41:48
they'll use combination of sale and power basically uh basically to there echo bravo this is an interesting
41:55
question as well um so basically you're right Fraser at sea um I've been on
42:01
river Riviera river cruises quite a few bloggers have been on river cruise been very active asking cruise bloggers they
42:08
keep asking me to go uh on one of their trips I turn them down because as you know I don't go on any hosted trips at
42:14
all um but the ships do look pretty good and what's very interesting is um and I
42:20
I did in my review that I did of River Cruise Lines Riviera do not get great
42:25
scores Uh quite rightly so You know as you say um and from what I can see
42:32
looking at it is um they promise a five-star experience If you look at
42:37
their advertising on their site they pitch it very much as a fivestar experience And what people say is there's a disconnect between that
42:44
because it is a better value line So I mentioned I was looking at options for July and stuff And they are definitely
42:50
more inexpensive than some of the other lines like Avalon and um Amma waterways
42:55
and stuff which is probably more more upscale and Avalon but um you know so I
43:01
think it's maybe a slight disconnect um but they do have some newer ships and stuff um but it does it's more it's a
43:09
more it's a less luxurious thing So I think that's probably why some of the river cruise lines are still quite luxurious and they are very expensive
43:16
river cruising river cruising per day is very expensive particular when you compare it to ocean view I think it's really combination of that slight
43:21
disconnect um uh thing thing of all
43:28
um I don't really understand this because I don't think it's impossible at all uh some sign malt mansion is it
43:35
usually possible for two persons to share a cab with different itineries but with the same departure wouldn't date so so no the ship will be going to I don't
43:43
I I think I may be missing something but um uh the the um you can't the ship is
43:50
only going one to one place I guess I think I'm missing the thing Uh France is really an important point Now this has
43:56
actually changed If you originate a fight in a nonuk country but have a connection in the UK you're required to have an ETA That has changed So when it
44:03
was originally launched Francis is 100% correct That was the requirement They did back down Literally if you were
44:10
transferring you had to get a um you had to get a ETA They have backed down Now
44:16
of course always double check that Don't take my word for it but they have uh they have changed they have changed that
44:22
Um Francis giving some advice Um Dr Haynes had a cruise line excursion uh
44:28
ferry Um Elizabeth asking a question Um they
44:34
have ports are calling Canada New Funland and New Nova Scotia Uh I don't have I did a Canadian I did those ports
44:41
as part of my group cruise but I didn't do uh I didn't actually go on the excursion so didn't make a video on that
44:47
So um let me think Paul and Carol their videos aren't who are on the haven't got
44:53
coming out yet Um so if you take so I don't have specific recommendations
44:58
there are some very key things to do I'm trying to think if you have a look at I tell you who um have covered that tune a
45:06
couple of times In fact they're on it right now is Richard with visit us I think they have some stuff around
45:11
excursions from that but I don't So if other people do particularly people on my group cruise have better
45:16
recommendations So I didn't I didn't actually do do those Um
45:21
so Ken goes cruising Um what order should we book the restaurants I would
45:27
focus on is it red ginger uh is the one The other thing now Vista depending on
45:33
when you're going they are putting they're getting rid of um the the I forgot what it's called and they're
45:38
bringing back Jacques I would jump in on Jacques very quickly because that's very popular and when they bring it back uh
45:44
people will leap on that Um those are the two that I would start with as your priority Those are sort of the two
45:51
iconic Oceanania ones And when they changed uh they didn't put J on Vista people were kind of outraged and clearly
45:58
the concept didn't work They put it on UA and they're bringing it back on Vista quite soon So um if you paid final
46:05
balance I guess you're going in 90 days or something So I'm not exactly sure if that's going to work uh for for you but
46:10
hopefully um there do I like that Do you choose your
46:16
own music for Instagram stories It always seems for the music Yes I so those you know I love Instagram Um my
46:23
Instagram is uh Gary Benbridge and when I'm on trips I do post stories every day
46:28
little video stories and I love music um enormously and I do spend a lot of time
46:36
thinking around the music and anyone who watches man stories will please know
46:42
that but they do common the music and often I'll have a theme whether it's Bond themes or uh 70s themes or Kylie or
46:50
whatever So I do spend a lot of time thinking around the music because I think the music picks it up I love I love doing that So thanks Good to know
46:56
Uh really good to know that um that uh that that that uh you're enjoying that
47:02
Thank you very much Um Oh Arland saying um to expand a little bit more on
47:09
Seaborn had lost his weight Please expand on that Is it considering Glacier Bay cruise next to you online So you're right Glacia Bay Alaska is really
47:16
important They're one of the few cruise lines that can go there It's really just more that um the you know coming out of
47:22
the pandemic I felt that Seabour had really dialed back on stuff They you did
47:28
get a real sense of cost cutting of taking some kind of luxury out I felt the menus had become less good They then
47:35
backed out of the partnership with Thomas Keller They introduced their own concept Solless which has got more mixed
47:41
views Um and I just felt they sort of you know they are expensive They're ultra luxury Um but they just didn't
47:49
feel you're getting the degree of kind of it's kind of those softer things the service etc Now they do have Seaborn
47:55
moments They have the Caviar Sailors they have unlimited caviar stuff It's just that I felt they kind of just
48:01
weren't firing on all engines of fuel particularly as regent were really investing much more in the product and
48:07
Silversey since they were taken over by Royal Caribbean investing a lot in the product uh both uh you know the soft
48:13
product the the offerings the wine list etc etc etc so it's more that they had
48:18
just sort of gone off the boil if you were it weren't that they were terrible um uh because they you know being ultra
48:24
luxury it's still pretty good not pretty good it is it is good just that the others had pulled away So for the same
48:29
price the others were kind of pulling away and certainly since Crystal's come in I think that's made it even more so
48:35
So I think you know it's not that you should worry about them It's just that they have gone off the ball now They
48:40
have changed the president They've chi changed the leadership So I think we will see uh we you we will we will see
48:47
we will see that uh you know change Mity Crafts uh any clothing advice for
48:53
Kimbley Do I need a mosquito net for my hat Now a lot of it I think a little bit depends on when you go I I did not have
48:59
a mosquito net I need a mosquito net when I went to Greenland but I didn't use one Um but I think we were I I went
49:06
in July and I my understanding is they very time dependent So I would
49:12
definitely take one I did have one because I got one when I went uh from my Greenland trip So I did have it with me
49:18
I didn't use it I didn't need to But I would basically um you know what I had
49:24
um you it's very can be very hot very sticky So um you know I did wear always
49:30
um you know sun in Australia is very big So I had a wide-brimmed hat which I would strongly strongly recommend So a
49:36
good old widebrimmed hat Uh I had always wore long sleeves So I got this sort of
49:42
it's sort of um sort of like material It's like I think they it's like rashy material It's
49:49
I don't know what you call it but it's sort of very breathable material But I always wore long sleeves Um I did wear
49:55
more shorts kind of stuff uh really good shoes that you're very comfortable wearing because you're going to be
50:00
clamoring over stuff and climbing over stuff and I know those not clothing but
50:05
of course loads and loads of sunscreen is key But I did wear kind of long sleeves I did also take with me which I
50:11
actually originally bought for Galapagus which actually worked out quite well They're these trousers They weren't that
50:17
expensive Again that's very breathable material but they have a zip at the knee so you can turn them from long trousers
50:23
into short trousers Uh shorts really easily but they're very breathable very light So that's the sort of stuff you
50:29
want So I had lots of sort of beigy kind of stuff So hopefully that's good Was anything else I had No I think that was
50:35
the key Uh that was the absolute key Um Rob asking me um have I uh got any more
50:44
plans I haven't been on Fred Olson for a long time I would like to go back on Fred Olson particularly the ships they
50:50
bought from Holland America I don't have any plans specifically but it is on my sort of list of lines that I that I sort
50:57
of need to sort of need to go to I know Jeff had asked a question about something which I did see come up Um but
51:03
I got a feeling you might have answered that Hopefully I'll get to that Jeff before we go
51:09
Um yeah I've I've seen a question there so I think people have answered that Uh Rhonda good to see you here Rhonda Dave
51:15
and I are going on the Oceanania regata in April to Southeast Asia Singapore to Taipei Any recommendations of things not
51:21
to miss I need to look at it specifically Ronda but I'll give you a couple of things for Singapore and Taipei since
51:28
those are there in Singapore If you're starting in Singapore absolutely make sure that you've got a couple of days
51:34
there Absolutely If you do one thing and one thing only in Singapore go to Gardens by the Bay It is phenomenal uh
51:42
you know it's you go into the two big glass housings which are mind-boggling Uh you have you can go up and walk
51:49
around the elevated uh sort of section but Gardens by the Bay if you just do one thing Go to Gardens by the Bay If
51:56
you uh have time of course go to Raffles if you really want to splash out afternoon tea and raffles is magical but
52:02
of course you want to go to the long bar and have a Singapore sling and eat the monkey nuts and throw those on the floor
52:09
Um you want to if you were here earlier try and go up the top of Marina Bay Sands Booking a restaurant at the top is
52:16
the best way of doing that Um there is uh the hop on hop off of bus is fantastic because you go to because you
52:23
know the thing about Singapore you've got all these different areas the the Indian area the Malaysian area and stuff
52:28
Um and so going on hop on off bus and stopping at those areas is just brilliant Um and you know so building in
52:36
a whole day to do that to spend time doing that Um you can also go off to Sentosa Island but that's you know
52:42
probably is less critical Is a really good uh theme parks I think that probably lower on the list It's more my
52:47
little perk In terms of Taipei um Taipei 101 is absolutely fascinating Uh which
52:55
was one of the tallest buildings in the world It's really great to go up Also in in in uh in Taipei there's really
53:02
interesting there's icon of the square but there's a very big square which is all about and they have some they have
53:10
um is it I forgot his name Tekk isn't it who originally led people when they left
53:15
China um and there's a massive big section there with his car and the history of Taipei and stuff that's
53:22
really really fascinating also uh um those will be the key ones Now I
53:28
don't know the other ports in between so maybe I'll have a look or let me know the other ports and I'll and I'll be able to to tell you those Jay um I keep
53:36
hearing the whole America's better buffet area than other lines Do you agree Great show Not necessarily Um
53:42
people are very split on uh America buffet area Some argue that it's not well laid out particular on the older
53:48
ships Um I think it's pretty I think Celebrity is very strong actually I think Celebrity is one of the strongest
53:54
buffets but it's pretty good Um and probably I would nudge it above Princess but they're all very very close in terms
54:01
of those equivalent lines So if you look at the premium lines so they definitely I would say it's superior to say the
54:07
more mass line So probably it is probably better I mean it's big but it's probably in terms of quality of food and
54:14
stuff is probably you know it's going to be better than your MSE's Norwegian uh Royal Caribbean Carnival for example but
54:19
it's comparable to Celebrity Princess um and stuff I I I would say
54:29
um m I'm a first-time cruiser Very excited Fantastic to hear I love first- time cruising I chose a Kunard
54:35
transatlantic round trip Go big and go home Absolutely Love the enrichment and traditional feel Any advice for an
54:42
ambitious newbie I think probably if you go on Kunard I mean I'm guessing that you probably watch lots of Kunard videos
54:48
It's just absolutely embrace the experience and do everything I mean the daily program on those transatlantics is
54:55
enormous You'll find there's five six seven things to do now because you're doing it there and back You're going to
55:00
have two different sets of enrichment speakers which is great But basically just embrace everything you know go to
55:06
the bingo It's a big thing Go to the afternoon tea Um so just embrace all that stuff would would probably be would
55:14
probably be my uh my my absolute tip
55:22
Megan not coming up for some reason Megan there we go I've seen theme cruisers advertised for particular TV
55:28
shows Star Trek Star Trek is one of the biggest ones Do you have to be a real fan or is it funny even if you're a
55:33
slight fan Is it the whole ship or just part of it So on those particular ones so for example on Star Trek it is a
55:40
charter So they've taken over the whole ship And generally speaking if it's a TV show so for example there was charters
55:46
which were done um you know by uh you know the what's it called if you do the big
55:54
card hallmark for example Hallmark you know chartered various settings because obviously it was one particular show but
56:00
yes it's very much about fans uh you know it's very focused on fans so I would I personally you know I would love
56:07
to go to Star Trek um when I'm a big fan of Star Trek the dates never have worked for me which is really annoying
56:13
And partly because things happen because it's only around February time and it doesn't quite work But you I do think
56:18
you need to be a fan because it is very immersive You know the entertainment the shows they bring on stars from that So
56:24
and you're paying a premium to be there So on those charters I would be a fan to go because you you're paying a premium
56:31
Um and probably you know they have dress up competitions uh Q&As's entertainment
56:38
So you just you know I would only really go if if you're a huge fan Joshua is
56:43
just heading back from Antarctica I'm following him on social media Instagram Great So pleased that you had a great
56:49
time You had just you know brilliant brilliant um uh shots in there You had
56:54
looked like you had great weather and stuff Um Dean answering the question uh
57:00
are we seeing any travel I haven't seen anything anyone reporting travel to Europe uh being affected I haven't seen
57:06
any reports in the media and stuff so I haven't seen anything around that Um Arland is asking the question do any of
57:13
the ultra electric lines on Seaborn do Glacia Bay No The the key thing with um well Viking Viking do Viking have some
57:20
glacia bays So basically the way it works on with Glacia Bay is they only allowed two main large cruise ships in
57:28
per day Uh and people bid on those they have a 10-year license to do that So at
57:33
the moment you've got Cunard sorry you've got um Princess Holland America
57:40
uh I think you've got Royal Caribbean some Norwegian uh Seaborn
57:46
Viking I can't remember the I do have on my one of my my most recent Alaska video I have it but you're right Uh your
57:52
regents your crystals uh Silver Sea uh
57:58
Azamara Windstar do not go into Glacia Bay But John if you want to go ultra luxury Seabor is is the is the absolute
58:06
is the absolute one to to do there Um let's have a look We're gradually
58:12
running out of time Uh Jason are cruise line loyalty
58:18
discounts typically worth it compared to early booking deals or other discounts As a moral circle club must be used
58:24
within 12 months So Jason I am a little bit on the camp that you're sort of implying which is that I tend to focus
58:33
on where do I want to go and what line can I get a great deal or offer from um
58:42
you know because I do feel personally certainly in my experience uh is that
58:47
those you know booking earlier and looking for those deals often will be
58:53
better than the loyalty when you look on a line on an individual basis So I tend to think the danger of getting sucked
59:00
into loyalty is that you get hooked into a line and you can actually maybe doing you know go to Japan or South Africa or
59:06
the Caribbean or whatever You might be able to get an equivalent line or better line or better cabin uh for less than
59:12
kind of that discount So that's that's my my view I know other people are very pro naughty discounts but you do have to
59:18
sell generally speaking very you know huge amounts before you get major discounts And certainly if you're
59:23
booking on board you know you're going to get you know like Crystal is only offered two and a half% others are 5%
59:30
plus you get your 5% So I if I know I wanted to do a route on Silver Sea I will book it So for example when I was
59:36
on Silver Sea when I went on an excursion I knew I wanted to do the repositioning So I booked it on board
59:41
because I got 5% I think it was 5% from the loyalty discount another 5% onboard
59:47
booking So I was getting a big booking discount So actually is the combined thing that was the that that was that
59:53
was the absolute kind kind of uh key travel with Johnny and Will Look forward
1:00:00
to meeting on the Paul and Carol Group cruise Great to look forward to meeting you there Have you any plans to cruise
1:00:05
with Azamara I don't have anything booked with Azamara at this stage I'm a couple people have contacted me um and
1:00:12
I've had a very good experience with Azamara recently I haven't been on them you know for a couple of years now So um
1:00:18
they're not I don't have them scheduled at the moment I would like to try and uh have a look at them again because
1:00:24
certainly uh I feel like they have sort of um uh you know kind of ramped up a
1:00:31
lot and kind of got their act together again But we're saying the jealous of the trans Pacific on the river It's it's
1:00:36
great I mean this combination of the the itinerary and the ship I'm really excited for because I haven't been on on on Nova yet So Jeff here was the point
1:00:43
on the transfers Last time we cruised out of Southampton we took the train but required a transfer So we had to lug our
1:00:48
bags up the stairs Okay So Jeff is right Um there is a lift which is not very
1:00:55
well signposted Uh which means you don't have to lug your bags up the So look for
1:01:00
the lift Now if the lift's out of order obviously or there's lots of passengers you might have to wait a while but you
1:01:06
do have to take you know depending on where your taxi drops you So there are two entrances to the the the train
1:01:13
station So one of my tips would be is if you are heading to London say from from
1:01:19
the um if you're doing it the other way you're going from Southampton to London you London to Southampton is make tell
1:01:27
them that you're going on the train to London and can they drop you at the side that the train departs then you don't have that issue But there are um there
1:01:34
are lifts but you're right When the train arrives there's lots of people you could wait So do that's a good point Thanks Thanks Um thanks very much for
1:01:41
raising that because that is an absolute critical point Um so let's have a look
1:01:49
Um let's see if we got time for at least one more question before we run out Lots of people answering questions which is
1:01:54
great Um let's do let's have a look We'll do one more
1:02:00
question here Karen um our go cruise line is Royal Caribbean
1:02:06
We don't like Pino is too partner orientated We have been on Virgin It was okay What other line can you suggest for
1:02:13
me 61 and my daughter 22 So Karen I would try Celebrity and I would try their newer
1:02:20
ships So the Edgeclass ships So Edge Apex um Excel which is coming soon and beyond
1:02:27
The reason I'm saying that is because it's sort of they are quite big ships but they're quite modern So you might
1:02:32
find it's got a good but it's also classic line So you might find it's a good mix of what you want and what your daughter 22 also wants because you might
1:02:39
find it's kind of there's enough contemporary stuff There's often particular if you're going more summertime there will be you know more
1:02:45
you know people of her age on as well but it's a little bit more funky and stuff So um you know it's not quite as
1:02:51
out there as Virgin Uh it's a little bit more leaning towards the classic side I mean you could also try the more classic
1:02:57
uh cris uh more classic celebrity ships the solstice class ships but they do
1:03:02
tend to be a little bit more sedate in in some ways I mean the entertainment is a little you know more out more
1:03:10
extravagant you know acrobatic and stuff but I feel like that would be a good combo because it's a contemporary ship
1:03:17
but it's got enough classic So I would definitely give them a go and they're they are um owned by Royal Caribbean So
1:03:24
the other plus you've got is that any of status you've got in Royal Caribbean will carry over to you on celebrity So
1:03:29
if you got certain status you'll get some of the perks there Um and it will also add to your overall perks as well
1:03:36
So it it kind of reinforces uh you know it helps build your your status there And I love it with that because when I
1:03:42
Royal Caribbean even though I hadn't been Royal Caribbean maybe once I was diamond sated so I was getting those four free drinks and stuff You don't get
1:03:48
that on Celebrity but you'll get kind of equivalent stuff Thanks everybody for that There are loads of fantastic
1:03:55
questions As always I really appreciate you joining me Remember I will be back next week The times will still be in the
1:04:01
US the later times at the 1:00 in the East Coast the 10:00 in Pacific time
1:04:07
because we will we will be on the um the UK hasn't changed yet Have a great week
1:04:13
Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks so much for joining me really appreciate it as always Bye
1:04:27
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