ATHLLC1636805466

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.400 | - Hello, and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks,

00:00:04.960 | a show about upgrading your life, money, and travel.

00:00:07.260 | I'm your host, Chris Hutchins,

00:00:08.360 | and if you're even remotely interested in cruises,

00:00:10.360 | this is going to be an amazing episode.

00:00:12.360 | And spoiler alert, I'm recording this after the interview,

00:00:15.040 | and I'll be honest, I was a little bit of a skeptic

00:00:17.080 | on cruises, and I am totally convinced

00:00:19.020 | and excited to go on one.

00:00:20.560 | And who better to join me for this conversation

00:00:22.720 | than Emma Latisse, a cruise expert and content creator,

00:00:25.760 | to talk about every way you could optimize

00:00:27.780 | your cruising experience, we'll cover everything you need

00:00:30.080 | to know from the best destinations,

00:00:31.660 | picking the right operator, the right cabins,

00:00:33.600 | different activities, and entertainment on board,

00:00:35.680 | and even ways that you might be able to use

00:00:37.400 | cruise loyalty programs to snag the best,

00:00:39.720 | or even free deals.

00:00:41.440 | Emma's been cruising since she was 11,

00:00:43.240 | has been on over 50 cruises, and has a wealth of knowledge

00:00:46.300 | on everything from luxury yachts to huge mega ships,

00:00:49.560 | and getting great deals on everything.

00:00:52.160 | I am so excited to have her on the show,

00:00:53.780 | so let's jump in right after this.

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00:02:12.240 | (upbeat music)

00:02:14.040 | Emma, thank you for being here.

00:02:15.520 | - Thanks for having me, I'm excited.

00:02:17.520 | - It's funny, when I think of travel traditionally,

00:02:19.680 | and in the past with this show,

00:02:20.960 | I think of flights, I think of cars and hotels,

00:02:23.160 | but cruises aren't usually in that top three,

00:02:25.960 | but you have enough experience to make a case for it.

00:02:28.520 | So I'm curious if you can make a case for cruises

00:02:30.760 | that people maybe haven't heard or might be neglecting.

00:02:33.640 | - Okay, so I think for me,

00:02:35.320 | one of my favorite things about cruising

00:02:36.840 | is it makes travel so much easier.

00:02:38.680 | Like you say, you're used to talking

00:02:40.080 | about hotels and flights.

00:02:41.800 | Often if you book a cruise, you book one thing,

00:02:43.720 | you pay once, and that is it.

00:02:45.360 | For a week, for two weeks, it's like being looked after,

00:02:48.320 | and it's a really good way to sort of get an insight

00:02:50.920 | into different countries.

00:02:52.080 | You can go on a cruise and visit

00:02:53.360 | five different countries in a week,

00:02:55.000 | which if you were going to do that on land,

00:02:57.080 | that requires a lot of planning, and that's quite hard.

00:02:59.360 | - Do you feel like you get time in those countries

00:03:01.360 | to really see them, or is it usually you're there

00:03:03.600 | for five hours and you kind of just get

00:03:05.280 | a little quick glimpse?

00:03:06.600 | - It does depend.

00:03:07.440 | I mean, it's quite common to have two days in a port.

00:03:10.280 | I've done three days in a row in port.

00:03:12.360 | I often go back to places that I've visited on a cruise,

00:03:15.320 | and you can find out within a day

00:03:17.120 | whether you want to spend more time there,

00:03:18.960 | or if you don't want to go back there.

00:03:20.520 | So it's quite nice for that.

00:03:21.960 | - When did this whole cruise passion begin for you?

00:03:24.360 | - So I was 11 when I took my first cruise.

00:03:26.760 | That was not my deciding.

00:03:28.240 | That was a big family cruise,

00:03:29.880 | and from that moment, I was hooked.

00:03:31.480 | The things that I liked about it when I was 11

00:03:33.760 | are very different to the things I like now.

00:03:36.120 | You know, for me at 11, I had so much more freedom

00:03:39.080 | than I had in my regular life.

00:03:40.800 | I was on there with my cousins,

00:03:42.320 | so my parents might want to do a formal sit-down dinner,

00:03:45.960 | and me and my cousins could run off and go to the buffet.

00:03:48.280 | And for me, to get pizza in the buffet by myself at 11,

00:03:51.360 | I got to go to the kids' clubs.

00:03:53.000 | I would think I was so cool.

00:03:54.400 | I had American friends, Australian friends,

00:03:56.800 | and it was just so much fun.

00:03:58.280 | - It's funny.

00:03:59.120 | I decided that I really wanted to go to boarding school

00:04:01.000 | for a lot of the same reasons.

00:04:02.240 | - Really?

00:04:03.080 | - It seems like a much different proposition.

00:04:04.520 | You could just do it for a couple of weeks,

00:04:05.920 | but I wanted the freedom to be able to do things

00:04:08.600 | and go over without having to ask for rides for my parents.

00:04:12.000 | But this is not a conversation about boarding school.

00:04:14.200 | For people who are unfamiliar,

00:04:15.520 | I wonder if we could try to set the landscape of cruising,

00:04:18.600 | because some people might think,

00:04:19.960 | "Oh, it's just these massive carnival cruise ships

00:04:22.560 | "that go to the Bahamas."

00:04:23.880 | So how do you think about different types of lines

00:04:26.720 | and ships, but then maybe next,

00:04:28.400 | after we can talk about the kind of destinations

00:04:30.720 | and lengths and that kind of stuff?

00:04:32.160 | - It's really interesting to hear you say carnival cruises,

00:04:35.440 | the thing that comes to mind.

00:04:36.960 | 'Cause when I speak to someone from the UK,

00:04:39.080 | the first thought that they have is,

00:04:41.000 | "Oh, cruises are really boring.

00:04:42.640 | "They're for old people.

00:04:43.680 | "They're very traditional."

00:04:45.040 | Whereas in the US, it's seen much more as a party thing.

00:04:48.040 | And both of those things are true.

00:04:49.880 | I'm not saying they're not true,

00:04:51.000 | but there is everything in between.

00:04:52.720 | So there's a couple of big American cruise lines,

00:04:55.520 | which are probably the ones that people would recognize.

00:04:57.760 | They're the ones that tend to be

00:04:59.040 | more sort of family focused,

00:05:00.800 | but there's also many, many more luxurious cruise lines.

00:05:04.040 | And there's so much in between.

00:05:05.920 | I mean, I've done cruises with as few as 19 guests on board

00:05:09.640 | on tiny ships.

00:05:10.880 | And then all the way up to 6,500 guests,

00:05:14.240 | I think is the biggest ship I've been on.

00:05:16.040 | So if you're someone who wants to,

00:05:18.160 | just sit by the pool with a book and eat good food

00:05:20.560 | and enjoy drinks that are brought to you,

00:05:22.480 | there's so many cruise lines that do that.

00:05:24.280 | And if you're somebody who wants to do,

00:05:26.320 | I've done skydiving simulators, surf simulators, zip lines.

00:05:30.280 | If you want all of that adrenaline filled stuff,

00:05:33.120 | that's there too.

00:05:33.960 | But there's just so much variety,

00:05:35.400 | I think within the cruise industry.

00:05:36.800 | I don't think I've ever found anybody

00:05:39.160 | who I've not thought you would suit that one.

00:05:41.720 | - Maybe some examples that people want some inspiration.

00:05:44.040 | What are a few other kind of brands

00:05:46.160 | that if someone wanted to just quickly look online

00:05:48.320 | to understand kind of a little more

00:05:50.520 | down what you're talking about?

00:05:51.800 | - The main ones are Royal Caribbean,

00:05:53.400 | Norwegian and Carnival.

00:05:54.880 | They're sort of the biggest ones.

00:05:56.000 | You'll probably recognize those.

00:05:57.480 | We also have a lot of British cruise lines.

00:05:59.520 | That's a different conversation.

00:06:01.000 | And there's also a lot of European cruise lines

00:06:03.000 | that I don't think people should ignore.

00:06:04.800 | I think it's nice if you're gonna go to Italy

00:06:07.200 | to cruise with an Italian cruise line

00:06:08.920 | where everybody on board is Italian.

00:06:10.800 | I find that really fun.

00:06:11.720 | I know it's not for everybody, but I really enjoy it.

00:06:13.920 | And there's a lot of sort of smaller,

00:06:15.800 | more adult cruise lines.

00:06:17.800 | If you wanted to do a cruise with a cruise line

00:06:19.760 | like Princess, Holland America, Celebrity,

00:06:23.200 | you won't find as many children on board,

00:06:25.360 | but you'll find very good food, very good service.

00:06:27.880 | They all have theater shows every day.

00:06:30.040 | For me, if I think about what my ideal day is,

00:06:32.920 | it involves lots of eating out.

00:06:34.600 | It involves live music, maybe involves going for a swim.

00:06:38.400 | All of that stuff is on a cruise.

00:06:39.920 | So there are some more quirky cruise lines

00:06:42.640 | if you're interested in doing

00:06:43.960 | a very spontaneous adult cruise.

00:06:46.640 | Virgin just started a cruise line,

00:06:48.640 | so there's just so much in there.

00:06:50.720 | - So in my mind, it's like, oh, it's a family thing, right?

00:06:53.120 | There's kids running around.

00:06:53.960 | You just said some of them are adult only.

00:06:55.560 | Do you think that works at every tier?

00:06:57.000 | Are there places that people should focus on

00:06:59.200 | if you're younger versus older?

00:07:00.960 | Want kids, don't want kids?

00:07:02.480 | How do you think about it from that perspective?

00:07:04.040 | - I would say generally the cheaper the cruise is,

00:07:06.760 | the more kids you're gonna get on there

00:07:08.400 | because you get a lot of discounted

00:07:10.240 | third and fourth passenger places.

00:07:12.640 | So when you have a cabin,

00:07:14.000 | often they'll hold three or four people,

00:07:15.920 | but in reality, normally you'll only have two in there

00:07:18.320 | 'cause they have sort of bunk beds.

00:07:19.880 | Normally four adults wouldn't share a cabin.

00:07:22.080 | If you go on the cheaper end,

00:07:23.800 | sometimes, you know, I cruised recently with my family

00:07:26.680 | and the children were 49 pounds,

00:07:29.000 | which is about $60 for 13 nights.

00:07:32.120 | So if you do go down to the budget end,

00:07:35.120 | obviously you're gonna fill those spaces with children.

00:07:37.960 | When you get a bit more luxurious,

00:07:40.040 | and I would say a ship with around 1,000 or less,

00:07:42.960 | I would class as a small cruise ship now.

00:07:44.960 | I know it sounds a lot, 1,000 people,

00:07:46.760 | but on those ones, they tend to be a bit more expensive

00:07:49.320 | and they tend to be a bit more adult focused.

00:07:51.680 | Not that children, they can still go on some of these,

00:07:54.040 | but they tend to be a bit more adult.

00:07:55.960 | - And what's that price range, right?

00:07:57.280 | You said obviously at the low end,

00:07:59.000 | but if someone's thinking about a cruise

00:08:00.840 | at the highest level,

00:08:02.080 | you're spending from what to what per night?

00:08:04.320 | - For me personally,

00:08:05.160 | I'm gonna try and translate into dollars in my head.

00:08:07.320 | For me, my sort of happy space

00:08:09.360 | would be around $150 per person per night.

00:08:12.200 | That's where I'm happy.

00:08:13.080 | A mainstream cruise line, you can do that.

00:08:14.840 | If you're gonna do something like a river cruise,

00:08:17.400 | they can be $500 per person per night.

00:08:20.240 | You could do $1,000 per person per night

00:08:22.320 | if you wanted to do that.

00:08:23.720 | And I think the cheapest I've done was around $50.

00:08:26.920 | So from 50 to 1,000, anywhere in that range.

00:08:30.320 | - Well, we're gonna talk about getting deals in a bit,

00:08:32.280 | but one thing I'll share for inspiration,

00:08:34.440 | a friend of mine, Ramit Sethi,

00:08:35.720 | went on this amazing, beautiful cruise.

00:08:37.800 | So if people wanna see the other side

00:08:39.560 | of high-end, beautiful,

00:08:40.920 | there's this cruise in Japan

00:08:42.320 | and it's like a floating hotel

00:08:43.760 | and the website's gone to guntu.jp.

00:08:47.120 | I don't know if you've seen this one before,

00:08:48.760 | but I just want for people who wanna go online

00:08:50.720 | and look at that other end of cruising

00:08:52.720 | that doesn't look a thing like a giant cruise ship

00:08:55.400 | with the most beautiful food and hospitality.

00:08:57.880 | That's just something to kind of wet people's palate.

00:08:59.920 | Let's talk about where, right?

00:09:01.040 | Are there major regions for cruising?

00:09:03.520 | I assume you could probably cruise anywhere,

00:09:05.160 | but are there kind of really common destinations?

00:09:07.680 | - So the main ones out of the US,

00:09:09.640 | obviously Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean,

00:09:12.680 | and sort of cruising out of New York.

00:09:14.160 | Those ones are very, very popular.

00:09:15.520 | Cruising over here in Europe,

00:09:16.680 | we have a lot of Mediterranean cruises.

00:09:18.680 | Great for us in winter when it's a bit dark

00:09:21.160 | and a bit rainy in the UK,

00:09:22.240 | we can go to somewhere like Barcelona in two hours

00:09:25.040 | and get much better weather.

00:09:26.360 | There's also a lot of sort of Norway cruises around here.

00:09:29.000 | I like to think of Norway as our version of Alaska,

00:09:31.640 | but you can cruise across the Atlantic if you want.

00:09:34.040 | You can cruise across the Pacific.

00:09:35.720 | I just got back from a cruise that went to Japan,

00:09:38.040 | which was absolutely incredible.

00:09:39.600 | And then we have cruises that are around Australia.

00:09:41.960 | So yeah, pretty much anywhere where there's ocean,

00:09:44.440 | there are cruises.

00:09:45.320 | Cruises in the Middle East are becoming quite popular now.

00:09:47.520 | I haven't done that yet,

00:09:48.520 | but it probably would be easier to say where cruises aren't.

00:09:51.080 | 'Cause I mean, you can cruise to Antarctica

00:09:53.000 | if you have the budget for it.

00:09:53.840 | - Yeah, that would be one at the higher end.

00:09:55.520 | How many cruises have you been on?

00:09:56.800 | - I'm on 61 cruises, which I know sounds bonkers and it is,

00:10:00.360 | but that's counting every single, you know,

00:10:02.600 | I've done some very big ferries, river cruises.

00:10:05.440 | I've done some press launches.

00:10:07.040 | I did one cruise that was canceled after four hours

00:10:09.560 | and they canceled it while we were at dinner

00:10:11.040 | and we had to go home.

00:10:11.880 | And I'm still counting that 'cause I unpack.

00:10:14.120 | So that's absolutely every day.

00:10:15.320 | - Okay.

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00:13:11.240 | And I guess I forgot to ask,

00:13:12.120 | how would you, as someone trying to look at cruises,

00:13:14.800 | what are some of the evaluation criteria

00:13:16.720 | they should use comparing different cruise lines?

00:13:18.920 | Are there things you would look at

00:13:20.200 | that maybe I wouldn't think to look at,

00:13:22.220 | other than pictures of a boat?

00:13:23.800 | Yes, you need to find a cruise line

00:13:25.440 | that suits you in terms of how busy it's gonna be.

00:13:27.880 | Some people like to be entertained all the time.

00:13:30.320 | They like to have diving shows, ice skating.

00:13:33.000 | There's cruise lines that do that.

00:13:34.400 | Some people have no interest in that.

00:13:36.040 | So there's no point booking a cruise ship

00:13:37.700 | that has a go-kart track taking up a third of the top deck

00:13:41.080 | if you're someone who doesn't wanna do that.

00:13:42.740 | Some cruise lines do still have dress codes.

00:13:45.320 | And I know a lot of people find it really weird

00:13:47.080 | to be told what to wear.

00:13:48.480 | Not all cruise lines do that,

00:13:50.000 | but that's something I would definitely research

00:13:51.800 | before booking, 'cause you don't wanna show up

00:13:53.760 | and then it's just not what you planned.

00:13:55.960 | And you mentioned 61.

00:13:57.200 | Are there some favorite highlights of cruises that you say,

00:14:00.360 | if you're just looking to do this for the first time,

00:14:01.980 | here are two or the three of the best ones I've done?

00:14:03.880 | If someone came to me and they said,

00:14:05.040 | "I'm gonna only do one cruise in my entire life,"

00:14:07.640 | which cruise should it be?

00:14:08.760 | It is Singapore to Tokyo,

00:14:10.680 | because it is absolutely unlike anything.

00:14:13.120 | Every place I went to was so interesting.

00:14:15.720 | And I think traveling in Asia by cruise ship

00:14:18.440 | is a lot easier because you know where you're gonna sleep.

00:14:21.320 | You know what your food's gonna be.

00:14:22.680 | You can go out and be adventurous during the day

00:14:25.000 | and then you still have your sort of comfort zone

00:14:27.320 | that comes round with you.

00:14:28.520 | So I really like that.

00:14:29.920 | If someone's coming to me

00:14:31.440 | and they're thinking of a first cruise in Europe,

00:14:34.280 | I normally say a seven day Mediterranean cruise.

00:14:36.780 | I think that's long enough to give you a taste of it.

00:14:39.280 | And you can see a lot of places in seven days.

00:14:41.680 | If you're in the US,

00:14:42.600 | the most popular first cruise is a Caribbean cruise,

00:14:45.520 | which is not my favorite.

00:14:47.360 | I feel like it's very man-made.

00:14:49.040 | A lot of the cruise ports,

00:14:50.560 | they're designed for cruise ships,

00:14:52.200 | but it'll give you a taste of,

00:14:53.920 | are you happy to be on a ship?

00:14:55.540 | Some people find it really weird that they look out

00:14:57.840 | and there's just sea in every direction.

00:14:59.720 | And you only need one day on board

00:15:01.480 | to find out if you like that or not.

00:15:03.160 | - Where would you suggest someone start

00:15:04.840 | if they're thinking, "I wanna go on a cruise.

00:15:06.440 | "Do I pick the line and then look at the places

00:15:08.540 | "or do I pick the place and then look at the lines?"

00:15:10.760 | - What I do is I look overall at a place.

00:15:13.640 | So I may say, "I really want to go to Norway."

00:15:16.040 | And then I will have a look within that.

00:15:17.800 | I think if you go very specific

00:15:19.840 | and you say, "I really want to visit this port,"

00:15:21.860 | there may only be one cruise line

00:15:23.300 | or one ship that does that.

00:15:24.620 | So I like to start roughly with the destination,

00:15:26.920 | Mediterranean, Norway.

00:15:28.240 | When do I want to go?

00:15:29.440 | That makes a big difference.

00:15:30.840 | Most of our cruise ships move from places like Norway

00:15:33.500 | down to the Caribbean in winter

00:15:35.080 | because the sun goes down to the Caribbean

00:15:37.600 | and no one really wants to go around Norway in the dark.

00:15:39.980 | So that makes a big difference.

00:15:41.500 | But have a look roughly.

00:15:42.520 | Do you wanna go in summer?

00:15:43.360 | Do you wanna go in winter?

00:15:44.400 | What is the rough destination?

00:15:46.080 | And then you'll probably find,

00:15:47.560 | I mean, there's a lot of cruise lines.

00:15:48.880 | There's a lot of cruise ships.

00:15:49.720 | You have five or six different cruise lines

00:15:52.160 | you can pick from within.

00:15:53.360 | - And is there some website that has all the destinations,

00:15:56.240 | all the ships, all the lines

00:15:57.400 | to make it easy to figure this out?

00:15:59.320 | - There's many, many, many, of course.

00:16:01.360 | But the one that I like to use

00:16:03.080 | just because it's very simple,

00:16:04.640 | it's literally a list of where the cruises are going,

00:16:06.880 | is an American website.

00:16:08.120 | It's called Vacations to Go.

00:16:09.700 | And you're probably more used to this than me

00:16:11.680 | 'cause it's an American website.

00:16:12.760 | It doesn't include the fees and the taxes

00:16:14.960 | and the port charges and stuff.

00:16:16.360 | So the price is probably not

00:16:17.720 | what you're actually gonna pay,

00:16:18.680 | but it gives you a really good idea of what is where,

00:16:21.480 | which can be quite hard to work out.

00:16:23.320 | 'Cause obviously if you go to a cruise line,

00:16:24.800 | they're gonna say,

00:16:26.080 | you're not gonna go to Royal Caribbean.

00:16:27.360 | And they say, nah, go with another cruise line.

00:16:29.960 | But this is just a big list.

00:16:31.200 | It's quite a simple website.

00:16:32.480 | That's where I start.

00:16:33.520 | I do not book through Vacations to Go.

00:16:35.560 | I'm from the UK,

00:16:36.400 | but it gives me an idea of what is where.

00:16:38.920 | - So let's talk about this.

00:16:40.500 | You're gonna search, narrow down your list,

00:16:42.920 | do some homework to understand what's on board

00:16:45.340 | and what the rooms are like.

00:16:47.040 | Then where are you going to actually book it

00:16:49.400 | and find the best deals?

00:16:51.360 | - So it's a little bit different in the UK and the US,

00:16:53.480 | but the thing that is similar

00:16:54.880 | is we have many, many big travel agencies

00:16:57.640 | and there's many independent agents.

00:16:59.560 | So I use a specific person to book my cruises

00:17:02.520 | who's part of a big travel agency,

00:17:04.440 | rather than just booking online with a big company.

00:17:07.040 | And I like that because when things go wrong,

00:17:10.120 | you can literally just phone that one person

00:17:12.320 | and say, my flight is canceled.

00:17:13.960 | Can you sort this out?

00:17:15.200 | Obviously in 2020, that was not a great year for cruising.

00:17:18.200 | It shut down completely.

00:17:19.700 | We spent a lot of time fixing things

00:17:21.920 | for people who'd booked through the really big agencies

00:17:24.600 | that sell them cheap because no one could get through.

00:17:27.520 | So I think if you can find someone who knows you

00:17:29.480 | and trusts you, and once you've booked a few cruises,

00:17:32.080 | they'll know what you like.

00:17:32.980 | My agent messages me all the time.

00:17:35.080 | She sends me a link and it's like,

00:17:36.520 | Emma, this one made me think of you.

00:17:38.280 | More often than not, she's right and I book it.

00:17:40.500 | So I normally do recommend,

00:17:42.280 | if you can get to know one person,

00:17:44.060 | I think it's easier than just a big company.

00:17:46.120 | But I've booked cruises every single way over the years

00:17:49.240 | with some success and some less.

00:17:50.920 | - Is the price the same everywhere?

00:17:52.320 | Are there deals to be had?

00:17:53.760 | - The price that a travel agent would give you

00:17:55.680 | would never be more than booking it direct

00:17:58.000 | 'cause the money comes from the cruise line.

00:18:00.000 | If you're gonna book a cruise direct

00:18:01.480 | on the cruise line's website,

00:18:02.480 | they're just keeping that money themselves.

00:18:04.360 | So the travel agents don't charge anything.

00:18:06.200 | You either basically give the money to a travel agent

00:18:08.320 | or you give it to the cruise line.

00:18:09.600 | The way I see it is I might as well have free help,

00:18:12.080 | to be honest, but it's up to you.

00:18:13.880 | There's certain things.

00:18:14.940 | We have some supermarkets in the UK.

00:18:17.140 | You can get certain points for shopping,

00:18:19.540 | like grocery shopping, and you can only use those direct.

00:18:22.180 | There's some sort of cashback sites

00:18:24.020 | where you can get a little bit.

00:18:25.220 | You know, when I go on a cruise with my YouTube channel,

00:18:27.780 | a cruise line will often say we'll give $100 on board credit

00:18:31.580 | to the first hundred people who book mentioning me.

00:18:34.420 | So sometimes they'll have extra stuff.

00:18:36.340 | If a travel agent is trying to charge someone extra

00:18:38.540 | for a cruise, something's gone wrong and they should leave.

00:18:40.980 | - Okay, and what about some of those extras

00:18:42.900 | or discounts or promotions?

00:18:44.460 | Are there best times to book a cruise to get a deal?

00:18:47.000 | Is it last minute, far in advance?

00:18:48.920 | - So if you're someone who can plan something

00:18:50.960 | three years in advance, that's great.

00:18:52.880 | And you can get a very, very good deal

00:18:54.360 | as soon as a new ship or a new itinerary is launched.

00:18:57.040 | I'm not someone who can,

00:18:58.280 | I just can't plan three years in advance.

00:18:59.960 | I have no idea what I'm gonna be doing.

00:19:01.560 | So the next best time is normally between

00:19:04.680 | 60 to 90 days before the cruise,

00:19:06.800 | because everyone else who booked it

00:19:08.180 | two or three years in advance,

00:19:09.360 | they have to pay normally 60 or 90 days before.

00:19:12.200 | So some people don't pay

00:19:14.260 | and they know how many cabins they have left to fill.

00:19:16.220 | So at that point, two months out, they might say,

00:19:18.220 | "Oh, all these people dropped out.

00:19:19.460 | "We've got all these rooms."

00:19:20.500 | And that's normally when the price will come down.

00:19:22.540 | I do tell people if there's a specific cruise

00:19:24.660 | you really wanna do, don't wait

00:19:26.780 | and assume that you're gonna be able to book it

00:19:28.260 | 'cause they do sell out.

00:19:29.420 | So the best thing you can do if you wanna get a deal,

00:19:31.620 | keep a week off work in your calendar if you're not fussy,

00:19:35.020 | and then you can see which cruise lines

00:19:36.820 | you can book last minute.

00:19:37.820 | - What if you wait even more last minute?

00:19:39.460 | Are there deals to be had if you book next week?

00:19:42.180 | - You normally have to do it at least two days in advance now

00:19:44.520 | just 'cause they have to put all the paperwork

00:19:46.160 | and everything through,

00:19:47.000 | but you just may end up with something,

00:19:48.760 | say you want the cheapest cabin,

00:19:50.600 | now only the suites are available or something last minute,

00:19:53.520 | which is not the worst problem to have,

00:19:55.080 | but you have to be very flexible, I think,

00:19:57.000 | to book very last minute.

00:19:58.400 | - And what about things like points or loyalty programs?

00:20:02.040 | How did those factor into all of this?

00:20:03.760 | - So some cruise lines do have their own credit cards

00:20:06.300 | where if you spend money with that company,

00:20:08.360 | you'll get points, you can use them.

00:20:09.960 | I don't normally recommend that

00:20:11.640 | 'cause I'm not very cruise line loyal,

00:20:13.420 | and I think a lot of people think,

00:20:14.960 | I have the Royal Caribbean credit card,

00:20:16.680 | it makes most sense for me

00:20:17.640 | only to book Royal Caribbean cruises,

00:20:19.320 | and they don't look at one

00:20:20.560 | that they would enjoy just as much and is half price.

00:20:23.600 | So that's what I think.

00:20:25.080 | Some people absolutely love it.

00:20:26.600 | One way that people get a lot of sort of,

00:20:28.560 | they're called free cruises,

00:20:29.680 | I don't think they're free, is through the casino.

00:20:31.800 | You can get points if you spend enough in the casino,

00:20:34.640 | they won't send you back, that's quite common.

00:20:36.780 | Again, not something that I would do,

00:20:38.760 | but if you're booking a cruise,

00:20:40.680 | you can stick it on an Amex card.

00:20:42.340 | If you're doing your flights,

00:20:43.400 | you can use your normal points for that.

00:20:45.220 | There's nothing really that you can't do with a cruise

00:20:47.360 | that you would do if you're flying,

00:20:48.560 | and normally I'll stay in a hotel the night before.

00:20:50.960 | - There is one deal that I went deep on a few weeks ago,

00:20:54.200 | and it's that because there are casinos on cruises

00:20:56.960 | and they make money, not as much as I thought,

00:20:59.280 | I'd originally thought like,

00:21:00.120 | "Wow, maybe they make all that money."

00:21:01.420 | I just looked before this,

00:21:02.360 | about two thirds of cruise revenue is from tickets,

00:21:04.560 | and about one third of it is on board.

00:21:06.560 | And of that on board, there's food, there's drink,

00:21:08.560 | and we'll talk about some of those costs.

00:21:09.940 | But of that, a big piece is casino.

00:21:11.800 | And so if you go to a casino a lot in the US

00:21:14.760 | and you spend a lot of money,

00:21:15.820 | a lot of these casinos like Caesars have rewards programs.

00:21:18.920 | And if you have status,

00:21:20.640 | which basically comes from spending money

00:21:22.960 | in a lot of these rewards programs,

00:21:24.680 | well, then you're able to show that status

00:21:27.400 | to some cruise lines and say,

00:21:28.860 | "Hey, Carnival," or, "Hey, Royal Caribbean,

00:21:31.160 | I have status on all of these casinos."

00:21:34.800 | Well, I'm guessing most of the people listening here,

00:21:36.920 | maybe I'm wrong, don't spend a lot of money gambling.

00:21:40.620 | And so that's probably not going to be as lucrative.

00:21:44.480 | However, there are some ways to get status at casinos

00:21:49.180 | without actually gambling.

00:21:50.880 | And so I think that is the trick.

00:21:52.960 | So one is that if you have the,

00:21:55.780 | and I don't think there's a version of this in the UK,

00:21:57.660 | but the Wyndham earner business credit card,

00:22:00.620 | which is a credit card for Wyndham Rewards,

00:22:03.140 | which is a hotel chain,

00:22:04.260 | that gives you free Caesar's Diamond status,

00:22:07.160 | which is enough to get you a free cruise.

00:22:09.320 | There's also Founder's Card, which is a program.

00:22:12.040 | I'll link to it in the show notes.

00:22:13.600 | I don't want to endorse all the benefits

00:22:15.440 | because it's quite expensive.

00:22:16.800 | It's like now it's $595.

00:22:18.960 | I signed up for Founder's Card many years ago

00:22:20.960 | and have locked myself into a lower rate.

00:22:23.100 | I'll put my referral link in the show notes

00:22:24.720 | if people want to check it out.

00:22:25.560 | But that also gets you Caesar's Diamond status.

00:22:27.880 | And so once you get Caesar's Diamond status

00:22:30.120 | or MGM Gold status, then you can use that.

00:22:33.160 | And there's all these, you know,

00:22:34.540 | I'll put a link to an article that went way deeper

00:22:36.740 | than we'll go today.

00:22:37.740 | But it's like, you know,

00:22:38.580 | you want to target this cruise line first

00:22:40.660 | because I think Holland America owns Carnival

00:22:43.580 | or Royal Caribbean?

00:22:44.700 | - Other way around.

00:22:45.540 | Carnival owns almost everything.

00:22:46.940 | - Okay.

00:22:47.780 | So it was, there was a sequence where it's like,

00:22:49.780 | if you try to use your free cruise

00:22:51.600 | on one of the cruise lines that's part of a conglomerate,

00:22:54.540 | they look, have you spent money on the other ones,

00:22:56.620 | but only in one way.

00:22:57.900 | So it's like, you can use your status

00:22:59.500 | to get like a free Holland America cruise.

00:23:01.460 | And then after that you want to do Carnival or vice versa.

00:23:04.680 | And you could basically kind of sequence it out

00:23:06.960 | to get three or four free.

00:23:08.460 | And I'm using air quotes here, cruises.

00:23:10.560 | We'll talk in a second about how they're not always free.

00:23:12.480 | But if you want to go down the rabbit hole of free cruises,

00:23:15.560 | getting yourself some casino status can often unlock a few.

00:23:19.240 | And people say, don't take your first offer

00:23:21.160 | because you'll get an email from Carnival.

00:23:22.400 | That's like, oh, do you want a free three-day Bahamas cruise?

00:23:24.520 | And then you wait a month and now you want a free seven day.

00:23:27.280 | Do you want a free seven day with a balcony?

00:23:29.720 | And it goes on and on.

00:23:30.720 | So I'll put a link to an awesome article

00:23:32.480 | from the Frequent Miler blog that goes deep on this.

00:23:35.080 | I am currently, because I have this Caesars Diamond status,

00:23:38.000 | I'm about to try this out, except my Caesars,

00:23:41.160 | I matched Caesars Diamond seven years ago.

00:23:43.560 | And my account has been on inactive.

00:23:45.600 | The only way to reactivate it is in the casino.

00:23:48.640 | And so I cannot currently explore this

00:23:51.640 | until I go physically in person to a Caesars Casino.

00:23:55.840 | And I just haven't, since going down this rabbit hole,

00:23:57.840 | haven't been to a Caesars Casino, which there are many of,

00:24:00.440 | but there are not many of in, you know, nearby.

00:24:02.760 | So that's my little tangent on going down free cruises.

00:24:05.800 | But talk to me for a second about

00:24:07.160 | why they're not necessarily free, these kind of offers.

00:24:09.760 | Because I think there's more that goes into the cost

00:24:11.920 | of a cruise than just the ticket.

00:24:14.040 | - Yeah, so if you get a free cruise through a casino bug,

00:24:17.320 | it will not include taxes.

00:24:19.160 | It won't include port fees.

00:24:20.800 | And sometimes those things can cost more

00:24:22.640 | than the other part of the cruise fare.

00:24:24.520 | In the UK, we don't see it split out.

00:24:26.440 | We just see the price.

00:24:27.600 | But in the US, it's sort of a very low,

00:24:29.880 | you know, 399 plus 300 in fees.

00:24:33.200 | So you could end up spending more on that cruise

00:24:36.040 | just 'cause you think you're getting a free cruise

00:24:38.040 | than you would spend on a whole cruise anyway,

00:24:40.080 | if you were just looking at a different cruise line

00:24:41.760 | that had some sort of sale or something.

00:24:43.600 | So I think some people do get very happy

00:24:46.560 | that they got a free cruise, but it's not necessarily.

00:24:49.480 | If it's something you want to do, fantastic.

00:24:51.600 | It's a good discount.

00:24:52.640 | It's a really good discount,

00:24:53.960 | but perhaps don't just blindly sort of follow it

00:24:56.600 | and think it's fantastic.

00:24:58.160 | - And some of these, you know,

00:24:59.320 | I was reading through this article.

00:25:00.360 | Some of them actually were really, really great deals,

00:25:03.520 | but you're right.

00:25:04.360 | Some of them are not quite as great as they seem.

00:25:07.440 | - Yeah, it sort of goes back to what you said,

00:25:09.840 | that we're going to talk about other expenses,

00:25:12.040 | but most of the American cruise lines,

00:25:14.200 | they add on like a automatic tip gratuity every day,

00:25:17.800 | which can be $15 a day.

00:25:19.480 | So if you're getting a free cruise,

00:25:20.840 | but then there's say two of you in the room

00:25:22.880 | and then you're doing two times 15 times,

00:25:25.640 | it adds up quite fast.

00:25:27.040 | - Yeah, what are some of the other costs?

00:25:29.040 | I'm sure the port fees and the taxes

00:25:31.080 | and even the gratuities are kind of things

00:25:32.840 | that are disclosed,

00:25:34.040 | but maybe not included in the marketed price.

00:25:36.440 | But once you're on board, you did mention earlier,

00:25:38.720 | like the great thing about cruises,

00:25:40.000 | it's kind of, it's all there.

00:25:41.040 | You don't have to think about it.

00:25:42.000 | Surely there are things on that cruise

00:25:43.800 | that also cost money.

00:25:44.800 | - Yeah, if you want to spend money,

00:25:46.080 | you can spend more than your cruise fare easily.

00:25:48.680 | But what I normally do is, cruises don't include drinks.

00:25:52.360 | That's one of the big things.

00:25:53.560 | They'll include like water, tea, coffee,

00:25:56.120 | but normally people want to drink soda.

00:25:57.880 | You want to drink alcohol

00:25:59.200 | and you can either just pay like as if you're in a bar

00:26:01.640 | or you can get a drinks package.

00:26:03.240 | So a drinks package would basically be you saying

00:26:05.240 | to the cruise line,

00:26:06.080 | I'll give you $30 a day and you'll give me unlimited.

00:26:09.160 | And they're sort of thinking

00:26:10.040 | you won't get the money's worth,

00:26:11.240 | but you're thinking I'm gonna drink more than that.

00:26:13.680 | So I normally get a non-alcoholic one.

00:26:16.040 | Some of them are very expensive

00:26:17.440 | and I think I would be constantly chasing,

00:26:20.000 | trying to get my money back.

00:26:21.520 | But the main things that I sort of pay for on a cruise

00:26:23.960 | would be some drinks.

00:26:25.680 | Wi-Fi is not normally included, is on some luxury lines,

00:26:28.960 | but I work from cruise ships now,

00:26:30.440 | so I need to pay for Wi-Fi.

00:26:32.200 | And people do spend a lot of money

00:26:33.720 | on cruise line excursions in the ports.

00:26:36.160 | I don't, I think I'm a bit more sort of confident

00:26:38.920 | doing my own thing than a lot of other cruisers,

00:26:41.200 | but I'm quite happy to get off.

00:26:42.440 | You don't ever have to do a trip with the cruise line.

00:26:44.440 | You can wander off by yourself.

00:26:45.960 | You can order something online.

00:26:47.960 | You can buy your ticket to the aquarium

00:26:50.120 | or wherever you're going.

00:26:51.080 | But the cruise lines do charge an awful lot,

00:26:53.200 | I think, for their included trips.

00:26:55.360 | If you're someone who's a bit nervous,

00:26:57.720 | like I did some excursions when I was in Asia

00:27:00.160 | because I thought I have one day in Vietnam.

00:27:02.240 | I want to sort of make the most out of it,

00:27:04.040 | but they can be, especially with the American cruise lines,

00:27:06.480 | you can pay $150 a day,

00:27:09.280 | which that's what I like to pay for the cruise, so.

00:27:12.640 | - And Wi-Fi, is internet connectivity

00:27:14.840 | pretty easy on a cruise?

00:27:16.000 | Is it reliable?

00:27:16.920 | Could someone actually work while they're,

00:27:18.640 | I mean, you do, I guess.

00:27:19.680 | - I do, but if I still had my old job,

00:27:22.760 | I would not have lasted.

00:27:24.120 | I would have been in big trouble

00:27:25.200 | because it can be really good and it can be really bad.

00:27:28.120 | And there's so many things that affect it.

00:27:29.880 | If you're thinking you're a ship

00:27:31.000 | and you're sailing between a fjord,

00:27:32.920 | there's massive things,

00:27:34.120 | there's massive rocks in the way of everything.

00:27:36.200 | If you hit bad weather, it can knock out the internet.

00:27:38.960 | So it can be good, but it depends on your boss.

00:27:42.280 | You know, for me, if I couldn't get on the course,

00:27:44.720 | if I had my old job before I worked for myself,

00:27:47.400 | I would have been in big trouble.

00:27:48.720 | - And what about just kind of like wireless reliability?

00:27:51.200 | Is there cell reception

00:27:53.000 | when you're cruising between ports?

00:27:54.720 | - So as you sail away, what I normally say to people,

00:27:57.680 | if they're nervous,

00:27:58.520 | they need to just put their phone in airplane mode

00:28:00.400 | and not mess around with the internet

00:28:02.280 | because you will connect to like a maritime network

00:28:05.360 | when you're out in the ocean.

00:28:06.560 | And that can be very, very expensive.

00:28:08.360 | I've heard horror stories of people who thought, right,

00:28:10.320 | I'll just put my phone in the safe

00:28:11.760 | and it's connected in the middle of the night

00:28:13.800 | and it's racked them up a massive bill.

00:28:15.640 | So what I like to do, it's a bit different for me now.

00:28:18.480 | I kind of need to stay connected,

00:28:19.800 | but if I didn't work in the cruise industry,

00:28:21.680 | I would be putting my phone on airplane mode

00:28:23.680 | when I sailed away in the evening.

00:28:25.240 | Normally you sail away sort of 6 p.m.

00:28:27.080 | and I would be enjoying an evening without internet.

00:28:29.200 | I think it's quite nice.

00:28:30.480 | But yeah, when you're in port, if you have roaming,

00:28:32.760 | I have worldwide roaming on my phone plan.

00:28:34.880 | You can use it like normal.

00:28:36.120 | If you're sailing and you're near to the land, it's okay,

00:28:39.360 | but I would recommend going into the settings

00:28:41.720 | and making sure your phone will ask

00:28:43.600 | before it changes network.

00:28:45.120 | I know not everyone likes to sort of do that,

00:28:47.240 | but if you're confident, you can just make it

00:28:48.960 | not connect to maritime and you'll be fine.

00:28:50.800 | - Okay, perfect.

00:28:51.640 | And what about on board?

00:28:52.520 | All these activities, the go-karts, the shows,

00:28:55.280 | all of that is included?

00:28:56.720 | Or are there some activities that cost extra?

00:28:59.040 | - It does depend on the cruise line, of course.

00:29:01.000 | Normally everything in the theater is included.

00:29:03.360 | You'll have live music included.

00:29:04.960 | There'll be trivia, game shows, dance classes,

00:29:07.680 | that kind of stuff that's included.

00:29:09.240 | The one with the go-karts, the go-karts do cost extra,

00:29:12.280 | but that is because that ship holds

00:29:14.440 | thousands and thousands of people.

00:29:15.800 | And if they were free, no one would ever get a go,

00:29:18.080 | I don't think.

00:29:19.480 | So there's a few things like that.

00:29:21.120 | Generally speaking, I don't normally spend extra

00:29:23.760 | on entertainment on a cruise.

00:29:25.200 | I really don't think I'd need to.

00:29:27.080 | But yeah, you see water slides, you see pools,

00:29:29.040 | everything like that is included.

00:29:30.720 | - What a ride.

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00:32:15.600 | - You look at some of these cruises

00:32:17.120 | and you hear how many people are on there.

00:32:18.840 | Is everything crazy crowded on these big cruise ships,

00:32:21.880 | like, you know, waiting for a water slide

00:32:23.680 | or even getting a pool chair at the pool?

00:32:26.320 | Is it just chaos with thousands of people on board

00:32:29.080 | or have they done a good job at putting enough pools

00:32:31.640 | and enough chairs and enough stuff

00:32:33.080 | so that a full cruise ship doesn't feel full?

00:32:35.320 | - I mean, some cruise lines do it much better than others,

00:32:37.680 | of course, but I will say,

00:32:38.800 | I don't think it is the case

00:32:40.160 | that the bigger the ship, the busier it is.

00:32:42.200 | Not at all.

00:32:43.040 | Like, some of the ships that I've been on

00:32:44.200 | that have felt a lot busier

00:32:45.600 | have been, you know, one or 2,000 guests.

00:32:48.520 | And sometimes you'll go on a ship with 5,000.

00:32:50.720 | It's not like you see 5,000 people at any one time.

00:32:53.960 | So you just don't realize.

00:32:55.320 | The last ship I got off was around 5,300,

00:32:58.960 | but there's 30 restaurants and bars, it said.

00:33:02.080 | So even if everyone is eating and drinking at the same time,

00:33:04.960 | that's just as busy as it would be on land.

00:33:06.920 | You know, the theater, I guess,

00:33:08.200 | is the only time you see a lot of people.

00:33:09.920 | Sometimes they'll hold 900 people,

00:33:12.000 | but it's the same as going to the theater on land.

00:33:14.240 | It's no busier than that, I don't think.

00:33:16.120 | If you do pay more, you get more space per person.

00:33:18.800 | - It's funny, we went on a cruise,

00:33:20.120 | one of these Bahamas cruises that was so cheap.

00:33:22.720 | It was three days.

00:33:23.640 | We stopped at a manufactured island.

00:33:25.240 | I wouldn't say it was like the best experience.

00:33:27.640 | Like, it was good, and it opened our eyes up to something.

00:33:30.040 | One of the things we didn't talk about

00:33:31.120 | that was the most interesting

00:33:32.240 | was we just met lots of people.

00:33:33.800 | I found that, you know,

00:33:35.120 | if my wife and I were to travel to some country,

00:33:37.680 | we would probably meet fewer people

00:33:39.680 | than if we cruised somewhere.

00:33:40.960 | And we met a couple from Finland,

00:33:43.000 | and we actually stayed in close touch with them.

00:33:45.240 | We randomly found out one year.

00:33:47.040 | We emailed them and said, "Hey, how are you doing?"

00:33:49.040 | And they said, "Oh, we're in Thailand."

00:33:50.400 | And we were in Thailand,

00:33:51.360 | and we literally met them again in Thailand,

00:33:53.320 | serendipitously. - Oh, wow.

00:33:54.160 | That's amazing.

00:33:55.000 | - Have you found that experience on most cruises?

00:33:56.440 | You meet lots of interesting people?

00:33:58.120 | - Yes, absolutely.

00:33:59.120 | And you sort of get into a routine,

00:34:01.120 | and you see the same people doing the same things.

00:34:03.320 | So when I was on my last cruise in Asia,

00:34:05.480 | when you would go to trivia in the pub,

00:34:07.200 | all Brits.

00:34:08.040 | And so if I wanted to meet other Brits,

00:34:10.560 | we would be there.

00:34:11.400 | If I take an American cruise,

00:34:12.840 | certain groups of people will be in certain places.

00:34:15.120 | And depending on what you do,

00:34:16.400 | you sort of,

00:34:17.240 | you just get to know people without even really trying.

00:34:19.600 | You don't have to, of course.

00:34:20.680 | I think some people are very afraid

00:34:21.880 | that it's gonna be sort of forced fun.

00:34:23.600 | There's no forced fun.

00:34:24.480 | You don't have to take part in anything.

00:34:26.160 | But if you do want to,

00:34:27.240 | everyone just chats to everybody

00:34:29.160 | 'cause everyone's in the same thing.

00:34:30.800 | I quite like that you have a plan for the week.

00:34:33.320 | You're all sort of on the journey together.

00:34:35.080 | Everyone's having a good time.

00:34:36.800 | You know, that's the whole point of it.

00:34:38.240 | So I've met so many people who I've kept in touch with.

00:34:40.800 | Even when I was a teenager and I was cruising,

00:34:43.000 | I'd go to the kids clubs,

00:34:44.120 | and I still have a few of them that I keep in contact with.

00:34:46.920 | - Kind of reminds me of the hostel experience,

00:34:49.840 | especially now that we have kids.

00:34:51.400 | It was kind of fun when my wife and I were traveling,

00:34:53.560 | and we'd stay at a hostel,

00:34:54.400 | and we'd meet some couples,

00:34:55.360 | and we'd have,

00:34:56.200 | I think we called them like ephemeral relationships.

00:34:57.920 | It's like you have a best friend for three days,

00:35:00.160 | and then you don't talk to them again,

00:35:01.480 | and it's okay.

00:35:02.560 | - That's exactly it.

00:35:03.400 | - We were actually talking recently about how we,

00:35:05.240 | it's hard to do that.

00:35:06.240 | Like we don't do that as adults.

00:35:07.560 | We don't do that as families,

00:35:08.680 | but maybe cruises is like the adult version of a hostel.

00:35:12.080 | I'm sure they would never want to market themselves

00:35:13.640 | that way, but.

00:35:14.960 | - It is similar.

00:35:15.800 | And it is so nice to sort of,

00:35:17.400 | by the time you've been on the ship for a few days,

00:35:19.240 | you see people who you know,

00:35:20.320 | you see friendly faces everywhere.

00:35:21.800 | You check in, you say,

00:35:22.720 | "Oh, I heard you're going to this place.

00:35:24.400 | "How was that?

00:35:25.240 | "I haven't had dinner yet.

00:35:26.160 | "How was that?"

00:35:27.000 | And you chat just sort of about the cruise,

00:35:28.760 | and that's the way to start a conversation.

00:35:30.920 | And then you can be out in the bar

00:35:32.600 | having a drink in the evening.

00:35:33.800 | You don't ever have very far to go back to your room.

00:35:35.920 | You don't have to worry about,

00:35:36.840 | "Are you going to get a taxi?

00:35:38.120 | "Someone's going to not drink."

00:35:39.200 | You just wander down, up the stairs, down the corridor,

00:35:41.680 | and go to sleep.

00:35:42.680 | So I find that really fun.

00:35:44.120 | - You mentioned there are some cruises

00:35:45.680 | where it can be crowded.

00:35:46.520 | Are there any cruise lines that you're kind of like,

00:35:48.600 | you try to steer away from?

00:35:50.520 | - Not me personally, because I,

00:35:52.360 | as long as I get what I pay for a cruise,

00:35:54.600 | I'm more than happy.

00:35:55.480 | If I've paid nothing, I'm expecting nearly nothing.

00:35:58.440 | But there's certainly cruises that I go on

00:36:00.560 | where I think not everybody would like this.

00:36:02.920 | And there's a lot of people

00:36:03.960 | who would find this very busy and chaotic.

00:36:06.320 | Some of the Italian cruise lines that I mentioned earlier,

00:36:09.040 | it's just very different.

00:36:10.480 | They just have a different routine in Italy.

00:36:12.560 | They just start their parties at one in the morning,

00:36:15.000 | and they're very loud and very colorful.

00:36:17.000 | I find that fun,

00:36:17.960 | but I can tell a lot of other people would not enjoy it.

00:36:20.640 | So I think that's the main thing for me

00:36:22.400 | is even if I don't like something,

00:36:24.120 | you know, Italian dinner goes on

00:36:25.960 | for like three and a half hours,

00:36:27.120 | 'cause it's an event.

00:36:27.960 | The waiters are dancing, like it's a big thing.

00:36:30.200 | For us in Britain, that's not something we normally do,

00:36:33.320 | but I can say how much fun this person had

00:36:36.760 | and who this is for.

00:36:38.240 | I've done a lot of American cruise lines

00:36:40.120 | where the entertainment is really,

00:36:42.000 | I did "The Price is Right"

00:36:43.360 | was on the cruise that I took recently.

00:36:45.440 | And I was terrified that they were gonna call me.

00:36:47.800 | I was absolutely so scared.

00:36:49.520 | I couldn't think of anything worse

00:36:50.600 | than getting on that stage in front of everybody.

00:36:52.080 | But everybody else, they had t-shirts,

00:36:54.440 | they had the dance you do,

00:36:55.800 | like walking down the stage and everything.

00:36:57.880 | And it's just, I think matching those right people

00:37:00.200 | to the right things.

00:37:01.080 | But for me personally, I've never done a cruise

00:37:03.680 | that I've thought I wouldn't do it again.

00:37:05.560 | And I've done a cruise on a yacht this year.

00:37:07.560 | That was very, very nice.

00:37:08.720 | But even on the yacht, I think if you took someone

00:37:10.760 | from the big party ship and you put them on the yacht,

00:37:12.680 | they'd be bored out of their minds.

00:37:14.000 | And if you did it vice versa, they also wouldn't like it.

00:37:17.000 | So just right people, right cruise ships.

00:37:18.960 | - I will say, and this may or may not have full validity,

00:37:21.600 | but I think I saw it.

00:37:22.440 | There was two guys that went on a cruise

00:37:24.400 | and there was a newlywed game show.

00:37:26.600 | And they were like, oh, we're not in a relationship.

00:37:28.920 | We're not even interested in men,

00:37:30.760 | but let's pretend and see if we can win the free drinks.

00:37:33.920 | So the comedy and the outcome here,

00:37:35.760 | which I'll just forewarn anyone

00:37:36.960 | that might have that same idea,

00:37:38.400 | was that they were like, this was great.

00:37:39.840 | They actually won.

00:37:40.720 | We rehearsed, they practiced,

00:37:41.840 | they knew each other's favorite and everything.

00:37:43.400 | They won the newlywed show.

00:37:45.200 | They didn't realize that for the entire week cruise,

00:37:47.640 | they replayed the game show in all the cabins.

00:37:51.280 | And so every single person on the entire boat knew them

00:37:54.960 | and every single room they walked into,

00:37:56.960 | they would clink their glasses and tell them to kiss

00:37:59.360 | and all this stuff.

00:38:00.200 | - Say cheers.

00:38:01.040 | - And so keep in mind that if you enter

00:38:02.720 | any of these game shows,

00:38:03.960 | you will be on every single television for the entire time.

00:38:06.440 | - You do get to know people like that.

00:38:07.880 | You're like, oh, it's the man from that.

00:38:09.360 | Or it's the person who knew so much

00:38:11.240 | about this random thing in trivia.

00:38:13.040 | You don't know who they are.

00:38:13.880 | You don't know their names, but you're like,

00:38:15.560 | oh, that's Harry Potter quiz man, for example.

00:38:19.600 | - What about other logistics planning?

00:38:21.440 | Thinking about cabins, right?

00:38:22.960 | There, you know, I've seen some of these ships

00:38:24.520 | with so many decks and interior, exterior suites.

00:38:27.200 | How do you think about making those kinds of decisions

00:38:29.360 | and what's worth it?

00:38:30.320 | - Okay, so if your main priority is price,

00:38:32.200 | you just want to get on a ship.

00:38:33.640 | That's it.

00:38:34.480 | An inside cabin's totally fine.

00:38:35.560 | It's literally just a small hotel room with no windows.

00:38:38.280 | Every cabin has its own bathroom now, thankfully.

00:38:40.640 | Some people are still nervous

00:38:41.760 | that you have to go down the corridor.

00:38:43.200 | Everyone has its own bathroom.

00:38:44.600 | That's perfectly fine.

00:38:46.000 | You're not going to spend much time

00:38:47.200 | if you have an inside cabin,

00:38:48.280 | because just sit there and stare at the wall.

00:38:50.080 | It's not much fun.

00:38:50.920 | If you do have a bit more

00:38:52.480 | and you're not worried about the budget,

00:38:54.000 | an ocean view is next up, which is just a window.

00:38:56.600 | Quite nice for some daylight, but that's about it.

00:38:58.760 | And the most common is a balcony cabin

00:39:01.000 | where you have a small piece of outside space.

00:39:03.560 | You have a couple of chairs on it and a table.

00:39:05.480 | Great for, you know, watching a sail in, watching a sail out.

00:39:08.600 | I took a cruise recently.

00:39:09.680 | I went to the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights

00:39:12.320 | and I had a balcony cabin

00:39:13.640 | and the Northern Lights came out in the middle of the night

00:39:15.480 | and I was so grateful that I knew.

00:39:17.440 | 'Cause if I was in an inside cabin,

00:39:19.400 | I have no idea what was happening.

00:39:20.880 | So we just sat out on the balcony and that was incredible.

00:39:23.640 | But that's the most common type now, is a balcony.

00:39:26.400 | Above that, you can get two-story suites

00:39:28.600 | with slides, pianos, if you want to.

00:39:31.120 | And often big cruise ships

00:39:32.520 | will have like an area within them,

00:39:34.480 | which is like a ship within a ship

00:39:35.920 | where they keep all their suites together.

00:39:37.480 | So if you're in, for example, the ships with the go-karts,

00:39:40.280 | they're Norwegian cruise ships.

00:39:41.600 | They have an area on board called The Haven

00:39:43.760 | and that'll be a collection of suites

00:39:45.880 | that has its own pool, it has its own bar,

00:39:48.280 | it has its own restaurant.

00:39:49.840 | So you sort of get that smaller ship feeling,

00:39:51.920 | but you can just go out and go on the drop slide

00:39:55.040 | that goes down 10 stories that I did

00:39:56.840 | that was absolutely terrifying.

00:39:58.280 | So a bit of best of both.

00:39:59.960 | I think for me personally, people say,

00:40:01.800 | "Oh, if you spend more on a cruise, you'll enjoy it more."

00:40:04.400 | Generally, that's what people think.

00:40:05.800 | I don't think that's true

00:40:06.760 | because a lot of expensive cruises are small ships

00:40:09.040 | and I would miss the big theater shows.

00:40:11.120 | I would miss the slides.

00:40:12.200 | I would miss the go-karts.

00:40:13.480 | So a ship within a ship is a good compromise, I think.

00:40:16.400 | In a hotel, you'll often see

00:40:18.240 | if a hotel room is $300, a slightly bigger one's $400,

00:40:22.000 | and then the suites can be like two, $3,000,

00:40:24.600 | like almost an order of magnitude bigger.

00:40:26.400 | Does that same kind of principle

00:40:27.640 | typically apply on cruise ships

00:40:28.960 | or are suites or bigger rooms maybe a better deal there?

00:40:32.040 | They can be.

00:40:32.880 | If you have a big group, say you have five people

00:40:35.280 | and you were gonna have to get two or three cabins,

00:40:37.440 | two or three normal balcony cabins,

00:40:38.960 | sometimes it's cheaper to get a suite

00:40:40.560 | if you're okay with all being in together.

00:40:42.880 | And a lot of cruise lines will do

00:40:44.560 | free drinks packages for the suites, stuff like that.

00:40:47.160 | So you don't wanna assume

00:40:48.600 | that just the worst cabin is the cheapest

00:40:51.160 | 'cause it's not necessarily true

00:40:52.640 | 'cause they're selling it

00:40:53.480 | based on how many do they have left.

00:40:55.280 | So sometimes a balcony will be cheaper than an inside

00:40:57.720 | because they've only got one inside left

00:40:59.760 | and they've got 400 balconies.

00:41:01.640 | Okay.

00:41:02.480 | And then any other factors when you're booking

00:41:04.920 | that I'm not thinking of, decisions you have to make,

00:41:07.280 | you know, you have to pick the line, the destination,

00:41:09.240 | the cabin, the drinks package,

00:41:10.720 | any other things that you have to decide?

00:41:12.680 | I'm normally deciding, do I want to fly to the place

00:41:16.320 | and spend a couple of days there,

00:41:17.720 | spend a couple of days at the end?

00:41:19.280 | I ended a cruise in Tokyo recently

00:41:21.600 | and absolutely had to stay in Tokyo.

00:41:23.440 | I would have been so sad to get off in Tokyo

00:41:25.360 | and fly straight home.

00:41:26.400 | But if you have a travel agent,

00:41:28.280 | then they'll put all of that together for you if you want.

00:41:30.560 | If you don't want, you can just book the cruise,

00:41:32.240 | you can organize your own flights

00:41:33.480 | if you wanna use points or anything like that.

00:41:35.840 | But I think it's nice to extend it if you can.

00:41:39.120 | No one wants to be rushing around.

00:41:40.320 | I mean, I've done a lot of cruises

00:41:41.880 | where I've flown at five in the morning

00:41:43.800 | and got on the ship in the morning

00:41:45.520 | and you end up having a nap and you sort of waste the day.

00:41:48.000 | So I would recommend at least one day

00:41:49.840 | wherever you're going if you're flying.

00:41:51.720 | - How important is that

00:41:52.760 | just from a pure timing perspective?

00:41:54.880 | If you get to the cruise and you're late,

00:41:56.560 | I assume you miss the cruise and you lose your money.

00:41:58.800 | - Yes, that is one of the benefits of

00:42:00.720 | if you've booked through a travel agent though,

00:42:02.680 | it's sort of on them to sort out,

00:42:04.640 | but it would be very stressful.

00:42:06.080 | I think it's a bit different for me now

00:42:07.560 | and I take that risk because if it went wrong,

00:42:09.920 | it's a great story, it's a great video and it's fine.

00:42:12.640 | I travel a lot.

00:42:13.600 | If you were someone who was saving up for one a year cruise,

00:42:16.760 | like I used to, it's not worth risking missing the ship

00:42:19.840 | for the sake of just staying one extra day

00:42:22.520 | because they're not gonna wait.

00:42:24.240 | They have 5,000 guests,

00:42:25.440 | they're not really gonna wait for you.

00:42:26.920 | They're just being honest.

00:42:28.280 | - Is travel insurance important in the cruise world?

00:42:30.480 | - Yes, so much.

00:42:31.440 | So the cruise I just got off, we had a medical evacuation.

00:42:35.120 | When you're at sea, if something goes wrong medically,

00:42:37.120 | that's very expensive.

00:42:38.240 | We had to make a diversion at two in the morning

00:42:40.760 | to stop in Spain to drop off a lady.

00:42:42.840 | And I hope she had travel insurance

00:42:44.360 | 'cause that can get very expensive.

00:42:45.840 | Also travel insurance can give you extra things on a cruise.

00:42:48.520 | So you need to have ticked the cruise box.

00:42:51.120 | If you just have a normal travel insurance policy,

00:42:53.520 | it normally doesn't cover cruises.

00:42:55.000 | A lot of the bank account travel insurance

00:42:57.040 | doesn't cover cruises 'cause it's more risky.

00:42:59.240 | Just because, imagine you break your leg,

00:43:01.000 | you need to be helicoptered off

00:43:02.280 | in the middle of the Atlantic.

00:43:03.760 | It's gonna be pretty expensive.

00:43:05.240 | But what I benefit from most

00:43:07.480 | is my policy has missed port cover.

00:43:09.920 | So if I miss a port because of weather,

00:43:12.600 | I get a lump sum of money, which I cruise a lot.

00:43:16.040 | And I do miss ports because I cruise

00:43:18.120 | in odd times of the year in odd places.

00:43:20.760 | So I think I'm benefiting

00:43:22.400 | from my travel insurance policy this year.

00:43:24.360 | - And you mentioned like if you break a leg

00:43:25.880 | and have to get medevac for kind of minor stuff,

00:43:28.480 | given how big these cruise lines,

00:43:29.880 | do they just have doctors on board

00:43:31.640 | that if you're like, "Oh, I need to see a doctor," you can?

00:43:34.040 | - Yep, they have medical centers on board if you need.

00:43:37.160 | Obviously they're not gonna wanna perform surgeries

00:43:39.520 | and things on board,

00:43:40.440 | but their plan is to keep you okay

00:43:42.640 | until you can get to a hospital if it's something serious.

00:43:45.160 | But if you break your leg, you need an x-ray.

00:43:47.080 | They have all the x-ray machines.

00:43:48.440 | They have pharmacies.

00:43:49.400 | If you forget your prescribed medication,

00:43:52.000 | they can do everything like that.

00:43:53.440 | Depends on how big the ship is,

00:43:54.640 | but they'll have at least a couple of doctors on board

00:43:57.160 | and a nurse team.

00:43:58.280 | - And that probably comes at an extra charge, I assume?

00:44:00.440 | - Yeah, I mean, if you wanted to see a doctor,

00:44:03.000 | it's probably gonna cost you $100, something like that,

00:44:05.520 | just to go to the medical center, so.

00:44:07.040 | - Cheaper than it would cost with no insurance in the US, so.

00:44:09.720 | - Yeah, well, I'm from the UK,

00:44:11.680 | so people are outraged that it would cost that much.

00:44:13.680 | - Oh yeah, I was like, maybe in the US you could save money.

00:44:16.960 | - Yeah, well, the only time I've ever really been

00:44:19.240 | in the medical centers

00:44:20.160 | was when I started cruising again after COVID,

00:44:22.440 | because sometimes you would have to do COVID tests on board

00:44:25.320 | for certain reasons.

00:44:26.160 | So I got to go in there and I took a picture

00:44:28.080 | of all of the price list of, I think CPR was like $800.

00:44:32.360 | - Oh, wow.

00:44:33.200 | - Which is crazy, but obviously, you know,

00:44:35.520 | they'll do it and you'll sort it out later,

00:44:37.280 | but you don't wanna risk that.

00:44:39.040 | - And that's something that travel insurance

00:44:40.360 | might also cover.

00:44:41.200 | - Yeah, travel insurance will cover all of that.

00:44:43.160 | Anything in the medical center, really, but you do need it.

00:44:46.000 | People say to me, "I can't afford it."

00:44:47.600 | If you can't afford it, you cannot afford the cruise.

00:44:49.440 | If you can't afford the cruise plus the travel insurance,

00:44:51.640 | to be honest, stresses me out.

00:44:53.360 | - Okay, any travel insurance providers,

00:44:55.720 | I mean, I get you're in the UK,

00:44:56.800 | but are they mostly local

00:44:58.280 | or are there international companies?

00:45:00.000 | - I don't think the one I have is international.

00:45:02.280 | What I normally recommend

00:45:03.320 | is using one of those comparison sites.

00:45:05.620 | I think Aldi is the one in the US that I recommend,

00:45:07.920 | just so you can see how much each one covers

00:45:10.440 | in terms of medical, missed ports, baggage.

00:45:13.560 | Obviously, if you're flying, even in the cruise port,

00:45:16.000 | there's a risk that someone's gonna lose your bag

00:45:18.240 | or something like that.

00:45:19.240 | So it's definitely worth having,

00:45:20.640 | but I like to use a comparison site,

00:45:22.200 | put in all your information

00:45:23.560 | and then see the different packages.

00:45:25.360 | For me, it's normally worth it to pay more

00:45:27.840 | for a higher package,

00:45:29.080 | 'cause I'm guessing I'm gonna have to claim on a missed port

00:45:31.600 | and it is true based on how much I cruise.

00:45:34.040 | I cruise a lot now, but I'm not a normal situation.

00:45:37.000 | - Of course, of course.

00:45:37.920 | And what about visas and stuff?

00:45:39.960 | You mentioned the cruise through Asia,

00:45:41.800 | who takes care of the logistics of that?

00:45:44.480 | Not everyone's eligible for easy on-demand visas

00:45:47.640 | to every country.

00:45:48.520 | - Yeah, so for the Asia one,

00:45:50.160 | it was actually pretty easy for me being from the UK.

00:45:52.720 | We didn't need in advance visas.

00:45:54.960 | If I'm coming to the US, I need to get the visa.

00:45:57.680 | So it's actually harder for me to go to the US

00:45:59.440 | than to go to Asia, but it's on you.

00:46:01.120 | I mean, if you have a travel agent, they'll tell you,

00:46:03.080 | they'll remind you.

00:46:04.040 | The cruise line will have it in the booking documents,

00:46:06.720 | but it has a lot of words in the booking documents

00:46:09.120 | and people do get turned away.

00:46:10.720 | Say when I was going on that cruise in Singapore,

00:46:13.160 | they check all of your documents if you need them

00:46:15.680 | and they wouldn't let you board the cruise

00:46:17.240 | if you didn't have the right things in place

00:46:19.040 | for the rest of the stop.

00:46:20.040 | So we had to fill in a lot of landing cards,

00:46:23.360 | declaration cards and stuff in Asia.

00:46:25.640 | But that was all, every day it would arrive in the cabin,

00:46:28.360 | it would say, here's an example,

00:46:30.080 | here's how you fill in this form.

00:46:31.720 | And I didn't need any visas.

00:46:33.120 | - But it's all in advance.

00:46:34.400 | So let's say for some reason you were ineligible

00:46:36.840 | to go to one of the destinations,

00:46:38.880 | you probably wouldn't be able to board.

00:46:40.400 | It's not just that they would say,

00:46:41.560 | hey, you have to stay on the boat,

00:46:42.840 | you can't leave this port.

00:46:44.400 | - No, they couldn't take you in.

00:46:46.120 | They wouldn't do it.

00:46:46.960 | Because imagine if you did break your leg,

00:46:48.560 | they couldn't disembark you for a stop.

00:46:50.840 | They wouldn't even risk it.

00:46:51.880 | If you need to go somewhere,

00:46:53.200 | I mean, we had to do this a lot more.

00:46:54.920 | After the pandemic, we used to have to have different forms

00:46:57.080 | for every single country and it took ages

00:46:58.720 | 'cause they'd have to go through every single person's form,

00:47:01.240 | but they check all of that stuff.

00:47:02.720 | What most cruise lines do now is you'll check in

00:47:05.600 | before you go, like an airline,

00:47:06.960 | you'll check in on the website,

00:47:08.240 | you'll check in on the app

00:47:09.240 | and you'll upload anything you need.

00:47:10.920 | The computer will say,

00:47:11.800 | yep, that picture's the same one as the passport.

00:47:14.160 | Yep, you've attached a credit card.

00:47:15.680 | And then when you get to the port,

00:47:16.840 | it just makes it a lot faster.

00:47:18.800 | - And you mentioned the pandemic earlier.

00:47:20.240 | I know there were obviously,

00:47:21.440 | everyone saw the news during that time

00:47:23.160 | where there were cruises with outbreaks.

00:47:25.360 | Are there any kind of lingering concerns

00:47:27.880 | cruising in kind of a post-pandemic world

00:47:30.280 | or is everything kind of back to how it was before?

00:47:32.480 | - To be honest, I think cruising was better positioned

00:47:35.440 | than most of land in the way that

00:47:38.080 | there were always hand sanitizers at the entrance

00:47:40.120 | to every restaurant, to the buffet.

00:47:42.560 | They're very, very clean cruise ships

00:47:44.160 | 'cause they're held to way higher standards.

00:47:46.200 | Every time I stay in a hotel on land,

00:47:47.920 | I'm like, this would not pass the cruise ship test.

00:47:50.720 | So I think it's back to normal now on cruises,

00:47:53.320 | but normal on cruises is sort of how the world had to adapt.

00:47:57.040 | So yeah, it's back to normal now.

00:47:58.880 | There's no limit.

00:47:59.720 | There used to be limits

00:48:00.560 | on how many people could be in each venue.

00:48:02.400 | You couldn't even touch anything.

00:48:03.760 | Everything would be in its own little sanitized bag

00:48:05.880 | for a while.

00:48:06.720 | It was a bit bizarre,

00:48:07.560 | but everything's back to full capacity now.

00:48:09.600 | I took a cruise, a Caribbean cruise.

00:48:11.320 | It was 24% full and it was brilliant.

00:48:14.360 | - Amazing.

00:48:15.200 | Last question before someone takes off on a cruise

00:48:17.640 | and then I'll ask a little bit about the experiences.

00:48:20.160 | Any thoughts on packing?

00:48:21.240 | Are there things that you think,

00:48:22.440 | having done this 60 plus times,

00:48:24.640 | that you do differently now?

00:48:26.480 | - Well, a lot of people, they hold up something

00:48:28.560 | and they think, I haven't worn this in three years,

00:48:30.560 | but perhaps this is the time.

00:48:32.360 | And it's not.

00:48:33.200 | If it's not something that you actually wear in real life,

00:48:35.720 | don't pack it for a cruise.

00:48:37.080 | Of course, you may have an extra formal dress

00:48:39.360 | or you may have a tuxedo or something.

00:48:40.960 | Add that.

00:48:41.800 | But a lot of the times,

00:48:42.640 | the people I know who overpack,

00:48:44.160 | they bring half of it home again

00:48:45.360 | 'cause they put it on and they realize,

00:48:46.640 | oh yeah, that one's really itchy.

00:48:47.840 | I forgot the zip's broken on that.

00:48:49.480 | Things like that.

00:48:50.320 | So when I'm gonna go on a cruise,

00:48:51.960 | I just stop putting away my clothes

00:48:53.840 | and I start putting them in the suitcase

00:48:55.320 | once I've washed them.

00:48:56.240 | 'Cause I have my favorite pair of jeans.

00:48:57.760 | I have my favorite t-shirts

00:48:59.160 | and that's what I normally wear on a cruise.

00:49:00.840 | So I don't think it needs to be as complicated

00:49:02.760 | as some people make it.

00:49:04.080 | I see people bring their own pillows.

00:49:05.920 | I saw someone bring a, like a water filter jug.

00:49:08.440 | You have to take,

00:49:09.720 | takes up so much room in your suitcase.

00:49:11.280 | You don't need to bring your own coat hangers.

00:49:12.680 | You don't need to bring towels.

00:49:13.720 | You don't need to bring hair dryers.

00:49:15.040 | They have all of that.

00:49:16.000 | As long as you have money, access to money,

00:49:18.120 | your passport, you can sort anything else out.

00:49:20.680 | If you did forget a hairbrush, you'll be fine.

00:49:22.960 | They have shops on cruise ships.

00:49:24.280 | You know, if you need something,

00:49:25.720 | if you have a headache and you need something,

00:49:27.760 | you can buy it.

00:49:28.600 | It's fine.

00:49:29.560 | - And what about laundry?

00:49:30.680 | You know, I know at hotels,

00:49:31.840 | it can be the most egregiously expensive thing to be like,

00:49:34.520 | "Oh, I need to clean some underwear and it's $10 a pair."

00:49:37.840 | Like, is it similar?

00:49:39.000 | - Yes. On the American cruise lines, yes.

00:49:41.320 | You can pretty much pay per thing to have it washed for you.

00:49:44.440 | Or you can buy like a laundry bag

00:49:46.680 | and you can fit as much as you want in it, kind of a bundle.

00:49:49.120 | What I like about some of the British cruise lines,

00:49:51.200 | I suppose a few of the Americans,

00:49:52.680 | they have just a laundry room where you can go in.

00:49:54.920 | You can do it yourself.

00:49:55.760 | You can use the machines.

00:49:57.160 | You can iron stuff.

00:49:58.200 | I prefer that. Not all cruise lines want to do that.

00:50:00.400 | On my trip in Asia,

00:50:01.680 | I ended up just washing a lot of stuff myself.

00:50:03.640 | I just bought like a little travel wash.

00:50:05.320 | I was changing my clothes like three times a day

00:50:07.320 | 'cause it was so humid on that cruise.

00:50:09.760 | And things would dry so fast 'cause it was so warm.

00:50:12.080 | I put it out on the balcony, dry.

00:50:14.160 | - Love it.

00:50:15.000 | So that's a lot of the logistics.

00:50:16.360 | I want to talk about some of the ways

00:50:17.560 | that you optimize your experience on board.

00:50:19.560 | At any point in time, if you have tips or hacks,

00:50:21.880 | definitely lay them out.

00:50:23.040 | Maybe we'll start with food.

00:50:24.560 | - Okay. So when you go on a cruise,

00:50:26.280 | you don't have to spend any extra on food.

00:50:28.080 | At all.

00:50:28.920 | And I very often don't.

00:50:30.160 | You'll at least have a main dining room

00:50:31.840 | and you'll have a buffet where all the food's included

00:50:34.000 | and you can go there anytime.

00:50:35.360 | Normally the buffet's open like 20 hours a day or something.

00:50:38.160 | So there's no shortage of food.

00:50:39.480 | If you're someone who wants to go to,

00:50:41.680 | they may have like a special steak house

00:50:44.240 | or it may be a Mexican restaurant.

00:50:46.120 | Sometimes they have ones like that that cost extra.

00:50:48.480 | They're called specialty restaurants.

00:50:50.040 | The idea is that they're better.

00:50:51.560 | That's up for debate whether you think they're better.

00:50:53.600 | Quite often people will go there

00:50:54.800 | if it's a birthday or something.

00:50:56.520 | I've done them and they're great,

00:50:57.680 | but the way I see it normally is I've paid for this cruise

00:51:00.920 | and I'm gonna eat the food that I've already paid for

00:51:03.480 | because there's no way I can eat everything

00:51:05.480 | in a week or two.

00:51:06.400 | So you don't have to spend extra money on food at all,

00:51:09.000 | but you can.

00:51:10.040 | - How's the quality of the food?

00:51:11.120 | Like, you know, where would you rank it up

00:51:12.680 | against a typical restaurants in the UK or the US?

00:51:16.400 | - I think it's tricky

00:51:17.280 | because what other people rank as really good food,

00:51:20.040 | I don't think is what I like.

00:51:22.440 | Like some people have very, I don't know,

00:51:24.400 | they count themselves as foodies.

00:51:25.760 | The portions are really small, but it's very fancy.

00:51:27.640 | That's not really what I like.

00:51:29.240 | I like to try different foods when I go to different places,

00:51:31.680 | like when I was in Asia,

00:51:32.760 | but I also like to know that I could just have something

00:51:35.560 | that I recognize as well, but it depends.

00:51:37.920 | I mean, there's so many cruise lines,

00:51:39.480 | there's so many ships, there's so many different things.

00:51:41.840 | If you do wanna sit down

00:51:42.920 | and you wanna have some of the restaurants,

00:51:44.760 | it's more of a show than a meal.

00:51:46.800 | You know, it will be, this is on fire,

00:51:48.640 | this is steaming, this is bubbles.

00:51:50.560 | And then other times you'll just go, my last cruise,

00:51:52.840 | you know, it had a roast dinner, it had fish and chips,

00:51:56.400 | it had poolside burgers and pizza and stuff like that.

00:51:59.920 | So it just depends what you want again.

00:52:01.600 | - Things like that, like getting poolside service

00:52:04.120 | of a burger, is that part of the meal plan?

00:52:06.400 | - That's all included, yeah.

00:52:07.600 | Normally there's some sort of pizza, burgers, hot dogs,

00:52:10.680 | you know, it might be like a chicken shack

00:52:12.960 | they have on a carnival.

00:52:14.280 | Fast food like that is normally included in the cruise, yeah.

00:52:17.360 | It's more if you wanna go for a sit down dinner

00:52:19.720 | and you wanna do, you know,

00:52:21.280 | sometimes they'll cook the food in front of you,

00:52:23.240 | that kind of thing.

00:52:24.080 | Those ones will be specialty restaurants.

00:52:25.800 | If you do book a more luxurious cruise line,

00:52:28.040 | it tends to be smaller ships,

00:52:29.440 | so they tend to have less restaurants,

00:52:31.080 | but there'll be included more.

00:52:33.200 | - You mentioned some ships might have 30 restaurants.

00:52:35.280 | Any tricks for figuring out if you don't have time

00:52:37.320 | to eat at every restaurant, which ones to prioritize?

00:52:39.760 | - I mean, I would default to the main dining room

00:52:42.120 | is where you have a guaranteed space for every meal.

00:52:44.840 | So I tend to start there.

00:52:46.160 | Some days you just don't wanna sit down.

00:52:48.120 | Sometimes you just wanna get pizza

00:52:50.040 | or you just wanna get room service or something like that.

00:52:52.840 | And anything else is normally,

00:52:55.360 | you fancy that type of cuisine, I would say.

00:52:58.280 | You feel like, "Oh, I wanna have a Mexican today.

00:53:00.120 | "I wanna have Indian today."

00:53:01.480 | Most things like this, you can pre-book them.

00:53:03.520 | And if you're gonna pre-book the ones that cost extra,

00:53:06.200 | it'll be cheaper if you do it at home.

00:53:07.800 | Generally speaking, if you want something,

00:53:09.700 | if you can pre-book it on the cruise line's website,

00:53:12.360 | it's cheaper.

00:53:13.200 | If it's Wi-Fi, if it's drinks,

00:53:15.200 | I don't think I've ever seen things be cheaper on board

00:53:18.320 | 'cause they wanna fill those spaces, don't they?

00:53:20.360 | - Okay, and you mentioned room service.

00:53:21.840 | Is that also included?

00:53:22.680 | - 50% of the cruise line?

00:53:23.840 | Yes, 50%, no. (laughs)

00:53:25.880 | Quite often, it'll be included for breakfast,

00:53:27.800 | but not for dinner.

00:53:28.720 | But even still, on my last cruise, it wasn't included,

00:53:31.200 | and I think it was like $6 or something.

00:53:33.440 | It's not the end of the world.

00:53:35.240 | If you do just wanna stay in bed, it can be quite nice.

00:53:37.840 | - When you say things aren't included,

00:53:39.560 | that doesn't mean you pay $100 a person for dinner

00:53:42.600 | if it's at a restaurant that's not included.

00:53:44.240 | It's probably just a little upcharge.

00:53:45.920 | - Yeah, it can be.

00:53:46.760 | I mean, my last cruise,

00:53:47.900 | I think it was between five and 10 pounds

00:53:49.760 | in this restaurant I went for, so say like $10,

00:53:52.520 | which you wouldn't get that same food on land

00:53:55.120 | for that price.

00:53:56.080 | So it can be quite good.

00:53:57.400 | You normally, well, not normally, but quite often,

00:54:00.280 | you'll get onboard credit when you book,

00:54:01.920 | which is basically like money

00:54:03.360 | that you can only spend on board,

00:54:05.040 | and it disappears when you get off.

00:54:06.800 | So I spend that on specialty meals sometimes

00:54:09.200 | 'cause it doesn't feel real.

00:54:10.760 | It's gonna go, so I might as well try stuff.

00:54:13.080 | - And what about non-food, other activities?

00:54:14.920 | How do you think people should kind of plan their cruise

00:54:17.640 | and all the activities they could do throughout the week?

00:54:20.220 | - It's definitely better.

00:54:21.520 | I know just saying planning is a bit of a cop-out,

00:54:24.920 | but the more you can plan,

00:54:26.320 | the more you can pre-book things.

00:54:27.680 | Like a lot of cruise lines,

00:54:28.640 | you have to pre-book theater shows now

00:54:30.120 | just for so many people who wanna go.

00:54:31.560 | If you can just book things like that on the app,

00:54:34.080 | the apps are very easy to use on the website.

00:54:36.440 | It just means that you're not gonna be disappointed

00:54:38.340 | because you may see,

00:54:39.320 | sometimes they have big Broadway musicals,

00:54:41.100 | they'll have hairspray.

00:54:42.340 | And if you get on board,

00:54:43.720 | you'd have to join a line, I guess,

00:54:45.500 | if you haven't already pre-booked.

00:54:46.840 | So just save yourself the hassle.

00:54:48.400 | If you wanna do something,

00:54:49.240 | just pre-book it as much as you can.

00:54:51.160 | - Any hidden gem activities you've done

00:54:53.240 | in all the cruises you've done?

00:54:54.680 | - I've done some really weird things on cruises.

00:54:56.600 | I mean, I did a 10-story drop slide recently,

00:54:59.560 | which was terrifying.

00:55:00.900 | One where the floor just drops out

00:55:02.600 | and you go down the side of the cruise ship

00:55:04.020 | and it has glass.

00:55:05.060 | And in the glass part, I don't know why,

00:55:07.000 | but you just get stuck

00:55:08.960 | and you're in this little cocoon thing.

00:55:10.600 | It's like a sack, like a, I don't know.

00:55:12.720 | You get in the sack, cross your hands,

00:55:14.360 | and then you have to scoot down

00:55:15.720 | trying to get through the gap.

00:55:16.880 | Glad I did it.

00:55:17.760 | Not rushing to do it again.

00:55:19.780 | But I've also done, you know,

00:55:21.160 | I've done surf simulators.

00:55:22.800 | I did a skydive simulator,

00:55:24.280 | the one that's sort of in the tube,

00:55:25.600 | you know, where the air just comes straight up at you

00:55:27.720 | and you sort of hover.

00:55:29.040 | That was good fun.

00:55:30.040 | That is one thing, the skydiving,

00:55:31.960 | it is free sometimes and paid for sometimes.

00:55:34.880 | And that's a thing that some cruise lines do.

00:55:37.240 | They'll make it free when it's not a popular time.

00:55:39.400 | For example, if you're in port, everyone's off,

00:55:41.320 | it'll be free in a port.

00:55:42.760 | But when you're at sea and everyone's on there,

00:55:44.040 | they'll charge for it.

00:55:44.920 | So it's not just as simple as if you see it

00:55:47.080 | and it has a price

00:55:47.920 | that it's always gonna be that price.

00:55:49.820 | So just a quick Google of,

00:55:51.100 | is the North Star on this cruise free?

00:55:53.580 | And it will say it's free these times,

00:55:55.940 | not these other times, at the moment.

00:55:58.020 | - What about things to avoid?

00:55:59.060 | Are there things where you see people being like,

00:56:01.020 | "Oh, I'm really excited to do this."

00:56:02.580 | And you're like, "Oh, you got suckered into the thing."

00:56:05.180 | - For me, it's the art auctions.

00:56:06.820 | I'll never understand it.

00:56:07.980 | So they get everyone around,

00:56:09.100 | people buy these paintings and stuff.

00:56:10.940 | But I look at the paintings,

00:56:12.220 | I look at the artists, I Google it

00:56:14.300 | and I can get it cheaper at home.

00:56:15.480 | I don't know why people are buying them on board.

00:56:17.540 | It's just weird to me, I don't understand it.

00:56:20.020 | - Any other things to avoid or focus on

00:56:22.300 | or other hacks you have for cruising?

00:56:23.840 | - I think we've covered most things.

00:56:25.460 | I think generally speaking,

00:56:26.660 | the more flexible you can be,

00:56:28.300 | you can get a better cruise deal.

00:56:29.740 | And the more you can pre-plan,

00:56:31.100 | the more enjoyable your cruise is gonna be.

00:56:33.020 | But once you've planned,

00:56:33.840 | once you've booked everything,

00:56:34.680 | you get to the ship,

00:56:35.700 | you don't have to do anything.

00:56:37.220 | And I think that's what's really nice.

00:56:38.820 | You can just go on your own schedule.

00:56:40.260 | If you're cruising with a big group,

00:56:41.920 | I often cruise with my family,

00:56:43.140 | not everyone wants to do the same thing.

00:56:44.780 | Someone will go to dinner,

00:56:45.900 | someone doesn't wanna go to dinner,

00:56:47.300 | someone wants to see that show,

00:56:48.500 | someone wants to go see the live magician or something,

00:56:51.380 | you can all do that.

00:56:52.400 | So that's one of my favorite things.

00:56:54.000 | - You said family, what about going with kids?

00:56:56.020 | I don't know whether you've been in that situation yourself

00:56:59.060 | or witnessed it.

00:56:59.900 | How should people with especially young kids think about it?

00:57:02.460 | - Yeah, so my last cruise,

00:57:03.540 | I cruised with two of my nieces who are five and 12.

00:57:06.260 | And that was quite different for me

00:57:07.420 | 'cause I don't normally cruise with kids,

00:57:08.860 | but I got to see all of the kids menus

00:57:11.020 | in all of the restaurants,

00:57:12.180 | the little kids cutlery they have, the coloring.

00:57:14.740 | They all have kids clubs on board

00:57:16.500 | and they normally split into age ranges

00:57:18.900 | and the kids clubs are free.

00:57:19.960 | So it's quite a good way to sort of drop off your kid.

00:57:22.400 | They have a great time for three hours

00:57:24.060 | and you get to have a bit of a break

00:57:25.640 | from looking after them.

00:57:26.900 | Sometimes they'll have a kids club that's free,

00:57:29.420 | but then if you want late night babysitting,

00:57:31.980 | you'll have to pay for that.

00:57:33.260 | But I say make the most out of the free kids club.

00:57:35.540 | The kids clubs are so cool.

00:57:36.700 | I used to go when I was a teenager and when I was a kid.

00:57:39.100 | When you're a teenager, it's more sort of,

00:57:40.740 | this is just a place to hang out.

00:57:42.280 | We have Xboxes and we have snacks, but they're cool.

00:57:45.300 | (laughing)

00:57:47.260 | - Yeah, kids love it.

00:57:48.420 | - When I was prepping for this,

00:57:49.540 | I know that in most hotels,

00:57:51.660 | the kids clubs only work for kids five and over.

00:57:54.340 | And I've dug into why.

00:57:55.780 | It seems to be that in most countries

00:57:57.660 | to get insurance at a resort,

00:57:59.460 | it's almost impossible to get insurance for under five.

00:58:02.020 | So if you're traveling a big resort,

00:58:03.620 | a lot of the kids clubs five and up.

00:58:05.380 | But for a lot of cruises, when I did some quick research,

00:58:08.000 | and this is not gonna be blanket advice,

00:58:09.820 | they have younger kid programs,

00:58:11.600 | like baby and toddler daycares for six months and up.

00:58:14.540 | So that was something I didn't expect.

00:58:15.980 | - You have to be six months to go on a cruise

00:58:17.780 | just 'cause I guess medical risk under six months.

00:58:20.620 | But once you're six months, yeah, you're on board,

00:58:23.020 | you have access to all of the soft play areas

00:58:25.880 | and they'll have splash parks outside and slides

00:58:29.080 | and different things that aimed for different age ranges.

00:58:32.060 | But yeah, for kids, so much fun.

00:58:33.980 | That's where I started.

00:58:35.180 | I do appreciate different things about it now.

00:58:37.220 | I went to Alaska, my first cruise.

00:58:38.700 | I don't remember anything about Alaska.

00:58:40.300 | What I remember is going up and down in the elevators

00:58:43.060 | and just being silly, but it was so fun.

00:58:45.300 | - One thing we didn't mention was about seasickness.

00:58:48.020 | Is that more common, less common on a big ship?

00:58:50.720 | How should people who are a little bit worried

00:58:52.580 | in that department think about it?

00:58:53.860 | - People will find it weird,

00:58:54.780 | but I'm someone who can get seasick

00:58:56.620 | because I'm a travel sick person.

00:58:58.180 | I get travel sick in a car.

00:58:59.660 | I take medicine to go in the car for a long time.

00:59:01.600 | I can't go backwards on a train.

00:59:03.060 | VR makes me feel quite sick.

00:59:05.060 | So I'm somebody, I think if anyone

00:59:07.800 | is gonna get seasick, it's me.

00:59:09.100 | And I have been seasick before,

00:59:10.540 | particularly when I went into the Arctic Circle in March

00:59:13.280 | on a ship that was 25 years old,

00:59:15.260 | but you would kind of expect that.

00:59:16.940 | As far as seasickness goes, cruising out of season

00:59:20.340 | increases your risk because you're just more likely

00:59:22.340 | to find a storm.

00:59:23.220 | If we don't hit a storm, you barely know that you're moving.

00:59:26.380 | And even when we do hit the worst weather,

00:59:28.180 | and I try and show people that the ship is rocking,

00:59:30.500 | it's like this curtain is swaying two millimeters this way.

00:59:33.880 | It's not the dramatic things that you think of

00:59:35.900 | where glasses are falling over and everything's smashing.

00:59:38.300 | That's not what happens.

00:59:39.300 | So if you're worried about seasickness,

00:59:40.940 | cruising the peak season,

00:59:42.300 | there's a reason it's the peak season.

00:59:43.840 | You're just less likely to get bad weather.

00:59:45.380 | Pick a cruise that doesn't have any sea days.

00:59:47.360 | If you're not at sea, you're not gonna get seasick.

00:59:49.260 | And there's plenty of cruises where every single day

00:59:51.140 | you have a different port.

00:59:52.140 | And if you can sort of book a cabin that's in the middle,

00:59:54.820 | you feel less movement.

00:59:55.860 | If you're right at the front or you're right at the back,

00:59:57.580 | you just feel more because it's just how ships work.

00:59:59.820 | - What about interior versus exterior?

01:00:01.340 | For some reason, my instinct would be

01:00:03.180 | if you were seasick, interior would be the worst.

01:00:06.100 | - I've tried all of them.

01:00:07.280 | It's nice to get the fresh air, I think,

01:00:09.460 | when you have a balcony, if you're thinking,

01:00:11.180 | oh, I feel a bit, get some fresh air.

01:00:12.740 | But also, then you can see the horizon.

01:00:14.860 | I don't know if it really makes a massive difference.

01:00:17.360 | Sometimes just being inside, you just forget.

01:00:19.460 | So you have that perk.

01:00:20.860 | But yeah, balconies, I mean,

01:00:22.060 | inside cabins tend to be further down

01:00:23.900 | and more on the bottom decks.

01:00:25.580 | So the movement is less there.

01:00:27.140 | It is perks and downsides to every single cabin type,

01:00:30.100 | but people shouldn't worry about it.

01:00:31.620 | I think a lot of people think,

01:00:32.620 | even if they don't get travel sick on land,

01:00:34.620 | in cars and stuff, they think they're gonna get seasick.

01:00:36.780 | Most people don't.

01:00:37.940 | Even if I say we're on a cruise and the captain says,

01:00:40.360 | we're gonna hit a terrible storm, the waves,

01:00:42.500 | I'll just take a seasickness pill and then I'm fine.

01:00:44.860 | So yeah, it doesn't affect me at all.

01:00:46.900 | The only thing is the seasickness medicine

01:00:48.540 | makes me a bit sleepy,

01:00:49.440 | but it doesn't matter if you have a nap on a cruise.

01:00:51.460 | That's totally fine.

01:00:52.940 | I'm still doing it

01:00:53.780 | and I'm a very travel sick person normally.

01:00:56.060 | - Great.

01:00:56.900 | Anything on the horizon that's exciting for you

01:00:58.860 | in the industry, new ships, new destinations,

01:01:01.340 | some place you're going to?

01:01:02.940 | - There is so much happening in the cruise industry.

01:01:04.900 | Because we shut down and now everyone wants to travel.

01:01:07.580 | Everything is booming.

01:01:08.580 | Every cruise line is, I mean, the shipyards are full.

01:01:10.980 | To get a slot to build a new cruise ship

01:01:12.580 | seems impossible at the minute,

01:01:13.820 | but I'm hoping to get to Alaska next year

01:01:16.020 | because that was my first cruise

01:01:17.760 | and I haven't been back there.

01:01:19.020 | So I'm looking forward to that.

01:01:20.260 | I'm doing a river cruise soon, which will be nice.

01:01:22.300 | I really like river cruising.

01:01:23.620 | If you're someone who really is worried about seasickness,

01:01:25.640 | go on the river.

01:01:26.480 | You never feel a thing because no tides.

01:01:28.740 | - Yeah, my parents just got back from a river cruise

01:01:31.220 | in Europe and they went through France and Austria

01:01:33.860 | and said it was amazing.

01:01:34.700 | And in my mind, I never even considered that as an option.

01:01:37.420 | It was a much smaller boat and they had a great time.

01:01:40.540 | - I've done some of the, I say bigger,

01:01:42.500 | some of the main big river cruise ships.

01:01:44.700 | And also I took a cruise recently on a barge

01:01:47.100 | that only had 20 people.

01:01:48.460 | And it was basically like

01:01:49.580 | as if your hotel is just following you.

01:01:51.220 | That's it.

01:01:52.060 | Like every day you would go out.

01:01:52.980 | That was actually a cycling cruise.

01:01:54.340 | So we would cycle every day and then the ship would meet us

01:01:56.900 | and then you would have dinner and you'd go to sleep.

01:01:58.820 | So instead of lugging all your stuff on the back of a bike

01:02:01.260 | and trying to unpack every day, your stuff just moves.

01:02:04.140 | - It was amazing.

01:02:05.020 | I love river cruising.

01:02:06.220 | - Had you not just gave that anecdote,

01:02:07.940 | I would have been so sad finding out about it later.

01:02:10.500 | You know, the idea that if you want to take a bike trip

01:02:12.300 | through Europe, you could do it with a cruise.

01:02:14.180 | Are there any other, I don't know,

01:02:15.220 | strange is maybe not the right word,

01:02:16.820 | but unique cruise experiences like that?

01:02:19.420 | - I mean, there's all sorts of cruises.

01:02:20.980 | If you're someone who wants to do, I mean,

01:02:22.460 | I've done some 90s themed cruises.

01:02:24.380 | They were great fun where they get 90s bands on board.

01:02:26.860 | Every day you have a different 90s dress theme.

01:02:29.660 | There's lots of music.

01:02:30.740 | Music is very popular for themed cruises,

01:02:33.100 | but sometimes they'll have, you know,

01:02:34.460 | it might be a TV show and they'll have actors

01:02:36.340 | from that TV show who are on that voyage

01:02:38.660 | or they're going to a place.

01:02:40.060 | Say they're going to where "Game of Thrones"

01:02:42.060 | was filmed or something.

01:02:42.900 | They may have like a "Game of Thrones" themed week,

01:02:45.060 | which I think is pretty cool.

01:02:46.420 | - One cruise carrier you never mentioned.

01:02:48.380 | How does Disney fit into all of this?

01:02:49.940 | - So I've only taken one Disney cruise

01:02:51.700 | and I did it after the pandemic

01:02:53.340 | where we weren't really allowed to go anywhere.

01:02:55.100 | So my cruise went nowhere.

01:02:56.420 | So I don't really feel like I'm qualified to talk about it.

01:02:59.140 | I mean, if you love Disney, it is very Disney.

01:03:02.020 | That's what I would say.

01:03:02.860 | You have to like Disney because everything is,

01:03:05.300 | every bit of music is Disney music.

01:03:07.260 | Every film is a Disney film.

01:03:09.060 | People love it.

01:03:09.900 | There's so many people who cruise with Disney

01:03:11.340 | who would never look at another cruise line.

01:03:13.180 | You know what?

01:03:14.020 | Disney fans, how much they love Disney.

01:03:15.660 | Just that, but on a ship.

01:03:17.220 | - What would be either that you've been on

01:03:19.780 | or that you would love to go on the higher end side?

01:03:22.780 | What would be kind of the aspirational cruise?

01:03:24.820 | If someone was like, you know,

01:03:26.060 | I'm going to spend all my money on the nicest cruise,

01:03:28.220 | not just for the sake of spending money,

01:03:29.860 | but what's kind of that end?

01:03:32.100 | - The one that comes to mind is this summer

01:03:34.340 | I took a cruise on a yacht.

01:03:35.900 | It was around $1,000 per night.

01:03:37.620 | I will say that was a press trip.

01:03:38.820 | I don't think that's a surprise

01:03:39.940 | that I didn't pay $1,000 per night,

01:03:41.700 | but it was as close as you can get to having a yacht,

01:03:44.500 | but without any of the stress of having a yacht.

01:03:46.740 | So it was just fantastic.

01:03:48.500 | We went around Greece.

01:03:49.580 | So we had like long ports.

01:03:51.380 | We could stop anywhere.

01:03:52.460 | There weren't many of us there.

01:03:54.180 | If you needed something,

01:03:55.420 | you just tell someone and it will arrive.

01:03:57.300 | - What was the line or the ship?

01:03:59.540 | - It was called Emerald.

01:04:00.820 | They're like a river cruise line mostly,

01:04:02.540 | and they have just moved into yachts.

01:04:04.780 | So I've cruised with Emerald on the river,

01:04:06.340 | which is very, very nice.

01:04:07.620 | The yacht cruising is something completely different,

01:04:10.020 | but fantastic.

01:04:11.300 | And surprisingly, I didn't expect to meet people

01:04:13.500 | on that cruise who had cruised on the big ships,

01:04:15.860 | but actually I did.

01:04:16.940 | So I thought it would be more of a different customer base,

01:04:19.340 | but I guess not.

01:04:20.340 | - We've looked and never done,

01:04:21.980 | but renting yachts is very expensive.

01:04:23.940 | So when you say $1,000 a night, it's like, whoa,

01:04:26.180 | 'cause it can cost $100,000 a week to charter a yacht.

01:04:29.260 | - Exactly, and crew, and cleaning,

01:04:31.460 | and how do you maintain a yacht?

01:04:32.700 | I can't even think about it.

01:04:33.860 | So it was as close as I'll ever come, I think,

01:04:36.220 | to feeling like I had my own yacht.

01:04:38.260 | You're treated like absolute royalty.

01:04:40.300 | There's nothing you could say.

01:04:41.620 | I mean, I have these mascots here.

01:04:43.780 | You've seen them.

01:04:44.980 | My channel mascot is a cat from me describing.

01:04:47.980 | And every day, my cabin room steward

01:04:50.460 | would take my cat mascot

01:04:52.460 | and put him in a different situation.

01:04:54.260 | So they took him to the spa.

01:04:55.700 | They took pictures of him.

01:04:56.740 | They took him into the galley.

01:04:58.420 | They took pictures of him making food.

01:05:00.260 | He went to the bridge.

01:05:01.260 | He steered the ship.

01:05:02.180 | And when I came back at the end of the cruise,

01:05:03.980 | I had my cat mascot on my bed

01:05:06.260 | with all of these pictures

01:05:07.380 | of what he'd been up to during the week,

01:05:10.100 | which was just so funny

01:05:11.420 | that even a toy gets treated so well.

01:05:13.580 | It has the best holiday.

01:05:15.020 | - Okay, I came into this thinking, we'll see.

01:05:17.820 | And I was talking to my wife.

01:05:19.380 | I actually think this sounds like something

01:05:21.340 | that would be fun for the family.

01:05:22.380 | I don't know if it's the yacht, the Alaska.

01:05:24.140 | We got a lot of vacations to go.

01:05:26.060 | Is that the site where we've got to start comparing?

01:05:28.220 | - Just have a look.

01:05:29.060 | They have a nice thing on there,

01:05:30.220 | which is like what's going in the next 90 days.

01:05:32.620 | If you just have a space in your calendar,

01:05:34.460 | you can sort it by price per night.

01:05:36.420 | So you can just see in the entire world,

01:05:38.460 | where is the cheapest cruise?

01:05:39.620 | It'll be a really random one.

01:05:41.060 | It'll be like Barbados to Lisbon

01:05:43.220 | on a Costa cruise or something for $200.

01:05:45.540 | But it just gives you an idea.

01:05:46.900 | Then you can go to the Cruise Lines website

01:05:48.380 | and sort of look in a bit more detail.

01:05:49.860 | - Awesome.

01:05:50.700 | And I know you have so much content on this.

01:05:52.540 | You have a free course.

01:05:53.580 | Where can people go if they want to go deeper on cruises?

01:05:56.380 | - Yeah, so I keep it very easy.

01:05:57.900 | I'm emmacruises across all of the internet.

01:06:00.140 | emmacruises.com is where everything is kind of based.

01:06:02.660 | And I review all kinds of trips.

01:06:04.860 | So it'll be everything that we've talked about.

01:06:07.300 | I share a lot of tips for what cabins to book,

01:06:09.820 | how to book it, when to book it,

01:06:11.500 | where to go, everything I know.

01:06:12.980 | I make videos about it.

01:06:14.300 | So I have quite a lot of YouTube videos now.

01:06:16.180 | I think maybe four or 500.

01:06:17.820 | - I did some research on YouTube, on the website.

01:06:20.580 | - It's quite a lot.

01:06:21.420 | - There's a lot of content.

01:06:22.260 | - It is.

01:06:23.100 | But the thing is, is you leave a look at a video

01:06:24.860 | and you'll think absolutely not or yes.

01:06:27.580 | And that's good.

01:06:28.420 | Sometimes I get comments and people will say,

01:06:29.740 | I'm so sorry, but this looks absolutely awful.

01:06:32.100 | That's good.

01:06:32.940 | I would much prefer that someone watches the video

01:06:34.940 | and says, that would drive me bananas.

01:06:37.220 | I don't want to do that.

01:06:38.380 | Or yes, this one's absolutely for me.

01:06:40.180 | 'Cause I think that's the thing.

01:06:41.300 | It's tricky to try before you buy a cruise.

01:06:43.580 | It's a big commitment to do not only the money,

01:06:45.820 | but also a week of your life.

01:06:47.100 | So what I try and do is as much as I can,

01:06:49.540 | show someone what they're gonna get.

01:06:51.700 | That's my plan.

01:06:52.540 | - I love it.

01:06:53.380 | Thank you for all that.

01:06:54.220 | I'm gonna be using that as we try to decide what we do.

01:06:56.740 | And I look forward to letting you know what we do

01:06:59.020 | and I'll share with everyone here what the cruise is,

01:07:01.180 | how we got the best deal and all of that good stuff.

01:07:03.020 | So thank you so much for joining me.

01:07:04.940 | - Fabulous.

01:07:05.780 | This has been a lot of fun.

01:07:06.620 | Thank you.

01:07:07.460 | - Wow.

01:07:09.260 | I hope you all enjoyed that as much as I did.

01:07:10.660 | And I hope you're interested in cruises

01:07:12.380 | even more than you thought, because I know I am.

01:07:14.980 | If you have any questions or thoughts,

01:07:16.660 | please feel free to shoot an email

01:07:18.060 | to podcast@allthehacks.com.

01:07:20.340 | I read every email that comes in

01:07:21.900 | and it's a great place to send questions

01:07:23.700 | for a future Mailbag episode.

01:07:25.660 | Thank you so much for listening.

01:07:27.140 | I'll see you next week.

01:07:28.220 | (upbeat music)

01:07:31.500 | (upbeat music)

01:07:34.600 | (upbeat music)

01:07:37.340 | (birds chirping)

01:07:40.100 | [BLANK_AUDIO]