Tips For Cruisers is the place for you if you LOVE Cruising, Insider Cruising Secrets and Saving Money. I took my first cruise nearly 10 years ago on Independence of the Seas by Royal Caribbean and have been hooked ever since. Come along as we create memories to share with our loved all while on a budget. Thanks - Brian "Tips For Cruisers"
Hello I never been on a cruise ship but i been to few all-inclusive Caribbean -Mexico tour. There i get beers, regular wines, regular cocktail like blue Hawaiyun , pina colada, margarita, chocolate mudslide all for free with my bookings. In cruise ship regular cruise booking package these drinks are not included in the package ?
Hi, My children don't drink fizzy drinks. First time cruise booked for July '25 should I book them a drinks package? Or will there be enough on board for them to have for free? They would like diluted juice but mostly choose water. Thanks for any info in advance
Since you have The Key you will be able to board earlier. I would show up by 12:00 / noon. The chops lunch in the Main Dining Room will go from 11:30 - 1:00 maybe. (Double check) During this time you can drop off your Carryon size luggage and they will bring to stateroom. Stateroom will be open by 2:00 usually. My cruse last week they were ready at 1:00 PM. Enjoy your cruise!
Thanks for this great video. As I will be cruising soon, I contacted your referenced taxi driver, and he did not acknowledge the rate you mentioned and instead charged 45 euros one way. I found out it is much better to rent a car and spend some time going around the island. Nevertheless, your advice has me already programming my wake-up at 5 a.m. Thanks!
Let me just say how awesome you guys are to take the time to make these amazing, super helpful & informative travel reviews. You both have really helped eased my traveling planning! Stay awesome! 🤗
Scott Edwards in this moments some friend of my son is one of the Engineering in the Icon tell him the problems of Icon is Problem to burn and dispose of the trash. They were going to come to Ponce, Puerto Rico to drop it off and now they go to the port to deposit trash. They did not design a large place for the daily trash collection of this Mega cruise ship. That caused damage to the propulsion system of the cruise ship. Now they was minimized the total of the passengers. More cancellations. I seem this create in the future Class Demands to the those who made the ship. I never take this cruise. Because in 35 weeks have to many Issues.
The answer is YES, depending on what price you are offered. Lots of tender ports in Europe make it a no brainer. Even better, we got it for cheaper than the first price we were offered for the Internet package. One size does not fit all.
This was such a port intensive cruise that we didn’t take advantage of the nightlife. There is good live music in the English pub and another bar we enjoyed.
I was in Santorini a couple weeks ago. There were 5 cruise ships in port. It was awful with 17,000 people trying to see the sites. Wait lines for the cable car were up to 2 hours long.
Appreciate the video, well done! Thanks for the insights. What month were you there? Will be at port there end of October, also on the Odyssey OTS. We are only ship there. There’s a water taxi to Oia we’re considering. Best to start there with bus or taxi back? Or would you start in Fira and taxi to Oia and maybe take water taxi back?
We were there towards the end of May. I would definitely start in Oia with either a taxi at the top or a “water” taxi over. There are no water taxi’s back, even if you take one over to the best of my knowledge. Take the bus back when you are done. When the day come we do it again, that is our plan. For some reason, we still research it even though we don’t have another trip planned. Thanks for watching!
I tracked via Google.com/flights so I knew what a good rate was based on history. (Google shows you) and then set an alert. I also bought basic economy so no checked bag and no picking seats. Ended up with my wife on way there but not on way back. Also, month of May vs. summer helps.
My son have terminal cancer and that is the only opportunity the Hospital brings Ing to him in Springfield. Very Sad and emotional to him and me. But I can’t do any other way for travel. The hospital not permitted other months. God know that
He has 51 years. He play basketball in UMASS and now he received that notice. Now I wait for any notice. That is my job motional situation is not Fake. I not want that for any passenger. That was my gift to my sons birthday on August 27, 1973, have 51 years.
The moral of the story is. Cruise lines are in the business to make $$$. If you read the fine print things go wrong and that's LIFE. Missing a cruise is not the end of the world and cruise lines need to put SAFETY first. Cruise lines have insurance as well so they are not honestly losing out and ultimately if they choose to build bigger ships their risk is bigger.
We always buy insurance. One never knows what tomorrow holds. Plus we once had our luggage broke in to and the insurance paid for everything we lost, no questions asked. With the low cost of the insurance these days why would you not buy it?
I suppose it always comes down to how much risk are you comfortable taking. With flights changing more and more these days, it is making not having it far too risky.
All cruisers in September 28, 2024 if every one request more for FCC because now the prices is a double and more. The compensation not cover the personal damages and emotional for this cancellation. Child was affected, not Understanding what happened. The most serious thing is Emotional damages this cause this cancellation waiting two years for this. I NOT ACCEPTED THE AMOUNT THEY BRING. They need created a new Reservation at the same prices you paid in two years ago. Because the prices is overpriced now. SAD EMOTIONAL SITUATION FOR ALLS PASSENGERS. THEY NEED PAID THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THIS.
Credit cards and travel insurance through the cruise line is always so limited or has a lot of restrictions. However I always buy travel insurance but I only cover up to the cost of the cruise far because airfare is pretty safe that it will be covered by the CC. Booking with points is a totally different thing. I have absolutely no idea how travel is protected when booking with points. I just got stuck with a canceled cruise and my points stuck with the airline I transferred them too.
First time leaving a comment even tho we have been following you guys for a while 🚢❤️ My husband and I have been cruising since 1995, mainly with Carnival. We do buy travel insurance with Carnival only when we cruise overseas, because of the amount of money we all invest going overseas. It includes some health and travel expenses. In May 2020 our trip got cancelled by Carnival in March 2020 due to 😷 Well, knowing what was going on overseas 😷 the day before Carnival took the decision, I called to cancelled our trip because of what was happening around the world… little did we know, we almost lost everything. Carnival told us because we took the decision first and not the company, even if we had insurance thru them, they were not going to give us a refund nor a credit. It took a lot of calls and emails to finally get a credit not a refund. Their final decision was to give us two years to use the credit, plus an additional credit to use on board which we did ☺️ Thank you for your videos. Until the next time.
Ah thanks so much for following and commenting! I’m not a commenter myself 😀 Yes! Our overseas trip was the one we considered insurance the most especially when you factor in medical costs should something arise.
That’s certainly disappointing for all those due to sail - and very expensive for the company - it sounds like they have at least done right by the passengers with refunds & FCC I’m based in the UK and have an annual travel insurance policy which covers multiple trips for a very reasonable cost.
The Taxie driver was not scamming you it does cost extra from airports/ports. Also you shouldn’t be scared of the taxi driver Greeks are not violent people.
The issue was he did not disclose the extra fee. Don’t misunderstand, we were not scared so much as disappointed the price suddenly “went up”. The fee should have been disclosed.
just saw your video. nice descriptions but i'll make some notces... 1st about the taxi cost: the driver should have told you that there is a legal and official extra charge from ports,train & bus station of 1 euro, that he should have added on his meter, if he didn't then yes it;s a scam and 2nd the rock that you visited @7:38 is the "areopagus". it's famous because it was the ancient court of Athens and even more famous because Apostle Paul gave a speech when he visited the ancient town
Let me share a different perspective on what we felt was the worst port on our cruise. We took the Celebrity excursion from the other docks to Oia. Allowed us to not have to stand in the funicular line. This gave us the chance to quickly see those blue domes, stand in line to take a photo, crop out the women with their long gown photo shoots, and ride back to Fira. With two other ships in port and Fira was jam packed. We had a great lunch with a view at the Lupo Restaurant . That lunch was the highlight of the day. We walked the cliff side path to the Three Bells of Fira and back to congested Fira. We checked the box and then tried to find the best way back to the ship since walking around there was not a pleasant experience at all. The funicular line was 2 hours long, we would not take a donkey down since we felt it was cruel. We took the steps down, not pleasant, but we can say we did it. Took the tender back to the ship and just enjoyed the view of the island over drinks. I just wanted to share our experience as there is so much romanticism about the place. Sure, Fira and Oia arent representative of the whole island, but on a cruise, it’s not that good. Don’t be fooled by the long day scheduled on your cruise, they factor in the wait times. And sir, it’s pronounced yee-rose.
We loved Kusadasi, Ephesus and Virgin Mary’s house when there a year ago, almost to the day. I would suggest using the cruise ship excursion though. The extra cost is insurance that the ship will wait for you to get back…..peace of mind. The only drawback is that the guide will bring you to a rug “demonstration” which ends up as a high pressure sales pitch. Our tour guide was fantastic. You can actually leave the excursion at that point since it is at the end and in the town of Kusadasi. Don’t eat near the port, go a few blocks away and get more authentic food. The vendors are aggressive and will do anything to get you in the shop. I bought some things at a soccer team store and they saw the bag Galatasaray bag and used it to start a conversation. Overall, the people who give it bad reviews were unprepared for the place…..
I have not known that to be true but if you are strategic on when you purchase the internet, you can get away with only buying a day or two. Once you purchase it, it is active for 24 hrs.
Hey guys! My wife and I are going on our honeymoon on the 9 night Mediterranean cruise next week, because of your video on Athens we already canceled our excursion to rather do it our selves to save money so thank you! However, I’m trying to decide wether or not y’all would recommend we cancel our guided tour for the Coliseum, and Roman forum and rather do a self led tour there as well?
If it’s in your budget, I would keep the guide for the coliseum as I wish we would have learned more about what we were seeing. Athens you can 100% do without a guide. Enjoy your honeymoon!
@@TipsForCruisersthank you! Now as far as Turkey goes, we have an excursion booked for the Ephesus ruins and Virgin Mary’s house however the family tour company you guys recommend in Turkey can take us to all of it as well as long as we would like yes?
Yes, that is correct. I would compare the pricing but I’m sure it is much cheaper. Make sure you know how much tickets to get in are too. For instance, Ephesus is 40 Euros per person.
