When I told friends, family, and followers online that I was headed off on a Viking Ocean cruise to Alaska, I was struck by how much misunderstanding and myths they all had about what it's really like to go on a Viking Ocean cruise. Because it had been a while since I'd last been on a Viking Ocean cruise, I also had many questions on what it was like these days and how and what had changed or was different. This is what I discovered it is like going on a Viking Ocean Cruise today.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

Reports of an incident of passengers breaking cruise rules with costly consequences, got me thinking about what cruise rules I see being broken often. It struck me that some rule breaking bothered me and some did not, for while they might have nasty consequences for those involved many do not directly affect my cruising experience. I wondered if everyone felt the same. So, I did a poll of cruisers and discovered there’s 6 key rules that when broken drive cruisers crazy more than any others, and in this video I reveal what they are and why they drive other cruise passengers crazy.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

While there's been many reviews about cruising on Cunard's new Queen Anne, there's not been much about what it's like to travel in their costly first-class Grills “ship-within-a-ship” on it. I spent 14 nights testing that out and having also been in it on every ship in their fleet too, I think I’m well positioned to report back on what they’ve changed, got right and frankly not got right at all.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

I believe I can bring a unique take on Cunard's new Queen Anne as I’ve been on 23 Cunard cruises and spent 210 nights across all their fleet, including most recently 14 nights on board Queen Anne, which gave me ample time to fully test out their latest cruise ship. I was keen to discover if, as some believe, Cunard is trying to chase people like me away from Cunard with their new ship and replace me with new and younger cruisers, or whether they're just trying to offer another ship for me as a regular Cunard cruiser to experience.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

What can you take home from your cruise without any fear you're doing the wrong thing, either morally or legally? This question hit me while I was packing at the end of a recent Cunard Queen Anne Cruise, as in the disembarkation letter a section was highlighted with a list of items that I was not allowed to take home, warning that if I did there would be penalties. I did a double take, as it included items I often take home from a cruise. It got me questioning what we can take from a cruise these days without any fear of getting into trouble.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

As all the passengers you will hear about discovered, being denied boarding for a cruise, not only turned their dream vacation into complete disarray, but lost them a fortune as cruise lines do not refund guests who they deny boarding to, arguing it's up to us as passengers to pay close attention to any rules and requirements, whether it's the cruise lines or the countries being called upon. After seeing reports of more people being caught out these days, I want to make it easier for you to avoid the things that could get you denied boarding. 

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

With ships sailing full, and all the major cruise lines saying that on average they're sailing at 104% capacity, the techniques that I used to use and spoke about in the past, even as recently as this video from two years ago, to get cruise cabin upgrades no longer work. But after some rethinking, I’ve successfully cracked how to still get upgrades today. I know you can score upgrades like I have, as I’ve just helped people booking on one of my future group cruises land upgrades on that one too. Links mentioned in the video: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-ship-fare-tracking/

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

I was driven to make this after I saw a series of issues blow up on cruise ships after people did not come clean with their cruise line, sometimes intentionally but more often because they hadn’t realised they needed to. The consequences of some were so severe that I’ve seen cruisers banned for life, refused embarkation, or being kicked off their ship during the cruise. In this video I help you to get cruising right by knowing what you should never hide from the cruise line, and why. 

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

I recently embarked on Holland America Eurodam to host one of my group cruises with some trepidation, because I'd had past fans of Holland America telling me they were falling out of love with the line, based on three recent changes. So, I felt this would be the perfect opportunity to put these to the test, as I could tap into the thoughts of everyone on my group cruise. And, based on what we discovered, you’ll hear where we found the concerns about Holland America are right, where they are not, and why.

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers

Experiences on my two last cruises reminded me that just because my cruise ship is calling into a port does not mean that I can assume it's safe for me to get off and explore. In fact, even in the two most popular cruising regions, the Caribbean and Mediterranean, many of the most visited ports are amongst the riskiest. Welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bembridge and I’m going to tell you what dangerous ports in these two regions to avoid, and how to keep yourself safe if you've got a cruise booked that's going to one of them. Link mentioned in the video: Carole Copeland Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/conversations-with-carole/id218435600

• Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers and get exclusive Patron-only content, downloads and livestreams
• Visit my Tips For Travellers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tipsfortravellers