Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers

It feels to me like the world is getting smaller for cruise passengers. I keep seeing reports of yet another port banning, reducing how many ships or the size of ships that can call there. And even in ports without cruise restrictions, more locals seem to be protesting about cruise passengers being there once we get off the ship. As the news of these developments tends to be sporadic and not many...

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...

On my last cruise, Cunard Queen Anne, I never ate in the buffet restaurant, on a recent Holland America cruise I ate lunch in there every day and on my Royal Caribbean Symphony of Seas cruise I ate most meals there. Why? It's because I have a set of cruise buffet rules that I've developed over time that determine when I eat in the buffet, how I use it if I do, and what I will and won't eat in ther...

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. V...

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 inclu...

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...

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...

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,...

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 p...

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...

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 disc...

The Indian Pacific is one of the famous and costliest train journeys in the world travelling 2,700 miles (4,352 kilometres) between Sydney and Perth Australia. So, I had very high expectations, but before we even got on board, I started to have concerns as things were going wrong which would have been fine if it was just me and my partner travelling, but we had booked two cabins in the premium Pla...

One of the more frequently asked questions I see on cruise message boards is: "what can I ask my cabin steward to bring or do for me?". As I keep seeing the same limited list of suggestions, I decided to make this as, based on my experience, I can see cruisers are missing out on many more things cabin stewards can do and bring.  Become a Tips For Travellers Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfort...

Oceania Cruises is one of my all-time favourite cruise lines, and so I was incredibly excited to try their new class of ships. Until I did. I went on Vista, the first of this new class, and despite many great things, that I will tell you about, there is (for me anyway, and some others I spoke to) one deal breaker that means I will be sticking to their older ships unless something changes. Become a...

I've just returned from back-to-back Caribbean cruises on two very different ships, the massive 6,000 passenger Symphony of the Seas and the smaller 1,200 passenger Oceania Vista. And on both, despite their dramatic differences, I was amazed how many people were still getting the same five things wrong that I've seen on every Caribbean cruise I've done over the years. I want to warn you about them...

Anyone close to cruising knows that cruise lines are incredibly involved with trains and train travel. Some even own and operate them, including some of the most famous and iconic ones, as you will hear. That's why they really want us to do three things: book train travel before cruises, during cruises as excursions, and after the cruise. Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge, helping you to get crui...

I told my friends not to book the cruise as it was one that I keep warning cruisers to stay well clear of as they almost always disappoint. But they insisted and sadly, three days before they were due to depart, what I feared would happen did. It was cancelled. I'm Gary Bembridge and I'm here to warn you about this and 5 cruises I suggest you NEVER book, along with tips of what to do instead - or...

Although most cruise reviewers say there are five, there are strictly speaking only two cruise lines that truly have a "ship-within-a-ship". A fully self-contained world where passengers paying at least $500 per person a night for a suite are given the special entry card to a door that lets them step out of the regular cruise ship and into an exclusive VIP (Very Important Passenger) one. I have st...

Four years ago, Royal Caribbean, best known for huge, good value resort ships, surprised many by buying Silversea known for ultra-luxury small ship cruising. Having cruised on it before the takeover, I decided I should return to see if the online reviews from other pre-takeover cruisers saying things like, "Not the same Silversea" and "Before it was sold, we thought Silversea was superb, well run,...

There are five things I took for granted last year as a cruiser that have unexpectedly disappeared this year, the first massive one I experienced first-hand on a recent cruise. I was on the first leg of Silversea Silver Spirit's 62-night Grand Voyage from Cape Town to Athens via the Seychelles, Dubai, and the Suez Canal. Find out what that was and the 4 others. Become a Tips For Travellers Patron:...

I used to think of myself as a considerate cruise passenger, trying to be polite and help make the crews' jobs simpler, easier, and more pleasant. But I've had to reappraise what I was doing after a crew member discreetly told me on this cruise that I am on that some were having the opposite effect, and could get them into trouble with their boss, affect their ability to get a promotion, and even...

Cunard has the reputation of being the most class-based cruise line sailing today, keeping alive the tradition of grand old ocean liners from the Titanic era had of giving First-Class passengers, or what Cunard now call "The Grills", a more rounded and top-notch experience vastly superior to that of all other guests. But is that the reality. I reveal what it is really like and why Become a Tips Fo...

Cruise lines charge less per day for repositioning cruises than ANY of their other cruises, making them some of the most inexpensive and appealing to many cruisers. But I've met so many people on them discovering too late that being inexpensive alone is not a good reason for doing them, as they'd been caught out or fallen into some traps. The same ones I see repeatedly. Become a Tips For Traveller...

I met so many regular Norwegian cruisers on my Norwegian Viva cruise that disliked this new Prima class of Norwegian Cruise Line ships that I started wondering if Norwegian had actually gone out of their way to create a new type of ship they knew current cruisers wouldn't like! Perhaps to attract different cruisers, perhaps cruisers like me. I'm not a regular Norwegian cruiser, largely because I'v...

Just before my much anticipated and costly $1,800 a night cruise in Norwegian Viva's all-suite Haven, "Cruise with Ben and David", one of the leading YouTube cruise channels, released a critical review raising many issues and complaints about it. So many that friends of mine suggested I cancel, as they knew that it was THE most expensive Mediterranean cruise I had ever booked. As it was so costly,...