today i want to share with you 11 tips
for your mediterranean cruise are you
ready let's go alrighty so we just got
back from a mediterranean cruise on the
celebrity edge which is a fantastic
cruise line i am not going to share too
much of the cruise ship with you because
there are
many many many youtube videos that give
you walking tours of the entire every
inch of the ship so i don't need to
rehash that here and if you want to see
that i have my favorite below and please
go watch it on his channel he has a
fantastic walkthrough of every type of
stateroom the entire ship everything so
if you're going on celebrity edge take a
look at that but today i want to talk to
you about mediterranean cruises in
general not just celebrity every cruise
that you do in the mediterranean these
are my top 11 tips for making that
experience far far more comfortable and
have everything go much more smoothly
and have a lot better time so let's go
ahead with tip number one and that is
getting there early so if you especially
are coming from north america or south
america
australia new zealand anywhere that is
not on the same continent or within the
same area i highly recommend that you
get there early and by early i mean at
least a day ideally at least two days
but if you want to build it into your
vacation then obviously you can come as
early as you want to come luckily none
of our flights got cancelled but
especially if you're going this year
flights are getting canceled and delayed
left and right so it's even more
important that you get there early just
in case there's a cancellation a delay
something happens you don't miss getting
on your cruise so get there early the
cool thing about that is you can also
build it into your vacation so you can
explore that city that you're leaving
from and be able to extend your vacation
a little bit and give you a little bit
more in depth of that particular city
because one thing about cruises is it's
really just snippets of each city you're
only really there for
eight hours ten hours maybe if you're
lucky you might be there overnight but
for the most part you're only in each
city tiny tiny little bit so if you can
extend the beginning city and the ending
city all the better because you can get
a far more in depth with those cities
all right speaking of arriving and
getting that whole thing going i also
highly recommend that when you book your
cruise
make sure you and you might want to book
it yourself through the cruise line
directly but i highly recommend that you
also check with a big travel agency or
someone affiliated with a big agency if
you have an amex card check amex if you
belong to aaa check aaa
or costco if you have costco check
costco and if you don't have any of
those then find a travel agent who's
affiliated with a big travel agency
there are little home-based travel
agents that belong to large consortiums
and large agencies that can have access
to what i'm about to tell you no the
reason why i want you to check these big
agencies is because they have more
buying power more negotiating power with
the cruise lines so oftentimes when you
look through them they will give you
extra perks better than what you're
finding by booking through the cruise
line directly so you'll get extra room
credit you can get discounts you can get
upgrades you can get extra amenities in
your room
all sorts of things that you can get by
going through a big agency because they
have these packages that they're allowed
to offer you these extra
extras that they're allowed to offer to
you so for instance we booked our cruise
through american express their travel
agency and we got extra room credit i
think we got an extra 500 in room credit
we got a bottle of champagne when we
arrived um and then i think there was
one other i think there was an upgrade
that we got as well so it was by far
worth it to check at least check with
those big agencies and see what extras
you can get
and be able to take advantage of those
extra opportunities on that note of
booking things when you are pricing your
flights to get there i
priced all of the usual places that i
recommend people price their flights i
went to google flights i went to some of
my old travel agency friends have access
to some of those consortiums and things
that i could book lights through i
checked there i checked with the flights
directly i checked everywhere and i kept
finding the same basic pricing structure
for some reason i was hesitant to check
through the cruise line but one day i
was fed up because i wasn't finding what
i was looking for and i decided to check
through the cruise line and they
blew me away
they saved about
500
on
airfare per person by going through the
celebrity air department and getting my
flights through there but not only did
they save me money they also allowed me
to reserve the flight without any money
down i didn't have to pay for the flight
until i paid for the crews in general my
my whole cruise they also were available
to while we were traveling for any
emergencies that came up during travel
which i have a story to share with you
in just one second and because they
saved us money we were able to upgrade
our flight and fly business class which
i'm telling you if you're going to
europe especially from far away
it's definitely worth it to get business
class when you're traveling 20 some
hours on the flight so
by going through the the air department
and celebrity i was able to do those
things now the story i was going to tell
you so we they do offer help during your
flight so if something is canceled
delayed something changes you can call
them 24 hours a day and they will help
you fix it so when we were coming home
my daughter's flight we ended up on
different flights and my daughter's
flight was delayed leaving it was
delayed a few hours but by doing that it
shortened her
layover so they would miss their
connecting flight and so she was able to
call the air department and they
immediately fixed it they got her on a
totally different flight that was
non-stop they just took care of it for
her so i highly recommend at least
looking through your cruise lines air
department and see what it is that they
offer because by booking it through them
you might have some of those extra perks
that might make it worth it for you now
if you don't book through them and in
general i highly recommend always get
travel insurance that is my next tip and
kind of a bonus tip because i don't have
it on my list but my bonus tip is to get
travel insurance especially right now
with a covid coming and going at a whim
you never really know or monkey pox or
anything else going on right now but
also all the cancellations and all the
delays if you find yourself in a
situation where you're cancelled delayed
your baggage gets lost because they
moved you to a different flight and they
didn't bring your baggage along or
whatever happens or you're traveling and
you lose your money your passport your
id
then
travel insurance will help protect you
they will help you make those new
arrangements they will help give you the
money if you need money to make those
new arrangements they will help you get
your new passport if you lose your
passport sometimes they'll even give you
cash if you if you get pickpocketed and
take all your cash so i highly recommend
travel insurance regardless of if you
get error through the cruise line or not
always always always get travel
insurance oh my next tip is picking the
right cruise line for your needs so
cruise lines if you don't know already
they're similar to hotels in that if
you're going to a three-star hotel it's
a certain level of service a certain
level of amenities and things that you
expect same thing with four star versus
five star cruise lines are the same you
have your mast lines which are gonna be
like carnival royal caribbean they are
going to be
more crowded they usually have four to
six thousand passengers on board so far
more crowded uh they are going to have a
ton of activities these are the ships
you see on tv that have water slides and
ice skating rinks and zip lines and
surfing off the back the flow rider
things those are those ships those are
what those are going to have but again
by having a far more people uh they're
gonna be a little cheaper and they're
gonna be a little more crowded and a
little bit less service but if you're
traveling with kids and family and you
want a lot of activities
fantastic fantastic if you are kind of
wanting a little bit more service a
little more luxury a little more
upgrading as far as the food the rooms
the amenities things like that then
you're wanting to go with the premium
class premium class is usually where i
choose to cruise and that is celebrity
princess holland america but celebrity
and princess are my favorite i don't
like holland america but if you're a
holland america lover more more power to
you that's the premium class not going
to have the water slides and stuff but
you will have beautiful pools you'll
still have casinos you'll still have
broadway style shows and things of that
nature
so you'll still get some of those
amenities but you'll get less people
closer to two to three thousand people
instead of six there's usually more
staff per guest so you get a little bit
better level of service you get a little
bit better level of food and it's just a
little bit more luxury all the way
around and then if you are a luxury
traveler then you want to go to the
higher level this used to be
crystal who's no longer in business now
although i heard somebody's going to buy
them and re-restart them but uh this is
going to be your silver seas this is
going to be uh your um oh i'm blinking
on the name i can't remember the name
i'll tell you some of the names but
these are going to be your super luxury
lines there's these are going to be far
smaller ships far smaller you might only
have 700 passengers
less thousand passengers you're going to
have far more staff per person it is
going to be luxury like staying at a
five-star resort like staying out of
four seasons or something of that nature
it's gonna be much higher on your food
your service and just the quality of
what you're getting it's a far more
luxurious cruise when you go to the
mediterranean think about the experience
you want to have and then choose
accordingly and then go book it with one
of those big travel agencies that can
give you lots of perks all right so now
you're on your cruise you're exporting
the mediterranean one thing that you
want to remember is these are just
snippets they're just tiny little
bites of these cities there's no way
you're going to be able to explore
florence to the fullest pisa rome um can
paris
anywhere is that you're going paris
technically isn't the mediterranean but
you know what i mean you're not going to
be able to explore each of these cities
and probably as much as you would like
to because when you go to these cities
they're gorgeous and beautiful and
amazing if you've never been there
before you want to see everything yours
to see
the only downside is there's minimum
amount of time so just know that going
in knowing you're only going to have a
little brief moment in time don't try to
fit everything in it's you're going to
be exhausted and it won't be any fun
just pick one thing you want to exceed
or explore or do and do that and enjoy
it and love it and then just make mental
notes of all of the places you love and
then go back another time and actually
stay in that location for a little bit
longer so that you can actually enjoy
and experience it all one of these
places that i absolutely loved is
portofino it was gorgeous and amazing
and it was tiny so you felt like you
could see it all but honestly it doesn't
do it justice it's just a taste so we
will go back later to explore portofino
and some of the other little cities
along the mediterranean so just know
that going in and don't think you're
going to see everything and do
everything it's just going to be like a
sampler platter and you're just going to
sample them and then plan another time
to go back and explore more fully the
places you want to go now the caveat to
that is obviously where you leave from
and where you end because those you can
build onto or you can plan to come back
to some of those places so i'd already
talked about adding time at the
beginning of your cruise but also you
might want to consider adding time at
the end so for our cruise we left out a
room and we ended in barcelona
rome i added days on and i'm glad we did
because we got to explore however
i didn't do it in barcelona i was
worried by the time we got to the end
we'd be exhausted and just want to go
home and now i wish i had less time in
rome and added another couple days in
barcelona so we could have explored
barcelona because as it was all we did
is drive through on the way to the
airport and that's all of barcelona that
i got to see so
if you have an opportunity to add time
to the beginning and into the end so
that you can explore those cities and a
little bit more in depth as well and if
you already know there's a city on your
route that you want to spend more time
in perhaps add that on as well you can
add it to the end and then either you
know take a shuttle a bus a train
something down to that city or to that
city and add a little more time there
just because you're on a cruise doesn't
mean that's all you can do
yes it's a sampler platter but you can
always build it out and explore and add
things at the beginning and at the end
that will make your trip just far more
glorious and especially if you're coming
from far away you don't want to waste
the time and the travel that you've done
and you really want to make the most of
your european vacation so think about
that think about adding some things in
the beginning in the end and making your
experience far more enjoyable for you so
in regard to cruises specifically you
have shore excursions and if you're not
familiar with cruising is they usually
have in each port that you go to the
cruise ship itself offers a variety of
tours activities things that you can do
sponsored through the ship
now there are some benefits to this a
they keep track of it so you don't have
to worry about a tour coming back late
and the ship leaving without you or you
accidentally booked something that
starts before the ship even gets there
which has happened uh so they monitor
things for you they've also vetted all
of the tours and things so they know
that they're safe they're not going to
put any of their guests on anything that
would be
not safe or potentially risky in some
way i personally will do them
occasionally because some of the
negatives of the shore excursions is
they tend to be way overcrowded way
overcrowded even on those luxury ships
you tend to get a lot more people on
your tours and if you are the kind of
person that loved people then fine
that's good for you do it but i don't
like crowds i hate crowds actually and
so i usually avoid the tours and things
that are big masses the people and i
usually go towards more private tours
and things of that nature so just know
if you're going on a cruise you don't
have to do the ship's shore excursions
you can choose to do your own as well
now there's a few caveats to that that
you need to know a you need to make sure
your timing is right you need to make
sure whatever you decide to do it
doesn't leave before the ship actually
arrives
and secondly you want to make sure
you're going to be back in plenty of
time before the ship leaves because
ships do not wait for guests they do not
wait they will leave so you want to make
sure you're back in plenty of time
also you want to make sure that that
particular port allows you to have
private things to do and doesn't require
you to do a shore excursion uh when i
was in the caribbean there were some
islands that you could only get off the
ship if you were doing one of the shore
excursions so you need to check that as
well and the way you check those things
is just check on your cruise lines
itinerary they should for each port tell
you exactly what the arrival and
departure times are but also if there's
any stipulations with regards to our
private tours allowed or if you have to
go on a shore excursion or what the
situation may be so make sure you keep
those things in mind and if you want to
do something outside of the shore
excursion by the ship there are tons of
places you can go to look for those
things you can either do it yourself
rent a car do something yourself
you can book something like through
viator which has tons of tours and
activities available and uh reviews you
can pick and choose who what what looks
good to you they also have a lot of
private tours and things you can do so
just know you're not stuck with just the
excursion though the excursion is
definitely a possibility for you so just
depends on what you want to experience
and how secure you want it to be and how
willing you are to maybe play around a
little bit just make sure you get back
to the ship in time they will leave i
promise you they will leave alright the
other thing about the mediterranean in
general about europe in general is the
conditions of what you can do so if you
have mobility issues at all you might
want to do a little bit more research
into the possibilities in the places
you're going
everywhere we went in our mediterranean
cruise most of the places were big
touristy places but it was cobblestones
everywhere everywhere if not more when
we were in rome it wasn't just
cobblestones there was an area over by
the coliseum which was actually big
boulders and so it was a little bit
harder to you really needed to pay
attention where you were stepping over
there so if you have mobility issues
know that going to europe and make plans
around that now for instance we were in
portofino which did have cobblestones
and i did see people pushing um
wheelchairs so it is possible but just
know that going in and know that might
be an issue but also know that for if
you don't have mobility issues for
footwear maybe don't wear heels when
you're exploring cobblestones you know
what i mean so just kind of know those
things ahead of time if you're going in
the summer it is
hot and humid and did i say hot because
it is really freaking hot so just know
that too plan your day maybe get off of
the ship a little earlier in the day
when it's not quite as hot or wait and
go if you are lucky enough that they're
going to be staying into the evening go
back in the evening maybe miss during
the main heat of the day which also
happens to be the busiest time of day
when most people are also on shore and
just plan around that no it's hot no the
roads aren't the greatest for mobility
there's i didn't see elevators and
things of that nature so just plan
around that know that's going to be
something and and know what to expect
and have a plan for getting around it
okay next is talking about language now
if you're going to all of those main
stops on a mediterranean cruise chances
are most of the places
at least right there at court are going
to speak english so you really aren't
going to need much in the way of
language although i still highly
recommend if you learn some basics in
each of the countries you're going to
things like hello thank you excuse me
and even do you speak english because
that could come in very helpful
in all the places i went to i
i was prepared to speak the language and
i had planned to speak the language but
when they saw me they immediately knew i
was english or english speaking go
figure and so they immediately launched
into english and i didn't even have a
chance to try to use any of the language
that i learned so that is something that
might happen however i did have to go to
the pharmacy a few times and they didn't
speak english so the little bit that i
did learn came in a little bit handy but
i was able to point and mine and we were
able to figure out what it needed to do
so if you are going on the mediterranean
cruise to several countries
i wouldn't worry about the language too
much again if you can learn a couple
smattering of things just to be polite
and you know say thank you in their
language then i welcome you to it but
for the most part you don't have to
worry about it those big cities usually
have a lot of english speakers
especially at the restaurants and the
shops where they're expecting tourists
to be if you go outside of those big
tourist areas the ports where the ships
drop off at you might find a little less
english so if you know part of you what
you're going to do is to explore a tiny
town say in france then maybe learn a
little bit of french because you don't
know if they're going to be able to
speak english and you'll want to be able
to do at least a minimum of
communication when you're there all
right my next tip is regarding money now
again most of those main tourist areas
are going to take credit card they're
going to expect of course to use a lot
of credit card and so i highly recommend
having a good card that does not charge
foreign transaction fees you know that
you feel safe using in a foreign country
gosh though
although you don't necess like you could
get by without cash you don't
necessarily need it i still highly
recommend you have some euros because
there are going to be times when it was
just like for us far easier to give a
euro than it was to try to dig out the
card and ask if they took credit card so
you know for buying a bottle of water or
buying a gelato it was just way easier
to have cash to pay for that than trying
to worry about credit card so i would
highly recommend having a little bit of
cash with you also a lot of places if
you need to use a public restroom
they're not just available for
for everybody so you might want to have
a few euros
in case it's a pay toilet you might need
to be able to pay in italy that is
definitely a thing where you would need
to pay these public toilets and then
speaking of toilets you also want to
know that they're a little different
than what you have at home when we were
in rome uh some of the toilets that we
went to public toilets that we went to
for instance don't have toilet seats
just know that's a thing
also the way they set it up it might
have a neutral gen
gender neutral
washing area and then separate toilet
areas for men and women but just know so
you don't freak out if you walk in and
see the opposite sex standing there it's
it's sometimes a gender-neutral area and
then toilets are separating after that
all right and then my next tip has to do
with food so
one of the things i always dreamed about
going to europe in general was i wanted
to
explore the food and i thought the food
would be so much more amazing than what
we get in america i don't know why i
just assumed that everything is fresher
and doesn't have all the preservatives
that we have and so i was really looking
forward to the food
and i think that's true in general but
when you're in the main touristy areas
and you're going to the main touristy
restaurants that's not always the case
i'm sure the food is way fresher than
what we have here and chemicals and
things like that but the actual food
quality when i was in a touristy
restaurant
[Music]
honestly wasn't much better than
anything that i can get in america it
was pretty
it was good it was fine it was good but
it was kind of standard for what i would
get in america if i went to say an
italian like a good not talking olive
garden talking a good italian restaurant
in america was about what i got in in
italy
same thing with branson with spain it
was like it was okay
uh
but i was primarily in those touristy
areas i think if food is something you
really want to explore on your
mediterranean trip
uh if you just go to the touristy areas
i think you're going to get disappointed
unless you happen to live in a really
small town that has terrible italian
food or french food then you might be
happy but if you live in a town that has
decent restaurants of those type of of
cuisines then you might be disappointed
only going to the touristy areas so if
you're a foodie i highly recommend you
do some research ahead of time and
either a look up the restaurants and
know where you want to go and just go
there don't
show up and expect you're going to just
find one so research ahead of time or be
look for lines if there's lines chances
are it's a good food and it's worth the
wait or my last my last tip for that is
to get outside of the touristy area go
to a little small town away from that
main area
go outside of the main neighborhood
maybe travel a little bit away chances
are if you get away from the touristy
areas you're going to find
far better food quality more home
cooking things of that nature but
remember know a little bit more of the
language if you're going a little
farther away and they may or may not
take credit cards so make sure you have
cash all right my next tip has to do
with flights now i already talked about
book checking with your cruise lines
flight department but with regard to the
flight that you actually book i highly
recommend if possible pick a direct
flight just because again if you're
coming from far away that is a very long
trip
and uh it's it would be nicer not to
have a large
six hour layover for instance in the
middle of it and just get there quicker
uh secondly if you can afford to do so i
highly recommend upgrading your seat
whether it is to the premium or to
business or first class if you're
fortunate enough to be able to upgrade
to that or use your credit card points
to upgrade or if you have upgrades
through say if you belong to the
airlines membership program if you can
get upgrades that way i highly recommend
if you're going that far
do everything you can to upgrade your
seat because you will be far more
comfortable than sitting in the coat
sheets which
can be torture after a 10 12 20 hour
play so definitely do those things also
if you do happen to have connections
make sure you're building in plenty of
time i don't mean one or two hours i
mean a lot especially if your first stop
is in a foreign country so for instance
we left from los angeles our first stop
was london so in london we had to go
through another tsa line with their
version of tsa which i don't understand
why we had to do that since we already
did tsa when we got on the plane but we
had to go through a tsa line we had to
show our passport we had to go through
an entire rigamarole to be able to get
through plus heathrow in london is
ginormous and so it might take you 20
minutes to get to your next gate or
terminal
things of that nature and and it's not
just that heathrow there are other
countries too even if they're a smaller
airport
usually if you're first stop as a
foreign country there's going to be some
sort of passport control customs type of
a situation that you're gonna have to go
through so make sure you're building in
that time this also protects you in case
your flight is delayed for some reason
or cancelled or something happens to
protect so that you can catch your next
flight so make sure you build in plenty
of time in those if you find yourself
with six hours of time like we did in
london then consider using some of the
first class lounges now you can either
do that because of you happen to be
flying obviously business or first class
but you can also get it through your
credit card a lot of credit cards is
like if you have amex
either platinum or they're higher level
credit cards and some of the others will
offer lounge access or lounge buddy
access
but you can get through that or again
through your membership of your airline
the other thing you can do is consider
buying a day pass which you just gives
you and like for 30 say you have access
for the whole day and then also there's
a third party lounge systems like lounge
buddy which gives you access to over
1600 different lounges worldwide you
just want to make sure there's a one of
their lounges where you're going before
you buy their membership program but
that's also an option as well just to
make that stay or that weight a little
more comfortable and then my final
thoughts on the flights is make sure you
don't and actually isn't so much the
flights it's when you're arriving don't
plan anything immediately that first day
that night say or the very next day
because when you get there as if you're
coming from far away again if you're
coming from the uk and you're going to
italy it's not it's what an hour
difference if that so it's not a problem
but if you're coming from
north america south america australia
new zealand somewhere and you're coming
to
europe you want to not plan anything
that first night because you're going to
be exhausted and you're going to be
starving and chances are you're just
going to want to eat and go to bed and
the second day because you're still
going to be a little loopy from the time
change and a little bit tired and so you
don't want to have to be getting up at
six in the morning to do a bunch of
tours so don't plan too much the first
couple days and then just know that
you're gonna need some adjustment period
and then you can plan the things that
you want to do in that first destination
that you're going to all right now if
you are taking a mediterranean cruise be
sure to check out this video here which
will help you with that planning and
give you some great ideas and other than
that i want to thank you so much for
stopping by see you on the next video
take care bye