What are the things that you should never hide
from your cruise line?
Hi, I'm Gary Bembridge.
This is another of my tips for travellers.
I'm going to tell you nine things that you should never
hide from the cruise line when you're going on a cruise,
starting with this one.
Food allergies or needs,
whether it's religious, health, or otherwise.
Most cruise lines require some notification
before you get on the cruise of any issues you've got,
so some cruise lines for example,
if you want kosher or halal, they might need
45 to 90 days warning in order to cater for you properly.
If you have any really serious allergies,
for example nut allergies,
which could be pretty catastrophic,
really important that you make sure
at least 45 days to 90 days, kind about the time
when you're paying your final balance
that your travel agent or your cruise line
whoever you're dealing with, knows about your needs,
very important, particularly as you go on smaller ships
or even right down to barge cruises
where they're buying food at a much shorter time period,
and they need to make sure if there are
any real important food allergies or needs,
and particularly if they are religious
because whilst most cruise lines now have vegan menus,
nut free menus, vegetarian menus,
they don't have many of the more specialised
religious type needs.
The next one is something that people are tempted to do
and that's if you have any gastroenteritis type issues,
you know, vomiting, diarrhoea, whatever.
Now when you get on board a ship you normally have
to fill out a health declaration,
whether you had any of these issues in the 48 hours
in the run up to the cruise.
Lots of people who are suffering are tempted
not to because they're worried about the consequences.
However, there is a risk if you bring it on board
that the ship could go down with norovirus,
and you could have much more serious effects.
I have actually been on cruises where norovirus broke out,
in fact it was so bad, and it's spread so widely,
that the cruise was actually cut short.
And it's kind of frustrating knowing that people
had probably come on board
knowing that they weren't 100% well.
So if you do have it, declare it when you go in,
you'll meet with a nurse, or the doctor
and they will decide if perhaps you need
to be quarantined for a couple of days, or not.
Very important also if it starts happening on a cruise
let the medical centre know.
What they ask you to do if you do suffer
from vomiting and diarrhoea and it's clearly quite serious,
is you normally just phone the medical centre,
they don't charge you for any of the medical consultations
or if they give you things like Imodium or whatever
to deal with it, but very important,
to help everybody else in the ship,
if you are suffering with any of those issues
make sure you tell the cruse line
and don't hide it from them.
The next series of things I want to talk about
are related to kids and pregnancy.
So the first thing that you should never
hide from your cruise line is if you are pregnant.
Most cruise lines have a policy where if
you're more than 24 weeks pregnant you can't cruise,
and this is particularly true of ocean cruises.
If you're a little bit over that
and you want to go cruising, take a lot of river cruises
because they tend to have slightly more relaxed rules
because, of course, river cruise boats are always
close to shore, and so if for any reason
you go into early labour or whatever,
they can normally deal with it,
but don't hide your pregnancy because you don't want to,
you know, arrive to check in, people notice you're pregnant,
they give you a hard time and won't let you on board.
So 24 weeks is normally the cutoff period.
The next thing not too hard is if you're travelling
with kids, particularly kids under 18 or under 16,
is making sure the cruise line knows what the
sleeping arrangements are going to be.
Now, very importantly check with your cruise line
what their rules are.
So some cruise lines for example will not
let kids under 16 be in a stateroom
or a cabin by themselves.
Some are more relaxed and they will allow that
if there is obviously parents travelling with them,
people over 18 travelling with them,
and they're either in adjoining cabin, or in a nearby cabin.
Other cruise lines are much more relaxed
and as long as there is an adult
they don't have those rules,
but the rules differ quite a lot.
Some cruise lines for example when you book
you're going to have to make sure that if the two parents,
for example, one parent and one child
under the age of 16 is booked into one stateroom,
one child and one parent age of 18 is in another stateroom.
So you need to make sure that you check the rules
and cruise line understands
what the sleeping arrangements are.
Clearly they want to get you on board,
and they will work with you to make sure it works.
So for example, they might arrange an adjoining cabin,
or might find a family cabin for you, but very important,
Make sure you understand the rules because you don't want
to get caught out if you're on the cruise
and start having problems.
The next point is also around kids,
and this is if you have kids with any special needs, or
behavioural issues or things that are very specific to them,
make sure the cruise line understands those,
particularly if you're going to leave your kids
in the kids clubs.
Also if your kid does have any special needs, or issues,
check which is the best cruise line to cruise with.
So for example, Royal Caribbean actually
do have various programmes within the kids programmes
that deal with kids on the autism spectrum,
so there are specific toys and activities
to deal with those kids.
So don't just take the kids along,
not let them understand what the issues are,
and really understand if your kids, you know,
react to certain things, behave in a certain way,
and particularly if they have special needs,
really important to do that.
So the sixth thing you shouldn't hide
from the cruise line is if you have any mobility issues.
Really important before you go on the cruise,
if you do have issues that the cruise line knows.
Also make sure that you've booked an accessible cabin,
if that's what you need.
This is really important,
particularly if there's an emergency on board.
So if you are going to need help getting
to the muster station if there's a problem,
really make sure that the cruise line understand
s because they will make arrangements.
Even if you can't walk down any flights of stairs,
let the cruise line know, don't hide it.
Because if an emergency happens of course,
the elevators, the lifts are out of service.
If you do also have mobility issues,
work with the cruise line to make sure that you
have the right facilities on board.
Now this may mean that you have to hire your own equipment
and there are a number of specialist companies
that you can work with the partner with the cruise lines
that will deliver any items you need to the cruise ship,
and they will be installed in your cabin.
So for example, there are companies like
specialneedsatsea.com,
mobilityatsea.co.uk,
and scootaround.com.
Cruise lines have different rules around, for example,
the type of wheelchairs or mobility scooters
you can bring on board.
Cruise lines also will not provide any services
to help you get around.
So whilst you'll often find you might get some help
with a wheelchair onto the ship,
that's normally done portside,
the ship won't send out people with you to go
on excursions if you need an escort
or you need someone to push the wheelchair
in almost all cases.
So really important to understand that.
Also if the cruise line knows,
they can also guide you towards excursions
that are going to work for people with mobility,
or other issues, but don't hide mobility issues
from the cruise line, critically important
if there's an emergency they need to know
what help you're going to need if that happens.
I know it's unlikely, but really important, don't hide it
so you aren't at risk in an emergency.
The next thing that you shouldn't hide from the cruise line
is if you're bringing onboard any items
which fall into their restricted list.
Cruise lines have different rules and regulations
which you should check.
But the main things to think about
are they won't allow onboard flammable items, you know,
things like candles or incense burners,
items with a heating element,
some cruise lines will allow for some curling tongs,
some won't, so check if that's the case.
If you're bringing on board alcohol
or any other kind of drink, cruise lines
have different regulations around that,
also very importantly remote controlled devices.
So for example I have a drone,
but very few cruise lines actually let me bring it on board,
or they have very strict regulations about
handing it over to security when you get on board.
But that applies equally if you've got kids
and they have little remote control helicopters,
or cars or things like that.
Also, you're not allowed to bring onboard
any weapons. Whether they're real weapons,
guns for example, or things that are replica weapons,
or even things that could look or be used as a weapon
like the baseball bats.
I have a whole video about this,
if you want to find out more about that.
But don't hide those things because they are screened.
And in many cases you can work as a cruise line,
and they might take them away from you
and let you fetch them when you go in port to use them.
So using the example of the drone,
some cruise lines ask you to hand it to security,
they keep it at the point where you check
on and off the ship, and when I get off at a port
they then let me take it off, do the drone filming,
and I hand it back, so that you can come
to some kind of arrangement,
by not hiding it from the cruise line.
If you hide that they will basically
just confiscate the drone until the end of the cruise.
The same applies to some of the other items.
The next area not to hide is if you have any medical issues
or particularly drugs you're taking.
Now this becomes really important
depending on where you're cruising to.
So for example, even things like temazepam
or products with codine, if you're cruising
into the United Arab Emirates, and particularly
disembarking there, is a real issue
because those are banned.
Also, if you're heading to a place like Japan
even some fairly innocuous things like Tylenol
arthritis medication, or even Sudafed become issues.
So if you are taking any particular prescription
drugs or medication that you think could be an issue
make sure the cruise line knows about those,
and that's particularly as you head into some areas
where things like medical marijuana is being prescribed,
make sure your cruise line understands if you've got
any specific medications that you think could prove
illegal or some issues within the use on the cruise line,
or even in certain of the ports.
Now some cruise lines, and depending
where you're cruising could be even stricter.
So if you're heading to places like
the Arctic or Antarctica, more remote places
where there aren't easy ways of getting off the ship.
Most of those cruise lines that head there
require you also to declare all of your medical history
or issues that you may have.
So they can assess whether it's safe for you to travel
to that area where they can't disembark you
or evacuate you if you have an issue.
So again, don't hide those things because
you don't want to fall into a terrible situation
where a problem you have blows up
and the cruise line can't do anything about it.
The last one might surprise you,
but if you're planning to take photographs or make videos,
which you're going to post on things like YouTube,
so for example, what I do, make sure the cruise line
understands that you're going to be doing that.
Now the cruise contracts allows them
to take photographs and videos and use them,
but actually it is more restrictive on what you can do.
So whenever I go on a cruise line if I know
that I'm going to be making a video about the ship
or shooting stuff to use in my vlogs here,
I will normally contact the cruise line directly
or through the PR company if I'm going by myself
or if they're hosting the trip,
I make sure that they understand it.
It's always a really important idea to do,
I do know people that have been on cruises,
and they've had particularly fancy equipment,
and they have been challenged about video
and stopped videoing, making their blog.
So very important it's quite easy to do.
Cruise line is pretty relaxed about it normally
if they know what you're doing.
So don't hide it from the cruise line you're doing it,
just let them know even if when you're on board
just talk to the cruise director
or the hotel manager or someone like that,
and just say look, by the way, I've got a YouTube channel,
here's my card, I'm going to be making videos for it
and off you go.
It's better to do that, and fall into a problem later.
So those are nine things that you should not hide
from the cruise line to make sure
that you have a really smooth cruise.
Hope you've found it helpful,
I have loads more videos of cruising advice and tips.
So why don't you watch another one of those right now.