What are the best seven cruises
for your return to cruising in 2021?
I'm Gary Bembridge.
This is another of my cruising tips for travellers.
I want to talk to you about the cruises
that I think you should be thinking about
if you're thinking of going back cruising in 2021.
I did a survey amongst various people watching the channel,
got loads and loads of replies,
and without a shadow of a doubt,
by the vast majority, most people
were talking about returning to cruising in 2021.
Because that's when people felt that cruising
was going to be back and running, procedures will be in place,
and it was kind of safe to go cruising again.
So I thought, let's think about the best cruises
that you should consider or have on your list to look at
to go cruising in 2021, and I must admit,
these are the ones that I'm looking at myself
because I think they're the right ones to do.
So how did I choose these seven cruises?
Well, first of all, I took a look
at what are the big cruising regions,
so the big, popular regions historically.
And the reason I did that is, first of all,
because there's lots and lots of cruise lines
and ships servicing those regions.
So what's important about that
is you can have lots of choice.
So this will also, no matter what your budget is,
or type of cruising you like, if you like party cruising,
more sedate cruising, big ship, small ship,
there's likely to be an option for you
within all of these cruises.
Secondly, these are destinations, regions,
and ports that are very geared up to tourism,
so they are more likely to be up and running,
have procedures in place, and make sure
that they have got back to operating
in a safe, efficient, and a good way.
They're really, fully, fully staffed
and just running really slickly.
And then I also took a look at cruises
that I still think are the must-dos
in anyone's sort of cruising portfolio that cruises
that I really think are really, really worth do it.
It should almost be on your wish list or your bucket list.
So let's take a look at those cruises,
starting with this one.
I actually think looking at a transatlantic cruise,
particularly a crossing on Cunard Queen Mary 2
should be on the list.
The reason I chose this is, first of all,
of course, it's a big, iconic trip, it's a famous trip.
The Queen Mary 2 is the only full ocean liner designed ship.
Every other ship is a cruise liner.
But also importantly, if you're nervous or worried
about going out cruising, the advantage
with a transatlantic, particularly on the Queen Mary 2,
is you only have two ports.
You have Southampton or the, you can actually go
from Hamburg as well, but largely speaking of,
Southampton and you have New York.
So the rest of it is days at sea, up to seven days at sea.
So in terms of worrying about different ports
and all the complexities of that,
a crossing is going to give you
a magnificent, cultured, very unique experience.
Lots of dressing up and lots of entertainment
and all sorts of things to do.
But it's also going to be the one
that involves limited ports.
It's also two really big, well-established embarkation
and disembarkation ports, so it's really
going to be the least stressful in many ways.
A crossing in Queen Mary 2 on 2021
is something definitely that I will be doing.
The second cruise I recommend you look at
is a Caribbean cruise.
Now, you actually have three options here.
You have an eastern, a western, and a southern.
The reason I chose the Caribbean is the Caribbean
is the biggest cruising region in the world
before the shutdown and it will be again.
So it's again, a region
that's going to be ready for us to gear up.
They're really going to, they're so reliant on cruising
and I believe that we're going to find
that this is one of the earliest regions
to get up and running again because of its importance,
its closeness to the big cruising ports,
Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral,
and it's also a place that people want to go to.
Sunshine, beaches, and it's true holiday region.
So I think this is one to consider.
Now, there's three different itineraries,
but if you're feeling a little bit cautious,
why not consider actually going on a shorter cruise?
So you get these little four-nighter, five-nighter,
sometimes five-nighter cruises
out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, largely.
And these will tend to either just go to the cruise lines,
private island, and perhaps have a little stop
on the main parts of the Bahamas,
or they might combine,
just go into the Bahamas with sea days.
So again, it's a relatively, it's a shorter trip.
It's a very kind of locked down trip
where the ports will be really controlled here,
they're going to be controlled,
so you might want to consider that.
But there is the Eastern Caribbean,
which is a great itinerary, normally a seven days itinerary.
That's going to include places like San Juan,
St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten.
If you go on the Western Caribbean, which is really popular,
it goes in all the Mexican ports like Cozumel, for example,
but you're probably going to go to places
like Grand Caymen, Belize City, places like that.
The Southern Caribbean will often
be slightly longer cruises, but you're going to go to places
like Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts.
So lots of choices in the Caribbean
and it's definitely one to consider.
Great sunshine holiday to head back out to see.
And again, it really will get locked down
because it's such a big, important region.
If you're here cruising late in the year,
sort of in the middle of the year,
so a lot of the cruising action shifts
from the Caribbean around about April time
through to about September, October time.
Of course, you can cruise in the Caribbean all year round,
but a lot of it shifts to Europe.
So the next bunch of cruises
I want to talk about are really linked
to the sort of European cruising experience.
One of those that I would have very high on the list
and strongly recommend you consider is the Norwegian Fjords.
So Norwegian Fjords cruise is a phenomenal cruise,
and again, should be very high on your list of places to go.
The reason for that is you are going to have very long days
because it only gets dark barely at all in the peak season.
All the time that you're sailing, you're going to be sailing
through phenomenal beautiful scenery.
You go really far inland,
so it's a magnificent way to spend seven days.
You can do those out of various different ports
around Europe, for example, out of Southampton in the UK,
you'll have a day at Sea, you'll go to various places
whether it's Bergen, Flam, Geirangerfjord,
various places like that.
And then you'll have the sea day coming back.
Really, really, it's a phenomenal, fantastic place to go.
The other cruise that I think you should consider,
and again, this is particularly true
if you're perhaps more UK bound
or you're including the UK as part of the bigger trips,
I know a lot of Australians will come to Europe
and spend time in Europe doing some land-based things,
but certainly if you want to do a fantastic cruise,
I would recommend you do around the UK and Ireland cruise.
In this season there's lots and lots of choice to do this
and you'll normally head out, it depends some of them
will head out Dover, some will actually head out at even
out of London, so out of Greenwich or Tilbury,
some of the ports near London, and some of this
will go to smaller ports
like Dover or Portsmouth or ports like that,
and you'll basically cruise around the UK.
You will normally call in at least
into Dublin, sometimes some other ports.
You'll head right around the top of the UK.
You'll go to places like Edinburgh,
you'll get a chance to see the Edinburgh Castle,
and you'll go to various different ports along the way.
So you might go into places
like Newcastle or places in Wales.
And so this is a great, great cruise.
If you also want to go somewhere that,
see lots of places you haven't seen before,
but again, close to home.
Or you want to be based out of London.
Round the UK and Ireland is becoming a really,
really popular cruise, and I would have it high on the list
because it's definitely a great way
of seeing the UK and Ireland.
The next suggestion I have is the Mediterranean.
Now, the Mediterranean is actually the second biggest
cruising region, so certainly a lot of the ships
will move from the Caribbean into the Mediterranean.
And the first of the Mediterranean cruises I recommend
is more of the Central Mediterranean cruises.
Lot of these will go out of Barcelona,
or they'll often go out of Rome,
the port is out of Rome, Civitavecchia.
The advantage with these is you get to see
a great slice of Europe, so you'll go to Barcelona,
see all the beautiful Gaudi buildings,
you will often go to Livorno, so you can go
head off to Pisa, see the Leaning Tower of Pisa,
or go to the beautiful city of Florence.
And of course in Rome, you'll get to see
all the beautiful parts of Rome.
And you'll normally have other places to see,
might go to Monte Carlo or go to Mose,
so you'll get to see a slice of different countries.
You'll see Spain, you'll see France, you'll see Italy.
That definitely is a great cruise to do
and the reason that I think it's worth considering
is both Barcelona and Rome are major cruising ports
and although both those countries suffered really badly
through the whole virus and the pandemic,
they will have a lot of focus getting those up and running
and be ready to receive tourists again in 2021.
And no doubt will also be very grateful
for the support that they get during that time.
And there are magnificent, beautiful, historical places
to go and see, so definitely that's one to consider.
My next suggestion is also linked to the Mediterranean.
This is one of the most magnificent cruises,
which actually the cruise that goes between Venice
and Athens, or obviously though around Athens to Venice.
It's really popular, so there's, again,
lots and lots of choice.
Here, you get to see a different sight.
You obviously get to see the really historic
and important city of Venice,
you get to see the historic and important city of Athens.
So pre-stays, either is really important.
But you also get to cruise down the sort of,
I think it's called Dalmatian Coast,
you're going to see places like Dubrovnik,
which particularly, if you're a Game of Thrones fan,
some of it was filmed there.
We might go to Split, you'll go to Kotor,
which is in Montenegro, which is a magnificent,
beautiful, historic city.
And you'll get to see some of the amazing Greek islands
like Santorini and Mykonos.
This is a a really, really great option,
a great thing to choose because you do get to see
some beautiful and important slices of Europe.
So what then is my seventh cruise?
Alaska.
Alaska is a very fast-growing,
really popular cruising region.
In 2020, there was massive disruption
to the whole Alaska season with lots of ports being closed
and certainly, the time of recording, so we don't even know
if there is going to be an Alaskan season.
Alaska is a magnificent, absolute must-do place to go.
You can go out of, in fact,
from as far away as San Francisco,
which of course was closed to all cruises in 2020.
You can go out of Seattle, you can go out of Vancouver,
and lots and lots of different ports and choices to go to.
I would recommend, if you're going to Alaska
for the first time, take a look at the inside.
Passage cruise, because you go to all the famous places
like Juno, you may go into Glacier Bay
or go to see other glaciers depending on your cruise.
You'll go to Skagway, get a chance to go
on the magnificent Skagway train.
So depending on your cruise, you may go
to some slightly different places, some smaller places,
more out of the way places if you go in a small ship,
for example, but definitely, Alaska would be one of those
to think and plan for doing in 2021
as you look at heading back cruising.
So these are my tips around the seven cruises
to look at as you head back cruising in 2021.
Lot of you watching this will probably be looking
at how do you use your future cruise credit,
those are the ones that I would focus on.
Those are the ones that I think would be up and running,
be smoothly running, be really set up
and organised for cruising as we head through 2021.
Hopefully, I shall see you on many of those cruises,
because a lot of those,
I'm looking at planning doing myself.
I have loads more videos about cruising,
so I want you to watch another one of those right now.