A cruise ship expert has warned would-be passengers about one thing to be wary of if it’s on the itinerary.
Travel guru Gary Bembridge told his Tips for Travellers YouTube channel that tourists should look out for if there is a stop to a trendy destination listed on their ship’s schedule but with the name of another place or city in brackets.
This could mean, according to Gary, the cruise ship will be docked along way from the desirable city that they really want to visit.
He told his subscribers: “My top tip is if your itinerary has the name of a famous city like say Florence, but in brackets after it has another name like in this case Livorno or say Venice with either Ravenna or Trieste after it.
“That means the ship is docked far away and is a costly seven to 10-hour excursion is needed to see these places.”
Gary said there is another reason which sometimes convinces to stay on board the ship.
He gave cruisers another top tip as he told them how to check whether a port or destination might be overcrowded with other like-minded tourists.
Gary said: “Even if the sites are close to the ship, there is another time I decide to stay on board.
“And this is if I know the ports are going to be overwhelmed and packed, making getting off way less appealing.
“With the number of ships, especially mega ships, calling on the same ports as only some can handle them, these days many ports are extremely busy and crowded, especially in the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean in places like the Greek islands, Barcelona, La Palma and so on.
“My top tip is I check my itinerary on the website CruiseTimetables.com, because that tells me how many ships and which ships will be in the same port at the same time.
“If there’s a port with many large ships, meaning 15,000 or more cruisers will be crowding the town and the sites, I plan to stay on board often.”