Cruise with Ben and David: 60 Seconds With the Cruise Bloggers
From what to pack and which cruise line to go on, to their ultimate packing essential, Cruise with Ben and David reveal all…
As expert cruise bloggers, Ben and David are known for sharing their love for cruising and dispelling old cruising stereotypes, we caught up with them between voyages to hear all their cruise advice and tips…
Tell us about your first cruise, and be honest…
B: It was a bit of an accident – we got invited on a cruise for my friend’s wedding and we’d never been on one before. We were feeling really apprehensive about it, thinking cruises were for the old and the newlywed! We were like ‘we’re going to hate this, it will be awful’, but within five minutes we were like ‘oh, this isn’t a ferry!’ It was a Disney cruise and completely different to what we imagined; within minutes we were like ‘wow. this is super impressive’. We booked our next cruise almost straight away.
You’ve both been on a fair few cruises now; have you ever seen anything hilarious onboard?
D: We had a funny lady on one of our cruises who loved the camera and kept getting into our video blog.
B: You see all sorts of characters on cruise – one formal night a gentleman just refused to get in formal gear so he went and bought a T-shirt with a tuxedo printed on it. Genius!
What’s been your best cruising experience?
B: We’ve seen dolphins, flying fish and whales out at sea and some of the most amazing sunsets. We did a Norwegian Fjords cruise and the Midnight Sun was spectacular.
D: Our first trip to the Caribbean, I was craving a sandy beach and a margarita in the sun and it totally delivered. Our favourite island is St Martin – we’ve been three times and could easily go back again.
Are there any cruises on your bucket list?
B: We’ve seen some amazing expedition cruises, the ones that go to really unusual places. So the South Pacific, Antarctica and South America would be on our bucket list.
D: Alaska is another must-do, too.
Do you have any tips for travellers to get more out of their cruise?
B: Do your research. The most important thing is understanding the ship and the company before you book. Also, pick the right time for you. If you don’t want to bump into kids on board, don’t go in the school holidays, and longer cruises will have an older crowd on board. There are no bad cruises, you just didn’t pick the right one.
D: Research the port excursions. You can save an absolute fortune by doing it DIY and planning your own itinerary. Even finding out what the price of a local taxi should be is worth doing.
What are your cruise essentials?
B: Definitely our camera kit, we don’t go anywhere without it. Phones aren’t good enough so make sure you have a camera to capture everything. We also have a beach bag and city bag ready to go, with a flamingo towel peg.
D: It sounds boring, but toiletries and medication for any scenario. We have a special cruise bag that we take with us all the time.
Cruise with Ben and David is a Wave-Award-winning blog delivering honest, unfiltered ship reviews and stateroom tours along with handy cruising guides. cruisewith.co.uk
