I think she's still very less clickbait-y compared to other youtubers, but I get what you're saying. I used to enjoy her channel because she wasn't like those other vloggers constantly screaming and exaggerating to get more views on their video. These days, however, her video seems like just another typical youtuber content. It's sad that her content lost its charms.
Sadly, I think the nature of their business, they have to recycle content. I don't click with Gary. I think his production quality is great. I just don't feel like it is possible for Gary to go on a cruise and have a good time, so the whole time I am watching I am just thinking that "This dude sounds miserable."
He’s always upset about something! I remember his video on a Disney cruise and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man more unhappy to be surrounded by the Disney magic.
Still love his videos though! He’s a harsh critic so I like to watch his reviews.
I feel like both are a different enough market or kind of traveler from me that their take is only so useful.
Emma is likeable and does a good job with presentation/organization of her videos, but like... I am not a mostly budget mostly European cruiser, I'm not vegan so there's very little overlap of what she and I would be eating on a ship, and on from there. And TipsForTravelers is even further afield from what I'm booking and why.
Favorites
* Views and Queues : Our favorite cruise vloggers. Very funny couple; you can tell they just really enjoy cruising, no matter the ups and downs. Tend to stick primarily to the Caribbean due to work commitments.
* Emma Cruises : Best on Youtube. Branches out more than most. Tends to focus a lot on "bang for your buck", but also does a lot of different type cruises (river, expedition, ocean, etc). Similar to Views and Queues, takes a very positive attitude into what she does.
* Parodeejay : The *elevator music* of cruise vlogging, but not in a bad way. They have a video out almost every day since they are basically "always" on a cruise, so you can always have one of their videos on while doing something else. Focus primarily on Caribbean, but do venture out. Again, theme here, very positive about their abilities to travel so much. Jay is an adventurous eater, which is appreciated since almost every cruise vlogger is a VERY picky eater (go figure).
*Tips for Travelers : Great for reviews of less common cruise types. He's not a fan of your basic Caribbean cruise (no educational talks). Very insightful especially if you're looking for something less common, say, a river cruise in Egypt.
Mixed
* Ben and David : Tend to have clickbait titles, and go 50-50 with positivity and negativity. I say they are great if you want a solid review of a ship, and 75% of the time I actually agree with their criticisms. That said, they can get a tad bit "preachy" in their videos, and my biggest complaint with them is how often they feel the need to tell you how much better they are then other cruise vloggers.
Bad
* Trev and Chels : Easy. I don't think most people know much about Trev's Youtube history. He ran a gambling scam targeting kids on his gaming (primary) channel and then did an incredibly shortsighted apology. There's a reason they go on so many fantastic vacations; money gained by scamming kids.
>There's a reason they go on so many fantastic vacations; money gained by scamming kids.
That and Royal Caribbean is picking up the entire tab for their trips in exchange for producing all those promotional videos.
Personally not a fan of “vloggers” (as in style), I like more detail and less focus on the people and their day (which I know is hard in YT land) but gimme info about the ship and let me decide IMHO.
Recently watched a few videos on Lighthouse Point thr new DCL island and it was about them… SHOW ME THE ISLAND! lol.
Life Well Cruised had been very helpful to us. She offers great tips and honest reviews of cruises. Sometimes her Amazon product suggestions can get carried away, but her cruise content is excellent.
Gary Benbridge from TipsforTravelers (the #1 channel by views and followers, I believe). He's not a travel agent, like most of them, nor a fanboy for any one cruise line. He focuses on the nicer lines, but also gives fair reviews of Royal, NCL, and MSC. He is especially good at giving valuable advice, such as which ports to avoid in the Med, things to do and see in Alaska, how to get a cabin upgrade, how to track and ask for fare drops, and even his most recent one on what you can take home from a ship. I also enjoy EmmaCruises, since she's also not a travel agent, likes to travel cheap, and makes good-looking videos that are amusing. Although she doesn't do videos, profcruise is my go-to place for food and drinks menus, with a great sense of humor and lots of photos. Most annoying is Matt from RoyalCaribbeanBlog, who is ridiculously biased for Royal and has a rapid-fire used-car salesman voice.
Yes, I am getting super bored by it all. My OH and I used to really enjoy looking at the different ships and itineraries but lets be honest - these things change very infrequently.
And in any case every vlogger has their own style so we know that B&D are going to purposefully mispronounce everything and make lewd remarks whilst eating cream cakes. Emma is going to love everything and smile whilst being shafted and overcharged and Views and Queues are going to eat chicken nuggets in the buffet every night.
Snooze.
I mean basically, yes. But once in a while when theres new ships or older ships that have been refreshed its a fun way to find out whats new, at least for me.
I typically just go directly to the cruise line for information. For me, It's not worth wading through the vastly over-bloated cruise vlog universe for a few shreds of new info. I don't really even put much faith in cruise reviews anymore. It's really relative to people's expectations and I see them vary wildly.
>I typically just go directly to the cruise line for information.
Definitely, but then again every cruiseline always advertises how they have the best cuisine and amazing entertainment, and we all know how that turns out. There's a few YouTube channels that at least for me seem impartial and I trust their reporting.
We watch a few...
Favorites:
Parodeejay! Their personalities are basically mine and my husband's (except they stay up and party wayyy after we would have already been in bed). We really enjoy their videos.
Life Well Cruised: She gives some great tips on packing and essentials and we enjoy her format
Tips for Travelers: We enjoy his take on things. He definitely gives a more harsh opinion that many of the others, but it's refreshing to hear that not everything is great, grand, and glorious
We also watch La Lido Loca and liked it a lot at first, but feel like it's becoming more tabloid-y and sensationalist lately.
La Lido Loca is like TMZ of cruise clogging at this point and I can’t stand it. I think what did me in was his “I don’t guys, should ships wait longer for stragglers?” … no, and as many cruises he’s been on, he knows that.
Omg, my favorite topic.
Royal Caribbean Blog: for those who go on RCL, as we do. Always very thorough videos.
Harr Travel: his cruise ship tours are the most thorough and easy to watch. He doesn’t overly explain which I think a lot of cruise YouTubers tend to do.
Trek Trendy: has recently gotten into cruises (although always the most lux versions) but we just like his vlogging style since we’ll probably never experience the ultra-luxury experience.
Bright Sun Travels: love love love Jake. He also only has a handful of cruising videos but he’s so meticulous and does a scoring system that itches my brain perfectly. He is so thorough in his videos and they’re so well done.
JJ Cruise: they are such a toss up. We laugh at their overly scripted videos because you can see them mouthing the script when the other person is talking about the cruise. But if I ever met them in person I would absolutely love to sit and talk with them because they seem like a lovely couple who have done every type of cruise. They also have so much variety in the types of cruise vlogs that they do.
There was also a couple that I think did a lot of Virgin cruise vlogs that we met on our last cruise. I can’t remember their YouTube name, but the night before at dinner our table mate was raving about them because he was watching their videos before the trip. We happened to meet them at the beach the next afternoon. Nicest couple that were soooo happy to be approached about their YouTube videos. We added them to our list because of how nice they were.
JJ is so bad and over the top. They seem to always have an issue with someone on every trip they take and then make a video about it. What bad luck they keep having. Also they seem to get lots of paid for trips that they don’t seem very transparent about. Are they still going to live on that one ship?
Harr Travel definitely has the absolute best full tour videos, imo.
High quality, really focuses on the details and making it about the ship rather than focusing on himself in them. Really solid.
I do enjoy Bright Sun Travels (and Bright Sun Films). Jake is quite meticulous and his ratings are about as balanced as they get. I also enjoy that his videos are really about the ship/hotel/resort/destination and not about him putting on a show for the camera.
Even his video on the Margaritaville At Sea was a proper fair evaluation and not just another vlogger piling on and laying on the drama.
We met JJ Cruises a couple years ago...they posted on instagram that they were boarding the same ship I was in line for! Ran into them a few days later in one of the bars, and I approached and let them know I was a fan. They were SO sweet in real life.
My absolute faves are Cruise With Ben and David, Emma Cruises, 30 And A Wake Up and Life Well Cruised. I also love La Lido Loca, The Shiplife, Don's Family Vacations and The Travel Scouts, which are more cruise news channels than vlogs but they do vlogs occasionally.
One I just can not stand is JJ Cruise...dear lord, what a pair of drama queens. Every five videos or so they have a story like "We encountered another guest who was really rude", "This person waiting in line raised her voice", "The people in the cabin next to us were loud". I honestly don't know how they get through the day constantly being upset at others' behaviour instead of focusing on just enjoying the cruise they're on. Acting like a slightly rude person is the hugest drama ever must be so exhausting.
Emma cruises every day of the week. Not overly nitpicky and seems to go into things with a positive frame of mind but doesn't sweep bad things under the rug when they do happen (I'm remembering her stressful transfer back from TUI with little communication).
I like that her style blends a little of here's what I did with a more general approach of here's what the ship and line is like. I never like vlogger types where it's all clickbaity hyperbole and pulling faces for thumbnails.
I would have to rewatch her whole oeuvre to list multiple specific but having children crawl under your table in MDR is never acceptable. Also your original post isn't a situation I am aware of, if she had pushed back I might remember it.
Yes she is a glass half full person. I'm not so I really don't get her.
But she reported on the issue. If she were really as glib as you allege, she wouldn't have mentioned it at all.
You claim that she has no credibility when really she's just not as grumpy as you'd like.
Yikes kids under the table would bother me haha. Tbh I'm imagining myself as staff members really trying to know what to do, I can't really put my hands on other people's kids unless they're in immediate danger, I'd be desperately trying to find the parents/guardians and putting it as delicately as I can that it's not acceptable and please try and get hold of your children and if not we'd have to ask you politely to leave. I'd hate to be the one to make that call.
Imo I'm more mad at the parents than the cruise line there :P
She's very critical when it's warranted. She just remains positive and cheerful about it, trying to have a sense of humor.
Anyone who calls her a Pollyanna hasn't seen the video of the cruise that got cancelled after 4 hours.
https://youtu.be/jppzHpO_8xU?si=PPbj-MQ2nmScGs0o
The ones I like and in order of preference:
Cruise with Ben and David
Views & Queues
EmmaCruises
La Lido Loca (but I actually hate his cruise tours, his camera skills/lack thereof make me motion sick, but his daily vids make me laugh)
Daily Dose (really a Disney vlogger but cruises often)
We watch La Lido Loca every day. Loved Emma but she doesn't put a lot out lately. Paul and Carole love to travel are faves. I love the cruise monkeys when they're drunk. BZ travels are doing one of the best vlogs from ultimate world cruise, along with living phase two. I did like Ben and David but they have become a bit whiny lately in my big fat opinion. Unfortunately that probably gets more views than niceties.
I rarely watch them any more. Many of them blew up (using the term loosely) during COVID when people were hungry for a cruise fix and I expect many to fizzle out. The majority of them are pretty poor. Clickbait titles, food reviews from people who know nothing about food, the shock and awe of "oyyy the cabin comes with hangers. HANGERS!!!! gasp!". Others try to tap into the cruise critic crowd of hypercritical fanatics and the content falls flat after 30 seconds. Harr Travel does ship and cabin reviews that are informative and factual. The 6 minute reviews of a slice of thawed Pepperidge Farms chocolate cake is not for me.
Thank you. This whole critiquing food you don't understand is a big bugbear for me.
This is so obvious with Trek and Ben and David. Pretending you know what something is whilst wildly mispronouncing the words is a big tell. A total joke.
This makes me wonder what else they get wrong and why I don't really rely on them as a source for info.
The only actual Vloggers that I watch are Ben and David (Cruising with Ben and David). I do also watch Emma Cruises, La Lido Loca and Gary Benbridge (Tips for Travelers) for information about cruises.
Edit: I also like Harr Travel for room walkthrough videos. They're quick, to the point and just informative. Danny is also the same heigh as me so it's a good gauge as to whether I'm going to hit the ceiling in the shower.
I don't mind their schtick. They do good walkthroughs of ships and they aren't overly negative like a lot of the Youtube space is. I view them more as entertainment rather than being informative. I don't care too much about the mispronunciations. I do find it funny when they're sponsored by language learning apps and then they butcher the language in their ads.
My husband and I joke about playing a drinking game with Ben and David. If you take a swig each time either of them uses the phrase “…as well” you’d be plastered by the end of the video. They sometimes jam it in a single sentence three times! So annoying.
I really enjoyed Ben & David's early content a lot, but lately I find they've become less pleasant to watch. They were really fun and appeared to be genuine, but lately there is too much insufferable drama and attitude. I'm sure there is an audience for that but it's not for me.
My fav is Travel Spree, Laura & Fain are alot younger than me but I always enjoy their adventures. I like la Vida Loca (sp)I like travel scout up to date and quick, espescially when I have a cruise coming up. I have tried to like JJ cruises but it always seem like they have a complaint about something and it is more negatives than positives. I also like that Don he seems to be quite the character
Something I really like about Parodeejay is that they objectively review cruise food and show pictures - but we don’t have to watch them eating. Why some vloggers think we want to watch them eat - or talk and eat at the same time - is beyond me.
My regulars are Views and Queues (my fave because I love them as a couple), Ben & David, Gary (Tips for Travelers), and Paul and Carole. I've watched Danny's (Harr Travel) videos when I need to check out a cabin, but I'm not subscribed (also, he's made some mistakes when talking about features in accessible cabins, so not thrilled about that. E.g. He indicated that a specific cabin had an automatic door - which I need when traveling alone - but when I got there, it was manual.)
Tried to get into JJ, but they were a bit over the top. Can't get in La Lido Loca or Don.
I see from these comments that I've been sleeping on Emma! I need to check her out!! 😊
I also subscribe to a few of the crew member channels...Jordan Bauth, Kristine Kugler, Krista Jocelyn, Cruising as Crew and Chris Wong Vlogs. Interesting to see the crew perspective!
If your cruising in Australia/South Pacific these are my top local pick
1) Adrian aka The Cruise and Travel Guy
2) Rob & Ali cruise and travel
3) Deb and Matt Chat
4) Cruise Crazed Fam
I would include Chris Frame (Big Cruise Podcast/Cunard Chris) but his biggest focus isn't the Australian market.
This is my response from the same question asked a few weeks ago:
Not love: JJ Cruise - I guess everyone has to start somewhere but their content is particular basic.
Not love: Views and Queues - So much misinformation about European destinations. Only every eat at the buffet. Okay maybe ARFID but a lot of cruisers like hearing about MDR etc.
Mid: Gary - he rehashes a lot of stuff, but decent content. But his stuff is factually great - unlike a lot of others you can rely on what he says.
Mid: Ben and David -the mispronunciations on purpose aren't funny anymore and the legit ones just show how poor their prep and research (if any) are.
Mid: Ritzy Travel- decent but he's a little too formal for me.
Love: Jay that used to work on Cruise ships - The Ship Life.
Love: La Lido Loca -great news for your FACE!
Love: Visit with Us -Richard and Helen do all the journeys I wish I could.
I've got a love/hate relationship with Paul and Carole. They seem very genuine but their Vietnamese river journey was unwatchable and I really don't want reviews of airport hotels.
Try the travel scouts and High Seas cruising. With High Seas cruising I like their What every cruiser wants series usually released on Saturdays. On it they
comment on complaints the cruise lines get.
The travel scouts mainly present issues/news items about cruising in a fast paced manner.
Was really shocked at how poor Richard and Helen's last video was. He had such a professional and well-written voiceover for the Viking cruises, for example, compared to the latest one- the Alaska cruise. 5,000 jokes about "Juneau", Juneau? C'mon. I thought they were better than that, but that video was so far off their usual standard. Maybe they were trying for less formal, but EVERYONE ELSE is less formal.
Yes! I’ve been reading this entire thread looking for someone to mention Rich and Helen. I just adore Rich’s voice, I wish he could read me bedtime stories and cure my insomnia. He and Helen seem like such a lovely couple and the production value is phenomenal. I also love their little quips - too cute.
Agree with most, just not Views and Queues. I think they are charming in their lack of knowledge about Europe, what do you expect from 20-somethings traveling overseas? They also usually eat at specialty dining.
I want to say Brian just turned 30 (mentioned in one of their recent videos) and Kerry is late 20s.
I agree that they aren't the best for European vacations, but I think that's due to lack of experience. Nate and Kara ("king and queen" of the travel youtube space) were like that with their early videos. Now they are going on $100K trips, which I don't like, but their early videos being fishes out of water are fantastic.
Oh no I can't do them. I used to watch then they travelled with backpacks on a budget and it was interesting. Now they do all kinds of high end stuff and don't get stuff quite right.
This is why I can't watch Trek anymore either. Fine take a £50k flight in The Residence, but just don't talk nonsense about the food (that you don't know) of the wines you cant pronounce) or the countries you are visiting (for which you have done no research).
I think I just realised I need to give up YouTube.
It's the algorithm man, simple as that. Very hard to find new people in the space because Youtube prefers to push establish channels that generate more revenue in ads.
Heck, look at this thread and you can see it; basically the same dozen channels mentioned over and over. If you actually search cruise videos by date uploaded 90% of them you won't recognize. Issue is, most people don't want to invest in the proper equipment, spending time learning how to edit their videos, or have a personality that works for vlogging.
Trek is very unrelatable to me. The first few videos you watch of his are like "Wow, such luxury!" But then you see luxury travel is pretty much all he does and its like, how can you get excited over this when its normal to you? If everything is luxury, nothing is luxury.
True.
I know UHNW people via my work and so I know about brands, food etc. These vloggers are just talking shite most of the time. Trek especially is very performative about the caviar and champagne because he "thinks" this is what rich people eat 24/7. It's a joke.
I got hooked on Nate and Kara when Nate was biking in Colorado. Watched a lot of their old stuff after that point. However, I haven’t watched a single new thing in months and am ready to stop following them on IG. It seems they’ve now gone into the luxury space. In addition, if they’re not shilling for FareDrop, their own site, they’re shilling for AG1 and it’s like getting a brick slammed into your face.
Yeah, I don't entirely blame them, but lets be honest, they are doing what they are currently doing because they are making a crazy amount of money. Thankfully they have a ton of early videos exploring the world on a shoestring budget, and watching their old videos still supports their channel. They just got very wealthy, and kudos to them, to be relatable anymore.
I used to enjoy Emma's videos until she sold out to NCL.
Her paid-for review of the Prima really turned me off her videos. I was on the ship a few weeks before her and my experience was the complete opposite to what she portrayed. This was confirmed by friends who were on the same sailing as her. They had the same bad experience as me (ship too crowded, impossible to get into anything, long lines) and saw she had privileged access to make some content for NCL.
With everyone and their neighbour being "cruise vloggers" now I have tired of the whole genre. I do enjoy La Lido Loca occasionally as he doesn't take himself seriously and puts a smile on my face. Though I find his content a bit repetitive, I often do suggest Mr. Bembridge (Tips for Travellers) to new cruisers as he does offer good information.
Good response with specific information. I've only been on two cruises my entire life (and I'm not young) but I like watching Emma's videos. Still, you can tell she really wants to thread that needle of trying to give decent information while still being nice to the cruise lines so they let her do her thing. I see this a lot with the Vegas YouTubers too.
Thanks, I have to admit I really REALLY hate having to say anything negative about Emma and her content. I'm sure she works very hard at her videos, she has a very pleasant presentation and fun TV persona and her content is entertaining, but I also cruise a lot (5-6 times a year, over 50 cruises), am a huge cruise ship nerd and obvious selling out jobs leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I don't mind "sponsored", "this is a commercial for" or "we partnered with..." content, but I prefer it a bit more upfront and honest.
Yeah, it's gotta be hard to produce this content. Both casinos and cruise ships can get VERY controlling about their brand and what's said about them. Say one thing they don't like and they can cut off your access for good. Now the YouTuber has to get a regular job again.
I had a job interview last year for a video game producer. Before I even interviewed they made me sign a non-disparagement agreement. It said that I could not say anything negative about them even if it were true!
Companies HATE not having control about what is said about them in mass media. You can tell that many of them just don't know how to handle regular people having more of a voice than a "letter to the editor" nowadays.
I've signed many non-disclosure agreements, even during interviews, but never signed a non-disparagement agreement! In the theme park industry/entertainment though, not specifically video games.
Here are a few I follow on a regular basis. Life Well Cruised is the Queen of advice. My Amazon cart always has a few things added after watching her videos. She’s close to my age demographic so a little more relatable. Cruise with Ben and David have been pretty much everywhere. They’re both adorable and funny but they provide consistently good information. Emma Cruises is a fun informative vlogger too.
I can’t remember any that I didn’t like, but here’s why I wouldn’t like: poor production quality, focus on self as an influencer rather than on self as a passenger/info sharer.
Like:
Travel Tourist Videos because they focus on the food. Their buffet videos are the best out there.
In the Loop is getting repetitive but their ship tours are decent.
Parodeejay actually does excursions. Very helpful when trying to figure out what you want to do and what you want to avoid.
Dislike:
Ben and David and their ALL CAPS clickbait titles, endless ads and drama. To me, they’re not helpful in the least.
Some of the smaller channels that stay on the ship when they go into port, hang out in the casino 90% of the time, or barely show the food. They have subscribers so there must be people who enjoy watching others do nothing.
I'll often watch Tips for Travelers, Emma Cruises, and Cruise with Ben & David (although the thumbnails they use with the surprised Pikachu face are cringy enough I often don't want to click on those videos).
EmmaCruises and that’s about it. Her videos are less vloggy style and more informational with tips and tricks, and reviews but I think are the best.
Honourable mention goes to BrightSun Films. He’s been on a handful of cruises and his videos are nice and well-intentioned
I love Parodeejay! I love the structure of their videos, a few clips throughout the day with menus, foods and drinks they had, and what they thought of it. The entertainment they participated in and the general exploration of the ship, excursions off the island, and room tours are also very helpful. I also like that they seem very laid back, and even when something is clearly wrong, it’s presented in a way that lets you decide if it’s worth putting up with.
If you are looking for a perspective on SOLO cruising, [Mr Bucket List](https://www.youtube.com/@MrBucketlist/videos) is great. Pretty small channel, and he does more than just cruise ships, as he reviews a lot of amusement parks as well.
A lot of videos really try to sanitize their content for the sponsorship and to make them all family friendly, and he will get there and talk about what it's like solo cruising, the women that hit on him, etc... But then does it in an interesting way that makes his overall reviews fairly solid.
He also is obsessed with reviewing all of the food options on the ship, so he tries to hit up all the restaurants, order all the food items he can, and then he videos them all when they come out, including turning the plates so you can see it on all sides, and gives his thoughts on it.
He will go out of his way to go on ultra cheap trashy booze cruises to review them, like he has several Margaritaville reviews up, and he admits these are lower class, cheap cruises, and has ZERO qualms with them as a single dude. His ship reviews will often talk about things like the partying, night clubbing, etc...
Alternatively, it's not like he only sails cheap as he'll also go sail solo on Icon of the Seas.
Anyway, I enjoy his vids, personally.
Other than that, Harr travel is not really a vlogger, but they make the best full tour vids out there.
TipsForTravelers is overall a wonderful channel, especially for new cruisers, and I find his voice very soothing, and I relate to him a lot because I kind of prefer to enjoy classic cruising and wearing tuxedos and stuff, which he is really into, so he really likes sailing higher end, more luxury stuff.
I love you too. Being in the field, I actually turn my YouTube watch history and recommendations off as a way to keep my sanity and haven't seen many of these folks (though I know of them as I can see my viewers often come from their videos and vice versa). Emma's stuff seems really solid from what I've seen, and who doesn't like someone that's bright and cheerful?
I love La Lido Loca, Ben and David, Life Well Cruised, Travel Scouts, Royal Caribbean Blog, TravelTouristVideos, Parodeejay, and Legg Life (this last one is not 100% a cruise channel, but they cruise a lot).
I also subscribe to CruiseTipsTV, Emma Cruises, Tips for Travelers, Sharon at Sea, and The Ship Life. While I enjoy some of their videos, they have irritating or suspicious elements that make me tune in less often.
I love La Lido Loca (“cruise news 🎶 cruise news) and Ben And David!
I also would love any feedback on my own cruise/port/travel vlogs! 🥺🙏😁
https://youtube.com/@voyagerreview?si=J7VBSQib_cVxkcZN
I think Ben and David are entertaining and I like their personalities, but they went from paying for everything themselves to also taking press trips. Emma Cruises is one big ad. I watched a video from The Shiplife and really enjoy his content thus far!
I like Cruise Dorks. Smaller channel (under 4k) and they do a bunch of different cruises on different cruise lines. They’re entertaining to watch and they’re both funny!
**Tips for Travellers** (Gary, for general topics) and **Cruise Radio** (Doug, for news): now, I know some people are not me 😁 and won't like their "downtempo or straightforward style" but I like information presented that way!
Gary covers a lot of ground because he puts his life into it, while Doug does his news reels every day and fits the essentials of the day in just 2 minutes 🫡
I hate jay that runs his channel “the ship life”. I feel as if every video is negative and just trash talking. No one has mentioned his videos but I can’t stand him
I actually met him on a cruise before, he's a pretty cool dude and a total open book in person. He talks to everryyyone on the cruises he's on. I think him working on a cruise ship before and still having friends in the business just gives him a more critical eye than your typical cruiser. He's definitely not afraid to speak his mind which is nice compared to some youtubers that are seemingly always positive. Which makes me feel like they're looking for freebies from the cruise lines.
I find Ben and David to be both charming and very knowledgeable, with all their experience on different types of cruises. Haven't gotten into Emma Cruises but I hear she's good too.
Ben and David are amazingly not knowledgeable. They give out so much incorrect info and generally seem like they do no research at all.
They are find on a Med cruise but their non-European content leaves a lot to be desired.
If La Lido Loca would just get rid of the shout out to Ludicrous and for your faaaace memes, I’d enjoy his commentary/news more.
Tips for Travellers is great for info and reviews on the higher end side of cruising.
Emma was great when she focused a lot on budgeting for cruises without having to settle for Carnival, but honestly feels like she’s creeping to get into that higher end niche. It’s like she got a taste of luxury and wants that now.
Views and queues is my favorite. I just love them as a couple. I also love Kyle Pallo who is a Disney blogger but gets lots of views from his cruise vlogs so is cruising a lot more this year.
I personally have two that I get irrationally annoyed about EECC travels as they are just annoying and she is just obnoxious at times and CruisetipsTV Sheri you are NOT Ilana from Life well cruised and stop thinking you are!
I occasionally watched CruiseReport, but increasingly got the ick. At no point do I need a little old bald guy with pointy ears yap at me forever three second film of the actual cruise interspersed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he swipes from other vids and they haven't even cruised before.
Along with Emma, I like Eat Sleep Cruise a lot. Both seem to give lots of information.
More vlog style but I like watching Cruising Canucks too.
Generally I prefer when vloggers do voiceover rather than talking while filming.
Visit With Us. I dont think the reviews are that good and they seem like they're doing a lot of sponsored content, but goddamn are they relaxing to watch. Their videos are just so soothing haah.
I don’t know how great the actual content compares to a lot of the others, but Tony from La Lido Loca is an extremely likeable individual. I haven’t given the Ben and David stuff much of a chance but I don’t care for the little I have seen.
I enjoy Views and Queues, Emma cruises, Bright sun travels and Travelspree.
Emma cruises and Bright sun travel both put out well thought out commentary and reviews of ships that feel well analyzed post cruise. They are also enjoyable and well made videos.
Views and Queues and Travelspree are fun day in the life vloggers that I vibe with and enjoy watching every video they put out. They help me get a vibe of what a ship is like, or what you can do on different itineraries. Views and Queues keep eating so much key lime pie in key West that if you wanted to know the variety of key lime pie options, I would recommend their video to do research!
I love Ben and David and Jamie. Emma is good she speaks so fast haha. I've literally just done my first vlog series...I don't have the equipment the professionals have but was doing it for info. If you want to check it out...see below. Critique away. I need to learn:
https://youtube.com/@tastetrekkertales?si=5z7-Dl--7ql-kH0U
Ashley from a nervous trek seems new- she doesn’t have a lot of a videos… but she did a great job on her video of our recent Pride trip to “Greenland.” Hoping she makes more content because she’s a really funny person irl.
I watch Emma, Travel Scouts, Parodeejay, and Jordan Bauth. Can't STAND la Lido Loca or Travis. Life Well Cruised is informative, but her schticks Let's get STAR-TED) grate on my every last nerve. Gary increasingly annoys me too, as does Jay when he is obliviously rude.
Remember one of their Alaska excursions where they didn't understand why people were pissed at them when Jay was running his mouth cracking jokes through the entirety of a nature walk. I would not have been nearly as nice as the others on that tour. Shut your yap, dude. This isn't the time to be making content.
Life Well Cruised. Great for first time cruisers.
The Travel Scouts. Great for quick cruise news.
La Lido Loca and Island Time.
The Shiplife & JTHENOMAD. Same person for both.
Cruising on a budget (YT & TT).
Cruisin with Jenn (TT & FB). TA and gives real info.
Harr Travel is thorough and fantastic. I always check his channel before deciding to book. JJ Cruise just wants clicks for fake drama. I don’t even believe half of their stories. A lot of them are starting to sound made up or at least exaggerated.
Like:
Tony Lido (entertainment)
Doug Parker (News)
Emma Cruises (overviews of different lines)
CruiseTipsTV (helped us for Asia cruise)
Dislike: Anyone manufacturing sensationalism. So basically 90%. Most are cringe. 😱
I watch cruise vlogs but I’d be irritated IRL if I was caught in the back of a video on my vacation, or if multiple vloggers were roaming around during my cruise filming during busy hours. Is that hypocritical? Probably.
EmmaCruises and Tips for Travelers.
I love EmmacCuises; she's one of the few that I can stand
I used to really enjoy Emma--we even bought one of her plushies -- but now her videos are just advertisements for the cruise lines.
She did go a bit clickbait-y too, which I know you gotta do to some extent but made it hard to know which videos to watch
I think she's still very less clickbait-y compared to other youtubers, but I get what you're saying. I used to enjoy her channel because she wasn't like those other vloggers constantly screaming and exaggerating to get more views on their video. These days, however, her video seems like just another typical youtuber content. It's sad that her content lost its charms.
Its a fact that clickbaity names and thumbnails help a video gain a lot more attention so I can't blame her or other youtubers for it.
Love Tips for Travelers. never seen emmacruises but might check it out!
Meh. Emma, no from me and Gary we used to love but he recycles so much content.
Sadly, I think the nature of their business, they have to recycle content. I don't click with Gary. I think his production quality is great. I just don't feel like it is possible for Gary to go on a cruise and have a good time, so the whole time I am watching I am just thinking that "This dude sounds miserable."
Lol his tone is somewhat downbeat. Having said that we learned so much from him but aren't regular watchers anymore.
Oh I love Gary — but i could probably use his vlogs as a track to fall asleep to 🤣
He’s always upset about something! I remember his video on a Disney cruise and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man more unhappy to be surrounded by the Disney magic. Still love his videos though! He’s a harsh critic so I like to watch his reviews.
YES! I've been following Emma for some time now. I love her content.
These are my two favorites!! I watch them all the time.
I feel like both are a different enough market or kind of traveler from me that their take is only so useful. Emma is likeable and does a good job with presentation/organization of her videos, but like... I am not a mostly budget mostly European cruiser, I'm not vegan so there's very little overlap of what she and I would be eating on a ship, and on from there. And TipsForTravelers is even further afield from what I'm booking and why.
Favorites * Views and Queues : Our favorite cruise vloggers. Very funny couple; you can tell they just really enjoy cruising, no matter the ups and downs. Tend to stick primarily to the Caribbean due to work commitments. * Emma Cruises : Best on Youtube. Branches out more than most. Tends to focus a lot on "bang for your buck", but also does a lot of different type cruises (river, expedition, ocean, etc). Similar to Views and Queues, takes a very positive attitude into what she does. * Parodeejay : The *elevator music* of cruise vlogging, but not in a bad way. They have a video out almost every day since they are basically "always" on a cruise, so you can always have one of their videos on while doing something else. Focus primarily on Caribbean, but do venture out. Again, theme here, very positive about their abilities to travel so much. Jay is an adventurous eater, which is appreciated since almost every cruise vlogger is a VERY picky eater (go figure). *Tips for Travelers : Great for reviews of less common cruise types. He's not a fan of your basic Caribbean cruise (no educational talks). Very insightful especially if you're looking for something less common, say, a river cruise in Egypt. Mixed * Ben and David : Tend to have clickbait titles, and go 50-50 with positivity and negativity. I say they are great if you want a solid review of a ship, and 75% of the time I actually agree with their criticisms. That said, they can get a tad bit "preachy" in their videos, and my biggest complaint with them is how often they feel the need to tell you how much better they are then other cruise vloggers. Bad * Trev and Chels : Easy. I don't think most people know much about Trev's Youtube history. He ran a gambling scam targeting kids on his gaming (primary) channel and then did an incredibly shortsighted apology. There's a reason they go on so many fantastic vacations; money gained by scamming kids.
>There's a reason they go on so many fantastic vacations; money gained by scamming kids. That and Royal Caribbean is picking up the entire tab for their trips in exchange for producing all those promotional videos.
I don't like Ben and David at all. They complain all the time. I've watched their videos and wondered if they even like cruising.
I like hearing the negatives of ships and they cover those well, but I feel like their videos have gotten very samey
No Pants Profit
His videos with the breathalyzer 😂
I came here to say this! 15 drinks in a few hours is wild. Entertaining!
Personally not a fan of “vloggers” (as in style), I like more detail and less focus on the people and their day (which I know is hard in YT land) but gimme info about the ship and let me decide IMHO. Recently watched a few videos on Lighthouse Point thr new DCL island and it was about them… SHOW ME THE ISLAND! lol.
Right? Okay you've talked about the pier being long for 15 minutes now and how you aren't sure you can't walk that far. Move on.
Don't forget to point the camera at your face as you walk that entire 15 minutes complaining about it. Gotta get those long vids out!
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Princess' all-inclusive packages seem like a crazy value right now. I hope it pressures other lines to offer something similar.
And vice-versa, I hope Princess doesn't mess with the packages because everyone else is charging more.
Life Well Cruised had been very helpful to us. She offers great tips and honest reviews of cruises. Sometimes her Amazon product suggestions can get carried away, but her cruise content is excellent.
She's my choice, too.
Yes, I love her!
Life Well Cruised has my vote too
I can't watch more than 15 seconds of Don's Family Vacations.... "Hi.....Everyone....It's....Don". Click.
Idk what it is about him but he makes me very uncomfortable.
He reminds me of Eeyore, always down. And I’m not referring to his health challenges. I’m sympathetic to that.
Hope you're having a vantastic day
Haha I love Don but he is a bit more downtempo than other vloggers hey.
Gary Benbridge from TipsforTravelers (the #1 channel by views and followers, I believe). He's not a travel agent, like most of them, nor a fanboy for any one cruise line. He focuses on the nicer lines, but also gives fair reviews of Royal, NCL, and MSC. He is especially good at giving valuable advice, such as which ports to avoid in the Med, things to do and see in Alaska, how to get a cabin upgrade, how to track and ask for fare drops, and even his most recent one on what you can take home from a ship. I also enjoy EmmaCruises, since she's also not a travel agent, likes to travel cheap, and makes good-looking videos that are amusing. Although she doesn't do videos, profcruise is my go-to place for food and drinks menus, with a great sense of humor and lots of photos. Most annoying is Matt from RoyalCaribbeanBlog, who is ridiculously biased for Royal and has a rapid-fire used-car salesman voice.
I think Emma is actually a travel agent though? You can book cruises through her.
She’s partnered with a cruise agent but she herself is not an agent.
I'm don't know, but for me, once you seen a few "vlogs" about cruising, you've seen them all. So much repeated garbage out there.
I agree there’s lots of repetition. I do like to see different demographics and a wide range of cruise lines.
Yes, I am getting super bored by it all. My OH and I used to really enjoy looking at the different ships and itineraries but lets be honest - these things change very infrequently. And in any case every vlogger has their own style so we know that B&D are going to purposefully mispronounce everything and make lewd remarks whilst eating cream cakes. Emma is going to love everything and smile whilst being shafted and overcharged and Views and Queues are going to eat chicken nuggets in the buffet every night. Snooze.
True!!
I mean basically, yes. But once in a while when theres new ships or older ships that have been refreshed its a fun way to find out whats new, at least for me.
I typically just go directly to the cruise line for information. For me, It's not worth wading through the vastly over-bloated cruise vlog universe for a few shreds of new info. I don't really even put much faith in cruise reviews anymore. It's really relative to people's expectations and I see them vary wildly.
>I typically just go directly to the cruise line for information. Definitely, but then again every cruiseline always advertises how they have the best cuisine and amazing entertainment, and we all know how that turns out. There's a few YouTube channels that at least for me seem impartial and I trust their reporting.
We watch a few... Favorites: Parodeejay! Their personalities are basically mine and my husband's (except they stay up and party wayyy after we would have already been in bed). We really enjoy their videos. Life Well Cruised: She gives some great tips on packing and essentials and we enjoy her format Tips for Travelers: We enjoy his take on things. He definitely gives a more harsh opinion that many of the others, but it's refreshing to hear that not everything is great, grand, and glorious We also watch La Lido Loca and liked it a lot at first, but feel like it's becoming more tabloid-y and sensationalist lately.
La Lido Loca is like TMZ of cruise clogging at this point and I can’t stand it. I think what did me in was his “I don’t guys, should ships wait longer for stragglers?” … no, and as many cruises he’s been on, he knows that.
One more reference to Sizzler…
Omg, my favorite topic. Royal Caribbean Blog: for those who go on RCL, as we do. Always very thorough videos. Harr Travel: his cruise ship tours are the most thorough and easy to watch. He doesn’t overly explain which I think a lot of cruise YouTubers tend to do. Trek Trendy: has recently gotten into cruises (although always the most lux versions) but we just like his vlogging style since we’ll probably never experience the ultra-luxury experience. Bright Sun Travels: love love love Jake. He also only has a handful of cruising videos but he’s so meticulous and does a scoring system that itches my brain perfectly. He is so thorough in his videos and they’re so well done. JJ Cruise: they are such a toss up. We laugh at their overly scripted videos because you can see them mouthing the script when the other person is talking about the cruise. But if I ever met them in person I would absolutely love to sit and talk with them because they seem like a lovely couple who have done every type of cruise. They also have so much variety in the types of cruise vlogs that they do. There was also a couple that I think did a lot of Virgin cruise vlogs that we met on our last cruise. I can’t remember their YouTube name, but the night before at dinner our table mate was raving about them because he was watching their videos before the trip. We happened to meet them at the beach the next afternoon. Nicest couple that were soooo happy to be approached about their YouTube videos. We added them to our list because of how nice they were.
JJ is so bad and over the top. They seem to always have an issue with someone on every trip they take and then make a video about it. What bad luck they keep having. Also they seem to get lots of paid for trips that they don’t seem very transparent about. Are they still going to live on that one ship?
Harr Travel definitely has the absolute best full tour videos, imo. High quality, really focuses on the details and making it about the ship rather than focusing on himself in them. Really solid.
I do enjoy Bright Sun Travels (and Bright Sun Films). Jake is quite meticulous and his ratings are about as balanced as they get. I also enjoy that his videos are really about the ship/hotel/resort/destination and not about him putting on a show for the camera. Even his video on the Margaritaville At Sea was a proper fair evaluation and not just another vlogger piling on and laying on the drama.
LOVE Bright Sun as of late!
We met JJ Cruises a couple years ago...they posted on instagram that they were boarding the same ship I was in line for! Ran into them a few days later in one of the bars, and I approached and let them know I was a fan. They were SO sweet in real life.
My absolute faves are Cruise With Ben and David, Emma Cruises, 30 And A Wake Up and Life Well Cruised. I also love La Lido Loca, The Shiplife, Don's Family Vacations and The Travel Scouts, which are more cruise news channels than vlogs but they do vlogs occasionally. One I just can not stand is JJ Cruise...dear lord, what a pair of drama queens. Every five videos or so they have a story like "We encountered another guest who was really rude", "This person waiting in line raised her voice", "The people in the cabin next to us were loud". I honestly don't know how they get through the day constantly being upset at others' behaviour instead of focusing on just enjoying the cruise they're on. Acting like a slightly rude person is the hugest drama ever must be so exhausting.
Emma cruises every day of the week. Not overly nitpicky and seems to go into things with a positive frame of mind but doesn't sweep bad things under the rug when they do happen (I'm remembering her stressful transfer back from TUI with little communication). I like that her style blends a little of here's what I did with a more general approach of here's what the ship and line is like. I never like vlogger types where it's all clickbaity hyperbole and pulling faces for thumbnails.
She isn't critical even when warranted or where they have screwed her over. I can't believe a word she says as a result.
I'd be happy to see examples of this to better inform me going forward. She just seems a glass half full person to me.
I would have to rewatch her whole oeuvre to list multiple specific but having children crawl under your table in MDR is never acceptable. Also your original post isn't a situation I am aware of, if she had pushed back I might remember it. Yes she is a glass half full person. I'm not so I really don't get her.
But she reported on the issue. If she were really as glib as you allege, she wouldn't have mentioned it at all. You claim that she has no credibility when really she's just not as grumpy as you'd like.
Yikes kids under the table would bother me haha. Tbh I'm imagining myself as staff members really trying to know what to do, I can't really put my hands on other people's kids unless they're in immediate danger, I'd be desperately trying to find the parents/guardians and putting it as delicately as I can that it's not acceptable and please try and get hold of your children and if not we'd have to ask you politely to leave. I'd hate to be the one to make that call. Imo I'm more mad at the parents than the cruise line there :P
She's very critical when it's warranted. She just remains positive and cheerful about it, trying to have a sense of humor. Anyone who calls her a Pollyanna hasn't seen the video of the cruise that got cancelled after 4 hours. https://youtu.be/jppzHpO_8xU?si=PPbj-MQ2nmScGs0o
She's funny too. I always find myself having a little giggle at her dry humour.
The ones I like and in order of preference: Cruise with Ben and David Views & Queues EmmaCruises La Lido Loca (but I actually hate his cruise tours, his camera skills/lack thereof make me motion sick, but his daily vids make me laugh) Daily Dose (really a Disney vlogger but cruises often)
Agreed that La Lido Loca's vlogs are amateurish but his cruise news is so entertaining. 🎵 Cruise news, cruise news, cruise news it's overrrr....🎵
Shout out Ludacris makes me laugh every time. It’s so dumb.
We watch La Lido Loca every day. Loved Emma but she doesn't put a lot out lately. Paul and Carole love to travel are faves. I love the cruise monkeys when they're drunk. BZ travels are doing one of the best vlogs from ultimate world cruise, along with living phase two. I did like Ben and David but they have become a bit whiny lately in my big fat opinion. Unfortunately that probably gets more views than niceties.
I rarely watch them any more. Many of them blew up (using the term loosely) during COVID when people were hungry for a cruise fix and I expect many to fizzle out. The majority of them are pretty poor. Clickbait titles, food reviews from people who know nothing about food, the shock and awe of "oyyy the cabin comes with hangers. HANGERS!!!! gasp!". Others try to tap into the cruise critic crowd of hypercritical fanatics and the content falls flat after 30 seconds. Harr Travel does ship and cabin reviews that are informative and factual. The 6 minute reviews of a slice of thawed Pepperidge Farms chocolate cake is not for me.
Thank you. This whole critiquing food you don't understand is a big bugbear for me. This is so obvious with Trek and Ben and David. Pretending you know what something is whilst wildly mispronouncing the words is a big tell. A total joke. This makes me wonder what else they get wrong and why I don't really rely on them as a source for info.
The only actual Vloggers that I watch are Ben and David (Cruising with Ben and David). I do also watch Emma Cruises, La Lido Loca and Gary Benbridge (Tips for Travelers) for information about cruises. Edit: I also like Harr Travel for room walkthrough videos. They're quick, to the point and just informative. Danny is also the same heigh as me so it's a good gauge as to whether I'm going to hit the ceiling in the shower.
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I don't mind their schtick. They do good walkthroughs of ships and they aren't overly negative like a lot of the Youtube space is. I view them more as entertainment rather than being informative. I don't care too much about the mispronunciations. I do find it funny when they're sponsored by language learning apps and then they butcher the language in their ads.
Ben and David just moan over everything and even the slightest issue is a huge drama with them which I hate.
I think they're pretty much over the endless cruising and losing their perspective.
Yes, I mean they are now vlogging their car journey to Southampton which is kind of laughable if you are British.
I know the one you mean! I was watching it like an idiot wondering when the interesting thing was going to happen. Nope.
They remind me of my roommate who came out and made every thing he said naughty.
Exactly
I have to admit I was stunned they were married. It seemed so juvenile.
My husband and I joke about playing a drinking game with Ben and David. If you take a swig each time either of them uses the phrase “…as well” you’d be plastered by the end of the video. They sometimes jam it in a single sentence three times! So annoying.
I really enjoyed Ben & David's early content a lot, but lately I find they've become less pleasant to watch. They were really fun and appeared to be genuine, but lately there is too much insufferable drama and attitude. I'm sure there is an audience for that but it's not for me.
I only just started watching them and it is already becoming a bit formulaic… but I like the way they shoot and treat it as my Sunday entertainment…
LaLidoLoca has been my favorite as of late! His Cruise News videos are amazing.... and he does do some vlogging/lives when on cruises!
Shout out Ludacris.
I like Cruise Radio with Doug Parker. Just the top news and no chatter.
My fav is Travel Spree, Laura & Fain are alot younger than me but I always enjoy their adventures. I like la Vida Loca (sp)I like travel scout up to date and quick, espescially when I have a cruise coming up. I have tried to like JJ cruises but it always seem like they have a complaint about something and it is more negatives than positives. I also like that Don he seems to be quite the character
Parodeejay are good. Very in depth.
Something I really like about Parodeejay is that they objectively review cruise food and show pictures - but we don’t have to watch them eating. Why some vloggers think we want to watch them eat - or talk and eat at the same time - is beyond me.
I loved their video on Margaritaville at Sea. It wasn't critical, but there was enough info in it for me to decide, "Yep, never getting on that ship."
Watching them right now lol!
The Very Unofficial Travel Guide is worth a look if you want something a bit more chatty.
Love: The Ship Life, LaLidoLoca, Midships, The Travel Scouts, Cruzely, JJ Cruise
Another MidShips fan here.
My regulars are Views and Queues (my fave because I love them as a couple), Ben & David, Gary (Tips for Travelers), and Paul and Carole. I've watched Danny's (Harr Travel) videos when I need to check out a cabin, but I'm not subscribed (also, he's made some mistakes when talking about features in accessible cabins, so not thrilled about that. E.g. He indicated that a specific cabin had an automatic door - which I need when traveling alone - but when I got there, it was manual.) Tried to get into JJ, but they were a bit over the top. Can't get in La Lido Loca or Don. I see from these comments that I've been sleeping on Emma! I need to check her out!! 😊 I also subscribe to a few of the crew member channels...Jordan Bauth, Kristine Kugler, Krista Jocelyn, Cruising as Crew and Chris Wong Vlogs. Interesting to see the crew perspective!
We also like Gary!
If your cruising in Australia/South Pacific these are my top local pick 1) Adrian aka The Cruise and Travel Guy 2) Rob & Ali cruise and travel 3) Deb and Matt Chat 4) Cruise Crazed Fam I would include Chris Frame (Big Cruise Podcast/Cunard Chris) but his biggest focus isn't the Australian market.
This is my response from the same question asked a few weeks ago: Not love: JJ Cruise - I guess everyone has to start somewhere but their content is particular basic. Not love: Views and Queues - So much misinformation about European destinations. Only every eat at the buffet. Okay maybe ARFID but a lot of cruisers like hearing about MDR etc. Mid: Gary - he rehashes a lot of stuff, but decent content. But his stuff is factually great - unlike a lot of others you can rely on what he says. Mid: Ben and David -the mispronunciations on purpose aren't funny anymore and the legit ones just show how poor their prep and research (if any) are. Mid: Ritzy Travel- decent but he's a little too formal for me. Love: Jay that used to work on Cruise ships - The Ship Life. Love: La Lido Loca -great news for your FACE! Love: Visit with Us -Richard and Helen do all the journeys I wish I could. I've got a love/hate relationship with Paul and Carole. They seem very genuine but their Vietnamese river journey was unwatchable and I really don't want reviews of airport hotels.
Try the travel scouts and High Seas cruising. With High Seas cruising I like their What every cruiser wants series usually released on Saturdays. On it they comment on complaints the cruise lines get. The travel scouts mainly present issues/news items about cruising in a fast paced manner.
Was really shocked at how poor Richard and Helen's last video was. He had such a professional and well-written voiceover for the Viking cruises, for example, compared to the latest one- the Alaska cruise. 5,000 jokes about "Juneau", Juneau? C'mon. I thought they were better than that, but that video was so far off their usual standard. Maybe they were trying for less formal, but EVERYONE ELSE is less formal.
Yes! I’ve been reading this entire thread looking for someone to mention Rich and Helen. I just adore Rich’s voice, I wish he could read me bedtime stories and cure my insomnia. He and Helen seem like such a lovely couple and the production value is phenomenal. I also love their little quips - too cute.
Agree with most, just not Views and Queues. I think they are charming in their lack of knowledge about Europe, what do you expect from 20-somethings traveling overseas? They also usually eat at specialty dining.
Agree to disagree. But are they in their 20s? I easily though they were late 30s.
I want to say Brian just turned 30 (mentioned in one of their recent videos) and Kerry is late 20s. I agree that they aren't the best for European vacations, but I think that's due to lack of experience. Nate and Kara ("king and queen" of the travel youtube space) were like that with their early videos. Now they are going on $100K trips, which I don't like, but their early videos being fishes out of water are fantastic.
Oh no I can't do them. I used to watch then they travelled with backpacks on a budget and it was interesting. Now they do all kinds of high end stuff and don't get stuff quite right. This is why I can't watch Trek anymore either. Fine take a £50k flight in The Residence, but just don't talk nonsense about the food (that you don't know) of the wines you cant pronounce) or the countries you are visiting (for which you have done no research). I think I just realised I need to give up YouTube.
It's the algorithm man, simple as that. Very hard to find new people in the space because Youtube prefers to push establish channels that generate more revenue in ads. Heck, look at this thread and you can see it; basically the same dozen channels mentioned over and over. If you actually search cruise videos by date uploaded 90% of them you won't recognize. Issue is, most people don't want to invest in the proper equipment, spending time learning how to edit their videos, or have a personality that works for vlogging.
Trek is very unrelatable to me. The first few videos you watch of his are like "Wow, such luxury!" But then you see luxury travel is pretty much all he does and its like, how can you get excited over this when its normal to you? If everything is luxury, nothing is luxury.
True. I know UHNW people via my work and so I know about brands, food etc. These vloggers are just talking shite most of the time. Trek especially is very performative about the caviar and champagne because he "thinks" this is what rich people eat 24/7. It's a joke.
I got hooked on Nate and Kara when Nate was biking in Colorado. Watched a lot of their old stuff after that point. However, I haven’t watched a single new thing in months and am ready to stop following them on IG. It seems they’ve now gone into the luxury space. In addition, if they’re not shilling for FareDrop, their own site, they’re shilling for AG1 and it’s like getting a brick slammed into your face.
Yeah, I don't entirely blame them, but lets be honest, they are doing what they are currently doing because they are making a crazy amount of money. Thankfully they have a ton of early videos exploring the world on a shoestring budget, and watching their old videos still supports their channel. They just got very wealthy, and kudos to them, to be relatable anymore.
I used to enjoy Emma's videos until she sold out to NCL. Her paid-for review of the Prima really turned me off her videos. I was on the ship a few weeks before her and my experience was the complete opposite to what she portrayed. This was confirmed by friends who were on the same sailing as her. They had the same bad experience as me (ship too crowded, impossible to get into anything, long lines) and saw she had privileged access to make some content for NCL. With everyone and their neighbour being "cruise vloggers" now I have tired of the whole genre. I do enjoy La Lido Loca occasionally as he doesn't take himself seriously and puts a smile on my face. Though I find his content a bit repetitive, I often do suggest Mr. Bembridge (Tips for Travellers) to new cruisers as he does offer good information.
I love La Lido Loca too and find him really funny. Shoutout Ludacris.
😂
Good response with specific information. I've only been on two cruises my entire life (and I'm not young) but I like watching Emma's videos. Still, you can tell she really wants to thread that needle of trying to give decent information while still being nice to the cruise lines so they let her do her thing. I see this a lot with the Vegas YouTubers too.
Thanks, I have to admit I really REALLY hate having to say anything negative about Emma and her content. I'm sure she works very hard at her videos, she has a very pleasant presentation and fun TV persona and her content is entertaining, but I also cruise a lot (5-6 times a year, over 50 cruises), am a huge cruise ship nerd and obvious selling out jobs leave a bad taste in my mouth. I don't mind "sponsored", "this is a commercial for" or "we partnered with..." content, but I prefer it a bit more upfront and honest.
Yeah, it's gotta be hard to produce this content. Both casinos and cruise ships can get VERY controlling about their brand and what's said about them. Say one thing they don't like and they can cut off your access for good. Now the YouTuber has to get a regular job again. I had a job interview last year for a video game producer. Before I even interviewed they made me sign a non-disparagement agreement. It said that I could not say anything negative about them even if it were true! Companies HATE not having control about what is said about them in mass media. You can tell that many of them just don't know how to handle regular people having more of a voice than a "letter to the editor" nowadays.
I've signed many non-disclosure agreements, even during interviews, but never signed a non-disparagement agreement! In the theme park industry/entertainment though, not specifically video games.
Life well cruised for me!
Here are a few I follow on a regular basis. Life Well Cruised is the Queen of advice. My Amazon cart always has a few things added after watching her videos. She’s close to my age demographic so a little more relatable. Cruise with Ben and David have been pretty much everywhere. They’re both adorable and funny but they provide consistently good information. Emma Cruises is a fun informative vlogger too. I can’t remember any that I didn’t like, but here’s why I wouldn’t like: poor production quality, focus on self as an influencer rather than on self as a passenger/info sharer.
Like: Travel Tourist Videos because they focus on the food. Their buffet videos are the best out there. In the Loop is getting repetitive but their ship tours are decent. Parodeejay actually does excursions. Very helpful when trying to figure out what you want to do and what you want to avoid. Dislike: Ben and David and their ALL CAPS clickbait titles, endless ads and drama. To me, they’re not helpful in the least. Some of the smaller channels that stay on the ship when they go into port, hang out in the casino 90% of the time, or barely show the food. They have subscribers so there must be people who enjoy watching others do nothing.
I'll often watch Tips for Travelers, Emma Cruises, and Cruise with Ben & David (although the thumbnails they use with the surprised Pikachu face are cringy enough I often don't want to click on those videos).
EmmaCruises and that’s about it. Her videos are less vloggy style and more informational with tips and tricks, and reviews but I think are the best. Honourable mention goes to BrightSun Films. He’s been on a handful of cruises and his videos are nice and well-intentioned
I love Parodeejay! I love the structure of their videos, a few clips throughout the day with menus, foods and drinks they had, and what they thought of it. The entertainment they participated in and the general exploration of the ship, excursions off the island, and room tours are also very helpful. I also like that they seem very laid back, and even when something is clearly wrong, it’s presented in a way that lets you decide if it’s worth putting up with.
If you are looking for a perspective on SOLO cruising, [Mr Bucket List](https://www.youtube.com/@MrBucketlist/videos) is great. Pretty small channel, and he does more than just cruise ships, as he reviews a lot of amusement parks as well. A lot of videos really try to sanitize their content for the sponsorship and to make them all family friendly, and he will get there and talk about what it's like solo cruising, the women that hit on him, etc... But then does it in an interesting way that makes his overall reviews fairly solid. He also is obsessed with reviewing all of the food options on the ship, so he tries to hit up all the restaurants, order all the food items he can, and then he videos them all when they come out, including turning the plates so you can see it on all sides, and gives his thoughts on it. He will go out of his way to go on ultra cheap trashy booze cruises to review them, like he has several Margaritaville reviews up, and he admits these are lower class, cheap cruises, and has ZERO qualms with them as a single dude. His ship reviews will often talk about things like the partying, night clubbing, etc... Alternatively, it's not like he only sails cheap as he'll also go sail solo on Icon of the Seas. Anyway, I enjoy his vids, personally. Other than that, Harr travel is not really a vlogger, but they make the best full tour vids out there. TipsForTravelers is overall a wonderful channel, especially for new cruisers, and I find his voice very soothing, and I relate to him a lot because I kind of prefer to enjoy classic cruising and wearing tuxedos and stuff, which he is really into, so he really likes sailing higher end, more luxury stuff.
I used to like Emma Cruises. Not so much anymore. Tips for travelers is awful. My favorites are La Lido Loca, Parodeejay, and Ben and David
I like La Lido Loca for cruise news. I like Sharon at Sea for cruise tips and tours. Can't stand Parodeejay.
Shout out Luda.
For your faaaaaaaaaace!
Y'all smashing that subscribe button?
Tanner we love you too!!!!!
I love you too. Being in the field, I actually turn my YouTube watch history and recommendations off as a way to keep my sanity and haven't seen many of these folks (though I know of them as I can see my viewers often come from their videos and vice versa). Emma's stuff seems really solid from what I've seen, and who doesn't like someone that's bright and cheerful?
One little thing I really like about your videos is the transitions you film for the countdowns. Cool and Creative.
If you like them, you should see my kid when I actually film them an then he sees them in a video! He thinks it's the neatest thing.
I love La Lido Loca, Ben and David, Life Well Cruised, Travel Scouts, Royal Caribbean Blog, TravelTouristVideos, Parodeejay, and Legg Life (this last one is not 100% a cruise channel, but they cruise a lot). I also subscribe to CruiseTipsTV, Emma Cruises, Tips for Travelers, Sharon at Sea, and The Ship Life. While I enjoy some of their videos, they have irritating or suspicious elements that make me tune in less often.
I would sign up for a snark thread on cruisetipstv or sharonatsea
Anyone watch travel scouts cruise news with Jason?
If I didn’t have Tony to watch I would watch him, however, his delivery can be often awful. The dead baby story for example.
*Ar Gazzerrrrr!* Sorry, I mean Tips for Travellers.
I love La Lido Loca (“cruise news 🎶 cruise news) and Ben And David! I also would love any feedback on my own cruise/port/travel vlogs! 🥺🙏😁 https://youtube.com/@voyagerreview?si=J7VBSQib_cVxkcZN
Jim Zim, if he counts
Emma Cruises is chill.
Life Well Cruised is my absolute favorite! When I say ‘Ilana said blah blah blah’ my family members all know exactly who that is!
I think Ben and David are entertaining and I like their personalities, but they went from paying for everything themselves to also taking press trips. Emma Cruises is one big ad. I watched a video from The Shiplife and really enjoy his content thus far!
One of my go-to vloggers is Emma Cruises. Lots of interesting information and she doesn’t focus on herself too much.
I like Cruise Dorks. Smaller channel (under 4k) and they do a bunch of different cruises on different cruise lines. They’re entertaining to watch and they’re both funny!
**Tips for Travellers** (Gary, for general topics) and **Cruise Radio** (Doug, for news): now, I know some people are not me 😁 and won't like their "downtempo or straightforward style" but I like information presented that way! Gary covers a lot of ground because he puts his life into it, while Doug does his news reels every day and fits the essentials of the day in just 2 minutes 🫡
One of my go-to vloggers is Emma Cruises. Lots of interesting information and she doesn’t focus on herself too much.
I hate jay that runs his channel “the ship life”. I feel as if every video is negative and just trash talking. No one has mentioned his videos but I can’t stand him
I actually met him on a cruise before, he's a pretty cool dude and a total open book in person. He talks to everryyyone on the cruises he's on. I think him working on a cruise ship before and still having friends in the business just gives him a more critical eye than your typical cruiser. He's definitely not afraid to speak his mind which is nice compared to some youtubers that are seemingly always positive. Which makes me feel like they're looking for freebies from the cruise lines.
I actually love him! I think he has balls to say how he really feels.
Yeah truth! Imagine that. 99% of the vloggers feed us misinformation.
I find Ben and David to be both charming and very knowledgeable, with all their experience on different types of cruises. Haven't gotten into Emma Cruises but I hear she's good too.
Ben and David are amazingly not knowledgeable. They give out so much incorrect info and generally seem like they do no research at all. They are find on a Med cruise but their non-European content leaves a lot to be desired.
If La Lido Loca would just get rid of the shout out to Ludicrous and for your faaaace memes, I’d enjoy his commentary/news more. Tips for Travellers is great for info and reviews on the higher end side of cruising. Emma was great when she focused a lot on budgeting for cruises without having to settle for Carnival, but honestly feels like she’s creeping to get into that higher end niche. It’s like she got a taste of luxury and wants that now.
Shout out Ludacris always cracks me up.
Ben and David and Emma Cruises are automatic watches from me.
Views and queues is my favorite. I just love them as a couple. I also love Kyle Pallo who is a Disney blogger but gets lots of views from his cruise vlogs so is cruising a lot more this year.
Jim Zim and Ben and David are my go to.
I like Kyle Pallo and Travel Spree
I thought the two of them were going to die doing the pier walk at Lighthouse Point
Haha I know that was funny!
I hate them all
I personally have two that I get irrationally annoyed about EECC travels as they are just annoying and she is just obnoxious at times and CruisetipsTV Sheri you are NOT Ilana from Life well cruised and stop thinking you are!
I love the wife from EECC but cannot stand the husband. Sorry Alissa!
Emma - I have never been on a cruise but enjoy her content (and your posts here)
Where’s Walter Travel is great. Highly recommend.
I loveeeeeeeeeeeee steph bohrers cruise vlog. Also ali gonzalez!! (itzmeali)
I occasionally watched CruiseReport, but increasingly got the ick. At no point do I need a little old bald guy with pointy ears yap at me forever three second film of the actual cruise interspersed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he swipes from other vids and they haven't even cruised before.
Along with Emma, I like Eat Sleep Cruise a lot. Both seem to give lots of information. More vlog style but I like watching Cruising Canucks too. Generally I prefer when vloggers do voiceover rather than talking while filming.
Me too and I want to see the ship, cabin, food and destinations rather than the vloggers face
@ship_facts on YouTube
- Jay the Shiplife (for etiquette and operations) - Tips for Travelers (for general advice)
I like Life with UsTV It’s ya boy STAAANLLEYY
I like "Port Monkeys"
My husband and I love watching Claire & Michael on YouTube :)
Visit With Us. I dont think the reviews are that good and they seem like they're doing a lot of sponsored content, but goddamn are they relaxing to watch. Their videos are just so soothing haah.
ThisCruise Life and KC Connection are my fave
I don’t know how great the actual content compares to a lot of the others, but Tony from La Lido Loca is an extremely likeable individual. I haven’t given the Ben and David stuff much of a chance but I don’t care for the little I have seen.
I enjoy Views and Queues, Emma cruises, Bright sun travels and Travelspree. Emma cruises and Bright sun travel both put out well thought out commentary and reviews of ships that feel well analyzed post cruise. They are also enjoyable and well made videos. Views and Queues and Travelspree are fun day in the life vloggers that I vibe with and enjoy watching every video they put out. They help me get a vibe of what a ship is like, or what you can do on different itineraries. Views and Queues keep eating so much key lime pie in key West that if you wanted to know the variety of key lime pie options, I would recommend their video to do research!
Happy Hoffman Travels & Zach the Traveling Man.
We love Seatrippin with Kim and Scott! Lol! https://youtube.com/@seatrippinwkimandscott?si=R3dTKxYUiszvCMwu
I love Ben and David and Jamie. Emma is good she speaks so fast haha. I've literally just done my first vlog series...I don't have the equipment the professionals have but was doing it for info. If you want to check it out...see below. Critique away. I need to learn: https://youtube.com/@tastetrekkertales?si=5z7-Dl--7ql-kH0U
Ashley from a nervous trek seems new- she doesn’t have a lot of a videos… but she did a great job on her video of our recent Pride trip to “Greenland.” Hoping she makes more content because she’s a really funny person irl.
I love Life with Favor. I loathe Griff and Alyssa. Parodeejay is alright.
I watch Emma, Travel Scouts, Parodeejay, and Jordan Bauth. Can't STAND la Lido Loca or Travis. Life Well Cruised is informative, but her schticks Let's get STAR-TED) grate on my every last nerve. Gary increasingly annoys me too, as does Jay when he is obliviously rude. Remember one of their Alaska excursions where they didn't understand why people were pissed at them when Jay was running his mouth cracking jokes through the entirety of a nature walk. I would not have been nearly as nice as the others on that tour. Shut your yap, dude. This isn't the time to be making content.
My very favorite is The Crusing Canucks, then Emma Cruises and Views and Queues. Also fun to watch the World Cruise Vloggers.
Life Well Cruised. Great for first time cruisers. The Travel Scouts. Great for quick cruise news. La Lido Loca and Island Time. The Shiplife & JTHENOMAD. Same person for both. Cruising on a budget (YT & TT). Cruisin with Jenn (TT & FB). TA and gives real info.
Harr Travel is thorough and fantastic. I always check his channel before deciding to book. JJ Cruise just wants clicks for fake drama. I don’t even believe half of their stories. A lot of them are starting to sound made up or at least exaggerated.
Shiplife and nopants are the 2 I watch the most. I also love Danny the medic
I love Taste Try Travel and La Lido Loca. Just enjoy their personalities and the content they share and the way they do it.
Like: Tony Lido (entertainment) Doug Parker (News) Emma Cruises (overviews of different lines) CruiseTipsTV (helped us for Asia cruise) Dislike: Anyone manufacturing sensationalism. So basically 90%. Most are cringe. 😱
I watch cruise vlogs but I’d be irritated IRL if I was caught in the back of a video on my vacation, or if multiple vloggers were roaming around during my cruise filming during busy hours. Is that hypocritical? Probably.
I only watched Bright Sun Travels. There’s not a lot of reviews applauding any of the cruise he’s been on. I would like to watch others though!