RetiredandTravel

Do you know if that cruiser intends to take another Regent cruise? Hopefully that's just one employees poor response not the firms policy.

I changed my post because I felt it was too harsh, please re read it. If you go back to my recommendation it mentions the differences in mobility issues. I guess you and I have different interpretations of how a cruise line should handle folks with mobility issues on excursions.

Huh. Just from a business prospective when a large part of your revenue comes from a particular group you tailor your product. Not to speak running a considerate organization. I should re phrase this. I admire your courage to keep travelling but many people don't have the funs to spend thousands extra on excursions and given the age of Regents clients I think it makes sense to tailor their product.

We have also had good experiences with Regent excursions but understand how some people might not like the bus approach. Getting back to Sheila's unfortunate experience and how Regent might think about improving the excursion process for "people with mobility issues". I would think that many of Regents passengers fall in the classification of having "mobility" issues, so it's a topic they probably take seriously. Mobility issues is a very broad term. My wife has arthritis in her knee, which when it acts up is a major issue. We still take several mile walks a couple times a week but she has to be careful on stairs and hills. So my sweetie pie falls into the low end of the range of people with having "mobility" issues while people confined to wheelchairs fall into the high end. Regent does attempt to offer information on how physically demanding excursions are but I think maybe they could improve. I would recommend Regent expand the Mobility information and education on excursions and train staff on how important it is to be considerate. A further description of "mobility" issues on the excursions would help.. Maybe a Red, Yellow, Green - Red - no one with issues, Yellow some issues, Green - everyone. Introducing a seminar or class (either in person or a video on the TV) at the beginning of the cruise discussing which excursions are appropriate. Lastly train the staff to be patient and considerate because this whole thing could have been avoided if handled better.

In the attached thread (#12) I discuss some of the restaurants we visited. Its easy to get a taxi in Tokyo and the drivers are very professional. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2859002-links-to-any-tokyo-to-tokyo-trip-reports/#comment-63382085

Agreed the Japanese people are lovely. Quirky in a nice and fun way. When we were leaving a restaurant in Tokyo I asked the maitre de where we could get a taxi. He sent (which I felt bad about) the young lady a the front desk to hail down a taxi from the street and then he walked us to the cab and opened the door and thanked us. Maybe we went on a bad day but we didn't enjoy the tower. It was extremely crowded, we could barely get near a window also the tourist maze in the bottom was over the top. The Tokyo only package didn't include meals which was fine. Tokyo has many of the best restaurants in the world. I think Kyoto from a historical prospective was much more interesting. We enjoyed Tokyo, it is a vibrant modern fun city but for a city of this size there isn't a great deal from an historical perspective.

According to this report RCL estimates spending over a billion dollars on fuel in 2023 and its ~55 percent hedged. I don't know how RCL hedges or if any of the reduced oil cost flows to the hedged portion but it is significant to the unhedged portion. Are the reported shortages really supply issues or are the ships running with lower inventories? https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-caribbean-group-reports-2022-results-and-provides-forward-guidance-301740643.html The FED I have no idea, guessing 25. I'm sure the banks are thinking about their duration risk but not sure they can hedge it at this point. Maybe. They were supposedly hedged by the liabilities but they unfortunately had a much lower duration. If they hedge would they have to mark the hedge to market while the held bonds aren't? Maybe they will try to slowly move out of 10+ duration holdings. 3.39 definitely an important support for the Ten Year Yield. I don't follow Gold it gives me a headache. Bitcoin? Are some people looking at it as a "Safe Haven"? 🙃

First I wouldn't advise returning (especially in NYC) to an establishment if you stiff people on the tip. They will get retribution. If the service is poor and you leave no/minimal tip you will probably not return anyway. Waiters in the better NYC restaurants actually make a good deal of money. What I like are the suggested tips on the bill they may as well have definitions next to them. 20% (Cheap S&^%) - 22 1/2% (OK person) - 25% (nice person).

I saw interviews with "in the know" people who said we didn't have enough regulators. I'll go with your interpretation. Not sure which is worse.

Yes in NYC a 20% tip is expected.

Which may be the reason you don't want to do this. 😬

Excellent WSJ article on SVB & bank investments. Seems the 2008 banking regulations would have been better served to also focus on duration risk. I'm also seeing these interviews with people are saying we don't have enough regulators. How are we $30 trillion in debt with an enormous government structure but don't have enough regulators? https://www.wsj.com/articles/another-banking-crisis-was-predictable-thomas-hoenig-fdic-interest-rate-duration-risk-bailout-svb-64e2cdac?mod=opinion_lead_pos6 I watched part of Yellen testifying before congress this week. Its interesting how fast this "run" on deposits happened. Everyone gets on social media reads the news (maybe not really the news) then logons their bank account and removes their money. It all happens in a matter of hours. The markets held up reasonably well this week given the news (The SVB debacle started the prior week). Week ending prices (last week & this week) S&P 500 - 3861 > 3916 2 yr Tsy - 4.58 > 3.85 Oil - 76.68 > 66.74 RCL - 66.86 > 61.88

This is true mnocket but Sheila met with Regent excursion people to discuss the excursions when she boarded. Sheila took the appropriate and reasonable action. When Sheila arrived at the excursion boat she should have 1) Been one of the first people to board the excursion boat or 2) People from the excursion ship should have nicely apologized that the boat ride was too demanding. Maybe the Regent excursion person apologized to her later? Taking her tickets then making her wait until everyone had boarded and then telling her she couldn't board just isn't acceptable.

We have always found the "Tips for Travelers" by Gary to be an exceptional source of fair information on cruises. We have been on two Regent cruises one exceptional and one poor and will be interested in your future experiences. thanks

So sorry to hear this Sheila. Sure all of us have to accept the limitations that aging brings but this is entirely Regents fault. Many of Regents clients (loyal clients) have mobility issues and they should have a well managed structured approach to excursions and people with mobility issues. Sending Sheila to the boat and then rejecting her was incredibly mean and poor management. I don't personally know Sheila but from this forum she has impressed me as a very decent, good and fair person. Regent should be ashamed. This is not treatment she deserved. My advice to you Sheila is to not let this ruin your vacation. Unfortunately in life we have to deal with jerks, don't let them impact your vacation and have fun Have a drink (or two) for me. 🍾🍷🍸🍹

Manhattan (NYC) may be the tipping capital of the world, everyone tips and its expected. We lived there for 30 years. On $55 I'd give at least $10 maybe $15. The Pierre is a wonderful hotel in a great location, if you need any restaurant or touring information let us know, One pointer, when you take a taxi (or anything else) always act confident like you've done it before.

All the restaurants in Tokyo we went to took AMEX (I checked first). The smaller shops where we bought souvenirs, books etc only took cash. This website (Japanese Tourism) says Japan does take credit cards widely but I'd research it more because I don't think its as prevalent in say the US. https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/credit-cards/

These young people crack me up. We used to wear suits and ties on Sundays flying First/Biz class to Europe. Move chart to "Max" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BAMLH0A0HYM2

Thanks HPD those posts made my day.😆 Come on Terry this bailout will cost the taxpayer nothing. All you have to do is say it enough and its true like a modern day "there's no place like home". The High yield market (HYG) and credit spreads have been remarkably stable, actually up on the day. IMO any significant deterioration in high yield (credit spreads) would be an ominous sign for the market and cruise lines. Currently IMO the spread stability is a positive so far. Here's a list of Treasury prices, focus on the longer dated Treasuries. Specifically the 1 1/4 of 5/50 trading at 58. So if you bought that Treasury at par at issue (5/20) you are down 42% in principal in less than 3 years but hey you got to clip that nice 1 1/4 % coupon. Which raises another question why didn't the government significantly shift to much longer dated bonds and lock in the interest rate. https://www.wsj.com/market-data/bonds/treasuries Now the talk is the Fed won't tighten, not sure if that's good or bad.

I'm running late today with the time change. Great WSJ editorial on SVB. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-chorus-yellen-treasury-fed-fdic-deposit-limit-dodd-frank-run-cc80761e

😁JPM did the government a favor in 2008 and bought Bear Stearns for $10. JPM was rewarded by paying billions of dollars in fines/legal actions for Bear Stearns pre purchase actions over he next ten years. I seriously doubt any bank will step up and buy these failing banks. There would certainly have to be some major assurances. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/a-decade-after-its-fire-sale-deal-for-bear-a-look-at-what-jp-morgan-got-in-the-bargain.html I'm not an expert on these banks but it seems the assets are held off balance sheet so not marked to market but when there is a run on deposits the banks are forced to sell the bonds at a loss. There was a huge IPO market when rates were near zero. It would be interesting to see what types of bonds were bought by the banks when rates were at zero. Taking significant duration/convexity risk probably isn't wise when you aren't getting any yield to off set the risk. Ironically there is been a massive rally in bonds which should help the losses some. "island reversal anyone" nice call HPD

This article says SIVB was recently recommended by Mr James Cramer of CNBC. https://nypost.com/2023/03/10/cnbcs-jim-cramer-touted-silicon-valley-bank-stock

Two Year Yield 9 day RSI ended yesterday at 87.8 . 2 year high yield in 2006/2007 5.15 - 5.30 Aging https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xaAM23ShVw

Looks like it, little like catching a falling knife. I guess you are thinking a spec position, IMO from an investment prospective the short intermediate part of the curve has a decent risk/reward. S/I funds & etfs offering 5 1/2 - 6% yield with a ~2.75 duration. Over a year if yields (spread's constant) go up 200 bps I break even, base case I get the yield and rates down 200 I get ~11%. Intermediate funds of course perform better in a lower rate environment. The Fed has IMO moved from a proactive to reactive stance so the upcoming data remains very important. The short end of the Treasury curve has already tightened for the Fed. Honestly I'm surprised the stock market has done as well as it has given the surge in short term yields. We were just in SE Florida for a couple weeks, definitely no recession there. Every resort, restaurant and airport were booming. I called for a dinner reservation three days in advance and they said all they had was 3:30. I'm not that old. 🤨 I'm sure you know this but if you use 10 year futures make sure you know the cheapest to deliver. One of my many rookie mistakes.

Japan is wonderful, I'm sure you'll enjoy your trip. The Japanese people are friendly, polite, intelligent and sophisticated. Great timing with the cherry blossoms, should be beautiful. We did the Regent included full day trip to Kyoto (from Ferris wheel location). The excursion was what was advertised but we regretted not getting a full day private tour. One could certainly spend two full days touring Kyoto. We missed many sites but would highly recommend Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion) and Kyoto Imperial Palace. They are both very popular sites so make sure you don't spend all your time buying tickets and waiting in line. Kyoto was the Capital of Japan and left relatively unscathed from WW2. We (allies) firebombed Tokyo in WW2 which did a massive amount of damage so there aren't a great deal of historic tourist locations. The Tokyo Tower is a tourist trap IMO which I would but at the bottom of the list. Please keep us updated on your journey.