RetiredandTravel

We took a taxi to a restaurant in Tokyo. When we got there the restaurant wasn't on the street it was around the corner. When we got out of the taxi the driver saw that we were confused so he got out of the taxi and walked us to the restaurant.

I just googled it and they aren't yellow cabs in Tokyo (my NY coming out) just cabs. When I googled "yellow cab" its actually a disparaging comment so I wouldn't use the term. Sorry I didn't know that, but the cabs are easy to get and very reliable in our experience.

When we stayed at the Hilton Tokyo there were always plenty of yellow cabs outside (#2). In our experience yellow cabs are very reliable in Tokyo.. You could just call the hotel and I bet they would set it up for you. Sorry I have no specific names. Fun fact: If you go down the escalator at the Hilton Tokyo towards the subway just to the right is a convenience store to get reasonably priced water, beer , wine & snacks. Have fun

Our entry experience in Narita was very efficient and friendly (pre-covid). Not bad at all, less than an hour. Our cruise went from Japan to Korea and back to Japan. We had to do immigration again on the ship in Japan and it was very slow.

Tokyo is very manageable. Depending on how comfortable you feel you can easily do it on your own. Japanese people are wonderful. Not sure of your cruise or past experience but IMO Kyoto should be a prime focus.

Thank you Hubofhockey & John Bull. Invaluable information. Hub we did a cruise to Southern Japan & Korea (Tokyo<>Tokyo on Regent) in 2019. We loved it. Make sure to spend at least a full day in Kyoto and I'd recommend that you splurge for a private tour that day. If you have any other questions on Japan let me know. Thanks again.

My brother was an 19 year old farm boy from a small town that got drafted and sent to Vietnam (Artillery). Just imagine that. Today my brother is fine, loves his grandkids. I love my country but honestly I personally have more problems with how our (US) country handled the Vietnam war than the North Vietnamese. My issue is more out of respect for my brother. If I ask him he'll say he doesn't care but that might not be the truth. I will say I spent the ages of 7-8 praying hard for my brother and watching the horrifying reports on the nightly news that always included with the number dead and injured. If we do go it will be very emotional for me.

thank you hubofhockey. My niece and her husband (Boston) are huge Bruin Fans. Honestly I'm trying to figure this out. My cruise stops in Bangkok (Laem), Ho Chi Ming City, Chang May & Ha Long Bay. I've read that the Bangkok (2 days) and Mo Chi Ming (3 days) are 2 - 2 1/2 hour rides. Not sure about the other two. We will be taking the basic cruise line tours, they are included. I am an aging male and the thought of going 2 1/2 hours w/o a bathroom break is frightening. Also we are going in Feb so would want AC in the bus. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

I used them in little league. Jake Gibbs 34" cracked my second at bat, very upsetting. 65K New Yorkers in a stadium with a bat what could go wrong? Quite orderly vs the Indians 10 cent beer night actually. Enjoy your trip.

Bat Day 1968 (maybe 9). I was right behind on those "obstructions". funny

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65102150

Its really just an evolution of voice recognition like Alexa or Siri. The next level. There are no press 1 or 2. My car recognizes my voice and performs the operations I ask. In the case I mention the programming and ability behind the voice is just more powerful. I'm not saying it will happen tomorrow but the technology is changing quickly.

Looks like a real long term trend line has been broken doesn't it. I started my bond career in the early '80s buying 30 year (non call 10) Munis @ 15-16%.

I could envision a situation where the TAs are replaced by the AI. The AI would have a human voice and be polite, funny and extraordinarily efficient. There would never be a wait, the AI would in seconds know all of your preferences and the entire cruise schedule and pricing. The AI would immediately answer any question you have and follow up. You could call (or chat) back and get instant service on any issue. Think of the productivity gains and labor cost reductions for firms like SS and AMEX. The only problem is where are the humans going to work? ☹️

Do the cruise line excursion buses have AC and is there access to bathrooms on these longer rides in Thailand & Vietnam? ty

We just made flights on our own from NC to Vancouver and back from Anchorage. We have no direct flights so connected (1) on Delta for ~2K for First class tickets. DFW came up on American as a connection so you have direct flights from DFW which is huge especially coming back from Anchorage. Maybe you can get direct first class on American for about $2K?

This op-ed gave me a much better understanding of AI. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-has-finally-become-transformative-humans-scale-language-model-6a67e641?mod=opinion_lead_pos7 "Consider the task of creating an image to use for marketing content or for a movie poster. For companies running their own version of an open-source model like Stable Diffusion, it costs roughly 0.1 cent and takes around one second to generate an image. Hiring a graphic designer or a photographer would cost hundreds of dollars and take hours or days. Even if, for simplicity’s sake, we underestimate the cost at $100 and the time at one hour, generative AI is 1/100,000th the cost and 3,600 times the speed of the human alternative."

My oldest brother was in combat in Vietnam (Tet). I have mixed emotions about going. I certainly don't want to offend my brother but it would be interesting seeing where he was.

Good thinking. We had two hours plus to connect last Dec and barely made it. Chaos.

WE have had several horrendous experiences transfering from the Caribbean through MIA to the US. We always allow a good amount of time.

In the past I have used the Forbes website for travel insurance reviews & comparisons. They do transfer you to sites so I always keep that in mind. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/

In my observation Regent has historically offered air credits (business class from US) close to fair value for Australia & Asia but light in Europe ($2500). It appears they are increasing the credit for Europe up to $4K in 2025/26 (attached). The Regent Asian cruise we are currently considering they are offering $6500 air credit to Singapore (Hong Kong) which is actually more than what is currently available. The $4K European air credit is close to what's available but the $19K tab (Veranda w/o air) for a 10 night Med cruise on the Voyager is eyewatering. People can go on land based vacations to many international cities (Not Paris) stay in top hotels and eat at 1* Michelin restaurants for much less. https://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY260407/summary?source=CruiseSearch

I'm not making excuses just pointing it out. 🙂

I thought Regent hired outside firms for pre & post cruise logistics at the hotels and that those people don't directly work for Regent. Am I wrong ?

My observations have been that on the newer ships Regent Veranda (Superior) Suites are somewhat more expensive than SS. We make our own flight arrangements and take the air credit in both cases. We like Regents itineraries better, SS generally has more sea days, and in the website marketing material it appears to us that Regent has a wider array of included excursions. Itineraries are a big deal to us. In our upcoming SS cruises we have been fine with the excursion selection so maybe SS hasn't listed all the options, they are newer to the game. I look forward to the new SS SALT concept were they serve local cuisine and drinks. All SS rooms have a butler but they charge for specialty restaurants. Lucky to be able to have the choice I guess. SS also gives a free bottle of Dom Perignon (or equivalent) if you book with AMEX-P. nice