hal2008

That marketplace is a eye opening experience for less traveled closed minded among us. THe main building sells mainly made in china stuff. This marketplace has authentic local stuff. Regarding their "style" of doing business is what is commonly practised in the vast majority of the world. If these people sound bit aggressive, please do remember that Haiti is the poorest country in the world and each sale in the marketplace feeds many mouths. I bargain hard and then pay significantly more than agreed upon price. We, in America, try to sell everything from cars to refrigerators using half naked female models and that we do not find aggressive or disgusting but a hard working desperate man pushing his own locally made products bit persuasively, we find it "very aggressive". They blocked you from physically walking away? No, they did not. They just keep repeating their sales pitch. You could have walked away. Why kick their stomach by scaring others in boycotting them?

Thanks for sharing. On a 21+ day cruise in Europe for a US based pax, a normal person would appreciate availability of laundry facility given that ship charges are pretty high.

It might work But T&C is clear that you need to hold it as of the sailing day Now, it is different matter that it is impossible to verify the ownership as of the sailing date using statement or letter from the brokerage as you will be on board For all practical purposes, they stipulate that you do own 100 shares within certain days (statement can be only x months old) but once OBC is given they don't take it back just because you sold off your shares irrespective of what T&C says

Snailmail was a response to other poster who had issues with it. Was suggesting him/her the easier route (without using any hyperbole) BTW, I never use monthly statement (it has too much other information). One liner from brokerage house with absolutely minimum info that RCL needs has been enough. Your "expectations" that all shareholders are listed electronically with RCL is way out of the ballpark. In USA, most securities are held in street name.

RCL may not bother checking as such small OBC is just sort of marketing money for them. But as per T&C, you need to be shareholder of at least 100 shares as of 1. Applying for OBC 2. Date of sailing BOTH They ask for proof of 1. And do not bother with 2 but in theory they can. Also, given volatility in this stock lately, a daily move can easily exceed this small 100 OBC. (so buying one day and selling the next, does not eliminate the risk of losing more than 100 OBC and also it violates T&C) There are smarter ways to hedge and have zero exposure and still get OBC

Strategy doesnt work when stock gaps down (as it did in early 2020 or to lesser degree earlier this year). Basically, you are writing a naked put option with that strategy and agreeing to take associated risk. Much better ways to eliminate stock exposure and still get OBC

Snailmail is inefficient and expensive to process. And with resource shortages everywhere, understandable if RCL is not jumping to give away money especially when they make it so easy online. Instruction "suggest" at least 2-3 weeks before sailing. Doesnt mean you cant do it months in advance. In reality, they have done processing even with 4 days to go before sailing. They just request 2-3 weeks to give them slack.

It is combinable with many other discounts. But not combinable with those specific ones listed in the T&C However, that doesn't mean you can't find deficiency in RCL IT and get away with it (someone upthread mentioned how they were able to get this OBC with casino discount even when T&C clearly states that it can not be)

I am sure you understand the risk you are taking by doing so(for a company that is not that in great financial position) Just think about doing this in Jan 2020. To get any decent premium income, you will have to set strike substantially below your purchase price. Mathematically, covered put is same as selling naked put. There much better (no risk) ways to handle this financially if sole purpose to buy RCL shares is to get 100 OBC.

Are taxis/shared van available again for ride to Hip Street? RCL offers an excursion from Falmouth to Gip Street, Falmouth Margaritaville and Bliss Beach. Has anyone taken it recently?

I am not going to scream by typing in bold but can't stress enough to call ASAP but with plenty of patience. Ridiculousness of 5 year old in different cabin by himself will actually make most agents wanting to rectify. You shudnt have to pay a single penny more than what you originally agreed But be prepared for the following and then continue nudging them for better resolution (remember they are in weak position PR wise for assigning 5 year old alone - an obvious computer glitch) 1. They can give you two interiors (may not even be connected but nearby) 2. They can give you one outside and one inside across the hallway or very closely Of course the desired solution is two connected rooms and while inventory exist, they will do it.

Make sense. Very reasonable tradeoff More agile folks with less luggage may prefer to buy the "small" daypass and take the very comfortable train (not metro) from airport to central station, just walk outside and take the convenient bus (included in ticket from airport) which drops you right outside Marriott Marriot is one of those rare hotels in center of Copenhaggen that is truly air conditioned. Tripadvisor information on most hotels is wrong. Most hotels have air cooling (a ventilation system allowing minor cooling/heating). Even 5 star hotels like Radisson Royal doesn't have true AC. Normally, you don't need AC in Coppenhaggen but lately summer is getting uncomfortable with climate change at least on few days/nights every year.

Silja line ferry ship appears in one of the interesting photo taken by Agnes in Stockholm archipelago. Two ships appear to be perpendicular to each other Coincidentally, my travel mate took almost same photo at same spot few weeks earlier. Archipelago sailing is the real highlight of Stockholm port. Those birthing at Nyanashan are missing out on it

Do you want to get into competition for listing out what you label as "dumb requirements" that US expects from Canadians and other foreigners? These are well publicized rules known in quite advance and cruise lines are just following those policies. Proctored testing with a normal behaving toddler is not as challenging as proctors encountered so far are extremely polite and patient folks. Btw, there is no compulsion to take sailings that involve Canadian port. Much cheaper to stay home glued to that "news" channel.

On a very recent sailing, GS was promptly handing out the printed sheet. Do not know if all ships are doing that at their GS desk or not

That's very strange. On a very recent cruise, I asked GS and they immediately produced a printout showing how tip is broken up. Nice lady even offered up suggestion unsolicited that if you want to redistribute, you will have to reverse the whole pre pay thing with her and then hand over envelopes (like old times) to each category. I think it is just too much hassel. Just easier to give extra to people you want to give extra without taking it away from anyone.

In addition to suggestion by Another_Critic above, most private health insurance plan will cover 8 tests per month per person through prescription part of the coverage. 1. With 3 days given to test, it is easy to do test in comfort of your home/hotel. It is less hassle than overdone TSA screening. 2. If fear of testing positive is forcing people to be careful in the week/10 days before the cruise, then the test requirement is actually doing the job from the public health point of view 3. False positive - Highly unlikely - in fact almost rare - to get false positive with antigen test. And if you indeed believe that you are that rare category of false positive, no one stops you from doing second test. In fact. the biggest uselessness of these tests is that with BA.5, you get false negative easily. Testing will most likely go away soon as Cruise lines dont care much about public health perspective. But until then if people are indeed more careful because they are scared about testing positive then unintentionally, testing requirement is doing its job :))

In absence of any regulations, Cruise lines like any other businesses are run per feedback given by their internal PR/legal/Marketing teams. Trend seems to be towards relaxation and sooner or later that will happen in absence of any unexpected developments.

Why are you surprised? So many countries (at least 2 dozen that I can confirm easily) have that exactly same requirements. Whether right or wrong, the general perception of cruise ship to non cruising public (and hence politicians representing their constituents) is that 1. Cruise ship is petri dish of high concentration of virus (true but it is true for fly, norovirus, step throat, etc., too) 2. Cruise ships bring covid to their community (true only for otherwise well isolated islands) Ridiculous rule? May be But when was the last time you posted about having to take off shoes at TSA for general travelers?

If folks stuck to what they claim (information exchange about current covid policy and known confirmed changes), we would be fine Problem is people love the anonymity tha social media provide and and try to lecture even experts based on twisted truths or outright lies their favorite "news" channel has spam them with. And these people end up violating policy clearly outlined in Red banner at the top on every page.

Are crew members still wearing masks or has that become optional for them? Thanks

At time of your sailing, were the crews still masked or was it optional?

Lol.

Many countries have emigration (USA does not have it, so it confuses many Americans) Four lines for most people at Schiphol (Data points from DL one and sky priority not useful to rest of us) 1. Drop bags (and BP if applicable) 2. Security 3 emigration (also called passport control) 4. To board the plane (this is of course optional. You can always board last after they issue final alert)

Hiking gave you covid?