rallydave

Papa flamingo. Yes not reporting tips is illegal so is being paid in cash under the table that is not reported. Illegal aliens working is also illegal. Lots of illegal doings yet it continues year after year as to losing SS benefits of course that is true but many don’t care don’t know and want the money now and when they need it later they will set up go fund mes and collect from those of us paying all our taxes. You are 100% accurate in saying what people are supposed to do and what they lose after retirement but it does go on year after year and will continue until we go off the current tax structure and go to something like the fair tax that is a fair way to make this cheating as well as the rich using DLL the loop ho look es in the current structure. An easy solution that won’t happen because of lobbuests and the smaller government getting rid of the doubling size of the IRS.

You are correct Flossie. And it saves more than income taxes. Since social security taxes are paid equally by both the employer and employee. Both save by not paying that tax as well. There is a strong paying under the table culture in the US that also reduces taxes paid by millions if not billions.

I researched it as well and found a Gov requirement to ade 2.5% to the bill that is supposed to go to the cooks and kitchen staff. Also have to be careful to make sure the added "tip" is calculated from the before tax line on the bill. Plus since I always check,those restaurants that provide informational amounts to tip and while showing the percentage almost all figure the tip from the total including tax. This does make a difference in all cases and a big difference for locations with high tax rates.

Having travelled the world where bringing the wireless payment machine is the norm for over 10 years and luckily this is becoming more and more used in the US. In all cases have never seen the machine not have a way to add the tip to your credit card payment. You always have the option with the portable machines to add your tip to the bill such that you get the points many of crave for our credit card usage. Always a way to add tyour choice of tip to the bill.

Tips are NEVER compulsory unless there is a notice in the menu or on the table that tips will be included. Otherwise and in MOST cases they are completely optional. And, another thing that bugs me is that the tip percentage keeps going up and up especially as prices have increased due to inflation. The excuse for the increased tip percentage is the inflation so they are double dipping you w8ty increased costs for the item along with increased percentage. So watch what you tip as extremely likely you will never see that person again and also remember tip means to improve performance so moderate the percentage of tip as to hop the person performed so poor performance lowers or eliminates the tip

330 days is correct fo US carriers. Have found many foreign carriers post schedules approx 360 days out. that said assuming you are looking for round trips while your departure flight may be listed the return will not be posted until 330 or 360 days prior to your return. And if uo have domestic connections no matter if the foreign airline flight is posted will have to wait until the domestic flight is posted. Safe travels.

First am glad you are going to look at deviating as you said earlier. Here are IMHO the 4 worst European Airports to transfer in and I have put them in my order of worst to least worst as you maynot be able to avoid all of them. Worst Charles de Gaulle Frankfort Amsterdam Heathrow Only bad if changing airlines.as terminals are quite distant.

Gray Lady, Will try to answer your questions. Likely others who respond may have different answers but, not exactly as you described. By the way in the future with many questions please to try and make multiple sentences for easier reading and responding. Take a look at what you are paying for pre cruise and post cruise packages. Most cruise lines including Regent charge per person which makes your costs much higher. Usually easy to save hundreds of dollars by booking your hotels yourself or thru your TA. As to doable this includes all airports. There are "leagal connection times that the airlines and Regent use. There are times and airports where the "legal connection time is unmakeable because of delays long walks to next gate, having to go thru immigration and then back thru security This can be part of the problems and now even after COVOD many flight changes which at times make making the new flights impossible to mae. If an airline makes you connect they use the "legal" connection times and if your incoming flight is delayed, might not make your connection. Getting to your cruise on time. Simply read the ticket contract and you will see that flights are considered third pary and Regent and other cruise lines are NOT responsible for getting you to your cruise before the ship leaves. That said, Regent has been known to help th passenger however if you miss a connection in the middle of the night in the US, getting help can be problematic so your first choice should always get in touch with your airline and Regent has to do that as well. If you miss the savings technically you are responsible for the costs to get your ship and the next "legal port There are cases such as in the Caribbean and Alaska where if you don't get on the ship at embarkation, yo can't get on later, Regent may be a help or may not depending. Flying from the west coast may mean connections on the each cost of the US or in Europe or depending on the port may be non stop. Yes, they like to satisfy thir customers but, they are also a business that has to make money to stay in business some sometimes the itinerary you get won't be the most direct or shortest time. This is why people deviate to choose their flights and not take whatever Regent gives them approx 75 days before your cruise. Hope this helps.

Of course just like air and concierge and above pre cruise hotel. Proper term is included.

Thanks for the clarification. Guess we can agree to disagree. IMHO tour costs are generally on a per person basis and using your logic tour operators and regent too much or too little depending on passenger load and just like cancelled ports for port fees and taxes which are included gin the fare and not refunded neither are the dollars paid for the nit held tours believe you would agree in those cases pure profit for missed ports for tours port fees and taxes. have a nice day.

While what yo wrote might be accurate for what is paid to the tour operator it is likely applicable to what is included in the cruise fare. While my $150+ may not be accurate for what is included per person for. Sure an amount is included in the fares charged so for those who don’t take the included yours they are paying higher prices than they otherwise would Sane for drinks where propjj look e sho don’t drink are paying more. As to your theory regarding paying on a bus rate vs per person that likely depends on the tour operator snd at best a a mixed bag. comparing Regent fares per day to seabourn also a luxury line even removing air from Regent as seabourn doesn’t include sure the regrnt fares are much higher on a per day basis. YMMV.

Believe you are confused and need to read the Regent Terms and Conditions. Airlines are a third party in legal talk and while Regent does solve airline issues, the T's and C's clearly state that Regent is NOT responsible for issues with third parties booked thru Regent. Have never had issues with making changes to airlines booed by any cruise line once the flights are actually ticketed. While the average traveler has their flights ticketed immediately upon booking and paying, while cruise lines have different relationships and can book but, not ticket or pay for flights until closer to the flights. The possibility that your flights are not ticketed could be why you have to deal thru Regent but, for sure once ticketed and paid you have the same "control" that you woul d have if you bought them yourself.

Never Mind

Y'all need to remember you are paying for those "free" excursions over $150 per person per port that you don't dake. That can add up to thousands of dollars wasted in cruise fare Sure Regent loves customers who don't take the included excursions and that is pure profit and adds to the bottom line.

Agree, how can a credit become a debit you are charged for??? Interested in their explanation.

While your thoughts are mostly correct Flam is a bit different as it is the port where you board the Flam Railway which is the twisties railroad in the world. Thus missing this port eliminates the railroad which is part of all shore excursions as the port is extremely small with only a few tourist stores and the railroad.

Seems like”operational reasons” is the catch phrase many cruise lines use. Believe it is used when they don’t want to tell the actual reason so nobody will know outside the cruise line itself. So you can create any reason and it may or may not be the reason. Believe all Ts & Cs allow changes for any reason without any reason. so speculate to your hearts content and you mail mail the reason but will never know for sure.

This is not a discount program. It is fior booked newbies giving them $250 of OBC Best way to get a discount is to book with a TA who gives a cash rebate. Seabourn does have sales and the TA rebate works there as well. Otherwise you pay the posted cruise price.

In addition to code share issues for $175 pp you can specify the airline and metro you will be flying on. Have read if middle east connections on Qatar and Emirates so 2 long distance non stops. Sometimes an up charge but you don’t pay anything until you agree. could work for you. If you do it do it asap 210 days out to have the best choices.

Had the same question on another cruise line and was told they send a manifest to the hotel and that is about 3 or so months before the cruise. Really doubt any hotel has a specific reservation for any on a block booking like this. Normally if you ask for an early check in before arrival hotels will want you to book the night before or at least pay a partial nites charge. My experience is that I don't ask before and upon arrival more times than not they have a room they will ltt me check into early. YMMV

We did a very similar cruise on another cruise line and did one ship tour on the railroad in Tromso and a couple of others where private guides were unavailable. We did figure out a couple of ports including Hinnigsvaag whee we rented carss and found another couple to share, Honnigsvaag was great as we were able to do in one day what would have been 3 diffeerent ships tours that would have been impossible without doing ourselvs. We did the bird cruise, North Cape and had dinner at a Crab restaurant walking distance from the ship. Probabbly saved over $1000 per couple and did more than anyone else. Even saw Reindeer along the road and on the road being able to stop the car and gt great pics. Everything in Norway is extremely expensive and was unable to find any local guides Took a bit of work but, worked out spectacularly.

We did the cruise on a different cruise line and loved the ports. Did most on our own and rented cars in 2 different ports for enjoyable sightseeing. As to wildlife we saw many Reindeer bot along the road and in the middle of the road while driving up to North Cape.

Insurance is NOT one size fits all. What is good for one person may or may not be good for another. Always recommend you talk to tripinsurancestore.com. Steve and his team just like others posted. Great Group and will get what you specifically need.

I wasn’t going to respond after your previous post but now that you have gone too far in accusing me of making you uncomfortable and not representing Regent. To be blunt you are 100% incorrect in your accusations what I tried unsuccessfully according to you was to explain why the change in when you can deviate to210 days. This change ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT FORCE YOU TO MAKE FINal PAYMENT before you get your confirmed deviated flights. Please try with an open mind what I and others write and you will see the errors of what you have been saying

Not talking about 59 days being the starting point of penalties. From looking at the Regent T's and C's the longest time before embarkation to when penalties begin is 151 days. The new amount of time before embarkation that deviations can be requested is 210 days. Subtracting 150 from 210 is 59 days that you have to get your flights before penalties kick in and you cannot cancel without penalties other than the $200 administrative fee. Yes, shorting the time from 270 to 210 could mean the difference from getting good flights or bad however it has nothing to do with causing a problem getting flights before penalties kick in and penalize you for canceling. And the 151 days is for extended cruises so for shorter cruises you will have more than 59 days to get your flights before penalties.Hope is post explains the booking flights vs penalties and do understand what you are saying about the shortening possibly impacting the getting of flights which could be a problem.