bobmacliberty

I read a similar article about a couple on their honeymoon who got in trouble with the police (possibly arrested...I can't recall). Hotels are supposed to tell the police if customers are leaving. Since not doing so can cause serious problems for the hotel, most are complying. They even said that some hotels have one time use room keys. If you leave the room, you have to stop at the front desk to get a new key, and the hotel would alert the authorities.

Something about this photo makes it appear that the water is actually moving and shimmering a bit...probably what it was really like. Maybe I need an ocean fix and my brain is forcing me to see things.

Wouldn't surprise me if this turned out to be true. Hawaii has always managed within a bubble to some extent to protect their ecosystem. They may take the long term view and sacrifice some (very little, relatively speaking??) short term financial benefit by banning cruise ships.

Looks like a good starting plan to me. Will be difficult on the crew who will have a lot of additional cleaning responsibilities. Hopefully, they will be staffed accordingly. Certainly won't stop all infected people from boarding but as you say, might catch a few who are symptomatic. Not perfect but better than nothing. It's about managing risk, not eliminating risk. Other than passing in the hallways, no issues with every cabin on a deck being occupied. Might make it easier on the crew to provide extra protection to fewer decks and definitely reduces crowding in common areas. Maybe those closed decks are used by crew (now one per cabin) and/or for isolation if an outbreak happens. Latest thinking is that surfaces may not be a transmission method for this coronavirus but many, many epidemiologists on the planet previously believed, and communicated frequently, that you can transfer the virus from a surface to your hands and from there to your mouth or nose. Hence, wash your hands and don't touch your face. As far as I've read, that's still not completely ruled out. Manage risk.

I didn't until 5 minutes ago. Looks tasty though.

Two strategies in San Juan. The first is the same as most other ports...get their at 10:30-11:00 and board as early as you can, as noted above. Start your vacation on the ship ASAP. The second strategy is to treat boarding day like a port day. Check out of your hotel, leave your luggage at the hotel, and spend the day doing something (forts, beach, etc.). Pick up your luggage from the hotel and board later in the afternoon. All depends on how you want to spend your time.

How about a friendly wager? If there are no Royal cruises in August, I owe you one dollar. If there ARE Royal cruises in August, you owe me a million dollars. Guaranteed money for you.

I think it has a lot to do with their confusing sales and discounts. I always select the senior option, my US state, and enter my C&A number in the exclusive rates section. If the phone service rep doesn't see the same price that I see online, I've had to work through the details of what he sees until we can get it to match. It's typically that his computer picks a different combination of discounts than the web site. As others have noted, sometimes the phone rep prices are better.

I think that's exactly the 30% number they're quoting. Sailing at 30% capacity covers the variable costs associated with sailing. If they're above the 30% point, they lose less money by sailing than they do parked somewhere. Even if they aren't making a profit, losing less money is better than losing more money.

If it comes to it, this would be great. Really enjoyed this this thread. Thanks for doing it. Copenhagen is now on our list.

Didn't see this until after I made my selection, Since you didn't say from US ports, I chose Aug 20. I think they'll be sailing from somewhere in Asia, or maybe Europe, by then. We'll see.

Good luck getting home!

Agreed. We've stayed there twice, a few years apart. Great experience the first time. Probably won't stay there again after the second time. In addition to worn rooms, check in was a nightmare. Happy hour and breakfast were both a mess with masses of people everywhere and empty plates/cups littered around the lobby. I like the area around the Embassy Suites though for restaurants, drug stores, and liquor stores. It's definitely more expensive and may not meet your requirements, but we really like the area around the beach boulevard.

I'd guess that your cruise will have further price drops and you may get back to the $20K neighborhood. I believe that cruise lines will still need to offer attractive rates through 2021 to build back their customer base.

The point is that the entire column called Stock Awards could end up being worthless. If that entire column was typical stock options, let's assume that Fain received 80,000 options at $110 per share in 2019 (rounding up to a stock award of $8.8M). For every $1 that the stock price goes up (until the options expire or he sells), due in part to his leadership, he gets $80K. Shareholders also benefit, so everyone wins. He didn't actually receive $8.8M in cash or stock that can quickly be converted to cash...he received options (and maybe Restricted Stock Units or similar) that were valued at $8.8M that he can parlay into significant money in the future if the company does well and the stock price goes up. If the stock drops however and stays below $110 per share until the options expire, which would usually be as a result of poor leadership, those $8.8M in options are worthless. His $14M+ in total compensation in reality is more like $5M+. Not sure what's in the $4M in non-equity incentive plan, but it is likely also worth much less since it's an incentive plan. The only truly "fixed" part of his compensation, that is the same no matter what the company does, is worth about $1.3M. As Andrew said, actual compensation is highly variable based on performance. As a shareholder (I don't have any RCL stock), I like the idea of a CEO having incentive based compensation. He/She makes money for themselves by making money for me. Much better than a CEO making boatload of money while the stock price tanks. A salary of $1.3M is not a lot for a $2.4B company.