Charles4515

Glad to hear you got it. That was fast! 😀

We rented a car and drove from London to Edinburgh and took the train back to London. Loved the Lake District. Loved Scotland and Edinburgh. Made two mistakes. Renting the car in central London. Should have rented at the airport. Had to get used to driving on the left side in heavy city traffic. The other was parking in a car park in one town that closed at 8:00 PM. Did not read the sign. Fortunately there was a phone number and they were nice enough to send someone to let us take the car out.

Well I love visiting British Isles but on the ground either on the roadways or railways. A cruise, no way.

No one said that they don't like it that some countries require passports. It does seem like that some here are angry that some countries don't require passports and don't have a specified time beyond the stay and are angry that some cruise passngers cruise without passports. It is a real life fact that many take closed loop cruises without passports and nothing bad happens to them. .

Cruise lines can require passports or six months validity even if the US government or other governments do not. Oceania is one that does. You won't find that to be the case with mainstream cruise lines. Mainstream cruise lines lobbied for the closed loop exception because a large percentage of US citizens don't have passports. For families a passport expense can add up so that could discourage bookings. Their potential customer base. Possibly for small niche cruise lines it is simply easier to require passports than check passengers documents other documents or expire dates. The customers of Oceania and other niche lines are also likely to be cruising other than the Caribbean. Also Oceania for example has an older demographic and few children.

I don't know why OP has not gotten the child a passport but that was not the question that was asked. If it were my child they would have a passport. Sometimes it is poor planing and there is a lack of time to get a passport or maybe it is the expense of a five year passport. Whatever reason it.is the parents decision.

I have not given any advice. If advise was asked about whether they should get a passport I would advise that but OP is asking if a young child needs a passport for shore excursions. Of c ourse those who hate that a passport is not needed for a closed loop cruise are going to spread fear and disinformation as they usually do. I will add though that in the unlikely event that the child breaks their leg in six places and needs to fly back to the US, while it would be preferable if the child had a passport they will have time to get an emergency passport for the child. That can take a few hours or a day. Believe it or not hospitals in Mexico and the Bahamas can care for a broken leg so that would not require emergency evacuation.

Tivoli Gardens. It is amazing there at night.

You are reading it right. There are always people on Cruise Critic who read it wrong because they can't stand the closed loop cruise exception for cruises out of the US returning to the US. You will be fine and don't worry about the young child going on excursions. The child does not need a passport for excursions in the Caribbean or Mexico. As has been posted a young child does need to show anything and adults only need to show their photo ID and cabin card.

If you are going on a Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean all you need is a valid unexpired passport.

There is no Uber/Lyft. The taxis are ride share, they are mostly open air vehicles. I always asked them to come back at a prearranged time, actually they usually solicited that and they always did come back. Be sure to leave enough time to catch the ferry back. I always arranged to be back in plenty of time for the ferry so that if I missed one that would give me plenty of time, the next one would still make it back in time. If you post on the St. Thomas/St. John port of call forum here you probably will get more information and more recent and up to date info than I have. Last time I was there was pre-covid.

There are two cruise ship docks in St. Thomas. Crown Bay and Havensight. Havansight is to be preferred in general it is also closer to the Red Hook ferry location. (you will have to take a taxi to Red Hook) So you probably want to prefer a ship that calls at Havensight. Check the port schedule to get an idea. Pre Covid Royal Caribbean and Celebrity were calling at Crown Bay and other lines at Havensight.

Solomon Bay and Honymoon Beach are about a mile away from the visitors center and to me they are walkable, there is a trail but ask at the visitors center. You could also take a taxi to other beaches.

They don't sell cellular products on board because there is no way to activate them at sea.

If you visit the fort be sure to down the stairs and walk around the moat.

Yes, it is in Cruz Bay so if that is a priority OP should probably not take a cruise line excursion. I have taken the ferry four times from Red Hook and once from downtown to Cruz Bay and it worked out fine. We arranged with the taxi drivers to pick us up in time for the return ferries.

The Visitor Center is in Cruz Bay. The two cruise line excursions I have been on one went to Trunk Bay and the other Honeymoon. I don't think we had time at Cruz Bay.The one to Honeymoon was direct so definitly no Cruz Bay on that one. I did do the visitor center and the park four times on my own by taking the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay. Then a taxi to the park from Cruz Bay.

I have a do it yourself kit. First I loosen the wax overnight with drops that soften the wax. Then I stream water with a syringe plunger. The kit is from CVS.. Only one ear gets a lot of wax. To prevent having to have the Doctor's nurse do it I clean my ears every couple of months so it does not get impacted. Seems to do the job well without needing the doctor.

I did my buying and selling real estate settlements online sending and receiving six figure amounts to and from my bank accounts. No problem. Since my new property was in Texas and my old was in Maryland everything was done remotely including all document signing. Tech saved me a lot as I did not have to be at either settlement.

Will take six to eight weeks. https://bernews.com/2022/11/travel-authorisation-refunds-now-underway/?fbclid=IwAR0551mPWNR-0c0z9cQGkCL5oX8Wr4agnG7a8QOggehBeeRqNmxrFbaKQkM

Refunds underway. Will take 6-8 weeks https://bernews.com/2022/11/travel-authorisation-refunds-now-underway/?fbclid=IwAR0551mPWNR-0c0z9cQGkCL5oX8Wr4agnG7a8QOggehBeeRqNmxrFbaKQkM

You are making some assumptions about the future but US companies are moving some production from China. Chips are made in the US already and new plants are being built in the US and Europe. A large one is underway in Arizona to be online in 2024 and this past week another large chip plant was announced for Arizona

When I was working I had no copays for that. My primary care physician did it under our plan. So you need a better plan. On my Medicare plans except for Part D drugs I have no copays.

At your ports all the adults will need will need is photo ID like a driver’s license and your ship card. Your child does not need anything. Your passports won’t be checked. You can leave them in you cabin safe. I always leave them in the safe but that is another discussion. Mexico will only want the adults photo ID and ship card. Same for the Bahamas.

If he is using it for a business he will be taxed. That would be the same with cash sales unless he was a cheat. If he is not then he doesn’t know how to use Venmo.