ilikeanswers

That is really the main point. If the OP doesn't see value in the travel agent then perhaps either find another travel agent or start booking direct. Personally I have yet to find one of these amazing travel agents that offer anything better than what I find myself or go above and beyond to service me. My experiences have been either exasperating or disappointing.

I'm always curious why people with severe sea sickness chose to cruise. I see threads pop up all the time asking what drugs to take to alleviate sea sickness and I wonder is a trip really worth being drugged up to survive it? I suppose it is not that different to having to take Malaria tablets at some destinations, though personally I wouldn't be repeating that trip again and again😂.

I suppose that would assume what the cruise ship crew tell the authorities is the reason for wanting to disembark the passenger. They may choose to leave out the part about the drugs and only tell them it was because of his behaviour towards other passengers.

Out of curiosity if a ship wants to disembark a passenger would they need permission from the country they want to send the passenger to? I would assume the country would want some proof that said passenger can realistically make their way home in a timely manner from their forced disembarkation point🤔?

If there are cameras something must have been wrong with them because the OP was asked to ID the perpetrator from a selection of photos. The OP even said the first selection of photos were of black and Asian men when they specified it was a white man. If there was video then the staff should not have made that mistake🤷‍♀️.

That is lucky. The last place I knew that made that pie closed down. As such is life🤷‍♀️. Fancy pie last night butcher made chicken and tarragon. Ver nice flaky pastry and really nice succulent chicken. Definitely one to buy again. Tomorrow trying the lamb ragu pie.

Sadly Vietnam will have less junk soon: Vietnam's popular sailing junks face extinction

The residents definitely said the businesses are owned by the cruise companies subsidiary corporations. I know cruise companies can contract local operators to work for them but the residents were complaining that cruise companies let those contracts end and replaced them with their own businesses providing the same services. Maybe the 80% was an exaggeration on the person interviewed then again if you could keep all the profits instead of sharing what corporation would ever want to contract a local business?

Unfortunately that does seem to happen in tourist hot spots. I remember an article years ago of central Amsterdam residents complaining about having to travel to the outer suburbs to get their grocery shopping because all the local shops had been replaced by souvenir shops. Maybe local councils in places like that need to consider quotas on tourist stores so there can be space for businesses that cater to local needs. The only reason I had focused on the cruise owned businesses is because I had seen a couple of days ago a news piece of one of the Alaskan ports (can't remember the name and having never travelled there I am not familiar with the area) where the residents complained that 80% of the tourist business was owned by the cruise company and they had effectively pushed out most the local businesses. One of them had said they would be quite happy for those businesses to shut down so the locals could "take back the tourist dollar". Maybe there is a conversation to be had about whether cruise companies should be allowed to run on shore businesses🤔.

In case it is not Iceland I'd guess Tel Aviv?

From what I read a lot of locals seem to complain about local stores being replaced with cruise company owned businesses so they might actually be pleased with those businesses shutting down😂.

To me travel blogs in general have gone down in quality. I remember reading blogs that recounted experiences good, bad and the mundane while giving real practical advice. There was one blog years ago that helped me navigate the border crossing between Belize and Guatemala. The bloggers photographed all the buildings you needed to find to get all the documents. Sure it wasn't pretty but it was useful. Now everything is Instagram perfect photos that look like screensaver shots with gushing descriptions of destinations but light on details about transportation, tickets, times or how to visit or just any advice to make your travel easier. IMO travel blogs seem to have turned into nothing but pretty advertising.

It would be nice if cruise (and I would also add airlines to this pet peeve) websites clearly listed all the additional payments. One of the things I hate is having to do a mock booking just to discover the additional payments. A simple drop down box with all the listed prices of add ons displayed on the selection page would make working out the total cost of a cruise or flight much less tedious.

You should check if there is not a refund due to medical reasons clause. My mum's flights were suppose to be non refundable but I did a little digging in the terms and conditions and found you could be eligible for a refund if the reason for not travelling is medical. So we gave it a go sending mum's discharge papers through their enquiry box and it worked she got refunded. It was a pleasant surprise to an otherwise horrible situation.

I really feel for you as my mum had similar situation with her trip. She was suppose to be in Greece right now but a week before flying out a cyclist hit her breaking a bone in her foot. Doctors say it might be up to six months before it is back to normal. Sadly it is the second time she has had to cancel her Greece trip, the first because of the Covid pandemic☹️. It really sucks to have to cancel a long awaited trip. Hopefully you can retry for your trip when you recover. Good luck and heal well🫂

Hawaii is an archipelago state so I would assume based on my experience with island countries the airport was built with the goal for islanders and goods to be able to get on and off the islands. I am sure there is always hope for tourism when building an airport but I think it would be a heck of a gamble to build an airport to try and attract tourists. If you build it they will come only works in the movies😂.

I think you misread my comment. I clearly said tourism is an incidental benefit so I never said tourists do not use airports but airports are not built for tourists the way cruise ship ports are. The main purpose of airports is to connect locals to wider communities and networks. It is why so many airports around the world are in debt and usually heavily subsidised by governments because they view isolation as having worst consequences than the debt of an airport. Obviously if a place becomes touristy resulting in more people using an airport it can lead to expansion of the airport because of tourists but airports don't get commissioned for the sole purpose of tourists.

Checked his profile page, last post was 26/8. Lyle got the honour of his last post.

I think the whole issue with cruises is part of the issue of mass tourism in general. Even the article which focuses on pollution states the locals only saw it as a problem when the number of cruise ships visibly increased. With countries like India and China and their growing middle class you have even more people with means wanting to travel overseas so visitor numbers are only going to increase. Unfortunately people's holiday time isn't increasing so you end up with more day trippers than overnighters. At some point there will probably be no choice but to have daily visitor quotas.

I would say the main difference is airports and train stations serve the locals as functional transport. They are not built for tourists, tourism is an incidental benefit. Cruise ports would mainly serve tourists like hotels serve tourists and local authorities rarely pay for hotel builds.

What sad news. His contributions were wonderful. Especially during Covid I loved reading his stories of him and Maxie😔. RIP @GUT2407

That is odd. There should not be a paywall🤔. Maybe I linked it wrong? Second attempt though I suppose it is old news now 😂: Sydney couple stuck on luxury cruise ship as COVID cases reported

Interview with people on board: Sydney couple stuck on luxury cruise ship as COVID cases reported Sounds like they are in good spirits.

I don't know if I am "spoiled" but I do miss expedition cruises being expeditiony😝. Over time they have become more luxurified which obviously means the price goes up accordingly on top of which I don't real care for all those luxury trappings. I love the itineraries but I would be happy with a more simplified ship experience. Unfortunately that is the down side of change when you become the target market minority there will be less products that cater to what you want. And I think that might be the core difference when it comes to CC. Most people on this site are prolific cruises who have experienced many cruises over many years so they have a lot to compare with while the reality is most cruisers only cruise a few times in their whole lives so they don't see the changes the way CC cruisers do and are more accepting of the changes than those who remember how it use to be.

Last month I had a business call me asking why I still haven't cashed their cheque. I was so confused as I didn't even know I was getting this refund and obviously hadn't received this cheque which according to their records had been sent in January😯. I asked if they could just EFT the amount and they said "no we are only allowed to send cheques". Have to admit I didn't think cheques still existed😂.