DirtyDawg

I love it when some folks around here offer parenting advice. Of course, the listening to the 'loudest' ones' advice is like listening to the Captain of the Concordia's advice about how to steer a cruise ship! 🛳️ 💥 😁

When did X hire P.T. Barnum to do their pricing strategy? "There's a sucker born every minute" 😁 (Attributed to P. T. Barnum)

WOW! Kindergarteners. Just WOW! You deserve a medal for trying that. Or a straightjacket. 😇

Au contraire mon ami, those cruise ship art auctions are great places to hidden hidden gems by some of the Greats. 🖼️ And the prices are way better that those rip off auction houses in New York, London or Paris. I mean you can't spend a grand in those places and get an original by Masters of the art world like Wally Picasso, Candy Monet, Jimmy Pollock or the Master of all Masters, Denis the Menace Rembrandt. I ❤️ cruise ship art auctions!

I once tried my hand at herding cats too. 😁

And if the OP does not have any envelopes at home they can buy some from Amazon. Just look under the horse and buggy section right next to the 8 tracks and the platform shoes. 😉

It's unfair that you didn't get the joke. 😁

Hop down to Miami, stake out the corporate offices and when Micheal Bayley steps out to go to lunch slip him a fiver. Hey, 💲 talks! And while you're at it slip him another fin to get the best seats in the house for Cats on your next cruise! 😻

The rate on the BOC website was 1.31 this morning which I assume is the wholesale rate (for BIG purchases) so probably 1 or 2 cents above that for the best retail anywhere. Those poor banks, either Canadian or Italian have to make their spread to keep the pasta on the table. 😉

My bank is charging 1.3555 CDN for 1 Euro this morning so 1,000 Euros would cost me $1,355.50CDN. I find https://continentalcurrency.ca/ has better rates but not by a huge amount. So if Continental was changing, let's say 1.3255, 3 pennies less, 1,000 Euros would only cost me $1325.50, so I'd save $30 bucks on buying 1 thousand Euros. For me, not's not even worth the drive to Continental if it wasn't at a mall that I pass by on a regular basis. And quite frankly, a European trip and cruise which would likely be costing me at least $10,000 CDN saving $30 bucks is a rounding error. And this is all based on buying 1,000 Euros. Now if I needed 10,000 Euros for walking around money it would be a different story.

🤫 Did I tell you what a lousy golfer I am? 😉

We always eat breakfast in the dinning room in order to meet other people as dinning has change over the years. We are not looking to make new friends but I like meeting new people with different experiences and different perspectives. I prefer to meet new people more than Mrs. Dawg does. Neither one of us is right liking to meet new people or not wanting to meet as many new people. There is no right or wrong. On land if I can't get together with my golfing buddies for a game I will go out as a single and join up with strangers for a round. I get as much of a kick out of meeting the new golfers than I do playing my round. Of course meeting new people any time is a crap shoot. Sometimes you will meet some really boorish/ignorant people but more often than not I/we have met really interesting people.

We have too. The darn things have 9 lives to beat, beat, beat, beat, ..... 😁

THX. 😀

I'm stuck in my Econ/finance mode today so it's all GDP,TVM, TSFA, FOREX,ROA, ROE etc. Setting two midterms all day. What's UWC?

How much do you have tied up in deposits with this company for the 10 cruises? If I'm not mistaken if this thing goes Chapter 11 customer deposits are just another unsecured creditor ranking behind the secured creditors. Any U.S. consumer law lawyers out their want to chime in.

There is a 52 week low thread over on the Celebrity board too. I have copied one of my posts below. I was in the investment business for over 30 years as and analyst and portfolio manager. Companies' like Royal have never met my definition of an 'investment'. At best they are speculations. Too leveraged, both operationally and financially. I never would risk my clients' money with these types of companies. If I would not buy these type of companies for my clients I would never buy them for my personal account. I'm retired now from the industry and I'm teaching at University (Hey, you have to do something fun in your retirement!). So I was free to purchase RCL shares in March 2020. I made money with my speculation but I could have done the same by going to the local casino and betting at the roulette table, probability with less risk too. Today, RCL's financial position is far worse than it was in March 2020. For me, to even speculate with this stock now, I'd have to do a detailed credit analysis of the company to determine the probability that this Company might go bankrupt over any reasonable holding period. With the sharp decline in the prices of other true 'investments' which have similar upsides, the risk reward is not currently very attractive for even a speculation on RCL stock in my opinion.

It sounds like we have similar lost bag coverage. Years ago on a family vacation in Florida I brought my golf clubs down with me. When we arrived in Florida the golf bag was there but not my checked -in luggage which had my golf shoes and most of my clothing - but all my golf clothing. The checked-in bag did not show up at all that day so early the next morning, prior to my round I went to the pro shop and re-equipped myself. Of course, this pro shop only carried the best in shoes, hats, golf pants, shirts etc. I looked like Payne Steward out on the course that day! Of course I still played like Happy Gilmore..... 🏌️‍♂️ 😁

The current airline travel and baggage situation absolutely is a reminder of the risks in arriving the day of embarkation (we done it several times over the years but not today). But it is also reminder to try to avoid checking any baggage if at all possible. We did an Caribbean AI last winter with only carry-on's and it was hugely liberating. There is so much stuff we used to travel with that, it turned out, was totally unnecessary. Now, I highly doubt you could do just carry-ons for an Alaska cruise but i'm certainly going to give it a try when we go next.

We can discuss which type of investment account people should use for their 'play' money over drinks on a cruise at some point in the future. My point was about risk vs reward. There was a great deal of risk with RCL stock in 2020 and there is even more today.

I was in the investment business for over 30 years as and analyst and portfolio manager. Companies' like Royal have never met my definition of an 'investment'. At best they are speculations. Too leveraged, both operationally and financially. I never would risk my clients' money with these types of companies. If I would not buy these type of companies for my clients I would never buy them for my personal account. I'm retired now from the industry and I'm teaching at University (Hey, you have to do something fun in your retirement!). So I was free to purchase RCL shares in March 2020. I made money with my speculation but I could have done the same by going to the local casino and betting at the roulette table, probability with less risk too. Today, RCL's financial position is far worse than it was in March 2020. For me, to even speculate with this stock now, I'd have to do a detailed credit analysis of the company to determine the probability that this Company might go bankrupt over any reasonable holding period. With the sharp decline in the prices of other true 'investments' which have similar upsides, the risk reward is not currently very attractive for even a speculation on RCL stock in my opinion.

“The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” — Philip Fisher

I have tonnes of Canadian Loonies and Toonies around the house. Yippie, I'll tip with them. No need to go to the bank and they are very pretty! I also have some Cuban currency. Hmmm?

In Ontario (Canada) we test wastewater and the scientists use that data to estimate Covid infection rates. Our current rate is 12.7% of the population has Covid. This is increasing due to the newest variant which is highly contagious. I can't comment on the methodology or the accuracy of the calculations as I'm not an Epidemiologist and I don't play one on the internet. But that's the number Public Health Ontario is publishing. So I suspect that theoretically cruise lines could measure their ships' positivity rate using a similar methodology . But, of course, why would they? It serves no commercial purpose. I can't imagine a Royal advertising campaign touting a 5% positivity rate (or whatever it was) vs. Carnival's 10%, for example. Or "Rise to the Vacation" being replace with "No rise in our Covid Numbers". Until you test, it's all a guess.

Frankly, I'm a huge believer in adding all educators to the list of professionals who get tips more often. There's a little bit of tipping already in grade schools with students bringing an apple for their teacher but why not students bringing in an Apple MacBook Pro for their incredible, wonderful, g.o.a.t. Economics/Finance Professor. 😁