Toofarfromthesea

4 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Of course, the way you look at a 401k has to evolve.  In your 20’s you have to discipline yourself to defer current wants and put anything in;  in your 30’s, 40’s and 50’s you need to think very long term; in your 60’s you have to start thinking “harvest” rather than “planting”.  And, Buffett aside, you DO have to consider selling your stock — so a downturn needs to built into your plans.  That’s why security becomes increasingly important vis a vis growth as you age.  The “years to 100” rule makes sense in equity allocation.  When you are 30 and have 70 years at least 70% should in growth (ie equity), at 85, for example, more than 15% at risk of downturn is reckless.

More importantly, don't get sucked in by the siren of tax deductibility.  Getting a tax deduction is a clever device to keep you from realizing that traditional IRAs and 401Ks are ways to turn what would have been lightly taxed capital gains into fully taxed ordinary income.  In almost all cases giving up the deduction and going with the Roth IRA or 401K is much better in the long run.

7 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, the US taxes all other foreign corporations for their earnings in the US, but IRS Code section 883, exempts shipowners and airlines from this tax, so essentially the cruise lines are already receiving a benefit from the taxpayers that no one else is getting, and has gotten for decades.

Yup.  It is the rule of the hobo jungle.  If you don't put anything into the pot, don't expect to be allowed to take anything out of the pot.  I'm sure the cruiselines and airlines fought bitterly against this provision.  /sarcasm.

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

We only have 2 supermarkets in our town and neither has a pharmacy .

You live on Long Island, one of the most densely populated places in the country.  "Towns" are mostly just lines on a map - they are mostly contiguous to other towns.  It is hard, nigh on impossible, to believe that these things are not in easy reach, even if not specifically in your town.

22 hours ago, gerryuk said:

No, it tells me that cruise lines are shamefully ripping off customers with FCC vouchers. They want their cake and eat it. They are trying to get their customers to accept FCC vouchers when their cruise is cancelled adding on 25%, 50% incentive on top of the paid ticket price. Then they have the audacity to raise cruise fares considerably, meaning their FCC vouchers are not worth the paper they are printed on, its a scam and most people have cottoned on to this rip off. 

Assuming your conspiracy theory is correct, won't the prices be just as much higher for the people who took refunds rather than FCCs?  Which means the FCC people are still ahead, since the increase is taken care of by the FCC premium, whereas the refund people have to go into their own pockets to pay the increase.

I'm not opining on which choice a person should make, but the notion that it is a rip-off or scam makes no sense.

2 hours ago, clo said:

I wonder if there are small humidifiers that one could carry on if it's a particular problem.

 

🙂

Those little nasal spray bottles of saline work pretty well.

On 3/30/2020 at 10:26 PM, sverigecruiser said:

 

That may differ from cruise to cruise. I don't say that you are wrong but we thought that food and service was better on Meraviglia.

I'm sure that is a factor in food.  The Divina cruise was W. Med and the food was more Italian, while Meraviglia was in the Baltic and we didn't really care for the local influences in the menu and lack of some of our favorite dishes from Divina.  But basic execution, i.e. cooking a steak to the requested doneness, was still better on my Divina cruise than my Meraviglia cruise.

8 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

The more one learns of China's "One Road One Belt" policy the more they will be inclined to not support China in any way. Please do some research on this. I understood it generally but had no idea that China invests in struggling countries but demands their previous natural resources and ports as collateral!  Guess who owns the port of Athens? Eyes wide open now!

I think they learned the technique from mob loan sharks.

22 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Just to set the record straight I did not mention any politicians.

Some people just can't help themselves, they have to stick in a political point.

17 hours ago, clo said:

We've flown with them twice previously and really liked them but yes have been aware of their financial status. But they had secured some more money and then this. I don't think they'll make it this time. Sent in my claim and got an acknowledgment so we'll see. If they don't refund and go under I guess we'll join the list of unsecured creditors.

If you paid with a credit card you get the charge reversed.  The unsecured creditors are the ones who paid with debit cards, cash, or check.  Which is why future services should always be paid for with a credit card, financial 'gurus' notwithstanding, IMO.

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

But, in the long run, they are not going to hang onto a long-term money loser. At some point they will decide to cut their losses and get out.  Rich people are not stupid - if they were, they would not keep on being rich —- yes bragging is fun, but really successful people got to be succesful (and stay that way) by keeping their eyes on the ball.

In general that is true but it also depends on HOW they got rich.  And how LONG they have been rich.

28 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Insurance that covers nothing that might happen to you---just wonderful. But thanks for the heads up. Have these changes also been made to policies bought before this crisis? Many of us buy insurance early so as to cover preexisting conditions.

Insurance can only cover known risks.  

46 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

Saw Dr Fauci on video from Mid January in which he said the virus would not be coming here. Apparently some of our politicians were listening to him but are blamed for not taking action. 

And for those who criticize our lack of preparedness, the US was ranked as the best prepared country by Johns Hopkins as recently as last October.

https://www.ghsindex.org/

3 hours ago, mayleeman said:

I think they screwed up Royally, but I won't hold that against them, because they were certainly given horrible and idiotic advice. We won't be cruising, however, until (1) it is either fully eradicated, or easily detected and treated effectively early, and (2) a vaccine is proven effective. But our reason is that we both have health vulnerabilities that make us need about 99.9999% confidence, not because of how they handled it. Most people did precisely what the cruise lines did -- denial to preserve the status quo, followed by "OMG! Who knew?"

That is a completely different issue.  OP was complaining about the speed of refunds, not long-term shipboard issues.  I hope folks are forgiving of customer service lapses everywhere, in view of the dislocations EVERYONE is going through.  As non-essential businesses, employees at cruiselines and travel agencies may not even be allowed to go to work, in some jurisdictions.  Not every company is set up for changing over to work at home.  I was just making a case for forbearance.

19 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

I am not certain if doing significant business in the US would qualify them for chapter 11 reorganization — but I would think that such chapter 11 filing would be a necessary prerequisite before any US assistance/bailout could be considered —- and the present stockholders would be very reluctant to take the loss necessary — how do you think GM and Chrysler stockholders liked their treatment in the past decade - or bank holding company stockholders in the 1980’s?

Or, even worse, their bondholders.

15 hours ago, InDaPast said:

Yes aungrl, I've seen a couple of posts that indicated that, but I thought there were some folks who had problems with them.....let's see if we get further feedback on them.

Sure, let's judge these companies by how they reacted to a situation no one has faced for over 100 years.

And don't shop, in the future, at any supermarket that ran out of toilet paper.

12 hours ago, that_caviar_is_a_garnish said:

 

We are definitely bargain hunters, but want the maximum experience we can afford on what we scrimp together.  

 

I'm a little confused by your statement that there will be may choices- if any.  Those seem like contradictory statements?

Depends on how things play out, with the 2 likeliest outcomes being lots of choices or no choices at all.  No one knows - we are all guessing.

When we discuss government actions it sure would be helpful if folks would identify what country they are from in their profile.  Like in the above message saying "So let's see what measures the government will take to support businesses".  What government?  If US it just takes a little research to see what the government is doing to support business since we just passed a 2 trillion dollar relief bill.  If a different country, then that government may or may be doing anything.  But talking about what non-specific 'government' is doing in a general sense isn't very useful.

15 minutes ago, mnocket said:

https://news.yahoo.com/naval-patrol-boat-takes-cruise-193800409.html

 

Sounds like governmental piracy was thwarted.

1 hour ago, clo said:

Lol. Hopefully everyone can figure out what 'bad word' got auto-deleted.

Rhymes with stick, LOL.

26 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

The reason that some years the flu vaccine has a low protection rate is that they have to guess which flu that they should aim for. With the coronavirus, if they develop a vaccine, they will know exactly what they are trying to prevent.

Until a slight variation emerges next fall.

This is why the antibody tests coming on line are so critical, and potential gamechangers.  If Dr. Fauci is right, they will allow us to identify people who have already had the virus and are now immune and not shedding active viruses.  These people can safely re-enter non-social-distanced society and start getting the economy moving at a better pace without risk to themselves or others.  I hope he is right, as this would allow us to begin partially re-activating the economy. 

A vaccine would be nice, and is still needed, but unless its effectiveness is VASTLY higher than flu vaccines it won't be a panacea.  

3 hours ago, clo said:

But having antibodies can indicate active disease also.

I'll go with Dr. Fauci.

"Having identifiable coronavirus antibodies in your bloodstream also means you've probably built up immunity. In an interview last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he was confident that recovered coronavirus patients would be immune.

Fauci said he'd be "willing to bet anything that people who recover are really protected against reinfection."

That's why identifying people who had the virus and recovered is imperative in the fight against the outbreak — those people could return to work or school safely while others remain isolated."

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-antibody-blood-test-covid-19-2020-3

8 hours ago, Pster55 said:

hmmm....even if the drug is effective and kills fewer than the coronavirus? Personall, this is NOT a statement I would make around someone dying from the virus. You go to war with the weapons you have.....

This illustrates the built in bureaucratic bias against action.  We can measure the number of people who die or are damaged by a drug that turns out bad.  But we can NEVER get a measure of the numbers of people who die or are damaged because drugs that could have saved them are tied up in red tape.  So the bureaucracy can never be blamed for the inaction deaths, which is a very heavy weight on the inaction side of the scale.  A case of ignorance being bliss, for the bureaucracy, and potential tragedy for the afflicted.

And even so, those trials are no panacea.  The active ingredient in the popular acid reflux drug Zantac went through those trials yet was, after years of use, just pulled because it was found to contain a chemical that is a suspected carcinogen.

There are no certainties to life other than the fact that each one of us will eventually die.

16 hours ago, zblair said:

All crew and passengers must present proof of COVID 19 vaccination before boarding ship. Think - no quarantine in cabins, all ports would welcomed us. This is what we are waiting for then we will sail away.

Do you expect the Chinese virus vaccine to be 100% effective?  While this is not the flu, we know a lot more about the flu and that vaccine.

"According to data from the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network on 4,112 children and adults with acute respiratory illness during October 23, 2019–January 25, 2020, the overall estimated effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine for preventing medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection was 45%."

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6907a1.htm

17 hours ago, Odile1 said:

1. We should all calm down

2. Cruise lines will find a balance of enhancing cleaning , regulating buffet , how much it will cost them and still make a profit

3. If I see kids or adults behaving in a manner that is not safe for the rest of the population, it is my responsibility to mention it , either to them or a staff member .

4. Maybe next year the CDC will not disregard that local flu and will include it on the flu vaccine they work on every year

And I hope in the future the  FDA will approve new drugs a faster

5. I wish I was in Sweden

That sounds like a very strange wish, since Sweden has had about 24 deaths per million residents and the US has had about 15 deaths per million residents.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases

Sweden's population is about 10 million and US population is about 325 million.  Do the math.