Charles4515

I am underwhelmed. You have not been to every cruise port. Bermuda has three ports.There are customs offices in Hamilton and St. George. (plus at the airport) There is not a customs office at the Royal Naval Dockyard. Sometimes there is a customs officer in the cruise terminals that will stamp passports and cruise passengers have been able to get it stamped there. It is worth asking for it there but it is not a given. The official locations for passport stamps are Hamilton, St. George, and the airport.

You can do a taxi tour 1-4 passengers for $50 an hour. Three hour minimum. The Tuk Tuk is $75 an hour 1-4 passengers 2 hour minimum. If you have 5-7 you can split a taxi tour for $70 an hour. The $75 an hour sounds okay to me but I would probably pick the taxi tour because I would be spoiled for AC.

Most cigars sold as Cuban in the Caribbean are counterfeit. So I advise sticking to La Casa Del Habano. They have stores in Oranjestad and Willemstand.

La Casa Del Habano in Aruba and Curaçao are official Cuban franchise stores. Those would have authentic Cuban Cigars.

The public ferry to St. George is not running. The public ferry to Hamilton is running.

As they have not been replenishing stock it seems like they are phasing out carrying Apple products. They have had plenty of time since the restart to restock if they intended to continue.

For 1-4 it would be about $80. For 5-7 about $100. Taking the ferry to Hamilton then a taxi would be about $40 for 1-4. While the buses have not been reliable in recent years there are 4 bus routes to St. George so I don’t think that will much of problem unless the bus drivers have one of their notorious work actions.

Even though it may not seem like it there are always some changes evey year.

Mickey's closed because of hurricane damage. It was supposed to reopen with a new concept this summer but it hasn't yet. Seabreeze is the restaurant that is open. They reopened in the spring.

I solved the problem by buying performence and technical clothing for cruises. Brands like Prana and Kuhl pants. Unpack them and the wrinkles disappear. T Shirts are Eddie Baur 60/40 belnd. I buy 60/40 polos too. Hang them and they unwrinkle. I like the stuff so much that I now wear them at home too. Never need to iron.

Elbow Beach Resort is closed so there are no day passes at the hotel. Their part of the beach has been closed off. There has been a food truck at the public part of Elbow Beach this summer with rental chairs but not sure if it will be open after labour day.

Really? That is surprising. In the US we were instructed that our amateur radio license was only valid in the US and its territorial waters and only on certain frequencies. The only way we could use our radio outside the US and territorial waters was with permision. I know that if I want to use it on a ships I need the Captains permission. I find it hard to believe your Canadian licensing did not cover that.

They never bothered me. I got a chuckle out of hearing all the failed or misunderstood communications.

The US does have a travel authorization that charges a fee. Possibly where Bermuda got the idea.

If I had a radio in my carry on bag the security scanning the bag is not going to know what type of radio. They are looking for firearms or alcohol. In over 60 cruises they have never gone inside my bag as I don’t give them reason too. I could have had my ham radio in the bag but I never packed it because I always read the prohibited items. Ham radios I know are prohibited on most cruise lines. I have seen scanner radios prohibited.

Possibly those were crew members who didn’t understand what you were doing or what type of radio. You probably didn’t ask because you knew the answer would be no. I have seen prohibitions on radios like you describe on many cruise line prohibited lists.

It does not amaze me. The have pushed the Park West scammers for years.

IPhones 6 or later will do WiFi calling. It would have to be really old, an iPhone 5S or earlier not to do it. That phone came out in 2013. I would be surprised if anyone still uses an iPhone 5S or earlier. I did WiFi calling on my iPhone 6 on AT&T and have done WiFi calling on every iPhone after.

Hidden Gems does their cliff jumping at Tom Moores Jungle. (Blue Hole Park) It was once published years ago that only that tour company was supposed to do cliff jumping there to protect the reserve, not on your own, but I don't know if that is still the case. You can definitely cliff jump on your own at Admiralty House Park. It is near Hamilton and a popular cliff jumping location. Never done myself it but have watched.

The $200 was the monthly fee and the $200 added fee was also monthly. That HOA is still under the control of the developer, they are still building out. I expect with the amenities offered and the size, it is quite large with a pool, lake, parkland etc. It won't be self managed. A large HOA can also hire their own management employees instead of a management company. I prefer that over a mnagement company that has their own interests, as you say not their own money. Both the Maryland condo and Texas condo have that form of self management. Too big for the residents to do the work. Both have staffed management offices with the HOA doing the hiring and firing.

I know they have something like that here in Texas. I looked at one development that had stand alone houses, small yard that the owner maintained, the outside and inside owners responsibility. It had a clubhouse and pool. HOA covered the roads and pool. Plus they had an over 55 section with a higher HOA fee where they did the landscaping, an over 55 clubhouse/pool with activities, and fitness center. Because of the weather in Texas planned devlopments will have a pool. I would have had to wait a year and a half for the house and while the basic price looked okay almost everyone including myself would want upgrade add ons like premium appliances, hardwood floors, etc. There are lot of these planned developments in Texas and there always new ones. There is a huge amount of ranch land always becoming avaiIable not yet developed. I don't know how those HOA's are governed but the HOA fees were a lot less than condo fees. The over 55 had a $200 added fee. My sister and her husband found a house, no HOA but that was not the reason they bought it, they liked the house and neighborhood. Forty people bid on the house and they won, cash is king over financing. Two years ago that house would have sold for 30% less but with Californians etc. moving to Texas demand skyrocketed. Housing is no longer cheap here.

It is absurd but in Maryland it is state law that 60% of ownersin condo assoc. have to agree to a bylaw change. Unless you pass a bylaw making it less than 60%. It used to be 66% but that was modifed a few years ago and apathetic non voters would still be like a no. It took years of lobbying to get the 67% number lowered by the state legislature. plus Maryand is a compact and the counties have their own powers and regulations........so they can overide some of the original bylaws by county law. Budgets and the like only require board approval but the board has to send the budget out for comment.I don't know about non condo HOA's in Maryland, they might have a different requirement Here in Texas it is 67% for condos from what I can tell for a bylaw change. Texas seems very much like Maryland but I could be wrong, I knew Maryland condo law backwords and forwords but I have only skimmed the Texas laws as i have not been here long. Every state has laws governing HOA's. They are pretty similiar in every state but also there are differences in every state.

I am surprised you had to sell. I never saw a policy requiring a bylaw change, a supermajority of votes pass unless the current owners were grandfathered. Was it a very small HOA? Since bylaws changes are based on ownership on the rolls those who don't bother to vote are the same as a no. It is very difficult to get a bylaw change.. In 2008 I sold my mothers condo. It took a little longer than we would have liked but we only dropped the price $5000 from asking price. But it was a very nice newer condo and they had a pool and clubhouse.

What you are saying is the you did not care if they are legal and you ddi mot care if they might interfere with frequencies used for crew functions. You made sure you were not noticed so you could eavesdrop on interesting conversations........😱 OP would be better off as others have suggested with the attendent having a phone with a Wifi package for reliable communication than walkie talkies.

No one has to buy a condo, townhouse or property that has an HOA. There are advantages and disadvantages to owning a home, a condo, townhouse or renting. As far as HOA’s dictating, the HOA board is elected by the owners. Don’t like their policies then elect them out. Transient people from Airbnb rentals is in the the single family house neighborhoods without HOA’s that have no rules. Party houses disrupting the neighborhood. To each their own, I don’t want a picket fence. I like to walk to the supermarket, restaurants and museums. Our amenities are somewhat like being on a cruise all the time, concierge, pool, spa pool, cabanas, fitness center. Taking care of a yard is not for me now. Here I can age in place. I can lock and leave when I travel. My choices for my lifestyle were buying a condo, or renting. Since I was able to pay cash and not have a mortgage the condo was a better choice. In that regard I also find that hotels are generally a better choice for me than Airbnb when I travel. The Airbnbs I did were generally a pain in some way or another and you could find they were not as advertised. So I don’t do them anymore if a good hotel is available.