Dotting I's and Crossing T's.

  Just for fun, I decided to price out a repositioning cruise on NCL to start in a month from the time this entry is made public. Although I have no interest in taking this particular cruise, it illustrates the irrationality of some prices available to the potential cruiser. You'll note that all prices are for solo cruisers.  I have sailed (or will have sailed) in every category save for the Studio, the Spa, and the Haven.  If pricing for this cruise was completely rational, the Studio cabin wouldn't be priced as high as it is.  From what I can tell, it is a smaller version of an inside cabin with access to a "Studio Only" travel area.  (Singles can mix here.)  So, why is it priced more than the Inside cabin, the Oceanview cabin, and a Balcony cabin.  It costs almost as much as the Club Balcony Suite.  If I were taking this particular cruise, I'd spend the extra $124 and get almost 3 times the room to spread out AND have a balcony of my own. Once one decides to go

    No, the winter hasn't been getting in the way of things.  It's been the pandemic.  When one has nothing to do all day, it's easy to do nothing.  In many ways, it feels like the snow has locked all of us inside for the winter, save for the fact that there is no snow on the ground. - - - - - - It's been a long while since I've been to Provincetown. And I'd love to have the legitimate reason to be there on a day like this, when I could see one of my favorite places filled only with locals.  No, I don't want to get stuck there in bad weather.  Instead, I simply want to see the town as only locals see it - without any of the tourists around. There are so many places I'd like to visit without tourists.  If I were an Italian, I might be able to see Venice without the tourist invasions which befoul the city. Supposedly, due to the pandemic reducing commercial activities, the waters in that city are becoming cleaner and less reminiscent of a cesspool.  In the

Sometimes, prices go up when planning a cruise.  When I first started tracking the price of a 15 day Hawaii cruise out of San Francisco, princess.com supplied the following price for an inside cabin on cruise leaving in early November:  Base Fare          -  $1844 (includes $922 single supplement) Port Fees/Taxes -      241  Gratuities           -      225 ---------------------------------- Simple Cruise      - $2310 In the middle of November, the same site quoted me the following for a similar cruise leaving on January 27th: Base Fare          - $2180 (includes $1090 single supplement) Port Fees/Taxes -     241  Gratuities           -     225 --------------------------------- Simple Cruise    - $2646 (an increase of $336) For fun, I decided to examine prices that Princess could get for flights bringing me into San Francisco the night before the cruise, and leave late in the day that the cruise returns to port.  (I'd take an earlier flight if I couldn't conn

On a solo cruise I took last year, I found out about this cruise from a woman who planned to take it in 2020.  However, her mother needed eye surgery.  And in Canada, you take the dates you can get for non-essential surgery.  This means that she won't be on this cruise. But I may still go on it. When I first ran the numbers this summer, I figured that I should budget at least $4,000 for the trip, broken down as follows: Base Fare          - $2298 (includes $1149 single supplement) Port Fees/Taxes -     543 Gratuities           -     315 --------------------------------- Simple Cruise    - $3360   Trip to NYC Pier -       60  from Seattle Pier -     40 --------------------------------- Simple land cost  -    100 Airfare (SEA-JFK) -   250 Trip JFK to Home    -  60 --------------------------------- Minimum Cost    - $3870 Of course, things aren't always what they seem.  I decided to see what the current price for the cruise was listed for on vacationstogo.com ,

I have been salivating, considering breaking open my 401k a little to take this cruise.  If my balance breaks a certain level and stays there for a while, I may just withdraw enough cash to pay for this cruise (and the taxes on the withdrawal itself) to take this once in a lifetime cruise. - - - - - - So far, the people in my life are encouraging me to take this cruise.  I'd be away from home over 3 weeks, as I'd want to do some sightseeing in Seattle before going home.  Doing incomplete research (JetBlue prices for the return trip aren't posted yet), I figure that I should budget at least $4,000 for the trip, broken down as follows: Base Fare          - $2298 (includes $1149 single supplement) Port Fees/Taxes -     543 Gratuities           -     315 ----------------------------- Simple Cruise    - $3360   Trip to NYC Pier -     60  from Seattle Pier -     40 ------------------------------ Simple land cost  -    100 Airfare (SEA-JFK) - 250 Trip JFK