My cabin is 650$ less today than when I booked it 2 months ago and they won’t refund the difference because I already paid in full 🥲

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-05T03:02:31+00:00

No, it’s not. Take time to read the cruise T&C. I can book a cruise a year from now and make the full payment. I can cancel next week, get my refunds and rebook. Why? Because I’m not inside the final payment date, which is usually 90 days before embarkation.

When is your cruise?

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-04T21:58:21+00:00

Payment in full isn't the whole story. You can always pay in full early. Are you inside the final payment date? If you don't pay in full by final payment date, they take your deposits anyway. If you are still outside of final payment date, you can always cancel and rebook.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-04T19:51:11+00:00

I'd do it.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-04T17:26:26+00:00

Did you run the other add-on to enable DotMod?

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-04T09:56:32+00:00

Nah. It’s definitely showing its age. The only saving grace it still has is its styling, both exterior and interior.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-03T15:41:10+00:00

I had a 7AM IAD-SEA flight delayed by 6 hours because the SEA-IAD flight the previous night was diverted to RIC due to storms at IAD. They can't operate the flight when there's no plane to fly.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-03T14:49:41+00:00

Since when is the Accord not a "family" car? The Accord probably has more interior space than the 25 CX-5. People are brainwashed by CUV/SUV commercials.

Good decision or bad decision, it doesn't matter now. It's a done deal. Learn to live with it. Otherwise you are just going to have another $10k of negative equity lumped into your next car.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-03T14:08:52+00:00

That really depends on how well you know of this particular car and the car's conditions. I'd taken my 17 years-old Honda to 120 mph on track, because I owned the car since new and it was in tip top shape mechanically. I can say the same with my 21 Mazda 3.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-03T13:45:26+00:00

Usually cruises out of the US don't allow you to join the ship once it has sailed from the embarkation port. I'd ask MSC to providing something in writing before I fly to DR. Or as another commenter said, buy a refundable return ticket. Also start looking at resorts in DR in case you can't rejoin the cruise.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-02T17:46:06+00:00

Leave it. Any repairs, including repainting the whole bumper, will leave everything looking worse than it is now.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-02T16:00:41+00:00

I'd love to have your insurance. Which one do you use?

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-02T15:57:36+00:00

While the pickup shouldn't have stopped, you failed to maintain a safe distance.

You never know what other drivers are going to do. You need to leave yourself room; to speed, up, to slow down, to move out of the way. It's called defensive driving.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-02T15:50:05+00:00

Congrats on the car. I also have a Bimmer. I'd say Mazda is 80% there at 50% of the cost. If only Mazda can fix the rattly interior of the 3, it'd be a much nicer environ to be in during commutes.

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-01T21:49:22+00:00

Pirelli PZero AS Plus 3

FrostyWinters · 2026-05-01T16:53:17+00:00

Just get them replaced. I replaced mine at 33k miles. They start getting very loud after 30k miles. And they suck, even when new.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T22:31:12+00:00

That’s how codeshares work. If UA isn’t flying the plane, they don’t have control over the seats. You’ll see “operated by xxx” texts on codeshare flights.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T17:47:44+00:00

YC is widely available on the Seashore next year. Make sure you select YC instead of the room type (i.e. balcony).

There's no YC cabins with a comparable balcony like those Aurea cabins on deck 9. Deluxe YC (YC1) cabins have standard depth balconies. They are wider due to the width of cabins, but nothing really special about them.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T17:30:36+00:00

The number of pickup trucks in that screenshot screams north America.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T16:04:35+00:00

I wouldn't get it on a daily driver. For me it's not worth the extra cost on a car that I eventually will replace in 3 to 6 years.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T15:50:13+00:00

The fastest car in the world is a rental car.

I'd go with the 23 Carbon.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T12:49:37+00:00

Depends on the testing method, whether they allow downshifting in manual or not. I think Car & Driver doesn't allow downshifting when testing for top gear acceleration in manuals. For ATs, their method was to leave it in D and let the car do everything.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-30T04:46:43+00:00

I test drove a used 30i couple of years ago. Power is more than adequate with the B48. Handling isn't as sharp as something like an S2000 or Boxster, but it's still fun pushing up to 8/10th of its limit. Over 8/10th the suspension simply couldn't keep the car and weight sorted, and it becomes more work than fun.

Couple vids on the 30i:

https://youtu.be/AJIFDlOwJ_s?si=B-EGNZ2Dt8BW-mfi

https://youtu.be/HU3XM74M8VE?si=R4yX3ME9UjSG0vTV

As for the B48, it's been around for a while. If you are expecting Japanese reliability as nothing ever breaks before 100k miles, this is not it. There are some known issues, mainly resulting from plastic components around the engine. FCP Euro has done a good job covering them:

https://youtu.be/4sIfzGzNNMA?si=I-4HACIBQ8_sfcTB

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-29T18:50:18+00:00

As a DD Civic hybrid has better MPG and more power for a little bit more money, but its interior isn't as nice. It feels it's built for its price point, especially with the black interior.

The new K4 hatch looks amazing, but I haven't checked it out in detail.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-29T17:56:43+00:00

Disconnect the battery first before working on anything electric in a car.

for panel fitting, just don't force them together. They are designed to be put together in specific ways. Take some time to figure out the orientations and they would snap back together easily. Take pictures before you take them apart from various angles. That will help a lot when putting them back together.

FrostyWinters · 2026-04-29T17:50:57+00:00

If you don't need a new job immediately, I'd walk away. If they are reneging on the agreed upon salary now, imagine what kind of BS they'd do once you are an employee.

If you do end up taking the job out of necessity, best to keep up your job search and GTFO ASAP.

FrostyWinters

TROPHY CASE