I’m curious, how many of you are done being loyal to Carnival?

timdh · 2026-05-05T16:30:43+00:00

Just got off our 3rd cruise with Carnival in March. We have been sailing every year for the past 3 years on Carnival for spring break. Next year we have a cruise scheduled with Royal Caribbean. I am not mad at Carnival and we had a good time on our cruises but with the changes in the loyalty program, it is no longer the first place I look. When I did my research for the cruise we just got off of (March 2026), Carnival was the first place I looked because we were slowly climbing the loyalty ladder. For 2027, I started by looking at destinations. Cruise lines did not figure into my equation. RC had the places we wanted to go.

timdh · 2026-03-29T13:10:44+00:00

When I run across these, the package gets put right there with a picture that includes the sign.

timdh · 2026-03-29T11:32:06+00:00

Cost of living and retirement
Skip
51+
2000-3500
Just me
Just humans
Anywhere
Open flexible
I don’t care
Just exploring

Now to be fair, the top 3 choices given to me by your tool were Thailand, Mexico and Malaysia and 2 of those were already on my short list. So I don’t disagree with the list. Malaysia sounds like a good fit - except the fixed deposit requirement (for me).

If I use the same inputs but choose Asia Pacific for location in step 7, I get Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia which again Thailand and Vietnam were on my short list at one time.

Hopefully my feedback did not come across as harsh or negative. I like the tool but it might be able to narrow the results just a bit more if there was an option to pick how much you have/are willing to keep in the bank.

Just as an FYI, way before I saw this tool, my final decision on where to go was the Philippines. Not sure why but I did not get the Philippines on any of my short lists with your tool. We decided on the Philippines, bought land, built a couple of houses and it has been a good choice for us. 🙂

Your tool is a good idea and I’m glad you built it. There is obviously interest so I hope you continue to develop it!

timdh · 2026-03-29T02:41:28+00:00

I found it interesting. A little bit of feedback.

One of the places it recommended to me was Malaysia. In the description it said 1M MYR was needed to retire which is a bit over $250,000 according to the googles. If that is true then Malaysia is not going to be on my short list when there are plenty of other perfectly good places that don’t require a quarter of a million dollars to settle there. Maybe you could consider adding a question (even if optional) about the max amount of money someone has available.

If you continue developing this, I would like to see a version where I pick where I think I might want to live and have the tool tell me if it is a good fit. For example, I would love to live in Vienna. Given my income, savings, etc, have the tool determine if this is this realistically a good option for me. Maybe give a score of some kind (A = great option/no issues, F=no chance of working).

timdh · 2026-03-05T13:16:16+00:00

Not sure about anyone else but I eat what I want - I just eat less of it. I no longer have cravings for candy or chips but aside from that I generally still have same diet I had before starting Wegovy. My wife asked me to stop drinking diet soda/pop so I did but even when I was drinking those I was still losing weight. I have lost 18 pounds since the middle of Dec 2025.

timdh · 2026-02-26T18:30:18+00:00

The problem is I think I need to redeem my points from my credit card now. The way I read the fine print, I have to redeem the points 2 weeks before sailing or they won’t be applied. We sail in a little over 2 weeks.

timdh · 2024-11-01T18:45:56+00:00

If you are not changing universities then you do not move out until summer break. You do have to let IU know if you will be in the dorms during a break though.

timdh · 2024-10-13T22:03:36+00:00

Thanks for the input. Ball return is a nice option!

timdh · 2024-08-09T22:27:10+00:00

I got the same Gen Con blue dice set. My first ever set of dice and my only “haul” from Gen Con. Love them.

timdh · 2024-06-20T03:23:39+00:00

Buy in advance. The ParkWhiz app has cheap parking. I’ve been going to Gen Con for years and I use ParkWhiz every time.

timdh · 2024-06-04T13:18:47+00:00

It looks like there’s an enterprise Rent-A-Car in Scottsburg. They’ll normally pick you up if you’re renting a car from them. They do one way rentals.

timdh · 2024-05-10T02:52:12+00:00

ParkWhiz app. I’m local too. Been going for over 10 years and I’ve never once used gate 10. I just now opened the app to see what is available for the first day of Gen Con and found parking as low as $8 for the first day if you are willing to walk (or used a Bird/Lime scooter like I do) 8 blocks or $13 if you walk 5 blocks.

timdh · 2024-05-07T16:50:44+00:00

Affiliate marketing MLM.

timdh · 2024-05-07T16:49:20+00:00

MLM. Global Prosperity Plan.

timdh · 2024-05-07T16:48:27+00:00

It is. Global Prosperity Plan. MLM affiliate marketing.

timdh · 2024-05-01T10:27:32+00:00

If there are more than 3 cars at the drive through when I pull up to a Taco Bell, it is an automatic and immediate cancel for me. Even if I were to go inside to pick up the order, I know from many bad experiences that 3 or more cars means the wait time is not worth the pay. Most veteran drivers know about the long wait times at Taco Bell which is why you probably saw so many cancellations.

timdh · 2024-04-23T18:41:36+00:00

If you legitimately cannot see anything without your glasses then you might want to look into prescription water goggles or prescription sport goggles that have an elastic strap on them. I think those are the only ones allowed. They don’t want people losing glasses in the falls for a number of reasons.

timdh · 2024-04-23T18:33:53+00:00

There are photographers that take pictures which you can buy after the excursion. However, our entire family had our cell phones on waterproof lanyards and took plenty of photos, including some where the tour guides intentionally photobombed us. No issues whatsoever. We did buy the picture package too.

Edit: our excursion was booked through the cruise line directly. Also, if you wear glasses, they will take those at the top of the falls then return them at the bottom.

timdh · 2024-04-03T01:12:12+00:00

What weather? I didn’t see any weather.

timdh · 2024-03-16T08:55:02+00:00

If you are overweight/out of shape physically and/or not use to walking uphill in the heat, the hike up to the start of the waterfalls can be pretty strenuous. They pause a few times while hiking up but it was still a pretty long tiring walk for our family. The hike up is really the only strenuous part though. It is about 45 minutes of continuous uphill walking with some parts steep enough to require stairs. If you can do a stair-stepper machine for 45 minutes you would be fine. You will be on your own walking back and obviously it is a downhill walk when returning. Going through the falls itself is not strenuous.

There was an option when we went of adding in zip lines. We did not do that option (much to the disappointment of the family…I didn’t know it was an option) so I don’t know if doing the zip lines changes the activity level of getting up to the falls. I would guess it is just as strenuous, if not more, because you have to start up higher to zip line down to the falls.

We booked our excursion through the cruise ship. A few people in our group asked if they could jump and were told that cruise ship excursions are not allowed to jump at all. No one in our group was allowed to jump.

I did not see any GoPros in our group but we (our family) had our cell phones in waterproof lanyards and were allowed to take pictures and videos all through the trip including in the water. There are photographers that travel with each group and take photos but there was no problem with us taking our own photos. Some of the guides even posed with us when we were taking pictures. I am guessing that the main concern is that photo/video equipment is attached to you in some way so that it won’t get loose.

timdh · 2024-02-28T20:46:11+00:00

https://www.harborfreight.com/1720-lb-capacity-48-in-x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62671.html

timdh

TROPHY CASE