Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo485
Why all the talk about bonds and currency exchanges when it is so easy to get a refundable ticket?? Paid for in your very own currency even!
If you have a good relationship with your travel agent, they will even issue you a ticket without charging you. Too easy.
Atoll's MCO looks pretty good, too.
The issues about bonds are irrelevant since it is the least attractive option for a 2013 yachtie.
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Not so easy, for some. Ya I agree that bond
posting is a pain in the arse. As are the
fees charged for staying in the
Cook Islands, or that you must pay to stay at the marina in
Samoa. However the French have their way of extracting their pound of flesh as well. Bonding whoever they can. Cost of entering their bit of captured heaven.
As to the refundable airfare
route, for us not as easy as it seemed. As an eu citizen I was home free so no problems, my Thai wife well somewhat different.
So she needs a visa. Must buy
health insurance for the time in French poly. Must have money in bank, must have air ticket home. Be careful about the refundable airfare bit. Most tickets ran to about $2400 for a ticket to Bangkok. However on page ten of the small print their was the cancelation fee. The best deal for us was a fee of $1700!
The only other option was
buying a first class ticket for $9000!! The puddle jumpers seems the best way to go, however they have had some problems with boats doing the dirty.
Is cruising free? No. Is it
cheap? Rarely. Are the peoples of the small nations in "paradise" unaware of selling their assets to us " rich whites" in our exotic white plastic palaces? Less so every year. It is a pain, but the reality of the world is that the have nots want what we have got. Is that not how our capitalistic world works? Just hope that I am not priced out of the market just yet.