May 2, 2019 – at Sea
Today the sea was very rough, it was raining and it was cold. The gym had the usual number of people in it. Terri predicts that it will be packed after our last stop as people try to lose all of the weight they have gained from the non-stop eating. We have 8 sea days across the Atlantic. What do you think? Will it be packed?
We did spend some money in the European Union and would like to get our VAT back. I asked Ian a week back when I was leaving the ship and he said check upstairs with the EXC (excursions) desk. I checked with them today and they had no idea what I was talking about. Niran made a call and kept saying UK instead of EU. He didn’t know what the EU was or what a VAT was. We left.
Later on, when I was less frustrated, I went to the front desk and asked about the VAT refund. The desk attendant said she had no information on that yet.
There are times where a customs officials will come on board, check your items, and give a refund provided you have the receipts and paperwork. Other times it happens at the port station.
I pressed her for more and she went in the back to check (with whom, I don’t know). She came back out and said Ireland is not in the EU so there is no way to get the VAT refund. Huh? We are making two stops in the UK. I know that Brexit hasn’t happened yet. We have three stops in Ireland. Was there an Irexit that I don’t know about? If we were flying out of the EU, it would happen right at the airport. The VAT forms we have will be sent by mail but we must have a stamp from a customs official verifying that the merchandise has left the country. This is supposed to happen at our last stop in the EU. More to follow….
We are starting to think about packing and shipping. The ship stewards will pick up anything we want and take it to a luggage storage facility off of the ship. When we leave the ship we go get all of our luggage and boxes and go through customs. After customs, we take the boxes and luggage we want shipped home to fedex and the rest we take with us to the airport.
Just 4 of us at team trivia today. Atomic number of Tin? 1024 GB = ? The young boy’s name in the Jungle Book?
We had lunch with Brian and Sandy. They have already put a deposit on another cruise. We are going back to what we did prior to this cruise. We will alternate years planning a vacation. I am up next year.
We had dinner in the main dining room and sat next to a couple that wanted to share how many cruises they have been on (about 40) and how nothing is like it used to be. Everything was better back when they started cruising in the early 90s. They just boarded in Amsterdam and will ride back to Ft. Lauderdale.
The entertainment was a trio of dancers called the Tap Chaps. They are from Dublin and put on a good show. The stage floor really wasn’t the best surface for tapping but they made it work. They sang a few numbers but their strength was really the dance. They called on three people from the audience and tried to teach them a routine. If the people could remember their own names I would have been impressed. No chance they could remember any moves they were taught. Hilarious.
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