Plagiarism is not tolerated around here, but it's OK if we acknowledge upfront that we are blatantly stealing, so here goes: We are blatantly stealing the Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger motif from Comedy Central's "Colbert Report."
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Tip: Carnival Corp. earns a nod for its plan to develop a port facility and cruise destination on Haiti's Tortuga Island. We are aware that so-called "private islands" have their share of finger-wagging critics, and we would even concede that some of the concerns are justified. But these enclaves remain popular with cruisers, and in the case of developing destinations such as Haiti, they can be an immediate economic stimulus and an important stepping stone to future investment. Haiti welcomes this project, and so do we.
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Tip: Amadeus and Hickory have found each other, and it looks like a good match. Hickory's hotel program has been a valued asset to the organization over the years, and opening it up to Amadeus subscribers sounds like an effective way to ensure its future. Judging from the initial agent response, reported by Hickory to be enthusiastic, this could be one of those win-win-win deals.
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Wag: The Transportation Department seems to be dragging its heels to avoid making a decision on the long-pending application of Norwegian Air Shuttle to reinvent itself as an airline of Ireland. After multiple consultations with the E.U., and an unequivocal statement of support from Ireland, the DOT is still making a show of gathering input. Meanwhile, Norwegian and its supporters claim (convincingly, in our view) that the airline has complied with the relevant Open Skies agreements and should be recognized by the U.S. as an airline of Ireland, despite the opposition of U.S. labor groups.
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Double Tip: To the city of Portland, Ore., and Airbnb, the sharing economy's most talked-about purveyor of private lodging. The city approved measures clarifying the legal status of private rentals, setting some limits and requiring that hosts obtain permits. To head off a confrontation over occupancy taxes, Airbnb previously agreed to pay the municipal tax on behalf of its hosts. We think this is a good example of what government and industry can accomplish together, with a little bit of adult supervision.
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Wag: To Dubai, for proposing the outsized Mall of the World project, a domed city of 1.7 square miles (imagine a square that's 1.3 miles on each side) containing 200 hotels, a shopping mall larger than the Mall of America and other entertainments. Did we mention all of it would be under a glass dome? Dubai deserves all the credit it gets for its bold and brash developments, but this project, which has neither a pricetag nor a deadline, strikes us as a candidate for illustrating the old adage that not everything that can be done ought to be.
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Tip: To Princess Cruises, with a bonus "Why Didn't Somebody Think of This Before" award, for its "Chocolate Journeys" assortment of drinks, desserts and other cacao-based amenities, created in collaboration with chocolatier Norman Love. Sure, water slides and rock walls are cool, but do they really compare with chocolate? To certain members of the cruising public, this is a silly question. And Princess, it would appear, is going after them.