The prices RCI charges may have little to do with costs - they will charge whatever folks are willing to pay, which recently seems to much more than pre-COVID.
I have a feeling RCI would be paying a lot more than that. Also if you saw the pic of the install on Freedom, they have at least 10 antennae installed, so that is no simple business solution.
This is where things went off the rails - moving to a new category (to accommodate more guests in a cabin) or adding a person to an existing cabin should have been very simple. When things don't seem right, either get some feedback here or call back.
Many ships having 50+% first time cruisers was routine pre COVID - I guess this is getting back to normal. Also, Alaska runs don't usually attract many repeat cruisers.
The friends and family flier was updated a couple of weeks ago - it seems to have gotten much shorter:
Microsoft Word - 13032574_Travel_Agent_Friends_Family_Rates.docx (rccl.com)