twangster

No price adjustments for changes in port fees and taxes has been a policy for many years now. Nothing has changed in this respect.

Headquarter groups or named affinity groups?

It starts to become a factor more often but still not always. A lot depends on the cruises you book, the season, the ship, how far in the future, etc. As you climb higher the discount is more so it starts to become something that may help more often since it is not combinable with every sale or promo.

This is something that app developers often cite as issues they encounter supporting android versus ios. It's not an uncommon problem unfortunately and not just a Royal app issue. For example my Samsung tablet has issues with the Insta360 app I use for my 360 photos. The tablet would be a better device to do the 360 processing and it has expandable memory that would be ideal for the large 360 video files but alas their app isn't compatible with my tablet even when it was new. I am leery of side loading APKs I find on the internet so I carry an iPhone with lots of storage to do my 360 processing. Galaxy Tab A 10.1" 2019 Android 11 Runs the Royal app okay though.

Cabins with the bed by the balcony and sofa closer to the cabin door work best. When the desk is near the balcony and the bed is closer to the cabin door it can be very cramped or impossible trying to get a scooter into the cabin.

It goes both ways. No one complains when port fees and taxes go up but folks are locked in at the lower rates and Royal doesn't force the increase on existing bookings.

Actually since it's a 3rd party and not Royal the refund should be quicker. When Royal is involved refunds can take months.

Verizon also offer days passes for use on land in ports of call. That is different than their cruise ship plans. Talk to Verizon to understand their international day pass options and compare that to cost of Voom plans. Choose whichever suits your budget best.

Disappointing? Absolutely for being teased but hardly screwed by RoyalUp. In the end you got what most people get - no upgrade at no cost (assuming they do in fact refund you).

Samsung has their SmartThings trackers but I have no experience with these. https://www.samsung.com/us/smart-home/smartthings-tracker/tracker/smartthings-tracker-sm-v110azwaatt/ This version appears to be LTE based but that begs the question how do you put it in airplane mode for a flight. Service included for first year, after that it's $5 per month or $50 annually. Battery life of one week but chargeable. AT&T domestic national coverage raises a lot of questions. Way different from Airtag approach.

In my experience Radiance/Vision class has been in the lounge or colony club deck 6 aft. Voyager/Freedom class - Star Lounge or equivalent deck 5 forward unless large event then Theater Quantum class - Two70 - unless large event or Two70 needed for rehearsals then Theater Oasis class - Aqua Theater or Theater

Congrats!

Switching devices is easy. You can elegantly log out the first or use the next device to kick off the previously connected device. As far as coverage like any wifi environment this can vary. Most places have decent wifi coverage but certain cabins can have weak wifi if the access point in the hallway is too far away.

Here are some more Airtags example from a couple of cruises. Spoiler alert - the technology isn't perfect. 1. Delta is pretty good about notifying me when my bag is loaded on the plane but in this example I had just boarded the plane before the cabin door was closed so I was still on cellular. Delta claimed my bag was loaded on the plane about 15 minutes before this. Apple determined both my backpack under the seat in front of me and my luggage in the belly of the plane where both "With Me". 2. I was connecting in Seattle on my way to Vancouver. On my connecting flight I had just boarded moments before they closed the boarding door. Delta again claimed my luggage was loaded on the plane. Once again my backpack and my luggage are shown "with me" approximately where I was sitting on the plane just outside the terminal building. An Airtag in my car back home was 2,594 miles away from Seattle, not shown on this map. My car Airtag was last seen 31 minutes before this so someone with an iPhone walked near my car and it reported my car's airtag location 31 minutes before this. 3. At Canada Place in Vancouver on boarding day having made it through to the waiting area with my backpack with me getting ready to board the ship. My luggage appeared to be on the dock near the ship at this point. The red backpack is with me inside the terminal waiting to board. 4. Fast forward to my Seattle based cruise on boarding day where Apple was convinced my luggage was on a sailboat in the marina near the cruise terminal. 5. Mid cruise while we were in Juneau. My red backpack at the top of the frame is the ship in Juneau where we were when I opened the "Find My" app. My luggage was actually under my bed in the cabin where I always store my empty suitcase during a cruise. For whatever reason Apple reported that my suitcase was last seen the night before just before we entered the Inside passage on our way to Juneau. Despite my luggage being under the bed within mere feet of my backpack (and me) Apple recorded my suitcase's last known position out in the Pacific Ocean 152 miles away around 11pm the night before. I had a paid Voom plan and was frequently going on my balcony to take pictures and such so I don't doubt that is where the ship was at 11pm the night before, it's just curious that in the 15 hours since it never updated the location again despite my iPhone being near my suitcase a number of times since then, including all night long with my iPhone on the nightstand beside the bed as I slept. In summary at times the Airtags work as desired with location tracking being pretty much spot on yet at other times the location data is either just wrong or several hours old. YMMV.

An Apple watch on a ship will leverage the associated iPhone for it's connectivity. If you have a paid Voom internet plan and your phone is logged into Voom the watch will work much like at home. If you don't have a paid Voom internet plan your watch will not be much more than a watch while also notifying any calendar or reminder events your phone has programmed. Not an issue. When I had a cellular watch the cellular didn't support roaming international. It was a domestic add on only so even if the watch wasn't in airplane mode it couldn't roam. I since replaced it with a non-cellular watch because there was very little benefit having a cellular watch for my needs. It wasn't worth $10 a month for me.

You should be fine. If your eBook is already downloaded your Kindle shouldn't need to be connected at all times.

Except for Star Class passengers luggage tags have no different level of service. Photoshop your desired level and no difference. Have fun with it. Welcome to Presidential Level.

The Disney case you cite was foiled when her iPhone notified her that a tracking device unassociated with her account had been near her for a while. Cell phones are themselves tracking devices and cell phone companies routinely sell anonymous data including locations data. If you know where someone lives it doesn't take long for the anonymous part to be no so anonymous and now you can track someone. Our government does this all day long with the "anonymous" location data they buy from all the cell phone companies. if you don't want to be tracked, lose all technology and stop carrying a phone.

Zero. All of my minimum RU bids were rejected the day before the cruise. Another guy with no meaningful status in CAS was also upgraded on a complimentary basis. I met him in the pub where I heard him telling the story of his free upgrade to a balcony.

A couple of weeks ago I sailed Mariner from PCN. I was an interior cabin so I dropped by guest service upon boarding and asked about any upgrade opportunities. "We'll let you know once we set sail". That night GS called and offered me a balcony cabin. It seems the people in this cabin didn't make it on the ship. During the cruise when I visited guest services I noted a dozen or so pieces of luggage behind the counter. GS told me a family involving several cabins didn't make the ship. They dropped off their luggage but were denied boarding for some reason. Maybe a kid tested positive, maybe they didn't know they had to have test results, maybe they had insufficient documentation. GS didn't tell me the reason, just that they did not board the ship after dropping off their luggage. Their luggage went on a cruise without them. So does it happen? Yes it does. How often? Probably more often than is reported by the people who are unable to board for whatever reason. Most people tend to get quiet when they realize it was actually their fault for being denied boarding.

Airtags have no means to communicate directly to the internet and they don't have GPS chips in them. They rely on an iPhone being a host to communicate their position. An iPhone near an Airtag will detect the Airtag and report it's discovery to iCloud if that iPhone passing by has an internet connection. This is done without consent or awareness of the passing iPhone - it's baked into the iPhone OS. iCloud uses the position or GPS fix of the iPhone that detected the Airtag to record the location of the Airtag. If the iPhone has a poor GPS fix iCloud doesn't note that, it assumes the iPhone GPS fix is right. I used Airtags on a Seattle based cruise to Alaska. My luggage appeared to be in a marina next to the Smith Bay cruise terminal. If I didn't know how Airtags work I might have assumed someone stole my luggage and was going through it on a sailboat in the private marina next door. My red backpack was with me in the cabin (a different Airtag in my backpack), the black suitcase Airtag was the location that iCloud recorded for my luggage at this moment. What I suspect happened is that my airtag was detected by an iPhone that was in the pocket of a dock worker. Maybe it was the forklift driver while my luggage was being loaded on the ship. Given the iPhone in the pocket the phone did not have a reliable GPS fix and the phone thought it was next door over at the sailboat marina so that is what that that iPhone reported to the cloud for my Airtag position. Five minutes after this Airtag location was recorded when I checked again my Airtag was reported to be "with me". I went out of my cabin and looked down the hallway and there was my luggage sitting three cabins away.

One time when I was cruising with a minor child without her parents it was like they doing everything they could to find a reason we couldn't board. I had copies of divorce decrees and child custody court documents plus many of other notarized letters and... stuff. More stuff then I think the mother was eager for me to have copies of. Every time they tried "... and you need this.." it was like they were disappointed when I produced it. We ended up sailing when they gave up but I completely understand your feelings as you were going through it. PS - you may need that re-issued PR birth certificate to that passport renewed.

Many countries have cabotage laws that apply to foreign carriers so it might not be as easy as one would think. There can be weird regulations that are not always obvious in play but that all depends. Cruises go into international water 12 miles offshore overnight so a new entry the next day still requires they present a passenger manifest for immigration clearance. A neatly sealed manifest one day to the next is easy for immigration to accept. Modifying a passenger manifest mid-cruise raises red flags. Sometimes they have to do that for events like medical evacuations but it still can raise a flag for clearance purposes and its more paperwork for a cruise line. Depending on the circumstances it might seem like it should be easy but that doesn't mean it always is.

Unlike Celebrity you must wait for cabins to be ready, Royal doesn't allow you to drop bags and retrieve cards like Celebrity does.

I'm surprised this is the first you've encountered the Puerto Rico birth certificate issue. The old BC can't be used for an I9 form for example so any employment over the past decade should have raised this issue before now. It's unfortunate this was the first encounter with old PR BC's validity issue. The people working in the terminal are generally from a company called Intercruises. They are a 3rd party that works under contract. Very few actual Royal employees work at a cruise terminal. These folks often work under contract for other cruise lines too. That doesn't excuse them being impolite but I can also understand that these folks working denied boarding cases are probably dealing with a lot of upset and hostile guests who haven't brought valid documentation. They probably deal with a lot of hostility all day long that isn't warranted. Even if you were calm and collected I imagine they get a lot of verbal abuse directed their way that causes them to be direct when dealing with issues like invalid documentation. Unfortunately it does happen. Some people try to use photocopies of BC's or short form versions that are not accepted. Just about every denied boarding situation involves invalid or insufficient documentation. I don't imagine there is any easy way to inform a guest they won't be sailing today. Not a job I'd like to have.