mike123abc

Newer ships tend to have better placement of the wifi access points around the ship to give good signal in most locations. Older ships you may have to hunt down a place with good wifi if you do not have it in your cabin (some cabins are too far from the nearest AP and have poor reception). Do not expect it to work well in crowds on any ship since the local AP gets overloaded (promenade, theater when full, etc).

You can also just pay your bill in cash before the end of the cruise and your CC will not be charged. There will be a bunch of holds on it for each day's charges, but they will go away a few days after the cruise.

We had a cruise with a party of 15 that they accomodated.

It is like airline pricing. The fewer rooms left the higher the price. It is by category, which can lead to the odd situation you see sometimes where a balcony costs more than a JR suite. Other categories may have gone down in price if they are not selling well. I like to book early, if the price goes down the TA can usually get a price adjustment.

I use WiFi calling a lot on ship. I will also turn off cellular data and connect to the ship cellular regularly since I find that there are some texts (and voice mails) that will for some reason not come through unless on the ship/shore cellular. There is no charge to receive texts. Then I will turn off cellular (i.e. airplane mode) to do replies. My theory is that if the WiFi drops out when the text/voicemail comes in, it will not try again and you have to be on a cell system to get it. WiFi drops out a lot in crowded areas like the Promenade at night or in shows.

On my Allure sailing last month with the UDP, I was told I could have either the 1/2 or full for my large plates. I got the full and was not charged extra.

It is hard to compare RCL with NCL pricing on drink packages and wifi. A la carte RCL is less expensive on both, but NCL has the bundled "Free at Sea". The drink package is not really free on NCL since you have to pay the gratuities for the "free" package based on the a la carte price. NCL gives minutes of wifi not an unlimited package unless you pay an upcharge to convert it. The conversion price is less than the RCL price, so some savings, but not as much as it seems if you want unlimited. You have to compare the fares for the itineraries for RCL you have to add in the cost of the drink package and wifi, plus whatever allowances for shore excursions and specialty dining. With NCL you have to add in the drink package gratuities and the cost of converting the WiFi minutes to an unlimited cruise package. I find some cruises are less with RCL and some with NCL. If you are not a drinker, RCL probably wins most price comparisons. Especially once you hit 80 nights and start getting 4 free drinks a day, many will not need a drink package then, just buying a la carte any extras.

I was in a Sky loft last fall on Quantum, it did not come with a Genie. When the ship first launched it did have Genie service (if you read the press release). They later changed it not to have a Genie.

If people cancel/no show on boarding day Royal Up can happen on boarding day. When the ship is fully checked in and all Royal Ups are done they usually send out an email saying your Royal Up was unsuccessful.

Unfortunately not, you will have to pay for a regular cabin with booking a suite (unless over 340 C&A nights where you get the solo traveler discount).

Starlink as a world wide service probably will not be ready until next spring. The first group of satellites SpaceX launched requires site of an uplink on land. The current groups they are launching relay the signal satellite to satellite then to land via lasers. But, they are not through launching them yet. At the rate they are going, they should be done launching by the end of the year and a couple of months for the satellites to get to the correct location. By next spring they should have world wide coverage. Probably why they say Q1 next year.