twangster

Right, so will ESPN Caribbean be allowed access to any Thursday games this year? Amazon Prime exists beyond the US so does this exclusivity apply internationally?

Also approaching the one year anniversary of my Odyssey block to be. I sailed Odyssey a few more times in the fall and earned a second block in November. Also waiting for my Wonder block from March. Six to eight weeks turned into six to eight months which is turning into double that again. I trust it will show up eventually. Crazy times with supply chain right now.

I love aft balconies but there can be vibrations with all that power emanating from under the aft. The aft can experience some sensations of motion from all that power pushing the ship. The same sensation can be found flying the rear most aisles on a plane, there can be a "wagging of the tail" in aft cabins. It's not motion from swell in the ocean but more like what you feel riding on a subway train, a subtle side to side effect. I don't find forward to have the same wagging tail sensations from all that power of the propellers. I actually prefer forward locations when not in a fully aft facing balcony but motion from ocean swell doesn't get to me. For the purpose of motion coming from the ocean, low central cabin locations will reduce some ocean motion primarily a forward/aft pitching or porpoising effect. Some people are sensitive to up and down motion and when there is large low period swell that can raise the entire ship up and down. There is no place immune from this effect on a ship as the entire ship is lifting up a few feet and lowering a few feet with low period swell. The primary factor in how it impacts people will be the angle of the swell reaching the ship versus the heading of the ship. Even the largest ships are impacted by low period swell.

In the past streaming services were an alternate for when games didn't play on Royal, or Royal only carried the prime game of the week ignoring teams that aren't prime TV draw. I've streamed games on board using Voom in the past but the new streaming service NFL+ only works on phone and tablets so it can discover your GPS location. Something tells me they'll block a device outside of the US. Other streaming services worked on laptops that don't have GPS chips which is how I've watched games on board before. I suspect this is going to get harder with NFL+. It's a decent price for an annual subscription right now but it only works on phones and tablets.

Doesn't Amazon have a lock on Thursday games? Maybe I got that wrong but I thought some service or another has the rights to Thursdays.

It never hurts to ask. One phone agent might not allow it, another might. Have your alternate future date already picked just in case they say yes when you call.

The NFL has launched its own streaming service in 2022 while their contract with DTV is expiring. Consequently it's a whole new game (streaming versus what Royal will be able to pick up). I'd be careful making projections or assumptions from years past now that the NFL is promoting its own streaming service. Time will tell.

This is just the nature of android devices, particularly low end or cheap android devices. The Galaxy Tab "Lite" devices are low end devices. $129 at Costco. The problem is the processor or memory may not be compatible with all apps. My Galaxy Tab A was a little more but still not a full blown tablet. My 10.1 galaxy Tab was $199. It runs the Royal app (despite being listed as not compatible) but there are many apps my Samsung S22U will run that I can't load on my Galaxy Tab A. The Galaxy S series of tablets tend to be more expensive and they tend to run more apps but still no guarantee they can run every app that a full blown device can run. This is exactly the problem with android. A device manufacturer can build a device using a myriad of components and it will run android but that doesn't mean every app created by a developer can run on every android device. An equally cheap tablet from another manufacturer might use a different processor compared to a Galaxy "Lite" tablet and that cheapo device might run the Royal app just fine. The problem is you don't known until you try to load it.

Reports my Galaxy Tab A as being incompatible yet it's running on my Galaxy Tab A. Ironically the latest Royal app update required I agree to the Royal app terms of service but when I agreed it sent me in a loop asking me to agree to the terms of service again. After several loops I declined the terms of service and it launched the app and presented me with my next cruise. Gotta love anrdoid and the royal app...

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.