RobInMN

13 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The original question was, "Why are drones not allowed to be brought aboard?" The answer is that they do not comply with Marine Radio Regulations. The OP then accepted that they can't be used onboard, but questioned why they can't be brought onboard to be used ashore.

 

It is the same requirements for Ham Radios, which also can't be brought aboard to be used off the ship. If they don't comply with Marine Radio Reg, they can't be brought aboard, regardless if they are on or off.

Except that this is not a statement that is true across the board.

If you look at my response in post #2. Royal Caribbean allows you to bring drones onboard the ship for use in ports, with this note:

"Guests assume full responsibility for understanding all local authority rules related to drone usage and for obtaining any required permissions for drone operations. Different countries may have different rules. Any liability, including environmental damage from drone usage, is the guest’s responsibility. Royal Caribbean assumes no liability for guest drones that may be confiscated by local authorities for violating local laws or for any accident or injury resulting from a guest drone flight."

Also, per Royal Caribbean, you can not use them on board the ship, nor can you use them on their private ports.

The Royal Caribbean Group has essentially the same policy for Celebrity as well.

10 hours ago, LHARTWICK said:

The ban also mentions multi-plug outlets.  Does this include the USB chargers w/multiple ports??  Or do we even know?  Wish they would specify.  The new ban will certainly be a challenge especially on the older ships with only one outlet.

This has been mentioned in this thread and others. The wording says "Multi-Plug". USB's are "Ports" (as you correctly called them). The general belief is that that they are fine. That the issue is specifically cords or units that have multiple 110/220 volt "plugs" on them, not low voltage USB ports.

9 hours ago, chfenton said:

Website on laptop 

Ah! yes, that probably doesn't have a GPS either.

9 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

what is recommended for pre/post cruise add ons?  2 days Lucerne & 2 days Zurich?  Will the same guide be with us the whole time?

The link @Daisi put in post #3.

EUROPE

7-Night Cruise

Ship’s Crew: The entire amount will be divided equally amongst all crew members. Recommendation: 100 Euros per 7-night cruise, per guest. (AmaMagna 120 Euros per 7-night cruise, per guest)

Cruise Manager: Your Cruise Manager is not part of the ship’s crew and is the AmaWaterways representative who also accompanies you on any pre- and/or post-cruise hotel/land extensions you may have booked. Recommendation: 25 Euros per 7-night, per guest; 4 Euros for each additional day, per guest for pre- and post-cruise hotel/land extensions.

Note, while the length of the cruise affects the onboard suggestion, the pre-post doesn't change.

There is an asterisk to what @Host Jazzbeau and @disgirl said. There can be multiple options, and there is also the situation of 14 night vs. B2B 7 nights.

In our case, we did the 14 night Grand Danube. We were lucky in that we had our CD for the entire time. She did our pre, the 14 night GD, as well as the post.

However, since you could book each week separately, there were people after week 1 doing a post and people on week 2 doing a pre. They each had different CDs for those. It could have been possible that our CD could have left with the week 1 post, and week 2 would have been the CD from the week 2 pre.

Also, after our cruise, there were 2 post cruise options. Those doing Brasov and Bucharest kept our CD, but those doing Istanbul got someone else.

In an odd coincidence, our captain and hotel manager changed between weeks. I think they said they were both on a 5 week rotation.

But I think in general, the way it appears to operate (in my very limited experience) is that assuming there is a pre/post option, the same CD will be with you the entire time with the CD on the ship changing every cruise. 

BTW, I have no idea if she does the Rhine, but if you get Radi, she's awesome!

3 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I believe you might need the Voom Surf+Stream package to best do this.  Perhaps others can confirm.

Since RC switched to Starlink, there are no longer levels. There is just Voom.

19 minutes ago, mandyleighflies said:

wondering if anyone has used the onboard wifi for zoom/class/work situations and if it is reliable.  

Pretty sure I've read multiple posts on here where people have had no issue with video calls for work. The only issue would be ship WiFi connections, which being that you are on Utopia should be no issue.

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

But this would be correct?

As I interpret the new wording, yes.

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

If it is can you post the link from Amazon?  I’m having a hard time finding one like this

Just so happens, I have a few of these, here's the link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YDF8GCT

18 minutes ago, chfenton said:

THis past summer on Harmony in gulf of mexico and down to Honduras had no issues with youtube tv so assume it thought I was in the US.

phone/tablet or Fierstick/Roku?

30 minutes ago, HERDFAN said:

I have one of those and have taken it on a few cruise. Never had it confiscated or even questioned. I pack it in my carryon backpack.

Yes. Lots of people have brought many different devices in the past just fine.

This is a brand new change in the last 2-3 days. So any experience prior to this has no relevance on what people will experience now. We will have to wait and get feed back from people boarding from now on.

All we know is what the new wording says now. Nothing with multiple plugs will be allowed, whether it has a cord or not. We'll have to see exactly how it's being interpreted by security and how strictly it's enforced.

We use these. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058EG0KC/

45 minutes ago, keishashadow said:

Question the mr has:  when you one says confiscate…does that mean you can get it back the end of the cruise same place I see steamers etc. when disembarking?

 

You get it back. Some pictures of the "naughty table" stolen from some other threads:

2 hours ago, Kalliamo said:

So, when you're on a Royal Caribbean cruise, the Wi-Fi runs through satellites, so your IP might look like it's from the U.S., but sometimes it could be from somewhere else. It's kinda random. To avoid issues, just download your fave shows beforehand in case your streaming apps don’t work or have less stuff because of the IP. It's better to have backups than deal with bad Wi-Fi and geo-blocking!

Oh, and not all streaming services are great for international stuff. Netflix is cool for downloads, but if you wanna know more about which ones are best, check this article: https://cashyeah.com/blog/what-are-the-best-streaming-services

Or use a VPN. Not all streaming services allow you to download content to your device for offline playback.

Geo-blocking by using your devices GPS (YoutubeTV does this), is one reason to use a Firestick (or Roku?) that doesn't have a GPS 🙂 All though, someone else mentioned a GPS spoofer. I haven't looked into that.

Here's the thread for discussions related to the Allure Amplification:

6 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Smaller older Ships, after they started adding the Freestyle Machines they were not going to spend the money add them later. Think there was also something to do with trouble/cost stocking the Machines on Ships back then for the Ships went overseas from US part of the year. This was while back. Also wasn't that long ago a New Ship might be sold off or spun off to another Cruise Line in 15-20yrs like previous Class Ships were

It's a strange mix on the ones that don't.

3 of the 4 Vision class have it, The oldest of the fleet. Vision is the only one not on the list, and while the class namesake, it's technically the newest.

Only the last Radiance class has it, Jewel. Brilliance and Serenade were built after 2 Voyager class ships that do have it

Only the first Voyager class doesn't have it. Voyager.

The middle Freedom class doesn't have it (Liberty), the other 2 do. And weren't these were all built after they started doing Freestyle?

Of the Quantum Class, only Spectrum doesn't have it. Now I believe that was built for the China market, so maybe that's why, but then again, so was Wonder. So....??

You didn't say which ship you are on, but not all ships have the Coke Freeestyle machines. I have no idea why, makes no sense to me. On ships without them, you have to just have the cup filled at the bars. Or, just just leave it in your room, as indicated, the bar will just give you a glass of soda.

Since you are in Australia, Taking a guess that your 14 night cruise is in the Australia & New Zealand area. If so, it looks like Quantum & Ovation have them, but Voyager does not.

Ship list:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-coca-cola-freestyle-machines

• Adventure of the Seas
• Allure of the Seas
• Anthem of the Seas
• Enchantment of the Seas
• Explorer of the Seas
• Freedom of the Seas
• Grandeur of the Seas
• Harmony of the Seas
• Icon of the Seas
• Independence of the Seas
• Jewel of the Seas
• Mariner of the Seas
• Navigator of the Seas
• Oasis of the Seas
• Odyssey of the Seas®
• Ovation of the Seas
• Quantum of the Seas
• Rhapsody of the Seas
• Symphony of the Seas
• Utopia of the Seas
• Wonder of the Seas

And then there's the AmaMagna cabins.... 🙂 

We got upgraded to an SA. It was amazing!

2 hours ago, chfenton said:

I think the OP is referring to a different type of shoreside Genie which I believe is new.  This is one that reaches out before hand to handle various requests like your onboard would do.  The ones that meet you once you arrive at curise terminal are referred to as the Pier Genies (or at least that is what our onboard called them).

Ah! you're right. I just looked at my email from our Genie, and he referred to "Terminal Genies". (close enough) 🙂 

"Shoreside" could very well be something different.

3 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Because.

Oh! He's Centerfield

1 minute ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Third base!

Why?

6 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

What is the name of the guy on second?

I don't know

Plus a tub. My wife much prefers the tub over the shower tube for shaving.

2 hours ago, Ken at the beach said:

I would assume that they are going to put the Mason Jar in the same place that they put Portside BBQ on Oasis. 

 

Ah! I've never been on Oasis, so didn't realize that's where it was. Sounds logical to me.

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

We have AT&T as our cell phone carrier.  We purchase the ship’s WiFi pkg…..turn on airplane mode…..turn on WiFi calling and then use our phone for calls and text just like we were at home.

 

we have been doing this for about 10yrs.  In fact it was an AT&T rep that told us how to do it…

In the last few years, we've converted over to using RCS rather than the older SMS texting. However, in our experience, regular SMS texting seems to work much better than RCS on cruise ships (an internationally).  RCS chats will sometimes convert to SMS screwing things up and if they stay as RCS, the delivery can be very delayed (even by days).

We have switched to using WhatsApp exclusively when traveling outside of the country. Both between ourselves as well as with those back home. WhatsApp is also how some friends of ours who are retired and traveling all over the world a month to 3 at a time are keeping in contact with people.

We have had zero issues with WhatsApp no matter where we have travelled. It seems to be the most widespread and stable communications platform.

Also, if you are in Star class, your Genie will want to use WhatsApp to communicate with you. 

We've only done Star class once. Fall '23 on Allure out of Galveston. We got the initial "survey" 3-4 weeks out, and then we got an email from our Genie about a week out. All interaction was with our actual Genie (Jay, he was so awesome!). We were never contacted by a Shoreside Genie, nor was there any mention of trying to. Out Genie had very detailed directions of exactly what to do on arrival, which mentioned where to meet the shoreside Genie. Once she confirmed who we were and gave our bags to a dedicated porter, she just escorted us right up to the suite lounge flying through security and bypassing any line. Jay then met us there in like 5-10 minutes.

In our one and only experience, the SSG was really nothing more than a crew of special guest services people dedicated to getting Start class from the curb to the lounge where the met their actual Genie.

I suppose different ports, and maybe different ships can have different experiences

2 hours ago, alfaeric said:

This is a good idea, but one thing I would suggest is to look at your devices to see if they can already run off of 220.  Every single USB charger we have can run 220, so I just need a cheap Euro-US plug converter without any transformer in it.   Like that really cool 7 USB plug you posted can run off of 240V.  So you only need a cheap converter like this- https://www.amazon.com/Lenink-Fireproof-Portable-European-Converter/dp/B0D9BH5QKQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2C1Y9JP57EYUY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.J0L_EgkZtV09mYzKtwhhwisX9X1j1tEHO5PArGQZshf4XxVRbCElyoihIXTopYJLKJY7SEAMTqY6fdmKPmhLobi3TUWRxCac55ElgRBFtgWilZnm9Bnyr6lkq0SragcAXfmhlaMX02wUgvOlOL6Afp5bcyadN-horpe6Y4jEnRu-ytWA2uvU9yxFKNzKFWxrLcDYThaVCUGtjxac2mv3G6wvJKkktdj0v6Lf50jbJifhLdovYn1ZrWO1CExVs9Ir-o-IL4kftbVADf1ftzo7KJGyin_Zh7bPaoC1s4C5fY4.Jwpu8JV-Q6-BtXvCdMaXdXuaIhYPArQUDzKyaqqX-ik&dib_tag=se&keywords=us+to+europe+plug+adapter&qid=1726175748&s=electronics&sprefix=us+to+eur%2Celectronics%2C111&sr=1-4

 

Somehow, I've managed to collect a bunch of those over the years....  

Yes, that is a good point. You always need to check the the thing you are plugging in. Any charger type device that converts to USB power will be dual voltage (at least I have yet to run across one that is not). Some hair dryers are, but not many.

The ones you posted are essentially just like the round plugs I posted (first picture/link).

The second picture/link is also just an adaptor, it just has a couple USB ports on it also.

Both of these are just adaptors (no voltage conversion - other than the USB ports).

32 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Yes they show college games in Playmaker’s. However, RCI does not carry the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX). These networks broadcast a lot of college games that are not shown on ships. When I was on Utopia last week they literally did not show one college game I had any interest in watching. 

Not to mention that some games are carried on conference channels that the also don't carry, like The Big Ten Network. ACC and SEC have their own, not sure about others. I think it was a Freedom cruise a few years ago, the only games on were on the 3 ESPN channels and ABC (both Disney). This did include the "SEC on ESPN" channel. I assume this is the SEC conference channel, and only available since it's part of ESPN. So 5 games total at a time out of up to 10 or 12 that are on at any given time. Any they had no ability to change to any other channel. So even if I was the only person in the venue, they could not turn it to the game I was interested in. So I watched it on my phone.