RobInMN

That may used to be true, and maybe it depends on your phone and/or carrier, but you definitely can create a WiFi Hotspot on your phone even when using WiFi, at least you can with a Samsung Galaxy phone with T-Mobile as your carrier. I did this many times on my phone and my wife's phone on our last cruise. We paid for a 2 Device Voom S&S. My wife had 1 connection on her phone, and I had 1 connection on my phone. I would use my phone's WiFi hotspot to randomly connect my tablet or my laptop. I found this much easier than logging off 1 device and logging on the other. Plus, I could still stream music or podcast on my phone while still being able to use my table to play a game. Similarly, it was easier to connect the Firestick we brought to my wife's phone's hotspot rather than logging out & logging in on the Firestick everytime. After connecting the first time, if we wanted to use the Firestick, we'd just turn on my wife's phone's hot spot, and plug the Firestick in. So, to the OP's question. You definitely don't need to buy per device you will use. You only need to purchase the number of connections you will use at the same time. For us, that's per-person. That way my wife & I can use WiFi to keep in touch on the ship. Whether you logoff/login from device to device, or you use a Hot Spot. For some people, this may be 1 total. BTW, even though it's technically possible, and we did it, I think it might actually violate the Voom T&S. All though, I have not hear of anyone being penalized in anyway for doing it.

I thought Jewel seemed to be in very good shape considering her age. She's still a beautiful ship. She's not perfect, and there's expected wear, but nothing that is overtly obvious and certainly not things that are unexpected. Can't really say I was anywhere and thought "can't believe that's in that bad of shape, they really need to replace that". I am not sure of Jewel's upgrade/refresh history. I don't believe there has been any major changes, but I'd have to believe that typical cosmetic things have been updated, probably more than once, like the carpets and thigs like that. I'm sure that when she was built, she probably had CRT TVs, those are all LCDs now. I know that walking down the hall while room service was being done, that not all the curtains are the same in every room, so those have been changed out as needed. There's some mentions of Jewel in this thread. I think all references to Jewel were positive.

This one?

Pretty sure when we did it on Symphony Summer 2018 it was $109 or $119.

See my post in this thread. It references 2 other threads with information about connecting devices to TVs. But I was able to use my Firestick in Norway, even above the Arctic Circle, the resolution/quality kept degrading, but it was usable.

Adding to answer. B2B this summer was 24 nights. I think City of Dreams was once per cruise. Not a huge production show, but it had back drops, a couple large props, and singing/dancing. Tango Buenos Aires maybe twice per cruise? It's a very talented couple that does the tango. We didn't actually go to as it's not our thing, but did see them when they did short promo samples at a couple other events/shows. Seems to be a long-term residency.

We we did the B2B this summer, performers were getting on & off practically every port, at least every other. The headliners actually had the JS 2 doors down from us. Appeared to be the designated stateroom for whoever it was. Primarily, they were acts that travelled very lightly. If the TA has many consecutive sea days, not sure how they'd handle that. But if you're hitting ports every couple days, I'd imagine they keep the same thing going.

While not dedicated to trading, many trades have been posted in this existing thread:

Even before you can get to your room to get your card, you can use your beverage package. The bartender just has to look it up manually by the room number.

We recently did a 24 night total B2B on Jewel. Granted, it was Arctic Circle followed by Iceland & Ireland, so a little different than a TA. Prior, we also had concerns about whether or not we would become "bored" of the ship. We love the Oasis class, and in the last 10 years or so had only really done Voyager and Oasis class ships. Last fall we did our first Freedom class and last Feb just did Odyssey. 20 or so years ago we did a 3 night on Majesty and would not want to spend even a week on that class. A couple years later we did a 7 night Disney Magic with a bunch of families, and as fun as it was, I was pretty bored with that ship after a week. Anyway, after 24 nights on Jewel, we were not bored in the slightest. We could have keep going. There were no big production shows, but they swapped the headliner nearly every port, and there was a nice variety. I think we had a repeat headliner once, but it was a completely different show. But then again, I can take or leave a big production show like you get on the Oasis class. My wife likes them, but they don't make or break it for her and we certainly don't schedule cruises specifically for them (or against them in the case of Cats - we just won't go to that show). The ship did not really seem dated or lacking in maintenance. There were little things showing wear, but really, in my opinion, still great shape. Over-all, we thought she was still a very beautiful ship, and we would happily go on her again, especially for an itinerary like you have scheduled. Sometimes it's more about the itinerary than the ship. If you're looking for big production shows, you're basically looking at an Oasis class ship, and other than 1 ship in the Western Mediterranean each summer and the TA both ways, they are all in the Caribbean.

Yes, if you look at the link(s) I posted, there are a lot of little "nicety" benefits. Mostly "priority" access to a number of things. Just not really much of anything that I would consider as having real "intrinsic" value like Free WiFi and included DBP & UDP like you get with the Royal Suite Class.

It seems to depend on the ship. On Jewel, we could just switch it. This is the first, and so far only, time I've tried to use the Firestick. I've read other threads that say that on newer ships, like you indicate, the remote either doesn't have an input button or that it is locked out. I'd have to search and find the instructions, but I think it involves, turning off the TV, disconnecting the network cable, then turning the TV back on. Without begin connected to the network, it will no longer boot automatically to the ship menu locking you out. I am not sure if it will automatically detect the HDMI Input or if you can then use the Input button to switch. The other thing I have seen mentioned (and I brought one, but did not need to use it), is to bring a universal remote. I believe I read that the difference on which method you can use depends on whether or not you can view your bill via the TV. If traveling internationally, you may want a VPN service installed. Especially for any streaming service where you can get local channels (YTTV or Hulu+Live)

Oasis class and Quantum class ships have the "Royal Suite Class" Rooms: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-rooms-are-included-in-the-royal-suite-class Benefits: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-royal-suite-class All other (older) ships just have the "Suites Program" https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-the-suites-program And no, the Suites Program does not include any benefit that I would consider as having actual "intrinsic value" I would agree though, throwing in free Voom on the highest level suites on the older ships would make sense. Heck, under the Royal Suite Class. you get free Voom on both Sky as well as Star class, which means every full suite from Grand up. The only "suite" that doesn't get it are Junior Suites.

Here's some previous threads with some personal experiences in the replies:

Duplicate

Not sure if you are referring to the DVD Player or the FIrestick, but you wouldn't need WiFI for the DVD Player. Firestick, yes. I had Voom S &S, and as the WiFi quality went down, the picture quality decreased. But it was still usable. See my answer in this thread:

Norway: But yeah. Branch out. Lots of European cruise itineraries out there. In addition to other things already mentioned, Australian, New Zealand, & a Pacific TA on our list to do at some point.

On Jewel, you should have easy access to the HDMI ports. I brought a Firestick 2 months ago and was able to use it just fine. So maybe bring something like this ($50). You can use the built-in screen or connect to a TV via HDMI. https://www.amazon.com/YOTON-Portable-Battery-Multiple-Projector/dp/B09P12W1SQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2SNJZYWBAKZTX&keywords=portable+dvd+player&qid=1662120407&sprefix=portable+dvd+player%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-4 If you need BluRay support, here's one for $99, without a built-in screen: https://www.amazon.com/Blu-Ray-Portable-Theater-Control-Support/dp/B08ZCNXN4W/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3ESIFQA1UXGOA&keywords=portable+blu+ray+player&qid=1662120616&sprefix=portable+blu+ray+player%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-6

Did you book the once a couple weeks ago during COVID? If so, it was very likely booked during the double points promo. For the 2019 Enchantment, any chance you actually booked a Junior Suite? That's the only thing I can think of, other then it being a straight up error.

I had S&S. I would say that the entire time we were on the Arctic Circle leg, internet was fine to tolerable. Even when we were at Honningsvag. They warned us that while we were in the fjords, the mountains could block the satellite connection for periods of time, but I honestly don't think I ever experienced that. I actually had a firestick connected to our TV and watched a little YTTV every day. Once we were above the Arctic Circle, quality was questionable, but it was still watchable. Now, on the Iceland & Ireland leg, which we should have arguably had less issue with, we had more issues, especially on sea days. It would be unusable for hours. We ended up getting 2 days of internet credited back. Might have been that, for some reason, the passengers on that leg skewed quite a bit lower, with a lot more kids. So maybe there was a lot higher demand? The Voom desk person said that they were also having technical issues with the satellite connection and working with the home office IT to try to fix it. I don't know. I think it was more demand. For picture uploading, I have our phones set to backup all pictures to Amazon Photos and videos when connected to the internet. Photos would upload without issue. Definitely slower that at home. Videos could take forever depending on size. Short ones would usually end up uploading overnight when there was less demand, large ones would eventually time out. The best thing for that was to connect to free wifi in ports long enough to get the videos uploaded. This picture was taken on our Honningsvag excursion. Note the angle of the satellite dishes. They're basically angled for a satellite being on the horizon 🤣

In general, totally in favor of your plans. Had we had more vacation, we might have stayed on for the British Isles making it a B3B. There was a very large number of B2B & B3B (and even some B4Bs?). When you throw the initial TA into the mix that's a tough choice to make. All things equal, it's a no-brainer to do that plan. But on the other hand if it was just "Fjords" vs. "Arctic Circle" (like the OP), it's Arctic Circle all the way. Unfortunately, the only way to do Arctic Circle (with Honningsvag and the Nordkapp) is either the Jun 17th or Jul 11th combined with Iceland & Ireland and British Isles one way or another. Which also means limited Scotland (just Glasgow). Hmmmmm........ Well, either way, you're going to have a great time. That will be amazing.

Well, seeing as how at 17knots you can make the trip from CocoCay to Nassau in about 4.5-5 hours, You've got a lot of time to kill for a sea day. If you are in a nice calm area, the captain probably just parked there for a bit to save fuel. After re-reading it, I guess you were just hanging out and now moving elsewhere, So, any chance that seas were picking up or weather coming in where you were hanging out? Maybe you're just going to somewhere else with calmer seas? You can go pretty far and still make it to Nassau.

Agree with this. I think all of our Norway port arrivals were between 9:00 & 10:30 AM. A balcony is almost a must for Norway. We'd wake up and open the curtains and watch the scenery as we got ready. Occasionally popping out on the balcony, taking some pictures, etc. I think in all cases, the closer to port, the better the scenery and the more to watch/see. There was always plenty of time to get breakfast in WJ and then back out on our balcony or up top to watch us pull in and dock depending on dock side, or down to the theater for excursions. Honestly, I'd say an hour before docking would be fine. Even 30 minutes would net you 75% of the experience. Anything earlier is just more of the same. Still beautiful, just repetitive beauty. Or on a couple ports, anything earlier and you're still in open water. To be honest, we didn't really watch us leave port. We were typically getting ready for dinner or eating dinner. And we had already watched us coming in.

Thanks to this thread, we pulled it up on Paramount+ and found that it had (what they were billing as) seasons 2 & 3. Symphony was the subject of S3E5. I do not see any other Royal Caribbean ships in these 2 seasons.

We just did the 12 night Arctic Circle on Jewel B2B with the 12 night Iceland & Ireland from 20-Jun to 14-Jul. This was offered twice this year. The one we were on went to Flam, the other one went to Geiranger. From my research it appeared that Geranger and Flam have a friendly rivalry as to who has the best Fjord. Flam was beautiful. Norway was absolutely stunning. We loved the fact that the Arctic Circle one went to Tromso and Honningsvag. The later is essentially in the Arctic Tundra, above the tree line. We did the Blue Puffin third party excursion and it was amazing, ending up at Nordkapp, which is billed as the northern most point in Norway and continental Europe (our guide said, technically it's not, but it's such a dramatic location, they just go with it 🤣). As for "Arctic Circle" sea day, it's really just another sea day, there's nothing to "see". But they do an Arctic Circle crossing celebration and paint your noses blue if you want (we didn't), and everyone gets a certificate in their room that night. The fun thing is that we were above the Arctic Circle 4(?) days after Summer Solstice. It was daylight for the 4 full days we were above the Arctic Circle. There was an announcement on Thursday that Sunset would be at 11:34 Monday night. I stayed up late and took pictures of the sun at midnight and 1:00 AM (because Daylight Saving Time). For anyone that has the option, I highly recommend the Arctic Circle option over the "normal" Norwegian Fjords itinerary any day. Our full itinerary was: Amsterdam, Cruising, Molde, Arctic Circle (Cruising), Tromso, Honningsvag, Cruising, Alesund, Flam, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Cruising, Amsterdam. This was our first time on a Radiance class ship. We did Majesty on a 3 day like 20 years ago (and would not want to be on a similar ship very long), and since then, just Voyager, Oasis, & Freedom, classes, and recently did Odyssey. Our main concern was whether or not we would become "bored" of the ship after a while. I am happy to say, we never felt that way, we could have stayed on far longer. We also felt that she was in great condition and still a beautiful ship. She did not really feel dated in any significant way. So I would not let size compared to a Quantum class dissuade you.