twangster

In the past it has been typical to provide full CAS points for shortened voyages.

When I have seen clear evidence of a new deployment and inquired at NextCruise they typically are clueless.  For something like Icon there were probably sales conferences to explain cabin types and so on so NC may have head some inside knowledge but probably not deployment dates or home port until it was imminent.
As far as existing ships moving to new home ports over the years I've yet to see any evidence NC has any insight before we do.  The rumors they've suggested have more often been proven incorrect in the end.  
It's always interesting to hear what they say but I wouldn't put a lot of value on their rumors.  
On more than one occasion I've raced down to NC and they didn't even know a ship was available for booking yet on a new deployment.  

In the past it has been typical to provide full CAS points for shortened voyages.

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  
That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

This is usually related to restricting access to a loyalty or suite lounge since that denies access to the coffee machine within.  
Or the crown lounge coffee machine is broken so they offer a coffee voucher.
If so that isn't new, experienced it in 2019 on elite top heavy transatlantic cruises.

I don't suspect Royal makes payments directly to one president or another elected official.  That's like saying I don't know who to send my federal tax payments to in year when a different presidential party wins an election in the US.   It will always be the IRS.
There will be contracts in place with named departments or companies where payments are sent.
The departments of the Haitian government haven't been dissolved.  Once a transitional government in Haiti has been formed various department heads will report in and at some point the transitional government will learn of a major revenue gap absent in tourism stemming from Labadee. 
The transitional government will have its hands full trying to stop the gang violence.  At what point they will become effective with that and can begin to focus on something less critical such as tourism revenue will influence the outlook for a return to Labadee.    
The problem with vigilante mob violence in a lawless and corrupt system is getting them under control.  The gangs don't have a distinct leadership or direction from an organized head.  The gangs are making this up as they go along.  Soon they will run out of perceived enemies such as government leaders or more affluent Haitians and they will begin to turn more on the average Haitian.  "The guy who charged too much to fix my broken down car last year" or "that store that charges too much for groceries" will become targets.  We haven't seen the end of the gang violence and only when we do will we see a path forward for Haiti.   

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  
That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  
That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

If you wait until after final payment date has passed a much larger (than $100 PP) penalty will be applied.  If you must move your cruise make sure you do it before the final payment date. 

Technically after final payment they don't have to allow the $100pp change fee.  That fee applies to NRD deposits and once you reach final payment due date, the type of deposit is irrelevant.  All that matters after final payment due date is the cancellation fee schedule which applies to everyone, all deposit types.
Having said that sometimes they will allow the $100pp change fee after final payment due date but generally not close in to the sail date.  That's never a sure thing though.  
You best bet would be to make the change before final payment due date and not the day before, rather a few days before.  
 
 

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  
That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

It's not the bridge that is the only limiting factor in using the canal.  Royal has a tendency to place their lifeboats so they hang outside the hull in part.  Some ships have walkways that go around the hump hanging like a shelf off the side of the ship.  These protrusions from the side profile of the ship don't allow them to use the canal even if the Bridge of the Americas was replaced.  
If you look at all the ships from all lines that use the canal you will find smooth sides to the ship far enough from the waterline that they can slide down the concrete wall of a lock chamber and not do any damage to the ship or lock.  By placing the lifeboats far out or by having walkways hanging off the ship Royal gains inside space to make the ships have larger internal volume (gross tonnage) giving them more space for venues inside the ship but the trade off is having parts of the ship or the lifeboats hanging out of the side profile.   This also limits their ability to the use Panama Canal.  

I've noticed the same thing although I had no idea the reason....but even when I am on THEIR computers in one of the lounges or in the Voom kiosk area, I can get onto all of the website my little heart desires EXCEPT for royalcaribbean.com.  So lame

For the longest time I've had issues with domains that use rccl.com when on board connected with Voom.  
In the days before the app you couldn't check in on the website using Voom, unless you had a VPN service which circumvents the issue with rccl.com domains used in the background for check in or obtaining luggage tags.
Since the app days I've recently still seen the weird issues with check in when on board using Voom.  The last time was two cruises ago (a few months ago) when I tried to snap an early arrival time for an upcoming cruise and it reported it hit a snag or check in wasn't available.  Then I used my VPN and check in worked fine, arrival time selected.
So it still seems Royal has issues with check in when connected by Voom.   If you are in a port with cellular data as an option disconnect from Voom and it should work, or use a VPN service.

I've always favored Brilliance and Serenade.  Both were updated with LED lighting in the Centrum and a few other discrete upgrades that may be missed by many.
Radiance always feels a little tired to me in contrast to her sisters.  I still sail Radiance and would again in a heartbeat but to be honest and fair it does feel the most tired to me.
Jewel is probably my least favorite and that is in a large part due to the NASCAR bar.  This bar is open to the casino so basically it's a smoking area.  Good luck enjoying a drink if you don't smoke.  The others in class have a distinct pub that has passages to the casino but are not wide open to the casino.  The first few feet of these pubs may get smokey but the bar area of these pubs do not.  The NASCAR bar on Jewel just feels very dated and is usually empty except when a show lets out and transitory guests going somewhere else stop to acquire a beverage.     
There are subtle differences such as a Centrum staircase on some, deck 11 balcony cabins on one but not the others, an oceanview suite off the Centrum on some but not others, Centrum hanging art on one, and the number, location and types of specialty dining venues varies.
Having said all that I do have 27 nights coming up on Jewel so even though her NASCAR bar sucks it's not enough to prevent me from sailing her.  Itineraries matter.  The ship less so. They are more alike than different.  Pick based on itinerary and price.

I've always favored Brilliance and Serenade.  Both were updated with LED lighting in the Centrum and a few other discrete upgrades that may be missed by many.
Radiance always feels a little tired to me in contrast to her sisters.  I still sail Radiance and would again in a heartbeat but to be honest and fair it does feel the most tired to me.
Jewel is probably my least favorite and that is in a large part due to the NASCAR bar.  This bar is open to the casino so basically it's a smoking area.  Good luck enjoying a drink if you don't smoke.  The others in class have a distinct pub that has passages to the casino but are not wide open to the casino.  The first few feet of these pubs may get smokey but the bar area of these pubs do not.  The NASCAR bar on Jewel just feels very dated and is usually empty except when a show lets out and transitory guests going somewhere else stop to acquire a beverage.     
There are subtle differences such as a Centrum staircase on some, deck 11 balcony cabins on one but not the others, an oceanview suite off the Centrum on some but not others, Centrum hanging art on one, and the number, location and types of specialty dining venues varies.
Having said all that I do have 27 nights coming up on Jewel so even though her NASCAR bar sucks it's not enough to prevent me from sailing her.  Itineraries matter.  The ship less so. They are more alike than different.  Pick based on itinerary and price.

Yes.  The optics of sitting on a beach enjoying a Labradoozie doesn't work well on social media when gangs are killing innocent people in the streets a nearly impossible drive away.  

This little corner of Haiti has prospered from the presence of Royal and the Labadee private destination.  Somewhere around 400 locals are employed.  Royal built a school in the local village.  Housing tends to be better built with real construction material.   This community is not your typical Haiti village and they know that.
Like any small town with a large employer the community tends to be very pro-company.  
I can see why Royal would want to maintain that sentiment.  It's in their long term interest to see the local community gets some relief and their standing maintained.
The local community must be really feeling the lack of ship visits.  Their livelihoods once snatched away from them just like it was during the pandemic.  Innocent victims out of work facing incredible hardship supporting families.  All thanks to distant gang violence.

Hey Joe!  Welcome back!

Yes.  The optics of sitting on a beach enjoying a Labradoozie doesn't work well on social media when gangs are killing innocent people in the streets a nearly impossible drive away.  

When I have seen clear evidence of a new deployment and inquired at NextCruise they typically are clueless.  For something like Icon there were probably sales conferences to explain cabin types and so on so NC may have head some inside knowledge but probably not deployment dates or home port until it was imminent.
As far as existing ships moving to new home ports over the years I've yet to see any evidence NC has any insight before we do.  The rumors they've suggested have more often been proven incorrect in the end.  
It's always interesting to hear what they say but I wouldn't put a lot of value on their rumors.  
On more than one occasion I've raced down to NC and they didn't even know a ship was available for booking yet on a new deployment.  

This is usually related to restricting access to a loyalty or suite lounge since that denies access to the coffee machine within.  
Or the crown lounge coffee machine is broken so they offer a coffee voucher.
If so that isn't new, experienced it in 2019 on elite top heavy transatlantic cruises.

Yes.  The optics of sitting on a beach enjoying a Labradoozie doesn't work well on social media when gangs are killing innocent people in the streets a nearly impossible drive away.  

One thing about this class - they have the smokiest casinos from across the fleet.  Majesty used to be really bad.  With her gone the Radiance class take the award for smokiest casinos.  
They try to place a small portable HEPA style standalone filter somewhere and call that the non-smoking area but ships this old don't have the ventilation systems in the casino and as you can imagine a small portable standalone filter in a wide open smoking space accomplishes nothing.  
No ship in this class has a better or less smoky casino.  Learn the deck plans and find another way forward or aft to reach the theater if smoke bothers you.     

I've always favored Brilliance and Serenade.  Both were updated with LED lighting in the Centrum and a few other discrete upgrades that may be missed by many.
Radiance always feels a little tired to me in contrast to her sisters.  I still sail Radiance and would again in a heartbeat but to be honest and fair it does feel the most tired to me.
Jewel is probably my least favorite and that is in a large part due to the NASCAR bar.  This bar is open to the casino so basically it's a smoking area.  Good luck enjoying a drink if you don't smoke.  The others in class have a distinct pub that has passages to the casino but are not wide open to the casino.  The first few feet of these pubs may get smokey but the bar area of these pubs do not.  The NASCAR bar on Jewel just feels very dated and is usually empty except when a show lets out and transitory guests going somewhere else stop to acquire a beverage.     
There are subtle differences such as a Centrum staircase on some, deck 11 balcony cabins on one but not the others, an oceanview suite off the Centrum on some but not others, Centrum hanging art on one, and the number, location and types of specialty dining venues varies.
Having said all that I do have 27 nights coming up on Jewel so even though her NASCAR bar sucks it's not enough to prevent me from sailing her.  Itineraries matter.  The ship less so. They are more alike than different.  Pick based on itinerary and price.