MuttMutt

If there is WiFi available and you don't have regular phone service and internet it should work.  If you have data and cell service then it should work that way as well.  Most cell phones are actually using VOIP for their cell service in a way, that is basically what VoLTE is with a few cell centric things thrown in.
As far as additional apps nothing I can think of outside of the Royal app unless you have particular needs or desires. 
My phone service is through Google fi so data is included pretty much any place a royal cruise ship will dock when a cruise is based in the US.  With that I get cell data included for no extra fees and cell calls are 20 cents per minute.  If I was going to be someplace for a week or so I would pick up a sim card for a local provider which is what I did when I was in Jamaica for 2 weeks, just made sure to have an unlocked phone and dropped it in.  Now with my current phone I can run multiple services since it has eSIM support so Google fi is in the eSIM and I can use a physical SIM from someone else if I need to instead of carrying a spare phone. 

Yeah with that woman I did.  She would not even acknowledge me until I put my hand on her wrist and her husband was about 8 feet away calling to her because he had her bag already.  She grabbed on and was just not interested in letting go at all.  For a minute I thought she was going to try and take a swing at me to be honest.  I don't think it would have been a fair fight though since I am about 30 years younger and easily had 100 pounds on her, LOL.
 
Hopefully my new tags will solve that one. 

So the other day I remember reading something about marking your luggage tags in some way so they are easy to spot when getting off the ship.  It's been playing over and over again in my head  because on my last Liberty of the Seas sailing I had a woman who was tenacious in holding on to my girlfriends bag and basically ignoring me while I tried to explain to her she had the wrong bag.  After multiple times of being extremely polite and being ignored she started to walk away and I held her wrist to prevent her from walking off and again said that it was not her bag.  Anyway I get on Adventure of the Seas in a couple days and I came up with this:

 
I think it will work quite well in preventing someone from accidentally taking my bag again.  Figured I may as well share for anyone interested in making their own and It's not too hard to do so if someone wanted one and doesn't have the ability to make one up I can easily toss something together when I get back home.  It's basically setup to be folded twice with the large blank area folded underneath and stapled or taped around a handle much like the luggage tags.  I can EASILY make them the same size as the luggage tags as well if someone wants them that size.  Anyway just wanted to share the option as it may be better than stickers or markers on the tags given out on the ship for spotting bags.

I know there are tons of different things that can be done.  I like making custom tags up because no one will be able to claim mine as theirs plus I get to do a little shameless advertising on my bag. 

Have to agree is width being close to the port. Depending on the departure day Houston could be tough to get across. Last cruise I went on I drove down and stayed near Kemah TX since it was a little cheaper than staying on Galveston Island but I wouldn't want to be much further north of that area. 
 
If you stay on Galveston Island I believe that a few of the places have a shuttle service that can drop off near the terminal but Uber or Lyft are options. I know that there are also some places that rent the little 4 person utv's if you get down there early and want to explore a little bit. 

I know there are tons of different things that can be done.  I like making custom tags up because no one will be able to claim mine as theirs plus I get to do a little shameless advertising on my bag. 

Yeah with that woman I did.  She would not even acknowledge me until I put my hand on her wrist and her husband was about 8 feet away calling to her because he had her bag already.  She grabbed on and was just not interested in letting go at all.  For a minute I thought she was going to try and take a swing at me to be honest.  I don't think it would have been a fair fight though since I am about 30 years younger and easily had 100 pounds on her, LOL.
 
Hopefully my new tags will solve that one. 

So the other day I remember reading something about marking your luggage tags in some way so they are easy to spot when getting off the ship.  It's been playing over and over again in my head  because on my last Liberty of the Seas sailing I had a woman who was tenacious in holding on to my girlfriends bag and basically ignoring me while I tried to explain to her she had the wrong bag.  After multiple times of being extremely polite and being ignored she started to walk away and I held her wrist to prevent her from walking off and again said that it was not her bag.  Anyway I get on Adventure of the Seas in a couple days and I came up with this:

 
I think it will work quite well in preventing someone from accidentally taking my bag again.  Figured I may as well share for anyone interested in making their own and It's not too hard to do so if someone wanted one and doesn't have the ability to make one up I can easily toss something together when I get back home.  It's basically setup to be folded twice with the large blank area folded underneath and stapled or taped around a handle much like the luggage tags.  I can EASILY make them the same size as the luggage tags as well if someone wants them that size.  Anyway just wanted to share the option as it may be better than stickers or markers on the tags given out on the ship for spotting bags.

So the other day I remember reading something about marking your luggage tags in some way so they are easy to spot when getting off the ship.  It's been playing over and over again in my head  because on my last Liberty of the Seas sailing I had a woman who was tenacious in holding on to my girlfriends bag and basically ignoring me while I tried to explain to her she had the wrong bag.  After multiple times of being extremely polite and being ignored she started to walk away and I held her wrist to prevent her from walking off and again said that it was not her bag.  Anyway I get on Adventure of the Seas in a couple days and I came up with this:

 
I think it will work quite well in preventing someone from accidentally taking my bag again.  Figured I may as well share for anyone interested in making their own and It's not too hard to do so if someone wanted one and doesn't have the ability to make one up I can easily toss something together when I get back home.  It's basically setup to be folded twice with the large blank area folded underneath and stapled or taped around a handle much like the luggage tags.  I can EASILY make them the same size as the luggage tags as well if someone wants them that size.  Anyway just wanted to share the option as it may be better than stickers or markers on the tags given out on the ship for spotting bags.

I definitely feel odd when on land after being on the ship for a while.  A lot of times I make it worse because I then go for a ride and get on a boat and then hop in the water for a few hours.  I think a major reason for me is because I feel the motion of the ship even in light seas.  I really noticed it on my recent B2B because while sitting down I could feel the ship rock back and forth less than a degree of movement and my girlfriend looked at me like I had a third eye in the middle of my forehead when I kept saying I was feeling motion.  I eventually ended up grabbing my phone and pulled out my level app.  We watched the ship rock back and forth about .5 degrees total while sitting in the promenade at Sorento's.  I even noticed that I walked along like I was drunk because I felt the motion so much.  On a couple days where motion was closer to 3 degrees while walking along on deck 4 on the outside I was weaving back and forth as much as 6 feet due to the motion.
 
It lasts for about 4 or 5 days for me usually but I am ok to drive and actually after the last one I got home and was working on the roof of the house and that is about 33 degrees of angle.  I think it's actually worse while I lay in bed but thankfully I have a couple things I take that pretty well knock me out though one of them also makes me feel like I am moving around a bit anyway.

So the other day I remember reading something about marking your luggage tags in some way so they are easy to spot when getting off the ship.  It's been playing over and over again in my head  because on my last Liberty of the Seas sailing I had a woman who was tenacious in holding on to my girlfriends bag and basically ignoring me while I tried to explain to her she had the wrong bag.  After multiple times of being extremely polite and being ignored she started to walk away and I held her wrist to prevent her from walking off and again said that it was not her bag.  Anyway I get on Adventure of the Seas in a couple days and I came up with this:

 
I think it will work quite well in preventing someone from accidentally taking my bag again.  Figured I may as well share for anyone interested in making their own and It's not too hard to do so if someone wanted one and doesn't have the ability to make one up I can easily toss something together when I get back home.  It's basically setup to be folded twice with the large blank area folded underneath and stapled or taped around a handle much like the luggage tags.  I can EASILY make them the same size as the luggage tags as well if someone wants them that size.  Anyway just wanted to share the option as it may be better than stickers or markers on the tags given out on the ship for spotting bags.

Took some stuff on with my last cruise and left it in the room with some cash as well.  Going to do the same thing when I am on Adventure of the Seas on the 23rd.  While things are being relaxed for people going on shore it's not an all out everyone can get off the ship.  So a couple cheap packs of razors, some soap, some toothbrushes, and a few other things as well will be left again.  I picked up a bunch of the fruity KitKat bars and will leave a couple for different people as well as a couple bucks for those people who excelled in helping on the last night before getting off the ship.  Wrote a little note that was simple to print off and with a stapler that will make a nice little pouch to hand over as a way to say thanks.  
The way I look at it is there is likely someone that will need a couple things and I am sure that crew will trade a little here or there.  The only thing I ask in my note with the vast majority of stuff is to not let things go to waste.  I don't care if they drop something off with their family to use or take it with them when they head home for some time off.  Sometimes simple little things can bring a smile to a face or make their day better.  Now if EVERYONE did it I probably would scale back a little bit but picking up 10 bucks worth of stuff at the Dollar Tree with a couple food items seems like an OK thing to me.  And when I pick up soap I never know if the attendant will be male or female so I grab one of each and figure they will know someone else who can use the other.  And I am sure that there are people working in the mechanical area's of the ships who will likely benefit from something like this that I could never even see to give it to.

Took some stuff on with my last cruise and left it in the room with some cash as well.  Going to do the same thing when I am on Adventure of the Seas on the 23rd.  While things are being relaxed for people going on shore it's not an all out everyone can get off the ship.  So a couple cheap packs of razors, some soap, some toothbrushes, and a few other things as well will be left again.  I picked up a bunch of the fruity KitKat bars and will leave a couple for different people as well as a couple bucks for those people who excelled in helping on the last night before getting off the ship.  Wrote a little note that was simple to print off and with a stapler that will make a nice little pouch to hand over as a way to say thanks.  
The way I look at it is there is likely someone that will need a couple things and I am sure that crew will trade a little here or there.  The only thing I ask in my note with the vast majority of stuff is to not let things go to waste.  I don't care if they drop something off with their family to use or take it with them when they head home for some time off.  Sometimes simple little things can bring a smile to a face or make their day better.  Now if EVERYONE did it I probably would scale back a little bit but picking up 10 bucks worth of stuff at the Dollar Tree with a couple food items seems like an OK thing to me.  And when I pick up soap I never know if the attendant will be male or female so I grab one of each and figure they will know someone else who can use the other.  And I am sure that there are people working in the mechanical area's of the ships who will likely benefit from something like this that I could never even see to give it to.

Agreed.  The newer the newlywed the better your chances.  Often there is a couple married within the last week or two who end up there.  The next one is the couple married the longest.  I think ours was around 50 years or so most of the time.  After that you have to beat on your chest to be the best "Tarzan" as the guy and the best "Jane" calling for her Tarzan.  So having a wife who shouts out nice and breathy, "Tarzan, Tarzan.... Where is my Tarzan?"  And having your guy do something funny or shocking is the best way to get onto the stage.  Last one we watched the husband picked his wife up and started running around with her on his shoulder.  The "middle" group is the hardest one to get in on since they usually ask for between 10 and 40 years so prep accordingly.  

Have a favorite recipe you REALLY want to share?  Well I know I do so why not right?
I am very fluid in how I cook so please feel free to adjust for your tastes.  If you have a favorite sauce or are like me and jazz up a store bought sauce go for it.  Anyway here goes:
An Italian twist on Chicken Cordon Bleu
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts or thighs Spaghetti sauce Olive oil (or some other cooking oil) Italian seasoning mix Garlic Crushed red pepper flakes Chicken Bullion powder Block of mozzarella cheese or string cheese sticks (1 piece per breast) Pepperoni slices (I use 10 to 12 per breast) Some sort of pasta (I use spaghetti but anything will work)  
Mix some oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, about a tablespoon of chicken bullion, and Italian seasoning till it is pretty well just a thick mush.  I end up with about 8 tablespoons when cooking 6 chicken breasts.  Think of something like a pesto or humus for consistency. 
Butterfly the breasts and add about a tablespoon of the mix and spread it around the inside.  Place pepperoni slices into the breast then place a piece of mozzarella cheese on top folding the breast closed when done.  When all breasts are done use the rest of the pesto like mix on top in a thin coat.  
Bake the breast for 40 minutes in a oven heated to 350 degrees on a cookie sheet.  
At about 20 minutes left warm your sauce and doctor it to taste.  I add Italian seasoning, garlic, beef bullion powder, a touch of red pepper flakes and a couple packets of artificial sweetener to take just a touch of the sour taste out if it has it.  Move to the back burner and allow to slightly simmer or just keep warm.
Start your water for the pasta boiling and at about 10 minutes till the chicken is done add the pasta to the boiling water.
 
Everything should be ready to go at the same time.  I like to place the pasta on the plate, add the sauce as I see fit and then top with one of the chicken breasts.
 
I made this tonight and my girlfriend and her son both loved it.  Hopefully you will as well.  Just remember to do things to your taste.  If you don't have the chicken bullion (I highly recommend using it in place of salt, beef is used for things that need a beefy flavor and chicken for most anything else) then use regular salt though you may not need very much so consider just sprinkling a little on.

Not sure about the size of the machine but I wouldn't see that as a problem. However any supplies you need to take along may require some doing if my understandings are correct. I would not however allow any employee handle the machine which means you will need to carry it on and off the ship. And for sure contact and make arrangements with RCCL first. 

No one knows.  We know the maximum occupancy and things like that but have no clue how many people will be on a ship or what level of occupancy they have been having.  The people who do know are the bean counters in the offices and they aren't talking.

When I go on an excursion I take along a backpack and a dry bag.  The dry bag carries things I don't want to get wet at all and everything including the cry bag goes into the backpack.  I SCUBA dive so that bag goes on the boat with me.  Never had an issue of things staying dry at all inside the dry bag.  The backpack gets a little wet but my towel and dry clothes are generally fine.  If I go to the beach and snorkel or something like that the dry bag goes with me into the water with anything that is valuable and the rest stays on the shore.  If someone wants my clothes and a towel that bad they are welcome to it though I doubt they will be happy with what they get.
 
I should also mention that my dry bag is quite large. 10L if I remember right. 

There are TONS of factors that fall into place here.  Lets say that the ship has a lot of rooms in a certain class that are unsold a few months before.  Odds are that those rooms will still mostly be empty but if cheaper rooms open up they have a better chance of selling.  The idea is that if they get people to move up to other rooms they can get a few extra bucks from that person AND they can potentially book the previous room while bringing two more people who will likely spend cash on the ship as well.  Even if the previous room didn't book the actual value of a room is based on it's location and what people are willing to pay for it.  I highly doubt that a balcony will use more power than an interior room right?  So if the costs for the ship are the same either way what's the better deal for RCCL?
Taking that a step further how many rooms do you want to offer?  With the current stuff happening they are keeping some stuff cleared out from my understanding.  So lets say they have 100 rooms evenly divided between oceanview and suite.  Do you want to let every person in to bid potentially driving the cost way beyond a regular price so that people go online and complain about it or do you want to limit that to say 300 cabins knowing that a lot of them will only bid on one room where only 30 are available to have someone complain they never win?  By limiting the number of people it's opened to you end up reducing complaints in a way and since it's managed by a "third party company" likely owned by the brother of a guy who is a friend of the guy who runs something at royal at some point in time and only gets a cut in the cash so they can have plausible deniability for everyone not being picked to bid.  
And finally who do you offer it to?  Well people in a suite won't be interested so that takes a few of the higher up points people out of the running, but the people who booked anything other than an inside room will then likely be sorted by level with diamond and up getting a higher chance than someone at gold in an interior room. Then assign a number to each group you create that says how many from that group will be picked.
After that throw a random number generator at your groups and there you have it.  A money making machine that took a few hundred lines of code for minimal extra expense. 
 
To increase your odds I would say (in no particular order):
Bid on at least one room every time you get an offer and can. Increase your points level. Visit the casino for 1 pull every time you are on the ship. Buy an excursion through the cruise line at least one time on each cruise. Buy internet or a drink package when you cruise. Eat at a specialty restaurant at least once on each cruise if you can. Buy a single drink at the bar and pay cash if you didn't get a drink package. Buy a souvenir at a shop while on board.  Basically anything you do that nets them an extra buck will put you into a higher category and increase your odds.  We all know they have a database with our name on it so they can see EVERYTHING you do on a ship and throw that into the equation as well.  
I didn't get an offer on my first 3 cruises.  My last 2 were a B2B on Liberty and while on the ship we had a couple drinks (had a ton of onboard credit on both), I went on a dive excursion in Roatan through the ship, bought a 3 device internet package for both sailings, and we both went into the casino to cash out a little bit of onboard credit but I made a point to spin the reels a couple times for each of us.  Not to mention that I went up to 35 points after my last cruise.  I get an email last month for the cruise I am getting on at the end of the February for Royal Up.  Coincidence, I doubt it.  Can't guarantee that the list above will get you offers but I am pretty sure it will increase your odds.

Watched it twice on Liberty of the Seas on our B2B at the end of October and beginning of November.  It was great and my girlfriend loved it.  They are using a single microphone for each couple and setting them a good distance away from each other with a helper to hold the microphone for the person talking.  
 
I told my girlfriend we could easily win if we get married the day before or on the cruise.  We know each other very well and were laughing at all the tame answers.  We hands down have one of the best and most unique places we have ever made "whoopie" after we joined the 650' underground club.

Sorry, I stopped watching most broadcast tv a long while ago.  What little I watch comes from OTA stations and they usually run commercials for the local furniture places and I am VERY good at tuning them out.  Sometimes I think, "maybe I should go watch some of the commercials for the cruise lines on Youtube or something..."   Then I laugh at myself and realize it's not worth messing up a good thing.  I actually run a DNS filter on my router that blocks most advertisements from loading and what's left over is pretty well killed by Brave and uBlock Origin.
Getting off the cable teat and killing most news watching has helped me mentally so much that all I can do is try and talk others into doing the same.  Believe me, unless your job requires the information the things happening half way around the world does not generally affect the general public's daily life.

Sorry, I stopped watching most broadcast tv a long while ago.  What little I watch comes from OTA stations and they usually run commercials for the local furniture places and I am VERY good at tuning them out.  Sometimes I think, "maybe I should go watch some of the commercials for the cruise lines on Youtube or something..."   Then I laugh at myself and realize it's not worth messing up a good thing.  I actually run a DNS filter on my router that blocks most advertisements from loading and what's left over is pretty well killed by Brave and uBlock Origin.
Getting off the cable teat and killing most news watching has helped me mentally so much that all I can do is try and talk others into doing the same.  Believe me, unless your job requires the information the things happening half way around the world does not generally affect the general public's daily life.

No you can not turn the otc tests into proctored tests through emed or anything else.
 
You MAY be able to go to a physician and use them their and get then to give you written results that are typed up on office letterhead but there is no guarantee that will allow you to board the ship. I have speculated on this for a while. But you will need to do all the legwork to find out. And the results can NOT be hand written. They must be typed. 
 
Otherwise you have tests that will work for your own information. 

Tests showed up finally.  I think around 2 weeks for us in the Oklahoma area.  For those wondering I took pictures of the box with most of the information.
 

Might be soon.  Not long after my post above she got tracking information that says Saturday is the expected day of delivery.  Too bad we are in a major snowstorm right now.