Cruise cabins have never been especially generous with electrical outlets, and that has become more noticeable as travelers carry more technology. Phones, watches, tablets, headphones, cameras, portable chargers, and accessibility tools all need power, and older ships in particular were not designed around the number of devices many of us now bring onboard. That is why Royal Caribbean’s 2024 decision to tighten restrictions on power strips and multi-plug devices created so much confusion. A lot of cruisers had gotten used to packing compact outlet extenders or little charging cubes, and suddenly people were trying to figure out what would still make it through security.

Royal Caribbean has now clarified the rule in a way that makes more sense. Standard device chargers and USB charging hubs are allowed when they meet recognized safety standards, while extension cords, power strips, and devices that multiply AC outlets remain prohibited. The practical distinction is fairly simple: a charger that plugs into one outlet and gives you several USB-A or USB-C connections is acceptable, but a device that turns one wall outlet into several regular electrical outlets is not.

For blind and low vision travelers, I think this clarification is more useful than it may sound at first. Our phones often do much more than entertain us while we are onboard. They may handle menus, messaging, screen-reader access, transportation, boarding documents, navigation, photography, and whatever other tools we use to get through the trip independently. When a phone or another access device dies, it can become more than an inconvenience.

I would still check Royal Caribbean’s prohibited-items page shortly before sailing because cruise-line rules do change, sometimes without much fanfare. I also would not push the rule to its absolute limit. Bringing one good-quality USB charger that safely handles the devices you actually use is a lot easier than arriving at security with a small electrical science experiment and arguing over whether it technically qualifies.

Cruise pricing keeps creeping in the background

This is a story that caught quite a few of us by surprise. Celebrity increased its automatic daily gratuities at the end of July 2026. The increase is $1.50 per person per day across the main cabin categories, which means two people on a seven-night cruise will pay about $21 more than they would have under the previous rate.

That is not a huge amount by itself, and I do not think it is worth turning into another internet war about cruise gratuities. What it does show is how the real cost of a cruise tends to move after people have already focused on the advertised fare. A few dollars in gratuities, a higher specialty dining charge, a transportation increase, or another fee here and there can slowly widen the gap between the number that got you interested in the sailing and what the trip ultimately costs.

Celebrity says those gratuities are distributed among various crew members, including dining, stateroom, culinary, and hotel-services staff. If you already have a Celebrity cruise booked, it is worth checking what rate applies to your reservation and whether prepaying preserves the earlier amount.

Norwegian is spending and cutting at the same time

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is dealing with a different mix of pressures. The company reported stronger-than-expected results in its latest quarter, but it also acknowledged softer bookings over the coming year and announced more cost-cutting efforts.

That kind of corporate story usually does not mean much to passengers until those decisions begin showing up in the onboard experience. Norwegian says some of its savings will come from areas such as vendor consolidation, administrative spending, benefits, and capital expenses, so I would not assume passengers are about to see immediate service cuts. At the same time, the company is investing heavily in Great Stirrup Cay, where its new Great Tides Waterpark and other major upgrades are scheduled to open in September. That combination is worth watching. Cruise companies regularly cut costs in one place while spending aggressively in another, and the result can be perfectly reasonable. What interests me more is what happens when the shiny new attraction opens and actual travelers start using it.

From a Blind Travels perspective, the waterpark itself is only part of the story. I want to know how easy the new areas are to navigate, how much information is available nonvisually, whether staff understand how to assist blind guests, and how the paths, pools, food areas, queues, and changing spaces work in practice.

A new attraction is one of the best opportunities a company gets to build accessibility into the experience instead of trying to retrofit it later. We will have to see whether that happens here.

The dog-friendly cruise story is a reminder to know who has your money

One of the stranger cruise stories making the rounds involves the Cruise Tails charter, which was promoted as a dog-friendly sailing aboard a Margaritaville at Sea ship. The trip attracted a lot of attention because the concept was unusual. People signed up, paid significant amounts of money, and some reportedly planned the trip around bringing their dogs onboard. The sailing was eventually postponed and then canceled, and some customers say they are still waiting for refunds. The important detail is that Margaritaville at Sea was providing the ship, but the cruise itself was being organized by a third-party charter company. Margaritaville has said it did not collect the passengers’ payments.

Specialty cruises, chartered sailings, affinity groups, and other themed trips can involve several companies at once. The company selling the trip may not be the same company operating the ship, and the company holding your money may be another entity entirely. That is especially worth remembering for disabled travelers because specialized trips can create an immediate sense of trust. A cruise designed around service dogs, blind travelers, adaptive sports, or another disability community may sound like exactly the kind of environment people have been waiting for.

Before paying a large deposit, know who is collecting the money, whose cancellation terms apply, and who is actually responsible if the trip disappears.

A real data breach makes fake messages more believable

Carnival has also been dealing with the fallout from a real data breach, and that creates fertile ground for a different kind of problem. Passengers have reported receiving threatening messages that claim their personal information was exposed and demand money. The fact that Carnival really did experience a breach makes those messages sound more convincing than a random phishing attempt. That is exactly what scammers rely on.

A good scam does not always invent an entire story. Sometimes it starts with something true and builds the fraud around it. If a company you have actually traveled with suffered a breach, an email mentioning that breach may immediately feel more credible. That is why I would treat any unexpected message demanding money, threatening to release information, or insisting that you act immediately with a lot of skepticism. Do not use the phone number or link in the message to verify it. Go to the cruise line’s official site or app and contact the company independently.

This is one of those places where a little inconvenience is better than being efficient.

The small changes are usually the ones that catch people

Remember to not put that cruise reservation on a shelf after booking it, revisit the itinerary and any news around it before you set sail. I do not think the answer is to obsess over cruise news every day. It is simply worth checking the details again before you leave.

Have you run into Royal Caribbean’s charger restrictions, or had security confiscate something you thought was permitted? I would like to hear what happened and how the situation was handled.

See you at the gate

-Ted and Fauna