How good is the wifi connection?

Hello

This is my first post so please forgive me if I get things wrong or I'm asking a question which appears silly.

We will be taking our first ever cruise on board Silver Whisper on 7th December, Barbados to Barbados. I want to be able to stay in touch with home and despite being on holiday with my emails and I know that I can purchase a wifi package but that there's no guarantee of a connection. As I don't really want to waste $140 I would appreciate any information/advice on how good the wifi connection is likely to be aboard the ship.

Any other helpful hints for a first time cruiser would also be gratefully accepted.

Thank you

If all you really want to do is check emails, make sure things are OK at home, etc. it should be fine.

If you're expecting to have speeds like you probably have at home (or even had at home five years ago), and are hoping to do streaming, etc., you'll be disappointed.

We just left the Whisper. Once connected, it was fine. It did drop off quite a bit. I just kept count of how much time I lost and reported it to the desk. It was added onto my remaining time. Have a great cruise! Remember, you can order anything you want to eat. When you are leaving dinner in the MDR, tell the Maitre'd what you like tomorrow evening. If it is on the ship, it is yours.

You must remember that your use of "wifi connection" carries generic pitfalls to a serious discussion.

Internet connectivity to the rest of the world while on ship depends on two different "pieces of pipe". There is the internal "wifi" connection that provides the connection between your device (PC/phone/tablet) with the ship's internet router/server. Then, you have the external "satellite" connection that connects from the ship, through the satellite, to the "Internet". Unless you have both pieces working together, you will not have connectivity, or will have poor connectivity.

Internal wifi signals are highly dependent on where your device is located relative to the many wifi repeaters within the ship. Steel inhibits wifi signals, so your stateroom will be a type of Faraday cage - you will get better wifi signals in public areas near repeaters. Look to the ceilings (or more properly called "overheads") for the wifi boxes. As a test, I would suggest you get a wifi manager program for your phone/tablet...then use the phone to find the areas with the strongest signals. You may be fortunate enough to have a repeater close to your suite - if so, that may work as well as a public location.

Satellite signals are dependent upon your location relative to the satellite and also on some atmospheric conditions. One other consideration is that this is a connection with finite bandwidth - there's only so much to share with everyone on the ship including staff. As such, many services that are bandwidth hogs are blocked on ships. Can't speak to SS as I don't even bother to try them - examples are streaming video services, YouTube, Skype, Hangouts and similar. For simple email, you should be OK.

Depending on your itinerary, you may want to devote that $140 towards purchases at land based cafes/restaurants/bars that would have wifi available for customers. This would limit you to internet while off the ship -only you can decide how connected you need to be. If you do, I highly recommend that you sign up for a VPN for security purposes. I use Private Internet Access, a highly regarded VPN service with clients available for phones, tablets and computers. LINK HERE.

Thank you for the advice guys, it's much appreciated.

Don't forget when you go to port, most ports have free wi-fi and it's pretty good.

Rick

If all you really want to do is check emails, make sure things are OK at home, etc. it should be fine. If you're expecting to have speeds like you probably have at home (or even had at home five years ago), and are hoping to do streaming, etc., you'll be disappointed.

Good summary points above by Mark and from others. Earlier this year during our 26 days on the Silver Cloud, including Barbados to Barbados, doing the Amazon River, etc., things generally worked fairly well.

As always at sea, things are not going to be super fast perfect as mostly happens at home and work on land. During this sailing, I uploaded lots of pictures, did a live/blog and even caught the video live for the end of the exciting Super Bowl win by New England. And, that happened while sailing on the Amazon River!!! We were lucky!! Don't expect that type of connection at most times.

Conditions can vary!! In part, it can depend when and how many others on the ship are trying to use the Internet. Plus, how full is your ship, their demographics, etc. So-called "off-hours" have less demand and use than during peak hours.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 32,319 views for these postings.

Don't forget when you go to port, most ports have free wi-fi and it's pretty good.