Internet?

Can you not book internet packages ahead of time on HA?

I'm in the already booked area and see nothing ?!

Can you not book internet packages ahead of time on HA?

I'm in the already booked area and see nothing ?!

No. I just buy onboard credit to cover the cost I expect to spend.

Correct. It used to be that you got a bonus by booking on the first day aboard. Not sure that is still true. Yes, Princess offers a smaller bonus by booking online, in advance. But of course you didn't ask about Princess.

Correct. It used to be that you got a bonus by booking on the first day aboard. Not sure that is still true. Yes, Princess offers a smaller bonus by booking online, in advance. But of course you didn't ask about Princess.

Yes, I'm more familiar with Princess which is why I went looking...

Thanks !

We received a $200 internet credit as an early booking bonus. Anyone know how that will work? Will we each get $100... I am much more of an internet geek than the friend I'm traveling with. Can we add OBC to the internet credit to buy a bigger package of minutes?

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We received a $200 internet credit as an early booking bonus. Anyone know how that will work? Will we each get $100... I am much more of an internet geek than the friend I'm traveling with. Can we add OBC to the internet credit to buy a bigger package of minutes?

 

 

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There is one internet account for your cabin. So you will be sharing that $200. I assume the $200 will jsut be added into your account, so the OBC can be added to acquire more minutes, one way or another.

We received a $200 internet credit as an early booking bonus. Anyone know how that will work? Will we each get $100... I am much more of an internet geek than the friend I'm traveling with. Can we add OBC to the internet credit to buy a bigger package of minutes?

 

 

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From my experience late November 2016 on the Zuiderdam, you will book the first $100 to get 55 minutes of internet time. When that time expires, you will book another $100 minutes to get 55 more minutes. Each of these charges will receive $100 in credits to your shipboard accounts. You can then purchase more time with your OBC.

The $200 cannot be credited if you buy a more expensive package such as an unlimited package or deviate from the 55-minute increment purchases.

No. I just buy onboard credit to cover the cost I expect to spend.

wHY? i MUST BE miSsing the obvious but why Bother to do that?

i

wHY? i MUST BE miSsing the obvious but why Bother to do that?

 

i

So I can charge it to my business Amex. The cruise account is charged to a personal account. Since I am using the Internet for business, it keeps the cost accounted for appropriately. I can't deduct the cruise costs, but I can deduct the amount used for business Internet access. So, if I estimate that I'll need $250 in minutes, I just buy the OBC ahead of time.

Crew News, $100 for 55 minutes? Are you sure that is right? Surely they have packages cheaper than that! Is it just a log in and password that either of us can use or are we restricted to just one device?

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Crew News, $100 for 55 minutes? Are you sure that is right? Surely they have packages cheaper than that! Is it just a log in and password that either of us can use or are we restricted to just one device?

 

 

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It's one device at a time. Let's say that you want to use a phone and a laptop. You login with the laptop. Then when you are done, you log out. You can then log in with the phone.

Unless there's been a dramatic change in a month, your $100 is worth 250 minutes. 100 minutes costs $55. (Crew News might have gotten that flipped around.) Pay as you go was $0.75 per minute.

From my experience late November 2016 on the Zuiderdam, you will book the first $100 to get 55 minutes of internet time. When that time expires, you will book another $100 minutes to get 55 more minutes. Each of these charges will receive $100 in credits to your shipboard accounts. You can then purchase more time with your OBC.

 

The $200 cannot be credited if you buy a more expensive package such as an unlimited package or deviate from the 55-minute increment purchases.

How did you know this was what you had to do with the credit CN?

Were there some instructions or an Internet Manager who advised you?

We have this for next year. On our Westerdam cruise, my 5* benefit was simply applied to whatever internet package I chose. I was hoping this would be the same.

I think Crew News , in his trip report , said you had to buy the $55 packages for the $200 internet package credit.

I remember thinking it looks like I either only buy 3 packages for $165 and lose the rest of the credit..or kick in $20 to use it all.

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It's one device at a time. Let's say that you want to use a phone and a laptop. You login with the laptop. Then when you are done, you log out. You can then log in with the phone.

Crew News, $100 for 55 minutes? Are you sure that is right? Surely they have packages cheaper than that! Is it just a log in and password that either of us can use or are we restricted to just one device?

 

 

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My apologies. We had 200 free minutes and the explanation that I gave above was for the process to redeem that. I misread that you had $200 in internet credit. I don't know how to redeem that credit but someone else may.

How reliable and fast can we expect the ship's wifi to be?

We're not planning to "surf" a great deal but will be needing it to check emails and telecoms via VOIP.

We'll be on the Veendam 07/01/17 from Montreal to Boston.

I thought I read somewhere that $250 buys you unlimited for 7days.

Correct?

From what I read you purchase your plan onboard and not ahead.

Correct?

How reliable and fast can we expect the ship's wifi to be?

We're not planning to "surf" a great deal but will be needing it to check emails and telecoms via VOIP.

We'll be on the Veendam 07/01/17 from Montreal to Boston.

I thought I read somewhere that $250 buys you unlimited for 7days.

Correct?

 

From what I read you purchase your plan onboard and not ahead.

Correct?

Internet is variable. It can be pretty good (considering it's satellite) and not so good. With your itinerary, I suspect you should not have issues. It's certainly not as fast as at home.

Unlimited internet is NOT available on all of the ships. The last thing I heard the Veendam wasn't offering it yet, but $250 will buy you a lot of minutes so if the ship doesn't have unlimited, log in to download your emails then log off and you can do your replies off line and then log in and send them.

And yes, you are correct. You need to purchase it on board.

hope this helps a bit.

I knew we couldn't use both our devices at same time but have seen some discussion of being restricted to one "registered" device, glad to hear we will both have access on our own device. I have not been able to find anything on the HAL website on what packages or prices are available so I'm hoping $200 will get us both thru the week. Thanks to all for the info!

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Was on the Maasdam a month ago and it's $ 55 for 100 minutes, which was enough for me for 2 weeks, just e-mail and occasional FB, prepare e-mails and pictures before logging in. For serious internet research I took my small 13" laptop ashore and used local free wifi to get on the internet.

In response to someone else's question: How fast is the wifi. The o/b wifi is quick enough. The broadband connection to the shore via the ship's satellite system is the limiting factor. In certain areas the satellite coverage is spotty, and the more users on the system the slower the connection gets. Best time is late at night or early in the morning, usually not many users then.

Generally speaking, the WiFi has always been about ISDN speed at a minimum. (That's 128kbps.) I've had speeds as high as T1 (1.54mbps) on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2014. Last month on the Eurodam, the speeds were so slow and the latency was so bad that I couldn't get a speed test to complete. I purchased 250 minutes for $100 and wound up not using 75 of them. Fortunately my cell phone carrier, T-Mobile, had fast speeds in all our ports and I could either use my phone or tether my laptop.

I'd recommend a lightweight mail client no matter which ship you're on. You don't want to rely on webmail if you can help it. Download your mail. Get offline. Do your work. Get online and upload.

Also turn off background updates and anything else that might suck up your bandwidth. Luckily, I've been working online since the days of the early modems, so I have all the tricks down.

A little off topic re: the cost of internet minutes, but FYI, I'm just recently off the Eurodam and intended to use my newer Kindle Fire HD for internet while sailing. Couldn't connect to ship's wifi to buy an internet plan once on board, so contacted guest services...told they have upgraded their OS on some ships, and some of the "newer" devices won't work. Disappointed... so had to use my phone instead.

Cindy

We received a $200 internet credit as an early booking bonus. Anyone know how that will work? Will we each get $100... I am much more of an internet geek than the friend I'm traveling with. Can we add OBC to the internet credit to buy a bigger package of minutes?

 

 

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Know this about the $200 internet credit. This is not a "use it or lose it " promo. The $200 is immediately credited to your account the first day and is basically an extra $200 in on board credit. We received this credit and never used it and it was just credited to our account. We waited until we reached the islands and some have a free wifi area just off the ship. On other islands if you buy a drink at one of the bars that has wifi, they give you a password. Save the $200 if you can for other payments on board.

Know this about the $200 internet credit. This is not a "use it or lose it " promo. The $200 is immediately credited to your account the first day and is basically an extra $200 in on board credit. We received this credit and never used it and it was just credited to our account. We waited until we reached the islands and some have a free wifi area just off the ship. On other islands if you buy a drink at one of the bars that has wifi, they give you a password. Save the $200 if you can for other payments on board.

Thank you :). I was wondering how this would work and it makes sense it would be OBC. Much appreciated :)

For those who were recently on the Eurodam, do they have the 'unlimited' packages?

I sailed this ship in 2012 and they had just upgraded, and I found the internet to be amazing and had no problems uploading photos.

While I'm on a cruise I work so this is important to me. Normally I don't do VOIP but on the Oasis in October the internet was so amazing I was able to make a lot of calls with virtually nothing dropping. VOIP on the E-dam would be a plus but I am not holding my breath.

Thanks!

My parents just got on the Westerdam last week and they are now doing unlimited packages. In their case for a 28 day cruise they had to pay $180.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam in November and it was still minute based packages and each person in the cabin could have their own account provided they were separate cabin accounts.