23 days suffering with Westerdam Internet.

The Westerdam was supposed to have a new and improved Internet system and was the only ship selected from the HA line to get these improvements. I purchased the Premium package for the best possible service. After being on the ship for 23 days, I've seen no improvement at all. Internet service is just as horrible as any ship I've sailed with high orbit satellite. 1000-1500 ms ping rates means web pages will still take forever to load.

More folks today want to be connected and get upset waiting forever for email and web pages to load. Typical wait times are 2-7 minutes if it works at all.

I've enjoyed the Westerdam's good food, smaller crowds, no lines, not waiting for an elevator (I do a lot of waiting on the large ships). I like everything but the slow intermittent Internet.

Glad you like Westerdam's good food, etc. but not the Internet.

Hope you are enjoying your ports.

From reading various posts from cruisers on various ships, it seems that HAL has been unable to solve the Internet speed problem. I guess it is what it is - not good.

We gave up using internet services on all cruise lines. The only time we may use it is to consume free minutes.

It was always too slow and the price too expensive given the speed. Now we simply wait until we are in port. After a day ashore we go back to a café and upload/download to our hearts content.

I always purchase internet and we end up spending too much $$ because it is so slow so we end up adding minutes.

We used the new plans on Carnival a couple of weeks ago and I cannot brag about them enough. Husband and I each got the middle package, $60 each for the entire cruise, unlimited use. Just as fast as on land. We could iMessage with each other and back home. We were literally able to carry on a conversation with a friend thru Facebook.

I hope they spread the love to all of their brands because it far superior to anything I have used in the past.

The Westerdam was supposed to have a new and improved Internet system and was the only ship selected from the HA line to get these improvements. I purchased the Premium package for the best possible service. After being on the ship for 23 days, I've seen no improvement at all. Internet service is just as horrible as any ship I've sailed with high orbit satellite. 1000-1500 ms ping rates means web pages will still take forever to load.

 

More folks today want to be connected and get upset waiting forever for email and web pages to load. Typical wait times are 2-7 minutes if it works at all.

I've enjoyed the Westerdam's good food, smaller crowds, no lines, not waiting for an elevator (I do a lot of waiting on the large ships). I like everything but the slow intermittent Internet.

When we were last on the Westerdam she just started the new system. At that time the service speed varied greatly, depending on how far we were from North America.

I thought at the time that offering unlimited usage might be a mistake, as it could tax the system and lower speeds. I wonder if that is the problem?

Just as fast as on land.

http://gcaptain.com/carnival-unveils-hybrid-wireless-network-high-speed-internet-sea/

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That's really too bad. Perhaps due to where you were located? The internet on the Westerdam worked incredibly well for us last year on our repositioning cruise, and we also had the premium package.

Being in the west Caribbean where the new hybrid system has been deployed is a lot different than being in the South Pacific.

 

http://gcaptain.com/carnival-unveils-hybrid-wireless-network-high-speed-internet-sea/

 

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Yeah I guess you are right.

This is very unfortunately which maybe the reason they did not place this system on the Koningsdam but that leads to the question how can OTHER LINES have a much better system with fast internet and a cheaper price???? I was on the NCL Jewel in November and purchased their internet unlimited plan which was only $199 for the week and for the most part the speed was great definitely far better than it was on the Koningsdam for drastically less. I stayed logged in all the time and never had a problem. Not sure why HAL cannot quite get this right :confused: I suspect it is it is a matter of cost and that if HAL would just invest the money to begin with that could solve the problem.

But I do have to agree with what was posted prior that for the Westerdam it could also just be the location of the ship. If she was sailing a route closer to North America there and connecting with a satellite there may not be any issues but in the South Pacific it may cut down on access.

But I do have to agree with what was posted prior that for the Westerdam it could also just be the location of the ship. If she was sailing a route closer to North America there and connecting with a satellite there may not be any issues but in the South Pacific it may cut down on access.

The land-based antennas for the hybrid system have not been deployed in the Med yet. Let's wait and see how fast the K's system is in the Caribbean.[/size]

As I mentioned previously, on our Panama Canal cruise the closer we got to the US the much faster the speed, even though there seemed to be more people using the system (last day for boarding passes, etc), so this could be the problem.

From what I gather this is strictly a Carnival Corp. handled issue and not a HAL group issue whatsoever.

Being in the west Caribbean where the new hybrid system has been deployed is a lot different than being in the South Pacific.

 

http://gcaptain.com/carnival-unveils-hybrid-wireless-network-high-speed-internet-sea/

 

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AGREED! We were in the SP on the West back in '12 doing the 30 day cruise at the same time when I had to update my benefits choices for work. On land that process takes all of 5 mins to breeze through all to confirm I want to same coverage as the prior year/confirm I'm not a tobacco user.

On the Westy in the middle of the Pacific, it took hours. I was disconnected once at the 75 min mark (thankfully my progress was automatically saved) and then when I was able to reconnect it was another hour!

I knew it was going to be slow and I got the interwebz package just to do my benefits.

Now we just got off the Caribbean Princess in the greater Western Caribbean and the interwebz was faster than on the Westy, but that is to be expected based on the area.

That all said, I finger we'll each use a combined 10-15 mins per day on the interweb and only buy that amount. We're on vacation to escape life, not simply be in a different area doing the same daily routine.

Well I guess one outcome of having fairly slow internet at home n the suburbs of Sydney is that we are unlikely to be upset with slow speeds on a cruise.

Actually we arrived in Rome yesterday prior to our Med cruise in two weeks. Bought a Tim sim which we will use for phone and Internet when in port almost every day.

Staying with high orbit satellite is a doomed policy in delivering decent Internet. High ping rates (>500ms) will consistently result in poor performance.

The only way to deliver decent Internet is with low orbit satellite and the only company offering this service is O3b. Their ping rates are 276ms with 25 Mbps download.

Cruise lines not offering good Internet obviously don't sail their own lines, converse with fellow passengers or don't bother reading Cruise Critic.

Hey cruise lines! Remember Blockbuster? They didn't keep up either...

Well I guess one outcome of having fairly slow internet at home n the suburbs of Sydney is that we are unlikely to be upset with slow speeds on a cruise.

Actually we arrived in Rome yesterday prior to our Med cruise in two weeks. Bought a Tim sim which we will use for phone and Internet when in port almost every day.

Staying with high orbit satellite is a doomed policy in delivering decent Internet. High ping rates (>500ms) will consistently result in poor performance.

The only way to deliver decent Internet is with low orbit satellite and the only company offering this service is O3b. Their ping rates are 276ms with 25 Mbps download.

Cruise lines not offering good Internet obviously don't sail their own lines, converse with fellow passengers or don't bother reading Cruise Critic.

Hey cruise lines! Remember Blockbuster? They didn't keep up either...

Re: your Blockbuster analogy - what vacation options are you going to take up since the cruise lines won't listen to you? And why do you keep bringing this up here - no one here can do anything to help you?

Re: your Blockbuster analogy - what vacation options are you going to take up since the cruise lines won't listen to you? And why do you keep bringing this up here - no one here can do anything to help you?

Agree totally! And again......this is a person who has been on cruises (allegedly) for a total of nearly three years. And its possible that he has changed nick names.....but isn't it odd he has less than a 100 postings??? Just sayin'......

Re: your Blockbuster analogy - what vacation options are you going to take up since the cruise lines won't listen to you? And why do you keep bringing this up here - no one here can do anything to help you?

Maybe he works for O3b? Just a thought. :rolleyes:

We all know that, yes, cruise line execs do indeed cruise their own lines and do indeed have CC read. Making an issue of anything can actually bring results. Anyone remember the way the "new" wine policy read and the fuss made over it here? So, there is precedent for complaining here.

However, the results wanted by OP are likely made at a corporate level. 100+ ships aren't going to be re-configured for anything overnight. Something as technical as internet reception and distribution on board is quite an investment and, with this technology changing faster than some change socks, keeping up most difficult at that scale.

First world problems are awful! :eek:;)

Work for O3b? Nope! Totally retired. Any j.o.b. Gets in the way of cruising.

The problem is, of a 30 day cruise 20 days were sea days due to bad weather. I will not fault the line for high winds, but for Internet that sucks. Yes.

If you are going to keep folks on a ship for 20 days you need good Internet.

Work for O3b? Nope! Totally retired. Any j.o.b. Gets in the way of cruising.

The problem is, of a 30 day cruise 20 days were sea days due to bad weather. I will not fault the line for high winds, but for Internet that sucks. Yes.

If you are going to keep folks on a ship for 20 days you need good Internet.

Couldn't the bad weather have also adversely affected the satellite connectivity? I think you may have answered your own question there.

We gave up using internet services on all cruise lines. The only time we may use it is to consume free minutes.

 

It was always too slow and the price too expensive given the speed. Now we simply wait until we are in port. After a day ashore we go back to a café and upload/download to our hearts content.

Waiting to get into port would NOT work on this cruise Iancal. I am on board and the wifi is very limited and weak and nearly non existent in other ports. And, of course, there is the assumption that you DO get into port (we have missed a couple).

That's all good on some cruises, but I would not recommend counting on it on this one.

Live, from the Westerdam

This is very unfortunately which maybe the reason they did not place this system on the Koningsdam but that leads to the question how can OTHER LINES have a much better system with fast internet and a cheaper price???? I was on the NCL Jewel in November and purchased their internet unlimited plan which was only $199 for the week and for the most part the speed was great definitely far better than it was on the Koningsdam for drastically less. I stayed logged in all the time and never had a problem. Not sure why HAL cannot quite get this right :confused: I suspect it is it is a matter of cost and that if HAL would just invest the money to begin with that could solve the problem.

But I do have to agree with what was posted prior that for the Westerdam it could also just be the location of the ship. If she was sailing a route closer to North America there and connecting with a satellite there may not be any issues but in the South Pacific it may cut down on access.

Only $199 for a week??? That is no bargain IMO.

Putting this in perspective, our internet for 33 days is $199 for the medium package and $299 for the premium package if memory is still serving me.

That's less than $10 a day and it is unlimited.

Unlike last year where we never logged out unless we wanted to, you are logged out automatically after so many hours (probably a good thing) and need to log back in.

We did have serious issues for two days and while they said they had changed the satellite it was around Hawaii with the naval base and one can't help wondering if something was going on there. They have changed the satellite focus again and we lost Internet for only a short period of time.

It's not as fast as last year when we did the Panama, no question, but we are in the Pacific and there have been a lot of storms. I don't know enough about this stuff but I would have to hazard a guess that with the same Internet and slower speed that it must have something to do with either a) location or b) storms.

Only $199 for a week??? That is no bargain IMO.

 

Putting this in perspective, our internet for 33 days is $199 for the medium package and $299 for the premium package if memory is still serving me.

 

That's less than $10 a day and it is unlimited.

 

Unlike last year where we never logged out unless we wanted to, you are logged out automatically after so many hours (probably a good thing) and need to log back in.

 

We did have serious issues for two days and while they said they had changed the satellite it was around Hawaii with the naval base and one can't help wondering if something was going on there. They have changed the satellite focus again and we lost Internet for only a short period of time.

 

It's not as fast as last year when we did the Panama, no question, but we are in the Pacific and there have been a lot of storms. I don't know enough about this stuff but I would have to hazard a guess that with the same Internet and slower speed that it must have something to do with either a) location or b) storms.

Jacqui, my point of reference for stating ONLY $199 for unlimited was from the 7 day Koningsdam charging $250.00 for 1000 minutes, which is NOT unlimited. But I went into conserve mode writing many things off line and ended up having left over minutes....could I have bought a cheaper package...probably not but I did not have unlimited and paid $51.00 more than I paid for unlimited on NCL. Which BTW my Unlimited on NCL was extremely fast, our first Sea day was the day of the NCL Escape Inauguration with Pit Bull, I was streaming it LIVE while we had lunch in the Main Dining Room and had Servers coming over to watch it on my iPhone 6 plus phone. I could have never streamed a Live broadcast like that on HAL.