cuddylier

Hi

I can see Ambassador has relatively recently overhauled their wifi packages meaning there is now 3 tiers: https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/on-board-experience/whats-on-board/wifi/

Has anyone any experience of the speeds on each package tier? 

I wonder if the value has a speed boost over the basic package or if not, how they enforce the no "browsing" while allowing "emails" (there's so many email providers, I doubt they've whitelisted them all specifically) and "messaging" to continue to function, does suggest there's a speed difference but the FAQ says "Premium plan users will benefit from faster speeds" and doesn't mention speed in relation to the other tiers.

Thanks

I was on NCL Sun in December 2022 and had the standard whole cruise wifi package, the premium package was not offered.

There is deep packet inspection (DPI) going on, well known VPNs like openvpn were just completely blocked on all ports, including TCP 443. It was possible to access http/https on any port, not just 80/443, which told me it had to be DPI rather than them simply blocking all ports except 80/443.

Wireguard sort of worked but was incredibly slow on multiple servers I have a wireguard server hosted on e.g. 0.05Mb/s - it was just my assumption that wireguard doesn't like high latency (NCL Sun latency was 500 - 700ms) rather than it being completely blocked.

A TCP VPN like v2ray that pretends to be normal web traffic worked perfectly as expected as it just looked like normal web traffic to the DPI firewall. I was able to max out the full 7Mb/s download and 1Mb/s upload.

Just wondering if anyone knows if you could use the Voom wifi connection and create a local network. You'd need some sort of portable router I guess. Was thinking about using hotspot but don't think that works on wifi.

My Samsung Galaxy S7 (Android) is able to create a hotspot from a connected wifi network so it is possible but you'll find that if any of you are trying to access the internet at once, that you'll not be able to access anything due to two devices trying to access via a single mac address at once. Worth a go but just be prepared for it to not be ideal or usable.

I also have never used a travel agent (always booked directly on rccl.com )

I'm wondering how one goes about booking "extras" ... can I purchase dining, excursions & beverage packages directly as I usually do, or would the travel agent have to book those for me?

I've always been able to book e.g. internet packages via the cruise planner myself when the cruise was booked via a travel agent so see no reason why not, excursions, dining etc all shows up in my cruise planner too.

We managed to get our travel agent to make reservations at the last moment and I'm so glad we did. The cruise compasses from May indicated the welcome show was at 7:45pm so we made a reservation for 8:30pm but turns out the show is actually at 8:15pm so we went to the MDR desk (which had a very long line) to change the reservation for tonight to be later so we could see the show but they said they're completely booked up and there are no other times available from 8pm onwards. If we didn't have any reservations, I don't know what we'd have done! Will just have to try and sneak out of the show early tonight unfortunately.

When we sailed on Allure last month, two cabins were booked at the same time and I made reservations for Anytime dining for all 4 of us on the cruise planner. My daughter-in-law's father had reservations also, but they weren't linked with ours as they used another agency and didn't give us their info.

 

The first night we went to the Dining Room and said we'd like all 6 of us to be seated together and that whenever we would have dinner there, we were all seated together. We explained we were all traveling together. We didn't have any problem at all. I even think that they might have had a slightly later time than we did as I did our reservations the first day they were open.

 

The only problem I could see is if you had Anytime Dining and they had first seating as an example. I think if you all have Anytime dining, if you all show up at your reservation time and explain the situation, they will do everything possible to help you.

Thanks for sharing, I think everything should turn out okay in that case then :)

Really can't say which would be better. Worst case, you can all just show up without having any reservations.

I think I'll just chance it and go with none to avoid confusion, thanks as always Bob!

I don't think that can hurt. If you cannot get the reservations pre-cruise, then go to the MTD desk as soon as you board and try to get everyone at the same table then.

Do you think I would be at a disadvantage if I just didn't bother making reservations and just turned up on the first day to make them? It's going to take quite a while doing it via the cruise planner since I have to repeat it for both accounts.

I'm not 100% sure that bookings need to be linked to be put on the same MTD reservation.

 

However, you can try calling this number and seeing if they can tell you the problem: 0800 018 2020.

Do you think it's worth me booking the same time for each separate reservation anyway? I don't want to end up arriving at the dining room and they seat us at two separate tables, 2 to a table :)

I'm not 100% sure that bookings need to be linked to be put on the same MTD reservation.

 

However, you can try calling this number and seeing if they can tell you the problem: 0800 018 2020.

I rang but unfortunately the UK office is closed. My problem is that the cruise planner is no longer usable tomorrow as my cruise is on the 20th August, they suggested I just call at 9am and see if they can help me at all but it's too late by then.

I wonder if your reservations are not linked for dining?

The two reservations should be linked as a single person is paying for both and they were both done at the same time by the same travel agent. It seems to suggest even if they weren't linked, that I could add any guest from any other reservation I wanted regardless?

Hi

I'm trying to add guests to a my time dining reservation on the cruise planner but when I search using the name and cruise reservation number, it says: "Changes are currently not supported for the reservation number entered".

It's possible for the other guest's reservation number to book my time dining when logging the cruise planner via their reservation number so it doesn't make sense. No my time dining reservations existed on the other guest's cruise planner when I tried adding them to begin with so there was no conflicts etc. I also tried doing it the other way around, adding my reservation to their my time dining reservation but got the same error.

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks

Congrats Bob! :)

I soda package with Voom for the Adventure, does that include FaceTime??

Both surf and surf and stream plans allow you to do anything, it's just the speed difference that limits you.

I believe I've heard of people using facetime even on the surf plan, I believe the soda package + voom is 'surf and stream' (it'll say) meaning facetime video calling should work fine. Facetime audio only will definitely work regardless.

Must buy it on board to get discount correct?

 

 

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Correct.

Surf only was $15.85pd on board last month with the Italian VAT included.

 

 

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Thanks, I thought it would be around that, pre-booking in the UK at least saves paying VAT so looks like cruise planner is a considerably better deal even with my 15% platinum discount.

My thoughts exactly. I'm sailing on the Brilliance on August 17, I noticed these two options with about $2/day difference. When I called RCCL and inquired about the differences in these two options I didn't get a definitive response.

From what I've been reading here on CC it seems that the Brilliance doesn't even have the upgraded "Voom." Are they selling the same product with 2 different prices?

 

 

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From what I know, there is still a speed difference, surf and stream is something like 2 - 4Mb/s download and surf around 0.5 - 1.5Mb/s from speed tests I've seen.

So not only is Surf available and it's on sale, but the diff between the two tiers is smaller than usual.

Yeah, the prices being so close seemed strange to me, I think I'll just go for surf and stream for all the difference. Surf and stream was over £4/day more expensive only a few weeks ago so I think I'll jump at it (I know I could have cancelled and reordered if I ordered at the higher price a week or so ago anyway)!

Hi

I'm going on the Jewel of the Seas on 20th August.

Just checked my cruise planner today and noticed that the surf voom plans have shown up, I know it has been discussed here that you can't usually buy it on the cruise planner. It didn't show up about a week ago when the surf and stream package only was shown (although at over £4/day more than the price shows now).

And the surf and stream package is also available of course as before:

Just checked and it is possible for only one of us to get the package. Having said this, is it possible to drink share? Could I use his card to get myself a lemonade for example? I know one card =one drink.

This is supposed to be against the rules but is technically possible as long as you're not seen doing it.

Do you need to mention anything about the diamond coupons when ordering a drink from a bar or does their till automatically know to use the coupons first rather than charging the seapass account?

Also, if there is another "adult" in the cabin, they have to get it too.

Was this not only for some Harmony sailings as a trial?

I'm in the UK too, surf and stream plan seems to be considerably cheaper than on board when you convert the pounds amount on the cruise planner (£11.51) to dollars even when taking into account my 15% C&C discount. My cruise has 21% VAT so buying pre-cruise avoids that too.

That's just my situation though, best to check the cruise planner as the prices seem to vary cruise to cruise. If you want just the surf plan then the only option is to buy it on board.

The tendering in Santorini easy - requires you to take a funucular/cable car up and down tomgo to towns... Don't miss the ruins of Akrotiri - go with a private guide. It was amazing!! if u are on an excursion thru Royal there are busses and you don't take cable car once off tender. The ports entire cruise were wonderful. we had a great CC group and many of us planned private excursions which everyone innour group enjoyed doing that way... so small excursion sizes and less cost than thru Royal. if you need recommendations of private happy to share names. cruise was very port intensive and I need a post cruise vacation. or at least a few days of sleep and no walking!!! If Motown and Tenors are on your cruise..... put those 2 shows on your list. ps - remember anything you buy on board has 22% vat added. on board they were discounting dinners in the speacialy restaurants by 30%. those also are suject to VAT. No liquor bottles on sale on ship. No tobacco products on sale on ship. I prefer larger ships but larger ships can't do all of the ports on this iten.

Did you happen to see if the internet had VAT added on as well? Buying it via the cruise planner doesn't add VAT so might be beneficial for me to get it before going in August (different itinerary but still out of Civitavecchia so I assume the same VAT rules).

I'm sorry I don't understand what that means :confused: I'll just take away "it will sort of suck" ;):D

 

She just started getting into this stuff several months ago so I'm wondering if she is going to want to play on board.

200ms = 200 milliseconds of latency. Latency is how long it takes to go from the ship to the game's servers and back to the ship, 200ms isn't bad at all for a ship, the satellite system on other RCCL ships that don't have O3b is over 600ms, most games if they're on a mobile device are probably okay on the 200ms O3b stuff.

TLDR: The game will probably be okay but just be prepared for some delays/slowness in game.