bottsjw

@ludalex The General Manager of the Joy confirmed that Starlink will be installed during the dry dock. In fact, most ships in the NCL fleet will have Starlink by end of 2024 and "all" by end of 2025. The Starlink team is traveling with us and make prep work to have the system online for the return. Also, access points for on-ship WiFi are being upgrade to improve coverage. Not aware of any additional cost once the link is upgraded. That's TBD. As for the package, you will need the premium for VPN and streaming services. However, premium is NOT faster than basic, it simply unlocks those capabilities. I suggest using your free 150 mins for the first day, or as long as you can. The Internet package will drop progressively by $30 per day through day four. So long as you still have minutes in the free package you can then get the upgrade for unlimited access for the rest of the trip. DM me if you have questions. Elements show, Magician, Aerialists and Comedians will be with us on the return trip. They're all pretty good thus far.

First, you won't need Premium for Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc. The Premium isn't faster than Basic, but does unlock VPN ports (IPSec, L2TP) and streaming IP servers. I am able to connect to my private Wireguard server using Basic Internet through which you can stream. Send me a DM if you have questions about how to do this. Regarding Starlink ... This thread may be getting a bit stale but a few quick updates from NCL management ... The Norwegian Joy will be upfit with Starlink during dry dock in early February. There will also be additional upgrades for the on-ship WiFi to improve coverage. I'll provide a status/speed test during the 13-Feb transatlantic. At the moment (pre-upgrade), it is bearable but that's partly due to good weather and low passenger capacity. I'm able to hold a Teams audio call and had a couple of Zoom video calls but latency is VERY high (600-1100ms) which makes for serious lag. Throughput is consistently <1Mbsp, with a few bursts higher. The Norwegian Gem has "80%" of the Starlink equipment installed as of 2024-Jan. Didn't get any more detail than it's "nearly online." We're sailing the Norwegian Dawn on its way to dry dock in mid-April, which presumably will include an upgrade to Starlink. We'll be on it again in September 2024 so I'll post a "before and after." Our General Manager shared that "most" of the NCL fleet will be upgraded with Starlink by the end of 2024 and "all ships" by the end of 2025. Their feeling was that NCL may be one of the first lines to have the full fleet upgraded. Fingers crossed. FWIW, we work virtual so cruising is just a different office window with incredible service staff and amenities at the office! Today I saw two pods of porpoise diving the waves while on a Teams call. How often does anyone see that?!