BrentD

True, and I’m sure they’ve got each connection throttled. Guess it depends on what you’re wanting to do as well. I ran a couple speed tests and averaged about 80 down and 5 up connected to my router. Don’t think my wife was using it concurrently when I did those, so I’m guessing they’ve got it capped roughly around there per connection. Honestly pretty amazing for a ship in the middle of the ocean. And especially if the last time you used WiFi on a ship was 6 years ago like me. Had no issues with HD video streams. Watched bits and pieces of the Masters and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (we are from Augusta, so we like to keep up). Made a couple FaceTime calls no problem. Quality on my end was fine with some pixelation (as expected with 700+ms ping times), not sure about what was received from us. Probably was hit and miss with 5Mbps upload and those ping times. Starlink is definitely a game changer, but I agree they should be testing it as more of a utility with how connected everyone is now. Then again, if they don’t charge a premium for it they’ll have to upgrade their equipment and bandwidth to accommodate, which would just drive the cruise price up.

If you're technologically handy, bringing along a travel router is a much more economical option for your cabin. Only one "device" is logged in, but all your devices can access that "device". I've got my armor on for all the swords and daggers coming my way for suggesting it. 😏 (I'm also not your IT guy to help you figure it out)

Pretty much every cruise can get from port to port much faster than they actually do. But the longer you're on the ship, the more money you're spending. We just got off the Mardi Gras a couple weeks ago and noticed quite often we would be hauling tail for an hour or two and then all of a sudden we were using virtually no propulsion and practically drifting. Sometimes they can actually be avoiding a storm or rougher seas, but I'm convinced most of it is just to keep you on the ship longer. San Juan was our only stop where the port area wasn't almost entirely financed by the cruise line. It's not just a coincidence that just about every port has a Diamonds/Tanzanite International, Cariloha, Del Sol, Effy, etc.

With the prevalence of actually good wifi on cruise ships now, it's pretty easy to compare prices with the real world on anything but maybe the artwork for sale. But of course you've got to pay the overly inflated price for the wifi to do that, too. Kind of a no win situation there. On my last RCL cruise I found one of the aforementioned Invicta brand watches that I really liked during the "big sale" they had during the week. I looked it up on Amazon on my phone and saw I could get it for about $75 less there than the "sale" price on the ship. So I ordered it right there in the Promenade and had it waiting on me when I got home.

The fragrances, in my experience, are about the only thing on the ship that are competitively priced vs. land-based retailers. But then again, both places are overpriced for scented water. Jewelry and watch prices printed on the price tags are all manufactured fantasies on and off the ship so salespeople can pull out their trusty calculator and show you what a deal you're getting, even though the items have never been sold once for the price on the tag. Those inflated Invicta watch price tags are probably the worst on a cruise ship. Watches from Invicta marked $300+ you can buy on Amazon for $50, and on the ship they tell you what a deal you're getting at $115 or something.

You do select a time slot for disembarking even as self-assist. On the Mardi Gras a couple weeks ago we did self assist and picked a time slot in the app, but not a single person asked what our slot was, asked for any verification or anything like that. So I can't imagine that it's a must by any means.

For what it’s worth to anyone who finds this later. On the Mardi Gras the kiosks on board do NOT accept Carnival gift cards for payment. The option is there, but it is greyed out and unavailable. If you want to use gift cards to pay down your tab you have to do it at guest services on that ship.

Back from our cruise on the Mardi Gras. Not a word was said about the travel router. It worked exactly as intended. And for what it’s worth, with the premium plan we made FaceTime calls back home with little issue. This is the equipment I used: https://a.co/d/9WWe5ip Use this information as you would like and at your own risk (of people like some in this thread ridiculing you for it). 😏

Was on Mardi Gras last week. Chose the 8-8:20 am time slot for express self-debarkation. It was group G. Had I not been near the cabin door finishing up packing the toiletries and whatnot we still needed that morning we would’ve completely missed our group because they were calling for group G before 7:30 am. When you pick your time slot for debarkation it does say estimated time, but I would expect their estimate to be a bit more realistic than calling us nearly an hour earlier than the chosen slot. It wasn’t a huge deal and we were ready, though. We all had passports, which appeared to significantly speed up the process, judging from the long line of birth certificate holders we briskly whizzed by in the terminal. Photo recognition process was quick and easy. We were off the ship and out the terminal door by 8am.

Do you If you use express do you still pick a time slot and just don’t check your luggage for debark? Or is it a leave when you want type thing for express?

Wow! Congratulations!

I can't recall if it was Carnival for sure (though I'm pretty sure of it), but I recall making a payment with another card while on board and it didn't replace my card on file. I remember because I was charged an international use fee by my bank.

Thank you for some on the ground (or in the water? 😂) information!

You can definitely pay down your tab with cash. I just wasn’t sure about using another card to pay it down.

Where was this posted? I don't see it on Heald's Facebook page. I've got friends scheduled to depart on April 6th on Freedom and have been looking for updates.