Wifi Value vs. Premium Speeds

We will be on the Conquest in a few weeks and are debating purchasing the Value plan $10.25/day instead of the Premium plan $14.88/day.

Is there a major difference in internet speed between the two plans? Is it worth the extra $37 for an 8 day cruise? I need a plan to use for a few reports through my company VPN as well as checking e-mails.

We are thinking of also buying the Social plan $4/day for my wife to use on Facebook. Does that also work for e-mails or will she have to piggyback off my plan to check e-mails (couple of times a day).

We have tried all 3 plans at different times. The social plan does not give you access to email.... only specific social sites and airlines:

• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• Twitter
  
• LinkedIn
  
• Facebook Messenger
  
• WhatsApp
  

as well as the most popular airline sites:

• American Airlines
  
• Delta
  
• United
  
• Southwest
  
• Spirit
  
• Jet Blue
  
• Virgin America
  
• Air Canada
  
• Alaska Air
  
• Westjet
  
• Hawaii Airlines
  
• Allegiant
  

We didn't really see any big difference in the speed necessarily, but do keep in mind since it is satellite and you are running off the ship... it can be spotty no matter what plan you get. We have had problems off and on with all of them.

We were on Victory last week and really struggled with the internet plans we purchased. I purchased the value plan for email so i could work but had trouble opening emails. I upgraded

To premium but still had the same issues. I had to go to the promenade on 5 to have any access. Couldn't even use the Hub app from my room. It was very frustrating. Maybe that was ship specific???

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I don't believe any of the plans are VPN compatible.

We were on Conquest last week with the value plan. The speed was OK for email and the apps we used (airline app, Hub, etc.) but as others have mentioned, coverage on the ship was spotty. In our cabin on deck 7, the wifi would not connect as often as it did connect; in most of the public areas however, it was usually available with a pretty strong signal. I cannot answer the speed question with regard to the premium plan but I do know that a couple of the apps that I tried were choked off by the ship wifi, with a message stating I needed to upgrade to premium to be able to use them :mad:

We will be on the Conquest in a few weeks and are debating purchasing the Value plan $10.25/day instead of the Premium plan $14.88/day.

 

Is there a major difference in internet speed between the two plans? Is it worth the extra $37 for an 8 day cruise? I need a plan to use for a few reports through my company VPN as well as checking e-mails.

 

We are thinking of also buying the Social plan $4/day for my wife to use on Facebook. Does that also work for e-mails or will she have to piggyback off my plan to check e-mails (couple of times a day).

We've had both, and we agree with guest services who told us, buy the less expensive one as they both are not very good!;)

Carnival Premium Wifi is simply GARBAGE! The speed at which it operates on sea days or when the ship is full, is pathetic.

I get miserable every time I cruise Carnival because I have the same problem on all Carnival ships. I have to say that Royal Caribbean has a much better internet system with much better connectivity. On RCCL I can actually stream TV, Music, just about anything with their high speed package. Carnival's high speed internet can not do any of those things.

Carnival Premium Wifi is simply GARBAGE! The speed at which it operates on sea days or when the ship is full, is pathetic.

I get miserable every time I cruise Carnival because I have the same problem on all Carnival ships. I have to say that Royal Caribbean has a much better internet system with much better connectivity. On RCCL I can actually stream TV, Music, just about anything with their high speed package. Carnival's high speed internet can not do any of those things.

So....I cannot quite get a read on whether you like or dislike Carnival's wifi program.....

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We purchased last year on Freedom and had trouble the entire trip. The only times we were able to get into social media was early in the morning. I chalked that up to teens being asleep. Our next cruise we will only purchase the HUB plan.

Value was pretty bad on Liberty but I didn't upgrade because I heard premium was just as bad. I was simply trying to read my work emails on my phone. To give you an idea, I often could not open an email even if it only had 3 lines. I would have to come back hours later and then it would be available to view. Big emails with attachments? I had to do the open the email, have it not work, come back a few hours later trick and then it was available to open. Only then could I click the attachment, which I then had to wait until the next morning to view. In short, I don't think Carnival has a Wifi that is sufficient for working while on board. I would say the best way to describe email is plan on using it for non emergencies only. That said, texting with someone from my iphone to theirs worked pretty well with the value WiFi and was nearly instantaneous. The people here in CC saying that its really slow and generally complaining about it? Keep in mind most of them are complaining even though they were not trying to use the internet for a paying job that required their attention. You should really plan for NO computer connection with your office while on the ship.

The only cruise ship we had good wifi on was the MSC Divina! Agree Carnival's sucks, but we think RCL's does also!

Value was pretty bad on Liberty but I didn't upgrade because I heard premium was just as bad. I was simply trying to read my work emails on my phone. To give you an idea, I often could not open an email even if it only had 3 lines. I would have to come back hours later and then it would be available to view. Big emails with attachments? I had to do the open the email, have it not work, come back a few hours later trick and then it was available to open. Only then could I click the attachment, which I then had to wait until the next morning to view. In short, I don't think Carnival has a Wifi that is sufficient for working while on board. I would say the best way to describe email is plan on using it for non emergencies only. That said, texting with someone from my iphone to theirs worked pretty well with the value WiFi and was nearly instantaneous. The people here in CC saying that its really slow and generally complaining about it? Keep in mind most of them are complaining even though they were not trying to use the internet for a paying job that required their attention. You should really plan for NO computer connection with your office while on the ship.

Thanks for everyone's help. I think I will buy the Value plan and try to retrieve e-mails early morning while having a coffee. I will be in port on the day I need to upload a report on the VPN, so I will use my cell phone data. It will only cost $10 for the roaming and the data is included.

FWIW, I had the premium package on Sunshine last month and placed a ton of VOIP and video calls with no problem. I was in 9151, but I heard stories from people three decks below me who had poor quality.

I think it might also depend on where you are on the ship at any given time.

I've been on Fascination, Elation, Pride, Splendor, Magic and Glory in the past 18 months, and after I upgraded my laptop to a Surface Pro I had no problem. Plus my iphone 6SE. I did have some problems with my old ipad mini1. The only problem I had was sites, such as photobucket and Shutterfly that were blocked by Carnival. After finding that Premium was no better than value for that, I only bought the value plan. EM

FWIW, I had the premium package on Sunshine last month and placed a ton of VOIP and video calls with no problem. I was in 9151, but I heard stories from people three decks below me who had poor quality.

 

I think it might also depend on where you are on the ship at any given time.

In addition to my earlier comments, I believe this is true also. My SIL did a lot of VOIP calling back home due to an unexpected family illness and it seemed to depend on where he was when he made the calls - some areas his calls were constantly dropped, other areas he had a connection throughout the call.

Can you text on any plan without being charged from ur mobile company? 

17 minutes ago, Kychick said:

Can you text on any plan without being charged from ur mobile company? 

As long as you're using a texting/messaging service that works over wifi. If you're using an iPhone, iMessages work over the Value & Premium plans. Technically, Carnival won't say that iMessages work on the Social plan, but many people have reported that they do work.

To make sure you don't incur any charges from your cellular carrier, turn on Airplane Mode. This will disable your cellular antenna so it can't connect to the ship's cellular network. It may also disable your wifi as well, so if you're going to use an internet plan, you might have to turn wifi on again manually.

On 3/21/2018 at 3:11 PM, eaflorida said:

Carnival Premium Wifi is simply GARBAGE! The speed at which it operates on sea days or when the ship is full, is pathetic.

I get miserable every time I cruise Carnival because I have the same problem on all Carnival ships. I have to say that Royal Caribbean has a much better internet system with much better connectivity. On RCCL I can actually stream TV, Music, just about anything with their high speed package. Carnival's high speed internet can not do any of those things.

Go on vista or horizon.

On 3/21/2018 at 4:11 PM, eaflorida said:

Carnival Premium Wifi is simply GARBAGE! The speed at which it operates on sea days or when the ship is full, is pathetic.

I get miserable every time I cruise Carnival because I have the same problem on all Carnival ships. I have to say that Royal Caribbean has a much better internet system with much better connectivity. On RCCL I can actually stream TV, Music, just about anything with their high speed package. Carnival's high speed internet can not do any of those things.

On 3/21/2018 at 4:15 PM, jimbo5544 said:

 

 

 

So....I cannot quite get a read on whether you like or dislike Carnival's wifi program.....

 

 

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I don’t think @eafloridais a fan of Carnival’s WiFi.

That might change when Carnival gets MedallionNet though.

25 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

 

I don’t think @eafloridais a fan of Carnival’s WiFi.

 

That might change when Carnival gets MedallionNet though.

Have not seen any concrete plans for Carnival deployment, even Arnold was vague in his interview.  

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Have not seen any concrete plans for Carnival deployment, even Arnold was vague in his interview.  

They’ve invested too much time and money. John Padgett will make sure it finds its way to Carnival and the remaining brands. He always pushed the envelope at Disney.

Ocean Medallion is simply a tool that allows them to better manage guest logistics and understand their passengers in greater detail to capture revenue that would have previously been lost.

The Internet speeds on Carnival will be improved soon as it makes its way around the Carnival Corp fleet.

It would have been nice if they were doing upgrades during covid, but we know they are scared to spend money right now.