Does ship WiFi work while in ports

We are on an Insignia cruise to Cuba and will be overnighting onboard in Havana. Will we have email access while on the ship?

It often seems to go down on one’s disembarkation day.

Otherwise, while in port, it works to varying degrees , in different ports, on different days, at varying times of the day.

The portal is only so large and the ship uses what it needs for ship operations and relaying of information back to Miami . Just because it’s available doesn’t mean you’ll actually be able to utilize it at any given time.

We are on an Insignia cruise to Cuba and will be overnighting onboard in Havana. Will we have email access while on the ship?

Granted the bandwidth might be severally restricted and even down at times, just speculation, but for the length of time you are there you can hopefully squeeze out a few emails. I suggest you compose off line to same time.

If you don't get the answer before you leave it would be helpful for those after you if you would come back and post your results.

I'm going to ask on some Insignia roll calls. There are several cruises to Cuba this month. I'll report back here.

We are on an Insignia cruise to Cuba and will be overnighting onboard in Havana. Will we have email access while on the ship?

I got one answer that said yes, at least in Havana. The caveat was that the ship’s limit on connections might be stretched and even if you get on limited bandwidth will slow you down and might limit what you can do.

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Not knowing about Cuba, in almost all ports the terminals have WiFi, and their non satellite systems are much faster than the ship's WiFi.

I agree about "most ports" but my knee jerk reaction for Cuba is that they probably don't allow their locals to access the "real" Internet directly under the present regime.

China certainly does not.

We are on an Insignia cruise to Cuba and will be overnighting onboard in Havana. Will we have email access while on the ship?

We just left Havana on Insignia and did have access to the ship’s wifi, although sometimes very slow. We also saw many internet wifi spots on shore that you pay to use. We did not use any of them, but saw many people gathered at these spots.

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We just left Havana on Insignia and did have access to the ship’s wifi, although sometimes very slow. We also saw many internet wifi spots on shore that you pay to use. We did not use any of them, but saw many people gathered at these spots.

 

 

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Would you know if these WiFi spots were like the ones we know in the U.S. where it's pretty easy, and free to use the wifi, or do you have to pay for them or what? If pay, do you need CUCs or CUPs? Was the wifi mostly in hotels? Also, not to hijack the thread, but there's little on the Ports of Call section about this and many people are curious: What if anything did you have to do to go Cuba? Can I assume that you were allowed to go off the ship and do what you wanted (including private excursions), as long as you filled out the affidavit certifying your reason for going to Cuba? Did Oceania try to steer you into taking their excursions so as to comply with the revised travel regs?

I agree that composing offline and sending when you can is the best way to go while on a cruise ship. Also, avoid sending large photos. If everyone did those two things, perhaps internet on cruise ships would be faster.

Would you know if these WiFi spots were like the ones we know in the U.S. where it's pretty easy, and free to use the wifi, or do you have to pay for them or what? If pay, do you need CUCs or CUPs? Was the wifi mostly in hotels?

Cuba has little internet available to the public. The wifi in this thread is referring to the ship's wifi while in port which I think will be the most usable for you. Large hotels such as Hotel Nacional have internet but from a review:

"except internet which is a pain to have in all Cuba - it takes you some time to accept almost 2EUR/h charge and enter some 10 digit code every time you want to connect, but if you need it you got to do it" That was from someone staying at the hotel.

Another wrote they visited the hotel to have a mojito and use their wifi but did not comment on how well it worked, if at all.

If you must use wifi while in Cuba I suggest the best place is on ship and even that can have limited bandwidth as per others on this board.

It would be helpful if you report back on what you learn when you return

Cuba has little internet available to the public. The wifi in this thread is referring to the ship's wifi while in port which I think will be the most usable for you. Large hotels such as Hotel Nacional have internet but from a review:

"except internet which is a pain to have in all Cuba - it takes you some time to accept almost 2EUR/h charge and enter some 10 digit code every time you want to connect, but if you need it you got to do it" That was from someone staying at the hotel.

 

Another wrote they visited the hotel to have a mojito and use their wifi but did not comment on how well it worked, if at all.

 

If you must use wifi while in Cuba I suggest the best place is on ship and even that can have limited bandwidth as per others on this board.

 

It would be helpful if you report back on what you learn when you return

Thank you for your information. I'm on Viking Ocean for this cruise, which might or might not have better reception. In any case though, I'll likely report back in December in the Ports of Call section on what I found. I'm expecting wifi to be spotty and slow in Cuba, even while on the ship. At least I'm an early riser, so maybe if I get up early before a lot of people are turning on their devices, I can find some wifi!