Internet Speed on Serenade of the Seas

Have a 10 night cruise booked on Serenade next Spring. Haven't sailed on this ship before and wondering if the internet is as fast as on the larger ships, i.e. Oasis, Anthem. I was on Jewel several years ago and it was painfully slow.

.5 Mbps on Surf and up to about 4 Mbps on Stream. 600+ ms ping (with either tier) is the real performance killer. Does not have the O3B system of Oasis.

... I was on Jewel several years ago and it was painfully slow.

Serenade uses the same internet service as Jewel did several years ago, but they have supposedly increased the bandwidth, so the download speed should be better, but as mentioned above, the latency (delay) will be the same poor performance.

Serenade uses the same internet service as Jewel did several years ago, but they have supposedly increased the bandwidth, so the download speed should be better, but as mentioned above, the latency (delay) will be the same poor performance.

Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB,

Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB,

That's all we use it for. On Serenade TA last month even kept a reliable signal while between Greenland and Iceland (checking on our Florida kids: middle of hurricane) which is supposedly a hard place to keep a satellite lock. It is much better than it was even a year or so ago, even worked when we lost TV signal (news was only drivel from CNN, so it was a welcome loss).

Never tried streaming anything - but for light use it worked well for us.

I am onboard now. Regular (non-stream) is very slow.

Here are my speedtest results:

Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps

Slightly faster than old school dialup modems

I am onboard now. Regular (non-stream) is very slow.

 

Here are my speedtest results:

Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps

 

Slightly faster than old school dialup modems

Prettry poor. Thanks for the info.

We were on Serenade last Thanksgiving and had surf and stream. We were able to watch some TV on my laptop with our FIOS, even streamed an HBO movie with only minor glitches.

This was an 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise.

Here are my speedtest results:

Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps

That's the best Surf numbers I've ever seen, especially the ping which I've not seen below 600.

That's the best Surf numbers I've ever seen, especially the ping which I've not seen below 600.

Are you seeing the decimal points?

Are you seeing the decimal points?

Yes, the .5 Mbps download speed cap for Surf is usually a pretty definite limit so surprised to see anything above it.

Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB,

I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues. Yet I did read the posts of others, who stated it was slow. That was not my experience. I'm wondering if cabin location could be a factor?

I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues.

Describing internet performance is about as subjective as food. Thankfully for VOOM, we have objective measures such as ping and download speed.

I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues. Yet I did read the posts of others, who stated it was slow. That was not my experience. I'm wondering if cabin location could be a factor?

Could be, we were forward, closer proximity to the bridge when we streamed FIOS.

I am forward (7002) ans ahd the SURF package, not the SURF and STREAM package.

I was told by their tech support people my performance is good (for this ship) but it about 1/2 of what it would be on other ships because of the technology they have on Serenade.

Trying to do any browsing of the news, with photo intensive sites, can be painful.

I am forward (7002) ans ahd the SURF package, not the SURF and STREAM package.

 

I was told by their tech support people my performance is good (for this ship) but it about 1/2 of what it would be on other ships because of the technology they have on Serenade.

 

Trying to do any browsing of the news, with photo intensive sites, can be painful.

That's why you need stream also. We were in the cabin above you on deck 8.

That's why you need stream also..

Stream will not help much on a non O3B ship like Serenade. It's not lack of download speed which kills performance (Stream is almost 10x faster than Surf) it's latency which is the same for both tiers..

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sounds like ppl have had differing experiences. I'm not sailing Serenade until end of March so I'll decide if it's worth the cost (and possible frustration) closer to my sail date.:-)

Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November?

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Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November?

Haven't seen any info from the cruise line on this, but it's possible.

Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November?

It didn't happen on any other similar vintage ship during their dry docks.