Internet

[orchestrapal]

Just returned from Regatta and he new Internet company has not made many improvements. They claim that Oceania has not upgraded the equipment and therefore the speed is still snail-like.

In addition, with the old system, when you paid for a package and that package ended you continued to pay the package rate per minute. Not any more! We bought the largest package and found in the "small print" that when the package ends the rate converts to the most expensive/minute charge. For those on longer cruises this could get even more expensive than it already is!

[Mura]

I would say that is worth a vociferous complaint. I usually get a mid-size package and often have gone over.

 

I appreciated that if I did so, the discounted rate continued. If I go back to $.95/minute (or whatever it is for the basic rate) I will be beyond pi$$ed. We will see what happens in Alaska this August.

 

I know TPTB read our comments. Why is it that they refuse to credit the hostility engendered by the exorbitant internet prices for lousy service?

 

This is one area where Oceania is far WORSE than even the cheaper lines. When we were on NCL last year, the internet service was the ONE place where NCL surpassed Oceania. (Not that I would sail on NCL again just for the internet ...)

 

Mura

[LJRVancouver]

Didn't even bother with onboard internet - previously $100 didn't even download 3 days worth of messages. This time used on shore hot spots (only in 1 port were we unable to find hot spot)- fun searching out cafes with free wifi & enjoying a cup of java. Onboard we were unconnected and enjoyed being on vacation and being free from the outside world.

[orchestrapal]

Didn't even bother with onboard internet - previously $100 didn't even download 3 days worth of messages. This time used on shore hot spots (only in 1 port were we unable to find hot spot)- fun searching out cafes with free wifi & enjoying a cup of java. Onboard we were unconnected and enjoyed being on vacation and being free from the outside world.

 

For a number of reasons we do need to be connected. Personally I would not waste my port time looking for a hot spot nor would that do any good on a cruise with many sea days. It's great if it works for you but no excuse for Oceania not to provide better service in this one area.:(

[Mura]

Agreed, Orchestrapal.

 

Actually, I don't mind paying what I usually do. (I'd like it to cost less, of course.) But it's always been pretty close to what I need. I'm checking out on the most important mail -- I have lots of message boards where I participate on land but those are not active when I'm traveling. Personal messages are.

 

On occasion I search out an internet cafe in port ... but most of the time I don't want to be sitting in front of a computer when I'm in a foreign city! It's fine if we're in a small place where I now have time to play (as was the case in Hammerfest, Norway last summer). But I'm not going to go on shore just to find an internet cafe.

 

So to each his own!

 

But Oceania COULD do much better in this respect. I was surprised on our NCL transatlantic last year just how fast the connection was in the middle of the ocean. That certainly wasn't the case with Oceania.

 

But neither was it the case on the QE2 when he had ZERO connection in the North Atlantic.

 

Mura

[caribbeansun]

We were advised to prop open the door to the hallway, sit with our notebook on our lap just inside the door in order to download/upload emails. We would compose off-line and then log on just to send and receive and then shut off. The speed was barely acceptable but we knew that going in.

 

The part that I found amusing was that the signal strength from other ships that were in port was almost always far stronger in our stateroom compared to the signal from O.

 

Just returned from Regatta and he new Internet company has not made many improvements. They claim that Oceania has not upgraded the equipment and therefore the speed is still snail-like.

[orchestrapal]

We were advised to prop open the door to the hallway, sit with our notebook on our lap just inside the door in order to download/upload emails.

 

For FREE this might be acceptable. We spoke to several people that had no signal in their cabins.:(

[PaulMCO]

Mine last time on Insignia -- only worked from the toilet. :D

[JimandStan]

Mine last time on Insignia -- only worked from the toilet. :D

 

I SO don't want to know how you discovered that!

Note to self: Pack Clorox Disinfecting Wipes!

...and people ask what the Butlers are for...

[ocngypz]

I had intended on working throughout the duration of our cruise so I bought the 600 minute package for $300 to get the rate down to 50 cents per minute.

 

I didn't find the internet connection to be any slower than many other lines. I could connect to the wifi from 7060, though the Computer Manager told me I probably would not be able to.

 

However, I do not think they have suffcient bandwidth as some of my web-based reservation systems I needed to use would timeout before they loaded. It was most frustrating to say the least. I have never experienced this before on any line anywhere in the world... except for the middle of the Indian Ocean where there is a dead spot.

[comcox]

My personal experience with Oceania's internet last winter was that it had one of the poorest qualities at the most expensive price in the industry. HAL charges about one-half the rate for packages for internet provided by the same company--yes, it was slow, but at least you weren't paying a fortune. I just got off Swan Hellenic's Minerva which also has very slow internet, but I only paid 21 GBP (about $33) for 12 hours of internet! Oceania really has no excuse for their charges; it's deplorable.