How to claim free WiFi time??

[bazzaw]

Having realised that we will get some free wifi on some of our coming Cunard cruises and never having received anything like this before elsewhere, I am wondering just how you go about actually claiming this time onboard??

 

Slightly compounded by the fact that this entitlement will come about on the cruise after our next one - which itself starts only 1 day after the next one ends.

 

Any advice please?

 

Barry

[Glenndale]

All you have to do is purchase a package for the amount of minutes that you are entitled to, this will be charged to your account with a balancing 'refund'. Net result free internet.

[Jim Avery]

All you have to do is purchase a package for the amount of minutes that you are entitled to, this will be charged to your account with a balancing 'refund'. Net result free internet.

 

Yes, just what we did recently. Log in onto the ships site (it will come up the first time you try to get on line) and follow the prompts for "new user". If you do not chose a package, you will be billed per minute as you go. Much more pricey. Easy to fill in the blanks. Pay particular attention to the logout information about phones and iPads. If you do not log out like they want, your minutes will continue to run. And, as has been mentioned here before, it is much slower than you might be used to and reception in the cabins is "iffy" at best. Drops in connection are common. All in all, worked about like any other ship. We used my 8 hours and 3 of Lois's 4 hours in 11 days.:eek: That must be a sign of addiction.:D

[bazzaw]

All you have to do is purchase a package for the amount of minutes that you are entitled to, this will be charged to your account with a balancing 'refund'. Net result free internet.

 

OH!! - I can see how that would work - but it is a bit weird - and how would anybody know to do this without asking stooopid questions on a Forum ( like me :D)

 

Also - fully understanding (from personal and other's experience) cruiseline administration's proclivity to mess up the smallest administartive details and the resultant great effort sometimes necessary to get them to correct their stuff up - how would you ensure that they have or will credit your account with a balancing refund??? :)

 

Barry

[Jim Avery]

At any time, the Reception (Pursers) area staff will print out a current statement of your on board account. We checked for just the same reasons you mentioned. Next day, the charge and the "loyalty discount" were on the printout. No Worries.:D

[3rdGenCunarder]

Are the World Club minutes still for use only on the ship's computers? On QE2 I always used my laptop, but I thought on QM2, the world club minutes wouldn't apply to my laptop.

[Andiamo]

Are the World Club minutes still for use only on the ship's computers? On QE2 I always used my laptop, but I thought on QM2, the world club minutes wouldn't apply to my laptop.

 

I used them on my iPad in my cabin. The World Club "freebie" came and went pretty darn fast, and I ended up buying two packages after that for around $89 each. There is no such thing as free wi fi on a ship. I hate being a non educated consumer. I am sure I have the old dog syndrome. I wish they made a pill for it.

 

Jeanne

 

PS: I was surprised to see the WC Credit for usage appear right away. I had been under the impression that you got the credit at the end of your voyage.

[Underwatr]

I used the free credit on the October TA (first time eligible). The billing statement showed that the credit was applied several days after the usage charge was applied (interestingly, my wife's credit was timestamped as being applied a half hour before her usage charge, but that's probably a timestamp anomaly). So be patient and it should appear by the endof the voyage.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I used them on my iPad in my cabin. The World Club "freebie" came and went pretty darn fast, and I ended up buying two packages after that for around $89 each. There is no such thing as free wi fi on a ship. I hate being a non educated consumer. I am sure I have the old dog syndrome. I wish they made a pill for it.

 

Jeanne

 

PS: I was surprised to see the WC Credit for usage appear right away. I had been under the impression that you got the credit at the end of your voyage.

 

I think it may have been that way in the past.

 

I can make my WC minutes go pretty far if I can use my laptop. I write my email to friends and family in Word, then go online and paste it into my email. A quick check of incoming message, deal with anything that needs my input, and log off. I don't do much surfing unless I really need to look up something. I try to hang onto a few minutes to check in for my flight at the end of the cruise.

 

In the longago days before wifi, I can remember that QE2's computers did not charge for time spent on the computer but non online. So you could write a message in word for free, copy it to the clipboard, go online, paste in the message, add an address, and log off in little more time than it took me to type this sentence. If you were really good at it, you could do it all under the minimum time to begin charging. I managed to send free emails several times this way. I guess somebody figured out what was happening, because the next time I was on board there was a delay built into the process--after you hit "send" you got a "wait a moment" screen that killed enough time to get the charges to kick in.

[capnpugwash]

If you are using Outlook on your laptop, the simplest thing is to type the email as normal and then hit the send button. The message will go into your outbox but won't gobecause you are not on-line. When you do go on-line and hit sedn/receive the messages stored will be sent very quickly. This saves many minutes as there is no cutting and pasting involved. I imagine that it works in a similar fashion in other mail programmes.

[bazzaw]

This saves many minutes as there is no cutting and pasting involved. I imagine that it works in a similar fashion in other mail programmes.

 

Yes - I can confirm that it does. I use Thunderbird as an email client programme.

 

I have recently discovered that you can now use Gmail in an offline mode. Gmail is basically a web based mail system - so I always thought you had to be online to use it. But you can now download a small programme (to go with whatever web browser you are using) that allows you to start your browser while offline , select the offline mode and then do your emails in the normal way in Gmail-- except that they don't go out until you are online and start your web browser. It is actually quite good.

 

Barry

[Salacia]

I used the free credit on the October TA (first time eligible). The billing statement showed that the credit was applied several days after the usage charge was applied (interestingly, my wife's credit was timestamped as being applied a half hour before her usage charge, but that's probably a timestamp anomaly). So be patient and it should appear by the endof the voyage.

 

 

Hi Underwatr, with respect, my experience has been that any irregularities in billing are best discussed at the Pursar's Desk as soon as possible after the charge in question appears on your folio statement. When passengers wait until the end of their voyage to dispute/remove charges, the staff at the Pursar's desk can be over-whelmed with passengers requesting immediate remedy. Not a pretty scene. Much better to address and resolve billing disputes in a pleasant manner without the pressure of [disembarkation] time. Just my personal opinion, but I avoid the Pursar's Desk like the plague 36 hours before disembarkation. ;) -S.

 

Edited to add: Nothing to do with your post, but if passengers wish to remove their hotel and dining charge, my hope is that they do so promptly and not wait until the last hours before disemarkation. No need to take up the line at the pursars desk with a long list of complaints, just tell the Pursar to remove the hotel and dining charge.