All things wi fi

[knittinggirl]

Anybody know if they're going to be charging us to download the compass and other cruise information on their iPads?

[knittinggirl]

There is no free wi fi on any RCCL ship. Sorry.....

 

If you're a returning crown and anchor member, you get a a coupon for internet access. Even at Gold, we had enough credit to print our flight boarding passes. Being the heavy computer user in the family, I used to load both coupons onto my account, but not sure what will happen with the new paperless system. FYI, printing is an extra expense, and I'm not sure whether that is included in the internet access credit. I think it's as much as 50-cents to $1 a page.

Edited March 25, 2013 by knittinggirl

[setsail]

Anybody know if they're going to be charging us to download the compass and other cruise information on their iPads?

 

If its "their" pad everything should already be there, just like your cabin tv:rolleyes:

[rrodriquez2]

From the UK website today :

 

The Radiance, Splendour, Freedom, Liberty, Independence, Oasis and Allure of the Seas offer ship wide coverage, including staterooms.

 

Coverage on all other ships will be limited to designated "Hot Spots."

 

The cost for Wi-fi access through your own device is:

The basic rate is USD 0.65 per minute or choose from one of our pre-paid packages:

 

USD 35.00 for 60 minutes

USD 55.00 for 100 minutes

USD 75.00 for 150 minutes

USD 100.00 for 250 minutes

USD 150.00 for 500 minutes

 

Users should be aware on the Indy before drydrock shipwide is a misnomer. We were up on the top decks and it was erratic. It was so weak compared to the newer system on the Allure that in Jamaica in our room the only network we could attempt to connect to was the one on the Allure even though we were on the Indy!

 

The pre-dry dock indy was the worst of the ship Wifi's I've experienced. The Dream class and Oasis classes are much better. After the dry dock I think it'll be better on the Indy.

 

It would take at times 20-25 minutes to retrieve a dozen or so emails. It was that bad. They did issue credits without complaint and this is something that is supposed to be upgraded in a few weeks.

 

But please in the meantime if you absolutely rely on internet while at sea be prepared for long periods without a reliable connection on the Indy at least until dry dock and be prepared to pay through the nose when it does work it's so slow compared to the Oasis/Dream class.

 

Again I was told multiple times it's going to be upgraded in a few weeks.

[alexkrn46]

I had thought that FOS had the unlimited wifi package, but I'm disappointed that they apparently do not.

 

That being the case, does anyone have a link to the most recent price list for wi-fi on Freedom?

 

 

Only ship with unlimited is Allure, and it awesome. Freedom in January was .75 cents a minute with packages available, it was slow but usable.

[rrodriquez2]

Also at least on the Indy there was no way to log off once you logged on with an iPhone. The screen disappears and disconnecting from the network by going into airplane mode did not stop the clock ticking. The only way to get it to stop was to log in with your computer otherwise your minutes would be gone. Unlike the PC simply disconnecting did not do the trick.

[setsail]

Users should be aware on the Indy before drydrock shipwide is a misnomer. We were up on the top decks and it was erratic. It was so weak compared to the newer system on the Allure that in Jamaica in our room the only network we could attempt to connect to was the one on the Allure even though we were on the Indy!

 

The pre-dry dock indy was the worst of the ship Wifi's I've experienced. The Dream class and Oasis classes are much better. After the dry dock I think it'll be better on the Indy.

 

It would take at times 20-25 minutes to retrieve a dozen or so emails. It was that bad. They did issue credits without complaint and this is something that is supposed to be upgraded in a few weeks.

 

But please in the meantime if you absolutely rely on internet while at sea be prepared for long periods without a reliable connection on the Indy at least until dry dock and be prepared to pay through the nose when it does work it's so slow compared to the Oasis/Dream class.

 

Again I was told multiple times it's going to be upgraded in a few weeks.

 

This was done last December on Indy

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1758519

Edited March 25, 2013 by setsail

[rrodriquez2]

This was done last December on Indy

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1758519

 

Ouch because it was awful. I know they're upgrading to a pervasive system like on the Oasis classes though. That's happening next month.

 

It was terrible whether you used their computers in the lounge or your own though so not sure if that will help the connection problem.

[setsail]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1419

[Annefran]

Hi All,

 

I have a couple questions about the WiFi on the Freedom of the Seas. My DD has to register for her classes for the Fall Semester on May 29th. It's very important that she register that day when it opens because she is doing a Semester at Sea and she needs certain classes. We will be sailing that week on the Freedom of the Seas. I was going to tell her to bring her laptop and we could just buy the package for the week. My questions are: is it fast? She needs it to be fast to navigator through the pages to register. Next question: are there hotspots on the ship that are better than our cabin? Last question: do we have to buy the package for the week or can we just purchase for that day?

 

Thanks so much for any information you can share. We have never brought our laptop with us before just used RCI's computers. They would be too slow for this process. :rolleyes:

[robtulipe]

There is no free wi fi on any RCCL ship. Sorry.....

If you use the ship's computer there is free access to sites associated with RCCL like RCI, Celebrity, Crown and Anchor Society, Captain's Club, etc. which you access by clicking on the access choice at the bottom of the log on page.

[robtulipe]

If you're a returning crown and anchor member, you get a a coupon for internet access. Even at Gold, we had enough credit to print our flight boarding passes. Being the heavy computer user in the family, I used to load both coupons onto my account, but not sure what will happen with the new paperless system. FYI, printing is an extra expense, and I'm not sure whether that is included in the internet access credit. I think it's as much as 50-cents to $1 a page.

There wasn't a charge to print pages on our recent Voyager Australian/New Zealand cruise nor on the recent X cruises we've done. I've only run into that on our Princess cruises.

[NorbertsNiece]

Thread about the Royal Connect phones here

 

I have screen shots of the log in process for on board wi fi taken on FoS last week. Will post here. Soon.

[shutterbug63]

Users should be aware on the Indy before drydrock shipwide is a misnomer. We were up on the top decks and it was erratic. It was so weak compared to the newer system on the Allure that in Jamaica in our room the only network we could attempt to connect to was the one on the Allure even though we were on the Indy!

 

The pre-dry dock indy was the worst of the ship Wifi's I've experienced. The Dream class and Oasis classes are much better. After the dry dock I think it'll be better on the Indy.

 

It would take at times 20-25 minutes to retrieve a dozen or so emails. It was that bad. They did issue credits without complaint and this is something that is supposed to be upgraded in a few weeks.

 

But please in the meantime if you absolutely rely on internet while at sea be prepared for long periods without a reliable connection on the Indy at least until dry dock and be prepared to pay through the nose when it does work it's so slow compared to the Oasis/Dream class.

 

Again I was told multiple times it's going to be upgraded in a few weeks.

 

OMG. I can testify to the perfectly awful wifi on the Indy pre dry dock. Just got off on Sunday. It was S L O W as molasses, even if you used the computers on Deck 8 as opposed to using your laptop in the room.

 

Looking forward to the Serenade next year...it's my understanding it's had the new, better wifi installed as part of its revitalization.

[NorbertsNiece]

The screen you see when you sit down at their PC :

 

 

Move the mouse or click on the screen and you get this :

 

 

The free websites are for RCCL / Celebrity websites.

 

Click the link on the left which says : RC Wireless and you will see this :

 

 

Click next :

 

 

When you have swiped your card you will get this :

 

 

Enter your room number and get this :

 

[NorbertsNiece]

Once you have done that you will see this :

 

 

On ships with wi fi hotspots you can get a list of those places from Guest Services. Ships with pervasive wi fi means you can access the internet from your room. In my experience you can get better signal / speeds from those traditional places : the Viking Lounge, Conference Centre especially.

 

Current prices on Freedom :

 

[pspercy]

I can log in with nexus/android tablet, get the msg abt time left etc so hit submit, then it loops back to log in etc. Ship IT mgr sez not uncommon for 'droids. Grrrr

[nicoleinwi]

Do they turn the ships wifi off in port? I have only sailed on NCL before and they did that. LOL and no I don't plan on sitting onboard suring online all day. It is more of an instance where usually when I get back to the ship I like to have a drink (sometimes hasn't set sail yet), wait departure and email pics.

Thanks!

[Clarea]

Do they turn the ships wifi off in port? I have only sailed on NCL before and they did that. LOL and no I don't plan on sitting onboard suring online all day. It is more of an instance where usually when I get back to the ship I like to have a drink (sometimes hasn't set sail yet), wait departure and email pics.

Thanks!

They turn off the ship's cell phone tower in port, but the WiFi remains on.

[nicoleinwi]

Thanks! I think on NCL I used my Verizon Global Roaming so that was off cell tower, no wonder it didn't work.

[samazach]

I am told by friends at RCCL, that Oasis is the first ship in the fleet to have a higher speed internet. ?

Edited May 24, 2013 by samazach

[91354guy]

Does anybody know for sure if you can rent phones onboard? The last two RCL cruises I took I was able to rent older model iPhones.

 

Scott

[91354guy]

"Faster" internet...? Hmmm...(ok this next part may not make much sense to some of you).

 

Remember that there's a .5 second lag for the up-link to the orbiting satellite...then another .5 second for the down-link to the terrestrial station....then you're basically on the Internet...so add any delays navigating there. You'll have the same "delay" times for any traffic coming back to the ship.

 

Basically, if you wanted a stock quote the MINIMUM delay you would have is 2+ seconds from what you would have t home.

 

Remember that traffic is multi-plexed so your inbound and outbound packets are intermixed with EVERYBODY using the network.

 

The "speed" increases are in the number of channels they have going to/from the orbiting satellite AND within the ship's backbone network.

 

OK...raise your hand if my techno-geek babble has caused your eyes to glaze over..

 

Sorry...this is all part of my daily work / fun.

 

Scott

[Cigar King]

Scott...they could have something like Akamai onboard, and if so things previously accessed could be cached.

[91354guy]

King...true...very true. Proxy servers have become cheap and small. Still, they're only good for fairly static content.