Question regarding MTN internet service in polar regions (Nautica -- Voyage to

[Chumby]

I am a tech blogger in my day-to-day job, and my employer is wonderful -- I don't have to log vacation time when I'm on cruises if I write and publish one or two posts a day (which doesn't take that long, so don't feel sorry for me...). On most of the cruises that we take, we're in the coverage zone for MTN's wonderful internet at sea service, and I have no issues paying the $22 daily charge for unlimited service.

 

Well, we're going on the July 4th Nautica "Voyage to the Midnight Sun" cruise, and I started wondering about the Internet coverage that we might (or might not) receive on the ship. Sure enough, MTN's coverage maps show the following:

 

C-band -- for most of the cruise, we would be out of MTN coverage

C-band (regional) -- all of Norway, including the North Cape region, and Murmansk, Russia appear to be in the coverage range, but the Svalbard archipelago is out of range

Ku-band -- same as C-band

 

My question is that since it appears we will be out of range of satellite internet for at least four days on the trip (which is not a problem, by the way...), will we still get charged the $22 daily fee for the "all you can eat" internet service on those days?

 

I'd appreciate an answer from someone at Oceania or someone who has taken a similar cruise in the past.

 

Steve

[Mura]

I am no techno-geek! However we did the Midnight Sun cruise in July '10 and I don't recall internet problems ... whereas, when we were on the QE2 (Southampton to NYC in 2004) most days we had no internet. And we've had problems with the "R" ships down under.

 

But we didn't up in the Arctic as far as I recall.

 

Back then, of course, they weren't offering the unlimited internet option at X-dollars a day. I bought a package at around 100 minutes without a problem.

 

You do have the option of internet cafes on land ... I recall one in the Hammerfest Museum that was super cheap and quite fast.

 

The question you ask -- do we pay the daily rate if there is no internet available -- is one I have asked myself, but no one has answered.

 

But, as I said, we really didn't lose internet on this cruise on Insignia 3 years ago.

 

Mura

[potterhill]

We did an Asian cruise this past March. Since there was no Internet in China and Japan, we were given a reduced rate and had longer before we reached the sign-up cutoff. When it was working it was great.

 

Mo

[LHT28]

In Svalbard I used the internet cafe in town ..it was fine

Geiranger ..i did not even try in the Fjord

some ports in Norway we used the library onshore

 

Other times I did use the ship's internet but not daily ...it worked fine when I used it

We were on the 2010 cruise also

 

Lyn