How does the internet work on the ship?

[TNIris]

For instance, if I want to pay by the minute, is there a way for me to upload a picture to Facebook from one of their computers?

[Clarea]

For instance, if I want to pay by the minute, is there a way for me to upload a picture to Facebook from one of their computers?

No, the ship's computers are secured, and have no way to connect a USB device or memory card. You would have to use a device of your own (like a smart phone), connected to the ship's wireless.

[TNIris]

So if I have my iPhone and have the wireless turned on, it will automatically connect to the ship's wireless? Would I also be charged like international roaming or something from sprint?

[Bette And Bill]

For instance, if I want to pay by the minute, is there a way for me to upload a picture to Facebook from one of their computers?

 

No, the ship's computers are secured, and have no way to connect a USB device or memory card. You would have to use a device of your own (like a smart phone), connected to the ship's wireless.

 

And on most ships they are pretty slow.

[Clarea]

So if I have my iPhone and have the wireless turned on, it will automatically connect to the ship's wireless? Would I also be charged like international roaming or something from sprint?

If you turn off cellular data, then you won't be charged for any data from Sprint.

 

If you turn wireless on, you can connect to the ship's wireless. However, you must first go to one of the ship's computers and establish a wireless account, picking a username and password. Then when you connect with your phone, you enter the username and password, and get connected to the inetrnet. The cost for this starts at $0.75 / minute, is charged to your onboard account, and you can reduce the per minute charge by purchasing a package.

[reallyitsmema]

So if I have my iPhone and have the wireless turned on, it will automatically connect to the ship's wireless? Would I also be charged like international roaming or something from sprint?

Yes, you need to make sure you have data roaming off on your smart phone or your cell phone bill will be very high. My Android defaults to data roaming off, I had the phone on to receive texts from my son at home and had no additional charges other that the few texts we sent.

[TBone2K]

Ship's internet service isn't very fast and they charge you by the minute not by the megabyte. Unless you need to do something right away, you are better to find an internet cafe at one of your ports of call.

[love2cruiseforfree]

slow !!!!

 

they are very slow and you use up minutes very fast.... just got off the grandeur and sent a email with 2 lines.....7 minutes....

[Ocean Boy]

Last March on Independence I used up all of my free minutes just doing our airline check in. THAT is how SLOW it is.:rolleyes:

[jagsfan]

I'm assuming St Thomas, being US, has cell towers. Anybody know if Crown Bay has one and could I email from my iPhone there? Don 't want to go in to town, and I don 't know anything about Crown Bay. Wish Oasis could use Havensight, but I'm looking forward to the ship itself.

Not trying to hijack the thread but you guys seem to know the ins and outs of RCI's internet service.

[Ocean Boy]

I'm assuming St Thomas, being US, has cell towers. Anybody know if Crown Bay has one and could I email from my iPhone there? Don 't want to go in to town, and I don 't know anything about Crown Bay. Wish Oasis could use Havensight, but I'm looking forward to the ship itself.

Not trying to hijack the thread but you guys seem to know the ins and outs of RCI's internet service.

 

You can easily pick up a tower from Crown Bay and St. Thomas is included in U.S. national plans so there are no extra charges. I made several calls from our cabin on Oasis while docked.

[reallyitsmema]

You can easily pick up a tower from Crown Bay and St. Thomas is included in U.S. national plans so there are no extra charges. I made several calls from our cabin on Oasis while docked.

Who is your carrier? I have Verizon and had checked out their website to see if I would have free coverage in St. Thomas and calls were not free. I checked my phone in St Thomas and it showed I was roaming.

[Clarea]

You can easily pick up a tower from Crown Bay and St. Thomas is included in U.S. national plans so there are no extra charges. I made several calls from our cabin on Oasis while docked.

 

Who is your carrier? I have Verizon and had checked out their website to see if I would have free coverage in St. Thomas and calls were not free. I checked my phone in St Thomas and it showed I was roaming.

USVI is included in AT&T domestic plans, but not Verizon.

[Ocean Boy]

Who is your carrier? I have Verizon and had checked out their website to see if I would have free coverage in St. Thomas and calls were not free. I checked my phone in St Thomas and it showed I was roaming.

 

USVI is included in AT&T domestic plans, but not Verizon.

 

I have AT&T.

[reallyitsmema]

USVI is included in AT&T domestic plans, but not Verizon.

 

I have AT&T.

Thanks, I knew at least one of them were free, knew it wasn't my plan. Verizon was $1.99/min for calls. Texts were supposed to be domestic rates so I thought mine would be free in St Thomas but they were 50 cents and 5 cents just like they are on the ship. Was no big deal since we only went back and forth with our son twice, told him he needed to use all 160 characters he had available instead of k and ttyl.:p

[roquejo]

No particular ship is mentioned...

 

Allure's internet is unique, she is the only ship with unlimited internet packages and broadband speeds.

[Ashland]

I have an AT&T iPhone and just added a International package that will include onboard the ship (RCI Oasis) something they are now offering....We'll see how it will work for my Saturday cruise.:confused::confused:

[jagsfan]

You can easily pick up a tower from Crown Bay and St. Thomas is included in U.S. national plans so there are no extra charges. I made several calls from our cabin on Oasis while docked.

 

Thank you so much, that's what I was hoping for.

[jagsfan]

BTW, the free app viber gives you the ability to make free calls and texts to anyone else with viber. Worked when DD was in Italy.

[ehfl]

You do not want to use the ships computers....they are really old and slow. Also, they are set to not recognize USB drives, for obvious security reasons. Use your own computer, tablet or phone to upload pictures.

[garycarla]

BTW, the free app viber gives you the ability to make free calls and texts to anyone else with viber. Worked when DD was in Italy.

 

I doubt it is ALWAYS FREE. You have to connect to someone's network/internet to make that call/text. If that is free, then great. On the ship, there is no free connection.

[jagsfan]

I didn't explain very well. You do have to be on the internet. And yeah, not on the ship. McDonalds would work.

[TBone2K]

Or you can just find wifi somewhere in port and use it for free. There are website that list these things, but I found the crew knows best where to find free/cheap wifi in port. You'll always find a few of them around the closest wifi point.

[mil76]

I have an AT&T iPhone and just added a International package that will include onboard the ship (RCI Oasis) something they are now offering....We'll see how it will work for my Saturday cruise.:confused::confused:

 

I have had an unlimited International data plan on AT&T for a couple of years now which works on ships with no additional usage charges. The phone data will work on the ship, but my experience on RCI ships is that it is is extremely SLOW. So even in my case where I don't get any additional charges for using Cellular at Sea, the data is still almost unusable. It sounds like Allure has been upgraded, and I got pretty good speeds on Celebrity Equinox in June. I'm hoping Oasis has better speed when I go in three weeks than when I was on it two years ago.

 

Where the international plan will really come in handy is when you are in ports since the data speed will be whatever the local mobile company offers, usually something between 3G and LTE.