Internet on Regal Princess

[FLcruiser2011]

We are considering a cruise on Regal Princess and having the internet available at an acceptable speed is very important to me. Could I get some reports on how the internet connectivity is on Regal Princess? Thanks

[caribill]

We are considering a cruise on Regal Princess and having the internet available at an acceptable speed is very important to me. Could I get some reports on how the internet connectivity is on Regal Princess? Thanks

 

What speed is acceptable to you?

 

Figure at best during the day and evening it will be like dial-up speeds. In the middle of the night it will be faster as less people will be using it at the same time.

 

And do not forget that Internet availability is not guaranteed at any time. For reasons ranging to ship's position to broken equipment, it might not always be there for you.

[Pam in CA]

Internet connectivity is, as Bill says, never guaranteed and dependent on many factors, including the ship's location in the satellite zone, weather, who else is connecting at the same time and what they're doing.

 

If you are using the Internet for just text emails, it will be faster than if you're connecting to a website or uploading/downloading graphics or photos. If someone is using Skype, then you'll likely be out of luck since that's a huge bandwidth hog.

 

I've found that the best times are before 7:30am and after Midnight.

[RKSue]

Many of the ships are blocking skype for that reason but once in port you should be able to connect. Be prepared for the passengers that have no idea how to close the 25 windows they have open that are hogging the band width. There is just so much. Also be ready for many disconnects. It is a satellite connection.

 

Mornings and late evenings work great because a lot of people have turned off their iPads etc. there are places on the ship which will have a better connect spread. I found the atrium, the library and the buffet area in the aft to have the fastest connections.

[Goldenfox]

Is it cheaper to buy minutes before the cruise or on-board?

 

 

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[caribill]

Is it cheaper to buy minutes before the cruise or on-board?

 

Basic price is the same either way.

 

But,

 

pre-cruise purchased packages have a 20% bonus in number of minutes

 

first day on board purchase of a package has a 10% bonus in number of minutes

 

after that, purchased packages have no bonus minutes

[IECalCruiser]

Is it cheaper to buy minutes before the cruise or on-board?

 

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The price is the same but you may get more additional "free" minutes if you buy in advance. For instance, if you buy 100 minutes in advance you actually get 120 minutes, 200 gets you 240, 400 gets you 460 and 600 gets you 680. We reached platinum in 2009 and we are now elite so we haven't bought minutes in quite a while. I don't know what the on board bonus is for buying minutes the first day or two.

 

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Edited October 28, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[IECalCruiser]

Post deleted.

 

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Edited October 28, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[ibherbie]

unfortunately, my wife and I will need to work "some" on an upcoming Regal Princess cruise. I'm willing to purchase one of the larger internet packages but does anyone know if we can share the package (on two different laptops) or should I plan on buying a plan for each? thanks.

[Astro Flyer]

unfortunately, my wife and I will need to work "some" on an upcoming Regal Princess cruise. I'm willing to purchase one of the larger internet packages but does anyone know if we can share the package (on two different laptops) or should I plan on buying a plan for each? thanks.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

 

If both of you want to be simultaneously logged in on your laptops, then you'd need to purchase separate internet packages; if not logged in at the same time then you could purchase one larger package & use the same login information to sign in at different times.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Steelers36]

I'm curious if cruisers have noticed any better speed and performance on Regal versus Grand Class such as EP, RU, CB?

[Colo Cruiser]

unfortunately, my wife and I will need to work "some" on an upcoming Regal Princess cruise. I'm willing to purchase one of the larger internet packages but does anyone know if we can share the package (on two different laptops) or should I plan on buying a plan for each? thanks.

 

 

On our Regal cruise in Nov it was just as bad if not worse then other ships. :(

Don't look for it to be any better now.

[Astro Flyer]

I'm curious if cruisers have noticed any better speed and performance on Regal versus Grand Class such as EP, RU, CB?

On our Regal TA in April ending in Copenhagen we had good internet access.

 

Sailing the Royal when the ship was new, there were problems with Wi-Fi access in some cabins & I'd see techs accessing hallway ceiling panels to work on a solution. I didn't see that on the Regal so hopefully those issues were fixed during the Regal's construction.

 

I think that some of the problems are due to the ship's location & weather conditions which I've read from techies can affect internet access at sea in addition to the amount of onboard usage.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Mom33]

We found the Regal internet access acceptable. We were mid ship and using our laptop and ipad. There were no interruptions in service while in the Caribbean.

Using the ship's computers may produce different results. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

I look at it as bigger ship, more passengers, more crew. And the same type of system as on other ships. Not much if any improvement.

[Steelers36]

On our Regal cruise in Nov it was just as bad if not worse then other ships. :(

Don't look for it to be any better now.

 

Thanks, Keith. Always best to hear from someone who's "been there; done that". I was hoping might not have to prop the cabin door open to get a good signal.

 

And MOM33, thanks for your real report also. I've managed okay before with my laptop on EP/CB/RU, but found opening the cabin door necessary. It probably depends a bit on where one is on the ship. I found the ship's desktops slower than my own laptop when I was in there to print a boarding pass.

Edited September 1, 2015 by steelers36

[FlyerTalker]

There is a "fix" that can help with any web-based internet work that you do. Set your browser so that images are NOT loaded automatically. This will enable you to get your pages without the extraneous loading of banners, photos, graphics and the like.

 

Yes...it's a different experience than what you are used to. OTOH, you are cutting out most of the load to your connection. Various browsers have different ways to shut off images - here is a LINK to explain how to disable it in Firefox (and how to restore it after you are off the ship). Google to find instructions for Chrome and IE.

 

I suggest that you try this at home before you leave to see how you deal with the imageless pages. And, by clicking on the image box/link, you can still download it to your browser if you wish.

 

Another tip to improve internet performance: Figure out what you can do offline and use downloading and copy/paste to reduce the amount of online time. For email...check to see how messages can be downloaded to your machine for offline reading. And use a text editor like Notepad or Word to compose your email offline. When done, then log on, paste into your email client/webpage, send and logoff. Much more efficient than sitting there and working on your email while the clock is running. Also, don't try to use a satellite connection to send or receive photos. WAY too much data.

 

Regarding data hogs....almost all cruiselines have their systems set to block VOIP (such as Skype) and streaming video services. Some even block YouTube due to bandwidth constraints. And remember that even when the ship is in port, it is still using the satellite connection. The only advantage may be that most of the guests are ashore.

Edited September 1, 2015 by FlyerTalker

[RKSue]

Just a FYI in regards to Data Hogs. For those that are not real tech savvy. Make sure you are closing down the open windows in your browser 1 by 1. Just Turing off your browser does not shut them down. I've seen passengers with 25 windows open and they didn't know it. You don't see them easily in an I pad or I phone.

 

If you see on the address bar a bunch of boxes those each will be using band width.

This is what the newer iPhone too many windows open looks like.

[caribill]

We are considering a cruise on Regal Princess and having the internet available at an acceptable speed is very important to me.

 

On any cruise ship Internet availability is not guaranteed.

 

Depending on the itinerary, there may not be an appropriate satellite in the area for several days.

 

Electronics can fail and the parts to fix things may have to be delivered to a future port and then installed before service is available again.

 

So if Internet access every day is a necessity for you, cruising may not be the best choice for a vacation.

[encodereer]

There is just so much. Also be ready for many disconnects.