How good/bad is the internet speed?

[andnosyd]

We'll be traveling over a football Sunday and have unlimited internet and we have NFL Sunday Ticket that I can stream via a computer or better via chromecast and watch it in the stateroom tv, if possible. Does Celebrity block streaming video? Is the speed fast enough to be able to do this?

[kitty9]

It will be bumpy video. We stream live NHL games on our iPad, and you'll get lots of freeze frames and interruptions.

[cheryl20772]

I think it's satellite TV/internet and it depends on the ship's location and the atmospheric conditions for quality. The channels available can change when they have to switch satellites too. The internet is not really reliable for streaming. It becomes very slow when there are lots of people using it and sometimes it's gone. If you read live reviews from some members you'll read that some days they can't upload their pictures when they want to. Please don't let your cruise happiness depend on having internet at a given time.

[chemmo]

Also find out which TV channels are broadcasting, you never know you may be able to simply watch on TV!

[UniPac]

On all X ships I have been the internet was always quite slow and I didn't stream videos, just wanted to read some news and mails. Works best at night or in the early morning time, mainly because only few people are using it at this time.

Would never think of streaming video on these ships... but now I know WHY it is so slow, because people trying to do it :D I'm sure it wasn't designed and I know that some things are blocked therefor.

 

However, I have been on the Anthem this month and they have the new "VOOM" thing. It's really a different world, much faster and reliable - even on sea days with lots of people online it has been always a decent speed.

I think X is supposed to have a trial of faster internet on the Equinox (?), read about it here some time ago.

[Jim_Iain]

I am currently aboard Reflection 23 October TA.

 

I was doing some experimentation and ran a couple tests using speakeasy.

 

Download speed: 0.23 MPS Download

Upload Speed 0.12 MPS Upload

 

I tried to run a test on YouTube. It took about 1.5 minute for YouTube home page to load. From the time I click a vide to begin of play about 1 minute and then plays a little stops to buffer an then buffers again. Put on hold and then let buffer about 50% and could watch 4 minute video.

 

Jim

[floridatravelersforlife]

I am currently aboard Reflection 23 October TA.

 

I was doing some experimentation and ran a couple tests using speakeasy.

 

Download speed: 0.23 MPS Download

Upload Speed 0.12 MPS Upload

 

I tried to run a test on YouTube. It took about 1.5 minute for YouTube home page to load. From the time I click a vide to begin of play about 1 minute and then plays a little stops to buffer an then buffers again. Put on hold and then let buffer about 50% and could watch 4 minute video.

 

Jim

 

Try this at 2 AM ship time you will see a significant improvement. You are not competing with the daytime ship operations and pax. I have found the heavier the seas (sat dish keeping up with orientation) and weather (ie overcast/rain) also effect the sat coms speed. Only problem is you have to be a night owl or on you home time zone.

[UniPac]

I am currently aboard Reflection 23 October TA.

 

I was doing some experimentation and ran a couple tests using speakeasy.

 

Download speed: 0.23 MPS Download

Upload Speed 0.12 MPS Upload

 

I tried to run a test on YouTube. It took about 1.5 minute for YouTube home page to load. From the time I click a vide to begin of play about 1 minute and then plays a little stops to buffer an then buffers again. Put on hold and then let buffer about 50% and could watch 4 minute video.

 

Jim

 

Thanks, this is very useful. So it is the same old internet technology as the previous years.

[westcoastcruiser]

Am on the Equinox now and this is the third and final cruise for their test of higher speed internet. I was told this by the gentleman in the I Lounge. It is much faster than when we were on Infinity in May/June for our Alaska cruise during which it took an eternity to send 4 emails. During our current cruise there are times it is slower but overall have been very pleased. Purchased the unlimited internet package and have enjoyed being able to communicate with friends and family, do last minute research on ports and, yes, follow cruise critic! All without watching the clock.

 

I have not tried to stream anything so cannot comment on how that would have been.

 

Do not know what X plans to do after this "trial period" either.

[rwb]

The line has announced its intention to install the faster internet on all X and RC ships by next spring or summer. In the meantime they are stuck with the same very distant (think long latency) and narrow bandwidth (1mps if you're lucky) satellite systems as everyone. The switch to lower orbit satellites will dramatically drop latency and give us near-fiber quality transfer rates.

 

Stream Sunday Ticket in the meantime? Not a chance.

[pantoot]

Stream Sunday Ticket in the meantime? Not a chance.

 

For what it's worth I was able to stream Sunday ticket while in port (empty, not moving) in Quebec City. (Until I tried to switch devices and Directv detected I wasn't in the us any more and blocked me.)

[Redtravel]

The speed was very slow. Often you could not log on to the internet. I had a lot of free time from Captains Club elite plus. I only use the time to check family emails and get the news. I wasted a lot of those minutes trying to get through to the web. If I had been paying for the time, I would have been upset. The worst problem was being logged on and not being able to disconnect. Celebrity needs to improve their internet operation.

[SensFan11]

SLOW!

 

Stream video - not a chance!

 

I was on Celebrity Summit last week and purchased the Internet package. I did several speed tests and averaged 0.19MBps down, 0.34MBps up. But it was the ping that was just awful: 665ms.

 

One reason I had the Internet was the Blue Jays were in the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. I was shocked that none of the games of the ALCS were on the on board TV (but that's another story). I tried as best I could to follow along to the four games that were played during our cruise. I never successfully got a video stream to work. Audio via the MLB app was hit or miss...sometimes I would get to listen to a whole half inning...often it would cut in and out every 2-5 minutes...and that's just for low bandwidth audio!

 

Unless your teams game happens to be carried on TV, I'd suggest your best options are for text/graphical play by play updates from an app like theScore or ESPN.