Glad I purchased the unlimited internet pkg - Escape

[Maddysdaddy]

Holy smokes was the internet ever slow on our cruise last week.

 

I assume that because the ship was full with what I was told was an abnormally large number of passengers under 18 (told 1900 - not sure how reliable that number is), that there may have been heavier than usual usage, which slowed the entire system down.

 

Because of responsibilities to my office and clients, I needed to go online every hour while onboard to read and respond to emails. During those times when I was actually able to connect (75%), downloading messages through Exchange was painfully slow, even when logged on through the computers next to the Atrium, and not from my laptop in the cabin or from my phone at various places around the ship.

 

If I had to pay by the minute, I too would have been hugely upset, which was the reaction I saw from many, many people trying to connect on the NCL computers.

 

While people were way, way offside in freaking out at the individual sitting at the help desk (is the expectation that they have some sort of magical powers which will make the connection faster?) - I do sympathize with the frustration of seeing your expensive minutes tick down while absolutely nothing is happening.

 

All to say, that if you need to access the net while onboard (and trust me, I wish I didn't), I strongly recommend the unlimited package - even though it's ridiculously expensive. You'll be paying more to save yourself the stress of counting minutes.

[blackwing]

I always avoid the ship internet if possible, it's always guaranteed to be slow no matter how fast they claim it can be.

 

You had to check in to work every hour? So sorry, doesn't sound like much of a vacation if you were still working. I'd be frustrated at always being tied to the computer. I told my clients that I would be out for a week with extremely limited access to e-mail and to call Mr. Smith if there was anything urgent.

 

I only check email while in port. Go to a bar, buy a drink, get their wifi. Fast good connection. So I only checked email on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Put out a few fires and said talk to you on Monday! :P

[Demonyte]

I always avoid the ship internet if possible, it's always guaranteed to be slow no matter how fast they claim it can be.

 

That is incorrect - but then again based on your signature you haven't sailed on any ship that actually has a fast satellite connection.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Demonyte

[SuiteCruiser]

Escape's is the newest and the worst of the ships I've been on. On the Transatlantic, the ship was nowhere near as full as it would have been on your trip and the wifi barely worked. Only one person I've heard of has had good reception on the Escape.

[DiamondGirl83]

I agree with getting the unlimited internet package. I toyed with the idea of which package to get on the Getaway and in the end forked out for the unlimited. I used it quite a bit to stay in touch with people at home and I don't regret a single penny I spent! I would definitely get it on future cruises.

[tammynordan01]

I'm sailing in September. How much was the unlimited package?

[DiamondGirl83]

It's $30 per day

 

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/internet-packages

Edited April 5, 2016 by DiamondGirl83

[SPB in da RVA]

fast satellite connection.

 

Mutually exclusive

[LrgPizza]

Escape's is the newest and the worst of the ships I've been on. On the Transatlantic, the ship was nowhere near as full as it would have been on your trip and the wifi barely worked. Only one person I've heard of has had good reception on the Escape.

I think that was me, and I ruined it for everyone else. :D

 

Sometimes it would be a little slow to connect, but once we were on, it always worked fast and flawlessly. We were able to facetime back home, do wifi voice calls, upload pictures to Photobucket, email pictures to friends, etc. and never had an issue (x-large photo files). It was faster than we ever imagined wifi could be on a ship.

 

I should add, I've never used wifi before on a ship (and only bought the package to communicate with our son we'd left at home), so I really have nothing to compare it to. I doubt I'll ever need to buy it again for any reason.

[SuiteCruiser]

I think that was me, and I ruined it for everyone else. :D

 

Sometimes it would be a little slow to connect, but once we were on, it always worked fast and flawlessly. We were able to facetime back home, do wifi voice calls, upload pictures to Photobucket, email pictures to friends, etc. and never had an issue (x-large photo files). It was faster than we ever imagined wifi could be on a ship.

 

I should add, I've never used wifi before on a ship (and only bought the package to communicate with our son we'd left at home), so I really have nothing to compare it to. I doubt I'll ever need to buy it again for any reason.

 

You are she :)

[LakeWobegon]

My Facebook worked occasionally on the Escape for the first few days for some reason and I hadn't purchased any package. Just downloaded the iconcierge app at the terminal. Nothing else did but Facebook did and I had my phone on airplane mode. Just connected to the ship's wireless. Then day 3 it stopped. I told my wife there was probably some glitch and then some old person complained they were getting free internet and the glitch was fixed. lol

[phishfan04]

Internet was super slow, even while I was sitting in the Internet Lounge.

 

I do have a theory though. First, they offered 250 free minutes as one of the choose 4 options, increasing usage. Second, the ship departed just after Apple did a big IOS release. So there were a lot of users, and many probably just accepted the install notification which sends hundreds of megabytes of traffic to each device as part of the upgrade, which hogged up bandwidth. Third, the demographic of the cruise, with 1900 kids/ teens, who almost all are smartphone addicts, added to increased usage. I got alot of notications late overnight while sleeping when traffic slowed down a little.

 

There is fast satellite internet - RCL has Voom and I was able to stream Netflix and HBO while on the Quantum last February.

[scubareview]

I've cruised with NCL a couple of times and always bought one of the internet packages so that I can monitor my work email. It is very slow because they are using a low bandwidth satellite connection.

 

I can offer cruises on the Escape Itinerary one tip, get most of your internet usages done while the ship is docked in St Thomas. At this time, the ship connects to a landline internet connection which greatly increases the performance comparable to at home broadband.

 

Now the ship will only have access to this connection on Tuesday from 8am to 6pm.