Voom available on Serenade?

[EatonDoolittle]

Post-cruise follow-up:

. We even had a brief conversation with the head of the ship's IT department right after the lifeboat drill on Day 1 -- he sort of chuckled as we talked about it and said something to the effect of "we'll see; good luck!" As others have said, don't waste your money on Voom on Serenade. Hopefully she will get upgraded to true "Voom" service soon.

 

Exactly like it was last March.

 

The topic came up in the Captain's Corner, and he said (paraphrasing here) "yes we know, it is old and needs to be upgraded, it's a big project"

 

Did the IT guy (or Captain) offer a guess as to the timing of the upgrade?

I'm back on in January, 2017, it sure would be nice to find an improvement.

[Biker19]

[*]The service is supposed to time out after some time (2 hours I think) of inactivity. This is great, but as far as I could tell there was no way to disconnect early if you wanted to.

Go to logoff.com to disconnect.

[Biker19]

[*]Super-slow speeds (as documented).

 

Those speeds are typical for SURF on non-O3B equipped ships.You'll get up to 4MBs on STREAM but that won't make your usage any better with all the other issues you had. The ping was a bit worse than best case (~600 ms). It's not the speed, but the ping that kills the performance (along with the other issues)

[Durkman]

Exactly like it was last March.

 

The topic came up in the Captain's Corner, and he said (paraphrasing here) "yes we know, it is old and needs to be upgraded, it's a big project"

 

Did the IT guy (or Captain) offer a guess as to the timing of the upgrade?

I'm back on in January, 2017, it sure would be nice to find an improvement.

No insight from the IT guy on upgrade timing. I'm in the same boat as you, as we booked another cruise onboard for Serenade in September 2017 (New England/Canada). I've got to think real Voom will be installed by then, but if not it won't be as big of a deal for us because we will be in the U.S. for many of the ports.

[Durkman]

Those speeds are typical for SURF on non-O3B equipped ships.You'll get up to 4MBs on STREAM but that won't make your usage any better with all the other issues you had. The ping was a bit worse than best case (~600 ms). It's not the speed, but the ping that kills the performance (along with the other issues)

Yeah, and our location (far North/Baltic) may have been a factor for the high ping rates, but from what I think I've read on these boards it is the 03B service that is affected at the higher latitudes. Thanks for the comments.

[bluskygrl]

No insight from the IT guy on upgrade timing. I'm in the same boat as you, as we booked another cruise onboard for Serenade in September 2017 (New England/Canada). I've got to think real Voom will be installed by then, but if not it won't be as big of a deal for us because we will be in the U.S. for many of the ports.

 

We are taking the same cruise in October, please let us know how it goes!

 

Thanks!

[Biker19]

Yeah, and our location (far North/Baltic) may have been a factor for the high ping rates, but from what I think I've read on these boards it is the 03B service that is affected at the higher latitudes.

 

I don't believe the older internet service is affected much by latitude, it was about the same all the way up north to Reykjavik. Yes, O3B service starts to degrade at about 45 deg latitude and no service above 62 (like Iceland).

[rene1103]

any news or experience here regarding "voom" internet speed on serenade of the seas?

[Ocean Dancer]

VOOM SURF Voyage Package - 1 Device

 

Internet Packages

 

$99.99 USD

 

 

 

We are on Serenade over Thanksgiving, and NEED internet for business reasons.

 

Overview

 

Share Photos & Surf the Web - Pre-Cruise Special - 30% off onboard pricing.

 

Enjoy high-speed internet to browse the web, check email and share every unforgettable moment of your vacation in real time with VOOM, the fastest Internet at sea.

 

Prices shown are per day

 

 

This was just copied and pasted from my cruise planner. It is definetly called VOOM

Edited October 4, 2016 by Ocean Dancer

[Clarea]

... This was just copied and pasted from my cruise planner. It is definetly called VOOM

They renamed the internet plans on all ships to "VOOM" this past May, but that does not mean that all ships went to faster internet.

[Ocean Dancer]

They renamed the internet plans on all ships to "VOOM" this past May, but that does not mean that all ships went to faster internet.

The fastest internet at sea? Very misleading :cool:

[Clarea]

The fastest internet at sea? Very misleading :cool:

Yep.

[GMoney]

Reviving this recent thread. Sailing on Serenade soon. Can anyone attest to internet speed and if the ship has "real" VOOM or "fake" VOOM? Thanks.

[Ocean Dancer]

Reviving this recent thread. Sailing on Serenade soon. Can anyone attest to internet speed and if the ship has "real" VOOM or "fake" VOOM? Thanks.

 

 

I want to know too, mainly for the southern Caribbean. BTW, the price dropped to $89 in my planner for one device/11 days but still says 30% off. :confused:

[Biker19]

Reviving this recent thread. Sailing on Serenade soon. Can anyone attest to internet speed and if the ship has "real" VOOM or "fake" VOOM? Thanks.

No reports of anything other than regular internet - if the newer ships have not been upgraded (like Voyager class) I seriously doubt they would do it on Serenade or any Vision/Radiance class ships. The refurb of Adventure should signal if RCI is willing to spend the money to get "real" VOOM on older ships.