Internet aboard HAL

[patrick401ca]

I haven't been on a HAL ship. I've mostly done Celebrity.

 

In my previous cruises I bought packages of minutes and used the Internet space and their desktop computers.

 

I would like to give wireless a try. I know internet is slow on a cruise from past experience but I was wondering if wifi was even worse.

 

Did wifi work well for you?

 

I am open to unplugging a bit the first half of the cruise but as the final day approaches I'm interested in the weather forecast at home because of flights (I live in Toronto and am traveling during the depths of winter).

 

 

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[dchip]

I was very pleased with the speed of the Wifi on the Amsterdam this past Oct/Nov. I was able to get on quickly whether I was in my cabin, at the seaview pool or sitting on the Promenade deck. We were in the South Pacific, so I was truly surprised with the speed!

 

Cheers, Denise

[Umbarger]

I was very pleased with the speed of the Wifi on the Amsterdam this past Oct/Nov. I was able to get on quickly whether I was in my cabin, at the seaview pool or sitting on the Promenade deck. We were in the South Pacific, so I was truly surprised with the speed!

 

Cheers, Denise

 

Oh my, I was on the same cruise and thought the internet was horrible. Getting on line was fine but getting anything to load was awful. I would have to wait a full 3 minutes for some pages to come up.

[dchip]

Oh my, I was on the same cruise and thought the internet was horrible. Getting on line was fine but getting anything to load was awful. I would have to wait a full 3 minutes for some pages to come up.

 

The only time I had trouble loading was one of my banking sites. I was truly amazed at the Wifi. 5 years ago we did the South Pacific on Princess and we didn't even have TV the entire cruise!

 

Cheers, Denise

[Scrapnana]

As on most cruise lines, I have found HAL's internet to be fair overall- sometimes good, sometimes poor and once in a while, non-existent. I bring my iPad and when the internet is working I have had no problems with the wifi any place on the ship.

[Ottawa traveller]

I was on the Maasdam for 52 days this fall. I have been using WiFi on the HAL ships for some time. This fall I had to print a document and for that you have to go to the ship's computers. They are much slower than the WiFi. The internet isn't great but I allowed myself 10 minutes per day and I could download all of my email, post a blog which included up to 8 pictures and catch up on a bit of Facebook in that time.

[kazu]

I have been using wifi on board for a number of years. Far more convenient than using the ship's computers. Plus, I can download my email and go off line and read and prepare replies and log back in.

 

As on most cruise lines, I have found HAL's internet to be fair overall- sometimes good, sometimes poor and once in a while, non-existent. I bring my iPad and when the internet is working I have had no problems with the wifi any place on the ship.

 

Kathi sums it up my experiences quite well in the above post :)

[POA1]

Where you're at in relation to the WiFi access points is a huge determining factor in the speeds you'll achieve. The ship's computer are hard wired into the network, while your computer or other device will have to go through an access point first. Generally speaking, if you are close to an access point, you'll get throughput that's on par with the ship's machines.

 

I've been in situations where we've had great speeds from the room - but different locations in the room offered better speeds because of signal variations and propagation. I've also had rooms where the throughput, to use a technical term, sucked. In those cases, I took my laptop to the Neptune Lounge or to the Explorations Cafe. Both of those places have access points and good signals. If you look at the walls around the ship, you'll spot some small signs indicating where some of the access points are. (Not sure if this is on every ship, but I've seen the signs on several.)

[rafinmd]

A big advantage to bringing your own device is you can do a lot off line, especially if you have a POP email account (downloading email to your computer rather than using up internet minutes while you read. You can also write offline and then past your material to your application and send quickly. That should more than make up for any speed difference frtrom being hard wired on the ship's computers.

 

If reception is bad where you are try going to a different location. Sometimes it's the satellite link and sometimes it's the wifi on the ship.

 

Roy

[Ken the cruiser]

We just got back from a Hawaiian cruise on the Amsterdam and even with going to a hot spot like up in the Crows Nest, the down load speeds were mixed at best to unbelievably slow. The headers of the emails would come down pretty quick, but sometimes the bodies of the messages took a long time. However, when we changed our habits and started checking email after the evening show around 9 pm, the speeds were super fast! Of course at that time, there are not a lot of passengers using the internet.

[bettty45]

I was very pleased with the speed of the Wifi on the Amsterdam this past Oct/Nov. I was able to get on quickly whether I was in my cabin, at the seaview pool or sitting on the Promenade deck. We were in the South Pacific, so I was truly surprised with the speed!

 

 

 

Cheers, Denise

 

 

 

Denise what was tv like on the Amsterdam? We are looking at the Grand Asia tour and its 80 days. We just wondered about movie selection or news channels etc.

 

 

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[CaveDiving]

Denise what was tv like on the Amsterdam? We are looking at the Grand Asia tour and its 80 days. We just wondered about movie selection or news channels etc.\

 

Hi,

 

On the Amsterdam for the last few years, it has been unusual to not have CNN, Fox News and at least some movie just about all of the time. Even in the South Pacific.

 

Scott & Karen

[dchip]

Denise what was tv like on the Amsterdam? We are looking at the Grand Asia tour and its 80 days. We just wondered about movie selection or news channels etc.

 

 

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We either got very lucky or there are a lot more satellites up here. We never lost any TV coverage at all. CNN, MSNBC and Fox were all on all the time. We were cruising before and during the US Presidential elections, so we did watch much more TV then usual. Last time we were in the South Pacific, we didn't get any TV after we left Hawaii. :eek:

 

Enjoy your cruise. We would love to be joining you!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[bettty45]

Hi,

 

 

 

On the Amsterdam for the last few years, it has been unusual to not have CNN, Fox News and at least some movie just about all of the time. Even in the South Pacific.

 

 

 

Scott & Karen

 

 

 

Thanks for the quick response. Did you have many guest lecturers?

 

 

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[bettty45]

We either got very lucky or there are a lot more satellites up here. We never lost any TV coverage at all. CNN, MSNBC and Fox were all on all the time. We were cruising before and during the US Presidential elections, so we did watch much more TV then usual. Last time we were in the South Pacific, we didn't get any TV after we left Hawaii. :eek:

 

 

 

Enjoy your cruise. We would love to be joining you!!

 

 

 

Cheers, Denise

 

 

 

Thanks Denise :)

 

 

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[RMLincoln]

Thanks for the quick response. Did you have many guest lecturers?

 

 

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We were also on the same cruise as Denise...

I'll add that we had a 4th news channel, BBC world.

 

We thought the internet was difficult at best. Optimal time for us was to figure out when most people were at dinner or the show. Then we got on line once or twice in port for a small fee to get a fast line for updates and important stuff. But for email we must muddled through on the ship. My best WiFi spot was opposite the Future Cruise desk, between the Explorations Cafe and the Explorers Lounge.

 

We had multiple guest lecturers, usually two at a time. Topics varied but I seemed to be always working a presentation into my sea days, either the morning talk or the afternoon talk, sometimes both. Plus they were repeated on the TV so I could catch up when I missed one.

Enjoy, m--

[bettty45]

We were also on the same cruise as Denise...

I'll add that we had a 4th news channel, BBC world.

 

We thought the internet was difficult at best. Optimal time for us was to figure out when most people were at dinner or the show. Then we got on line once or twice in port for a small fee to get a fast line for updates and important stuff. But for email we must muddled through on the ship. My best WiFi spot was opposite the Future Cruise desk, between the Explorations Cafe and the Explorers Lounge.

 

We had multiple guest lecturers, usually two at a time. Topics varied but I seemed to be always working a presentation into my sea days, either the morning talk or the afternoon talk, sometimes both. Plus they were repeated on the TV so I could catch up when I missed one.

Enjoy, m--

 

 

 

Thanks for that info!! Anything else that you found useful for us would be great to hear and know.

 

 

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[bettty45]

We were also on the same cruise as Denise...

I'll add that we had a 4th news channel, BBC world.

 

We thought the internet was difficult at best. Optimal time for us was to figure out when most people were at dinner or the show. Then we got on line once or twice in port for a small fee to get a fast line for updates and important stuff. But for email we must muddled through on the ship. My best WiFi spot was opposite the Future Cruise desk, between the Explorations Cafe and the Explorers Lounge.

 

We had multiple guest lecturers, usually two at a time. Topics varied but I seemed to be always working a presentation into my sea days, either the morning talk or the afternoon talk, sometimes both. Plus they were repeated on the TV so I could catch up when I missed one.

Enjoy, m--

 

 

 

My husband is applying to teach a birding class for our cruise. He is a retired Wildlife biologist and has taught many classes in the past. Do you think this might have appealed to folks on your cruise? He does a beginning class noting web sites, equipment, identification, etc. Beth

 

 

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[crystalspin]

My husband is applying to teach a birding class for our cruise. He is a retired Wildlife biologist and has taught many classes in the past. Do you think this might have appealed to folks on your cruise? He does a beginning class noting web sites, equipment, identification, etc. Beth

 

 

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I'd love a talk like that. I'm getting back into birding at our new house (big front window and a couple mini-bay windows in the back) -- I was crazy for birds in my youth, but now live on the other side of the continent with many different common birds.

 

I'm always interested in the birds of distant lands we visit, although I think the only "foreign" books I have are British Isles and New Zealand. The internet helps, though, when I see one I don't recognize.

 

Unfortunately, I won't be on your cruise!

[cruisn71]

For those who were recently on the Amsterdam, what kind of internet packages were they offering? Did they have any of the unlimited packages?