HAL Internet

[eyeeye]

On the Eurodam in March, any idea if unlimited internet is available? If not, what is the best alternative

 

TIA

 

 

 

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[Jimbo59]

On Nieuw Amsterdam, it was $250 for 1000 minutes. No unlimited. More expensive per minute for other packages.

[jtl513]

It has been reported here that no HAL ships have the unlimited option any more.

[POA1]

I'll be perfectly honest. The Eurodam's Internet speeds were dismal in December. I've been using ship satellite Internet since at least 15 years ago, and this was the worst. I could not get a speed test to complete, so I can't really say what the actual throughput was. I even took my PC up to the Explorations Cafe so that I could be sure that I wasn't losing throughput to internal hops. The only thing that saved me was that we had a fair number of port stops and I could use my cell phone as a 4G hotspot. (T-Mobile, approx $25/week.)

 

My advice: Pretend you're working under dial up conditions and proceed from there. Configure POP/SMTP for your mail and try not to do a whole lot with large attachments.

[7hippo4]

We just returned off the Westerdam 2/07 and the unlimited internet was still offered on our seven night cruise. 69.99/99.99/139.99 depending on which plan you wanted with what capabilities. It actually worked quite well.

[ss70chev]

Does anyone have any info on the internet on the Nieuw Amsterdam? Is the speed slow?

[3rdGenCunarder]

I'll be perfectly honest. The Eurodam's Internet speeds were dismal in December. I've been using ship satellite Internet since at least 15 years ago, and this was the worst. I could not get a speed test to complete, so I can't really say what the actual throughput was. I even took my PC up to the Explorations Cafe so that I could be sure that I wasn't losing throughput to internal hops. The only thing that saved me was that we had a fair number of port stops and I could use my cell phone as a 4G hotspot. (T-Mobile, approx $25/week.)

 

My advice: Pretend you're working under dial up conditions and proceed from there. Configure POP/SMTP for your mail and try not to do a whole lot with large attachments.

 

[bold is mine] Good comparison! Although sometimes I think my long-ago dial up was faster.

 

I just do basic emails, no attachments. Minimal web surfing. And that works OK most of the time.

[jtl513]

Although sometimes I think my long-ago dial up was faster.

:D It sure seems that way sometimes, but I think we have just forgotten how bad dial-up was! On the Oosterdam in Dec I ran four timing tests and got download speeds varying from 1.7 Mbps to 2.8 Mbps, or roughly 30 to 50 times faster than dial-up. :)

[Hlitner]

Does anyone have any info on the internet on the Nieuw Amsterdam? Is the speed slow?

 

Internet speed on all HAL ships varies from slow to slower to slowest. The speed is impacted by the ship's location, weather conditions, and the number of internet users at the time. We compare shipboard internet speeds to the old days of dialup connections.

 

Hank

[sapper1]

With 27 days coming up soon on the NA I am disappointed to learn that there is no unlimited package.

Our longer cruises for the past two years have been on the Westerdam and having the unlimited meant that we could always be in touch with people we were sailing with through FB Messenger.

It made it easy to locate others.

 

One question though-----if I buy the 1000 minute package on our seven day portion and then stay on board for the next 20 day cruise, will the minutes carry over or will I have to use up my minutes on the first cruise or lose them?

[RuthC]

One question though-----if I buy the 1000 minute package on our seven day portion and then stay on board for the next 20 day cruise, will the minutes carry over or will I have to use up my minutes on the first cruise or lose them?

When I have been on back-to-back and/or Collectors' Cruises, I have always been able to roll my unused minutes over to the new cruise. However, that has not always been without difficulty.

 

I have always had the (now) luxury of either and Internet Manager or Librarian to ask about it before purchasing. Then, there either has not been a problem, or if there was, the person was aware I had inquired and fixed it without questioning.

Now, with no one there to deal with, I don't know it would work as well.

 

However, most of the time the rollover has gone without incident.

[POA1]

With 27 days coming up soon on the NA I am disappointed to learn that there is no unlimited package.

Our longer cruises for the past two years have been on the Westerdam and having the unlimited meant that we could always be in touch with people we were sailing with through FB Messenger.

It made it easy to locate others.

 

One question though-----if I buy the 1000 minute package on our seven day portion and then stay on board for the next 20 day cruise, will the minutes carry over or will I have to use up my minutes on the first cruise or lose them?

I'm reasonably sure that the front desk handles the rollover if it doesn't happen automatically. Take a screen capture of the summary screen on the last day in case it doesn't. There was a guy in front of me when I was getting change and they were fixing his account. He was on a B2B and his minutes disappeared. If you have two booking numbers, chances are that you might need a reset. Based on my stealthy eavesdropping, it sounds like it might be pretty common.