When will cruise ships offer free wi-if in cabins?

[Colo Cruiser]

Perfectly happy without any Internet at sea, and while I know that is a fantasy, the less ability to connect on ship, the better as far as I am concerned. I would not shed a tear if I was never able to access the Internet at sea.

 

Laptop stays home. Tablet stays home. Phone is offline and used in ports for convenience - maps, GPS, etc.

 

I appreciate people vacation in different ways and relax in different ways, but I wont say that seeing multiple passengers spend what appears to be a great deal of their vacation looking for a good WiFi signal on board, or spending time at Passenger Services upset about one Internet issue or the other does not amuse me to a certain degree.

 

I just find it hard to accept that cruise ship passengers, as a whole, are such important people to the functioning of the world that we cant collectively drop off the grid for a week or two and not expect the world to be there, as it was, when we return.

 

Humanity, relatively speaking, was doing OK before the machines started to take over. I am sure we will all be fine if we have to live without them for a few days here and there.

 

 

I don't rely on internet on my cruises and usually don't use my free minutes.

However in reference to your highlighted post above I don't worry about what other passengers do with their vacation time and the freedom to do what one wants during their cruise time. Thank goodness we are not all the same.

[Baron Barracuda]

Princess makes a lot of money on internet. If they made it free they'd need to offset the revenue loss by raising prices or cutting expenses. Why make non-users pay more?

[Thrak]

]Iridium's next-generation constellation will support up to 1.5Mbps[/color]. SpaceX is planning its own constellation of 4' date='425 satellites may begin launching by 2019. Although the latencies will be much lower with LEO/MEO orbits, they will become inconsistent ("jitter") due to the convoluted path the signals will have to follow.[/quote']

 

While that would be a vast improvement over current speeds it's hardly high speed access. I'm used to wired access at home that varies from a low of 180Mbps to a high of 200Mbps. On WiFi of course it's much slower and tends to vary between 34Mbps and 48Mbps. Still much better than 1.5Mbps. I always hated the access speed at work compared to home.

 

It's a good thing my wife and I cruise for the cruise and not for the Internet access. We did quite well before we became Platinum and got free minutes. We never paid for Internet access at sea. It's sooooooooooo much nicer to just relax and enjoy the cruise.

[Fisherwoman]

Free internet: 100% crazy talk! :evilsmile:

 

Princess is a business and they are not interested in you sitting in your stateroom for an entire cruise surfing the web. They want and need you to be surfing the shops, excursions, bars and any other profit centers on and off the ship. The current fare structure will never allow for free internet for all passengers. Now, free unlimited for suites and for those with 100+ cruises, maybe.

 

I agree with the above post. It's all about on board revenue. From expensive drinks (they don't pay the taxes as on land), overpriced shore excursions and specialty restaurants surcharges I wouldn't expect free internet anytime soon!

[XBGuy]

Here is how I look at it.

 

Like many I, personally, do not see a great need for internet access while on a cruise, but if somebody feels they do need it, or, more likely, they just prefer to have it, there is nothing wrong with that.

 

However, as has been noted multiple times here in this conversation, it costs Prinicess to provide this service to it's customers. As has also been noted multiple times, it is not reasonable to think that Princess is going to absorb that cost. So, they have a choice. They can price it on an a la carte basis--by the minute, by the day, whatever--or they can bundle it into the fare.

 

There is no "Free."

 

Obviously, from my point of view, since I have little or no use for it, I am very comfortable with a la carte pricing.

 

:)

 

However, if the cost is bundled in with the passage fare, then, since I am not using it, I am subsidizing others' use.

 

:( . . . :mad:

 

To me it's exactly the same as deciding whether or not I want to spend my money on any other activity:

 

 

• buying alcoholic beverages
  
• playing in the casino
  
• buying art
  
• dining in a specialty restaurant
  
• going on excursions
  

Some of the above are activiities in which I never participate. In some, I participate often--in some, only occasionally. The thing that I enjoy about cruising is that I can customize my experience. I am happy to pay for it, but I'd just as soon not pay for everybody else's.

[cweagle]

Free wifi is already offered in all staterooms. As for free internet, you have to remember that you are on a ship, in the middle of the ocean, and miles from land. The only way to get internet is to use a satellite, and that is EXPENSIVE. You do not go on a cruise to constantly check your FB, you go on a cruise to unwind and get away from it all. You smell the sea air, and feel the boat rock as she glides through the waves. Also, here's a tip. When your phone gets out of range of the shore towers, PLEASE make sure you have it set on airplane mode. You do NOT want a big fat roaming data bill waiting for you when you disembark. And note, even when you are docked at your ports of call, your phone will use the data network of THAT country, which is still considered roaming. Best to leave it OFF, or in airplane mode. Trust me...... learned that the hard way.

[GRAYTech]

• I'm completely repeating hearsay here, but I've read that Royal Caribbean basically has a lock on most of the available satellites for this use; in other words shutting out the other cruise lines from access. I would imagine there's no fix until more satellites are launched.

(if this is incorrect I'd love to know the real story, I'm interested in this from a technical perspective.)

 

Read up on VOOM. It's pretty cool what they have done from a tech perspective.

[Charles4515]

And note, even when you are docked at your ports of call, your phone will use the data network of THAT country, which is still considered roaming. Best to leave it OFF, or in airplane mode. Trust me...... learned that the hard way.

 

 

Your phone will only use data if you turn data roaming on. It is off by default. You had to have turned it on to learn the hard way.

 

That said. Times do change. Time to rethink. Roaming charges have gone down if you sign up for an International plan. At the ports I turn data roaming on and buy International Travel passes from AT&T which are $10 for every 24 hour period. Verizon has something similar. The pass gives me the same amount of data as I have at home. In my case unlimited data. It is a better deal than buying the cruise ship WiFi. Also LTE cellular is a lot better than the ships WiFi. They only start a 24 hour period if you use data or voice.

[GRAYTech]

For the folks that could care less about internet access, I'm not an all important person that the world revolves around but I am the only person in my sole proprietor business. If I couldn't get access to the internet on occasion I couldn't cruise.

[dmwnc1959]

I'm not quite sure why there are those on here that felt like it was their responsibility to tell people what they are and are not suppose to be doing while they are on a cruise, or that they cannot accept that there are those who can't disconnect from the grid for a week or two while they are on THEIR vacation, but it really is none of your business, is it?

 

I've ran across quite a few instances where people had sick parents back home where they needed to stay in contact with family members at least daily; or a small business owner that was the only one authorized to release payroll for her company, and could do so using the internet of the ship; or after having left home for vacation a natural disaster struck, and they were checking on the status of their house from neighbors during the week; people who had family members sitting with their kids that chose not to go with them while they were on vacation, and were checking in daily to make sure everything was OK; those that like to update their daily blogs for their loyal followers; or upload dozens of images taken that day to their Flickr account to free up some space on a cell phone; kids who like to check-in with their friends on FB back home to let them know how much fun their having on their Princess cruise; or to check the daily news, stocks, or maybe the weather report for your flight home.

 

There are an infinite number of reasons why someone may want to log onto the Internet. If none of them are yours, or you choose not to partake of the Internet while at sea, then fine. But do not presume to tell those that do so that they should be using their time better spent doing something else.

 

:cool:

Edited September 6, 2017 by dmwnc1959

[perditax]

For the folks that could care less about internet access, I'm not an all important person that the world revolves around but I am the only person in my sole proprietor business. If I couldn't get access to the internet on occasion I couldn't cruise.

 

 

I'm hoping that in another few years the posts shaming people for the way they spend their cruising time with regards to technology will die off and fade away. I've said it a million times here, but I don't go around judging people who spend their entire cruise hammered, getting melanoma, or even with their eyes in a book for hours (and thus not fixed reverently on the ocean).

 

The same people who will sit at a slot machine and punch the buttons like a robot will act utterly bewildered by someone playing a game on their phone.

 

Just do *you*, folks.

[XBGuy]

I'm hoping that in another few years the posts shaming people for the way they spend their cruising time with regards to technology will die off and fade away. I've said it a million times here, but I don't go around judging people who spend their entire cruise hammered, getting melanoma, or even with their eyes in a book for hours (and thus not fixed reverently on the ocean).

 

You don't?

 

The same people who will sit at a slot machine and punch the buttons like a robot will act utterly bewildered by someone playing a game on their phone.

 

Just do *you*, folks.

 

Go back and read what you wrote. It sure sounds you're taking an air of superiority. That sounds judgemental to me.

[cweagle]

Your phone will only use data if you turn data roaming on. It is off by default. You had to have turned it on to learn the hard way.

 

That said. Times do change. Time to rethink. Roaming charges have gone down if you sign up for an International plan. At the ports I turn data roaming on and buy International Travel passes from AT&T which are $10 for every 24 hour period. Verizon has something similar. The pass gives me the same amount of data as I have at home. In my case unlimited data. It is a better deal than buying the cruise ship WiFi. Also LTE cellular is a lot better than the ships WiFi. They only start a 24 hour period if you use data or voice.

thing is, i forgot to turn off the data when we left port, and unknown to me, it had automatically switched to roaming when we docked in Juneau after the first day at sea.

[perditax]

Go back and read what you wrote. It sure sounds you're taking an air of superiority. That sounds judgemental to me.

 

 

Yes, it's annoying when it's flipped around, isn't it? That's the point.

 

The thing is, I don't go into threads about drink packages or casinos with these statements.

[mllewis48]

I'm not quite sure why there are those on here that felt like it was their responsibility to tell people what they are and are not suppose to be doing while they are on a cruise, or that they cannot accept that there are those who can't disconnect from the grid for a week or two while they are on THEIR vacation, but it really is none of your business, is it?

 

I've ran across quite a few instances where people had sick parents back home where they needed to stay in contact with family members at least daily; or a small business owner that was the only one authorized to release payroll for her company, and could do so using the internet of the ship; or after having left home for vacation a natural disaster struck, and they were checking on the status of their house from neighbors during the week; people who had family members sitting with their kids that chose not to go with them while they were on vacation, and were checking in daily to make sure everything was OK; those that like to update their daily blogs for their loyal followers; or upload dozens of images taken that day to their Flickr account to free up some space on a cell phone; kids who like to check-in with their friends on FB back home to let them know how much fun their having on their Princess cruise; or to check the daily news, stocks, or maybe the weather report for your flight home.

 

There are an infinite number of reasons why someone may want to log onto the Internet. If none of them are yours, or you choose not to partake of the Internet while at sea, then fine. But do not presume to tell those that do so that they should be using their time better spent doing something else.

 

:cool:

 

 

 

Thank you for comments, my thoughts exactly. My wife's Mother died while on a NE cruise many years ago. There are many valid reasons for the need for internet access while on a cruise, surfing is not one, IMHO

 

 

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[bigbuzzard]

I'm not quite sure why there are those on here that felt like it was their responsibility to tell people what they are and are not suppose to be doing while they are on a cruise, or that they cannot accept that there are those who can't disconnect from the grid for a week or two while they are on THEIR vacation, but it really is none of your business, is it?

 

I've ran across quite a few instances where people had sick parents back home where they needed to stay in contact with family members at least daily; or a small business owner that was the only one authorized to release payroll for her company, and could do so using the internet of the ship; or after having left home for vacation a natural disaster struck, and they were checking on the status of their house from neighbors during the week; people who had family members sitting with their kids that chose not to go with them while they were on vacation, and were checking in daily to make sure everything was OK; those that like to update their daily blogs for their loyal followers; or upload dozens of images taken that day to their Flickr account to free up some space on a cell phone; kids who like to check-in with their friends on FB back home to let them know how much fun their having on their Princess cruise; or to check the daily news, stocks, or maybe the weather report for your flight home.

 

There are an infinite number of reasons why someone may want to log onto the Internet. If none of them are yours, or you choose not to partake of the Internet while at sea, then fine. But do not presume to tell those that do so that they should be using their time better spent doing something else.

 

:cool:

I will agree with your post in substance. I think it's ridiculous to go to dinner and texting. Or carrying your phone around all day. Going to a nice dinner at the resturant and a young couple be texting on their phones. To each his own for whatever reason. But I still reserve the right to laugh at the self important people out there, just like laughing at the guys with pants on the ground.

 

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[perditax]

I will agree with your post in substance. I think it's ridiculous to go to dinner and texting. Or carrying your phone around all day. Going to a nice dinner at the resturant and a young couple be texting on their phones. To each his own for whatever reason. But I still reserve the right to laugh at the self important people out there, just like laughing at the guys with pants on the ground.

 

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I'm literally having this same discussion in another thread (although the other poster is claiming that people with bits of tech actually negatively impact her cruise experience), so I have to ask: how do you know what people are doing with their phones, specifically?

 

I'm often listening to a podcast or audiobook on mine. Is that okay, or is it worth laughing at? How will you know if I'm texting or simply picking the next book to listen to? Or for that matter, what if I'm reading an ebook?

 

I'm also a writer and often use my phone or iPad to edit whatever I've written that day at sea. Is that okay? Can you tell if I'm doing that or checking Facebook? Never mind that I don't use Facebook, of course.

[bigbuzzard]

I'm literally having this same discussion in another thread (although the other poster is claiming that people with bits of tech actually negatively impact her cruise experience), so I have to ask: how do you know what people are doing with their phones, specifically?

 

I'm often listening to a podcast or audiobook on mine. Is that okay, or is it worth laughing at? How will you know if I'm texting or simply picking the next book to listen to? Or for that matter, what if I'm reading an ebook?

 

I'm also a writer and often use my phone or iPad to edit whatever I've written that day at sea. Is that okay? Can you tell if I'm doing that or checking Facebook? Never mind that I don't use Facebook, of course.

Yep.

 

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[perditax]

I think you misunderstood that old saying, 'brevity is the soul of wit', but message received; no actual discourse will be happening.

[Thrak]

Aboard the ship I mostly use my phone for reading. I often sit on the deck just above the covered pool and read. It's so much easier to "pack" books on the phone than to take physical books. I "may" listen to an audiobook but it's annoying when I fall asleep listening and have to go back and find my place later. ;p I also sometimes make a list of things from the Patter that I want to check out. None of these require an Internet connection. If there actually should be anything I might want an Internet connection for my Platinum minutes will handle it nicely.

 

My wife and I are soooooooooo looking forward next to month and 28 days of "I don't care". We just got back a couple of weeks ago from a 7 week camping trip. We had pretty much zero access to anything. No news. No Internet. It was really nice.

[JulieRose]

HAHAHAHA!!! Free Internet in cabins. Funny! While people continue to be willing to pay they will continue to charge.

 

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[Thrak]

I'd much rather have free Bourbon in my cabin!

[Lucky TGO]

I'd much rather have free Bourbon in my cabin!

 

He's not lying folks!!! :whiskey-glass: :whiskey-glass: :D

Tony

[constable145]

avid cruiser , love princess but isn't it time for princess and all lines to offer free wi-if in cabins. Any thoughts ? Will it ever happen , it seems it has to

It'll never happen. The cost of getting internet to the ship is exponentially more expensive than a DSL or cable connection on land.

 

Plus it is a huge revenue source for the cruise lines.

 

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[caribill]

It'll never happen. The cost of getting internet to the ship is exponentially more expensive than a DSL or cable connection on land.

 

 

Then what the ship needs is a cable connection.....and a very long cable.