Internet packages - Social vs Surf package?

[Vineyard View]

we will be on the Grand in September. I am looking at the internet packages that are offered. There are three. Streaming is not important so I am not needing the biggest package. I will only want to possibly check emails and messages for family...

So I am wondering if anyone can help me understand which of these two packages might work best for these limited needs. Internet cafes in port work fine for any further.

The description of each package is rather limited IMHO

Thank you

[jkmmah]

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[moki'smommy]

If all you want to do is a little e-mail, the cheapest package will be fine. My concern continues to be speed--people are reporting that even with the new system, things aren't as good as they are on some other lines. That won't affect you with an unlimited package, but slow internet is frustrating.

[josher_m]

I'm curious about this as well. Also wondering if you sign up for cheapest package, how do you control other aspects (ie email, text messages) coming in, etc so you don't use those and end up with huge carrier bill. You'd have to turn off airplane mode even to just surf, but I'm not sure if that allows everything or not.

[Vineyard View]

Speed - or lack of - can be incredibly frustrating, and in the end expensive. If that piece is still a big issue. If it really is, then we might just deal with port only internet. Been a while since we went that route!

[Haboob]

we will be on the Grand in September. I am looking at the internet packages that are offered. There are three. Streaming is not important so I am not needing the biggest package. I will only want to possibly check emails and messages for family...

So I am wondering if anyone can help me understand which of these two packages might work best for these limited needs. Internet cafes in port work fine for any further.

The description of each package is rather limited IMHO

Thank you

 

Princess has been trying different "unlimited" packages the past few months while they see what

actually works with the new satellite constellation they've just signed up with -- in fact, a voyage

I'm booked on has *no* internet packages on offer right now.

 

That makes it tough to guess which flavor of "unlimited minutes" they are offering you, but I

suspect your "Tier 1" has verbiage like "Facebook, certain social media sites, and GMail".

 

*IF* that verbiage is there, Tier 1 restricts you to just those sites. No email through Hotmail.

No email through your ISP's email server. No Drudge Report, or Kindle deliveries, etc, either.

[Worldtraveler 4727]

Before we went on our Alaskan cruise (June 27 - July 4, 2018) I asked this same question on CC. The Coral was offering an unlimited package in three tiers, and those tiers were poorly described. Which one to buy? The thread on CC failed to give any helpful info. (It turned into a conversation of "elites should get this unlimited package for free" etc). We decided to shoot for the middle and bought the $79 package as all I wanted to do was email and text. The first day out of Whittier as we cruised south, it was great. Put your phone on airplane mode, and the ship's internet takes over. It was really nice to not have to do as we had always done: turn on the ship's internet, download emails and texts, turn internet off, compose responses, turn internet back on, quickly send, turn internet off again, watch your minutes. HOWEVER, as soon as we got near Glacier Bay, there was no reception whatsoever. Princess was obviously anticipating this as there was a notice in the Patter that this would happen and there would be no refunds. Traveling south to Vancouver for the remaining 5 days, the ship's internet was spotty at best. What worked about as well was taking the phone out of airplane mode and picking up my AT&T provider on my phone. (AT&T has a big presence in Alaska). Of course, AT&T worked well in all ports.

So--bottom line: It was a waste of money for us those 7 days cruising the coast of Alaska. I would not buy it for another Alaskan cruise again, but it remains to be seen if these packages are worth the money on other itineraries. Certainly, if you have consistent satellite connection, it is wonderful. No turning the internet on and off. But the three different "levels" need be be better defined as well. As people try these various levels, I guess we will slowly get our answer.

[Thrak]

We just use the free Platinum minutes but I have been curious regarding the different packages I have been hearing about so finally clicked on the link on the Princess main page. I don't see any of the packages listed. It sends me directly to my booked cruises (if I'm not logged in it sends me to the login page) and when I check there are no Internet packages listed. All it shows me is the 10 minute call to shore for $50 or so. Nothing at all regarding Internet packages. Where is everybody seeing these listed?

[suekel]

I'm curious about this as well. Also wondering if you sign up for cheapest package, how do you control other aspects (ie email, text messages) coming in, etc so you don't use those and end up with huge carrier bill. You'd have to turn off airplane mode even to just surf, but I'm not sure if that allows everything or not.

 

 

Whatever you do, do not turn off airplane mode or all of your texts, etc will come in. When you go into the princess app, there is a button that says internet, takes you to the next page and hit connect. As long as your wifi is on, you'll have the internet. Just make sure to disconnect when you are done.

[Vineyard View]

This shows up under my booking. The three packages with pre purchase price on a 7 day:

 

Premium - $109.99

Enjoy truly premium unlimited access!

All internet usage subject to Princess Cruises standard policies, etc.

 

Surf Package - $79.99

Surf your favorite sites from e-mail, news, sports, and more*

*may not allow for audio/video calling and streaming

 

Social Package - $59.99

Unlimited access to the most popular social websites and applications*

*may not allow for audio/video calling and streaming

 

So maybe it’s just me, but if all I want is ability to message family and check emails, I find this confusing as to which of the lower two will need to be purchased.

[Vineyard View]

Whatever you do, do not turn off airplane mode or all of your texts, etc will come in. When you go into the princess app, there is a button that says internet, takes you to the next page and hit connect. As long as your wifi is on, you'll have the internet. Just make sure to disconnect when you are done.

 

Does this Princess app automatically populate once on board or does it need to be downloaded prior to? Thank you

[Haboob]

This shows up under my booking. The three packages with pre purchase price on a 7 day:

 

Premium - $109.99

Enjoy truly premium unlimited access!

All internet usage subject to Princess Cruises standard policies, etc.

 

Surf Package - $79.99

Surf your favorite sites from e-mail, news, sports, and more*

*may not allow for audio/video calling and streaming

 

Social Package - $59.99

Unlimited access to the most popular social websites and applications*

*may not allow for audio/video calling and streaming

 

So maybe it’s just me, but if all I want is ability to message family and check emails, I find this confusing as to which of the lower two will need to be purchased.

 

With the fuzziness on whether they will support the flavor of messaging you want to use,

and on exactly which email server hosts they will and will support? I'd spend the $20.

 

Frankly, if you're not already embarked, they probably haven't made those decisions yet. :o

[Haboob]

Does this Princess app automatically populate once on board or does it need to be downloaded prior to? Thank you

 

You've already got the "app". It's the browser you already use to visit Drudge Report or

Bubble Mouse.

 

You turn on WiFi, choose the ship's WiFi network, then the "app" is just a website called

"EmeraldPrincess.com" (or whatever).

 

BTW, most cellphone carriers will ship texts to your phone via that WiFi if you leave your

phone set in Airplane Mode but enable "WiFi Calling" (or whatever iPhone calls it).

 

If you've got enough bandwidth, they'll ship you your phone calls that way, too, without

having to pay at-sea roaming rates.

 

I *think* it works for outgoing texts and calls, too.

 

Just triple check that you're set to Airplane Mode! ...and check again. ;)

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Haboob for both responses.

When you put the $20 difference out there it does turn into a fairly basic decision. :D Their description of the packages do leave a lot of room for improvement IMHO.

Also appreciate the internet tips. I just wanted to be sure there wasn’t a separate app I needed to download with their new system. It is just connecting as usual. And yeah.....I Learned the airplane mode piece via a very expensive mistake in the past! Always a great reminder!

[Haboob]

Thank you Haboob for both responses.

When you put the $20 difference out there it does turn into a fairly basic decision. :D Their description of the packages do leave a lot of room for improvement IMHO.

Also appreciate the internet tips. I just wanted to be sure there wasn’t a separate app I needed to download with their new system. It is just connecting as usual. And yeah.....I Learned the airplane mode piece via a very expensive mistake in the past! Always a great reminder!

 

Glad to be of help. ;)

 

IMNSHO, the descriptions are deliberately vague because they are still digesting some hard

lessons they learned on Regal's April T/A, and are trying to figure out precisely what they in

fact are going to offer. :o

[Amster12345]

Interesting. I just checked my reservation on Sapphire for February, and they still have the internet packages by the minute. I was hoping for the new packages.

[Vineyard View]

So the whole Princess internet situation is pretty much clear as mud right now! Maybe it will all settle into a more concise program soon.

[caribill]

Based on this thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56479884&posted=1#post56479884 about pricing on the Grand Princess, Princess is not offering unlimited internet at all.

 

What they are offering are three packages with different daily limits of how many MB you can use.

 

Social 200 MB/day

Surf 300 MB/day

Premium 500 MB/day

 

So what you are paying for if you get more than the Social package is not faster speed, just more MB per day. For many people, the amount of surfing they might do each day can be handled by the Social package.

[Vineyard View]

Based on this thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56479884&posted=1#post56479884 about pricing on the Grand Princess, Princess is not offering unlimited internet at all.

 

What they are offering are three packages with different daily limits of how many MB you can use.

 

Social 200 MB/day

Surf 300 MB/day

Premium 500 MB/day

 

So what you are paying for if you get more than the Social package is not faster speed, just more MB per day. For many people, the amount of surfing they might do each day can be handled by the Social package.

 

Interesting. That is completely different from what is showing up on my booking. It does not state anything about daily pricing, nor about MB/day. It only states what I posted previously.

[caribill]

Interesting. That is completely different from what is showing up on my booking. It does not state anything about daily pricing, nor about MB/day. It only states what I posted previously.

 

After your cruise, please come back and let us know what really happens.

[Vineyard View]

I will do that. We don’t sail until later in September though so I am not going to sign up at this point. There are too many different reports on what you get for your dollar.

[villauk]

I will do that. We don’t sail until later in September though so I am not going to sign up at this point. There are too many different reports on what you get for your dollar.

 

 

We’ve signed up for the Social and sail in August. I’ll let you know how we get on ;).

[Vineyard View]

We’ve signed up for the Social and sail in August. I’ll let you know how we get on ;).

 

That would be very helpful. Thank you villauk. I think the biggest confusion for me is whether there are daily limits on either of these packages as some are reporting. It doesn’t show in my booking as having any. Of course, this whole paying for internet thing IMHO needs to go away period, but that is a whole different topic.

[cdngrl]

not having a clue how many MB i'd be using checking email, facebook, messenger once or twice a day; i wonder if there is an alert that you are nearing your daily limit?