Rare Ken the cruiser Posted November 10, 2018 #1 Share Posted November 10, 2018 We are currently on the Riviera in the Med and the availability of the Internet has been very unreliable since we boarded the first leg of our 4 leg cruise on Oct 14th. Don’t get me wrong we get internet service, but it comes and goes depending on how many people are logged on. For example during the evening hours when everyone is at dinner or at the show or during a port day when everyone is on an excursion, it’s not so bad, maybe. However, after the show or on sea days, it’s hit and miss big time. One of the worst times is before sail away when everyone is back from their excursions and before dinner. It didn’t seem this bad when we were on the Sirena in May going around Cuba or on the Nautica in July when we were on the Nautica in Northern Europe. But on our Riviera cruise, it has been the pits. Could it be the folks that are paying the $10 per day for Wavenet Prime are sucking down the bandwidth at the expense of everyone else that is now getting it free, or is it just that O made a mistake and gave everyone free internet for marketing reasons without having put enough bandwidth in place to offer a quality product on their larger O ships? When we asked the Internet@Sea rep what’s up as to why the service was so intermittent, he didn’t offer any conclusions that made sense. Has anyone else been experiencing sporadic Internet service on the O class ships? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pinotlover Posted November 10, 2018 #2 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Always had sporadic intermittent internet service on all O ships. Sometimes, you’ve mentioned some, service is better or worse than other times. Absolutely nothing new. When we cruised, before my wife’s retirement, and she still had to correspond with the world, she found that getting up around 4:00 am gave her plenty of internet access and speed until around 6:30 when it died again. If you must us the internet, give those hours a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted November 10, 2018 #3 Share Posted November 10, 2018 well when everyone is trying to Facetime with the family & upload all their photos of the day it will slow down the system On Marina in July it was a bit slower on sea days but still workable when everyone was ashore it was just zipping along except in the Fjords it was hit or miss on some occasions Location also plays a role in the signal I do not cruise for the internet & use it maybe 1 hr a day to check mail & CC got to have my CC hit 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted November 10, 2018 Author #4 Share Posted November 10, 2018 (edited) But, but, but, Wavenet was supposed to resolved that 😱 Here is a write-up about it: Oceania Cruises is rolling out its new Wavenet high-speed Internet service fleetwide, at no extra charge for all accomodations categories. With Wavenet, travelers will be able to upload and download large files in a snap, see shows on Netflix, stream their playlist on Spotify and instantly share their cruise memories on Facebook and Instagram. They can even livestream, Facetime and Skype with friends and family back home. Free and unlimited Wavenet service will be included for all staterooms and suites, on all sailings. A streaming upgrade, Wavenet Prime, is available for $9.99 per day for those who wish to stream movies, music or videos. Wavenet and Wavenet Prime will be available on all Oceania ships by the end of April (2018). I guess they just forget to mention you have to get up in the wee hours of the morning to tap into this new, great service. Edited November 10, 2018 by Ken the cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted November 10, 2018 #5 Share Posted November 10, 2018 I do not think they have successfully blocked some of those streaming options DH was able to Skype with his friend on the July cruise without the upcharge I am sure people find away around it Just read some of the posts where people are sending work projects & teaching classes while on the cruise Just saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatbush Flyer Posted November 10, 2018 #6 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Besides any possible bandwidth problems, there can be latency issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted November 10, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted November 10, 2018 It’s almost midnight and it has taken us four hours to log back on to Cruise Critic and my DW is definitely not a happy camper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillsprint Posted November 11, 2018 #8 Share Posted November 11, 2018 We were on Riviera in August and found the Wi-fi connection poor across the ship. Certainly it was the worst I had experienced in the past 7 years of cruising, it was much better on Azamara, Celebrity and NCL. All the cruises were in the Med so they were in similar network conditions. Certainly it is something that O need to improve as more customers now expect a consistent service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misssmb Posted November 11, 2018 #9 Share Posted November 11, 2018 Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeezerCouple Posted November 11, 2018 #10 Share Posted November 11, 2018 8 minutes ago, Misssmb said: Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine. Those computers are probably hard wired. Has anyone noticed if there is a difference in cabins using WiFi or a wired connection? GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wr2next Posted November 11, 2018 #11 Share Posted November 11, 2018 6 hours ago, GeezerCouple said: Those computers are probably hard wired. Has anyone noticed if there is a difference in cabins using WiFi or a wired connection? GC We are just off Nautica and the Internet was terrible. The wireless was bad in certain parts of the ship including my stateroom. We couldn't wait to get back on our Delta flight home to have good internet service. It is beyond me how a 767 flying at 35,000 ft going 500mph can have good internet service and a cruise ship going 18 knots at sea level cant figure it out. We are on Insigna in December and hoping the internet will have been upgraded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted November 11, 2018 #12 Share Posted November 11, 2018 22 minutes ago, wr2next said: It is beyond me how a 767 flying at 35,000 ft going 500mph can have good internet service and a cruise ship going 18 knots at sea level cant figure it out. We are on Insigna in December and hoping the internet will have been upgraded. the aircraft is closer to the satellites 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeezerCouple Posted November 11, 2018 #13 Share Posted November 11, 2018 16 minutes ago, LHT28 said: the aircraft is closer to the satellites 😉 If we use a short wired connection, would that be "closer"? Or would it be the same if we put the WiFi laptop *near* the wired port? Seriously, though... is it any better if we bring a connector so we don't use the WiFi? (I don't even know if there are wired ports in each cabin/suite... we've been using WiFi for so long!) The "deal" DH and I made when we started traveling, given that he has no interest in retiring, is that I'd rather have his laptop on his laptop on a cruise ship balcony, etc., than at home in his office He doesn't usually stay connected long, but he does (er, "used to"?) check email throughout the day when possible. This is sounding like WiFi access is worse than when we were on the Riviera about 3 years ago. I guess that's possible if many are streaming now... GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted November 12, 2018 #14 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) 15 hours ago, Misssmb said: Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine. What did you expect to do online? I got off the same Marina cruise and most of the time the internet on my iPad was fine for emails. I was able to follow an airline website looking for availability of a flight for next year and when it became available I booked it without any trouble; I followed sports results for my teams; I occasionally checked CC. I even did some banking and made a few calls on my iPad with WiFi connection. I did not do FaceTime, Facebook (I never do those even at home) or try to download any pictures On a few occasions internet was not available but it would always be a temporary situation. While obviously the connection was not like at my home, I was able to do the things I wanted and needed without any trouble - just more slowly. FWIW, several of the buses on shore excursions in Italy & France had very good WiFi - even for downloading pictures 🙂 Edited November 12, 2018 by Paulchili Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted November 12, 2018 Author #15 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Regarding Wavenet Prime on the O class ships, has anyone purchased it and what was the quality of the service provided during prime time hours as well as after midnight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZjohn Posted November 12, 2018 #16 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said: Regarding Wavenet Prime on the O class ships, has anyone purchased it and what was the quality of the service provided during prime time hours as well as after midnight? Speed was terrible for most everything I needed it for. There is no speed difference between paid and free on O. If your doing simple tasks it's tolerable but any streaming or web sites with average amount of data was impossible. Thinking generation gap has a very large discrepancy regarding speed wanted for internet. Other cruise lines understand this and have invested for high speed internet service on sea. O on the other hand hasn't felt it to be important yet (and I stress yet). Cheers, John Edited November 12, 2018 by AZjohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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