New Internet rates

[Tennessee Titan]

Just got off the New Statendam, and the new internet rates are pure greed/usery. There are three tiers. Social, Surf and I am not sure what the top one was called. On a 14 day cruise, Social, which gives access to Social media sites ONLY, is about $100. No email. For another $70, you get email access. For more or less unlimited use, another $50. So to check email once a day costs $170!

Lots of complaints/protest on this..

[TAD2005]

Those rates are not new.   On a October 2017 Westerdam Med/TA 25 day cruise from Venice to FLL, we had the unlimited internet.   The cruise was a "Collector's Cruise" with the midpoint in Rome.   For the first 12 days to Rome, the Premium rate (streaming and Skype) we paid $195.  For the next 13 days to FLL, we paid $205 for the same premium package.   The Social rate was $89 and $99.   The Surf rate was $142 and $157.    The rates do seem to vary between ships.   Somewhere on CC the actual rate card has been posted, showing the daily rates, and the discounted rates for the full cruise.

[CruiserBruce]

Per Merriams: usery is "an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest specifically: interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money"

 

How is this interest on a loan? Hyperbole doesn't make your argument better.

 

 

[kazu]

I like the unlimited internet, myself.

It can be cheaper than the minute package especially on longer cruises.  And, there is no worry that you couldn't get on and your minutes are ticking away.

 

But, of course that's not true if you only are checking emails 5 minutes per day.  In that scenario, I'd be using wifi in ports 😉 

 

 

[Shmoo here]

3 hours ago, Tennessee Titan said:

Just got off the New Statendam, and the new internet rates are pure greed/usery. There are three tiers. Social, Surf and I am not sure what the top one was called. On a 14 day cruise, Social, which gives access to Social media sites ONLY, is about $100. No email. For another $70, you get email access. For more or less unlimited use, another $50. So to check email once a day costs $170!

Lots of complaints/protest on this..

But, it's unlimited access to your email for the length of the cruise, is that correct?  No limit on MB or minutes?

[Tennessee Titan]

8 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

But, it's unlimited access to your email for the length of the cruise, is that correct?  No limit on MB or minutes?

There are data limits.tYhink it's 200mb/day

 

[Tennessee Titan]

20 minutes ago, kazu said:

I like the unlimited internet, myself.

It can be cheaper than the minute package especially on longer cruises.  And, there is no worry that you couldn't get on and your minutes are ticking away.

 

But, of course that's not true if you only are checking emails 5 minutes per day.  In that scenario, I'd be using wifi in ports 😉 

 

 

Fine, if you are not on a transatlantic or transpacific.........

[catl331]

11 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

But, it's unlimited access to your email for the length of the cruise, is that correct?  No limit on MB or minutes?

On this thread 

 one person said 300 Mb/day, another said 500.

[sprockie]

A conversation with Ship services yesterday re: our upcoming January 7 day caribbean cruise was three tiers, social premium etc. and it was unlimited.  The mid range was $100 for 7 days and the premium was $129 or $139 for the cruise.  I hope this is correct.  It seems everyone from HAL has a different answer.

[POA1]

There are stated daily limits of 300MB and 500MB per day on the middle and high end plans. They're not currently enforcing the caps, at least on the Zuiderdam. Based on my typical usage, I would have needed a 1,000 minute plan and a 250 minute plan under per minute pricing. It would have been $300. For the mid tier plan, I'm paying $129.99 for a whole 10 days. That's a huge savings - and the Internet speeds are greatly improved over what we experienced in the past. 

[POA1]

4 minutes ago, sprockie said:

A conversation with Ship services yesterday re: our upcoming January 7 day caribbean cruise was three tiers, social premium etc. and it was unlimited.  The mid range was $100 for 7 days and the premium was $129 or $139 for the cruise.  I hope this is correct.  It seems everyone from HAL has a different answer.

The data limits are on the purchase screen when you go to buy. 

[faerievert]

Are the internet charges per person or per cabin now? Can a person use multiple devices? For example, would one unlimited plan cover phones for me and my husband as well as a laptop or iPad?

[mhb1757]

You can use multiple devices but only one device can be online at a time. 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

The data limits are on the purchase screen when you go to buy. 

 

As discussed on the other thread, I was told on the Zuiderdam in August that they won't cut you off if you exceed those data limits, but they will throttle back on the speed.  No idea if they ever really did that, things were working fine for the first week or so of our 20-night cruise.  But after that, the internet became incredibly slow for everyone during the day, almost useless, but it worked great in the middle of the night.

 

Brian, any sense of whether there's throttling going on now based on your usage?

[Btimmer]

I've used the top tier data package on the Nieuw Statendam through tomorrow all the way from Rome.  It's been finally wonderful to have 24/7 data access without tracking minutes.  It worked well to upload pics and text for my blog.  My wife & I shared the connection and we're stil married.  We also used it for 21 days on the Maasdam in October in the South Pacific with similar positive experiences.

 

Would I like it to be cheaper or faster?  Yes.  But it's such an improvement from the prior cruises. 

[kazu]

3 hours ago, Tennessee Titan said:

Fine, if you are not on a transatlantic or transpacific.........

 

I've been on plenty of transatlantics and a couple of transpacifics.

 

I was very happy when I had unlimited and unhappy when I had by the minute.

 

Satelitte can be iffy so minutes tick by - at least with unlimited it's not the end of the world if you can't download your emails.  And you can answer as you see fit.

 

If emails are not of high priority, you can still wait until you hit a port and if they are, then make use of the package, reply and maybe even share your experiences here 😉 

Make the best of what you have and enjoy your cruise 😄 

[Scrapnana]

Not only is unlimited nice because you don't see $ signs flashing when something is slow to load but also there is not the worry if you forget to log out.  I have known a few people who have forgotten and it has wiped out all the minutes they bought (although you usually can get at least some back if you visit the person in charge).

[POA1]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Brian, any sense of whether there's throttling going on... 

 

Not that I can see. Each CC post load uses at least a meg, and the initial load when it does the password uses more than two. My wife is on Facebook which is a data pig. I haven't seen a slowdown at all.

[POA1]

3 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

You can use multiple devices but only one device can be online at a time. 

 

Make that device a router. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Sounds great and the prices seem very fair. How is router access in the veranda cabins? In the past we would always have to go to the Explorers Lounge or up to the Crows Nest after the evening show to get good reception as it was usually very poor in the cabins.

[catl331]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sounds great and the prices seem very fair. How is router access in the veranda cabins? In the past we would always have to go to the Explorers Lounge or up to the Crows Nest after the evening show to get good reception as it was usually very poor in the cabins.

That depends on how close you are to one of the access point antennas that are spaced periodically along the hallway ... or if you're REALLY lucky, IN your cabin!  You can't get a better signal than we did here, in Oosterdam 8098!

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, catl331 said:

That depends on how close you are to one of the access point antennas that are spaced periodically along the hallway ... or if you're REALLY lucky, IN your cabin!  You can't get a better signal than we did here, in Oosterdam 8098!

Nope, you can't beat that location! We'll definitely keep our eye open for one of those antennas when we set sail on the Massdam in October.

[catl331]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Nope, you can't beat that location! We'll definitely keep our eye open for one of those antennas when we set sail on the Massdam in October.

If you get a weak signal, try propping the hall door open an inch or two, and sitting close to the door.

 

I sometimes take my laptop out and sit on one of the chairs/benches that are often found in elevator bays, as the antennas are frequently nearby.

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, catl331 said:

If you get a weak signal, try propping the hall door open an inch or two, and sitting close to the door.

 

I sometimes take my laptop out and sit on one of the chairs/benches that are often found in elevator bays, as the antennas are frequently nearby.

Thanks! I'll definitely pass this along to my DW.

[LINGBER]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

Make that device a router. 

Or a Hot Spot?