WiFi speed and accessibility

[Harry Peterson]

The £12.50 daily 'package' for 24 hours looks to be about the best value for occasional email use whilst not in port (I see there's a discount to be had if you book 3 days in advance too).

 

Does anyone know how far this reaches from the main areas (cabins?) and the likely speed of connection please?  Still only one device at a time?

Edited March 23, 2019 by docco

[Selbourne]

Unless you simply cannot be without connectivity on sea days, I would save your money. Connection speed and reliability seem to be persistent problems. I use my mobile phone data when in port and it’s all part of my package, so doesn’t cost a penny. That’s if I cannot get WiFi. And it’s significantly quicker and more reliable than the P&O setup. 

[comcox]

I will be on my first P & O  cruise next month.  How does their 24-hour package work?  Is it a continuous 24 hour, i.e. one day only, or can you sign in and out and use those 24 hours over a week's time period?  

[Harry Peterson]

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Unless you simply cannot be without connectivity on sea days, I would save your money. Connection speed and reliability seem to be persistent problems. I use my mobile phone data when in port and it’s all part of my package, so doesn’t cost a penny. That’s if I cannot get WiFi. And it’s significantly quicker and more reliable than the P&O setup. 

Thanks - that's disappointing.  I'll follow your advice.

[jh1809]

30 minutes ago, comcox said:

I will be on my first P & O  cruise next month.  How does their 24-hour package work?  Is it a continuous 24 hour, i.e. one day only, or can you sign in and out and use those 24 hours over a week's time period?  

It's a continuous 24 hours, unfortunately. But if you time it to start from say 1 pm, then you can use it for the afternoon/evening of one day and the morning of the next, which helps a bit. It makes it possible to buy a package every second day but still have some time available every day. 

[PrincessPete]

I would have to respectfully disagree with the earlier poster regarding the P&O Wi-Fi, purely based on my experiences on Oriana over 28 days ending last Friday. I had the Browse package for the whole cruise at £220ish (booked pre-cruise) and I was far happier with it than I anticipated. The Wi-Fi worked fine in our cabin and on the balcony as well as in public rooms. I generally sat in Anderson's late PM to catch up with emails and send WhatsApp messages - but it worked well throughout the ship.
I fully appreciate that the previous poster's comments were based on his own experiences so perhaps I was just lucky with mine on the Oriana.
I must add that the Wi-Fi worked perfectly throughout both our transatlantic crossings.

We did have 19 sea days so were less able to use Wi-Fi ashore than on a more port intensive cruise. Having said that, it also saved spending time on emails etc when we were off the ship when we would rather be exploring.

Obviously not as fast as at home with broadband but in all honesty nothing like as slow as I anticipated.

I sent dozens of pictures via WhatsApp and received many as well. All my texts/emails were received straight away in the UK.
Hope this may help. Kind regards Peter

Edited March 24, 2019 by PrincessPete
Spelling

[AndyMichelle]

44 minutes ago, PrincessPete said:

I would have to respectfully disagree with the earlier poster regarding the P&O Wi-Fi, purely based on my experiences on Oriana over 28 days ending last Friday. I had the Browse package for the whole cruise at £220ish (booked pre-cruise) and I was far happier with it than I anticipated. The Wi-Fi worked fine in our cabin and on the balcony as well as in public rooms. I generally sat in Anderson's late PM to catch up with emails and send WhatsApp messages - but it worked well throughout the ship.
I fully appreciate that the previous poster's comments were based on his own experiences so perhaps I was just lucky with mine on the Oriana.
I must add that the Wi-Fi worked perfectly throughout both our transatlantic crossings.

We did have 19 sea days so were less able to use Wi-Fi ashore than on a more port intensive cruise. Having said that, it also saved spending time on emails etc when we were off the ship when we would rather be exploring.

Obviously not as fast as at home with broadband but in all honesty nothing like as slow as I anticipated.

I sent dozens of pictures via WhatsApp and received many as well. All my texts/emails were received straight away in the UK.
Hope this may help. Kind regards Peter

I and many others are glad you shelled out for the wifi Peter as we enjoyed your 'live' updates, they were really interesting and gave a great insight in to life on board.

Thank you,

Andy

[PrincessPete]

Thanks Andy, I appreciate your comments. I will be posting a final "end of cruise" summary tomorrow morning.

Kind regards Peter

[silkworms]

I also have to say that I have never had any problems whatsoever with WiFi on any P and O ship. Only last month had full cruise WiFi (booked prior to going) and it worked stupendously well.