INTERNET

[xDisconnections]

2 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

The only problem with that is if you are close enough to land where reception miraculous works, that might allow the video camera to get reception even though if you were let’s say further out at sea, it wouldn’t work as well. So the safest option would be to just purchase the Premium WiFi. 

This certainly is not how ship’s WiFi works especially when using the newer O3b satellites.

[Shaded Lady]

Cruisergirl- you are entitled to a discount if you purchase the wifi plan in advance of your cruise, From the Carnival site:

 

Premium Wi-Fi Plan

$14.45/Day

 

From e-mail to Skype, our Premium plan promises the fastest possible connection, at speeds up to 3 times faster than our Value Plan. Supports Skype video calling, where coverage allows.

Save up to 15% when booked prior to sailing versus on-board pricing. WI-FI packages purchased prior to sailing can only be purchased online.

Cut-off for pre-purchase is 11:59PM EST the day before embarkation. Additional restrictions apply, see program details below.

[2Shoes2Go]

3 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

They upgraded vista and horizon a year ago. They have access points in all of the rooms and all over the ship. I was able to stream YouTube TV and upload videos all over the ship the entire cruise. 

 

A month or or two ago they said they boosted the internet speed fleetwide but there’s no way they added all of those additional access points on every ship that quickly.  I’ll be interested to see if there’s any improvement on Glory in August.

 

 

 

When we sailed Glory last, out of Miami, last year, the internet was the absolute worst we’d had on any ship. They knew it and were refunding everyone. No explanation.

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

That’s what I meant (or at least intended to mean). If you don’t have your phone on airplane mode, and if you are close enough to land, you can then pick up service that may or may not be strong enough to connect to the Nest device. 

 

If you mean wifi service near the port, technically it'll work if you're close enough. But wifi has a fairly short range, so even if a business at the port broadcasts free wifi, your chances of connecting from the ship are slim to none. Once you leave the port, even a very short distance, forget about it.

 

For cellular service at a port of call, you do not want to connect to it in most cases. If you don't have some sort of international coverage through your own carrier, you're going to pay big roaming fees if you connect to a cellular network outside the U.S. The exceptions to this are U.S. territories, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Cellular plans through most big U.S. carriers will automatically cover U.S. territories as if you were in the States. For other countries, you have to make sure your carrier covers them or use an international plan.

[Cruisegirl6]

We were on the Elation in February had the premium package it hardly worked and when it did, sending messages to each other on the ship had a long delay around 20 minutes.  Anybody been on the Breeze and can let us know how the internet was?

[coevan]

The Hub and wifi are 2 different animals

 

[Saint Greg]

3 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

We were on the Elation in February had the premium package it hardly worked and when it did, sending messages to each other on the ship had a long delay around 20 minutes.  Anybody been on the Breeze and can let us know how the internet was?

 

As of March 2018...Internet on the Breeze was solid. It was slow like most ships but I did the same route on Freedom the year before and couldn't upload pictures for three days on Freedom. I didn't have that problem on Breeze.

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Saint Greg

[Shaded Lady]

Exactly- Carnival made substantial improvements in their wifi system last year starting with the Breeze and their newer ships. They even claim (and people like @Saint Greg have confirmed) that you can stream using the Premium Wifi plan...

 

[Saint Greg]

40 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

Exactly- Carnival made substantial improvements in their wifi system last year starting with the Breeze and their newer ships. They even claim (and people like @Saint Greg have confirmed) that you can stream using the Premium Wifi plan...

 

 

Did they upgrade Breeze? I had only heard about Vista and Horizon. The streaming I did was on Vista.

[Shaded Lady]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Did they upgrade Breeze? I had only heard about Vista and Horizon. The streaming I did was on Vista.

Yes they did- it was the first to get the wifi upgrade.

[Organized Chaos]

4 hours ago, coevan said:

The Hub and wifi are 2 different animals

 

 

The Hub app uses the same wifi service as the internet plans. Problems with messages being delayed through the Hub app’s chat feature are more than likely caused by poor wifi. That is, as long as people aren’t closing out the app. That too can cause a delay. Sending messages through other apps, like iMessages or others, can also have a delay if the wifi is bad. We’ve experienced that ourselves.

[Cruisegirl6]

So, what would the best way be to communicate to each other on the ship, what would the fastest way be?

[jbethel11]

27 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

So, what would the best way be to communicate to each other on the ship, what would the fastest way be?

The Carnival Hub App would be the best and the cheapest way to communicate on the ship. You would have to ask someone else if it is the fastest. 

[Organized Chaos]

15 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

So, what would the best way be to communicate to each other on the ship, what would the fastest way be?

 

When the Hub app chat feature works as it should, that's the cheapest. The Hub app is free to download and use, except for the chat feature, which is $5 per device (for the entire cruise). The problem is, experiences with Hub chat vary greatly. The biggest complaints are delayed messages. I have a feeling this is due mostly to poor quality wifi on any given ship. So I'd like to think it's more reliable on ships like Vista, Horizon, & Sunrise, which have the best internet. Some of the other ships' wifi have been upgraded and improved, but I don't think they're as good as those three...yet.

 

There's also the option of purchasing an internet plan, which is a pricier option. The Social plan allows you to use several of the most popular messaging apps, like facebook messenger, whatsapp and others. We've used iMessages (iPhone) with the Social plan in the past, but Carnival isn't always clear as to whether they support it on the Social plan or not. Many others have said they used it just fine. We used iMessage with the Value plan last year aboard Glory, but the overall wifi service was atrocious, so the messages didn't always go through as quickly as we would've liked.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[ArmchairQB]

On 5/16/2019 at 8:54 PM, Cruisegirl6 said:

Thank you so very much, we will get the premium plan, appreciate your help!!

We are just off the Magic and sailed on the Horizon last August.  We had Premium on both.  I found the speed and reliability to be exactly the same.  I hope you know that you only need 1 person in the room to buy it.  We are a family of 4 and had no issues sharing the connection.  We just kept kicking each other off when someone wanted to connect.

[Cruisegirl6]

I think that is what we will do this time, purchase one premium plan and share between my other half and myself.  Back in February, we pretty much wasted our money as there was really not much connectivity and our messages to one another had a 20 minute delay.