Internet on Riviera - question

[wren777]

We just finished an Alaska cruise on O Regatta (our 4th), and the internet experience was the worst yet.  Lots of times where we couldn't connect; we got kicked off the internet multiple times ... very frustrating.  We don't even want to stream movies/TV shows etc., just be able to check email and send/receive texts, and visit a few websites.

 

I've read comments about how much better the internet is on other cruise lines, and truly hope that Oceania fixes this as it's going to cost them passengers.  Some say that the problem got really bad when O made the basic internet free a year or two ago.  I'm especially concerned because our next cruise March of 2020 is on the larger Riviera (we've only been on Regatta in the past), with many more passengers trying to connect at the same time.

 

Has anyone purchased the $9.99/day "Wavenet Prime" with included streaming?  As mentioned, I don't care about streaming but was wondering if this is an upgraded speed over the basic free Wavenet which would help solve the connectivity issues.

 

Any input welcome!

[Flatbush Flyer]

15 minutes ago, wren777 said:

We just finished an Alaska cruise on O Regatta (our 4th), and the internet experience was the worst yet.  Lots of times where we couldn't connect; we got kicked off the internet multiple times ... very frustrating.  We don't even want to stream movies/TV shows etc., just be able to check email and send/receive texts, and visit a few websites.

 

I've read comments about how much better the internet is on other cruise lines, and truly hope that Oceania fixes this as it's going to cost them passengers.  Some say that the problem got really bad when O made the basic internet free a year or two ago.  I'm especially concerned because our next cruise March of 2020 is on the larger Riviera (we've only been on Regatta in the past), with many more passengers trying to connect at the same time.

 

Has anyone purchased the $9.99/day "Wavenet Prime" with included streaming?  As mentioned, I don't care about streaming but was wondering if this is an upgraded speed over the basic free Wavenet which would help solve the connectivity issues.

 

Any input welcome!

All the upgraded internet buys you is the removal of the streaming block. There is no increase in speed.

 

BTW, speed is not the problem with what may appear to be poor internet performance on a ship. Latency is the real culprit. Oceania's internet servers reside in Miami and it is that satellite transmission delay that causes all sorts of issues, particularly in areas of the world where satellite reception may have dead spots.

 

What O really needs to do is to inform passengers when there is a dead spot or related signal issue. It would be very easy to stream a banner on the TV's internet instructions channel that says "the internet signal is currently down." This would save all sorts of unnecessary calls and visits from passengers to guest services and the internet/computer room in order to find out what exactly is wrong.

 

Finally, crappy internet will never cause a loss of passengers on Oceania. It's probably the lowest priority decision factor for O's regular customers. Of course, food quality, service and itineraries would be a whole other story.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[wren777]

6 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

All the upgraded internet buys you is the removal of the streaming block. There is no increase in speed.

 

 

 

Thanks FF -- I won't waste $ on Wavenet Prime then.  Other cruise lines apparently don't have this problem so I think O needs to do something to fix it.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, wren777 said:

 

Thanks FF -- I won't waste $ on Wavenet Prime then.  Other cruise lines apparently don't have this problem so I think O needs to do something to fix it.

 

1 minute ago, wren777 said:

 

Thanks FF -- I won't waste $ on Wavenet Prime then.  Other cruise lines apparently don't have this problem so I think O needs to do something to fix it.

Other cruise lines also suffer from latency issues. The satellites do not discriminate and the biggest performance differential factor is ship location. Want to see how bad it can get (including loss of live television programming (e.g., MSNBC or BBC news)? Take a cruise from Valpo to Tahiti.

[wren777]

8 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Other cruise lines also suffer from latency issues. The satellites do not discriminate and the biggest performance differential factor is ship location.

 

I'm not a tech person and you probably know way more about this than me.  🙂  You're probably right that O's typical passenger cares more about food, service etc. than Internet speed & connectivity (I must admit, food is at the top of the list for my husband and me and is why we choose Oceania).  Many thanks for your input!

[clo]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Finally, crappy internet will never cause a loss of passengers on Oceania. It's probably the lowest priority decision factor for O's regular customers. Of course, food quality, service and itineraries would be a whole other story.

This!

[arima22]

Just came off Riviera 10 days along Spain and Nautica 8 days around Ireland. Never had a problem with basic internet and email activity during both cruises.  I used my tablet every day and many times each day. Just the basic free included access.

[Shawnino]

15 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

All the upgraded internet buys you is the removal of the streaming block. There is no increase in speed.

 

BTW, speed is not the problem with what may appear to be poor internet performance on a ship. Latency is the real culprit. Oceania's internet servers reside in Miami and it is that satellite transmission delay that causes all sorts of issues, particularly in areas of the world where satellite reception may have dead spots.

 

What O really needs to do is to inform passengers when there is a dead spot or related signal issue. It would be very easy to stream a banner on the TV's internet instructions channel that says "the internet signal is currently down." This would save all sorts of unnecessary calls and visits from passengers to guest services and the internet/computer room in order to find out what exactly is wrong.

 

Finally, crappy internet will never cause a loss of passengers on Oceania. It's probably the lowest priority decision factor for O's regular customers. Of course, food quality, service and itineraries would be a whole other story.

 

All excellent points.

What I would add is that I was working a little on my Riviera cruise in November, and I bumped into a woman who was working a lot. She had found good spots and bad spots around the ship for her connectivity.

The back deck behind Terrace was good, but the pool area on the other side of Waves was bad.

She said the MDR was really good (I never brought my tablet there). 

Horizons port side > Horizons starboard side etc.

[Rob the Cruiser]

Oceania may lose customers who "need" to have access to the internet but their bookings won't suffer. There are plenty of people who would take their place and be delighted with the itinerary, ambience, food and are fine with not being tied to the internet.

[pinotlover]

Some people go on vacation to have a vacation and to escape the Internet.

 

“Coworkers, I’m going on a cruise in the South Pacific where Internet access is very poor. Don’t be surprised if I can’t reply to any email for days at a time.”

 

It’s called vacation!

[sunlover12]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Some people go on vacation to have a vacation and to escape the Internet.

 

I agree but if I am away for 2 weeks I want to be able to read my email and use the basic internet for 20 minutes a day.  Sometimes doing just that is an exercise in frustration if you are on an Oceania ship.  I just returned from a Baltic cruise on Marina and the wi-fi was terrible.  There were times when it was down completely.  When it wasn't down, it was slower than molasses.  Some people are trying to do business when they're on a cruise ship. The wi-fi was non-existent in the cabin. The only place on the ship where it worked for me was in the library and Baristas.  I complained about it on my end-of-cruise comment card.

 

 Yes, I understand that people are cruising Oceania for the food, ambience and service.  However they are far, far below other cruise lines in quality of their wi-fi.

[clo]

1 hour ago, Rob the Cruiser said:

Oceania may lose customers who "need" to have access to the internet but their bookings won't suffer. There are plenty of people who would take their place and be delighted with the itinerary, ambience, food and are fine with not being tied to the internet.

I describe it as "when Hillary never called me a single time to help her negotiate world peace I figured out that I'm simply not that important." 🙂

[pinotlover]

Sunlover12;

 

I agree that WiFi service on Oceania is bad. My cruise report, here on CC, from the Marina in February clearly pointed out how bad it was. My point was that for many of the more senior retirees aboard it’s not that big a deal. Manana Man!

 

Oceania could go a long way in solving part of the problem by throttling back large file transfers and dumps. Things like: buy a memory card for that camera, you can’t upload 250 + pictures to the cloud while sitting around the pool. No you can’t upload a 50 minute video for an online class your teaching back at the U while on the cruise. No you can’t do a 2 hr Skype conference call with the home office and customers. Etc. Etc.

 

The system should be able to see these huge bandwidth hogs and shut them off. Once recognized their account goes into timeout for 6-8 hours. Doing so would free up more space in the pipe for many of us to take 15 minutes to check our email. 

[wren777]

4 hours ago, Shawnino said:

 

 

I was working a little on my Riviera cruise in November, and I bumped into a woman who was working a lot. She had found good spots and bad spots around the ship for her connectivity.

The back deck behind Terrace was good, but the pool area on the other side of Waves was bad.

She said the MDR was really good (I never brought my tablet there). 

Horizons port side > Horizons starboard side etc.

I'm racking my brain and can't figure out what "MDR" refers to ... can you explain?  (I've never sailed on Riviera.)  Thank you for the info - I hadn't considered that some places on the ship might be better for connectivity than others.

 

I understand the folks who say it's a vacation, who cares if the Internet is slow, but unfortunately my job requires that I at least skim work emails while I'm gone or I will have a pile so high when I get back that it's not worth even taking a vacation.

[KS&JW]

MDR= Main dining room

[wren777]

4 minutes ago, KS&JW said:

MDR= Main dining room

 

By that, I assume you mean the Grand Dining Room?

[clo]

9 minutes ago, wren777 said:

 

By that, I assume you mean the Grand Dining Room?

They call it the Main Dining Room.

[Ken the cruiser]

Ever notice the amount of CC threads about internet service on O ships since they allowed every cabin to have on free unlimited account starting in May 2018? 

 

But I'm glad to hear O has repeat customers lined up to book their cruises. So I guess their marketing strategy worked without even having to upgrade their onboard router equipment, especially in the cabin area.

 

When you have to wander around a semi-luxury cruise ship in this day and age to find a hot spot, like we used to have to do on a HAL ship, rather than being able to effectively stay connected to the Internet in your cabin, that just seems wrong for the amount of $$$ you pay for an O cabin.

[LHT28]

52 minutes ago, clo said:

They call it the Main Dining Room.

Actually on Oceania it is  The Grand Dining Room

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/culinary/

[LHT28]

as I have said before  they should go back to charging for the internet  then people may be more inclined not to spend all day on their computer/phone

JMO

 

[clo]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Actually on Oceania it is  The Grand Dining Room

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/culinary/

Oops.  I knew that 🙂

[keithm]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 4:20 PM, wren777 said:

We just finished an Alaska cruise on O Regatta (our 4th), and the internet experience was the worst yet.  Lots of times where we couldn't connect; we got kicked off the internet multiple times ... very frustrating.  We don't even want to stream movies/TV shows etc., just be able to check email and send/receive texts, and visit a few websites.

 

I've read comments about how much better the internet is on other cruise lines, and truly hope that Oceania fixes this as it's going to cost them passengers.  Some say that the problem got really bad when O made the basic internet free a year or two ago.  I'm especially concerned because our next cruise March of 2020 is on the larger Riviera (we've only been on Regatta in the past), with many more passengers trying to connect at the same time.

 

Has anyone purchased the $9.99/day "Wavenet Prime" with included streaming?  As mentioned, I don't care about streaming but was wondering if this is an upgraded speed over the basic free Wavenet which would help solve the connectivity issues.

 

Any input welcome!

I found access & speed much better this past Jan. than Jan.2018.

[keithm]

6 hours ago, KS&JW said:

MDR= Main dining room

On "O" it's GDR. Grand Dining Room, not "German Democratic Republic"(that one went out of style circa 1989)

[clcmdse]

I am an Oceania cheerleader but I must report that we are on the Riviera right now and the Internet is the worst we have ever experienced. No matter the time of day or whether people are on board or sleeping, it has been extremely difficult to be on or stay on. You ask how am I sending this? Because we are in port and I am using cellular data roaming 😀

 

No I won’t stop booking Oceania but I sure wish the line could get it together. Please. 

 

Catherine

PS. I will try hanging out at the back of the Terrace cafe. 

[1985rz1]

12 minutes ago, clcmdse said:

I am an Oceania cheerleader but I must report that we are on the Riviera right now and the Internet is the worst we have ever experienced. No matter the time of day or whether people are on board or sleeping, it has been extremely difficult to be on or stay on. You ask how am I sending this? Because we are in port and I am using cellular data roaming 😀

 

No I won’t stop booking Oceania but I sure wish the line could get it together. Please. 

 

Catherine

PS. I will try hanging out at the back of the Terrace cafe. 

What cruise region?  Is it one that is notoriously difficult to get a satellite signal to connect to the internet, or is it one where it's the ship's wifi deficiency.