Does wifi price get cheaper as departure date approaches?

[snorkelman]

I am 61 days until my cruise and the Carnival website says I can buy the premium wi-fi plan for $14.45 per day.  My wife and I will both need to be able for our laptops to connect to wifi to check email daily for work and possibly upload court filings.  This is a minor inconvenience, but the only way that we can go on the cruise.  We can log on separately.

 

1. Will the current price get any cheaper as the cruise gets closer?

2. Can we just buy one wifi plan and share it over 2 devices?

 

Any tips? (It is on the carnival Victory)

[loanshark]

You can buy one plan.  However, only one device can be online at any given time if you do this.  The system will logoff the 1st device if you try to login with a 2nd device at the same time. (i.e. both of you will not be able to work at the same time).

Edited August 21, 2019 by loanshark

[coevan]

no it's 10% cheaper to pre book before you board

[snorkelman]

Thanks. That clears up my question #2.

 

Hopefully someone can assist in advice about whether I should buy this now or wait. I am only thinking of waiting in case the price gets cheaper.

 

That second post came in while I was typing.

 

The website claims the web price is 15% cheaper than buying the wifi on board.  I have no problem buying in advance. I am specifically asking whether the price will drop in the next 2 months.

Edited August 21, 2019 by snorkelman

[Saint Greg]

I actually pay for my wifi and cheers before I pay off the cruise. Sometimes cruise rates go down. Wifi and cheers can only go up.

[beachbum53]

How well wifi works on the ship will depend on where you are on the ship. It can be spotty sometimes, and seems to work better when in an open area, such as the Lido Deck, but may not work so well when inside on a lower deck, such as Deck 3 (Lobby Deck) or Deck 5 (Promenade).

[coevan]

wifi signal is not internet speed, if the ship has the old system, it will be slow anywhere.

[bury me at sea]

It will not become less expensive.  I have never seen Carnival play that game with any product.

[cruizergal70]

No. It won't get cheaper. 

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, bury me at sea said:

It will not become less expensive.  I have never seen Carnival play that game with any product.

 

Like our PVP tells us (jokingly, but not joking) when we mention adding something later ... "No problem, Carnival's always willing to take MORE of your money." 😕

[Tiger0613]

It is public wifi.  I wouldn't do anything on it that involves sensitive information.

[Davey Wavey]

17 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

It will not become less expensive.  I have never seen Carnival play that game with any product.

Carnival actually used to have onboard sales, but that was years ago. I would say there is no chance the price will go down later, and the only discount on wi-fi now is getting the pre-cruise price, which you can get on the day before.

 

15 hours ago, Tiger0613 said:

It is public wifi.  I wouldn't do anything on it that involves sensitive information.

Agreed. Use a VPN, with plenty of free ones available. A few sites like CNET and PCMag do reviews of best pay and free VPNs to help you pick one.

 

As an additional note, Windows 10 laptops have a built in mobile hotspot feature (do Internet search for how to set it up). If you need to use more than one device (up to 8 devices) at the same time, they can just share a single connection.

[mackenzie80]

On 8/21/2019 at 3:59 PM, snorkelman said:

I am 61 days until my cruise and the Carnival website says I can buy the premium wi-fi plan for $14.45 per day.  My wife and I will both need to be able for our laptops to connect to wifi to check email daily for work and possibly upload court filings.  This is a minor inconvenience, but the only way that we can go on the cruise.  We can log on separately.

 

1. Will the current price get any cheaper as the cruise gets closer?

2. Can we just buy one wifi plan and share it over 2 devices?

 

Any tips? (It is on the carnival Victory)

The price will not go down, it will only go up.  You can buy one and share it, but you both cannot use it at the same time.  It also takes forever for documents to upload and send.  So you may have issues with things going out.

 

My suggestion is you are usually only at sea one day at  time before at a port.  Can you do major uploads on those days instead?  

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, mackenzie80 said:

The price will not go down, it will only go up.

 

Yes and no. There are two prices, the pre-purchased price and the onboard price. The onboard price is higher, but neither of them change.

[HillBilly Bob]

On 8/21/2019 at 4:59 PM, snorkelman said:

Any tips? (It is on the carnival Victory)

With all the speed of DSL......LOL.    Enjoy your trip....pack your luggage and leave all that baggage at home.  

[chocolate melting cake]

I'd agree with mackenzie80, for a faster speed I always wait to go ashore and use free wifi. Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. all have wifi for free worldwide (although I usually buy a cup of coffee out of guilt). I've used their service in Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, etc. with no problems--as far as privacy, however I can't say. If there is no nearby freebie, many ports have internet cafes, I'm pictured at my computer at one in Bora Bora that charged $4 per hour. If it helps, I'll leave a link to a site which lists most places to get free wifi throughout the world---just scroll past the USA and click on the area you'd like. Enjoy!

FREE WIFI SPOTS

 

 

 

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, HillBilly Bob said:

Enjoy your trip....pack your luggage and leave all that baggage at home.  

 

OP said the only way they can go on the cruise is if they stay connected for their work. A "minor inconvenience," as they put it. I'd take a cruise with a little work involved over no cruise at all. 😉

[Organized Chaos]

Ask some of the crew members about wifi hotspots at each of your ports of call. Most of them usually know the best places because they use them often.

[mackenzie80]

On 8/23/2019 at 11:45 AM, Organized Chaos said:

 

Yes and no. There are two prices, the pre-purchased price and the onboard price. The onboard price is higher, but neither of them change.

 

Oh good grief....Technically yes, but the price WILL go up.  There will not be a "special or cheaper" rate.

[Organized Chaos]

12 minutes ago, mackenzie80 said:

Oh good grief....Technically yes, but the price WILL go up.  There will not be a "special or cheaper" rate.

 

The pre-purchase price is their special rate. A discount for buying it online ahead of time. The OP asked if the price would go down when the cruise gets closer. To say no, "it will only go up," is somewhat of a misleading statement. The price won't go up, unless we're talking about Carnival possibly raising the price in the future, but that's beside the point. The pre-purchase price doesn't change, but if they wait until they're onboard, then they pay the higher onboard price. My point was, there's two different prices. You can "oh good grief" all you want, but when someone comes here who's unfamiliar with something, I simply like to make sure they understand what's being said, and if someone says something that could be misleading, it's nice to have clarification.

[mackenzie80]

6 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

The pre-purchase price is their special rate. A discount for buying it online ahead of time. The OP asked if the price would go down when the cruise gets closer. To say no, "it will only go up," is somewhat of a misleading statement. The price won't go up, unless we're talking about Carnival possibly raising the price in the future, but that's beside the point. The pre-purchase price doesn't change, but if they wait until they're onboard, then they pay the higher onboard price. My point was, there's two different prices. You can "oh good grief" all you want, but when someone comes here who's unfamiliar with something, I simply like to make sure they understand what's being said, and if someone says something that could be misleading, it's nice to have clarification.

 

Still I am correct.  The price will go up once the cruise is here.  Whether there are two prices the pre-purchase or onboard doesn't really matter.  The current price WILL go up.  It will NOT go down because as you said there are two prices.  So I AM correct.  It won't go down, it will go up.  

[coevan]

love these semantics arguments, your both right