Unacceptably slow internet on the Crown Princess

[caribill]

21 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

No, that is the marketing slogan, I mean the actual throughput and bandwidth that is contracted for. The proverbial "fine print".

 

That is not in any fine print that passengers get to see.

 

But when they say you can stream videos, that is big print which should work as advertised.

[Grego]

We were also on the September 22nd Crown Princess voyage and overall, I can't side with those that are complaining with the internet speed issues.  It is known that the speed will vary around the globe and it's always a little slower in the middle of the Atlantic which were in for much of the voyage.  In addition, with all the sea days we experienced due to not being able to make two port calls, there were more people on the ship for longer periods of time the sucked up the bandwidth.

We were able to log in during off peak times and experience very good throughput speeds.  Downloading email to read later offline and writing replies offline to download later worked very well.

It would be interesting to see what if any difference there might be among other cruise lines following the same itinerary path.

[voljeep]

7 minutes ago, Grego said:

We were also on the September 22nd Crown Princess voyage and overall, I can't side with those that are complaining with the internet speed issues.  It is known that the speed will vary around the globe and it's always a little slower in the middle of the Atlantic which were in for much of the voyage.  In addition, with all the sea days we experienced due to not being able to make two port calls, there were more people on the ship for longer periods of time the sucked up the bandwidth.

We were able to log in during off peak times and experience very good throughput speeds.  Downloading email to read later offline and writing replies offline to download later worked very well.

It would be interesting to see what if any difference there might be among other cruise lines following the same itinerary path.

I am also 'half full' person .. seems to be more than a few 'half empty posters ' on many threads ...

[billco]

1 hour ago, Grego said:

We were also on the September 22nd Crown Princess voyage and overall, I can't side with those that are complaining with the internet speed issues.  It is known that the speed will vary around the globe and it's always a little slower in the middle of the Atlantic which were in for much of the voyage.  In addition, with all the sea days we experienced due to not being able to make two port calls, there were more people on the ship for longer periods of time the sucked up the bandwidth.

We were able to log in during off peak times and experience very good throughput speeds.  Downloading email to read later offline and writing replies offline to download later worked very well.

It would be interesting to see what if any difference there might be among other cruise lines following the same itinerary path.

Doesn't matter what other cruise lines are doing. MedallionNet is advertised as the fastest wifi at sea. The Carnival press release says it has a "bandwidth capacity of 1.5 gigabits per second will give guests unprecedented Wi-Fi access that equates to more than 6,000 users concurrently surfing the internet; or 1,500 Netflix or Hulu subscribers streaming TV shows or movies."

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporations-medallionnet-to-set-industry-apex-for-wi-fi-bandwidth-capacity-at-sea-powered-by-ses-networks-300603933.html

If people are paying for fast internet that can stream videos, that's what they should get. There shouldn't be these fine print caveats like "ships sailing in northern regions such as Alaska & Northern Europe may experience internet speeds that are slightly slower than when sailing in southern regions." or "ll Internet usage subject to Princess Cruises' standard policies, which may limit browsing of sites due to network security and bandwidth usage. Applications that use high bandwidth may be blocked and offerings subject to change"

Edited October 14, 2019 by billco

[Steelers36]

47 minutes ago, billco said:

Doesn't matter what other cruise lines are doing. MedallionNet is advertised as the fastest wifi at sea. The Carnival press release says it has a "bandwidth capacity of 1.5 gigabits per second will give guests unprecedented Wi-Fi access that equates to more than 6,000 users concurrently surfing the internet; or 1,500 Netflix or Hulu subscribers streaming TV shows or movies."

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporations-medallionnet-to-set-industry-apex-for-wi-fi-bandwidth-capacity-at-sea-powered-by-ses-networks-300603933.html

If people are paying for fast internet that can stream videos, that's what they should get. There shouldn't be these fine print caveats like "ships sailing in northern regions such as Alaska & Northern Europe may experience internet speeds that are slightly slower than when sailing in southern regions." or "ll Internet usage subject to Princess Cruises' standard policies, which may limit browsing of sites due to network security and bandwidth usage. Applications that use high bandwidth may be blocked and offerings subject to change"

In general, I am never happy and always disappointed in companies that over-hype in the advertising and then put more text and caveats into the fine print.  Seems the way things are a lot.

Edited October 14, 2019 by steelers36

[pablo222]

On 10/14/2019 at 9:11 AM, billco said:

Doesn't matter what other cruise lines are doing. MedallionNet is advertised as the fastest wifi at sea.

Princess' MedallionNet and Royal Caribbean's Voom use the same service.

I don't see how one can be the fastest.

 

Royal Carribbean also says they have the fastest internet at sea:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-ship-wifi

 

One of the two companies must be funnin' us...

 

I checked the princess link, and they say "The best wi-fi at sea"

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

 

I don't think anyone really cares about the best wifi.    Folks say wifi when they mean interenet speed...

 

 

 

 

[Grego]

It still is a wonder to me that folks worry about having super fast internet speed while on a ship.  Internet on a ship wasn't an option years ago and folks had a great time leaving the world  behind and enjoyed the real reason for being on a cruise.  Now folks can't live without Skyping, streaming videos, check Facetime and email while at sea.  If all these are that super important then maybe the ship isn't the proper transportation option.

As I suggested in the original post, internet speed will depend on the location and the source transmission.  If there is a problem with Princess trying to convince you to cruise with them because the have "the fastest" speed and if this is the reason for choosing Princess, then you have the privilege to complain but I don't see that a reason for choosing them or not.

[AliceS]

On 10/14/2019 at 8:09 AM, Grego said:

We were also on the September 22nd Crown Princess voyage and overall, I can't side with those that are complaining with the internet speed issues.  It is known that the speed will vary around the globe and it's always a little slower in the middle of the Atlantic which were in for much of the voyage.  In addition, with all the sea days we experienced due to not being able to make two port calls, there were more people on the ship for longer periods of time the sucked up the bandwidth.

We were able to log in during off peak times and experience very good throughput speeds.  Downloading email to read later offline and writing replies offline to download later worked very well.

It would be interesting to see what if any difference there might be among other cruise lines following the same itinerary path.

I was on the Crown..9/10 and 9/22 and had no issue with internet.  A friend had a problem Updating Apps...that’s all that I heard.

[Anonymous234]

VOOM on Royal Caribbean was not as advertised either but faster than this around 3-4 down 2-3 up in Asia.  Bad speed on Royal Princess Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta Mexican Riviera December 21-28 2019 regardless of the time of day/night or ship location. My theory is that they are now throttling download speed on all ships whereas when MedallionNet first launched and up until a few months ago it was all you can eat. If someone can post a current speed to correct me I would love to hear it.  The Caribbean seemed to be a magical location in the past in terms of land download speed on Princess based on posts.

[pablo222]

On 10/16/2019 at 8:23 AM, Grego said:

It still is a wonder to me that folks worry about having super fast internet speed while on a ship.  Internet on a ship wasn't an option years ago and folks had a great time leaving the world  behind and enjoyed the real reason for being on a cruise. 

 

 

I think the change was when princess started promising "the best wifi at sea".

 

Once princess promised it, people expected it.

 

 

[kywildcatfanone]

Internet speeds at sea for download is usually 2-5mb.  Barely enough for streaming.   Lots of people doing the same makes it worthless for trying to stream.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

Internet should be banned on cruise ships.

[kywildcatfanone]

46 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

Internet should be banned on cruise ships.

I don't see any reason for this, as some of us still work or have to do some work or keep up while traveling. 

 

The Internet manager on the Sky this week was clear to me that the internet would be fine for "work" (meaning reading email), but they don't guarantee streaming speeds.  Oh, and it's a huge revenue stream for them now.  I paid $180 for 2 weeks.  Imagine how many people are paying for internet each week just to check email periodically.

[geoherb]

13 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Internet speeds at sea for download is usually 2-5mb.  Barely enough for streaming.   Lots of people doing the same makes it worthless for trying to stream.

 

Here are the best and worst speed tests I captured earlier this month on the Caribbean Princess. When it was working well, I did not have any problems streaming hockey games and watching YouTube videos. Posting photos on my live thread here on Cruise Critic went very quickly. My hometown newspaper would download in less than a minute. 

 

When it was slow, though, it could take four minutes to post a photo to my live thread, and my hometown newspaper would take several minutes to download if at all. 

 

Princess promises, "Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease." 

 

 

[geoherb]

7 hours ago, scottca075 said:

Internet should be banned on cruise ships.

 

This summer, I just used my free minutes to check email and Facebook and do a live thread. Having 150 free internet minutes each week was enough to do all that and still end up with some unused minutes. I purchased the unlimited upgrade this month on the Caribbean since I was sailing solo and wanted to watch hockey games for our team's Western Conference road trip. 

 

There are a lot of things offered on a cruise ship that don't interest me. I don't think they should be banned. To each his own.

[Anonymous234]

10 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

Here are the best and worst speed tests I captured earlier this month on the Caribbean Princess. When it was working well, I did not have any problems streaming hockey games and watching YouTube videos. Posting photos on my live thread here on Cruise Critic went very quickly. My hometown newspaper would download in less than a minute. 

 

When it was slow, though, it could take four minutes to post a photo to my live thread, and my hometown newspaper would take several minutes to download if at all. 

 

Princess promises, "Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease." 

 

 

Must be something about the satellite location with the Caribbean getting such high speeds as mentioned elsewhere also.  Was there any pattern as to when you might get the fast speed?  3AM when everyone was asleep?  Was it 50/50 in terms of when it would be fast vs. when it was slow? Good to know it wasn't throttled although maybe the throttling is ship specific. 

[geoherb]

The time the internet was totally down, the person I spoke with a passenger services said it was down ship-wide. Someone called me when it was working again. When it was unacceptably slow, passenger services said it was due to the ship's position. I took that as a standard answer that they give. The ship was in Cartagena in the morning and early afternoon, and I noticed the internet too slow to stream about 90 minutes after sailaway.  It did not improve until the next morning. Since I was quarantined, I wasn't able to go ask the internet manager in person.

 

 

[polmcs]

On 12/28/2019 at 8:28 AM, Anonymous234 said:

VOOM on Royal Caribbean was not as advertised either but faster than this around 3-4 down 2-3 up in Asia.  Bad speed on Royal Princess Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta Mexican Riviera December 21-28 2019 regardless of the time of day/night or ship location. My theory is that they are now throttling download speed on all ships whereas when MedallionNet first launched and up until a few months ago it was all you can eat. If someone can post a current speed to correct me I would love to hear it.  The Caribbean seemed to be a magical location in the past in terms of land download speed on Princess based on posts.

We were on the same ship and same itinerary, but over Thanksgiving and got the same type of results. Slow speeds and impossible to stream video. I also had WiFi calling enabled on my phone, but the connection was so poor, that some incoming calls went direct to voicemail. 

 

The ping time on your speed test does show that the ship was connected via an O3B satellite, so the faster speeds should have been available to you, but that wasn’t the experience that you (or I) got despite paying for that experience. I just got fobbed off by the Internet manager when I enquired about the poor speeds.

[kywildcatfanone]

Sky had outages the first couple of days last week, Andreas slownthe entire week.  Never had a speed test about 2mb download.  No doubt they are throttling the speeds now.  Streaming will be very hit or miss.

[FoghornLeghorn]

Just off the Crown ....  medallion net was good.  Fast and was only down once (that I know of) and that was about 10 mins.