Ok, I got some WIFI updates!

[screenname2004]

13 hours ago, lkjacobs said:

... 

 

Promotional plans (aka, free minutes) have changed recently, resulting in universal confusion. What you get is based upon what was offered when you booked. Free-at-Sea went from 250 minutes shared within the cabin to 150 minutes for each of the first two cabin occupants. The respective credit to upgrade these plans to unlimited basic or premium (cannot upgrade to unlimited social media plan) went from $125 to $100. With the new plan, each of the 2 guests can individually upgrade or not. 

.

For our upcoming cruise, we will have 2  x 150 minutes. If we don't use any of these minutes and want to upgrade to one unlimited plan for once device. Do we get $200 credit for the 300 minutes and only have to pay $10 ($30 * 7 - 200) or something else?

Thanks in advance.

[lkjacobs]

14 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

For our upcoming cruise, we will have 2  x 150 minutes. If we don't use any of these minutes and want to upgrade to one unlimited plan for once device. Do we get $200 credit for the 300 minutes and only have to pay $10 ($30 * 7 - 200) or something else?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, no dice. Each passenger is individually processed. For 7 days, ($210 - $100) each and $30 less per person on Day 2 for basic unlimited. Of course, you can choose to upgrade only one of the two and still have 150 minutes that both people can be online concurrently. Or, you could use one person’s 150 on Days 1 & 2, then upgrade the unused person’s 150 to unlimited the evening of Day 2 for $80 and share it for the rest of the cruise. 
 

Nice try, though. Very creative. If your proposal were possible, every double occupancy cabin on the ship would jump at it. 

[screenname2004]

48 minutes ago, lkjacobs said:

.... Or, you could use one person’s 150 on Days 1 & 2, then upgrade the unused person’s 150 to unlimited the evening of Day 2 for $80 and share it for the rest of the cruise. 
 

Nice try, though. Very creative. If your proposal were possible, every double occupancy cabin on the ship would jump at it. 

Not try to game the system, just want o know how the upgrade work. Why evening of day 2. Do I pay $110 if I do it in the morning or afternoon of day 2?

[lkjacobs]

10 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

Not try to game the system, just want o know how the upgrade work. Why evening of day 2. Do I pay $110 if I do it in the morning or afternoon of day 2?

No. You can do it anytime on Day 2 for the same price. I guess it actually does make more sense to upgrade in the morning. When the initial device’s 150 runs out, it can be switched over to share the unlimited plan from the second device, as long as only one of them is online at a time. 

[faustiano]

On 3/17/2022 at 6:44 AM, dalmoradie said:

 

 

I've been trying to upgrade to the unlimited premium wi-fi (with streaming) for $119.93 since this weekend for our March 27 Bliss Cruise and it just won't go through.  Any ideas why?

 

 

I was curious how you got the 119.93 price.   I am new to NCL, and I was looking to upgrade to the unlimited premium streaming, but the price I get in app (or on the site) is $179.  I am taking Bliss on April 4th.  

[Magsthecapp]

Just wanted to jump in to say that the unlimited premium (streaming) was not even offered on the 3/19 Joy sailing. I talked to the internet manager and because it was so slow he was only offering it to folks who needed connection to a VPN to work from the ship. 

[sprez33]

Any ideal of the download/upload speeds for the different packages?  I.E. ha anyone run speedtest.net while using the services.  Thanks!

[lkjacobs]

17 hours ago, Magsthecapp said:

Just wanted to jump in to say that the unlimited premium (streaming) was not even offered on the 3/19 Joy sailing. I talked to the internet manager and because it was so slow he was only offering it to folks who needed connection to a VPN to work from the ship. 

There indeed is limited bandwidth on the satellite link. Giving it to people watching YouTube or Netflix or (heaven forbid) TikTok is a much lower priority than those who genuinely need it. There are much better things to do on a cruise than watching movies and silly videos. 

[screenname2004]

I am on the Bliss this week. The upgrade price for unlimited wifi for day 1 ( day of broading) and day 2 is $110. No upgrade is offered after day 2.

[lkjacobs]

4 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

I am on the Bliss this week. The upgrade price for unlimited wifi for day 1 ( day of broading) and day 2 is $110. No upgrade is offered after day 2.

Upgrades are actually more complicated than that. The following is based on a typical 7-day cruise. Shorter and longer cruises may vary. 
 

The Basic Unlimited plan is (rounding off) $30 per day, or $210 for 7 days and $180 on Day 2. If offered (depending on bandwidth availability), the Premium Unlimited plan is $10 more per day. As noted correctly, upgrades should only be available on Days 1 and 2. 
 

If your Free-at-Sea package includes 150 minutes (more recent bookings), then a $100 credit against the upgrade price is available.  Older bookings may be grandfathered with 250 minutes; those get a $125 credit toward upgrades. 
 

So, the example quoted above is correct for a passenger with a 150 minute plan upgrading on Day 1 ($210 - $100 credit = $110). 
 

To complicate things further, the 150 minute plan grants that allocation individually to the first 2 occupants of the cabin; each may choose to upgrade or not. The 250 minute plan is shared among all cabin occupants, so it’s subject to a single upgrade. 
 

As with the original minutes plans, associated upgrades support as many devices as desired, but only one may be online at a time. 

[ucmino]

I know I need the premium wifi for a school course.  I believe I will require Teams or Zoom.  Would it be best to upgrade to the premium wifi prior to boarding or do it onboard? Currently guests 1&2 have 150 minutes.

[screenname2004]

11 hours ago, lkjacobs said:

...

 

So, the example quoted above is correct for a passenger with a 150 minute plan upgrading on Day 1 ($210 - $100 credit = $110). 
 

To complicate things further, the 150 minute plan grants that allocation individually to the first 2 occupants of the cabin; each may choose to upgrade or not. The 250 minute plan is shared among all cabin occupants, so it’s subject to a single upgrade. 

per the person I talked to at the internet cafe ,the 150 minutes is for the whole cabin and not per person. Since we have 4 port calls that we can use our phone part of the day, we didn't upgrade and see if the 150 is per person or per cabin. In our invoice, it shows it it per person.

[lisa928]

With the Latitudes rewards I have a 15% internet discount for Platinum.  As part of my cruise promo, I received a 250-minute package.  My upcoming 14-day cruise shows an Unlimited Wi-Fi option for $250.  Can I apply the Latitudes discount and then get a credit for the 250-minute package?  Can it be done in advance?

[lkjacobs]

5 hours ago, ucmino said:

I know I need the premium wifi for a school course.  I believe I will require Teams or Zoom.  Would it be best to upgrade to the premium wifi prior to boarding or do it onboard? Currently guests 1&2 have 150 minutes.

Zoom works with standard plans. Not positive about Teams, but expect it also would not require Premium. Plans other than Premium (unlimited or minutes) typically block VPN, YouTube, Netflix (and other streaming services like Peacock +, CBS All Access, etc.), streaming music sites like Pandora and Spotify, and oddly the fantasy football site operated by CBS. 
 

Within social media apps, like WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as FaceTime and Google Duo, what appears to be streaming (phone calls and video chatting) does not require a Premium plan. 

[lkjacobs]

3 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

per the person I talked to at the internet cafe ,the 150 minutes is for the whole cabin and not per person. Since we have 4 port calls that we can use our phone part of the day, we didn't upgrade and see if the 150 is per person or per cabin. In our invoice, it shows it it per person.

Obviously, I have no idea with whom you spoke, but the 150 minute FAS allocation is individually for the first two cabin occupants who redeem it. 

[lkjacobs]

3 hours ago, lisa928 said:

With the Latitudes rewards I have a 15% internet discount for Platinum.  As part of my cruise promo, I received a 250-minute package.  My upcoming 14-day cruise shows an Unlimited Wi-Fi option for $250.  Can I apply the Latitudes discount and then get a credit for the 250-minute package?  Can it be done in advance?

The Latitudes discount is supposed to be for full purchases of a Basic or Premium unlimited plan. It’s not intended to be applicable to upgrades. 

[fstuff1]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:00 PM, screenname2004 said:

I am on the Bliss this week. The upgrade price for unlimited wifi for day 1 ( day of broading) and day 2 is $110. No upgrade is offered after day 2.

 

Thx.

Was wondering if I could do the trade in on day5 morning so that it becomes free unlimited for 3 days.

Guess they thought about that already. 😮

Edited April 1, 2022 by fstuff1

[lkjacobs]

22 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

Thx.

Was wondering if I could do the trade in on day5 morning so that it becomes free unlimited for 3 days.

Guess they thought about that already. 😮

Yes, they thought of that. As noted in posts above, upgrades on 7-day cruises are available only on the first two days. 

[blueskadoo]

New to ncl and hoping to gain a little more insight on the vpn availability. My work requires me to connect through vpn and we use WebEx Meetings with video and audio. I would have to be able to assure my work I would have vpn connection before I left. I would be teaching classes using video and audio, and receiving it as well from participants. If the internet manager is controlling inventory on the ship, how do you guarantee that you’ll get it? Also, anybody used/hosted from the ship using WebEx successfully? This could be a game changer…I’ve not found any other lines even giving a glimmer of hope for vpn! 

[hallux]

@blueskadoo in order to get VPN capability you need the top level internet package.  That gives you the best capabilities of any of the packages.  That's not to say you'll have an amazing experience with it, but you have the best opportunity for acceptable.

[lkjacobs]

3 hours ago, blueskadoo said:

New to ncl and hoping to gain a little more insight on the vpn availability. My work requires me to connect through vpn and we use WebEx Meetings with video and audio. I would have to be able to assure my work I would have vpn connection before I left. I would be teaching classes using video and audio, and receiving it as well from participants. If the internet manager is controlling inventory on the ship, how do you guarantee that you’ll get it? Also, anybody used/hosted from the ship using WebEx successfully? This could be a game changer…I’ve not found any other lines even giving a glimmer of hope for vpn! 

As noted above, the only NCL internet plan that supports VPN is the Premium Unlimited package. All other plans will prevent all connections if VPN is active. 
 

If it’s critical, I’d suggest upgrading to or purchasing that plan before leaving home. If the Internet Manager needs to block purchases and upgrades onboard, you’ll already have it and should be OK. I don’t remember seeing anyone using WebEx specifically, but other similar services seem to work, though you may get a hiccup here and there (but that happens on a high-speed home or work connection, too). 

[screenname2004]

A bit more about wifi upgrade for our Bliss cruise this week. The $110 upgrade is available from the NCL app through out the cruise for someone that has not used their free minutes yet. If wifi minutes have been used, the $110 upgrade will only be offered on the app on day 1 and 2. However, when I talked to the staff at the internet cafe, he told me i can upgrade from day 3 to day 7 for $90. Not sure if the $90 upgrade is fleet wide or is decided by the internet manager from sailing to sailing. Did not look into the cost of premium wifi upgrade.

[fstuff1]

21 hours ago, screenname2004 said:

A bit more about wifi upgrade for our Bliss cruise this week. The $110 upgrade is available from the NCL app through out the cruise for someone that has not used their free minutes yet. If wifi minutes have been used, the $110 upgrade will only be offered on the app on day 1 and 2.

 

However, when I talked to the staff at the internet cafe, he told me i can upgrade from day 3 to day 7 for $90. Not sure if the $90 upgrade is fleet wide or is decided by the internet manager from sailing to sailing. Did not look into the cost of premium wifi upgrade.

 

hm.. on your bliss cruise, maybe when you're down to 3 days ($90 cost), you can use the $100 trade-in to get free unlimited?

[tgloersen]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, Magsthecapp said:

How fast was it? I'm considering getting the streaming option to watch a soccer game when we are on next week but am skeptical that we'll actually be able to watch it. (Steaming on Paramount+)

I had the streaming package on the BA,  was getting about 4-5Meg downloads, of which the internet guy said that was extermely good speed.  I was able to stream football and netflix, with the occasional buffering very occasional. 

[hallux]

54 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

hm.. on your bliss cruise, maybe when you're down to 3 days ($90 cost), you can use the $100 trade-in to get free unlimited?

No, the trade-in rebate for the FAS minutes is only valid for the first day or two, it won't work later in the cruise.  I activated my FAS minutes on day 4 of my recent Joy cruise and was not offered the upgrade discount option to get an unlimited plan.