Starlink High Speed To Be Installed Fleetwide by End of Q1 2023

[CruisingWalter]

Big news announced for all of Royal Caribbean Group including Celebrity and Silversea. SpaceX Starlink High Speed WiFi (up to 350MB/sec) is coming to the entire fleet by the end of Q1 2023

 

https://presscenter.rclcorporate.com/press-release/167/royal-caribbean-group-to-use-spacexrsquos-starlink-in-an-industry-first-to-provide-high-speed-internet-onboard-full-cruise-fleet-/

Edited August 30, 2022 by WheresWalter

[twangster]

Good news for the World Cruise folks.  

[Airbear232]

3 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

Big news announced for all of Royal Caribbean Group including Celebrity and Silversea. SpaceX Starlink High Speed WiFi (up to 350MB/sec) is coming to the entire fleet by the end of Q1 2023

 

https://presscenter.rclcorporate.com/press-release/167/royal-caribbean-group-to-use-spacexrsquos-starlink-in-an-industry-first-to-provide-high-speed-internet-onboard-full-cruise-fleet-/

Wonder if they’ll produce a rollout schedule. 

[seasidemama]

I guess remote workers will have more options now 😁.. Not great for lower cruise prices any time soon..

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

Big news announced for all of Royal Caribbean Group including Celebrity and Silversea. SpaceX Starlink High Speed WiFi (up to 350MB/sec) is coming to the entire fleet by the end of Q1 2023

 

https://presscenter.rclcorporate.com/press-release/167/royal-caribbean-group-to-use-spacexrsquos-starlink-in-an-industry-first-to-provide-high-speed-internet-onboard-full-cruise-fleet-/

No mention of the cost so watch WiFi prices rises.

[pspercy]

It's 2022, basic internet to cover emails/docs etc should be free, pay if you want to use streaming entertainment services; if you can't do without Netflix and the like, stay home.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, pspercy said:

It's 2022, basic internet to cover emails/docs etc should be free, pay if you want to use streaming entertainment services; if you can't do without Netflix and the like, stay home.

Totally agree. Plus ban the use of all devices in the dining venues.

[CFLRetired]

51 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Totally agree. Plus ban the use of all devices in the dining venues.

While this sounds like a great idea it appears with the QR codes being displayed by Royal they want use to use them to look at menus.

[twangster]

7 hours ago, seasidemama said:

I guess remote workers will have more options now 😁.. Not great for lower cruise prices any time soon..

 

I'm not sure I follow. 

 

Internet costs will drop substantially for RCG.  Starlink estimates they can save maritime operators 70% over traditional satellite internet for maritime operators.  

 

Royal Caribbean has never bundled internet with cruise fares so why will cruise fares be impacted?

 

[twangster]

 

The only remaining question I have is... how much will Royal charge? 

 

We know their costs will go down substantially but will they pass those saving on to guests or use it an opportunity to increase charges?

[Surfguyxxx]

17 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

The only remaining question I have is... how much will Royal charge? 

 

We know their costs will go down substantially but will they pass those saving on to guests or use it an opportunity to increase charges?

I would bet the latter!  😏

[jaygatsby27]

9 hours ago, seasidemama said:

I guess remote workers will have more options now 😁.. Not great for lower cruise prices any time soon..

Well demand is back up because unvaccinated folks can board so they wont be going down any time soon.  

[jaygatsby27]

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

No mention of the cost so watch WiFi prices rises.

Of course they will.  Why would they "upgrade" if they couldnt make more money.  They will tell us its a better "value".  Also expects three tiers and not two. 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by jaygatsby27

[PolicromaSol]

Methinks that might be in time for my upcoming cruise! 😄

[CruisingWalter]

5 hours ago, pspercy said:

It's 2022, basic internet to cover emails/docs etc should be free, pay if you want to use streaming entertainment services; if you can't do without Netflix and the like, stay home.

 

Totally agree, especially having just sailed the Scarlet Lady in July that included really good basic WiFi as part of the fare. My wife was able to stream TikTok all day long, she could not stream YouTube, but TikTok no problem. I paid the extra $10/day and was able to do two one-hour livestreams from the ship no problem as well as stream from any video streaming site. 

 

I'm wondering if the Royal group may now offer a 'basic tier' WiFi for free with enough speed to check email and post to social sites and then they will have multiple tiers of speed instead of just the two they currently have. Celebrity already has the 'included WiFi' option. 

[CruisingWalter]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

The only remaining question I have is... how much will Royal charge? 

 

We know their costs will go down substantially but will they pass those saving on to guests or use it an opportunity to increase charges?

 

The cost of the receivers is $5000-$10,000 each and in the tests they were running 6 to 12 receivers on the ships. We don't know how many receivers each ship will actually require and I'm sure the amount depends on the ship size/passenger capacity.

 

It sounds like the upfront costs might be a little higher, but the Starlink service itself will be cheaper than what they're using now. It's no doubt that if you want the 200-350MB/s speeds you're going to pay for it. But even just 20MB/s will be an improvement over what they're able to provide now. 

 

I'm hopeful Royal will now be able to offer a basic  included WiFi package to check emails and such. And then they could literally have up to four more tiers depending on how much you want to pay. 

[CruisingWalter]

10 hours ago, Airbear232 said:

Wonder if they’ll produce a rollout schedule. 

 

A tweet from Celebrity Cruises says the service will start on Sept. 5 so it sounds like at least one Celebrity ship is going to be getting their receivers this coming week. But the overall schedule per the press release is all ships in Royal Caribbean Group by the end of Q1 2023. 

[robmtx]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Royal Caribbean has never bundled internet with cruise fares so why will cruise fares be impacted?

Demand for cruising will go up with more reliable internet. I'm a perfect example. If I know I can work reliably onboard, taking Teams calls even, that will probably mean I'm cruising 2-3 MORE times per year. Multiply me by thousands, and you have demand and increased prices.

[robmtx]

5 hours ago, pspercy said:

It's 2022, basic internet to cover emails/docs etc should be free, pay if you want to use streaming entertainment services; if you can't do without Netflix and the like, stay home.

 

I could see that. They have 3-4 basic tv channels, news channels, that they don't charge for. It would probably be a nice upselling opportunity on board, when you realize how slow the free stuff is, you'll stop by the internet desk and they'll conveniently charge your seapass card 🙂

[mo&fran]

I cannot help but wonder if the wifi network onboard the ships can handle the increased demand.

[Blauelini]

Mailing a letter would be quicker than what Allure currently has for internet speed. 

[danceswithphones]

1 hour ago, WheresWalter said:

service will start on Sept. 5

 

On the Celebrity Beyond 'Presidents Cruise' (Lisa Lutoff-Perlo will be aboard). At least she will get instant feedback. We are on the Beyond in November. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

5 hours ago, CFLRetired said:

While this sounds like a great idea it appears with the QR codes being displayed by Royal they want use to use them to look at menus.

Dont forget many children in the dining area are kept quiet by using/playing on their phones or tabs........

[craig01020]

I'm not looking forward to listening to even more Facetiming from rude passengers. 😡

[twangster]

Some folks seem to forget it isn't their satellite service provider that sucks.  Royal Caribbean has chosen to provide a Voom product capped at 2-4Mbps despite their satellite provider having much more throughput.  That cap is not imposed by the satellite provider.

 

So why does anyone think they won't do the same with Starlink?  

 

Royal has been conditioning us by delivering a poorly performing service so that they can make a big announcement and justify increasing the price.  

 

This is not much different than the $120 per day drink package is now on sale for $89!  What a bargain!  Better buy it!!!  It's on sale!  Raise prices then offer it on sale higher than before.

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by twangster