Starlink Installation Schedule?

[BirdTravels]

On 9/25/2022 at 10:25 AM, orville99 said:

Thanks. I guess there will be a "Where's Waldo" type of thread sprouting up soon looking for one of these things. 

More like

 

 

And not the best coverage yet....

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by BirdTravels

[Wineaux007]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

Celebrity has posted their installation schedule for all their ships. They also have posted the pricing. $20 p.p. per day for the basic, and $35 p.p. per day, for their new one.

I’m beginning to wonder if my home internet provider is making any money, $2.33 per day for 300mb download, 290 mb upload, unlimited devices, and modem/router use.

We're going to pay the equivalent to getting the beverage package.   With the current system pre-pandemic it costs around $22 a day for a 4-device package.  Now they are charging up to $70 a day, but you can get a good deal for $45 a day.  😵

[Btank]

On 9/25/2022 at 9:53 AM, orville99 said:

I will readily admit that I am completely clueless on this technology, but it occurs to me that if there is a way to construct/configure the dishes in such a way that they can be placed inside the existing satellite domes on the ships that we may never actually see one of these dishes on board (other than the "test" ones they put on Freedom).

It would be difficult - they like to live with an unobstructed view, and putting them in the dome beneath the existing satellite hardware could clock some of that.

 

      --bruce T.

 

[Merion_Mom]

On 9/26/2022 at 10:54 AM, BND said:

Someone I know who just got off EN a couple of weeks ago said they were starting installation.   They were working on the cable so I would think it's done by now.  There were a couple of other ships mentioned that were the first few.  

 

I am on my knees praying that this gets up and running by the end of the year.

[Toddcan]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:16 AM, sgerth said:

  It will be interesting to see how it will work on a moving ship.

It's not the "moving" part that's the problem, it's just getting enough satellites in the sky.  Starlink are low-orbit satellites that "paint the sky" with coverage. Just like your dish at home.. it's picking up signals from more than just 1 satellite because they are not stationary relative to the earth.  

[BND]

1 hour ago, Toddcan said:

It's not the "moving" part that's the problem, it's just getting enough satellites in the sky.  Starlink are low-orbit satellites that "paint the sky" with coverage. Just like your dish at home.. it's picking up signals from more than just 1 satellite because they are not stationary relative to the earth.  

52 were placed on orbit just this week.  

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I am on my knees praying that this gets up and running by the end of the year.

Hopefully even earlier.

[Wineaux007]

3 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I am on my knees praying that this gets up and running by the end of the year.

Yeah, but what's going to be the cost?

[notscb]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:00 PM, grandgeezer said:

I’m beginning to wonder if my home internet provider is making any money

 

That's a funny way to phrase it 🙂

Cruises have, for a very long time, overcharged for what they're providing.

 

But I imagine with Starklink, the initial equipment costs are going to be astronomical and it's going to be a novelty service (like the oasis class ships, for example) so it's going to be expensive for the first year or two. (Equipment cost reference on their website

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, notscb said:

 

That's a funny way to phrase it 🙂

Cruises have, for a very long time, overcharged for what they're providing.

 

But I imagine with Starklink, the initial equipment costs are going to be astronomical and it's going to be a novelty service (like the oasis class ships, for example) so it's going to be expensive for the first year or two. (Equipment cost reference on their website

If you think once the initial equipment cost is recovered, the price will go down, you are living in a fantasy world. What goes up doesn’t mean it will ever come down. I’d be interested in any examples where it did, especially in the cruise industry.

[notscb]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

I’d be interested in any examples where it did, especially in the cruise industry.

 

The entire industry is an example. New ships get rolled out, prices for those sailings increase, then newer ships get announced and prices fall on sailings on older ships, like what's happening with Oasis class ships right now, even within their own class.

 

I doubt it'll decrease in price a ton, but as RCL's competitors roll out similar products and services, there will be a price to compete with a beat for customer base.

[twangster]

Starlink Maritime is not using the residential "Dishy" antennas for ships.  Those residential antennas they used on Freedom for the test trial are not the antennas now providing service on Indy or Freedom.  Instead they have installed better industrial grade phased array antennas on top of the shelters around the Flowrider on both ships and in other locations such as above the suite sun deck on Oasis class.

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/09/13/spotted-starlink-being-installed-across-multiple-royal-caribbean-cruise-ships

 

They started with Indy and Freedom because those two ships stay within the current maritime coverage for Starlink which is very limited at the moment.  Since Indy and Freedom both only do the short 3 & 4 night Florida cruise market they stay close to the US mainland, close enough to remain in coverage. 

 

https://api.starlink.com/public-files/maritime-coverage-map.pdf

 

 

Starlink has promised to expand the maritime coverage in Q4 2022 or Q1 2023 but Starlink also has a long history of not achieving their marketing claims.   It's still in its infancy so be patient.  The issue is the lack of satellite to satellite lasers so that a satellite that is far from land can relay through other satellites to reach land.  Currently each satellite must connect directly to an earth station so Starlink satellites over the middle of oceans don't work, they can't reach reach land due to their lower orbit.

 

So for the moment ships that venture beyond the Bahamas can't use Starlink because there is zero Starlink coverage outside of the light blue areas on the Starlink coverage map above.  For any ships that venture beyond the 3 & 4 night short Florida cruise market Starlink isn't an option right now but will be "soon" - hopefully.  

 

Bahamas - covered now.

Eastern Caribbean - no Starlink coverage today.

Western Caribbean - no Starlink coverage today.

Southern Caribbean - no Starlink coverage today.

Transatlantic - no Starlink coverage today.

Transpacific  - no Starlink coverage today.

Panama Canal - no Starlink coverage today.

South Pacific - no Starlink coverage today.

Tasman Sea - no Starlink coverage today.

Asia - no Starlink coverage today.

...and more  - no Starlink coverage today.

 

Users on Indy report Starlink is subject to the 3.5 Mbps per user Voom cap that we are loathe.  From the frying pan into the fire.  

 

Users on Freedom right now are reporting ~60 Mbps down, ~ 15 Mbps up.  

[klfrodo]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

If you think once the initial equipment cost is recovered, the price will go down, you are living in a fantasy world. What goes up doesn’t mean it will ever come down. I’d be interested in any examples where it did, especially in the cruise industry.

This is easy.

Taking inflation into account, an economy flight from NYC to LA would be around $3000 each way.

A 7 night cruise in the 70’s was still only about $500 but in todays $$$, that equates to around $3500 today.

[grandgeezer]

33 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

This is easy.

Taking inflation into account, an economy flight from NYC to LA would be around $3000 each way.

A 7 night cruise in the 70’s was still only about $500 but in todays $$$, that equates to around $3500 today.

Is the airlines part of the cruise industry?  Inflation has very little to do with it, strictly greed. Our first cruise we took in 2003 was a 7 night cruise, for about $500, our last non suite cruise was in 2016 and we paid $1400. We still have fond memories of the 2003 cruise, the 2016 one is all but forgotten. No comparison in value or enjoyment.

[BND]

4 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Is the airlines part of the cruise industry?  Inflation has very little to do with it, strictly greed. Our first cruise we took in 2003 was a 7 night cruise, for about $500, our last non suite cruise was in 2016 and we paid $1400. We still have fond memories of the 2003 cruise, the 2016 one is all but forgotten. No comparison in value or enjoyment.

It's called a free market economy and prices are what the market will bear.  It's not greed to the employees, executives and stock holders.  I'm not sure why people think businesses should operate at a break even point or even a loss.  Costs of everything else has gone up.  People expect to get the same return today on the $500 they spent 20 years ago on a cruise today.  The costs of everything has gone up.  Employees expect more pay (weird I know lol). It costs more to operate the ship overall.  Do you own stock in anything?  Do you expect a return on your investment?  So do the stockholders of a cruise line.   It's been reported multiple times that cruise lines don't make much if anything on a cruise fare.  Their profits come from all the extras.  

 

As for you not getting any enjoyment or value, why cruise?  Maybe time to do something else.

[SeaHunt]

14 hours ago, BND said:

52 were placed on orbit just this week.  

 

FYI if you've never seen them placed on the rocket 😊

 

[twangster]

Starlink is eagerly waiting for the Starship rocket to enter service.  The Falcon 9 rocket has been great launching Starlink satellites in the low 50's count at a time but Starship is required to really get Starlink constellations built out. 

 

Starship has roughly four time the payload capacity of Falcon 9.  Think ~200 Starlink v1 satellites at a time.  Starship can also insert satellites into a higher altitude closer to Starlink's desired final orbits.  It can take up to 9 months for a Starlink satellite launched on a Falcon 9 rocket to reach its final orbit and enter service.  Starship launched satellites will enter service much quicker, like a month or so. 

 

Lastly the newest proposed Starlink v2 satellites won't fit on Falcon 9.  The nextgen Starlink satellites  require Starship.  The v2 Starlink satellites are required for many of the advanced Starlink capabilities that Starlink is promising such as the cellular tower in the sky disaster connectivity and some satellite to satellite features to make Starlink internet what has been promised such as the 20ms latency all the time.  

 

Great things are coming but a lot of it depends on Starship rockets.

[klfrodo]

9 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Is the airlines part of the cruise industry? 

It's a VERY important part of the cruise industry for the millions of people who cruise and don't live near a cruise port.

[Toddcan]

15 hours ago, BND said:

52 were placed on orbit just this week.  

And more every week.  Getting there 🙂

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

It's a VERY important part of the cruise industry for the millions of people who cruise and don't live near a cruise port.

As soon as I see one floating on the ocean, I’ll consider it. It’s like says the booze and alcohol is part of the cruise industry because of all that is consumed on a cruise.

[grandgeezer]

6 hours ago, BND said:

It's called a free market economy and prices are what the market will bear.  It's not greed to the employees, executives and stock holders.  I'm not sure why people think businesses should operate at a break even point or even a loss.  Costs of everything else has gone up.  People expect to get the same return today on the $500 they spent 20 years ago on a cruise today.  The costs of everything has gone up.  Employees expect more pay (weird I know lol). It costs more to operate the ship overall.  Do you own stock in anything?  Do you expect a return on your investment?  So do the stockholders of a cruise line.   It's been reported multiple times that cruise lines don't make much if anything on a cruise fare.  Their profits come from all the extras.  

 

As for you not getting any enjoyment or value, why cruise?  Maybe time to do something else.

I own more stocks, and mutual funds than anyone my age should even consider having. It made it possible to retire at 55 and live the life of Riley. 
I don’t need a lecture on the free market economy, I’ve lived it for many, many years. 
I don’t expect businesses to break even or lose money, myself included.

I’m stunned that people pay the absurd amounts for the things they do. I don’t, and never will. No matter how much money I have, I”ll only pay what I think it’s worth, hence no cruising in over three years and 0 onboard spending in the previous three years.

They are $25,000,000,000 in debt and they had to pay junk bond rates of 11% to get money to pay off their loans coming due. I haven’t had any debt since 1984, 804 credit score so I wouldn’t have trouble getting money if needed. Although my equity holdings have dropped, my positive cash flow has increased considerably since the pandemic.

Thanks for the unrequested lecture, and advice, it was worth every penny I paid, which was 0.

 

 

 

[jaygatsby27]

On 9/29/2022 at 12:02 PM, grandgeezer said:

I own more stocks, and mutual funds than anyone my age should even consider having. It made it possible to retire at 55 and live the life of Riley. 
I don’t need a lecture on the free market economy, I’ve lived it for many, many years. 
I don’t expect businesses to break even or lose money, myself included.

I’m stunned that people pay the absurd amounts for the things they do. I don’t, and never will. No matter how much money I have, I”ll only pay what I think it’s worth, hence no cruising in over three years and 0 onboard spending in the previous three years.

They are $25,000,000,000 in debt and they had to pay junk bond rates of 11% to get money to pay off their loans coming due. I haven’t had any debt since 1984, 804 credit score so I wouldn’t have trouble getting money if needed. Although my equity holdings have dropped, my positive cash flow has increased considerably since the pandemic.

Thanks for the unrequested lecture, and advice, it was worth every penny I paid, which was 0.

 

 

 

I'm glad you have done well for yourself.  See you onboard. 

[Merion_Mom]

On 9/28/2022 at 4:34 PM, Merion_Mom said:

 

I am on my knees praying that this gets up and running by the end of the year.

 

On 9/28/2022 at 7:46 PM, Biker19 said:

Hopefully even earlier.

 

I'm selfish.  My next Enchantment cruise is January.  😄 

 

 

 

On 9/28/2022 at 7:57 PM, Wineaux007 said:

Yeah, but what's going to be the cost?

 

Free.

 

On 9/28/2022 at 9:32 PM, grandgeezer said:

If you think once the initial equipment cost is recovered, the price will go down, you are living in a fantasy world. What goes up doesn’t mean it will ever come down. I’d be interested in any examples where it did, especially in the cruise industry.

 

 

My Hulu did, for four years.

 

[PWP-001]

Before commenting, I did read all of the posts, including the sidebars on economics and someone's scolding and demonstration of superiority by placing his wealth on display which I hope he put away and zipped up.

 

So back to the topic of Internet service...  I'm new to RCI and I was on board Freedom of the Seas in mid August 2022.  I had Voom Streaming Level service because I purchased The Key.  I was quite impressed given my standard was from Princess Cruises 2013-2017 where the internet was so slow, that even email was difficult, it seemed.

 

So with my iPhone in airplane mode, I was quite surprised to stream music and even get a phone call at sea (I think, though could be wrong) that was clear and not choppy at all.

 

Would I have been experiencing that new technology on my Aug 19 - 22 cruise on FOTS?

Did I set myself up for huge disappointment with Internet service for my upcoming cruises on Liberty, Harmony, Grandeur, and Odyssey that I have booked Nov 2022 - Mar 2023?

[Biker19]

On 10/11/2022 at 4:54 PM, PWP-001 said:

Would I have been experiencing that new technology on my Aug 19 - 22 cruise on FOTS?

 

Did I set myself up for huge disappointment with Internet service for my upcoming cruises on Liberty, Harmony, Grandeur, and Odyssey that I have booked Nov 2022 - Mar 2023?

Yes.

Three of those ships have O3B internet and it should be pretty good. Whether you get usable Starlink by the time you sail on any of those ships is unknown.