Internet: Unlimited, but Unusable. Is this unique?

[billco]

We are booked on the NCL Joy for a 15 day Panama Canal cruise in January. We have the Free at Sea package, which includes 300 minutes of free Wi-Fi per stateroom. We can upgrade to Unlimited Wi-Fi,
which includes general browsing, emails, and messaging, but does not support streaming for $229.85/PP. We can upgrade to Unlimited Premium Wi-Fi and watch movies, listen to our favorite podcasts and more with Premium Wi-Fi (streaming included) and unlimited minutes for $379.85/PP. Looking at the NCL boards, internet quality sounds about the same as Princess.

 

We also have a 14 day cruise booked on the Holland america Oosterdam. Their Premium Internet plan is $175.99. Whether emailing friends or streaming a movie, enjoy truly premium, unlimited access throughout your voyage—at a savings of at least 50% compared to the daily rate—with our Premium Internet Plan. All onboard Internet usage is subject to Holland America Line standard policies, which may limit browsing of some sites due to network security and bandwidth usage. Applications that use high bandwidth may be blocked and offerings are subject to change with or without notice. The plan can be activated on any device but only one device can be actively connected at a time, the rate calculation is based on prorating the voyage package by length.

[sirclean]

17 hours ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

No it won't.  It will cost you $330 to get 47520 minutes of wifi, i.e. 190 times more than you used to get for free.

NO, it will cost $330 for a boat/shipload of aggravation!  I just got off the Discovery (Saturday after Thanksgiving) and it was not even possible to download your Gmail account in a reasonable amount of time.

When it Takes  190 Times longer to do what you Were once doing quickly, and for free, this is not an improvement! 

 

The bottom line is that the ONLY thing that is 'Unlimited" about Princess' current internet package is the amount of time it takes to Accomplish anything online!!

 

 

[sirclean]

Any updates from anyone just off the Discovery?  Did it improve after Thanksgiving week?

 

What about any other ship in the Fleet?  Is it better, or still bad as others have shown?

[NownZen]

25 minutes ago, sirclean said:

Any updates from anyone just off the Discovery?  Did it improve after Thanksgiving week?

 

What about any other ship in the Fleet?  Is it better, or still bad as others have shown?

Seems fine on the Sapphire near Cabo.

 

[dweeb]

4 hours ago, sirclean said:

Any updates from anyone just off the Discovery?  Did it improve after Thanksgiving week?

 

What about any other ship in the Fleet?  Is it better, or still bad as others have shown?

Yes, it is better than the week before Thanksgiving.  Currently, it is useable, but not great.  I can surf (slowly) and load my yahoo email account.  The week before Thanksgiving, that was not possible.

Edited December 4, 2022 by dweeb
spelling

[dweeb]

Here's a speed test

 

 

[Ferndale Girl]

I have a question about the internet....can we also use the Internet Cafe sometimes besides our own device?  I would only want to pay for one device.  I actually like a desktop the best but might like to use my own once in awhile.

[VibeGuy]

Yes.  You can use the computers in the Internet Cafe at no extra charge beyond your WiFi plan. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by VibeGuy

[Ferndale Girl]

20 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Yes.  You can use the computers in the Internet Cafe at no extra charge beyond your WiFi plan. 

Thank you....that is what I wanted to know.

[minabruuke]

We are currently on the Sky Princess and the internet is truly the best we've ever had onboard a ship. We've yet to have any trouble. Websites are actually loading faster for me than they do using my Verizon cellular service at home. I did not expect to be able to check on our security cameras given the reports on here of terrible internet but watching them live, watching the recorded clips and downloading the recordings have all been possible and reasonably quick. If we are in a crowded area then it slows down a bit but still works. 

 

We're only a day in so I know that this could all change but we've been very happy and pleasantly surprised! 

 

[Guest ldtr]

On 12/5/2022 at 4:37 PM, Ferndale Girl said:

I have a question about the internet....can we also use the Internet Cafe sometimes besides our own device?  I would only want to pay for one device.  I actually like a desktop the best but might like to use my own once in awhile.

On the Crown access from the desktops in the Internet Cafe was worse than access from cell phone.

[daka]

December 10 cruise on REGAL, internet was very slow on SEA DAYS and in the evenings, in port when the ship is "empty" it was OK

[LadyL1]

3 hours ago, daka said:

December 10 cruise on REGAL, internet was very slow on SEA DAYS and in the evenings, in port when the ship is "empty" it was OK

I think what you have quoted is only to be expected.

Hopefully on newer ships, with inbuilt up-to date technology, we can expect better accessibility. This is is fast and ever moving feature at sea: we want and need it, as part of modern day society. All cruise lines need to provide what the majority pax want, to be successful! One only has to read the grumbles, on many of the CC boards, to realise this.

[hobbyfarmer2]

On 11/27/2022 at 9:36 PM, VibeGuy said:

No.  It’s because they’re selling the 2010 internet with 2022 packages.  
 

Princess has a much-ballyhooed partnership for internet with a company called SES.   SES operates three sets of satellites that can be routinely used for ship internet - HEO, MEO and a new MEO + constellation. 
 

For a while, pre-Recent Unpleasantries, Princess was using the MEO constellation and it was remarkably good - “the best WiFi at sea” was a reasonable way to describe it. 
 

For whatever reason, since the restart, even when operating between 45°N and 45°S, where the “old” MEO network works best, Princess has been using the HEO satellites.   I’ve seen ping data from this week on Ruby, Diamond and Discovery that all show the use of the legacy HEO network.   There’s nothing wrong with HEO, except that they move less data (lower bandwidth) and they’re 16,000 miles higher in the sky (adds a quarter second to each packet - it’s the speed of light and each packet has to go up and down to get to the earth station. 
 

Their provider is supposed to be turning up their New Better MEO network by the end of the year.  I’m not holding my breath.  
 

Princess is absolutely not being transparent about this, but physics doesn’t lie.  If the ping time is over 250ms, they’re using the older, slower network.  

Great informative post.  I worked in IT for decades including being responsible for military wired networks.  It always amazes me that ship internet works as well as it does.  I am not the slightest surprised that Princess is using lower cost satellites given the red ink of the past 30 months or so.  Wonder why Princess does not have a 2 tier offering though, one on slower sats, the other on the higher bandwidth ones.  Of course, they would need proper hardware and software provisioning for this including enough receiver/transmitter antennae.  Perhaps a chance for an additional profit centre.

[polmcs]

On 11/27/2022 at 9:48 PM, VibeGuy said:

 

but what explains the predicted three-day outage in the middle of Emerald’s transatlantic?   SES has asset in that longitude, and if they don’t have capacity they claim they can route traffic to other operators by over the air config of the onboard systems.  
 

 

 

 

Upon boarding the Island Princess in Rome last month, there was a notice in our cabin to say that we we would have degraded Internet access for 4 of the 8 days that it would take us to traverse the Atlantic.

 

Note, the internet whilst still in the Med, was pretty near useless to begin with! That did not bode well.

 

We had an itinerary change due to an impending storm brewing in the Atlantic, so we ended up plotting a course that would take us much further South. A day later, an update letter showed up in our cabin stating that for 4 days, there now would be little to no Internet coverage and all those passengers with Internet packages would automatically be refunded $10 per day for the 4 days (even those that had Internet as part of the plus packages). 
 

The Internet was also down for a large part of day 5 of the Atlantic crossing. As an Elite, I had paid $70 for the 14 nights to have additional devices connected. Once connectivity was restored, I went down to the Internet manager and requested a refund of the 4 device upgrade for the 5 days with no Internet. I was given a $10 per day credit for those days, even though I had only paid an average of $5 per day.

[spookyfudge]

We lost internet the last three days of our transatlantic cruise, could not check in for our flights, You can not count on the internet if you plan to work from the ship.

[sirclean]

Anyone on a New Years Cruise want to comment (or are you otherwise busy and entertained on board to bother with internet?)

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

[MissP22]

11 minutes ago, sirclean said:

Anyone on a New Years Cruise want to comment (or are you otherwise busy and entertained on board to bother with internet?)

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

It's not really that great on the Enchanted especially during the day. If you get up at 2 or 3 AM It's almost usable for downloading large files.

[bjkTX]

We just got off the Ruby Princess after a Caribbean cruise with unlimited wifi.  Most days I could do basic stuff - check email etc.  But if I tried to do much of anything else I stared at the spinning wheel a lot.  I'd hate to be paying by the minute when it takes 10 minutes for a page to download.  We have never used the internet on our previous 26 cruises so we have nothing to compare it to - but it was painful most times.

[Times Prince]

3 hours ago, bjkTX said:

We just got off the Ruby Princess after a Caribbean cruise with unlimited wifi.  Most days I could do basic stuff - check email etc.  But if I tried to do much of anything else I stared at the spinning wheel a lot.  I'd hate to be paying by the minute when it takes 10 minutes for a page to download.  We have never used the internet on our previous 26 cruises so we have nothing to compare it to - but it was painful most times.

We are on Ruby Princess in a couple of months.  Do you know if one can purchase internet by the day?  We're Elite and have never used the allotted minutes per cruise, so the unlimited internet package is a waste of money, so I am trying to research cheaper alternatives, yet still be able to check in with home 3-4 times during the cruise.

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, Times Prince said:

We are on Ruby Princess in a couple of months.  Do you know if one can purchase internet by the day?  We're Elite and have never used the allotted minutes per cruise, so the unlimited internet package is a waste of money, so I am trying to research cheaper alternatives, yet still be able to check in with home 3-4 times during the cruise.

You can purchase it by the day, but only onboard at a higher rate. The Elite discount will apply.

[malba2366]

15 hours ago, bjkTX said:

We just got off the Ruby Princess after a Caribbean cruise with unlimited wifi.  Most days I could do basic stuff - check email etc.  But if I tried to do much of anything else I stared at the spinning wheel a lot.  I'd hate to be paying by the minute when it takes 10 minutes for a page to download.  We have never used the internet on our previous 26 cruises so we have nothing to compare it to - but it was painful most times.

 

60-70% of the people on the ship (factoring in Plus/Premier take rate and people who pay for internet) have unlimited access so it will be very slow.  When people were paying by the minute, barely anyone was on the internet so it worked well.

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, malba2366 said:

 

60-70% of the people on the ship (factoring in Plus/Premier take rate and people who pay for internet) have unlimited access so it will be very slow.  When people were paying by the minute, barely anyone was on the internet so it worked well.

Ever since they began the unlimited internet plan the whole system has gone to pot. I would like to go back to the free minutes .

[shellbeachjim]

Currently on the Discovery and the speed makes the internet practically unusable. Here’s a recent speed test. 
 

[kiwimum]

Whatever change they made in January 2022 contributed to the issues.  Good access on October/November/December 2021 cruises. Currently in South America with internet access poor for the entire trip.  Ship advised access would be limited 12/24 thru 12/30.  Nothing has improved since leaving Antarctic waters.