Surprisingly Fast Internet On Carnival Celebration

[Spaniel Lover]

I'm onboard Carnival Celebration this week to shoot some new videos for my YouTube channel.

 

I noticed that the Internet service seemed fast, so I decided to run a speed test this morning while we are at sea.  The results surprised me.  92Mbps download speed!  That's fast for a cruise ship!

 

Another pleasant surprise was last night's entertainment on "Center Stage" in Celebration Central.  They had some really great live music during what was basically a welcome aboard show, although they didn't call it that.

 

This is my 58th cruise overall, and I've seen a lot of musical entertainers over the years.  The ones they've hired for Carnival Celebration are really good.  I remember the days when Carnival's idea of good live music was to hire a Phillipino cover band that would work for cheap.  They've come a long way since those days.

 

I've read a lot of bad comments here on the Cruise Critic boards about Center Stage...  so I was delightfully surprised by the show and the venue last night.  I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  The sound in that venue, especially up in the seats on the 7th floor, is really good.  I tried a couple of different seating locations to see how the sound differed.  The worst were the seats up on the 8th floor...  as there is a lot of noise from people walking by, and loud people at the bar.  The best sound is on the 7th floor, in what are essentially balcony seats hanging out over the 6th floor, where the stage is.

 

One bad surprise was to discover that they took the Trash Can Nachos off the menu at the Pig & Anchor.  This is a huge personal loss for me, but I will stay strong and cruise on.  Thankfully, the brisket is still as good as I remember it.

[asalligo]

Hey, Jim Zim! Love your channel on ytube. That is great news to hear. I would love to see internet speeds increased on the older ships. 

 

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, Spaniel Lover said:

I'm onboard Carnival Celebration this week to shoot some new videos for my YouTube channel.

 

I noticed that the Internet service seemed fast, so I decided to run a speed test this morning while we are at sea.  The results surprised me.  92Mbps download speed!  That's fast for a cruise ship!

 

Another pleasant surprise was last night's entertainment on "Center Stage" in Celebration Central.  They had some really great live music during what was basically a welcome aboard show, although they didn't call it that.

 

This is my 58th cruise overall, and I've seen a lot of musical entertainers over the years.  The ones they've hired for Carnival Celebration are really good.  I remember the days when Carnival's idea of good live music was to hire a Phillipino cover band that would work for cheap.  They've come a long way since those days.

 

I've read a lot of bad comments here on the Cruise Critic boards about Center Stage...  so I was delightfully surprised by the show and the venue last night.  I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  The sound in that venue, especially up in the seats on the 7th floor, is really good.  I tried a couple of different seating locations to see how the sound differed.  The worst were the seats up on the 8th floor...  as there is a lot of noise from people walking by, and loud people at the bar.  The best sound is on the 7th floor, in what are essentially balcony seats hanging out over the 6th floor, where the stage is.

 

One bad surprise was to discover that they took the Trash Can Nachos off the menu at the Pig & Anchor.  This is a huge personal loss for me, but I will stay strong and cruise on.  Thankfully, the brisket is still as good as I remember it.

Excuse my tech-challenged ignorance - but what is the internet speed usually on some of the other Carnival ships? And is it safe to assume you were on the Premium wi-fi plan?  I was on the Valor in October and got the premium wi-fi for the first time and was prepared to be standing in line at Guest Services mid-cruise to ask for a refund. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was working.

[jimbob22]

2 hours ago, Spaniel Lover said:

I'm onboard Carnival Celebration this week to shoot some new videos for my YouTube channel.

 

I noticed that the Internet service seemed fast, so I decided to run a speed test this morning while we are at sea.  The results surprised me.  92Mbps download speed!  That's fast for a cruise ship!

 

Another pleasant surprise was last night's entertainment on "Center Stage" in Celebration Central.  They had some really great live music during what was basically a welcome aboard show, although they didn't call it that.

 

This is my 58th cruise overall, and I've seen a lot of musical entertainers over the years.  The ones they've hired for Carnival Celebration are really good.  I remember the days when Carnival's idea of good live music was to hire a Phillipino cover band that would work for cheap.  They've come a long way since those days.

 

I've read a lot of bad comments here on the Cruise Critic boards about Center Stage...  so I was delightfully surprised by the show and the venue last night.  I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  The sound in that venue, especially up in the seats on the 7th floor, is really good.  I tried a couple of different seating locations to see how the sound differed.  The worst were the seats up on the 8th floor...  as there is a lot of noise from people walking by, and loud people at the bar.  The best sound is on the 7th floor, in what are essentially balcony seats hanging out over the 6th floor, where the stage is.

 

One bad surprise was to discover that they took the Trash Can Nachos off the menu at the Pig & Anchor.  This is a huge personal loss for me, but I will stay strong and cruise on.  Thankfully, the brisket is still as good as I remember it.

 

yes, the 'included' P&A is NOT the same as the fee-based P&A on other ships.  Did they put your sides in the small metal ketchup containers??  If you go to Chibang, be aware that it is ALL small-plates, order several things.  But I agree with many others: the vast majority of Chibang food just underwhelmed us.  We went to the Italian place once, it may have been a step up from Chibang.  

 

That 'stadium seating' area between 7 and 8 was our favorite area for seeing center stage, and aiming for that area like 20-30 minutes early worked pretty well.  Carnival did not skimp out on entertainment and live music---and if you mostly eat at the lido, you may not notice the food cutbacks.

[Spaniel Lover]

21 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

Excuse my tech-challenged ignorance - but what is the internet speed usually on some of the other Carnival ships? And is it safe to assume you were on the Premium wi-fi plan? 

 

I've been on plenty of cruise ships where I was lucky to get 5 Mbps.

 

When I booked the cruise, they were offering a deal where premium Internet service was included in the cruise price.

[Lee Cruiser]

43 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

Excuse my tech-challenged ignorance - but what is the internet speed usually on some of the other Carnival ships? And is it safe to assume you were on the Premium wi-fi plan?  I was on the Valor in October and got the premium wi-fi for the first time and was prepared to be standing in line at Guest Services mid-cruise to ask for a refund. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was working.

On Vista in September it was 8.7 with the premium internet, so Celebration is over 10x the speed.  We were on the Mardi Gras in April and it was the best internet we've ever had, so apparently they have really upgraded it on the Excel ships.  I'm glad you had good internet on the Valor.  Back in January it was horrible.  Cloudy skies most of the time probably had a lot to do with it.

[MistyRo76]

29 minutes ago, Spaniel Lover said:

 

I've been on plenty of cruise ships where I was lucky to get 5 Mbps.

 

When I booked the cruise, they were offering a deal where premium Internet service was included in the cruise price.

Wow! That's quite a difference! Thanks for the info! Hope to sail the Celebration sometime soon! 

[MistyRo76]

11 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

On Vista in September it was 8.7 with the premium internet, so Celebration is over 10x the speed.  We were on the Mardi Gras in April and it was the best internet we've ever had, so apparently they have really upgraded it on the Excel ships.  I'm glad you had good internet on the Valor.  Back in January it was horrible.  Cloudy skies most of the time probably had a lot to do with it.

Thank you! Wonder if they will ever upgrade the older ships wi-fi systems to be more in line with what the Excel class ships offer?? 

 

I don't usually get internet packages but the last two times I cruised, I left my daughter at home. In 2019, the hubby and I took a cruise to Cuba and left her with grandma and grandpa and my last cruise was a girls trip so she stayed home with daddy. But now I'll probably get at least the Social plan moving forward. The only place the premium plan didn't work great for me on the Valor was when I was laying in bed in my cabin. I had the cabin further into the room and if I wanted to FaceTime with home I had to go stand closer to the door. We were all the way aft in one of those "bowling alley" type cabins, so I was tucked in a little corner back there! 

[Spaniel Lover]

The speed test I showed you earlier was done at 6:38 AM...  before most of the other passengers were awake and using their devices.  I thought it would be a good idea to do another test at 11 AM when presumably I would be competing with a lot of other passengers for bandwidth.

 

The download speed was only a little bit slower, at 61 Mbps, but still excellent for a cruise ship.  Surprisingly, the upload speed was hugely better than it was earlier, and the ping time was improved by a bit.

All and all, a stellar connection...  and I was easily able to upload a short video clip to Facebook this morning.

[groundloop]

1 hour ago, MistyRo76 said:

Excuse my tech-challenged ignorance - but what is the internet speed usually on some of the other Carnival ships? And is it safe to assume you were on the Premium wi-fi plan?

 

I've seen 2 to 3 Mbps download speeds with "premium" internet on most of the Carnival ships I've been on. 

 

Most recently I was on Freedom for Thanksgiving and the one time I could get a speed test to run it was less than 1 Mbps.  The internet for that cruise was the worst I've ever experienced, I finally gave up on it and had Guest Services cancel my plan and issue a refund.

[pogoism9]

I thought I read somewhere a few months ago that Carnival was testing Starlink on a ship or two, could Celebration be one of those?

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, pogoism9 said:

I thought I read somewhere a few months ago that Carnival was testing Starlink on a ship or two, could Celebration be one of those?

 

Must be, it's the only way they could get that kind of speed

[NutsAboutGolf]

Fantastic news.  

5 hours ago, Spaniel Lover said:

I'm onboard Carnival Celebration this week to shoot some new videos for my YouTube channel.

 

I noticed that the Internet service seemed fast, so I decided to run a speed test this morning while we are at sea.  The results surprised me.  92Mbps download speed!  That's fast for a cruise ship!

 

Another pleasant surprise was last night's entertainment on "Center Stage" in Celebration Central.  They had some really great live music during what was basically a welcome aboard show, although they didn't call it that.

 

This is my 58th cruise overall, and I've seen a lot of musical entertainers over the years.  The ones they've hired for Carnival Celebration are really good.  I remember the days when Carnival's idea of good live music was to hire a Phillipino cover band that would work for cheap.  They've come a long way since those days.

 

I've read a lot of bad comments here on the Cruise Critic boards about Center Stage...  so I was delightfully surprised by the show and the venue last night.  I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  The sound in that venue, especially up in the seats on the 7th floor, is really good.  I tried a couple of different seating locations to see how the sound differed.  The worst were the seats up on the 8th floor...  as there is a lot of noise from people walking by, and loud people at the bar.  The best sound is on the 7th floor, in what are essentially balcony seats hanging out over the 6th floor, where the stage is.

 

One bad surprise was to discover that they took the Trash Can Nachos off the menu at the Pig & Anchor.  This is a huge personal loss for me, but I will stay strong and cruise on.  Thankfully, the brisket is still as good as I remember it.

 

Thanks Jim!  We're on her next sailing and would love quick guide of what to book once on board for food and entertainment.  The specialty restaurants we wanted have no online availability and you have to book the coaster on board as well

[NutsAboutGolf]

Also Jim, huge favor, do you or anyone you're travel with have an iPhone?  If yes, can you see if you're send a text to a non-iPhone/SMS user?  Historically you couldn't with Carnival so just curious if this changed.  Many of the younging have group text messages with both iphone and non-iphone users

[Pellaz]

5 hours ago, Spaniel Lover said:

I noticed that the Internet service seemed fast, so I decided to run a speed test this morning while we are at sea.  The results surprised me.  92Mbps download speed!  That's fast for a cruise ship!

[....]

I've been on plenty of cruise ships where I was lucky to get 5 Mbps.

 

Yep, and probably with a ping time well over 100 ms (a tenth of a second) since the signal has to make two round-trip transits to a geostationary satellite.  

 

3 hours ago, pogoism9 said:

I thought I read somewhere a few months ago that Carnival was testing Starlink on a ship or two, could Celebration be one of those?

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Must be, it's the only way they could get that kind of speed

 

Carnival isn't using Starlink AFAIK, at least not yet.  

 

However, Royal has been gradually rolling it out on their ships.  Current posts on the Royal board have been saying around 9 Mb/sec, which is pretty good for shipboard, but nowhere near the 92 Mb/sec speed the OP got on the Celebration.  

 

I should have thought to do speed tests on my recent sailings.  Speed was fast enough on the Mardi Gras in October 2021, absolutely terrible on the Sunrise last February, and quite good again on the Horizon this past October. 

On the Sunrise the wi-fi was SO slow  [how slow  WAS it?  Well, I'll TELL you]   ...it was so slow that virtually nothing would load and I ended up receiving a full refund at Guest Services.  From the sheepish smile the GS officer bestowed on me, I was far from the only person to drop by.  It was by far the biggest blemish on an otherwise very good cruise.  

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 12/5/2022 at 1:20 PM, Pellaz said:

Carnival isn't using Starlink AFAIK, at least not yet.  

 

However, Royal has been gradually rolling it out on their ships.  Current posts on the Royal board have been saying around 9 Mb/sec, which is pretty good for shipboard, but nowhere near the 92 Mb/sec speed the OP got on the Celebration.  

 

Many reported someone spotted this below and hoped that they were testing it for eventual deployment.  However, the OP, Jim's speeds are incredible for a cruise ship and I'd be very happy with that if I could get close to those speeds on seadays.  Hopefully CCL didn't realize Jim is a popular Cruise youtuber and remove any wi-fi restrictions from his wifi account

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by NutsAboutGolf

[Pellaz]

47 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Many reported someone spotted this below and hoped that they were testing it for eventual deployment.  However, the OP, Jim's speeds are incredible for a cruise ship and I'd be very happy with that if I could get close to those speeds on seadays.  Hopefully CCL didn't realize Jim is a popular Cruise youtuber and remove any wi-fi restrictions from his wifi account

 

Lol, I was (only halfway seriously) wondering the same thing.  

 

Heck, that speed is really good for direct-wire cable, let alone a cruise ship at sea!  

 

 

 

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 12/5/2022 at 11:12 AM, Spaniel Lover said:

The speed test I showed you earlier was done at 6:38 AM...  before most of the other passengers were awake and using their devices.  I thought it would be a good idea to do another test at 11 AM when presumably I would be competing with a lot of other passengers for bandwidth.

 

The download speed was only a little bit slower, at 61 Mbps, but still excellent for a cruise ship.  Surprisingly, the upload speed was hugely better than it was earlier, and the ping time was improved by a bit.

All and all, a stellar connection...  and I was easily able to upload a short video clip to Facebook this morning.

Thanks for posting this Jim. I think you just made a sale for Carnival.

 

I NEVER get CCL's internet as it was useless. At 61 one could do some streaming if they don't have those blocked. I'll definitely purchase it for our next cruise on Celebration come April.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.!!

[nascartony20fan1]

On 12/5/2022 at 11:12 AM, Spaniel Lover said:

The speed test I showed you earlier was done at 6:38 AM...  before most of the other passengers were awake and using their devices.  I thought it would be a good idea to do another test at 11 AM when presumably I would be competing with a lot of other passengers for bandwidth.

 

The download speed was only a little bit slower, at 61 Mbps, but still excellent for a cruise ship.  Surprisingly, the upload speed was hugely better than it was earlier, and the ping time was improved by a bit.

All and all, a stellar connection...  and I was easily able to upload a short video clip to Facebook this morning.

Were you able to use a VPN by chance? With the faster internet on celebration, do they still not support VPN for remote workers? Thx for any info

[Pellaz]

Also curious if Carnival was allowing wi-fi calling or if it was still (seemingly) port-blocked.  

 

When last I sailed on RCCL, wi-fi calling (send and receive) WAS allowed.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

(Note - all comments below were with whatever "premium" plan was offered)

 

On the Mardi Gras (August '21) I tested the speeds twice mid-cruise. The lower was in the 25Mbps range, the higher was at 35Mbps. That's the fastest I've come across since I was getting 39Mbps on the Allure... in 2016 !! 

 

On the Liberty (a couple cruises earlier this year) I was regularly getting between 3.5-4.9Mbps -- still a good speed for most purposes, as long as it's stable.

 

Speaking of stable (or not!) on the Reflection the last two weeks I was getting speeds as low as 50Kbps!! Generally it was ranging from 700Kbps to 2.5Mbps. Oddly, I found that if I ran it through a VPN (Hotspot Shield) I would get speeds nearly 10x faster - that's how I was getting those upper readings. I tested that again over several days, taking readings with and without the VPN under different conditions/times of day. Since everything was encrypted with the VPN, it obviously skipped right past their bandwidth throttling. See THIS article which explains what I seemed to be encountering on Celebrity.

 

Tom

[jam19872016]

10 hours ago, Pellaz said:

Also curious if Carnival was allowing wi-fi calling or if it was still (seemingly) port-blocked.  

 

When last I sailed on RCCL, wi-fi calling (send and receive) WAS allowed.  

Not the OP but also onboard this week. Wifi calling is still blocked for some arbitrary reason. Carnival is the only line I am aware of that blocks it.

[Illbcruzn4life]

6 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

(Note - all comments below were with whatever "premium" plan was offered)

 

On the Mardi Gras (August '21) I tested the speeds twice mid-cruise. The lower was in the 25Mbps range, the higher was at 35Mbps. That's the fastest I've come across since I was getting 39Mbps on the Allure... in 2016 !! 

 

On the Liberty (a couple cruises earlier this year) I was regularly getting between 3.5-4.9Mbps -- still a good speed for most purposes, as long as it's stable.

 

Speaking of stable (or not!) on the Reflection the last two weeks I was getting speeds as low as 50Kbps!! Generally it was ranging from 700Kbps to 2.5Mbps. Oddly, I found that if I ran it through a VPN (Hotspot Shield) I would get speeds nearly 10x faster - that's how I was getting those upper readings. I tested that again over several days, taking readings with and without the VPN under different conditions/times of day. Since everything was encrypted with the VPN, it obviously skipped right past their bandwidth throttling. See THIS article which explains what I seemed to be encountering on Celebrity.

 

Tom

Wish I would have gotten that on the Allure when we were on her. I had surf and stream and I got 3mbps. lol

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

16 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Wish I would have gotten that on the Allure when we were on her. I had surf and stream and I got 3mbps. lol

Yep - I was amazed (link) !

 

Tom

[mom2tcdx2]

Does anyone have a comparison of how the value plan compares to the premium? We will be trying to download shows ahead of time for my grandson but wondered if we found we wanted to download more will the value plan allow it? Thinking like paramount plus, disney plus, netflix?