internet 500 minutes included in my package how does it work ?

[fvandewouwer]

hello everyone and happy New Year !

I see that in my package 500 minutes of internet are included, how does this work, will I need to use all 500 minutes as soon as i activate it or can I use it on different days.

I need to work from my cruise and I am trying to figure out if I need to buy internet for the whole cruise or not.

(I only work a couple of hours a day and not every day)

thanks for your advise

 

[hallux]

When you want to use the internet you go to logon.com (or is it login.com?) on the device where you want to use it.  Once logged in, you use it as needed, then you go to logout.com to end your session.  If you don't logout, even if the device is turned off, you'll keep counting minutes used.

[Ken the cruiser]

It all depends on your stress level tolerance whether or not you should upgrade to unlimited. But first you need to check if the 500 free minutes promo is for the stateroom or per person, if you are cruising with someone else. It makes a difference as it was per stateroom for our recent 19-day cruise.

 

As far as the level of stress you may deal with will depend on how slow the internet speed is when you want to use it. For us when we were on our recent 19 day cruise, we upgraded to unlimited because we just didn't want to deal with the stress of watching the minutes tick away during the slow times, which were many. If you upgrade to unlimited, you won't care. 😉

[fvandewouwer]

Hallux and Ken thank you both for your replies

 

I saw on the amenity confirmation that is it only 500 minutes for one person ( my hysband does not have a device or uses the internet while being on vacation so he is ok without it )

but I also would not like to see minutes ticking away.

Any idea how much an upgrade would be for a 19 day cruise  ?

I checked that if I want to upgrade it now the price is the same as what my husband would need to pay so it seems it is not an upgrade of the 500 minutes package but buying a package for the whole cruise ?

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by fvandewouwer

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, fvandewouwer said:

Hallux and Ken thank you both for your replies

 

I saw on the amenity confirmation that is it only 500 minutes for one person ( my hysband does not have a device or uses the internet while being on vacation so he is ok without it )

but I also would not like to see minutes ticking away.

Any idea how much an upgrade would be for a 19 day cruise  ?

 

It was around $273 to upgrade the perk on our Nov cruise. I know, what a deal! We had to purchase unlimited for me at the retail price of $399. 

[mking8288]

OP on a 19 days cruise - is that a B2B or booked as a single cruise, 500 free minutes for passenger #1 (and #2, if applicable) is a 1,000 minutes in total or roughly 16+ hours; and, if he can manage online access with a little discipline, not needing to be "connected" to the grid daily ... it might be just fine.  Save the extra $$$ to spend on dining, shorex or whatever.  

 

On longer cruises, don't recall off-hand as NCL does discount the daily unlimited WiFi charge of $30 p/p to $25 p/p when it's more than 11, 12 or is it now 15 days (others that recently did one of the longr T/A probably can help with this)  I'm, however, pretty sure that 19 days should qualify OP to buy up the unlimited for less than $30 daily, to $25 daily  (thus $25 x 19 = $475).  Usually, on longer cruises - you an upgrade on Day 2 or Day 3, possibly wait until 12:01 am on Day 4 to switch to unlimited WiFi, as long as you do not use any of the free (500) minutes on the account.  Since there's 2 of them cruising, the 2nd. person's 500 minutes should be fine to use, but I would recommend that OP speak to the onboard iCafe manager first on Day 1, to find out what and if anything changes.  

 

If OP wait until 12:01 am local/ship time to upgrade, that should be calculated on the basis of $25 x 17 = $425 less a credit given for the upgrade/trade-up of the 500 minutes (probably around $150 to $175, maybe more or less, slightly)  Net cost would be something like $250 to $275 for the remaining cruise days. 

Available non-refundable OBC can only be used onboard to offset/apply against the WiFi upgrade charges, if you prepaid ahead - can't be done. 

 

On our upcoming 12 days/nights - the discounted upgrade to basic unlimited WiFi for 1 user is $215, the 300 minutes as a trade-up is worth $145, assuming that the daily rate is still $30 p/p.  Still haven't decided whether it's worth going for the unlimited as our combined minutes are 600 minutes or 10 hours worth, with 4.5 days at sea - port days, we have options for roaming cellular (non-WiFi) access from land towers (Google Fi unlimited plan w coverage in 200 countries, none at sea !! ) 

 

Ship and cruise itinerary for 19 days (and dates of travel) can also be pivotal in considering whether it's worth paying extra - satellite coverage on a typical T/A crossing are mostly reported lately as being poor, spotty to none and unusable, waste of money & time.  If this is for Euro-South Pacific cruise later in 2023 or 2024, perhaps - if NCL would switch over to Starlink (was being tested live onboard the Breakaway last month) - connectivity will improve vastly as the technologies & hardware aren't the same as now ... the Cisco server background are fully capable of supporting Gigabit data traffic.  

 

P.S.  It's login.com and logout.com to start and stop the inTERnet metering onboard, inTRAnet access not affected & you can stay connected with the Norwegian App (yes, a little confusing to some & resulting in quickly using up all the available free minutes if forgotten to "sign" out) 

 

 

If you do this correctly, each time you login and logout, the "meter" will show your minutes used and remaining, etc. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by mking8288

[hallux]

One other thing - if you're using the internet for work will you require a VPN?  If so, that requires upgrading to the unlimited PREMIUM internet..

[fvandewouwer]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

It was around $273 to upgrade the perk on our Nov cruise. I know, what a deal! We had to purchase unlimited for me at the retail price of $399. 

Thanks that is compared to the 399 a good deal

[eileeshb]

If you decide to upgrade to one of the unlimited plans they take the cost value of your “free” minutes and offset it against the normal cost of the unlimited package. 
you can not do the discounted upgrade once you start using your minutes.

[fvandewouwer]

To be clear we are doing a b2b cruise so twice 19 days.  This is from Cape Town  to Dubai from Dubai to Athens. From what I can see I have 500 minutes on each sailing my husband has nothing. ( or visa versa depending on who logs in I guess )

I will pay the internet desk a visit on day one of our cruise to see what my best option is and yes I need to work from the ship and hope the Internet will be fast enough otherwise this is my last cruise during my work time or my last job 😀 

I understand how those minutes work now I hope I can combine them with buying a one day Internet package each week ( I need to work one day a week or every day a couple of hours )

 

 

[fvandewouwer]

4 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

If you decide to upgrade to one of the unlimited plans they take the cost value of your “free” minutes and offset it against the normal cost of the unlimited package. 
you can not do the discounted upgrade once you start using your minutes.

Ok thanks I will not use these minutes until I know what my best option is.

[Ken the cruiser]

37 minutes ago, fvandewouwer said:

To be clear we are doing a b2b cruise so twice 19 days.  This is from Cape Town  to Dubai from Dubai to Athens. From what I can see I have 500 minutes on each sailing my husband has nothing. ( or visa versa depending on who logs in I guess )

I will pay the internet desk a visit on day one of our cruise to see what my best option is and yes I need to work from the ship and hope the Internet will be fast enough otherwise this is my last cruise during my work time or my last job 😀 

I understand how those minutes work now I hope I can combine them with buying a one day Internet package each week ( I need to work one day a week or every day a couple of hours )

 

You’re going to have a great cruise! If you haven’t already, you may want to check out my Live From thread I did on our Athens to Dubai to Cape Town B2B that just ended on Dec 2. 

[snorklinbarb]

Do they also apply a Lat. tier discount to the unlimited upgrade under FAS?

That could help some.  

[fvandewouwer]

42 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You’re going to have a great cruise! If you haven’t already, you may want to check out my Live From thread I did on our Athens to Dubai to Cape Town B2B that just ended on Dec 2. 

WoW so where can I find that "Live" ? Could you give me any link ? 

I would love to see your review

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, fvandewouwer said:

WoW so where can I find that "Live" ? Could you give me any link ? 

I would love to see your review

Here you go. 
 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2891352-live-from-the-jade-nov-13-to-dec-21-from-athens-to-cape-town/

[fvandewouwer]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here you go. 
 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2891352-live-from-the-jade-nov-13-to-dec-21-from-athens-to-cape-town/

Ty i will start reading tomorrow this is so interesting  your itineraryis better than ours ( we go to Maputo no idea why, we miss some ports you did ). (bedtime I am in a different time zone)

[hallux]

2 hours ago, fvandewouwer said:

yes I need to work from the ship

I said it in an earlier post in the thread - if you need VPN you HAVE to get the unlimited PREMIUM internet.  Neither the free minutes or the regular unlimited plan will allow VPN connections.

[fvandewouwer]

27 minutes ago, hallux said:

I said it in an earlier post in the thread - if you need VPN you HAVE to get the unlimited PREMIUM internet.  Neither the free minutes or the regular unlimited plan will allow VPN connections.

Ty I will ask work what is needed 

[vivalv66]

Just got off the Escape. Internet never worked. We gave up trying.