Starlink High Speed Internet Coming to HAL

[OlsSalt]

Good marketing advantage for CCL - though suspect all will follow. They almost have to if they are selling cruises to the daily wired generations.  Plus expand into the live-work crowd. .

 

Travel with Starlink:  https://www.starlink.com/rv

 

Live near the Starlink launch pad and we see their vapor trails go off often - though recent rain has delayed  launches,

Edited January 22, 2023 by OlsSalt

[Alphen]

On 1/22/2023 at 3:11 AM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I don't think starlink is anywhere close to coming to hal yet.

I do not understand the pessimism, just replayed video of the Captain talk on MS Rotterdam VII of our cruise in October last year, and he stated during the "Ask the Captain", that Rotterdam is using Starlink!!

 

Since Rotterdam is the newest of the fleet, I have no knowledge what the status currently is on the rest of the fleet.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Alphen

[brovol]

Would love to see it on Nieuw Statendam for my April 1st cruise.  We were on Nieuw Amsterdam for Christmas, and the internet was horrible.  Were on Sky Princess last year, and the internet was incredibly good, so I know its possible to have great wifi on a cruise ship.

[boze9999]

55 minutes ago, Alphen said:

I do not understand the pessimism, just replayed video of the Captain talk on MS Rotterdam VII of our cruise in October last year, and he stated during the "Ask the Captain", that Rotterdam is using Starlink!!

 

Since Rotterdam is the newest of the fleet, I have no knowledge what the status currently is on the rest of the fleet.

We've spent about 90 days on the Rotterdam and the internet was excellent (Premium plan) everywhere we sailed, so that makes sense @Alphen. I also read somewhere that during covid, HAL significantly expanded all the ships' bandwidth which seems quite noticeable on the other ships I've been on post-covid. 

[Hlitner]

21 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Good marketing advantage for CCL - though suspect all will follow. They almost have to if they are selling cruises to the daily wired generations.  Plus expand into the live-work crowd. .

 

 

Not so sure.  CCL is late to the Starlink party which has been a priority on RCI brands who announced a deal with Elon Musk back in June 22.  This is simply CCL playing catch-up.  

 

Hank

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, Alphen said:

I do not understand the pessimism, just replayed video of the Captain talk on MS Rotterdam VII of our cruise in October last year, and he stated during the "Ask the Captain", that Rotterdam is using Starlink!!

 

Since Rotterdam is the newest of the fleet, I have no knowledge what the status currently is on the rest of the fleet.

The press release specifically stated that this was going onto carnival and adia brand ships first with the other lines to follow.  This was supposed to start in December 2022.    It’s surprising that the Rotterdam was able to get this before December.  I have not sailed on the Rotterdam so I’m not sure how I could possibly know this.  I’ve googled and found nothing.  You would think hal would like this to be known.  There were posts on this thread expressing the same scepticism so I’m curious as to why only my post was selected for questioning.

 

For many, many years hal has said they would be offering the Mariners discounts for restaurants on line.  That has failed to materialize.  Many of Hal’s processes seem to be very manual, such as booking a cabana.  This causes me reason to be sceptical.  Ymmv.

[rafinmd]

While this is great for the commonly traveled seas I wonder how well low orbit satellites  will work in far northern or southern oceans.

 

Roy

[Lildare]

5 hours ago, Alphen said:

I do not understand the pessimism, just replayed video of the Captain talk on MS Rotterdam VII of our cruise in October last year, and he stated during the "Ask the Captain", that Rotterdam is using Starlink!!

 

Since Rotterdam is the newest of the fleet, I have no knowledge what the status currently is on the rest of the fleet.

 Thank you for looking over your video to verify what the captain said, this is excellent news!!  I have to admit I was skeptical after dealing with bad to no Wi-Fi on HAL for 25 years.  😊   But I thought further about your response and started to consider that StarLink may have provided a trial on some ships to get Carnival to buy into the service.   I may now book something on Rotterdam knowing this info as I work remotely,  I really appreciate your confirmation!

 

I am speculating that Koningsdam has made some change maybe a trial of StarLink in December given the speed of Wi-Fi I experienced.  Nieuw Amsterdam has always had bad Wi-Fi in my experience.

[Lildare]

3 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Many of Hal’s processes seem to be very manual, such as booking a cabana.

Yes!  I agree and communication does not seem to flow to all HAL staff.  An example I have is guest services where it takes 3-4 people to fix an issue on the statement.  There was only one guy who did change and one guy to do something else and end result was I had to talk to Corporate to fix it.  I get home and Corporate said they should have fixed it on the ship. It’s funny now but it was not so much fun when my time was limited on vacation.

[johnnyswitzerland]

22 minutes ago, Lildare said:

 Thank you for looking over your video to verify what the captain said, this is excellent news!

 

Agree!  Thank you, @Alphen, for checking!  This is pretty exciting, and it makes sense that Rotterdam VII could be a testbed for Starlink on CCL vessels because of her recent launch.  👍

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 1/21/2023 at 3:36 AM, Alphen said:

I could be wrong, but on our last cruise on Rotterdam in October, I could not help noticing that the captain, in one of his talks, mentioned that they indeed were (already), using Starlink!

I hope this isn’t true.  I’m currently on the Rotterdam and streaming isn’t possible.

[R U Cruisin 2]

I sailed Rotterdam last October. We virtually had no Wi-Fi. I’m sailing again on Rotterdam in a week. Oh how I hope that they have starlink up and running. 

[Mitwif]

We were on the Rotterdam last November, and I was able to stream college football games on my iPad (premium plan). I'm hoping that it works just as well this November!

[VMax1700]

Currently on Rotterdam and this is what I am getting on the Premium Plan in the middle of the Baltic Sea.

 

 

Starlink is not listed as the provider, but Equinix.

 

Earlier in the week I was hitting 84 mbps Download.

 

However I cannot stream on Netflix, but I can watch Youtube videos and stream my local TV station for news heads etc, but some content is blocked due to rights restrictions.

 

 

[VMax1700]

I am sure that some sites are blocked even on premium.

Here is what HAL says about their plans...

 

[firsttimer1971]

If I check the Wi-Fi & Internet Plans on the (Dutch) HAL website it also says:

Edited September 27, 2023 by firsttimer1971

[BermudaBound2014]

As far as I know, the only HAL ship with Starlink is Koningsdam at this time. She got it in spring drydock.

 

 

https://teslanorth.com/2023/05/18/first-starlink-holland-america/

 

 

I can not find an installation schedule for the rest of the fleet just that 'plans are to bring Starlink to the pinnacle class."

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[Alphen]

1 minute ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

As far as I know, the only HAL ship with Starlink is Koningsdam. She got it in spring drydock.

 

 

https://teslanorth.com/2023/05/18/first-starlink-holland-america/

 

 

I can not find an installation schedule for the rest of the fleet just that 'plans are to bring Starlink to the pinnacle class."

 

 

Rotterdam was reported to have it October last year, as stated by the captain on board when we sailed her, captain Werner Timmers.

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

7 minutes ago, Alphen said:

Rotterdam was reported to have it October last year, as stated by the captain on board when we sailed her, captain Werner Timmers.

A few weeks ago, Captain on zaandam confirmed it was installed there 

[firsttimer1971]

According to a passenger on the Oosterdam the captain said during dinner in August that the Oosterdam would have Starlink by the end of September. 

[BermudaBound2014]

18 minutes ago, Alphen said:

Rotterdam was reported to have it October last year, as stated by the captain on board when we sailed her, captain Werner Timmers.

 

 

Can you provide any references that Rotterdam received Starlink last October  (other than hearsay which may have been misunderstood)?

 

Here are multiple articles which state that the Koningsdam was the FIRST Hal ship to get starlink during her drydock in the spring. Several reported just in this thread that Rotterdam does not have starlink.

 

While I am normally cautious with MSM, I tend to believe that Koningsdam was the first ship to receive starlink and that was in the Spring of 2023. 

 

https://cruisinchandler.com/cruise-news/holland-america-line-installs-spacex-starlink

 

https://crew-center.com/holland-america-lines-koningsdam-sets-sail-high-speed-starlink-internet

 

Youtube showing Starlink on Koningsdam

 

https://teslanorth.com/2023/05/18/first-starlink-holland-america/

 

 

And directly from the CCL investors page:

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/early-feedback-positive-holland-america-line-installs-spacexs-0

 

 

 

 

Perhaps other ships have since added starlink, but it's highly unlikely that Rotterdam had it last October with so many press releases stating that Koningsdam was the first to receive it just a few months ago.

 

It would be nice if HAL published an updated list. I would think if HAL was busy installing starlink on so many other ships there would be additional press releases. It's good publicity in a time when the stock is struggling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[richwmn]

Zuiderdam has had Starlink since the end of the World Cruise

[Alphen]

4 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

 

Can you provide any references that Rotterdam received Starlink last October  (other than hearsay which may have been misunderstood)?

 

Here are multiple articles which state that the Koningsdam was the FIRST Hal ship to get starlink during her drydock in the spring. Several reported just in this thread that Rotterdam does not have starlink.

 

While I am normally cautious with MSM, I tend to believe that Koningsdam was the first ship to receive starlink and that was in the Spring of 2023. 

 

https://cruisinchandler.com/cruise-news/holland-america-line-installs-spacex-starlink

 

https://crew-center.com/holland-america-lines-koningsdam-sets-sail-high-speed-starlink-internet

 

Youtube showing Starlink on Koningsdam

 

 

And directly from the CCL investors page:

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/early-feedback-positive-holland-america-line-installs-spacexs-0

 

 

 

 

Perhaps other ships have since added starlink, but it's highly unlikely that Rotterdam had it last October with so many press releases stating that Koningsdam was the first to receive a few months ago. It would be nice if HAL published an updated list. I would think if HAL was busy installing starlink on other ships there would be additional press releases. It's good publicity in a time when the stock is struggling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was on board of the historical crossing and it was stated more than once by the captain, which I even have on video somewhere and I have no reason to doubt a captain’s word!

 

By the way, Starlink is by no means a magical bandaid that resolves all internet problems. There will always be areas that are not or insufficient covered and it also depends on data use. If over 2000 guests stream what ever they can get in sight on their devices, even Musks network will not cope.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Alphen

[Ipeeinthepools]

Does Starlink have a unique antenna that we look for on the ships to confirm the statements on Starlink?

[Alphen]

11 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Does Starlink have a unique antenna that we look for on the ships to confirm the statements on Starlink?

I am no technical buff, but I don’t think changing services requires antenna change, just receiver or decoder, I think.