New internet levels. Surf, Premium and $tream

[Real NHDOC]

We just noticed they have added a super premium service that costs around twice what the premium service costs and it is called stream. We currently have premium and are able to stream most services except Netflix. I hope they don’t start limiting streaming on premium service now since I won’t pay double for what I already bought and paid for on our upcoming cruises. 

[cbr663]

Is this HAL's attempt to solve the problem of the poor entertainment?  Charge passengers more to stream on their own devices and hope they not notice the lack of entertainment onboard?

[Laminator]

2 hours ago, cbr663 said:

Is this HAL's attempt to solve the problem of the poor entertainment?  Charge passengers more to stream on their own devices and hope they not notice the lack of entertainment onboard?

I doubt it. I think this is HAL's attempt to take advantage of those who now can work from home. With Starlink they can just as easily work from sea.  

Edited February 5 by Laminator

[Sea42]

2 minutes ago, Laminator said:

I doubt it. This is HAL's attempt to take advantage of those who now can work from home. With Starlink they can just as easily work from sea.  

I agree. Just reading the boards here, anyone can see how much of a priority people place on internet access onboard. I'm not surprised cruise lines want to make as much as they can by offering higher priced packages.

[kochleffel]

I had to attend classes on Zoom during a cruise on the Oosterdam in November. I upgraded my plan to Premium and it was fine. I hope that the new level doesn't mean that Premium isn't as fast as it was, but I think that Starlink has so much bandwidth that it would be possible to offer something better than Premium.

 

RCI went the other way: once all ships had Starlink, they dropped the basic Internet plan and made premium the only one.

 

[Real NHDOC]

It’s definitely targeted towards entertainment as it specifically mentions some streaming services currently blocked like Netflix, Disney+, etc. 

 

My concern is that they will block some streaming content now offered in the premium internet. As long as they are just adding capabilities I don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t want to lose service that I now get. 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info.

[cbr663]

Anyone else thinking this is foreshadowing another HIA price increase when it gets bundled with HIA?

[crystalspin]

11 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

Anyone else thinking this is foreshadowing another HIA price increase when it gets bundled with HIA?

No. HIA currently includes the lowest (Surf) except for when it is coupled with Early Booking Bonus (when it is more expensive than the daily rate of $55). Now, I don't expect the price NOT to go up, but not from including Netflix/PrimeVideo/Hulu.

 

Edited February 5 by crystalspin

[YourWorldWithBill]

My HIA included the premium package, and they might be doing that more and more. This way they can offer a certain degree of more connectivity, such as Zoom calls, but charge more for what is now Stream. One thing it accomplishes is making sure that if you pay for Stream you get a decent connection, as the number using it will probably be fairly small.

[happytotravel]

Hello,

Do any of you remember cruising in the 90s or before when there was no internet onboard and getting any real news was when you got into port and bought a paper.  There were mini sheets from the in house printing onboard but only the briefest of news?

 

We have come a long, long way.

Enjoy life, happytotrvel

[RuthC]

24 minutes ago, happytotravel said:

Do any of you remember cruising in the 90s or before when there was no internet onboard and getting any real news was when you got into port and bought a paper.  There were mini sheets from the in house printing onboard but only the briefest of news?

I remember cruising (on HAL) when there were no TVs in the cabins, a 'weather report' card slipped under your door in the morning to let you know if there would be/how much sun, temperature, humidity, and there were no telephones in the cabins. If you needed to place a call to the outside world, you headed up to the Radio Room, and it was placed for you. There were 'house phones' around the ship for public use on the ship only. 

There was no such thing as the Internet, or cell phones. 

You were effectively cut off from the outside world. It was heavenly! I have never been so relaxed in my life. 

[dfish]

You wouldn’t be able to work from home on the Koningsdam right now.  Internet has been dismal at best.  Even Navigator goes down regularly.  

[POA1]

Just looked at my end of March Rotterdam booking. There's only Stream & Premium.

 

Really disappointed that they did not call it Streamium.

[happytotravel]

Hi RuthC,

Thanks for your comments....those were the days.

I'm sure some folks probably think we are talking about crossing over on the Mayflower!

I think we now get too caught up with staying connected that we've forgotten how to truly relax and just enjoy being on a ship.  But, that's the world we live in now.

 

Take care, happytotravel

[drowelf]

On 2/5/2024 at 8:24 PM, happytotravel said:

Hello,

Do any of you remember cruising in the 90s or before when there was no internet onboard and getting any real news was when you got into port and bought a paper.  There were mini sheets from the in house printing onboard but only the briefest of news?

 

We have come a long, long way.

Enjoy life, happytotrvel

 

On 2/5/2024 at 9:30 PM, happytotravel said:

Hi RuthC,

Thanks for your comments....those were the days.

I'm sure some folks probably think we are talking about crossing over on the Mayflower!

I think we now get too caught up with staying connected that we've forgotten how to truly relax and just enjoy being on a ship.  But, that's the world we live in now.

 

Take care, happytotravel

 

I actually miss the daily papers. As soon as we boarded I would go to the front desk and ask that all the English Language versions be delivered to my cabin each day. Then I would have some reading for trips to the facilities. I remember one cruise when it was a bumper crop of papers as I would get US, UK, Canadian and Australian versions. The first 3 would come in the morning and the Australian would be with the nightly delivery of the of the daily program on the bed. 

[Mary229]

Does anyone know the cost to upgrade HIA surf to premium?  I will be doing 35 days but I can extrapolate 😉

[mhurdle127]

Trying to understand which level of internet I get with our Have It All package and the website isn't much help. Also, is it just for web access or is email and/or texting available on the ship as part of this package?

[oakridger]

Just now, mhurdle127 said:

Trying to understand which level of internet I get with our Have It All package and the website isn't much help. Also, is it just for web access or is email and/or texting available on the ship as part of this package?

 

You will get the SURF package.  It's email, and web surfing with on the ship access only. Each person has one device at a time access. 

 

I'll have to defer to others about the texting because I texted using my cell phone plan when I was last onboard.  WiFi calling may work too, but again I'll let more recent cruisers answer that

 

@POA1 or any of the other tech savvy folks can you help with the question?

 

~Nancy

[REOVA]

3 hours ago, mhurdle127 said:

 Also, is it just for web access or is email and/or texting available on the ship as part of this package?

Texting will depend on your phone (model and age). IPhone uses MMS to send messages via internet so you can send and receive from other iphones (blue and green text used to differentiate non iPhone/iPhone). Android is different and usually uses SMS and needs cell tower so in airplane won't work. (You have to be able  to modify settings for internet use for Android). 

[Ottawa traveller]

On 2/6/2024 at 10:15 PM, drowelf said:

Do any of you remember cruising in the 90s or before when there was no internet onboard and getting any real news was when you got into port and bought a paper.  There were mini sheets from the in house printing onboard but only the briefest of news?

 

I was on 3 cruises this past year. For the first 2, I had ship internet and got my news that way. On the recent Oosterdam I did not bother with the internet but checked out the newspapers on the Navigator app. To my surprise I could get the full versions of 6 major Canadian newpapers including the one from my home town on the app via a Pressreader site. I didn't miss the internet at all.

[dchip]

13 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Does anyone know the cost to upgrade HIA surf to premium?  I will be doing 35 days but I can extrapolate 😉

It depends on when you upgrade. On our 51 day cruise in the fall, it was $150 to upgrade at the beginning of the cruise. About 10 days in the price went to $100, where it pretty much stayed until close to the end of the cruise. Then it went down in price again. 

[diesteldorf]

1 hour ago, dchip said:

It depends on when you upgrade. On our 51 day cruise in the fall, it was $150 to upgrade at the beginning of the cruise. About 10 days in the price went to $100, where it pretty much stayed until close to the end of the cruise. Then it went down in price again. 

Thanks.  I'll be curious to see what the cost is to upgrade from Premium to Streaming on my 7 day in December.

 

Right now, it is $128 for Premium and $195 for streaming.  When I added my package a month ago, premium was the highest option.

 

I thought about upgrading pre-cruise, but as far as I know, both packages offer the same access to "regular" websites and I don't know how much I would sit in my cabin streaming TV shows/movies, even with the streaming package.

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, dchip said:

It depends on when you upgrade. On our 51 day cruise in the fall, it was $150 to upgrade at the beginning of the cruise. About 10 days in the price went to $100, where it pretty much stayed until close to the end of the cruise. Then it went down in price again. 

Thanks, I am training for a new career and need the premium .

[Haljo1935]

13 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Thanks, I am training for a new career and need the premium .

 

15 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Does anyone know the cost to upgrade HIA surf to premium?  I will be doing 35 days but I can extrapolate 😉

14 and 16 day cruise in Dec I paid $50 to upgrade to Premium. I did it on day 3 both times. In Dec, cabinmate did not upgrade. On day 7 hers showed $25 to upgrade.

Best wishes on the new career.