Starlink on Splendor

[FLcruiser2011]

I am about to book the Lisbon to Cape Town cruise on Splendor in November but just read elsewhere that Starlink will not be operative on Splendor by the time of that cruise?  Does anyone know for sure whether that is true?  I absolutely need fast internet to stay in touch with my business on a cruise of this length.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, FLcruiser2011 said:

I am about to book the Lisbon to Cape Town cruise on Splendor in November but just read elsewhere that Starlink will not be operative on Splendor by the time of that cruise?  Does anyone know for sure whether that is true?  I absolutely need fast internet to stay in touch with my business on a cruise of this length.

 

Thanks in advance.

Regent should be able to tell you the start dates for Starlink at this point as they will all be online within the next 6 months.

[cAPS lOCK oN]

Regardless of Regent's use of the service, you should be aware that Starlink itself has no coverage in west and south Africa. It is projected to come on line in Q4 of this year.

 

https://www.starlink.com/map

[CaptainCook808]

As of 6 June 2024 the Regent Explorer does not have StarLink. And what they do have for Internet is pretty bad.

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, cAPS lOCK oN said:

Regardless of Regent's use of the service, you should be aware that Starlink itself has no coverage in west and south Africa. It is projected to come on line in Q4 of this year.

 

https://www.starlink.com/map

 

You are confusing terrestrial access plans offered by Starlink (your map link) with satellite coverage - which what marine vessels need.

 

https://satellitemap.space/

 

That said, Starlink is far from perfect as well.  🍺🥌

[cAPS lOCK oN]

Well, that's interesting. World cruisers on the Mariner reported that Starlink was out of commission the entire time they were moving along Africa's west coast. I thought I was putting two and two together, but I guess not.

[CurlerRob]

11 minutes ago, cAPS lOCK oN said:

Well, that's interesting. World cruisers on the Mariner reported that Starlink was out of commission the entire time they were moving along Africa's west coast. I thought I was putting two and two together, but I guess not.

 

I can't speculate on that particular reason, but as I said, while my experience is that it's better than the cruise ship norm, Starlink is far from perfect. 😬 

 

On a recent northern transpacific (different line), Starlink was out or degraded at times that made little sense. My best guess was shipboard mechanicals or diversion of capacity to groups other than the pax.  🍺🥌

[Timeflies]

19 hours ago, FLcruiser2011 said:

I am about to book the Lisbon to Cape Town cruise on Splendor in November but just read elsewhere that Starlink will not be operative on Splendor by the time of that cruise?  Does anyone know for sure whether that is true?  I absolutely need fast internet to stay in touch with my business on a cruise of this length.

 

Thanks in advance.

Having just completed round Africa on mariner starlink appeared unavailable  to us in most African countries. It only worked when 12 miles out at sea in international waters. Suggest you check Starlink coverage.

 

[Pcardad]

2 hours ago, Timeflies said:

Having just completed round Africa on mariner starlink appeared unavailable  to us in most African countries. It only worked when 12 miles out at sea in international waters. Suggest you check Starlink coverage.

 

That's a licensing issue or a local country law, not a hardware issue. Perhaps Regent or Starlink is willing to share the reason - they certainly both know what it is.

[GMIAC]

There’s a 10-day dry dock scheduled for Splendor  in April, 2025. Perhaps that’s when that upgrade will take place. 

[Timeflies]

5 hours ago, Pcardad said:

That's a licensing issue or a local country law, not a hardware issue. Perhaps Regent or Starlink is willing to share the reason - they certainly both know what it is.

Absolutely right.  Regent variously blamed satellite failure, atmosperic conditions, tall buildings, presence of military vessels etc.  But a bit of google searching quickly found the answer.  Same by the way for India - the government has approved a contract with Starlink but its not yet been signed off by the PM, and that was before the elections!

[Pcardad]

13 minutes ago, Timeflies said:

Absolutely right.  Regent variously blamed satellite failure, atmosperic conditions, tall buildings, presence of military vessels etc.  But a bit of google searching quickly found the answer.  Same by the way for India - the government has approved a contract with Starlink but its not yet been signed off by the PM, and that was before the elections!

I suspect the people on the ship simply didn't know or understand the answer...there is not a lot of out-of-the-box thinking at that level.

[SusieQft]

I have no definitive info but i thought someone posted on CC that Starlink was supposed to be active on all the ships by the end of 2024.  Is that not true?  Also, that the hardware is already in place, and they are waiting for the current provider contracts to run out before switching.

[Pcardad]

15 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

I have no definitive info but i thought someone posted on CC that Starlink was supposed to be active on all the ships by the end of 2024.  Is that not true?  Also, that the hardware is already in place, and they are waiting for the current provider contracts to run out before switching.

Correct.

[edgee]

 

4 hours ago, SusieQft said:

I have no definitive info but i thought someone posted on CC that Starlink was supposed to be active on all the ships by the end of 2024.  Is that not true?  Also, that the hardware is already in place, and they are waiting for the current provider contracts to run out before switching.

I was on the March/April transatlantic on Splendor. I previously posted that installers putting in Starlink joined the ship in Miami and installed the wiring and antennae during the crossing. We were told everything is in place hardware wise. Apparently due to contractual issues Regent is treating its guests to unnecessarily crappy internet for an extended period of time.. sticking with the old provider until contract runs out. I received varying guesses from IT staff and officers about when Starlink would be activated..ranged from August to November, but consensus was it will happen this year. 

[mnocket]

On 6/6/2024 at 8:17 PM, CurlerRob said:

 

You are confusing terrestrial access plans offered by Starlink (your map link) with satellite coverage - which what marine vessels need.

 

https://satellitemap.space/

 

That said, Starlink is far from perfect as well.  🍺🥌

Here's a coverage map I think you may be interested in. Map is prepared by a Starlink reseller to the maritime industry and reflects 1,500 maritime installations. The map doesn't reflect the total maritime coverage - just the coverage along the routes their ships have traveled.

 

Note:   Color depicts average latency.  White: 20ms or less dark blue: 150ms or more

 

Edited June 9 by mnocket