Wifi aboard Princess Cruises to Alaska

[cruisingtoalaska]

Hi! I will be setting sail in about a week aboard the Ruby Princess to Alaska. I have to be working remotely and joining work calls throughout the day and was wondering if anyone has recently sailed Princess to Alaska / other wifi-compromised geographic locations and could share their experience.

 

Was the Wi-Fi / Internet access on board fast enough to support video calling or doing other complex tasks on a laptop?

 

[RDJ]

We have found the Alaska cruise wifi to be spotty at best, it’s been 2 years since we sailed there so unsure if that has changed. 

[akaCruiser]

Took a 10 day Alaska R/T from Vancouver in August 2023 and WiFi was good enough for streaming YouTube and WhatsApp and Facetime calls. Didn't have have any outages or lag when in the cabin or around the ship.

 

[helby]

I had the same experience as akaCruiser last September.  YouTube Live worked well as did FaceTime.  Was last year the first for Starlink?

[1025cruise]

You might have an issue when docked in Skagway due to the mountain blocking reception. With that said, my rule of thumb is to never guarantee on internet reception on a cruise.

[Paula_MacFan]

We were on the Sapphire last week and had no problems with wifi. We also had cell service virtually everywhere, other than the last day which was sailing the Inside Passage to Vancouver. 

[u2harmony]

I guess it depends, but I was lucky and able to keep in touch with my office on a regular basis via my cell and zoom. 

[cruisingtoalaska]

awesome, I assume all the Princess ships have the same Starlink system now then? 

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, cruisingtoalaska said:

awesome, I assume all the Princess ships have the same Starlink system now then? 

Yes.

And, welcome to Cruise Critic!

[Shelly97060]

@cruisingtoalaska I spent 3 weeks on Alaska cruises last month ( 1 week on Majestic and 2 on Grand) and internet worked well ( much better than in years past thanks to Starlink).

 

I was able to use WiFi calling without issue and send and receive emails and attachments.  The attachments I send are relatively small so I can’t speak for how well large attachments would process.
 

There were a few times when video calls had a bit of a communication lag that made it challenging at times or the video call wouldn’t fully connect (using FaceTime).  In those instances I switched to WiFi calling instead of video and was able to get done what I needed to do. 

 

In port I was able to connect to local cell service as a back up to WiFi calling/ internet so port days were no problem at all.

 

 

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

We did not have great internet on the Royal 2 weeks ago. I used my AT&T to do Zoom in Juneau and Ketchikan and had to be on the side of the ship facing the port to garner enough reception to use it. In Icy Strait Point, I could hardly send texts. 

[DonEllen]

Is there any path to getting WiFi other than the exorbitant $60 per day per person that Princess is quoting? We will be on the Grand NB in July.

[jeromep]

17 minutes ago, DonEllen said:

Is there any path to getting WiFi other than the exorbitant $60 per day per person that Princess is quoting? We will be on the Grand NB in July.

You could spring for Princess Plus.  That gives you one always-on device, covers your daily gratuity, gets you room service and delivery to where you are seated with no service charge, and of course, beverages up to $15 in cost.  Plus is a very strong offer from Princess, considering the a la carte pricing for a lot of the stuff it includes.

[memoak]

18 minutes ago, DonEllen said:

Is there any path to getting WiFi other than the exorbitant $60 per day per person that Princess is quoting? We will be on the Grand NB in July.

Are you referring to the plus package that includes WiFi, tips and drinks ?  That is quite a deal in our experience 

[DonEllen]

17 minutes ago, memoak said:

Are you referring to the plus package that includes WiFi, tips and drinks ?  That is quite a deal in our experience 

Neither of us drinks at all. We have already prepaid the tips.

[DonEllen]

18 minutes ago, jeromep said:

You could spring for Princess Plus.  That gives you one always-on device, covers your daily gratuity, gets you room service and delivery to where you are seated with no service charge, and of course, beverages up to $15 in cost.  Plus is a very strong offer from Princess, considering the a la carte pricing for a lot of the stuff it includes.

Except that I would have no intention of using any of those services other than WiFi. And I only need WiFi about 15-30 minutes a day on one device.

 

 

[mtnesterz]

Since you don't drink, go Standard. Then you can buy Internet at a daily rate, per device, not per person. One can log off, a cabin mate can log on.

At $60pp/day, Plus includes several things, more than just internet, but most here will tell you, the big reason to buy is for the alcohol.

When you say you will be NB on the Grand in July, that is a 7 night in Alaska. Since you will still be in the USA, mostly, you might find it sufficient to use your phone when ashore for email and such. Be sure to switch to Airplane Mode.

Edited June 25 by mtnesterz

[memoak]

16 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

Since you don't drink, go Standard. Then you can buy Internet at a daily rate, per device, not per person. One can log off, a cabin mate can log on.

At $60pp/day, Plus includes several things, more than just internet, but most here will tell you, the big reason to buy is for the alcohol.

When you say you will be NB on the Grand in July, that is a 7 night in Alaska. Since you will still be in the USA, mostly, you might find it sufficient to use your phone when ashore for email and such. Be sure to switch to Airplane Mode.

There are so many ports on those cruises in the US that you may be able to just ignore WiFi on ship 

[dreaminofcruisin]

1 hour ago, DonEllen said:

Is there any path to getting WiFi other than the exorbitant $60 per day per person that Princess is quoting? We will be on the Grand NB in July.

 

You can buy JUST the WiFi for one device at $25/per day.

[DonEllen]

4 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

You can buy JUST the WiFi for one device at $25/per day.

Thank you!

[dreaminofcruisin]

7 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

You can buy JUST the WiFi for one device at $25/per day.

 

2 minutes ago, DonEllen said:

Thank you!

 

I usually buy Plus, so I'm not completely certain...I think it's $25/day, but you do have to buy it for all the days on the cruise. I just wanted to clarify that. Someone else that buys it this way can probably chime in and confirm that?

 

[QuilterGirl]

Last year we were on the Royal Princess doing the basic Alaska cruise out of Seattle.  The internet on that cruise averaged about 2.5 mbps download and 1.0 mbps upload.  We are on the Discovery Princess just now, on day 3 of the same cruise itinerary as last year, and so far the internet is averaging 7.6 mbps download and 2.7 mbps upload - about three times faster.  I test using both Ookla Speedtest and FusionConnect SpeakEasy tests.  Both years, Starlink was in use.  So I'd have to say that Princess must be paying more for better speed this year - a win for cruisers! 

 

And really, isn't it impressive to have ANY signal in Glacier Bay?!