jacketwatch Posted July 5 #1 Share Posted July 5 We have booked the Viva for a transatlantic in April starting out of San Juan. We will have five days in a row at sea. We have a Wi-Fi package of 300 minutes. My question is for those who have done a transatlantic. How good is the Wi-Fi? do you have limited connectivity or is it worth it to upgrade to unlimited Wi-Fi? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoopie17 Posted July 5 #2 Share Posted July 5 We've done one TA (on the Escape) in 2022. The WiFi was horrendous,,,couldn't even connect to the "free" Cruise Critic. I'm too cheap to pay for the "upgraded WiFi", but since the overall WiFi was so bad, why throw away extra money to get extra minutes to get extra aggravated? We're back on the Escape in two months. Hope it's improved. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketwatch Posted July 5 Author #3 Share Posted July 5 Thank you. We were recently on a California coastal cruise and around six months ago on an Alaskan cruise and the Wi-Fi then was fine but of course we were much closer to shore. I was wondering if things had improved when you’re in the ocean far away from land, but it appears that’s not the case. Thank you for your answer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asawi Posted July 5 #4 Share Posted July 5 I have only done one TA. Rome to NY on Gem end of 2023. Fortunately I had good cell coverage whenever in port, but at sea... Well, it did test my patience at times! I only did very simple stuff. No streaming or anything like that. It worked, but sometimes very badly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketwatch Posted July 5 Author #5 Share Posted July 5 The bottom line is that it seems it simply not worth it to pay more to get unlimited Wi-Fi. Our package already comes with 300 minutes. I do not think I will be adding anymore. Thank you all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coin ops Posted July 5 #6 Share Posted July 5 Actually, how good the wifi is depends on the shop and if it has been upgraded to Starlink. We were on the Getaway TA which had Starlink wifi and it was fine throughout the crossing except on our aft balcony. We just had to go inside the cabin to get a signal. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruiseny4life Posted July 5 #7 Share Posted July 5 1 hour ago, jacketwatch said: The bottom line is that it seems it simply not worth it to pay more to get unlimited Wi-Fi. Our package already comes with 300 minutes. I do not think I will be adding anymore. Thank you all. I was on Pr1ma's Transatlantic in November 2023 from Barcelona, via the Azores, to NYC. We upgraded to the unlimited WiFi (not the streaming package) and it was fine. We were able to update our friends here on Cruise Critic, go to all the socials, and watch videos on YouTube. I also was able to update my NY Times to have some clue about what was going on (when I wanted to know). I would purchase it again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare graphicguy Posted July 5 #8 Share Posted July 5 On the Epic last October. They upgraded to the Starlink. Had no issues. But, I upgraded to the unlimited. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mking8288 Posted July 5 #9 Share Posted July 5 Viva is a new ship/built w recent onboard server, hardware coupled with Starlink satellite technology, and should provide reasonable & usable connectivity platforms to ship passengers. Been on 3 TA lately, twice on the slightly older Prima and also the Epic launched around 2010 ... I consider them to be 95% or better on our more "northerly" routing going across. There is an area with limited coverage between the Azores and coastal Portugal/Spain lasting perhaps 1/2 a day at most ... otherwise, no adverse issues. As always, you need to have reasonable updated hardware that's WiFi 6x compliant, at a minimum WiFi 5 to take full advantage of dual band signals onboard (newest one, rolling out is the extra 6 Ghz/triband) If you have 2 x 300 minutes and can carefully meter your usage on sea days (or is it 2 x 150 minutes) and otherwise can access "roaming" cellular signals while docked/in ports, then it is possible to just use those. I always recommend upgrading on Day 2 (after midnight at 00:01 beyond embarkation day, as we are typically still docked near/past dinner time on sailaway) to save $30 on the per day/per account upgrade, reducing the net cost to trade-up/upgrade to unlimited. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketwatch Posted July 5 Author #10 Share Posted July 5 There are a lot of opinions now that seemed to indicate it may not be a bad idea and that the connectivity is pretty good. Still for 300 minutes per guest, so 600 minutes for the two of us that should be good enough I think. We do have to monitor it, but that should be no issue. we have Verizon and I’m sure you can have coverage in Puerto Rico as that’s part of the United States. That is where the ship embarks from of course. I am not sure about Saint Martin or the Dominican Republic. I know that Verizon’s plan Mexico is included as is Canada. Again, thank you for the replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredflint Posted July 5 #11 Share Posted July 5 The problem with the minutes is you need to make sure you are logged out any issue with connectivity and you will not get logged out. This keeps the clock running on your minutes. You need to log out of the connection via a server that is NOT located on the ship. There was always a long line of people at the internet cafe waiting to get minutes back. I cannot speak to starlink but other cruises we have had decent luck with the Wifi with the exception of our cruise from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro we always upgrade to one unlimited package and can then make VOIP calls back home with no issues. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted July 6 #12 Share Posted July 6 7 hours ago, jacketwatch said: There are a lot of opinions now that seemed to indicate it may not be a bad idea and that the connectivity is pretty good. Still for 300 minutes per guest, so 600 minutes for the two of us that should be good enough I think. We do have to monitor it, but that should be no issue. we have Verizon and I’m sure you can have coverage in Puerto Rico as that’s part of the United States. That is where the ship embarks from of course. I am not sure about Saint Martin or the Dominican Republic. I know that Verizon’s plan Mexico is included as is Canada. Again, thank you for the replies I have found that the unlimited runs faster and is well worth the up charge. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayward Son Posted July 6 #13 Share Posted July 6 1 hour ago, fredflint said: You need to log out of the connection via a server that is NOT located on the ship. There was always a long line of people at the internet cafe waiting to get minutes back. I was one of those people -- twice. Now, you can easily log off using the Internet icon in the NCL app. You still have to remember to do it, but at least it's easy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoopie17 Posted July 6 #14 Share Posted July 6 21 hours ago, jacketwatch said: Still for 300 minutes per guest, so 600 minutes for the two of us that should be good enough I think. That may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that when you're struggling to load a page for a couple of minutes (as has been our experience). the meter is running. Those 300 minutes can get eaten up with waiting/connection/loading time. Having said that, we have never had the upgraded package, nor have we been on a ship with Starlink (yet). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketwatch Posted July 6 Author #15 Share Posted July 6 Fredflint: I recall that too. We did that on the Star in 2022. It was as easy as “yabba dabba do.” 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mking8288 Posted July 6 #16 Share Posted July 6 One other insiders/bonus tips that I would add/offer for anyone not prepared to upgrade/convert and trade-up to their limited 300/600 "free" WiFi minutes on a TA with multiple sea days at some point, is to "hold" off the upgrade until later in the cruise, with no ports in the near distance - as the daily cost (for our recent 15 nights) continue to drop by $25 per day, by waiting until 00:01 (past midnight, ship time as it is then 1 less day again) - as long as you have at least 5 minutes worth of airtime remaining in the "limited" allowance to sign-in, click & agree to, and go for the upgrade then. I did the upgrade when the adjusted cost minus the trade-up allowance, was down to $180 ... had I waited one more day, the lowered cost was $155; and, waited 2 more days would be $130 ... and, if waited 3 more days (by then, we're half way across the north Atlantic, approaching Iceland by then) bargain priced via the NCL app portal logged in - to the lowest at $105 only, good for the remaining days/duration. That was NCL's bottomline, lowest cost option then for the remaining 10 days/nights onboard on the TA. If one has non-refundable OBC to use, this is a good way to "spend" it with all the limitations & restrictions on what can be applied vis-a-vis shorex by NCL. Shockingly, if someone were to "buy" just by the minutes only, one can buy 100 minutes for $75 or 250 minutes for $125, minus any eligible Latitudes discounts (i.e. 20% off for Sapphire, since these are "regular" pricing or $60/$100 respectively) ... LOL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketwatch Posted July 6 Author #17 Share Posted July 6 Good information ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ColdCruise Posted July 7 #18 Share Posted July 7 On 7/5/2024 at 8:06 AM, jacketwatch said: We have booked the Viva for a transatlantic in April starting out of San Juan. We will have five days in a row at sea. We have a Wi-Fi package of 300 minutes. My question is for those who have done a transatlantic. How good is the Wi-Fi? do you have limited connectivity or is it worth it to upgrade to unlimited Wi-Fi? Thank you. @jacketwatch we did a transatlantic on Viva in November 2023 ((Lisbon to Miami), the Viva was fully outfitted with Starlink and was quite good. I even did a Skype job interview from the middle of the Atlantic and doubt the other side even noticed anything off. (I was the job seeker) I think if the 300 minutes are enough time for you, you probably won’t need to upgrade. If you do upgrade, I think there’s a slight advantage in doing it onboard before night 2, if you haven’t used your minutes till that point. However I forget the nuances but think they’re covered by others here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazycatlady82 Posted July 7 #19 Share Posted July 7 I was on the Epic TA April 2024. I had the premium unlimited, as I was working. I was able to do video calls for majority of the time, and watched YouTube in the cabin occasionally. However, I did have problems with it dropping me the second week and the Internet cafe was extremely unhelpful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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