Need estimate of Caribbean Princess internet speed

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

I was not able to use my VPN on the Caribbean Princess in June 2024. I had no trouble using it on the Sapphire Princess in Nov 2023. A friend who is accompanying me needs at least 5mbps to be able to do any work on a transatlantic cruise in November 2024 on the Caribbean Princess. She must use a VPN to access files back at work. I didn't do much work on the sailing in June, so I don't really remember the speed. I just remember not being able to use the VPN. Does anyone have an educated guess as to the speed of the internet, realizing location and weather play into it. Bonus points if you have info specifically on transatlantic cruises on the Caribbean Princess.😁 And yes, I read through 12 pages of Caribbean Princess posts searching. One said less than 1 Mbps, another said 1-3 and others said it worked fine. Hoping someone did a speed test besides the one that came in under 1Mbps. Thank you!

[1025cruise]

You're not going to get 5mbps.

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

2 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

You're not going to get 5mbps.

That is what I am afraid of. 5 Mbps seems like such a tiny amount compared to what we get at home, that it would be doable on a ship. Thank you.

[akaCruiser]

2 hours ago, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

I was not able to use my VPN on the Caribbean Princess in June 2024. I had no trouble using it on the Sapphire Princess in Nov 2023. A friend who is accompanying me needs at least 5mbps to be able to do any work on a transatlantic cruise in November 2024 on the Caribbean Princess. She must use a VPN to access files back at work. I didn't do much work on the sailing in June, so I don't really remember the speed. I just remember not being able to use the VPN. Does anyone have an educated guess as to the speed of the internet, realizing location and weather play into it. Bonus points if you have info specifically on transatlantic cruises on the Caribbean Princess.😁 And yes, I read through 12 pages of Caribbean Princess posts searching. One said less than 1 Mbps, another said 1-3 and others said it worked fine. Hoping someone did a speed test besides the one that came in under 1Mbps. Thank you!

My understanding is that connecting to a VPN is not determined by the speed of the Wifi, but more of the type of VPN connection and if it requires access to certain Ports, like Port 80. There was a thread which someone who was very familiar with VPN usage explained that certain VPN software are not compatible with the Princess Wifi configuration. Whereas other VPN's will not have an issue establishing a connection.

 

The StarLink internet is pretty good compared with the older internet that Princess used. The 1 to 3 Mbps is good enough to use WhatsApp, and stream YouTube videos, so speed wise I don't think this will be an issue.

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

That is what I am afraid of. 5 Mbps seems like such a tiny amount compared to what we get at home, that it would be doable on a ship. Thank you.

You might get 5 Mbps in places. However have noticed even with the new system that there is a 3 day period where internet was very slow on my last 2 TAs to Southampton. Probably a satellite coverage gap.

 

The other issue is if her VPN is compatible with Princesses system. Have seen some work and some not.

[paddingtonbear]

Ken the cruiser is doing a live from Norway atm and each day he puts the internet speeds up on his thread.  Tis is one example for the Sky Princess - the newest ship so one would imagine the fastest internt speed. 

 

 

[t&atravel]

@BentPicketRanchGirl  You might be interested in this thread.

 

 

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

@BentPicketRanchGirl  You might be interested in this thread.

 

 

perfect timing - well played

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

6 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

@BentPicketRanchGirl  You might be interested in this thread.

 

 

THANK YOU! How timely. I wonder if that will get incorporated into the Caribbean Princess dry dock in October? Hope so.

[Rick&Jeannie]

10 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

Ken the cruiser is doing a live from Norway atm and each day he puts the internet speeds up on his thread.  Tis is one example for the Sky Princess - the newest ship so one would imagine the fastest internt speed. 

 

Sky is NOT the newest ship...Sun Princess.

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

14 hours ago, TRLD said:

You might get 5 Mbps in places. However have noticed even with the new system that there is a 3 day period where internet was very slow on my last 2 TAs to Southampton. Probably a satellite coverage gap.

 

The other issue is if her VPN is compatible with Princesses system. Have seen some work and some not.

Yes the VPN could be an issue. My Nord VPN worked on Sapphire Princess but not Caribbean Princess.

[mtnesterz]

1 hour ago, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

Yes the VPN could be an issue. My Nord VPN worked on Sapphire Princess but not Caribbean Princess.

We've taken two TA's, both directions, older and more recently. Both times the signal went out partway across the Atlantic and returned as we got near the coast, either Europe or the US.

As it was explained to me, satellites signals are line of sight. The question boils down to, given the curvature of the earth, are there satellites to connect with covering the middle of the Atlantic? You can be hugging coastal waters and get fine service, but once you go beyond the reach, horizon or whatever the term is, for those low orbit satellites, we lost service, returning a day out of port.

I am not technically savvy about this, but it seems to me the primary question is if you can find someone currently, or recently, who received uninterrupted service in the middle of the Atlantic.

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

19 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

We've taken two TA's, both directions, older and more recently. Both times the signal went out partway across the Atlantic and returned as we got near the coast, either Europe or the US.

As it was explained to me, satellites signals are line of sight. The question boils down to, given the curvature of the earth, are there satellites to connect with covering the middle of the Atlantic? You can be hugging coastal waters and get fine service, but once you go beyond the reach, horizon or whatever the term is, for those low orbit satellites, we lost service, returning a day out of port.

I am not technically savvy about this, but it seems to me the primary question is if you can find someone currently, or recently, who received uninterrupted service in the middle of the Atlantic.

Thank you so much. I appreciate your information.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

On 8/6/2024 at 6:59 PM, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

I was not able to use my VPN on the Caribbean Princess in June 2024. I had no trouble using it on the Sapphire Princess in Nov 2023. A friend who is accompanying me needs at least 5mbps to be able to do any work on a transatlantic cruise in November 2024 on the Caribbean Princess. She must use a VPN to access files back at work. I didn't do much work on the sailing in June, so I don't really remember the speed. I just remember not being able to use the VPN. Does anyone have an educated guess as to the speed of the internet, realizing location and weather play into it. Bonus points if you have info specifically on transatlantic cruises on the Caribbean Princess.😁 And yes, I read through 12 pages of Caribbean Princess posts searching. One said less than 1 Mbps, another said 1-3 and others said it worked fine. Hoping someone did a speed test besides the one that came in under 1Mbps. Thank you!

I’ll be on the November 10th TA as well and will also be using VPN and other network protocols to connect to my work network (I’m an IT professional). This will be my second TA and I’ve been on Caribbean Princess twice prior to Starlink and speed was pretty good. Sometimes on Princess ships I’ve experienced connection issues on embarkation day and I discovered it was due to having the WIFI SSID (Medallion Net) from the previous ship stored in my phone. As soon as I deleted the old network I regained full speed and access to the internet. I do that every time I board a ship. It’s worth a try to resolve any VPN issues.

 

Also Princess just announced that on August 31st a new Medallion Net Max internet plan will be available for Plus and Premier packages.

Edited August 8 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

18 minutes ago, ATL_Miami_Cruiser said:

I’ll be on the November 10th TA as well and will also be using VPN and other network protocols to connect to my work network (I’m an IT professional). This will be my second TA and I’ve been on Caribbean Princess twice prior to Starlink and speed was pretty good. Sometimes on Princess ships I’ve experienced connection issues on embarkation day and I discovered it was due to having the WIFI SSID (Medallion Net) from the previous ship stored in my phone. As soon as I deleted the old network I regained full speed and access to the internet. I do that every time I board a ship. It’s worth a try to resolve any VPN issues.

 

Also Princess just announced that on August 31st a new Medallion Net Max internet plan will be available for Plus and Premier packages.

Thank you! It definitely put a crimp on what I could do on my computer when I couldn't use a VPN. I have the Plus package. So.... when I have problems, I will just have them announce ATL_Miami_Cruiser, please contact BentPicketRanchGirl at XXX? 🤣🤣

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

21 hours ago, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

Thank you! It definitely put a crimp on what I could do on my computer when I couldn't use a VPN. I have the Plus package. So.... when I have problems, I will just have them announce ATL_Miami_Cruiser, please contact BentPicketRanchGirl at XXX? 🤣🤣

You’re welcome! Anything I can do to help! 😀