MSC Seashore Internet Questions

[Eric G.]

I'm booked for the 7 night Bahamas/Mexico departing from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 15th.

I can't remember when I booked my trip back in July, if it included any internet. I got the Fantastica experience.

 

From what I've read, it probably did not come with internet, and I need to add a package.

Super annoying that you apparently can't switch devices.

 

I guess my main question is whether the streaming service really is streaming speeds? I don't see the point of paying for it if there's stuttering and buffering if trying to stream video. I'm not too worried as I'm bringing my own movies on the laptop, but was still curious. If the streaming speeds are good, I may opt for the 2 device so phone and laptop can both get internet.

[DaKahuna]

I cannot speak to Seashore but I had no issues using the Browsing Internet with a VPN and watching YouTube video's on MSC Divina.  In fact the Internet speeds were faster than the premium internet on Celebrity cruises 

 

[Rotnam]

I was on the seashore last week, the internet is reallly bad (comparing to my last RC cruise where it was amazing). They block YT and some other streaming on the basic internet. I had to configure a full tunnel VPN then it worked. (This say the app stop working when you do that). The messages on the app were awful for our group, never update when it need. Impossible to hotspot, I tried some stuff while I had time. I had to use pdanet+ on laptop/phone to hide tethering though USB and it was very slow. There is probably a way around it, but I assume everyone that doesn't cruise often wouldn't bother. We were getting twitch working at 720p, I assume similar for YT. I didn't do a speedtest, I should have.

[noobcruiser]

@Rotnam So, I just want to be clear, did you pay for the "browse" plan or the "streaming" plan?

 

[DaKahuna]

10 hours ago, noobcruiser said:

@Rotnam So, I just want to be clear, did you pay for the "browse" plan or the "streaming" plan?

 

 

 It sounds like he had the Browse pacakage.  We encounter the same buffering or connection failures with the Browse package provided to us in the YC.  By enabling the VPN we were able to get around that issue.  

 

On the other hand, I had better success with CruiseCritic using the Browse package without the VPN.  Speeds were much higher that the speeds we experienced on Celebrity cruises although both use StarLink because Celebrity throttles their two Internet packages and limits upload and download speeds. 

 

[noobcruiser]

@DaKahuna gotcha. so if i pay to upgrade to the streaming package, then i shouldn't have streaming issues? (specifically youtube)

[OnTopOfTheSeas]

Not a specific answer regarding the Seashore and I realize the initial poster is already on the ship enjoying their cruise, but for others who might be interested, I can share my recent experience and info that I gathered.  

 

I was on the Meraviglia two weeks ago and had the Browse and Stream package.  Although I was not a huge fan of the cruise, I can say that after 50 plus cruises, this ship had the absolute BEST internet service that I have ever experienced on a ship.  It was super fast and it worked flawlessly for the entire cruise.  I never had an issue streaming on any of the major platforms and everything else worked smoothly without interruption.

 

The Meraviglia was utilizing Starlink satellite service.  Out of curiosity, I asked some crew members if this was what all of the MSC ships used but I couldn't get a really clear answer, some said yes, others said eventually they all will use it.

 

I did random speed tests throughout the cruise and the max speed I was getting was 142 Mbps Down and 49 Mbps Up.  The lowest speeds I saw were 26 Mbps Down and 29 Mbps Up.

 

 

[Mrdell]

31 minutes ago, OnTopOfTheSeas said:

Not a specific answer regarding the Seashore and I realize the initial poster is already on the ship enjoying their cruise, but for others who might be interested, I can share my recent experience and info that I gathered.  

 

I was on the Meraviglia two weeks ago and had the Browse and Stream package.  Although I was not a huge fan of the cruise, I can say that after 50 plus cruises, this ship had the absolute BEST internet service that I have ever experienced on a ship.  It was super fast and it worked flawlessly for the entire cruise.  I never had an issue streaming on any of the major platforms and everything else worked smoothly without interruption.

 

The Meraviglia was utilizing Starlink satellite service.  Out of curiosity, I asked some crew members if this was what all of the MSC ships used but I couldn't get a really clear answer, some said yes, others said eventually they all will use it.

 

I did random speed tests throughout the cruise and the max speed I was getting was 142 Mbps Down and 49 Mbps Up.  The lowest speeds I saw were 26 Mbps Down and 29 Mbps Up.

 

 

Thank you for this information… we will be on the Meraviglia in a few months and I wasn’t sure how reliable the internet would be… nice to know that they are using Starlink!

[DaKahuna]

On 9/14/2024 at 2:00 PM, noobcruiser said:

@DaKahuna gotcha. so if i pay to upgrade to the streaming package, then i shouldn't have streaming issues? (specifically youtube)

 

 That is my contention.  I have not upgraded by am thinking about doing that or just buying a one device steaming package to make some comparisons on our upcoming cruise. 

 

2 hours ago, OnTopOfTheSeas said:

The lowest speeds I saw were 26 Mbps Down and 29 Mbps Up.

 

 

 

If you look at the bottom left hand corner you will see this was not on StarLink.  SES is another satellite internet service provider. 

 

The One with the higher speeds does in fact show StarLink as the internet provider. 

 

I have no idea why you received a different internet service provider on the same ship during the same cruise. 

 

[SirWolf]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

If you look at the bottom left hand corner you will see this was not on StarLink.  SES is another satellite internet service provider. 

 

The One with the higher speeds does in fact show StarLink as the internet provider. 

 

I have no idea why you received a different internet service provider on the same ship during the same cruise. 

 

User @OnTopOfTheSeas posted two screenshots of Speed Test results taken at different times .. recording slow and fast connection speeds. This is vital information for passengers using the internet while cruising with MSC.

The Speed Test APP showing different connections at different times is perfectly fine.

One report shows the speed of the connection via SES satellites and the other report shows the speed of the connection via SpaceX StarLink satellites.

The results don’t necessary show that SpaceX StarLink is (always) faster .. when SpaceX’s LEO satellites are not available, the service will be switched to satellites from SES in MEO.

 

It was already published last year (September 2023) that “SES Introduces Cruise Industry’s First Integrated MEO-LEO Service with StarLink” .

Pooling SES Cruise mPowered + StarLink service ensures reliable connections to SpaceX’s LEO satellites and MEO satellites from SES.

 

Additional information:

MSC Cruises (Geneva, Switzerland) published a press release in February 2024 ..

” Two third of MSC Cruise’s ships are now equipped with SpaceX’s StarLink onboard connectivity and the fleet roll out will be completed by May 2024 “.

Furthermore they specifically stated that the LEO solution is providing faster internet speeds.

[OnTopOfTheSeas]

6 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 That is my contention.  I have not upgraded by am thinking about doing that or just buying a one device steaming package to make some comparisons on our upcoming cruise. 

 

 

If you look at the bottom left hand corner you will see this was not on StarLink.  SES is another satellite internet service provider. 

 

The One with the higher speeds does in fact show StarLink as the internet provider. 

 

I have no idea why you received a different internet service provider on the same ship during the same cruise. 

 

Good catch!  As soon as I read your post I realized why that is the case.  I took so many screenshots of different speed tests throughout the cruise that when I looked through them to add to my post, I took the highest and lowest.  Well, the lowest was from September 4th at 10:15 AM...as I was sitting on the beach at Ocean Cay.  So the 26 Down and 29 Up speeds I posted were while I was using the wifi on Ocean Cay.  Still great speeds for a beach in the middle of the ocean and just for those that might be curious, the internet on the island is included in your wifi package purchased onboard the ship.  The only caveat is that you will have to connect to the island wifi and login with the same credentials that you set up for the onboard wifi.

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, OnTopOfTheSeas said:

Well, the lowest was from September 4th at 10:15 AM...as I was sitting on the beach at Ocean Cay.

 

Good to know as we will be visiting Ocean Cay twice on our upcoming B2B. 

 

8 hours ago, SirWolf said:

two screenshots of Speed Test results taken at different times .. recording slow and fast connection speeds. This is vital information for passengers using the internet while cruising with MSC.

 

My post was simply an observation and not a criticism.  I agree the information is very useful and even more so now that we know the different service was while he was on Ocean Cay versus being on the ship.  That is definitely relevant and important for cruisers to know. 

 

[Eric G.]

Just wanted to follow up as I am currently on the ship, we left Ocean Cay yesterday, headed for Mexico. I opted for the one device browsing, which came with my ticket if I recall.

I have been impressed with the speed and reliability in general. My last Princess cruise had horrible internet. I decided yesterday to upgrade to a 2 device package so I could use my laptop as well. Unfortunately, I could not get my laptop to connect.

 

They allowed me to downgrade back down to a one device package, since my laptop wouldn't connect.

 

One other note, my phone would not connect initially, and it turned out to be because I had set a manual DNS (ad blocker) and I don't think their network plays well with other dns entries. As soon as I told it to use default dns I could connect.