Living with the slowest internet access ever with Starlink onboard Splendor

[-Lew-]

We boarded Splendor on September 22nd for 28 days...living with the slowest internet access ever in 75+ cruises.

 

We cruised on Splendor during January and February 2023 where we experienced speeds of 7.11 down / 1.82 up, pre-starlink.  On Grandeur in January and February 2024 speeds maxed out at 3.08 down / 1.89 up with Starlink. 

 

Although Speedtest on this cruise indicates 3.30 down / 0.24 up, actual performance is much less.  Emails and websites take forever to load...and when they do they do not render correctly much of the time.  Quite often they take so long to load, the server stops responding. I haven't subscribed to VPN access, at $10 extra per day, so I cannot log into financial institutions or any site needing login entry.  Without my VPN active, quite often I'm connected to European equivalent websites.  It's all very frustrating.

 

In her recent email Andrea Demarco stated:

 

Across our six ships, you may now stay connected, share photos and videos and enjoy other immersive content on board at even faster speeds. As always, Unlimited WiFi is part of our all-inclusive offerings. Because we are committed to providing you with more choice and flexibility, you may opt to purchase additional suite log-ins and also upgrade the connection to even greater speeds, ensuring seamless connectivity when needed.

 

I don't call the uploading of four photos with a total size of 8.5 MB taking close to 2½ hours an indication of faster speeds or the promise of Starlink.

 

I have stopped by the computer room a number of times for help from the IT guy.  Unfortunately he's not helpful at all...quite condescending and defensive.

 

Finally, the latest internet access options are below.  By the way, this message was post over cellular while in port...couldn't be done over ship's WI-FI.

 

 

 

 

[bennett2005]

I have been on the Grandeur for the past week or so.  Internet has been working very well.  Emails download and upload just fine.   Any activity that requires streaming does require an up grade but I do not need that on a cruise.  I have accessed several financial sites and have no issues with the downloads.  I use three devices and go back and forth with no issues .  My wife has two and goes back and forth again no issues.  

 

Uploading photos can be the issue.  Make sure the size is not too large and not too many at one time.  

[mrlevin]

"Bennett" are you using a VPN?  Also, you are in North America so you have North American starlink terminus so no European sites.

 

Lew, why do you need to pay $10 extra per day for VPN service, that should be invisible to the ship.

[bennett2005]

No VPN.  

[Dolebludger]

Sounds like things are going backwards! We were on the Splendor in mid-August this year in Europe (pre Starlink) and had no problems with email, forums, and financial info sites. We had only the included WiFi. But to be fair, this cruise did not involve going way out in the ocean. The ship was always near the coast.

[mnocket]

Starlink is fast - cruise ship infrastructure may, or may not, be upgraded to handle it - or the ship may throttle speeds to encourage people to pay for upgraded service.  In either case, it's not what is expected from a "luxury" cruise line. 

[PaulMCO]

Don't blame Regent.  Presume you were in northern UK????

No coverage or poor coverage. Starlink still has a ways to go to be fully built out.  That is one reason why the Starship heavy booster is needed.

 

Why do they charge for VPN??  Because you can stream with a VPN and override their extra charge for streaming.  WiFi service is not provided by Regent it is subcontracted out.

 

Regent throttles with equality.  Same speed with or without the added VPN/Stream package.  They just unblock access with the package.  Further, if you have 4 logins per account, and you purchase the VPN/Steaming package, they limit you to one login per account.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:52 PM by PaulMCO

[fudgbug]

9 hours ago, -Lew- said:

We boarded Splendor on September 22nd for 28 days...living with the slowest internet access ever in 75+ cruises.

 

We cruised on Splendor during January and February 2023 where we experienced speeds of 7.11 down / 1.82 up, pre-starlink.  On Grandeur in January and February 2024 speeds maxed out at 3.08 down / 1.89 up with Starlink. 

 

Although Speedtest on this cruise indicates 3.30 down / 0.24 up, actual performance is much less.  Emails and websites take forever to load...and when they do they do not render correctly much of the time.  Quite often they take so long to load, the server stops responding. I haven't subscribed to VPN access, at $10 extra per day, so I cannot log into financial institutions or any site needing login entry.  Without my VPN active, quite often I'm connected to European equivalent websites.  It's all very frustrating.

 

In her recent email Andrea Demarco stated:

 

Across our six ships, you may now stay connected, share photos and videos and enjoy other immersive content on board at even faster speeds. As always, Unlimited WiFi is part of our all-inclusive offerings. Because we are committed to providing you with more choice and flexibility, you may opt to purchase additional suite log-ins and also upgrade the connection to even greater speeds, ensuring seamless connectivity when needed.

 

I don't call the uploading of four photos with a total size of 8.5 MB taking close to 2½ hours an indication of faster speeds or the promise of Starlink.

 

I have stopped by the computer room a number of times for help from the IT guy.  Unfortunately he's not helpful at all...quite condescending and defensive.

 

Finally, the latest internet access options are below.  By the way, this message was post over cellular while in port...couldn't be done over ship's WI-FI.

 

 

 

 

We were on that same cruise annd yes, Star Link was so darn slow!

Edited Sunday at 08:26 PM by fudgbug

[-Lew-]

7 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Lew, why do you need to pay $10 extra per day for VPN service, that should be invisible to the ship.

 

If I don't purchase the VPN addon, WI-FI just doesn't work with my VPN active.  As soon as I deactivate the VPN WI-FI comes to life.

[Mystictraveler]

@-Lew-, have you considered having a discussion with the GM since the IT person seems so unconcerned? We are going to be on the Splendor for 19 days next year so DW and myself are interested in this thread.

[labonnevie]

We disembarked the Splendor a week ago after 19 nights. 
Wifi was very spotty, couldn’t make any sense of when it was good or bad. Morning, night, close to shore, out to sea, northern part of Norway, UK waters.
Many times it wouldn’t work at all, others it was just fine. I was just browsing, doing email etc. I did seem to need to compress photos to text them successfully. 
Pretty frustrating but not enough to impact our enjoyment of a really excellent cruise. 

[Timeflies]

14 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Sounds like things are going backwards! We were on the Splendor in mid-August this year in Europe (pre Starlink) and had no problems with email, forums, and financial info sites. We had only the included WiFi. But to be fair, this cruise did not involve going way out in the ocean. The ship was always near the coast.

Starling doesn't have a contract with quite a few countries, so when inshore response times would be appalling at best or didn't work at all. For example on the WC this year on mariner starlink didn't work when inshore in India. UAE and most of Africa. It was okay when in international waters. According to one Indian paper negotiations with Starlink had stopped due to the elections there.

[-Lew-]

9 hours ago, Mystictraveler said:

@-Lew-, have you considered having a discussion with the GM since the IT person seems so unconcerned? We are going to be on the Splendor for 19 days next year so DW and myself are interested in this thread.

 

Yes, I have made an attempt to contact the GM.  However, our early excursions don't line up favorably to his morning office hours.  I'll try to corner him if I see him outside of office hours.

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, Timeflies said:

Starling doesn't have a contract with quite a few countries, so when inshore response times would be appalling at best or didn't work at all.

 

When in port we connect to cellular and use our iPhones as hotspots for our iPads.  T-Mobile is our carrier, so no extra chage for international data.