Any Update about Captain's Circle Internet Package Which Changed 4\1\07

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Ditto. I just went to the website you recommended and was amazed to get the following result: 11.1 megabits per second. I remember the "good old days" of 64k modems and cheered when they went to 128k.

 

Wow, that is rapid! I am very envious of that kind of speed. However because I live with the speed of a ship's system for 6 months at a time, when I come home my 2meg connection seems fantastic so I have never felt the need to upgrade.

 

There is another variant I haven't mentioned. When using high orbiting satellite you have a time lag of approx. 3 seconds (each way). I am sure you have seen it when the news talks to someone in Iraq etc. over satellite. They ask a question and there is a gap before they answer. Well that is present here, in fact many of the connections news networks use are going through MTN’s satellite network.

 

This lag also affects the final result in speed onboard.

[Sunviking]

While on the Golden Princess last month I saw people using their cell phones while onboard and at sea. On another thread here on CC someone has posted that a *ingularly good cell phone is not part of a network that has a contract w/ princess. We will be sailing on the Emerald in Oct on a transatlantic and would like to be able to communicate with home via phone. Since you are so knowledgeable about ship's communications, do you perhaps know which cell companies are supported by ship equipment?

 

Thank you.

[Globaliser]

It' funny, I don't think any other service onboard would ever get the scrutiny that this service does, it really is quite remarkable to me.

Maybe that might give you some indication of how much passengers feel ripped off by it. But, anyway, as I say: I voted with my feet.

[latitude 22]

I'm sure some of the veteran cruisers on this board will remember having to send emails through the communications officer and receiving replies under the door later or the following day.

 

 

oh thanks for the smile...

I remember going to the radio room to have them do a telex to send birthday wishes to a family member..

and i'm not that OLD!

and when we had our MAJOR SFO Bay Area earthquake in 1989, by parents were on a cruise in the caribbean on NCL...I was able to get through to an international operator, who took a message but transfered me to a marsat operator, who took the message again, we couldn't reach the ship for me to talk to my parents to let them know I was alive and the house was standing and no the Golden Gate Bridge was not in the bay as the news was reporting, but wait...they didn't have news in thier cabin or on the ship so that part of the message was irrelevant!

It took the Marsat operator 3 hours to reach the ship, my parents were left a message under their cabin door and told to contact the radio room immediatly.

The ship at that time couldn't find out any news, it wasn't until they reached Jamaica and went to hotel that had the early version of CNN on.

Many of you just don't realize how lucky you are to have instant access to family, friends and news.

My parents would have paid any amount of $$$$$$ to know I was alive and what was actually happening at home.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

While on the Golden Princess last month I saw people using their cell phones while onboard and at sea. On another thread here on CC someone has posted that a *ingularly good cell phone is not part of a network that has a contract w/ princess. We will be sailing on the Emerald in Oct on a transatlantic and would like to be able to communicate with home via phone. Since you are so knowledgeable about ship's communications, do you perhaps know which cell companies are supported by ship equipment?

 

Thank you.

 

Well the Golden is one of my old ships however when I worked on her in 2005 they didn't yet have that technology onboard. However the ship I just came from had a similar system. I don't know which ships have the cell phone tower on them on Princess so I will assume that you know the Emerald has it.

 

But basically the systems that I work with will be basically the same as the ones on Princess. A cell phone tower is added to the ship which goes throug the satellite connection, it works with GSM cell phones although the one on my ship was supposed to support Sprint as well (although we had issues with it and the GSM worked but the Sprint did not).

 

I would imagine Princess will have the same system, or similar. If they do then you need a GSM type phone with a cariier such as Cingular, T-Mobile or AT&T in the US. Also you would need to activate your line for International use (with your provider) or it wont work.

 

I have a contact on the NP, I will find out what system they have there now.

 

Obviously you will pay roaming charges whilst using it but I think you can get reasonable rates with your provider, I heard people saying they were paying $1.25 per minute which is much better than the phone in your cabin. And you can always use sms.

 

latitude 22 thanks for that, your story should ground a few of the people here who keep complaining about slow Internet!

[wtevrfltsurbt]

I'm the poster she was referring to about Cingular and I am sailing the Emerald on 5/29-I have called Cingular and asked to speak with the International Plans dept and there I was then connected to the Supervisor for the dept. for more info as I had gotten conflicting stories from other CSR's there. She told me in no uncertain terms that PCL does not "partner" with Cingular and that if I placed a call with my cell it would cost me 12.99 per minute, regardless if I had the international/worldwide plan, as I would be "using" the ships cell tower.

Admiral if you have better info please let me know!

thanks!

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

I'm the poster she was referring to about Cingular and I am sailing the Emerald on 5/29-I have called Cingular and asked to speak with the International Plans dept and there I was then connected to the Supervisor for the dept. for more info as I had gotten conflicting stories from other CSR's there. She told me in no uncertain terms that PCL does not "partner" with Cingular and that if I placed a call with my cell it would cost me 12.99 per minute, regardless if I had the international/worldwide plan, as I would be "using" the ships cell tower.

Admiral if you have better info please let me know!

thanks!

 

Well the tower that is on the Golden will possibly be owned by a vendor, so even though PCL don't have an agreement it's more likely that the vendor that owns and operates the tower will be the one with the agreement.

 

It's possible the person you spoke to just typed the name Princess Cruises into their system saw there was no agreement and put the rest together from that. There would be no point adding this system and then not setting up the vital part of the operation of making these agreements to allow people to use them. I will look into whose running the show there and get back to you.

[JotWorld]

Well the tower that is on the Golden will possibly be owned by a vendor, so even though PCL don't have an agreement it's more likely that the vendor that owns and operates the tower will be the one with the agreement.

 

It's possible the person you spoke to just typed the name Princess Cruises into their system saw there was no agreement and put the rest together from that. There would be no point adding this system and then not setting up the vital part of the operation of making these agreements to allow people to use them. I will look into whose running the show there and get back to you.

 

I was on the Golden when they rolled out the New Cell Service(With a Flyer to each Cabin) around 12/12/06 at the end of a T/A from Rome to New Orleans, & I confirmed on the Cingular Web Site somewhere that the Golden Princess on Ship was $3.49/Min I believe.;)

Jot (Bill):)

[latitude 22]

Admiral Nelson....

 

You are most welcome...

 

it's all about perception!

 

I don't envy your position, I was onboard with Kuus on the Dawn in February and he was taking major abuse from passengers...

 

and he did it with smile and remained gracious...

 

my fellow passengers can be so embarrassing!

[pablo222]

When you get to your ship, run the same test, I do this every day from various machines on my ships to get a baseline of speed on the vessel. I average about between 60-120 kilobits per second on the ship. Sorry this is geek talk but I will make it more clear.

 

As I mentioned, I ran the cnet speedtest a half-dozen times

during a week on Carribbean Princess, and got results

of 16-26K, about the same as I got on the same ship in

November.

 

In between, I was on Coral Princess for Christmas, and

the service was fine, so I think I have perfectly

reasonable expectations for onboard service.

 

When will customers on CB be receiving the 60-120K you mention?

[Sandytoes]

Thank you to all of you for your time, enthusiasm, frankness, and opinions without a hateful tone.

This Has Been Incredibly Helpful!!!!

 

latitude 22 Many of you just don't realize how lucky you are to have instant access to family, friends and news

How True ! ! !

 

Again, Thank You for all your kind responses.

 

[Buddy604]

I remember the "good old days" of 64k modems and cheered when they went to 128k.

*Sigh* Rembering the days when I used to bridge bank branches to the host using 2400 baud modems over the WAN, and that happy day when we upgraded to 9600 baud.

[Buddy604]

Admiral, et al, I'm wondering about Wi-Fi access under all the new plans. I see that when you buy a package of minutes, it doesn't include WiFi access, but the last time I was on a ship they had done away with the old WiFi certificates and it was just part of your regualr internet account.

 

Can anyone tell me what the WiFi costs now, and is there a reason it's not included in your packaged minutes?

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Admiral, et al, I'm wondering about Wi-Fi access under all the new plans. I see that when you buy a package of minutes, it doesn't include WiFi access, but the last time I was on a ship they had done away with the old WiFi certificates and it was just part of your regualr internet account.

 

Can anyone tell me what the WiFi costs now, and is there a reason it's not included in your packaged minutes?

 

When MTN take over the Internet service, the wireless will be accessible with your one account, that's something they only brought in over the last 6-7 months but it works very well.

 

Princess did not have that separate billing system on purpose, they just didn't think about it very much and sort of added the wireless as an afterthought. MTNs system is much better for billing etc.

[tooner1977]

There are no lines and you don't have to go to the pursers desk to sign up. You sign up by logging on the first time and you have to select a package. Your user ID is your first intitial, then last name, then cabin number (example JSmithA410). You are then asked to create a password. The charge for the package shows up on your Folio and is immediately credited back based on your Captain's Circle status. You can review how much time you have left at any time and I believe you even get a warning when you are about to go over. Since the internet was so slow, I just gave up and had no fear of going over my limit. I have my folio from last week here in front of me and there was NO set-up charge for using the internet.

 

Another interesting thing...when the internet was "faster" during the week, I posted to a Live From thread. However, each time I made a post, I would get kicked out of Cruise Critic and couldn't log back in. That certainly added to my frustration.

 

If your user ID is your first initial then last name and cabin number what do we do if hubby and my first names both start with the same Letter. We want to make sure we both get our credited minutes since we are platinum.

[wtevrfltsurbt]

If your user ID is your first initial then last name and cabin number what do we do if hubby and my first names both start with the same Letter. We want to make sure we both get our credited minutes since we are platinum.

One of you could use you're middle initial?

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

If your user ID is your first initial then last name and cabin number what do we do if hubby and my first names both start with the same Letter. We want to make sure we both get our credited minutes since we are platinum.

 

Don't worry about this kind of thing, the system has been on ships for years. It's new to Princess but tried and tested on other cruiselines. If you have the same first initial and same last name then your user name will be your first and second intial plus your last name and your cabin number (so if your name is John Smith in cabin 1234 your username will be josmith1234). And the beauty of it is, if you do get stuck there is a dedicated manager onboard to help peoplpe out, and they do 10 hours per day in the cafe.

[Buddy604]

When MTN take over the Internet service, the wireless will be accessible with your one account, that's something they only brought in over the last 6-7 months but it works very well.

 

Princess did not have that separate billing system on purpose, they just didn't think about it very much and sort of added the wireless as an afterthought. MTNs system is much better for billing etc.

Ah, cool. Do you know by any chance if the Diamond Princess has moved over to the MTN system?

 

Just slightly off topic (please don't ban me, Caroline!) but I was looking at some portable satellite internet systems today, especially Inmarsat's BGAN. Pricely little sucker and they charge by volume with a meg running $7.61, but great if you work in a lot of areas without internet service and need fast internet. Small too - about the size of an old ISDN modem.

[JotWorld]

When MTN take over the Internet service, the wireless will be accessible with your one account, that's something they only brought in over the last 6-7 months but it works very well.

 

Princess did not have that separate billing system on purpose, they just didn't think about it very much and sort of added the wireless as an afterthought. MTNs system is much better for billing etc.

 

Any idea when the Pacific Princess will or does have it?:confused: I'm boarding for 34 Days 4/24 SYD to HNL & would love to use one of my laptops on board?

Any chance it would work on my suite's balcony?:confused:

 

Thank you so much, for all your info you've given all of us on CC.;)

Jot:)

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Any idea when the Pacific Princess will or does have it?:confused: I'm boarding for 34 Days 4/24 SYD to HNL & would love to use one of my laptops on board?

Any chance it would work on my suite's balcony?:confused:

 

Thank you so much, for all your info you've given all of us on CC.;)

Jot:)

 

At the moment there are only three ships with this system set up:

 

Caribbean Princess (satellite provided by Harris)

Dawn Princess

Grand Princess

 

Not sure when the others will be taken over, have asked my contact.

 

As for the wireless, the wireless setup MTN has is much better than the Princess one. The antennas have much further reach and I believe they will make the wireless network available in more areas of the ship. On ships I have worked on in the past with MTN we had 2-3 hotspots for wireless.

 

As fro the BGAN and R-BGAN units, they are vey good if you work out in the sticks but are not cheap, which gives you a little insight into the systems onboard ocean going vessels!

[JotWorld]

At the moment there are only three ships with this system set up:

 

Caribbean Princess (satellite provided by Harris)

Dawn Princess

Grand Princess

 

Not sure when the others will be taken over, have asked my contact.......

 

Thank you again so much for your expertise!;)

& Please, keep us updated on any new info regarding the above.:)

 

Jot

[Princess Chatterer]

My SprintPCS phone worked just fine with the cell "tower" on the Golden Princess out in the middle of nowhere. $2.49 a minute and no added LD. Charges appeared on my SprintPCS bill when I returned. We will sail on the Emerald Princess week after next and I will take my "opened" junk T-Mobile phone with a Passport SIM chip http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=MSIM-PP01 and use it in Greek harbor towns. Cost about 60 cents a minute and no extra LD charges back to the U.S. Most of your local cell phone repair shops can "open" a GSM phone for you for about $25.

[bellasorella]

ok, so what about a Treo or Blackberry for email? (Verizon, if that matters) It's wireless, so shall I assume the email function will work if I buy a wireless block on board? I don't want to use the cellphone function --argggh! -- and will turn it off!!! Bad enough we have to listen to folks talking loudly to whomever on the cellphones as we sail away...But I would like to be able to get my email without bringing the laptop. ????? We will be on Crown in July.

 

Thanks.

[pablo222]

At the moment there are only three ships with this system set up:

Caribbean Princess (satellite provided by Harris)

...

 

So, I've read your posts in this thread, and I've noticed how

complimentary you are of this vendor. How they manage

the networks on 40+ ships, have 8 satellites, etc.

Post after post.

 

So, how come the service is so poor on Carribbean Princess?

When can customers expect improvement?

 

I'm certainly not expecting the moon, just the same service

that was available on CB a year ago, when Princess was

running it.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

ok, so what about a Treo or Blackberry for email? (Verizon, if that matters) It's wireless, so shall I assume the email function will work if I buy a wireless block on board? I don't want to use the cellphone function --argggh! -- and will turn it off!!! Bad enough we have to listen to folks talking loudly to whomever on the cellphones as we sail away...But I would like to be able to get my email without bringing the laptop. ????? We will be on Crown in July.

 

Thanks.

 

PDAs have always been tricky to get to work on these systems, and to be honest I have never really had many people come to me with questions about them. The few I have haven't been successful in getting it to connect. In theory it should work but there seems to be limitations in the way the PDA displays pages that stops it getting past the log in page. If anyone on here knows different hopefully they will let us know...

 

So, I've read your posts in this thread, and I've noticed how

complimentary you are of this vendor. How they manage

the networks on 40+ ships, have 8 satellites, etc.

Post after post.

 

So, how come the service is so poor on Carribbean Princess?

When can customers expect improvement?

 

I'm certainly not expecting the moon, just the same service

that was available on CB a year ago, when Princess was

running it.

 

Yes I am quite complimentary about them, and before anyone asks, no I don't work for them but I used to. However, I compliment their setup because it's good not just because of blind allegiance. The reason is I have worked for many different cruise lines and I have seen what services others have, which have been much worse than MTNs version. When I joined Princess I thought their system was very poor in comparison.

 

If you read my posts you will see that I mentioned there is a problem with the CB because the actual ADE (above deck equipment) is provided by Harris and not their own. So they have to work with another company and do not have control of the signal and also the signal is routed differently. Harris optimised their ADE for Princess and now MTN is there, it will need to be changed. The best solution would be to have MTN ADE installed, and I don't know if that has been planned.