Have A wi-fi question

[boop3]

Hi

I am going on Explorer of the seas in 2/09 I do not know too much about wi-fi.

I was going to borrow my son's lap top that has the built in wi-fi.

My question is do you have to pay some type of fee on the ship to use

wi-fi or will it work on it's own.

Thanks

From a computer non geek:o

[NorbertsNiece]

Hi

I am going on Explorer of the seas in 2/09 I do not know too much about wi-fi.

I was going to borrow my son's lap top that has the built in wi-fi.

My question is do you have to pay some type of fee on the ship to use

wi-fi or will it work on it's own.

Thanks

From a computer non geek:o

 

Hi,

$.55 per minute

 

Or pre-paid Internet Packages:

 

60 Minutes............. $28

90 Minutes............. $38

150 Minutes........... $55

 

From my recent trip on IOS.

You will receive an information sheet in your cabin when you check in. If it's not there just ask at the customer relations desk.

[boop3]

Thanks! it is a bit cheaper than using the internet cafe at .55/min.

[phantom728]

The Wi-fi is very very very very very very slow however...not that the ship internet is much faster, but a bit faster than the Wi-fi. Or at least that's what we found to be the case when we were on Explorer last.

[cruiseguy1016]

Hi,

 

$.55 per minute

 

Or pre-paid Internet Packages:

 

60 Minutes............. $28

90 Minutes............. $38

150 Minutes........... $55

 

From my recent trip on IOS.

You will receive an information sheet in your cabin when you check in. If it's not there just ask at the customer relations desk.

 

Thanks! it is a bit cheaper than using the internet cafe at .55/min.

 

:eek: HUH? :eek:

 

If you pay for a package it's cheaper but if you don't buy a package the price is the same.

[SweetumsOne]

If it's not your first cruise, take advantage of the free minutes from your coupon book OR sign in at a cyebr cafe in port where is is pennies a minute.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

It pays to always type out your email 'offline' then just go 'online' to send it.

I always take my laptop with me when we cruise. I sit either in my cabin or somewhere around the ship, type in all my emails then go to the 'hotspot' and send them all.

That will save you heaps doing it that way.

 

Jillybean:D

[Crosboro]

Just be careful. On our last cruise, I used up our entire "free" coupon and never got connected. They did credit it back to me and next time I did get on, but it still took a couple of minutes. I have to think the all cruise lines make a big profit on this sham.

[NorbertsNiece]

It's the slowness of it all which is the most frustrating. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just a question of pasting in the information into the emails because you could log on, sign into email, paste, send, log off. Sounds simple enough. Not. Because of course you have to log on, sign into email, retrieve messages and log off first.

Now there will be people who will say... blah blah holiday.... blah blah take a break.... etc etc. For the rest of us who need to stay in contact for whatever reason we have to bite the bullet if we want to stay in touch whilst on board.

Maybe those of us who post a live blog whilst doing so could get some credit...... ;) :rolleyes:

[madforcruising]

Thanks! it is a bit cheaper than using the internet cafe at .55/min.

 

 

The price is the same regardless if you use their computers or your own laptop. The packages can be used on the ships computers as well.

[madforcruising]

The Wi-fi is very very very very very very slow however...not that the ship internet is much faster, but a bit faster than the Wi-fi. Or at least that's what we found to be the case when we were on Explorer last.

 

Not been on Explorer yet, but on all other RCCL ships I´ve been on so far the WiFi was much faster then their computers and ran up to 11Mbps.

 

Use off times, when only few people are online and look for the best hotspot onboard as there can be differences from hotspot to hotspot.

 

When using your own laptop with WiFi and having a pop3 email account you can download your emails pretty fast, log off, read and reply and log in only to respond again.

 

About 20 regular text emails can be received in less than 30 seconds (30 seconds is the point where the first minute is charged;) ) so you can even get online and receive emails for free, if you are fast enough;) .

[silentbob007]

I've never really searched for a hotspot (because I could get a signal in my cabin), but the speed reminded me of fast dial-up. I've always used C&A free minutes and have found them very easy to burn through doing simple tasks ... for example, I think I used the equivalent of about $4.00 to print out my boarding pass on my last cruise (from one of their terminals, of course).

[madforcruising]

I've never really searched for a hotspot (because I could get a signal in my cabin), but the speed reminded me of fast dial-up. I've always used C&A free minutes and have found them very easy to burn through doing simple tasks ... for example, I think I used the equivalent of about $4.00 to print out my boarding pass on my last cruise (from one of their terminals, of course).

 

 

The different hotspots on the ship are not on the same level. Usually there´s one main Hot Spot with the fastest connection and the others are repeaters and the speed drops. When getting further away from Hotspot like in your cabin with some considerable amount of steel in between the strength of the signal drops and with that you get much lower speeds as well.

I have picked up the signal in my cabin sometimes as well and used it there. It´s just so much more convenient, but you pay for the convienience with lower speeds.

 

I´ve always found their terminals to be much slower than WiFi. I do the online check-in for airline online using my computer and get the boarding pass at the airport.

[Cahroozer]

I found that bringing my laptop made it easier and more economical to manage email than using the shipboard internet cafe. Logging in, reading mail and composing responses could cost you a lot.

 

As others stated, using wifi you can create your emails offline, then log in, upload/download, and log off. Sometimes it took 2 minutes or less. If you do that morning and evening, that could be as little as $2.20 a day, very reasonable.

 

You may want to put a "vacation hold" on some listserves if they tend to fill your queue, or temporarily eliminate access to some email accounts.

 

When you surf the net, the costs start to climb. If you are researching something, you might want to consider taking a "picture" of a web page and then read it offline. My Windows XP has in its print menu Microsoft Office Document Image Writer - I assume most people have this on theirs - which can capture a web page and put it in a readable file.

 

Some people had difficulty initially accessing the shipboard wifi. If you don't usually use wifi outside the home there may be some extra tweaking to be done. It seemed like everyone got it worked out after the first day.

 

iPhone

On a related note: If you have an iPhone, never, ever, ever allow data roaming to be turned "on" at any point (settings/general/network/data roaming - off). The default position should have data roaming in the off position, but do not turn it on. If you do so once in a while as a curiousity and watch it download an email or two, it could cost you an arm and a leg ... literally hundreds of dollars. AT&T's data roaming is outlandishly expensive.

 

I haven't tried using the iPhone with the shipbord wifi, but I believe iPhone needs to be connected to open mail. That would mean you can't download all your mail and then sign off, as you would with a laptop.

 

Tim

[boop3]

Thanks everyone for the advice it is appreciated :)

I want to keep in touch with the kids and my sister who is watching them. I also found out we have an extra day at sea so. Now I just have to decide if I want to lug the lap top with me as this is a 12 day cruise and I will be lugging plenty already.